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[jeanparadis27]

Week 12

Week 12 Start-Up Venture

what is working?

With the last few weeks having went by well I have reached a point where I am compiling my report and assessing my numbers for my final presentation.

what is not working?

I feel as though all is working well as of late. However, with the immense amount of snow we've gotten in the past 2 days it has added strain on the magnitude of opportunity in acquiring products.

how do you feel the project is coming?

I feel as though, the project is coming along perfectly. With having garnered exponential knowledge on how a business operates is of utmost importance and I truly feel like I've achieved this through this term project.

what are you learning about running a business?

Running a business comes with a plethora of challenges especially when you rely on mother nature to be on your side. However, you must learn to push yourself and get through these issues as smoothly as possible.

what are you learning about yourself?

I have learnt that I am more resilient than I think. I have also learnt to let more things slide in order to keep as much stress at bay as possible.

[jeanparadis27]

Week 11

what is working?

I've seen a great uptrend in garage and yard sales which surely adds confidence to my venture. I feel as though, once the snow is completely melted it will be nothing but sunny days and opportunities.

what is not working?

Other than the snow I don't feel as though anything "isn't working".

how do you feel the project is coming?

I feel as though the project is running smoothly. I feel like I have made great progress and that my final presentation of the project will be greatly executed.

what are you learning about running a business?

As I've said, running a business is not all sunshine and rainbows. Entrepreneurship is greatly rewarding. However, it comes with it's challenges and as stated before. You must persevere through hardships in order to become successful in this realm.

what are you learning about yourself?

I have continuously asserted the presumption that I can do anything that I set my mind to. My entrepreneurial spirit has truly evolved through working through this term project.

[jeanparadis27]

week 10

What is working?

With the weather becoming better I have found myself having more opportunity for garnering items to resell with yard sales becoming more and more common.

What is not working?

The items I've mostly been coming across have seemed to be mostly your typical big clean out items such as car parts, couches, tables etc.. not my forte at the moment.

How is the project coming along?

Personally, I feel as though the project is coming along swimmingly. I've already made a profit when it comes to my $50 initial investment and I hope to grow this source of income beyond the end of my term project. I feel as though it would be profitable to start picking furniture, touching it up and flipping it for profit. Definitely something I've been thinking about.

What am I learning about starting a business?

Running a business comes with all sorts of ups and downs. However, you cannot let it bear down on you. On the other hand, you must know when to call it quits in order to save yourself financially. Therefore, I feel as though growing a multitude of streams of income is truly beneficial in ensuring you always have some sort of money coming in. This holds true throughout week 10

What am I learning about myself?

I have learnt a great deal about myself. I feel as though this is one of, if not the most creative and engaging idea for a term project I've ever participated in. To be specific, I have asserted knowledge about my entrepreneurial spirit and my ability to do whatever I put my mind to. This has not changed from last weeks assessment.

[jeanparadis27]

Week 9

What is working?

This week has been kind to me in terms of spending, I've been on a slower pace since seeing the ball start rolling from weeks 6-8. With the weather clearing up I can see myself coming across more opportunity. For example, I have a garage sale lined up for march 15th.

What is not working?

The weather has created challenges for me as people would prefer to stay in doors as opposed to braving the weather to hold garage sales. However, as mentioned above the tides seem to be shifting in my favor.

How is the project coming along?

Personally, I feel as though the project is coming along swimmingly. I've already made a profit when it comes to my $50 initial investment and I hope to grow this source of income beyond the end of my term project.

What am I learning about starting a business?

Running a business comes with all sorts of ups and downs. However, you cannot let it bear down on you. On the other hand, you must know when to call it quits in order to save yourself financially. Therefore, I feel as though growing a multitude of streams of income is truly beneficial in ensuring you always have money coming in.

What am I learning about myself?

I have learnt a great deal about myself. I feel as though this is one of, if not the most creative and engaging idea for a term project I've ever participated in. To be specific, I have asserted knowledge about my entrepreneurial spirit and my ability to do whatever I put my mind to. This has not changed from last weeks assessment.

[jeanparadis27]

Week 8

What is working?

With having made my first sales throughout week 6 and 7 I feel as though my operation is working smoothly. The online market has had a strong response to my products and I've thoroughly enjoyed sourcing my products.

What is not working?

The online market has been great to me (Facebook Marketplace especially). However, generating interest in my town itself has been a challenge.

How is the project coming along?

Personally, I feel as though the project is coming along swimmingly. I've already made a profit when it comes to my $50 initial investment and I hope to grow this source of income beyond the end of my term project.

What am I learning about starting a business?

In my opinion, building a plan for a business is the easy part. Executing this plan to the highest degree is the challenging aspect of becoming an entrepreneur. Staying determined and not holding back while not blowing up your personal or professional life is of utmost importance.

What am I learning about myself?

I have learnt a great deal about myself. I feel as though this is one of, if not the most creative and engaging idea for a term project I've ever participated in. To be specific, I have asserted knowledge about my entrepreneurial spirit and my ability to do whatever I put my mind to.

