My ABZ Plan

       ABZ Planning contains your experimental Plan A, the things you are doing and learning right now, a Plan B, which is the plan you pivot to if Plan A doesn't exactly work out.  And then you have your Plan Z, which is your fallback, your lifeboat.  

       My Plan A is my current plan.  I plan to finish getting my degree in Entrepreneurship at both Haywood and Western Carolina by 2020.  Then from there I will start looking into opening my shop.  On the side right now I am learning recipes and icing techniques to build my skills because my shop will only host cupcakes starting out.  

       My Plan B is kind of in the same ballpark, but not really.  Staying within the realm of owning my own shop and getting to be creative, I might change my idea from cupcakes to bath products.  This was my original idea when I took Entrepreneurship back in high school, but then I thought I would like cupcakes better.  But if cupcakes don't work out then, I feel like I could make this idea work as well.  I know how to make the products I would sell such as bath bombs and bubble bars, and I feel like I'm talented at coming up with cute ideas that the public would buy into.  I would still follow my original idea of getting a 4 year degree in Entrepreneurship, but open up a bath products store instead of cupcakes. 

       My final, unwavering, Plan Z is being a real estate agent.  After I finish my degree, I plan to attend real estate school.  Real estate is something I also enjoy and I feel as though this would be a good profession for me to have while saving and starting up my business and also to fallback on if my businesses don't work out.  After I become a licensed real estate agent, I will find work selling homes to finance myself and the savings for my business.  Yes, I realize I might still need to get a business loan, but having a substantial amount saved up myself is what I want to do.  If my cupcake shop doesn't ever work out, then I have this other career I enjoy doing as well to fallback on.  

My Baseline Career Plan

My baseline career plan so far is to finish the Entrepreneurship program with an Entrepreneurship degree at Haywood Community College by 2018 and then transfer to Western Carolina University to get a Bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurship by 2020.  I’m hoping these two degrees will help me learn everything I need to know to be successful in starting my own business because of right now, I have no idea where to start.  This career plan is a completely new idea to me because as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be involved in either forensics or marketing.  Some things have happened in the past two years that made me have to change my career plans to something I can manage and finish online.  I really feel like running my own business would be perfect for me because I like to be in charge of everything and feel like I have control and I feel like I have some really good ideas.  Also while, I’m in college, I would really like to work on myself and make me my best asset, like The Start-Up of You said.  Before I start my own business though, I am going to go through real estate school so I can have something to do while starting my business up and so I can have something to fall back on if my business doesn't work out.  It’s said that the best businesses workout because the owner didn’t completely quit everything to do it.  They still had their normal job while starting out and thought practically about their business ideas and concepts not to mention the functionality and the reality of whether they would make it in their field or not.  To successfully start a business, you have to have enough money saved up to make it a long period of time without a regular salary coming in every two weeks.  From research I’ve done, you need at least 3 months of living money saved up, if not more, not to mention money for the building, furnishings, supplies, marketing, etc.  I feel like if I did real estate, which is something I also enjoy, I would make enough money to save to support me while I followed my dreams.  My main goal is to start a cupcake shop.  I love baking and find it very relaxing and something I feel like I would enjoy making my life, especially the decorating part.  I also feel like a cute, little bakery is something the Canton and Waynesville area need.  The closet cupcake shops are all the way in Asheville and it would also bring life to either Canton or Waynesville's downtown areas.  My bakery would be called Babycakes and sell a lot of different flavors and designs.  I have plans for the classic flavors like chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet but I also want fun flavors and seasonal items such as carrot cake, pumpkin cupcakes, and lemon cupcakes.  From there, I would like to expand into working with cakepops and cookies, as well as catering and weekly classes for kids and their parents.  I feel like starting out, it’s best not to overload my plate and to also see if I’m even successful enough in the first place that people would want me to cater their weddings and parties.  If I continue to work hard enough maybe I'll start a chain of Babycake Bakeries and see where it takes me from there.  I would like to have Babycakes up and running within three years of graduating college.  As soon as I graduate, get a job as a real estate agent, and save up enough money to live off of along with my boyfriend, or husband as he would be by then, and use for the business, I will start presenting my business plan to the Haywood County Commerce and getting licenses.  If that doesn’t work out, I also have ideas for businesses like a bath store similar to Lush Cosmetics or an arts and crafts place like Mrs. Arty Pants.  I’m very creative and enjoy projects I get to be imaginative on.  The bath store would be called Ivory Rose and I haven’t completely thought about the art place yet.  But as of now I plan to stick with my cupcake store idea.  Besides, Babycakes is such a cute name that doesn’t need to go to waste.  And if it all fails completely, which I feel like it won’t, I’ll still have my real estate background to fall back on.   

Dream Job Analysis

     The people that I believe have a dream job are actually sisters.  Their names are Katherine Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne.  Owners of Georgetown Cupcakes, they have the kind of career I would love to have some day except maybe the reality show.  They started with just one bakery in Washington D.C. and have now expanded to several other locations and have become bestselling authors as well.  I feel like their competitive advantage comes from the quality of their cupcakes as well as the publicity from their TV show, D.C. Cupcakes.  People see the process and develop a connection with the sisters and their staff which end up making them want to come try the cupcakes as well.  They also have over 100 different flavors of cupcake combinations, which a lot of other bakeries don't and they cater for a lot of different occasions as well.  

    Their soft assets would be their cupcake and icing recipes, their brand, the drive of perfection in both sisters, their entrepreneurship knowledge, and the network of connections they have made while growing their business.  Their hard assets would be things like their storefronts, the furniture in them, baking materials, kitchen materials, their catering vans, etc. 

     Their aspirations as of right now are just to provide "the best in class" cupcakes.  They said they give everything 110% and that's how they are so successful.  They have a huge passion for making quality cupcakes and making it a fun experience.  Katherine and Sophie have wanted to open their cupcake shop since they were little girls, so they took the chance and did it. 

     The marketing realities include things like the demand for cupcakes and the economy.  When they started their store, cupcakes were just starting to gain their popularity, meaning more of a demand for them.  They also started in the middle of the recession so they had to be fair with pricing and realize that at this time where money is tough, eating fun cupcakes isn't a necessity.  Today, cupcakes are much more popular due in part to their TV show and other shows like Cupcake Wars.  The economy is growing more stable and people are being able to spend extra on things like yummy cupcakes.