Finalising the Movie

To help finalise the movie and create that CD cover we mentioned, we met up today to finish the movie, and to design and print the CD cover, making it look more professional and appealing, rather than a blank disk.

Meeting No. 13 (Unofficial)

Because we are all participating in our work experience, we decided it would be good if we were to meet up and discuss how we were doing in selling the calendars, and what our work experience was like. We met up at Pizza Hut, so that we could give Andy the money to finalise the accounts, and so Billy could find out how many everyone had sold, and could sell in the next few days. We only have 1 week left; it has gone so fast. We still remember the first meeting at Fratton Park, on November 16th, but since then we have learnt an incredible amount, and have gained invaluable experience in how to run a successful business. All that is required now is to fully complete the movie, business plan, which are on the verge of completion, and await the result from the judges, to see if we have won that once in a lifetime trip to Goa!

Meeting No. 12

Yesterday we had a meeting at Harry's house, to show our mentor the almost finished business plan and movie. In that 3 hours, we explained why we had done certain things in the business plan and movie, and talked together about other ways we can improve them. We had not seen Marie for a week, so it was good to catch up, and hear how everyone at church was talking about us.

Today, Andy had a meeting with his mum's boss, who is a financial advisor, to talk to him about other ways to improve the business plan, and make it more professional, as he deals with a lot of business plans in his job. Simple things such as the contents page were improved, but it all needs to be perfect. He was very impressed with the business plan, and Andy even sold more calendars in the process.

Creating a CD Cover

To go alongside our business plan, which is coming along extremely well, we have created a movie of all the work we had done over the past 5 months. Rather than giving in a blank Cd, we have decided that we would make a CD cover for the movie, both front and back, as well as the Cd itself, making the CD appear more professional. We will also do the same for the CD version of our business plan.
We also today arranged to meet up during the week, as we are participating in our Trident work experience for the next 2 weeks, so communicating will be difficult, but something we will overcome. When we meet up, we will show each other the business plan and movie, as well as talking about how many more calendars we sold at our work.

Selling The Product

This week has probably been the busiest of our entire challenge. Every spare minute was spent selling our calendar to the public, making sure that our money was correct and that everyone had receipts. However, with so many people purchasing a calendar, word of mouth has meant that more people now wish to buy our calendar, so it was a good thing we bought another 20 this week! We are very pleased with the amount raised from selling the calendars, and cannot wait to sell the remaining 20 calendars left, as we have sold our original 100.
The only problem is that the next 2 weeks, and the last 2 weeks of the Linvoy Primus Enterprise Challenge, is when we are doing our Trident work experience. This puts us at a slight disadvantage, but we will get through it, meeting at weekends and after our work. We hope to do some work during our lunch breaks as well, and use the facilities at our work place, and ask for any support from staff.
We will arrange for dates for when we will all meet up, to discuss how many calendars we have each sold at our work place (which is another advantage), and make sure that our business plan is fully complete, along with all our money raised. We are so pleased by how much we have raised from the calendars, in such a short space of time. It took a while to print them, and to actually think of a successful product, but our effort to sell them has definitely paid off.
We learnt today that our 20 calendar order is ready to be collected and paid for, so all it needs now is to collect them from Chameleon Print, sell them to the public, and reach our target.

Ordering more Calendars

Because of the demand from the public for our product, we have decided to order 20 more of our product, making our total of 120 calendars. We have sold almost all of our original 100 orders, and need more to satisfy the public. It will also mean a greater profit, and every £1 more could mean a lot in terms of poverty.

Oasis Church Presentation

Last week Marie told us to make a presentation for the Oasis Church service, explaining what we and learnt, enjoyed and not enjoyed about the Linvoy Primus Enterprise Challenge. We each gave our own account of what we had learnt and enjoyed in a short speech, as well as showing a Powerpoint Presentation we had made. The presentation went very well, each receiving an applause after everyone's speech, as well as them applauding Marie for all her hard work. The whole service was recorded, and Marie's husband took photos, which can be used in our business plan.
We were also there to give those who bought a calendar, their purchased item. The process of finding their invoice (if they pre-ordered one), giving them their calendar, receiving the money, giving them change, and writing their receipt was easier than expected, as we worked as a team, each taking a role. It was hectic at times, but we did manage to sell our product to those who pre-ordered one, and sold a few more on the day.
A bonus from the day is that 2 people who have recently been to Goa, and are organising the holiday, attended the service, asking us how we got on. We also found out information Faith + Football, and they are soon helping out, which we may tried to attend.

