Committing to a business plan forces you do your homework and focus on what you know and don't know about your business. This practical curriculum covers all the elements of a business plan while at the same time focusing on those issues of importance to a chocolatier. The curriculum touches on all chocolatier business models selling through the following sales channels: retail, wholesale, Internet and/or events/markets.
Mentoring is as important as the curriculum. Our Ecole Chocolat Business Instructor and Tutor Rachel Sawatzky will be there right with you, giving advice and tips to make sure you don't forget anything. Besides writing the majority of the curriculum, Rachel pens a Tales from the Frontline in each module relating her direct experience in compiling – and then later revising – her own business plan.
Module 1: Understanding Entrepreneurship
Module Learning Objectives:
- Understand the issues and challenges of entrepreneurship.
- Chart the steps to actually starting your business and develop milestones.
- Prepare for the financial and management obligations you'll incur over the course of opening your business.
Module 2: The Business Plan and Management
Module Learning Objectives:
- Review the importance of having a good, realistic business plan.
- Understand the options for structuring your business legally.
- Develop a comprehensive management plan.
Module 3: The Marketing Plan
Module Learning Objectives:
- Develop your own unique selling proposition that differentiates you from your competitors.
- Communicate your vision succinctly to your target market.
- Build a strong business model around your most important sales channel.
Module 4: The Operations Plan
Module Learning Objectives:
- Finalize your location and facilities, including legal obligations and financing.
- Navigate health codes and licensing.
- Realistically estimate expenditures on labor, ingredients, equipment and packaging.
Module 5: The Financial Plan
Module Learning Objectives
- Understand the financial obligations that you are taking on in the business.
- Project your income and profit into the future, based on your research and assumptions.
- Develop a realistic cash-flow projection and a break-even analysis so you can track your business day by day.
Optional Business Plan Review
Rachel has agreed to review any completed Business Plans for students in the Business Plan for Chocolatiers Program. That review will consist of reading the content of your plan and writing a review with suggestions for changes or additions that she feels, from her business experience, will strengthen your plan.
This optional review is $100.00 and can be applied for at any time after you have finished the Business Plan for Chocolatiers Program. Plans should be in final draft stage before you apply for a review. That way Rachel has the full context of your plan and can give you the best help possible.
Program Objectives
This is a non-certificate course, so there are no graded assignments. You'll be working through your plan, step by step, each week using a guided worksheet focused on each module. Our goal is that you have your business plan in first-draft form by the end of this one-month program. You should plan to set aside at least six hours per week for research, thinking and writing.
Protecting Your Plans
All students are anonymous to each other in this program to protect your privacy and intellectual property. We do strongly encourage questions for the tutor and discussions in our forum, but, again, anonymously.
|