[jeanparadis27]

Week 7- Start up

What is working?

Personally, I've had great success in garnering information on products and where to locate them. The ability to list items on social media platforms is a great advantage in the reselling world. Communication is key, and that holds true in business. Especially, when pursuing a career in sales. With this being something I plan to use to generate supplementary income over the coming years I'll have to keep pursuing it with similar hunger towards the fact.

What is not working?

With it being the middle of winter and the number of yard sales having dwindled to almost null, it has been hard gathering products themselves in person. I have also struggled opening a Shopify store as the fees involve throw me over the $50 budget.

How is it coming along?

I feel as though, the project is coming together nicely. I have abided by all due dates and have created something great that is attainable and reasonable along with the capability to garner supplementary income from it for years to come.

What am I learning about running a business?

Personally, I've discovered that there's much more than meets the eye when it comes to business. It takes an immense amount of hard work and dedication to create something great. Running a business entails every aspect from gathering information and products, to listing them, finalizing sales, shipping and receiving of products and much more. I feel as though entrepreneurs don't deserve some of the comments and assumptions related with the title.

What have I learnt about myself?

I've learnt that I truly appreciate working for myself. I have asserted the fact that I am capable of becoming an entrepreneur and will strive to achieve greatness in this domain. I feel as though, multiple streams of income is surly the most efficient way to becoming financially free, which is and should be a goal for everyone alike.

[jeanparadis27]

Money, money, and more money

My business runs of of consistently buying new products at the cheapest prices possible. This means capitalizing on other sellers, garage sales, discount stores, and a plethora of other sources to garner new products. Therefore, I see myself running into minimal issues gathering products in time. Through an online website like Shopify I will be responsible for taking care of fees associated with becoming a seller on said site.

To start selling I have been able to garner necessary tools like a high definition camera, a reliable laptop, and have fabricated a plain white backdrop out of a sheet and a studio light to properly list items without it looking "tacky" or "boring".

[jeanparadis27]

Don't be fooled. This may look like your everyday nail clipper. However, it's really a multi-purpose tool. When cutting your fishing line, stop struggling by biting your line or risking a cut slicing it with a knife. Just keep one of these things handy. Save your teeth, use a clipper.

[jeanparadis27]

My Customer Persona

I feel as though I will have to consistently post on multiple different social media platforms to reach the broadest spectrum of clients that I can. By doing so, I will be able to reach my ideal clientele such as collectors and enthusiasts building relationships and contacts along the way. Drawing much inspiration from the tv shows I watched growing up like Pawn Stars and American Pickers I've always had a fascination for buying products low and selling them for profits capitalizing on knowledge from broad range of interests. I feel as though, I can capitalize on any customer of the almost 219 million active ecommerce shoppers who stumbles upon my products online.

[jeanparadis27]

Pricing Strategy

The pricing strategy I plan to implement into my business venture is competitive pricing. As I gather items from various sources I use the internets various sources to view competitors prices on the same item. A good practice to save money is to simply look up your product if you're not sure you can make profit on it. Don't wait till you've already made a purchase to do your risk assessment.

[jeanparadis27]

clayton hove’s adtothebone

Panasonic used to have a most excellent tagline.

[jeanparadis27]

Godwantsit

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[jeanparadis27]

Local Competition

When it comes to accessing retail competition in my area my biggest competitor would have to be The Great Northern Flea Market. This is the only flea market in my small town and it really is an attraction on days where they are open and operating.

The market operates with over 80 local vendors covering almost every niche there is, from trading cards, to antiques, Scentsy and almost anything imaginable.

The market alone provides a great amount of competition. However, I can take advantage of them only being open Friday to Sunday. My business runs 24-hours, 7 days a week. However, people like to look at and manipulate products before purchasing them which I cannot offer as easily as the Flea Market.

The flea market has a lackluster online presence which cannot be ignored. With how I've observed the world changing to a tech dominated domain. I feel as though, a strong online presence and E-marketing is almost necessary when it comes to business today.

The Market is located in the midst of the east side of Sturgeon Falls and has a good amount of foot traffic coming and going from the area. With it being open for 8 years now it has solidified itself as a lasting business in this small community.

Upon researching other online resellers based in my community i struggled to find any candidates at all. However, driving 30 minutes South you will find a city called North Bay which offers retail experiences at reduced prices like Value Village, and Winner's. These big box resellers are surely competitors. However, they are also an opportunity as they often price things much lower than they should be giving me the opportunity to capitalize on mass pricing.

[jeanparadis27]

[jeanparadis27]

Strengths and weaknesses

I feel as though, I am a great people person. I love to talk to people about a magnitude of different things and pride myself on attempting to learn a little bit about everything. I am also a very hard working individual and my love of learning has blossomed me into a very well rounded person. I have great emotional control and tend to think rationally as opposed to reacting to a situation emotionally.

On the other hand, nobody is perfect and I do have my fair share of weaknesses. I have had trouble with prioritization and organization. However, I have taken steps (using a planner) to correct this, I have also recognized that I need to be more flexible when things aren't always going my way. Which is what I am currently working on.