Building the Plan

I attended a "Pub Talk" last Wednesday put on by the Florence Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Development Council of Oregon, Lane Community College, and something called RAIN (entrepreneur network of some sort with a convoluted name). This Pub Talk was the first in a series after the pilot last Fall and I found it most useful.

The RAIN dude, David, a young man with a lot of know-how on business models, walked through the Business Model Canvas with us using various examples and then challenged us to complete one for ourselves. I found a good template at https://strategyzer.com/ that matches the one that David used.
https://assets.strategyzer.com/assets/resources/the-business-model-canvas.pdf  is the template and https://assets.strategyzer.com/assets/resources/designing-crystal-clear-business-model-canvases.pdf is a guide for completing it. 

When asked if anyone would like to share their roughed out Canvas, I shared mine. While it seems like a fairly simple business--a vendor cart that sells custom ice cream sandwiches--all the elements are there as there would be for a larger business.

The Value Propositions or "what you do for each customer segment" would be:

• Provide a small range of custom ice cream sandwiches that are made with local ice cream and cookies to the crowds at the local Florence farmer's market and street fairs, and for local delivery to neighborhoods.

The Customer Relationships or "how the customer interacts with you" varies with each customer segment:

• At the farmers' market or street fairs, customers would approach my bicycle/tricycle ice cream cart and make a choice from the 3-4 options laid out on a chalkboard and purchase that choice with cash. (credit/debit?)
• Though a website and/or Facebook schedule, allow delivery orders for specific ice cream sandwich types for specific neighborhoods on specific days of the week. Based on a production schedule, certain types of ice cream sandwiches would be created. 
• For local scheduled events, such as meetings, parties, weddings, etc., a pre-arranged selection and amount of custom ice cream sandwiches would be provided for a set price. 

Channels are specific means to market to my customer segments and how I'm going to get the product to them:

• Street fairs and farmer's markets would be advertised on the Facebook page and local Facebook pages to announce where I planned to be and when. The sandwiches would be sold from the freezer on my tricycle. 
• Deliveries to the various neighborhoods would be on a schedule. For example, Coast Village and Florentine Estates on Monday, Greentrees on Tuesday, etc. Individual orders would be packaged up and there would be some extras for those who stop me along the way.  I would deliver on my tricycle. 
• The tricycle would be used for local weddings and events, where it was possible to ride the tricycle there. If business improved, maybe a trailer to haul the tricycle around might be an idea to pursue.

https://lanesbdc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/SBDC-SPRING-SCHEDULE-2018-FOR-WEB-1.pdf

https://strategyzer.com/


I'd like to say that it was the realization that I was selling something to people that was not good for them that gave me a change of heart, but what it probably really was was the look on Keith's face when I tried to explain that I wasn't really interested in making money or working that hard. I guess it was an insult to the struggles of the small business person who is putting in the long hours to make her business a success that I really didn't want to put in those hours anymore. Like it would be easy for me. Either way, I'm going to put this dream away for right now and see if I get serious about working hard again.

Things Rarely Go Exactly As Planned

There is a term in the project management world that I think is one of those terms that are such good metaphors for life. The term is "progressive elaboration." My take on the definition as I taught to project management certification students was that every project needs a plan, whether that plan was just a rough outline or a detailed spreadsheet full of minute steps. But, just as important as the plan is the understanding that the plan will change. The reason that it will change, no matter the amount of detailed planning, is that our perspective changes as we move into the project. We begin to see things that weren't visible before. Opportunities that weren't on the table when we were planning are presented to us. Roadblocks that weren't even near the road during the planning are now front and center.

My plan to build and to run an ice cream bicycle/tricycle was more on the rough outline end of the planning spectrum. More, actually, into a just-an-idea realm. This was by design, as I wanted to see what the process was going to throw at me and just roll with it.

On Thursday, I began taking my first steps into the plan. As I was returning from taking the computer that Pam's mom left us to the repair shop to have reimaged, I stopped into the Florence Chamber of Commerce and began asking questions about how to start a business in Florence.  This led me to the executive director's office--she had just walked in with her two little doggies--who gave me the name of a guy at the city who was in charge of getting new business owners through the process. I left him a message once I got home. I found out that the city offices are in the process of moving to a temporary building so it might be a few days before I get a return call.

The second stop on the way home from the computer tech was BJ's Ice Cream at 29th and Hwy 101. I had heard from the other store downtown that this location was where I should do my asking. The young gal didn't know when the owner, Keith, would be around, but I was welcome to write him a note. As I was taste-testing a scoop of Oregon something or other that had blackberry swirls in it, I wrote Keith a short note about my business idea to give him the opportunity to choose whether he wanted to talk to me or not.  Just as I was about to pull into our driveway, which is about three blocks away, I got a call from Keith. We talked for a bit and he seemed excited about the idea, as it's one that he has had for awhile, but didn't have the peoplepower to make it work.

The change that I am wrestling with is that Keith has a 3-wheeled Cushman, such as the one pictured below, and a cold-plate freezer that goes with it that he mentioned could be part of the deal. 

1970 Cushman--not the actual vehicle

While I still want the bicycle/tricycle to be part of the plan, I don't have the capital to make that happen right at the moment. Leasing the Cushman from Keith might be a solid way to see if there is a market for custom ice cream sandwiches and enough of one to earn the capital needed for my bicycle/tricycle.