Month: June 2022

Business Plan Contextual Report

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THE DEVELOPMENT

From the beginning:

To research:

Business Plans – an investigation (1)

To the update:

To the final DA:

Future Cultures DA Challenge

My Digital Artefact looks at the short-term future of my business, Honey Creative, through a 1- 3 year business plan. I conducted research into business plans as to why a business should build one, the benefits, industry research and what to include in the physical document in order to project the trajectory of my business for the short to mid term future. Blogs were primarily used to inform on my progress of building my business plan and how this changed throughout its development. My research can be found in my progress blog.

Relevant concepts from lectures

The concepts I drew on throughout my research from the multiple futures research and trajectories and planning (futurology and elements of future studies) as I felt this was most relevant when researching to inform the future of the business.

“The past is not a guide to the future. The past can be transcended. Conscious decisions and efforts to achieve great purpose can shape the future”.

Wendell Bell (2003) [1997] p.14) (via Moore, 2019)

This quote by Wendell Bell sums up the purpose of the business plan I have created. It is not a guide to the future, but a guide to the conscious decisions and efforts to achieve the purpose that will shape the future of the business. Through building a business plan, I am able to better understand the business and it’s position in the future, allowing continuous development of short-term actions to achieve long-term goals. I also found that the basic elements of future studies informs the basis of my business plan DA as these elements were used in the research, development and completion of the project.

[Elements of Future Studies] (Moore, 2019)

  • Analysis and interpretation of the recent past and present;
  • Projections of future developments with and without interventions;
  • Descriptions of possible alternative actions and possible futures;
  • Evaluation of Desirability of Alternative Futures;
  • Selection of Specific Policies to Implement for Desirable futures.

Public audiences & social utility

My engagement with public audiences was informed in my social media content plan that informs my short-term actions in order to build towards the goals of the business. This was outlined in more detail in my progress blog. The utility of my business plan changed as a result and currently, it is to inform myself in the present and inform my future self of the progress the business has made.

Progression & refinement

  • Dropped LinkedIn content to focus on current social media content and engagement
  • Changed the final submission to be a video essay to sum up my research findings
  • Decided on a blog series to keep up to date with the progression of the project and to keep track of my research

Peer feedback from pitch

From the feedback on the pitch presentation of my initial concepts, I decided to amend my final submission to be a video essay putting all of my research and progress into one. By participating in the pitch feedback myself, I realised that I needed to create excitement around my research ideas to ensure I was encapsulating the DA experience without being bored of my plan and hence, just completing it to tick a box. I also decided to undergo a branding revamp refocus my content strategy to be more flexible but also more recognisable to my audience as Ruby suggested in this peer comment as well as expanding to TikTok which I have made plans to do in the future. Jess suggested that another area of research that could be interesting is investigating how future technology affects business plans. I decided to discard this as I felt I already had a solid area of research and I didn’t have the time to take on more concepts.

Evolving in the future

My business plan could evolve in the future as the business develops. This could change due to a demand in services or a change in career trajectory depending on the possible future scenarios that are presented to me. As the plan states on the final page, once this 3-5 year future presents itself, I have a number of considerations to take into account before I extend my business plan, such as my future aspirations for travel and my career.

In terms of how the business plan may evolve during its 3-5 years which could change the trajectory of the business plan here are some scenarios I have projected based on past changes to social media and my own life plans:

  • content plan – based on my audience and business trajectory
  • business goals may change
  • shift in social media algorithms, audience preferences and content favourability
  • marketing plan – based on platform changes, audience needs, etc.
  • plan becomes irrelevant – if I choose to take a different career path, take on full-time work
  • Social media as search engines to explore products, services, news, etc.