Preparing for Tomorrow

Today we got together for the day to prepare for tomorrow, where we will sell our product to the people of Oasis Church, and make a presentation to them, explaining what we have learnt from this challenge, as well as what we have enjoyed.
We made sure that the receipts, the invoices, our speeches, the presentation and calendars were ready for tomorrows big day.

Our First Customer!

This is S.O.N.'s first customer. It is our MD's mum, Susan Mahy, who has supported us through this challenge, and helped bring home the product from the printers.

Writing Letters of Thanks

Today we wrote letters of thanks to the person who so kindly got us a signed Portsmouth football, so we could use it for our raffle to raise our capital. It included how much we raised from the raffle, and how much we hoped to raise overall from the challenge.

Chameleon Print

Yesterday was the day we went to Chameleon Print, the company we used to produce our calendar. We walked into Gosport to collect our 100 calendars, and talk about when we needed to pay the company.

The following pictures are of the printing company, the machine used to produce our product, and the product itself, which you have not seen before now.

Receiving our Final Product

Today was a vital day in the success of S.O.N. as it was the day we would collect our final printed product from the printers. We had asked to produce 100 of our product, which would amount to £490.00. However, we could not pay this today, so it would have to be paid on Monday, which was fine with the printer. The final product looks amazing, with excellent picture quality and looks great when hung up.
You may have been wondering what our product is over the last few months, and we are pleased to announce that it is... an 18-month academic poverty calendar.
Today has also been a very hectic day in terms of problem solving, but we did as a team manage to solve this dilemma we had with the money, and got us back on track. And with less than 3 weeks left in the challenge, we are getting very excited about how much money we shall raise to go towards help reducing poverty in India and Nigeria.

Writing Invoices

Tonight, Andy wrote out invoices for those who have pre-ordered our product, stating their name, date issued, invoice number, net, number purchased, gross and total paid. These invoices shall be used on Sunday, when we return to the Oasis Church to give those who bought our product, their gift.

Oasis Church Sales Pitch

None of us had ever been to church before on a Sunday, but today we had the chance to go to Marie's church service, so that we could make a sales pitch to the people of the church, and hopefully raise their awareness of what we are doing, and persuade them to buy one or more of our product. The whole service came as a pleasant surprise, as it involved not only prayers, but singing and role plays, as well as the healing of people in pain.
The sales pitch went down very well with the audience, giving us a round of applause, but also, (something which we never expected) they said a prayer for us, and welcomed us into the church, and Christianity. The sales pitch went down so well that we sold 25 of our product, but we suspect that more people will buy our product next week, when we return to the Oasis Centre, where will shall give our customer their product, and collect our money.
Both today and the Alpha Course meeting has made us more aware of Christianity, and what benefits it can bring into our lives. So as well as learning about how to run a successful business, we have learnt a lot about the faith in which we are working for.
Finally, we must thank Marie for letting us attend her church today, but also to everyone who welcomed us into the Oasis Centre, listening to our sales pitch and purchasing our product.

Emailing Mick Mellows

Yesterday, Harry and Billy wrote an email to Mick Mellows, asking about whether or not Linvoy Primus could come into our school to help promote our calendars, and if so, give a possible date. Marie said that she would try to get hold of Linvoy, as she was going to see him. Marie also forwarded a email she sent to someone at The News, as we were hoping to get an article about our limousine ride and our product.
Whilst all this is happening, Andy continues to work on the business plan, and Sammy is trying to get donations from the Portsmouth City Council.

Business Plan Movie

This week, being Half Term, Harry, our Operations Director, has been working on the movie of our business plan, on Windows Movie Maker. This movie will accompany our business plan when handed in, and a visual representation of our business plan, and all the work we have done over the last few months.

Meeting No. 11

Last Friday, Marie came in to see our prototype of our product, and catch up on all the work we had done since we last saw her. She also talked to Andy about the business plan, and how it was going. We also showed her the display board which we had created and put in the schools reception, and what time we needed to be at her church for our sales pitch to the people of the church. Finally we talked about our article that would go into The News, our local newspaper. This article would be about our limousine ride, but more importantly, our business and product that we wish to sell.

