Studio and Entrepreneurship
This week’s lectures with Emme Haverson, Lucy Warburton and Hamish Makgill gave us a great insight into two different ways of conducting a business plan for a product or a service. Both lectures share similar points about making a business successful whilst also sharing parts that were not so successful. When working on a business plan, we need to be very articulate in our offerings but also focus the plan on the service or product we intend to share to help with setting up your business. Planning is essential to any business plan as you need to outline the journey you will take from the beginning to five years. Planning doesn’t need to be a finish and precise outline of your business, but a thought of how you want your ambition to be projected. It’s best to oversell your plan so you have an idea of your dream goal which may take longer than five years but you’ll achieve this to some extent. It could be even sooner if everything runs smoothly, as long you’ve got that plan in shape and your truly honest with yourself. You must have a cost sheet to hand to help understand your incoming and outgoing costs for your overheads so you project the financial years ahead so you can outline the profits for any lenders that will invest and also give you a goal that will keep you motivated.
Certified B Corporation
There are a fast-growing number of B Corps in the UK that is championing the movement to make the world a better place through learning and teaching sustainable ways through businesses to make a difference to the world. B Corps plans to build an impact on sustainable ways to help use less harmful materials and energy at a low cost through creating communities locally and globally that will influence others to join them. This is a time when we need to be resourceful with our business and make positive changes to our daily lives, which helps us drive it also away from the business. Companies that get behind this are truly authentic brands that wish to make an impact on their audience and their employees that can create bigger ideas within their communities. With my business plan, I believe this is the way forward in creating like-minded clients that I wish to work with and using this model will help attract those clients through my plan structure.
1% For The Planet Initiative
1% for the planet is another initiative that I came across to help with climate change. The idea is to put 1% of gross sales each year is put into charitable non-for-profit businesses to help tackle climate change for a positive difference. As governments are not acting quickly then some would like to fund areas where climate change is having an effect, it’s within this campaign that businesses can work together to invest in the future of the planet. This is a great initiative for any business to be part of as it will drive success in the business and influence others to be part of it as you can be an individual or business that can contribute to the big idea. This is a brilliant collaborative campaign like B Corps that can make positive change and again see this is something I can contribute to my business plan. This gives me an idea that I can also research and reach out to not-for-profit companies to work and contribute with that is local or globally that would be an interest in my morales to make a better change.
Overall with B Corps and 1% for the Planet, there is a huge market for design agencies to be involved that can contribute to new business and collaborate along the way to make a sustainable impact through social, economic, human and environmental matters. Many businesses will participate in these initiatives and influence everyone that will be involved. This will only get better and more companies will talk about it to make this a success.
Sustainable businesses that are changing the world
After furthering my research into looking at new products or services that are making a great impact on the world through inventing new brands that are trying to culture shift the society. I came across a few sustainable brands and eco friendly to the world from period products to a textile product made from pineapple leaves that is changing the shift in making sustainable products.
Library of Things is a fantastic collaborative project where people can request to borrow things within their community to help on projects. They’re creating a movement to help sustain the behaviour of others to use items at their dispense. They have a vision where consumerism is not working and we need to up-cycle the items we have for others to borrow instead of buying, buying, buying. This platform supports those who are volunteering to teach people new skills through LoT which brings a great social element to the service. This makes communities stronger through building great relationships in helping others.
Georganics is an oral product that is natural, sustainable & effective oral care for everyone. A product that is inspired by the founders that used conventional toothpaste and mouthwash that never worked and wanted to innovate a natural oral product that was better sustainable care that can be affordable to everyone.
Dame is a period product that is sustainable from plastic and toxin-free for all women to use that is affordable for everyone. This isn’t just a product but also a community that brings conversation for everyone no matter what gender, creed or colour can learn from something that is far from what the truth is. They do push sustainability through their brand and looking to develop new products and more conversation around the subject to help women to speak more about their experiences and new thinking around support for a product that is essential to every woman’s life.
Pinatex is an amazing textile company that makes fabrics using leaves from pineapples through the science of extracting fibre to create a material that can be used in fashion and interior design. The journey has been a long process by Dr Carmen Hijosa working on this new sustainable alternative to leather production. This use of pineapple leaf fibre, an agricultural waste product, provides the opportunity to build a scalable commercial industry for developing farming communities, with minimal environmental impact. This innovation connects people, ecology and economics to create a vibrant new industry that is both socially and environmentally responsible. This speaks volumes on sustainability and how the model of the business works its way bottom, up in a sustainable culture.
Workshop Challenge
My business plan will focus on a sustainable practice that would want to work with clients that will make a difference to the world. This ethos will be based from the bottom up as we want to work with clients that have ethical morals that can make a difference to the world and for us to help launch that brand to the new world.
I started with a mood board of sustainable brand visuals that may work for my business plan so I can have an eye on how this may look when presented with a quick fix logo that will work with my studio name.
I’m liking the green that appeals to a forever colour to eco-friendly and sustainable products where the texture of cardboard is a very popular material that is easily recycled. This is a nice start in how my studio brand may take off but I believe there’s a great deal in expanding in this horizon for a brand in sustainability.
The draft of my business plan is attached with a download pdf to read through in detail and shows the structure of my planning.
