Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

I'm working with my aunt on her start up process, I am getting a lot of meaningful information. Right now my aunts renting out two different houses and building a new house from the ground up, by renting these houses out she'll develop more than enough revenue to make sure she can afford the restaurant and still have enough money to fall back on. This is actually a very stressful project she's going through at this point but she continues to teach me a lot about the whole start up process, its a very personal and helpful approach to my topic for me.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  

I'm related to my mentor, trust me this hasn't affected her being hard on me when it comes to completing my task in fact I think she is even harder on me because of the fact that Im her niece. It took some convincing at first I had to explain to her what my whole project was all about and I had to promise I would slack on my work duties and assignments just because she's my aunt.

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship? 

How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person?I'm very comfortable with her, I have learned a lot more about her and seen a more deep personal side,it's been a wonderful experience so far and I'm looking forward to more amazing moments with my mentor. I have been spending every other weekend with her and we have been going over restaurant updates and possible vendors and she has been helping me out on editing my business plan for my personal component.

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

I feel as though my mentor was a lot more comfortable this time around, she seemed to have been more in to the interview and more genuine. I could tell from her tone of voice and the way she looked when she talked about her reasons fro starting a restaurant, it's a wonderful and inspirational thing watching people talk about something they love. I feel like I need to ask more in depth questions and some more follow up questions, its just that my mentor tends to add on to the question I had originally asked which is amazing and just means I need to come up with better questions. I will probably research more regarding types of interview questions.

Here is the link to the interview with my mentor:

https://soundcloud.com/michelle-985280227/interview-2-mentor

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

 

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

Yes, I currently have a mentor and our interview is scheduled for this Saturday.

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

My most specific areas of research would be the basic ambiance of the restaurant. By ambiance I mean lighting, vibe, waiter/waitress attitude, music, smells, colors and how these factors affect the customer. Another area would be the location of the restaurant, understanding if there's a heavy traffic flow, who is your competition, if there is enough parking and how all of these factors will contribute to the whole "make or break" factor of the restaurant. A third point of interest would be the business plan which at this point is the most important thing to have well planned out so as of now I have three areas I find most promising. 

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

I need to go back to the cal poly library because I have been researching some books online regarding the restaurant start up process and many of them seem very promising. 

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

"What is the most essential quality/process needed to ensure a successful restaurant?"

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I plan to spend at least thirty hours working on my very own business plan. A business plan is by definition, "A written document that describes in detail how a new business is going to achieve its goals. A business plan will layout a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint." This whole process will involve a lot of research and tedious writing. I will be thinking of my very own type of restaurant whether it be vegetarian, fast food or dine in. The business plan will consist of:

An executive summary- which is just a run through of what the business is about. 

General company description- this includes a mission statement and goals of the restaurant. 

Products and services- which may include pictures and descriptions of products that will be available in the restaurant regarding the quality of the food. 

Marketing plan- include statistics and sources that will predict my projected sales. Also includes target group, benefits about my product and other strategies. 

Operational Plan- Where services are produced, type of location the restaurant is going to be in, legal documents, workers, inventory. 

Management and Organization- The basic manager of the business and their credentials.

Personal Financial statement- personal assets, stockholders, liabilities (this section is mainly just to show to the banks if you're planning on pulling out a huge loan, so this probably wont apply to me or I might just make a hypothetical financial statement).

Start Up expenses and Capitalization- This is a basic estimate of how much money I will end up putting in the restaurant. 

Financial Plan- The title says it all, there will most likely be a twelve month chart based on the projected profit and loss. 

Appendices- includes all types of information used to write up my business plan.

Refining the plan- includes a restatement of all sections. 

Click the link below to download the document that I'm basing my business plan off of, its basically a summary of all of the sections included in a business plan.

A view at how a business plan is written (click to download)

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

 I will be able to provide my house teacher with a bibliography of the different types of websites and books I used to write my business plan as well as biweekly progress reports on the actual plan and if that isn't enough I could have my mentor monitor me while I'm working on the business plan and sign off on how many hours I had spent on it. 

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

I feel like writing my own business plan will allow me to learn more about each specific step needed to build up a restaurant and it will feel more realistic to me as if I was actually going to start up this restaurant. Giving me more of a hands on and personal approach to my senior topic

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert? 

My mentor is Karina Reel and she currently works at UEI College working with students and other employees. At this point her workplace doesn't reflect her expertise. And as she sees it, it doesn't reflect her actual potential either. She went to Cal Poly and studied business administration with a finance major in order to become an entrepreneur. She had started working at UEI when she was younger and got started receiving constant promotions until she worked her way up to the limit and now she feels like she's ready to go ahead and take on her original life plan to start her restaurant. So far she's done her best to thoroughly explain to me the basic "mechanics" of business start ups and I feel like she is passing on her knowledge to the best of her ability. I can see the dedication. 

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

1. What was one of the most important things you would say you learned from you finance major?

2.  Have you ever tried doing something similar to this restaurant start up in the past?

3. What first sparked your interest for the field of business administartion?

4. What are some other classes you took back in college that you would say helped you with planning a business?

5. If you were given the opportunity, would you go back in time and work on starting up this restaurant earlier?