Attempting to kickstart a small business
My initial idea for a small business was to train active age groups in basic information technology, in other words, I wanted to teach grand parents how to use computers. I felt that many of our active aged friends didn't know how to keep in touch with their family using Skype, email or other forms of digital communication. It has also been my experience that the people I know from these age groups more than likely have a smart phone but don't know how to use it to it's potential.
After conducting research as to the courses aimed at this age group, I decided to chuck the idea, at least for the time being, because there are a number of companies already offering this type of service free of charge by using volunteers, transition year students and community enterprise workers.
There could still be a niche market for this type of business such as teaching people in their own home on a time and subject basis, or even teaching people to use their phone in cafes clubhouses or even bars.
My second idea for a small business was to start a basic guitar class in my local Community Resource Centre.
For my Entrepreneur Task 2 on week 3 of my course we were asked to go through the IDEO Design thinking process for our business idea.
The first part of the process "Empathize" is to get out and talk to the potential customers. This researches who might want this product, and what they would expect or hope to get out of your business. I asked some potential clients what they would like to achieve from my guitar class. I need to ask more people in the near future, but some of the answers were: to be able to play one song or tune, to have a party piece at singalongs, to be able to tune my guitar or replace the strings.
The second part of the process "Define" that is looking at what needs to be done in order to be able to overcome any problems or inabilities to deliver what is required. I felt hat I needed to look at effective ways of teaching basic guitar. I watched a number of you tube video tutorials, and took notes. At this stage of the process, I also needed to do costing of setup. The costs were the hire of the space in the resource centre, which led to another costing because they told me approximately €25 per hour, but they also required that I would have public liability insurance. I got a quote for this from a company called Keystone. It came in at €295 for the year and it could be payed in two parts of 50% each.
The third part of the process "Ideate" is to brainstorm ideas in order to achieve the best possible goal. Part of my brainstorming included ways to get potential clients into the class. I spoke to some of my family about this, and received some good suggestions including advertising on the resource centre's website/ social media, distributing flyers, and word of mouth. I hope to be able to do some more brainstorming about this in my entrepreneurship class.
The fourth part of the process "Prototype" is to build and make a solution to the problems set out. I have made an attempt to make a flyer with my advert on it, but will need extra time to engage the final part of the process "Test" in which I will be able to get feedback and see what the customer thinks.
Some of the research was in how to structure the flyer and how to word it.
After conducting research as to the courses aimed at this age group, I decided to chuck the idea, at least for the time being, because there are a number of companies already offering this type of service free of charge by using volunteers, transition year students and community enterprise workers.
There could still be a niche market for this type of business such as teaching people in their own home on a time and subject basis, or even teaching people to use their phone in cafes clubhouses or even bars.
My second idea for a small business was to start a basic guitar class in my local Community Resource Centre.
For my Entrepreneur Task 2 on week 3 of my course we were asked to go through the IDEO Design thinking process for our business idea.
The first part of the process "Empathize" is to get out and talk to the potential customers. This researches who might want this product, and what they would expect or hope to get out of your business. I asked some potential clients what they would like to achieve from my guitar class. I need to ask more people in the near future, but some of the answers were: to be able to play one song or tune, to have a party piece at singalongs, to be able to tune my guitar or replace the strings.
The second part of the process "Define" that is looking at what needs to be done in order to be able to overcome any problems or inabilities to deliver what is required. I felt hat I needed to look at effective ways of teaching basic guitar. I watched a number of you tube video tutorials, and took notes. At this stage of the process, I also needed to do costing of setup. The costs were the hire of the space in the resource centre, which led to another costing because they told me approximately €25 per hour, but they also required that I would have public liability insurance. I got a quote for this from a company called Keystone. It came in at €295 for the year and it could be payed in two parts of 50% each.
The third part of the process "Ideate" is to brainstorm ideas in order to achieve the best possible goal. Part of my brainstorming included ways to get potential clients into the class. I spoke to some of my family about this, and received some good suggestions including advertising on the resource centre's website/ social media, distributing flyers, and word of mouth. I hope to be able to do some more brainstorming about this in my entrepreneurship class.
The fourth part of the process "Prototype" is to build and make a solution to the problems set out. I have made an attempt to make a flyer with my advert on it, but will need extra time to engage the final part of the process "Test" in which I will be able to get feedback and see what the customer thinks.
Some of the research was in how to structure the flyer and how to word it.
Comments
Post a Comment