1. To finish my Undergraduate Degree in Business Entrepreneurship by the end of next year.
2. To learn the trade of making savory pastries and Cornish pasties from people already in the Business in England
3. To open my own Pasty Bakehouse Business in New York City
Strengths and Weaknesses
1. My strengths that will help me finish my undergraduate degree are:
- I have excellent time management skills. I am able to earn an income from part time work as well as have enough time to study and learn as well as socialize
- I have a great job with flexible hours and high income for the amount of time I work
- I have great contacts with friends, family and professors to help me accomplish this goal.
- I am strong minded and focused on completing this goal.
- I have a very business thinking mind
My weaknesses that may hinder me completing my undergraduate degree:
- I have no financial aid given to me due to my income
- I always have to be in control and sometimes that can affect my ability to perform tasks.
- I do not have the best writing skills
- I am impatient at times and need to finish tasks immediately
- I don't always listen to everyone around me
2. My strengths that will help me learn the trade of making savory pastries and Cornish pasties from people already in the business in England are:
- I am not afraid of the unknown but excited to learn and eager.
- I am punctual and have a friendly warming personality to gets along with the right people
- I have contacts through friends of friends with pastry chefs in England who know the art of the trade.
- I have plenty background knowledge from growing up in England.
- I have a very creative mind
My weaknesses are:
- I am not the best at cooking
- I am impatient to wait for food to cook
- I like to make up my own rules when it comes to cooking
- I struggle to keep a positive frame of mind when something goes wrong first time
3. My strengths that will help me to open my own Pasty Bakehouse business in New York City are:
- I have already built relationships with possible investors
- I have a very strong idea that I want to fulfill
- I have great contacts to help me active this goal.
- I have a good background on the fast food industry in NYC
- I think realistically and can keep very focused.
- I have great experience and knowledge in customer service
- I have a great sense of what consumer tastes are like
My weaknesses are:
- I am very young and still have a lot to learn about opening a business in NYC.
- I am rigid in my way of thinking and change is sometimes hard to accept
- Sometimes I go with what my parents think rather than what I think
- I can be very anxious and up tight.
Detailed Action Plan
Completing my Undergraduate Degree
- Finish the 5 classes this semester with grades of B or better
- Sign up for and take 2 classes in Winter term of Finance 3000 and an elective and complete with grades B or better.
- Sign up for and take 5 classes in Spring term all that are Business Entrepreneurial and complete with grades of B or better
- Sign up for and take 5 classes in the fall for the final 3 entrepreneurial classes, an elective plus BPL 5000.
- Work at least 2 nights a week until I finish my degree. If I miss a week, make up the hours in another week
- Study Fridays and Sundays or at least 2 days a week.
Learn the trade of making savory pastries or Cornish pasties
- Go to England in beginning of June 2013
- Spend 2 months in England
- Go to Cornwall where the pasties are made and learn the trade for 6 weeks
- Stay with my friends Andy and Byrony Lawson in Cornwall
- Meet James, Michelin Star chef in Bournemouth, my hometown to help me perfect my skills before I head back to the US.
- Spend one day a week whilst finishing my degree to make pasties at home and experiment with new recipes
Open my own Pasty Bakehouse Business in NYC
- Finish my degree by end of 2013
- Learn the trade of making pasties in Summer 2012
- Look to recruit chefs in Summer 2013 for business the following year in NYC
- Devise recipes throughout 2012 experimenting weekly making pasties at home
- Formulate an initial Business Plan
- Keep working 2 to 3 nights a week to earn an income to live
- Look to sell the house in Florida for capital for initial business set up in January 2014 or look to investors already established.
- Find an already operating kitchen that is used part time for nightly banquets that is already health and safety certified to rent and use during the day to operate a delivery based pasty bakehouse in January 2014.
- Create a name, logo, menu, and website to begin
- Recruit employees. Maybe begin with friends for initial research purposes
- Train employee(s) for delivery and making the product
- Research local businesses and use contacts to focus on lunch trade for marketing and research, to give free samples with surveys and questionnaires about the product.
- Put advertisements on social media like Groupon and Social Eatz for Delivery
- Get local press to taste the new product or pasties to get press coverage.
- Analyze questionnaires and surveys to get feedback and to help establish target market. Give out samples in different districts of NYC.
- Update business plan to reflect research and development
- Experiment with changing the menu.
- Look towards other market segments and increasing sales.
- If the idea and product is liked and successful, reflect the findings in my business plan and have a full detailed plan that can be presented to investors with financial aspects of the company
- Look for a location to open the bakehouse that is low in rent and affordable.
The plan for opening a business is extremely long. Here above I have bulleted my thoughts as of now. I am sure there are many things along the way that I hope to achieve and they may hinder my plan to open my own Bakehouse.
For those of you who do not know. A Cornish pasty is a savory shortcrust pastry that is filled with many different types of meats and vegetables that is baked in the oven. The traditional in England is the beef, potato, carrot, onion, suede and pepper. I am looking to take this concept and develop it further to new tasty exciting recipes that look outside the box and really focus on American comforts and alternative ideas.
The structure of your post is very organized and I can already tell that you will never have trouble graduating college. I hope your own Pasty Bakehouse Business in New York City works out. In my opinion out of the weaknesses that you wrote, you said its hard for you to accept change. but that can be your positive side because sometimes changes is not always a good thing. Its hard for you to change because you were putting so much effort into it.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a very organized plan in your head to obtain your goals to own your own pastry shop. I believe many of your weaknesses you will learn to overcome. I believe with time and experience we all become wiser and bad habits can be fixed if we want to rid ourselves of them. Just remember that the food industry is strong, competitive, and ever changing around the world. I hope you do something completely unique with your shop which I am sure you will obtain and you will blow the competition out of the water. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteYou really have clear objectives as to what you want to do to achieve your goals. I think you won't have any problems in your because it looks like your strengths are more powerful than you weaknesses. And its obvious that no one is perfect, so its very normal for everyone to have some sort of weaknesses in their lives. But since your so experienced in what you want to pursue it won't be too difficult for you to become successful.
ReplyDeleteYour career and graduation objectives sound great! It is also rare to come across an individual in our age group who is so certain about what they want and plan to do in the future! Especially when living in the present is so hard on its own, it give you a lot of respect! Change is hard on everyone and some are more adapt to it than others. However, you seem to be adapting very well, being an international student and living in NYC. Wish you the best of luck and hope to visit your pastry shop in the near future!
ReplyDeleteYour plans are well organized, clear and detailed. Especially, you are already preparing to open a small business as you are majoring in Entrepreneurship , knowing how to cook , and having a creative idea for the business. I think your knowledge in Business and culinary can be a fantastic combination that can lead to success for your future business. Good luck !
ReplyDeleteYou know exactly what you are going to do in the upcoming years. I disagree on one of the weakness that you listed - "I like to make up my own rules when it comes to cooking." I don't know much about cooking, but this maybe an advantage. Setting your own rules when cooking may differentiate your food from others; making yours unique from the rest out there. I hope everything works out.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the best plans i read. You are very organized and know exactly what you want and how you will go about it. This is how I know you will be successful.
ReplyDeleteAdam, it's pretty evident that you've got a sound idea of what you wish to achieve. Your action plan is detailed and conveys the notion that this is something you're certain you want to do. My suggestion for you moving forward is continue learning more and more about business management because one can never know too much, and follow your instincts!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very structured plan of action. I have no doubt about you achieving any goal you have planned in your life. Take your weaknesses as a strength because in order to become a better person you must be able to make your weakness into a strength. Good luck on your business and let me know when you open your Pasty business in NYC!
ReplyDelete