Beginning the Production of our Product

On Tuesday, Billy and Harry arranged to go to to the printers to begin the production of our product, but unfortunately, the man who we know was not there, so we went on Wednesday instead, giving him the edited version of our product, and telling him how many copies we wanted.
This week, Sammy has the prototype of our product, to which he had taken to the Portsmouth City Council, to try and get some pre-orders for our product, as he dad works in the council.
Billy and Harry also got together on Wednesday to decide on what to say on Sunday, when we go to Marie's church, to explain what we are doing, and hopefully sell some more calendars. They also designed some posters for that day to go with the ones Rob had designed.

Limousine Pictures

These are some of the pictures taken on the day of our limousine ride. Our school photographer took these, both before and after our journey to Marie's office building.

Receiving the Prototype

Fantastic news! After all we have been through, we have finally come to the stage where we have received the prototype of our product, which has been printed professionally by a printing company, known as Chameleon Print. Our prototype looks brilliant, and will definitely will boost the sales of our product, as they can now fully see what they are buying. All we need to do now is make any adjustments, and make that order.
On top of this, Robert designed a poster today for our product, which shall go up around our school, advertising the price and layout of our product. These will hopefully go in registers so that teachers can put them up in their classrooms, and places around the school, such as the cafeteria.
Whilst Rob did this, Billy and Harry wrote down their sales pitch for tonight's Governors meeting, in which we hoped to make a few pre-orders, and their support in selling them, as most of them worked for companies. However, when we went to see what time we needed to be there, we were told that it was yesterday that the meeting was held. We were informed incorrectly by the Head of Governors, who told us that it would be tonight. But we couldn't abandon our hopes of selling to the Governors, as they were a large audience, so we asked about other ways of contacting them. We were told that each Governor has a pigeonhole in the main reception of our school, and is regularly checked. We thought that if we wrote a letter to each of them, we could still make it possible to sell to the Governors of our school.

Modifying the Product Again

When phoning up to confirm that we could see the printers today, they told us to modify the product, so that it will not cause what is known as 'bleeding', when coming to trim the product down the size. This meant that we needed to make sure that the border of our product hangs over the edges, so that we trimming it down, we cut through the border, and not on the edge. This will make our product more professional, meaning more sales, and therefore more profit.

Giving the Product to the Printers

Not only was today the first day of our display board, but also the day we took our product to the printers, so that they can check that it is all correct and printable. We expected that they would be able to print one for us then and there, but they said that could give a prototype to us either tomorrow or the day after. We were also shown around the printers, so that we know who is printing our product, and how they go about it. As well as this, we talked about the price of the product, and the total cost for X amounts.
Our display board went down very well with both students and staff, with both of them asking questions, and some already writing pre-orders. Once we have a prototype of the product, the public can see what they buying, and we will hopefully have more pre-orders.

Modifying the Product

After being called out during lessons, Andy contacted the printing company, who had information on S.O.N.'s product. The man at the printed company, who Andy knows, informed Andy on the prototype of their product, telling them the ink format was not compatible, and must be changed to CMYK instead of RGB. This meant that the entire product had to be modified, but it didn't take as much time as first thought.

S.O.N.'s Display Board (Meeting No. 10)

To increase the publicity of our business again, as people may have forgot about us over the Christmas holidays, we came up with the idea of creating a display board to go in the student reception. Using our teachers boards, which he uses for Duke Of Edinburgh (which some of us participate in), we had a lot of space to fill with pictures and information about S.O.N. They could also pre-order our product by filling in a form, which would help both them and us. This display board would be manned at break and lunch times, so that they can answer any questions and encourage people to sign the pre-order form.
Tonight we stayed after school, like every other Friday, to put together the board, by printing off pictures and captions for the board. As we did not have enough Velcro to stick it all to the board, we set out where we wanted everything to go, and then drew the layout on a piece of paper. Putting this all together took about an hour and a half, but by working together we completed it sooner than normal.
As well as this, we retook the photos of each other, and the ones we took before we not as good because of the sunlight shining in our eyes. These would be used for the display board and in the business plan.

Meeting No. 9

Apart from the first class transport, today was a very good meeting. Not only did we show Marie our business plan so far, but also example pages of our product. She, and her partner, Derek, seemed very impressed with what we had done with our product and the business plan, as well as what we had done so far. As well as this, they both gave us very useful advice on what to do in the coming weeks, to improve the sales of our product. With their advice and our commitment and teamwork, we can sell many more of our product than first expected, meaning an even greater profit to go towards the charity we are helping, Faith and Football.

