Question

Stephen Hall is a 25 year-old with an entrepreneurial dream and an eclectic background. His dream is to start a travel agency that specializes in sports-related trips. These would include travel packages to attend professional sports events throughout the world and multi-country tours that are built around specific sporting competitions. Stephen knows there are travel agencies that already do this, but he feels it is a growing market and his knowledge of sports and his ability to work well with customers should help him be successful. He estimates he needs $150,000 bankable business plans for entrepreneurial ventures 236 to start this business, most of which will go into marketing expenses. His father has agreed to give him $50,000 and now he is writing a plan to show to potential investors. Stephen’s background includes interest and experience in many sports. He was an excellent wrestler in high school and college where he majored in computer science and graduated with a 2.8 grade-point average. After graduating, he worked at a storefront travel agency that had no particular specialty. He currently is a customer-service rep for a regional airline at the major airport near his home. While in high school and college, Stephen held many part-time jobs including running the deep-fat fryer in a fast food restaurant, working for a moving company, and being a security guard at a movie theater. Without overstating his qualifications, Stephen wants to point out his knowledge, relevant work experience, and personal skills that will make potential investors confident in supporting his venture. But he feels somewhat defensive talking about his background. His school career was not stellar and his jobs have been largely minimum wage and clerical. Stephen is considering not including a resume in his plan and avoiding discussion of his own background in the text of his business plan. He is also wonders if there is some way to define his business strategy that would better match his qualifications or if he can describe his experience and skills in the best light without exaggerating. 1. Playing the role of a potential investor, what do you consider Stephen’s strengths and weaknesses? 2. What kind of resume should Stephen prepare? 3. Write a one paragraph description of Stephen that stresses how his qualifications and abilities could make this venture successful.

Answer 1

Answer 1:

As an investor, Stephen hall is having the following strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

1. Stephen is from the sports background and this will help him in acquiring the attention of the customers as far as positioning of the business is concerned. It will help him in easily connecting with the demands of the likeminded customers.

2. Stephen worked at a storefront travel agency and thus he knows how to plan the tour packages and how to deal with the customers. Moreover, his experience will also help him in customising the travel tours according to the group of customers.

3. Since Stephen is a customer-service rep for a regional airline at the major airport, he knows how to behave and finalise the deal with the customer. Moreover, he also knows the different requirements and expectations of the customers from the service providers.

4. Citing the experience of Stephen, it can be said that he is well aware about what values the most to the customers as far as services are concerned when they plan an outdoor tours.

Weaknesses:

1. Stephen is planning for a much focused business plan which would definitely limit the kind of customers which he would be getting. Many customers plan for a group tour and most of the times these tours are directed towards the holiday spots and not the sporting events.

2. Stephen has not held any managerial position in his previous experiences and hence he is required to take the training for the same in the specialised category of business.

3. Investment constraint is the problem for Stephen. He is having a limited amount for investment and is required to borrow the larger amount which he has estimated to be $150000. This is just an estimate and the investment may go beyond the requirement.

Answer 2:

Stephen’s resume should include the blueprint of the business plan where the business strategy, operation strategy, marketing strategy and financial strategy should be included. It should also include the flowchart for the various processes and the operations to be carried out. The utilisation of the estimated loan to be borrowed and the estimated allocation of the resources should also be mentioned in the resume. Resume should emphasize on the strengths of Stephen and the plans for overcoming the weaknesses if any. Plan should include the organisational chart as well.

Answer 3:

Stephen is a computer science graduate and can understand the technicalities of making a business plan. The aspects which he is unaware about, he can take the specialised training for the same. He is ready to invest $50000 and thus it can be said that he is more serious about the project and is not working on the trial and error basis. He is having an experience and interst in many sports which emphasises on his knowledge of the various sports and this will be helpful in explaining the customers various packages. Since Stephen worked at a storefront travel agency, he knows the process of planning a tour and the expectations of the customers opting for the package. Since Stephen is a customer-service rep for a regional airline at the major airport, he can easily understand the feelings and the doubts of the customer and can help them in their queries more respectfully. Citing the other experiences of Stephen at fast food restaurant and working for a moving company, and being a security guard at a movie theatre suggests that he is a hard working person having a very good knowledge of working on the field and dealing with the variety of customers at a time.

These qualities of Stephen will definitely help him in attracting the customers and setting the business in an appropriate manner.