In the first meeting, members agreed that every person should come up with a business idea. There was no limit on the source of the ideas whether from books, internet, or personal project. Additionally, all members were supposed to suggest an appropriate place where the ideas could work successfully. The members agreed that every person should come with at least one idea and a place where that idea could work during the second meeting that they slated to take place after three days. However, a disagreement had rocked the meeting when the members failed to concur on the scope of the idea. Person 1 and person 4 suggested that the idea could not necessarily be based within the field of study while the rest opposed the suggestion and wanted the idea to be within the field of their study. After a comprehensive discussion of the views, all members found it relevant if there was no limit on the scope of the ideas. The meeting was adjourned after four hours and members were to converge at the same venue during the second meeting.
During the second meeting, the members presented their ideas and the preferred location where their business ideas could work well. Person 1 had an idea of commercial cleaning in Manchester city, person 2 suggested on a cross fit box in Liverpool city, person 3 proposed about a security firm in Leeds, person 4 suggested about a suspended coffee in Brighton while person 5 suggested about a white theme organic hotel in Brighton. Additionally, the members decided to narrow down to one place where the ideas could be executed, that is Brighton to reduce the expenses of conducting demographic and economic surveys of several places that could be time consuming and expensive. The members discussed the viability of the ideas with respect to the prevailing aspects of the chosen location. The viability of the business ideas was based on the initial cost of starting the business, the target population, the originality of the idea, and the condition of the existing competitors among other factors (Galoozis, 2010).
There were five ideas on the table for discussion, but only one was to be selected. Commercial cleaning was the first idea the members decided to drop because the target market was small, and a lot of inputs would be required thus it would take a long time before the business turn profitable. The second idea to face the axe was the security firm because the starting capital would be very high hence not affordable to execute, and there was flooding of the similar type of businesses in the market. Cross fit box followed a similar suit because it was only the initiator of the idea had knowledge about it, and it would be hard for the members to market the business they know little about it. Additionally, they dropped the suspended coffee on the ground that the business would register inconsistent earnings due to its seasonal aspect. Person 1 commented that the business would only have good returns during the winters, and during the summers, the business would even operate on the savings hence it was not secure to start (Financial Planning Association, 2013).
Finally, all the members settled on the white theme organic restaurant. This was because it required considerably low capital to start, it has wide market capacity; there are no competitors in the region and has the highest probability of making profit within a short period after the establishment as compared to other ideas. Therefore, the final business idea that the members found to work well in Brighton was a white theme organic restaurant. The members decided to discuss on the ways to execute the idea including the name of the new venture that would be discussed in the following meeting that they scheduled to take place after a week at the usual venue. During the third meeting, the members came up with the suggestions of names of the restaurant. Some of the suggested names, bright Orion restaurant, one-step restaurant, fast-food restaurant, and click eat restaurant. The members chose the name of the venture to be click eat restaurant because it seemed to give the idea of the products and services offered at the venture.
The following step was to come up with a business plan, which seemed to be a challenging task especially when allocating tasks to different members. Every member had to get an allocation to study that they would present during the fourth meeting for discussion and compilation into a single report. There was confusion on the way to allocate the tasks equally to avoid overburdening of some members. Members disagreed on the criterion to be used to write a business plan with some suggesting that they should cover all the topics collectively, others suggested that every person to be allocated a part to discuss. Person 3 and person 4 who opposed the idea of working collectively said that they would consume a lot of time when researching and writing and there would not be equal contribution of the thoughts. The rest of the members gave their decisions, and they all decided to allocate the work into five equal portions according to the strength of every member on the topics of study.
According to the agreement reached by all members, Person 1 agreed to tackle the executive summary and venture overview, person 2 covered the market analysis since it was the largest portion, and person 3 covered management team and exit strategy. Person 4 covered financial plan and funding request while person 5 did operations and critical risks portion. They concurred to present their ideas and do the final draft of the work during the fourth meeting. During the fourth meeting, all the members presented their ideas and corrected where possible while adding the relevant details that were possibly not covered. In the executive summary, the idea should be captivating to the investors and give a general overview of the idea. The venture overview should give a detailed explanation of the venture and products or services to be offered, give long-term goals of the venture, and suggest competitive advantages of the venture. The marketing analysis portion had to make an opportunity marketing evaluation, show the way the venture would lure the customers and the ways to maintain a competitive edge (Financial Planning Association, 2013).
Similarly, the management team portion elaborated the skills of the managing personnel, and the way they could tackle any problems facing the venture. The exit plan simply covered various ways of ending a venture while a financial plan covered a financial standpoint and the cash flow projections of the venture. The critical risks portion studied possible problems that could affect the venture and the funding request gave the estimates of the capital required and the available sources of the funds. The operations part analyses the expenditures of the business enterprise and the shows a detailed implementation plan. The final draft of the business plan was presented to the tutor. After the presentation, the members were urged to find a better name that would not confuse clients. The change of naming of the venture happened during the fifth meeting while they went through the draft to improve some other areas. They areas of improvement included making a unique menu different from other restaurants in the region. The polished draft was ready for a second presentation and future physical implementation of the project. This was the final meeting, and the members were pleased with the way they handled the project (Financial Planning Association, 2013).
References
Financial Planning Association. (2013). How To Make Financial Planning Work For You. Retrieved from http://www.financialplanningdays.org/content/howtomakefinancialplanningworkf oryou.aspx>.
Galoozis. (2010). Starting a Business: Factors to Consider When Choosing Your Industry. Retrieved from: < http://www.nfib.com/article/starting-a-business-factors-to-consider- when-choosing-your-industry-55027/>.
Fitness Texter. (2012). A Cross Fit Box Affiliate Business Model Template. Retrieved from: <http://boostfitnessmarketing.com/free-fitness-marketing-tools/crossfit-box-business- model-template/>.
