Opportunity Journal 3: Entrepreneurial Team

This assignment focuses on self-reflection for aspiring entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of understanding personal skills, team dynamics, and effective marketing strategies. Students are encouraged to analyze their entrepreneurial journey, identify necessary skills, and develop a staffing plan while considering customer insights and product strategies.

Student Name:
Opportunity Journal 3–The Entrepreneurial Team and Marketing Strategies
Instructions:
1. Spend around four hours to work on this journal
2. Work individually because the idea of this exercise is for self-reflection
3. Submit the softcopy of your completed journal through LMS by the deadline date suggested in the turnitin link.
NOTE: COPYING ANSWERS FROM OTHER RESOURCES WITHOUT PROPER REFERENCING WILL BE TREATED AS A PLAGIARISM CASE.
Reflection Point Your Thoughts
The Entrepreneurial Team
Based on the previous
opportunity journals, as an
entrepreneur, you have idea(s)
on the type of business that you
want to start.
 What skills do you need to
develop if you want to run
this visionary business?
 What skills can you develop
prior to the launch and early
stages of your company?
 To become an entrepreneur, I need to have clear set of goals along my way to success. I should be confident
and not afraid to take risks. I need to hone my learning skills in order to run this visionary business. I will have
to understand the fact that failure will be a part of entrepreneurship which will pave the way for success.
Moreover, I as an entrepreneur will have to be passionate about the venture and should adapt to any kind of
situation.
 As the owner of a business I need to acquire few skills before starting up. I need to do almost all the work by
myself as there will not be many employees in the beginning of the business. There will be different parts of a
business which needs supervision like project management, book- keeping and accountancy, leadership
presenting, delegation and sales. When the business is at the infant stage there will be a lot of responsibility
for me as the owner of the company so my dedication will count a lot in that regard.
Identify your personality types
using MBTI
(
http://www.humanmetrics.com
/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm) .
 Which character of your
personality type (see Otto
Kroeger’ caricature on Week
4 Light Reading Section in
LMS) that will be beneficial
for an entrepreneur?
 Which character of your
personality type that you
think can hinder your
entrepreneurial journey?
And how will you work on
them?
NOTE: You need to take the test
before you can answer this
question.
 I am more of a thinker which keeps me away from feeling and help me to avoid emotion in certain situation. I
also have a characteristic of judging people or situation rather than have a clear perception about it. I tend to
be an introvert which helps me in concentrating more on my business than any other external affairs. I have a
positive leadership quality which will enable to organise team work efficiently. My trait of personal
development will be beneficial in sustaining my entrepreneurial career.
 My trait of being intuitive and not sensible can be a hindrance in my entrepreneurial career. This is because
intuition does not work in practical life. To run a venture I cannot rely on my intuition as it can hamper the
growth of my business. I need to think and decide logically with reasoning and apply it in the proper field. If I
get swayed away by emotion, then my business will suffer as a result of that and development will be
stagnant in that case.
Think about the people you like
to join you in the founding team.
 What sorts of skills, values,
experiences that you are
looking for in the founding
members?
 How will you find these
members?
 Among the founding members I would like to have people who are punctual and passionate about the task.
They must have the determination to give their best in my business. They need to have the skills of risk
management, self- confidence, strategic thinking, ability to utilise their personal networks, ability to deal with
requirements and challenges and motivate others to achieve a common target. They should have a flair for
oral and written communication and must be an adept in decision making.
 I can find out these members either from my peer or acquaintance group. I can also advertise for the specific
posts in newspaper, leaflets and banners and get hold of the social media. Word of mouth can also be used in
this case. Text messages and emails can also sent to specific person if they seem to be interested in working
for my start- up venture. I can also talk to the colleges and universities to arrange for a campus placement in
order to seek fresh talent.
Create a simple staffing plan
(including founder and
employees) for your visionary
business.
NOTE: You can present a simple
table at the end of this journal
(see lecture notes 3). You might
need to explain your rationale.
Name of
program
mers
Jan Feb Mar Apr Ma
y
Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
Cassie
Collins
50
00
500
0
500
0
500
0
500
0
50
00
50
00
5000 5000 500
0
5000 5000 60000
Paul
Smith
56
00
560
0
560
0
560
0
560
0
56
00
56
00
5600 5600 560
0
5600 5600 67200
Davis
Brown
62
00
620
0
620
0
620
0
620
0
62
00
62
00
6200 6200 620
0
6200 6200 74400
Emily
Wright
53
00
530
0
530
0
530
0
530
0
53
00
53
00
5300 5300 530
0
5300 5300 63600
Laura
Davis
500
0
500
0
50
00
50
00
5000 5000 500
0
5000 5000 45000
Lily
George
54
00
540
0
540
0
540
0
540
0
54
00
54
00
5400 5400 540
0
5400 5400 64800
New
program
mer
50
00
50
00
5000 5000 500
0
5000 5000 35000
Help
desk
Ref: Bygrave, W., and Zacharakis, A., Entrepreneurship, 3nd Ed., Chapter 5, 6, John Wiley, 2014

