INTRODUCTION
Business planning is vital to the success of a new business as it identifies clear directives for the company and the manner in which theys will be achieved. This document will present the business plan for Future Designs Agency, a unique small business that addresses both client needs and industry development through its management structure, marketing and operations.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
ASSET
An item of value which is owned by a business and is all used to benefit the business and could often be sold for cash if needs be.
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DELIVERABLES
the quantifiable goods or services that need to be provided at the various steps of a project as well as at the end of a project.
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LIABILITY
The debt of a business. Liabilities are what the business owes to suppliers or consumers.
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OWNERS EQUITY
The value of the business at a financial point according to the balance sheet.
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SLA
Service Level Agreement: sets the expectations between the service provider and the customer and describes the products or services to be delivered.
1.
THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Future Designs Agency is a local design agency started in Cape Town in 2020. The agency caters to mostly small businesses for packaging, illustration and collaborative project needs according to the client. Integrating illustration and packaging, designs are modern and make use of unique printmaking techniques such as linocut, screen printing and woodblock printing, providing personalised images and artwork. Inspiration for illustration is drawn from the local culture and the client audience is carefully considered for the most effective outcome. The use of original illustrations on packaging allows for brands to appeal to create longevity with their products since audiences are more likely to engage with product packaging that is visually appealing and relatable.
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Future Designs Agency is also passionate about educating and empowering young designers and illustrators so it offers training for printing techniques and illustration workshops facilitated by the in-house creatives. To keep creativity relevant, the agency offers young illustrators a platform to showcase their creative style to clients through the online portfolio so that clients can benefit from unique and innovative designs while introducing graduate designers to the industry.
2.
THE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Ownership will be a partnership between three creatives; 2 illustration specialists and a packaging specialist. These founders will maintain the vision of the agency in broad operational decisions and art direction (Haag, 2013).
The studio will be managed by a studio manager to be hired with 5-10 years of agency experience and a minimum of 2 years in a management role. The studio manager will oversee the logistical flow of client briefings and SLA for timings, deliverables and financial commitments. They will be required to be good at communication and time management and work alongside a marketing manager that will manage the agency’s digital presence and marketing strategy for gaining clients. A highly organised traffic manager with 2-5 years of experience will be hired to manage daily tasks of creatives and manage the timings set by the studio manager while liaising with printers and production to reach deadlines (Mckeever, 2019).
The founders will form part of the creative team that oversees the allocation of relevant creatives with specific projects and mentor the designers through the design process for the optimum response to client briefings. Illustrators will be able to work on a freelance or contractual basis with leadership and mentorship opportunities available after gaining experience. This encourages a “Each one Teach one” framework that creates a community of practice amongst creatives for knowledge sharing and wider job opportunities while mentoring leadership qualities (Casavant & Cherkowski, 2018: 75).
The founding illustration specialists will be creative directors to 2-3 junior illustrators working collaboratively to encourage growth and creative exploration. The founding packaging specialist will facilitate training and operation of printing techniques (screenprinting, linocut, woodblock, etc.) with a print production specialist that will be hired. The print production manager will oversee the maintenance and consumables of the equipment and provide assistance to creatives using the equipment.
3.
MARKETING & OPERATIONS
Future Designs Agency aspires to assist young illustrators who are eager to learn, and in order for us to reach them, we must employ certain marketing methods. We as an agency are strongly motivated by that goal, and to encourage, promote, and educate incoming young illustrators through the usage of packaging, since packaging has evolved into simply fulfilling a requirement to become fundamental to a brand's messaging as well as consumer experience.
The first step in promoting our agency to the general public is to create social media content for people to notice or learn about it, video tutorials for our printing techniques training sessions, and live streams across all social media and video sharing platforms such as YouTube to make the content easily accessible to the audience. We'll also use Direct messages on sites like Instagram to reach out to other successful businesses and communicate with new customers or illustrators who could be interested in our products and services, as that's where our core target demographic is most active.
The second stage is to work with a well-known influencer who has a strong social media presence. Various roles will be to assist us as the agency in publicizing our products and services through their networks in order to attract more clients and young illustrators who may be interested in working with us or cooperating with us.
4.
FINANCIAL
PLAN
The financial plan for Future Designs Agency includes the income of the business, routine expenditure, cash flow, the balance sheet and break-even analysis as supported documents (Stowers, J. 2020).
Since Future Designs has been operating for one year and is still considered a small local business, they tend to review their finances annually. Within the year of operations, Future Designs Agency was able to generate a profit and loss. This would include their income/sales (also known as revenue) and purchases or costs of materials/goods. The sales less the cost of materials result in the gross margin, which reflects the general profit of the business (Betenson, T. 2021). Once the gross margin is determined, operating income needs to be considered. Operating income is calculated through gross margin less operating expenses. Operating expenses for Future Designs Agency includes salaries of management, designers, rent, stationery and equipment.
The cash flow statement is fairly similar to the profit and loss statement of the business. The cash flow statement explains the movement of income and expenses in a business on a monthly basis. However the cash flow statement is slightly more specific, as it singles out where money is going or where it is coming from, projecting a golden thread within the business (Betenson, T. 2021). The cash flow can also determine or create estimations in the business, like hiring new staff, purchasing new equipment or pushing more money into advertising etc. (Stowers, J. 2020). Why a cash flow statement would be important for a small business like Future Designs Agency, is because it would aid in budgeting, by possibly compensating the youth program by rewarding the young talent, upgrading equipment and boost advertisement with paid social media ads to boost clientele.
The financial position of Future Designs Agency would be explained through a balance sheet. The balance sheet is made up of the assets, liabilities and owner’s equity. The balance sheet reflects what is earned and owed at that particular time in the business period (Betenson, T. 2021).
The final element of a financial plan is the break-even analysis being recorded, which reflects how much sales Future Designs Agency needs to make in order to break-even at the end of the financial year and cover all their existing expenses (Betenson, T. 2021). The break-even point can be determined by ratios of the product. Those ratios are the price of the product and the contribution cost being the cost of the product and the price of the service required to make the product. The result reflects the markup of the product and if Future Design will break-even.
LIST OF REFERENCES
Betenson, T. 2021. How to Write a Financial Plan for Your Small Business – 2021 Guide. Bplans. Online. Available: https://articles.bplans.com/the-key-elements-of-the-financial-plan/ [23 October 2021]
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Casavant, M.D., Cherkowski, S. 2018. Effective leadership: Bringing mentorship and creativity to the principalship. NASSP Bulletin. 85 (625): 71-81. Online. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238435428_Effective_Leadership_Bringing_
Mentoring_and_Creativity_to_the_Principalship [24 October 2021]
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Haag, A.B. 2013. Writing a successful business plan. Workplace health & safety. 1 (61): 19-29. Online. Available: . https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/216507991306100104
(24 October 2021)
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Mckeever, M.P. 2019. How to write a business plan. Nolo. Online. Available: https://books.google.co.za/books? [24 October 2021]
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Stowers, J. 2020. How to Write the Financial Section of a Business Plan. Business News Daily. Online. Available: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10644-write-financial-section-business-plan.html [23 October 2021]