Life's a Pitch

Before doing our presentation we decided that it would be a good idea to plan what would be said for every slide, this would mean that whoever was speaking would know exactly what to say, and if they forgot then someone else could ad to the comment. So here is what we will say.......... 

1. Pop up shop

As we are a small business we want start off by selling our craft through the setting up of a pop up shop. This is a cheap way  of getting our products out there and allows us to manage out stock. We would take out pop up to shop to craft fairs and print fairs to target buyers. The idea of flash retailing allows us to not be held down to one location. Especially as we are a new business, we may not know straight away who are biggest target audience is. Other than our pop up shop, we want to create website similar to an etsy shop, to sell our products. This will bring us an online presence and increase our chances of becoming a recognised design company. 

2. Creating a buzz

A new business needs strategy to get people talking about them. We thought we would create something personal linked to our pop up shop. For example,  we wanted to have a tea and biscuit stand to drawn customers in. This also creates a friendly environment. We would also offer on the spot deals to keep sales going. Our branding is important and could create us design opportunities  Everything for the pop up shop sign to the van it comes will needs to communicate our design company. 

3. Staying in touch

Nowadays, it isn't enough to sell your products in a shop, you need to ensure an online presence is ever evolving  Networking is key to keeping design alive. Creating a blog in which customers can follow will keep them updated and interested. Similarly, setting up Titter and linkedIn accounts will build a foundation for our business. 

4. Company Costs

This is the tricky part. We decided that we want to be partnership company as is a fair business approach and each individual is equal. We would take up a young persons start up loan of £2,500 which will gives money to buy our equipment, programmes and resources  At first we will work from home as we might not have enough money to hire a studio. The wages to begin with will be split commission. We will need to buy software, for example Photoshop and Illustrator which will cost us £560.00. We will also need to take into account petrol costs and buying or hiring a vehicle. 

5. Draw Something

(see slide) 

We want to produce products such as posters, stationary, phone cases, basically novelty gifts. We want to mainly keep our products hand crafted and illustration best. We want to use both type and image to engage customers.

6. Product Range

The key for us selling as many products as possible, is applying a pattern over a a number of products. These may be screen-printed  fabric printed or digitally printed. Each designer in our team will take part in creating patterns and ranges.

7. Responsibilities 

As we are a partnership business, we have decided to share the responsibilities and appoint each designer to their job. Obviously these may cross over at times but it is a starting point to our small company.

8. Website

Depending how well our company will take up, a website will be created. The website will contain an online shop as another form of selling. A contact area where people can reach us. An exhibition and events page where what we are doing can be updated regularly  Also a work page will be displayed, showing possible clients. 

9. Existing competition

As a small design company we are going to face a lot of competition  However, identifying these will help us face the competition. Businesses like paperchase, pylons and Jonny's cupcakes are where we see ourself. Obviously this is a long time goal. 

Different Types of Businesses

Partnerships

A partnership is the relationship existing between two or more persons who join to carry on a trade or business. Each person contributes money, property, labor or skill, and expects to share in the profits and losses of the business.

A partnership must file an annual information return to report the income, deductions, gains, losses, etc., from its operations, but it does not pay income tax. Instead, it "passes through" any profits or losses to its partners. Each partner includes his or her share of the partnership's income or loss on his or her tax return.

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Partnerships

In a partnership, the partners provide the capital and share the responsibility of running the business on agreement between its members. 

Partnerships are common in the same services provided by sole traders but a partnership would have the advantage of being able to raise more money because each partner could make a financial contribution. The liability for any debts of the business would be the partners.

Limited A limited company is registered at Companies House. It must operate within the Companies Act 2006and is governed by its own articles of association (companies registered before 1.10.2009 may have both a memorandum of association and articles of association). There are different types of limited company but they all have these qualities. Once registered a company has corporate personality. It is a legal entity (or legal person) with its own legal rights and obligations, separate and distinct from those of its members. The company's property is its own and is not treated as belonging to the company's shareholders and directors. The company itself can enter into contracts, employ people, sue and be sued and can be liable if it commits criminal offences. This has many practical implications. Every company has a constitution in the form of articles (or, for older companies) memorandum and articles.

http://www.companylawclub.co.uk/topics/what_is_a_limited_company.shtml

Corporative Co-operative businesses are owned and run by and for their members, whether they are customers, employees or residents. As well as giving members an equal say and share of the profits, co-operatives act together to build a better world. Co-operatives are a flexible business model. They can be set up in different ways, using different legal structures, depending on what works for the members. The definition of a co-operative business is that they are owned and run by the members - the people who benefit from the co-operative's services. Although they carry out all kinds of business, all co-operative businesses have core things in common.

http://www.uk.coop/what-co-operative

Life's a Pitch// What we are about

 The thing we all have in common is that we want to have a hands on design approach, as a team, we are all wanting to create craft based design. As a result of this we want to pick a name that reflects this strategy. Here are some key points which we need to communicate. 

• Small business
• Hand craft products
• Pattern design
• Product ranges
• Pop up shops
• Screen printing
• Online presence
• Novelty products