Student Name:
Jack
White
45
00
450
0
450
0
450
0
450
0
45
00
45
00
4500 4500 450
0
4500 4500 54000
John
Thomas
40
00
400
0
400
0
400
0
400
0
40
00
40
00
4000 4000 400
0
4000 4000 48000
New help
desk
350
0
350
0
350
0
35
00
35
00
3500 3500 350
0
3500 3500 35000
Total
salary
36
00
0
360
00
395
00
445
00
445
00
49
50
0
49
50
0
49500 4950
0
495
00
49500 49500 54700
0
Marketing Strategies
For your visionary business, how do you learn about your customer?
 What secondary data can you use?
 What primary data will you collect?
NOTE: You might need to justify your selection of data.
For f For my visionary business, I need to learn about the customer lifecycle. It will refer to
the size and nature of relationship that my customer shares with the brand. I will use
all the data available like web analytics, behavioural data and profitability. I will have
to go to the customers rather than waiting for them to come. In this way I will be
able to identify the most valued customers and avail them within the life cycle. The
secondary data that I will use for my business can be the previous records regarding
the business environment in the area. My primary data will be the information
gathered by a random survey done in the area where I will set up my business.
Collection of these data will help me to understand the scope of my venture and its
future growth. By interviewing the local residents I can get a hint of the needs and
wants of the people in that area. This will help me to set up my business accordingly.
Product Strategy:
 List down core and augmented products (if any) of your
business.
 What is the value proposition of your product?
 Write down your product slogan/statement that clearly
identifies the value proposition.
 The core product of my business will be housing construction. The
augmented product will be other products related to the construction and
manufacturing business.
 The value proposition of my product will be availability of eco friendly
products at a reduced price compared to other products in the market. The
construction that I will make will be smarter an innovative, unlike the
traditional building sites in Iran. But I will not compromise the quality due to
the low price. This way I will be able to gain the trust of my customers. If
they will be satisfied with my product then they will purchase it time and
again.
 Product slogan- ‘make it straight, build it right’
The slogan is justified because by choosing the right products from my
company the customers will be able to make straight constructions, as in
there will be no defect.
Pricing Strategy:
 How will you price your product?
 Identify any strategy to influence your pricing from the
previous point above.
 I will keep the price of the product low to attract the customer. This will urge
them to purchase the product at a low price and they will come to purchase
it again. This will shift them from my competitors.
 I will use the strategy of setting the price in such a way so that profitability
can be maximized from the total market. To penetrate into the already
competitive market businessmen has to follow different strategies and I
have decided to use the policy of low pricing.
Place Strategy:
 How will you distribute your product?
NOTE: You might need to justify your selection of distribution
channel and distribution strategy in one to two paragraphs.
 I will distribute my product in Tehran, the capital of Iran. This is because the
business opportunity in Iran is very high as there are a number of
construction companies. Tehran has a highly competitive market but my
products will be unique which will offer a rapid potential for growth of the
housing construction industry. The use of new technological approach
through my enterprise will help me to conquer the construction and
manufacturing industry. The experience of a sustainable living and
commercial space will be an amazing experience for the customers. As this
innovative idea has not properly been implemented in the industry therefore
my products will be able to get extra attention. If I can earn good revenue
through proper distribution of my products it will be beneficial in expanding
my business.
Marketing Communication Strategy:
 What mix of advertising, PR, personal selling, and direct
marketing is most effective for your business?
 Identify any guerrilla marketing strategy that you can use for
your business.
 Identify how you use using technologies to improve the
efficiency of your marketing strategy.
 I will use the method of direct advertising and marketing which will not
include any retailers in between. I will give direct advertisement in various
media and try to promote my products by directly connecting with the
customers by emails and text messages. Then social media can also be used
to promote the products of a new venture. As my target audience includes
the young group too so social media will also prove to be effective.
 I will use innovative posters like the cracked floor of a building or the
staircase of a home suddenly disappearing. These pictorial representations
will be used on the public transports and as banners and hoardings. This can
come in digital form too by popping on the site of the websites that an
individual is surfing. Such pictorial representations will arouse curiosity
among the people and then there will be a question mark with the name of
my company, logo and address. They will come to find out about my store
and products in a different form.
 Technology has a great impact in the field of contemporary marketing. This
is because the organisations these days have more marketing options than
before and the customers are more involved in the sharing of marketing
information than earlier days. The technological tools include search
engines, paid social networking sites, digital banner ads, sponsored online
retail content, online ratings and reviews, blog posts and web development,
Ref: Bygrave, W., and Zacharakis, A., Entrepreneurship, 3nd Ed., Chapter 5, 6, John Wiley, 2014

Student Name:
paid and organic online video content, smart phone and tablet ad formats.
Marketing has become an important factor on the life of the consumer too. I
have used face book advertising and Google paid search results to increase
the personalized ad results.
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Ref: Bygrave, W., and Zacharakis, A., Entrepreneurship, 3nd Ed., Chapter 5, 6, John Wiley, 2014