The Way To Travel!

We are speechless! Not only because of what we talked about in our latest meeting and the possibilities we have, but the way we arrived to the meeting - by limo! All arranged by Marie, our business mentor, and with all the teachers at our school knowing, it came as a bit of a shock to walk of reception to see a stretch limo before us, along with chauffeur and photographer. We expected to be travelling to see Marie by minibus or car, but never a limo! We can't fault the service, but it felt very different to be treated as VIPs, and not students. Complete with a Xbox 360 and stereo system, it was an awesome experience, that we shall never forget, and will be highlight of our Enterprise Challenge (other than winning it!)
Tomorrow shall be an interesting day, as everyone knew about the limo, and we will be bombarded with questions about our way of transport.

Parent Link

At our school we have a leaflet which goes home to all the students, called Parent Link. This is an ideal oppurtunity for us to advertise to the public, as the parents wil read it and see what we are doing and selling. We wrote a little article to go in this terms Parent Link, giving a brief desciption of what we are doing to help charity, and how they can help us, by contacting us and buying one of our products. Because we only had a small section of the leaflet, we could not write as much as we wanted, but it was enough to persuade people to buy our product. The article had to be written by Thursday, so we only had a few days to think of what to write, but it wasn't hard, because we had plenty of experience about writing about what we are doing in the letters and business plan we have wrote.

Finshing the Product

Today we finally finished and edited the product, so it is ready to be sent to the printers. As it is more expensive for us to create our own design and layout for our product, we sent an email to the printing company to make sure that our design can be printed, because some programs are not compatible with the printers. We quickly received a reply, saying that they would check for us if our design worked, and would reply ASAP.
We are very happy with the product we have designed, as it has taken us many hours and days to create, collecting the images and putting it all together.

Feeling the Pressure

With less than 2 months left of the challenge, the pressure is now more than ever. Today we prepared the prototype to be sent to the printing company, as it needs to be done as soon as possible, because we must allow time for printing. The layout and design of the prototype is very important, and must be perfect. If this stage does not go according to plan, if could be disastrous for the S.O.N.

Deciding on Photos for the Product

This week, S.O.N. has been receiving the remainder the photos we had requested, and spent lunchtimes deciding which photos we were going to use. With so many to choose from, it was a difficult choice, but we did come to an agreement on the final 18 pictures we would use for our product.
We must take this chance to thank our Deputy Head Teacher and a relative of our business mentor for preparing the photos for us, and allowing us to use their wonderful photography.

Improving The Business Plan

Tonight Andy invited a friend of the family, who is an I.T. teacher, to help him improve the business plan he has been writing. He wanted to know why the plan took up so much memory, and why he couldn't transfer it onto his memory stick. He found out that it was to big, and that the memory stick was almost full, so his friend very kindly went home to collect a new, bigger memory stick, and offered to let Andy borrow it for the remainder of the competition. This will allow Andy to take the business plan to school, to show the rest of the team, and print it off when finished.
Andy also learnt ways to improve the business plan, in both presentation and content.

School Council Meeting

Today was a busy day for S.O.N. as we had a lot to do with our product. At lunch, we got together again to flick through another set of photos, kindly given to us by a teacher at our school, picking the ones we thought would be good and appropriate for our calendar.
We also asked if we could speak in the school council meeting after school, in which the answer was yes. We wrote a little speech in lunch, and then spoke in the meeting after school. After some discussion, we came to an agreement that we would hold a non-school uniform day on 16th February, which will add to our capital. We already have £250, but in order to manufacture our product, we are going to need around £500. This does not mean we cannot start making our product, it just means we cannot afford to produce as many at one time.
Finally we asked if we could come in tomorrow, even though it is a teacher training day. We asked because it would mean we could use the school's facilities, such as printing , and would be convenient for everyone to meet at. Howver, this was not allowed, as no one could supervise us, but it was worth asking.

Browsing Photos

For our product, we need photos from around the world. Today we browsed through our teacher's photo files (with his permission), copying the ones that we would like to use. These pictures, and hopefully a lot more, will go towards our final set of photos, and then a selection of these will be used in our product.
As well as this, we thought of some captions for our product. This was very difficult, but we did manage to create a dozen or so captions, which will be used will the photos for our product.

