Personal Reflection Journal on Marketing Plan for Startup Business

Running head: PERSONAL REFLECTION JOURNAL
Personal reflection journal
Name of the University
Name of the Student
Author note

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I was assigned the task of carrying out a marketing plan for a startup business along with
my team. The startup was a social enterprise that focused on empowering disadvantaged women
by allowing them to engage in a business. I played the role of an HR and Marketing Consultant.
First, as an HR, I allocated and assigned tasks to all my team members as per their individual
skills and interest. Then, I created a document file and a PowerPoint for the presentation. In
addition, I spoke to members of the team in order to ensure that the task is completed on time
and evaluate their progress. Then, as a Marketing consultant, I first did a PEST model analysis to
identify the possible opportunities and threats of our industry (Ho 2014). I examined the current
environment of the soap market, the position of top manufacturers, and our enterprise’s potential,
how and where we can direct our operations.
In order to design the marketing strategy, I began with a situation analysis of our social
enterprise. Then, I demarcated the target customers to whom our company shall sell the product.
I developed a marketing communications strategy and the tactics, made a list of the marketing
goals to be achieved by our company and finally set the budget and design and do product
packaging.
We had set six goals and listed the measures of success. Our first goal was to produce a
high standard project. My team achieved this goal through a dedicated teamwork. The second
goal was to complete the entrusted work of our client.. Everyone went about his or her role in a
systematic manner. I as the HR was responsible for allotting different roles to all the members
and I was satisfied with the achievement of the goal. Our third goal was to give the presentation
in a professional manner demonstrating high standard of speaking skills. We achieved this goal
through rigorous practice and bringing out the speaking skills of each member. Demo
presentations were also conducted before the final presentation to achieve this goal.

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Our fourth goal was to acquire the highest standard of work. The client was thoroughly
satisfied by our team’s effort. The fifth goal was to have an open communication amongst the
team members. I knew that while working in a team, differences in opinion are bound to occur.
There can be intellectual difference, creative difference or even personal difference. This goal
was largely achieved, as there were rare cases of conflict in the team. Our final goal was to be
creative and innovative, which was the most essential part of the task.
To go ahead with the assigned task, I first needed to set my own targets and goals. In the
beginning, I set myself three specific goals that I needed to achieve in order to excel as a team
leader and member (Cottrell 2015). These goals were, improving my research skills, boosting my
written communication and enhancing my mass speaking skill. I began to seek expert help from
LAS centers and in library that helped me refine my research skills. To improve my writing
ability, I started taking notes from the researched articles and paraphrasing them in my own
words. One of my biggest weaknesses was speaking in public. I started working on it, prepared
scripts before time, and practiced speaking in front of the mirror. I also worked on the threats
that could have proven to be an obstacle in my achievement (McGrath 2014). I used to over
work, focus too heavily on a specific topic, prepared and practiced scripts for presentation at the
last minute and worried too much about the things less significant or that had already happened.
It was reflected in the success of the project where I was able to contribute to my full potential.
There were six members in my team including me. They all had a different set of skills
and talent that were utilized to the fullest while performing the task. All the members possessed
different qualities and their thinking differed in many aspects (Bradley et al. 2013).

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Shidey, one of our team members tends to be controlling when anyone of us failed to
meet a given time for completing any task. She used to have recurring conflicts with Krishan
who had a weakness of getting easily distracted. Their conflicts sued to be resolved by Anand.
He was very calm and used to resolve the conflicts in a composed manner (Johnson and
Rowlands 2012).
I had the ability to put together the diverse personalities and make them work together as
a team. Sarah had good communications skills and she was the one who used to encourage
everyone to come out with new ideas as she too had the strength of generating innovative ideas.
Paula was an introvert but she possessed great time management skills. I discovered huge
potential in all the members of the team that could help me achieve success in future projects as
well (De Wit, Greer and Jehn 2012).
In the end, after putting in all the hard works and going through rigorous sessions, we
finally delivered the presentation to our client (Pincus et al. 2014). It was now time for the client
to give the valuable feedback that would reflect what we as team have achieved. The client was
very impressed by our presentation although he pinpointed certain areas where we needed to
improve both as a team and as individuals. He stated that there was room for improvement in
giving presentations as almost all of us spoke from our prepared scripts. Then our client also
suggested us that we pick a specific target market and to lay stress more on the manufacturing
part of our enterprise rather than retail as our enterprise not only sells soap but also manufactures
them. After receiving the client’s feedback, it was time for me to give feedback on my and the
team’s performance (Grossl et al. 2014). I personally felt that I showed good improvement on
my public speaking skill although I have to work on it more. I continuously looked at my script
during presentation that I have to avoid in future. This entire experience was extremely helpful

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for me and I am sure for others as well as it gave everyone an opportunity to explore, develop
and improve on their respective qualities.

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References:
Bradley, B.H., Klotz, A.C., Postlethwaite, B.E. and Brown, K.G., 2013. Ready to rumble: how
team personality composition and task conflict interact to improve performance. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 98(2), p.385.
Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills for success: Personal development and employability. Palgrave
Macmillan.
De Wit, F.R., Greer, L.L. and Jehn, K.A., 2012. The paradox of intragroup conflict: a meta-
analysis.
Grossl, A.B., Reese, R.J., Norsworthy, L.A. and Hopkins, N.B., 2014. Client feedback data in
supervision: Effects on supervision and outcome. Training and Education in Professional
Psychology, 8(3), p.182.
Ho, J.K.K., 2014. Formulation of a systemic PEST analysis for strategic analysis. European
academic research, 2(5), pp.6478-6492.
Johnson, J.M. and Rowlands, T., 2012. The interpersonal dynamics of in-depth interviewing. The
SAGE handbook of interview research: The complexity of the craft, pp.99-113.
McGrath, M., 2014. Personal development plan. Leading the Way, 11(1), p.21.
Pincus, A.L., Sadler, P., Woody, E., Roche, M.J., Thomas, K.M. and Wright, A.G.C., 2014.
Assessing interpersonal dynamics. Multimethod clinical assessment, pp.51-91.