In Depth Blog Post #2

I spent a busy two weeks working on my In-Depth project. I made a lot of progress and I am on track according to the plan I set on my learning contract. The steps I have taken are (1) finding a mentor(s), (2) gather information on competitors, (3) identify and price materials, and (4) raise seed money for my business. I also continued researching entrepreneurship while reading “Making the Business Case” by Michael Volker. 

Before the semester break, I approached Mr. Bingley, a Gleneagle business studies teacher, and asked him if he could be my mentor. At first, he had concerns about taking on the role because he coaches basketball teams and other activities. I persevered and asked if he would be willing to meet at CL, thus removing the problem of time conflicts after school. I really appreciate that he agreed to take it on. 

I met with my mentor for the first time at CL this Thursday. Prior to the meeting, I prepared a few questions and organized my work in a binder. I specifically asked for advice on market research. He suggested using social media and flyers to advertise my product. However, before starting to advertise, he suggested that I should be open to a variety of different product ideas. There is a possibility that students at Gleneagle may not want to buy tri folds. In his experience, successful products have been sold to students at prices under ten dollars. As well, senior students might not use them anymore. All of a sudden, Mr. Bingley asked one of his students if he used a tri fold this year. He responded with “What is a tri fold”? We then discussed how to make a survey and how to ensure that people will honestly answer. I have been considering going into my different classrooms, making a pitch, and then writing the link to my survey on the board. Also, I can make a pitch to my clubs such as STUCCO, Me to We and Business Club. I will make most of this advice and try to possibly present my survey within the next two weeks. 

The next step I pursued was to visit different websites such as Amazon, Walmart, Staples and dollar stores, to compare my competition. I started a spreadsheet and recorded the name, the company, the price and the material used. One of the tri folds I found was over $300! I found that normal cardboard tri folds cost about $7-$10 each. The dollar store websites didn’t list prices, so I went to different neighbourhood dollar stores and priced them in person. Another obstacle was that each store sold different sizes and materials. Also, some of the products were only online while others you had to pick up in person. 

My next step was to price out materials for my product. I considered wood and plastic, but wood was by far the better option. I realized that I needed a way to connect and fold up my tri fold, so I planned to use hinges. After planning a prototype, I went to a variety of different stores that sold wood, including Windsor Plywood, RONA and Home Depot. I recorded the dimensions, price and material at each location. My favourite wood was named “Dragon Plywood” which cost $44.99 per sheet. I figured out that I can make two tri folds using one sheet of wood. I will also need to look for hinges in order to connect them. At the hardware stores, such as RONA and Home Depot, I looked at different types of hinges, but none of them looked at the right size. I need to keep looking, as I think the best way to connect the three pieces of wood is by using them. I can look at different stores and hope to find sturdy and flexible hinges. This information that I collected will be very useful when I start creating my prototypes. 

In anticipation of this project, I have been saving up our household recycling and sorting them into plastic bags. Last weekend, I took all of the bags to the depot and recycling all of them earned almost $60. Also, when it snowed, I offered to shovel our driveway and sidewalk and earned another $40. Thank God it snowed so much! I still need to create a bank account. Once I create my bank account, I will be able to transfer the money from my account into there. Then, I will be able to buy materials and start building my prototypes. Overall, my project is going smoothly so far, but I am prepared for any mistakes or obstacles I will need to persevere through.

Dragon Plywood at Windsor Plywood: