Looking back at the project where groups analyzed Business Plans, I particularly remember having to scroll through the lengthy Business Plan.
Although very organized, thoroughly and necessarily detailed, the ‘everyday’ business plan can come off to me at times a convoluted mess and not something that was easily approachable and to some extent didn’t seem that attractive.

Certainly, there are multiple ways of going around and planning how to start a business. Canadian health-wise fast-food franchise Freshii founder Matthew Corrin offers an alternative planning schema and has executed his method quite well. The alternative is what he coins to be the ‘5-point Leadership Manifesto’. In simple terms, this is what it is:

• talk is cheap, execution sets you apart
• launch fast, fail fast, iterate faster
• numbers rule
• build a killer culture for your company and not a culture that will kill your company
• pick your battles wisely

The traditional business plan and Corrin’s 5 points are quite different. Matthew Corrin’s radical approach is much easier to comprehend and at the same time, still manages to address the fundamental issues and questions behind a business. In fact, Corrin might be doing a favour for some entrepreneurs that are looking to get out of the hole they’ve dug themselves. For Corrin, it’s how the business runs, and it’s been effective. For newcomers, it could serve as a helpful tool to get the company up and running. Sometimes, simplification is a good thing!

There was recently a post made by Jenny Lee on Vancouver Sun’s business blog documenting Arlene Dickinson’s advice on entrepreneurship.

We all know what negative effects rushing can have on our daily lives. It’s a poor habit to have but can be resolved simply. A decorated member on the Dragons’ Den panel, Dickinson emphasizes planning as crucial to small businesses entering the already convoluted scene.

Referencing a previous post I made about entrepreneurs needing to find PoDs in order to be successful in the market, Dickinson’s comments are much of a blueprint to how this can efficiently be done. Although businesses may find themselves efficient and different than others, critical planning stages might be missed out on. Why are businesses wanting to start businesses in the first place? Obviously the goal is to become successful, but it’s a process that certainly does not happen overnight. Rather, the process involves envisioning strategies before implying immediate tactics, considering as many possibilities as possible (from the simplest steps to complex steps) and working around these rations so that entrepreneurs will have hefty backbones entering the market. The blog post is an important reminder to entrepreneurs and serves as an effective checklist for entrepreneurs wanting to start small businesses.

“What’s the rush???”
 (Marketing Guru Arlene Dickinson speaks to students at the Rotman School of Management)

Recent Sauder graduate Tom Dobzranski came to say a few words about his multi-pronged path to career and it prompted me to think about how I eventually got to becoming a student studying commerce as well as considering options down the road.

I recall in one of the classes much earlier in the year we were asked the following question: “What made you choose BCom?”
Of many things that came to my head, it was actually hard to come up with a definite reason. I wasn’t one of the guys who was set in stone for Finance, or Investment Banking, or some Head Marketing role in a local firm. In the days following, I convinced myself that having background in several field is ideal for today. The world is changing and becoming extremely advanced at a fast rate, being innovative is a challenge. Certainly having knowledge in more than one field is favourable.

Tom in his basement studio:

What about this as an office???

Tom is able to continue his passion for music and he’ll always be pocketing business tools learned from his BCom.
Perhaps job security isn’t so hard after all.

As a follow up to the last post about Janice Cheam’s Energy Aware, I coincidentally found a video on the website of The Globe and Mail where Gregor Robertson discusses the challenges faced by small businesses and newcomer entrepreneurs in the city in current times.

Walking around the streets of Vancouver, it’s hard to tell right away what small businesses have done to get where they are. Just how much does an entrepreneur have to consider when entering a market? Based on Porter’s 5 forces, I would think the degree of measurement with regards to the five forces are all listed as high. In Vancouver’s expansive and diverse market, buyers and suppliers are all capable of persuasive and tricky bargaining techniques. Their barriers to entry from other competitors don’t stand to high and the number of substitutes blow through the ceiling. As an entrepreneur, I would be have a tough time analyzing the market let alone to see when the appropriate time to enter the market would be. It would be interesting to see what new methods the different entrepreneurs entering the market would employ to differentiate themselves in the market.

Gregor Robertson on entrepreneurs and the challenges faced by small businesses

One company has managed to employ its strategies wisely and demonstrate itself through something unique and interesting:
Referencing classmate Tighearnan Marsh’s post on Save on Meats is an example of a new (but revamped) business coming into the Downtown Eastside (DTES) development project. What makes them different? They have done an excellent job intertwining themselves within the DTES and promoting social good within the community.

Photo retrieved from BCBusiness Online

Reading a post made by classmate George Parry a week prior to this post, I wanted to follow up on the roots of Energy Aware and what it means to turn the goals of a project from school into reality and something of significant worth and dedication. George comments on the product and how it is an innovative idea, particularly in our market of Vancouver where the city’s goal is to become the “Greenest City by 2020”.

In the mood for a Green one?

During the first week of classes, Paul and Jeff told us about how we’re coming into a system as inputs and exiting as outputs. The system (UBC undergrad, or whatever one may pursue before/during/after) changes an individual and prepares them for the real world. Janice Cheam is an excellent example of what Sauder is capable of producing with her joint venture in Energy Aware. Janice kept the concepts that were learned in her Marketing classes and took it into serious consideration: What product will I make that will attract and cater to a constantly growing audience? How will I differentiate my product? The company’s green-themed website left a good impression and also shows a lot of potential.