Linvoy Primus Speaking at Fratton Park

Last night, 4 of the team where lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to Fratton Park again, to witness Linvoy speaking about Christianity and how he became a Christian. The night also included a meal, raffle, other people's experiences since turning to Christianity, and finally a chance for Linvoy to sign autographs. This shows what a nice guy Linvoy is, as he spent a lot of time with each of his fan, giving them his full attention. As soon as he entered the building, we were introduced to him by our business mentor, who deserves our many thanks. We then took some photos with him, which we will use in the business plan.
We tried to make the most of this evening, by introducing ourselves to Linvoy, and what are product will be, as well as what we have done so far, and our ideas for the future. Our mentor had been talking to her friends, some of which were there, who came over to our table, asking for a pre-order for our product, and telling us how well we were doing. This boosted our confidence, because we now know we can sell to people outside of our school and families.

After the meal, Linvoy and Mick Mellows, who is another ambassador for Faith and Football, began to talk about the Alpha Course, and the wonders Christianity can do for people. This whole speech, which included accounts from other Christians, was very interesting and thought provoking, because it made us think "Is there more to life than this?"

We were lucky enough to have the front table in the Milan Manderic Suite, with a perfect view of the speakers. However, we were not lucky enough to win another Portsmouth football, but it couldn't have gone to a nicer guy, who deserved it more than us. If you were there and heard his experiences, you will have thought so too.

Special thanks must be given to our business mentor, Marie, for inviting us to this evening, as well as paying for all of us. Steven, her husband, must also be thanked, for buying us drinks and making us feel welcome, and not to mention offer us some of his photos of India and Goa, which will come in handy later. And it wouldn't have been possible for us to go without Andy's mum taking us to Fratton Park. She did however gain a free curry and a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the legend that is the one and only Linvoy Primus!

Assessing The Printing Quotes

So far we have received 5 quotes back from the companies we have contacted. Some were expensive, and way out of our price range, but these companies are for proper companies who can afford to spend that much on producing 100 copies.
However, we have received some very reasonably priced quotes, which we can afford. We just need to confirm on the product layout, and the number of copies we want to produce, as some printing companies can offer a minimum batch of 50, rather than 100. If we made 100, we may not sell them all, and that will result in a waste of precious money.

Meeting No. 8

Sammy and Rob could not make today's meeting, for their own reasons, but we still went ahead, and met Marie as planned. Previously we had used the Conference Room for our meetings, but today we wanted to show Marie this blogspot, and the emails we have sent and received, regarding the quotes from the printing companies.
Billy had been away with the school for the last couple of days, so Harry and Andy had to inform him as well as Marie on what they have been up to in the last week.
We also talked about the meeting on Monday we were going to have, and when and where we would meet on that day. It will most important that we take notes in this meeting, as this will definitely be used in our final business plan.
Next week we be vital in the challenge, because it will be the week when we confirm our product, and start to manufacture our product. We will have to work especially hard, even though we have been already!

Enquiring About S.O.N. Account

Today we asked a few members of staff at school if it was possible to create our own account, so we can receive and send emails. However, the unexpected power cut meant that it was not possible today, but we shall ask again tomorrow.

Product Quotes

So far we have received 3 of the 6 quotes we have asked for, each at a competitive price. When we gather all the quotes together, it will make a very tricky decision on deciding which printing company to go for, because we must judge on the price, as well as the quality of the print.

S.O.N.'s New Account

Last night Harry came up with a brilliant idea of creating a new account, just for our business, S.O.N. This account is to use the computers at school, and have permission to use email, which is usually blocked by Hampshire. This will allow us to send and receive emails from companies who we have written to, such as enquiring about quotes for printing our product.
This account will be used by all the team members of S.O.N., and can be used at school and at home.

Whole School Assembly Movie

http://www.4shared.com/file/8973922/4c746b57/Linvoy.html
This the link for our movie we made for the whole school assembly, on the last day of the Winter Term, back in December. We first played this video, and then drew the winner of the raffle (Bob). In the video, it briefly explains who is in the team, what we are doung, and who we are doing it for. Enjoy! By clicking on the video and right click, go into zoom and then full screen, also turn on ur speakers to get the full effect of the video.

More Printing Company Quotes!

As well as Andy and Sammy getting quotes for manufacturing our product, Harry has asked one of his contacts about getting hold of 4 more printing companies, to get even more quotes. This would give us an even wider choice, and we have more chance of getting a better deal, and saving money on making our product.
The company who uses these 4 other printing companies is called Hughes Ellard, and we are very grateful that they are helping us find the cheapest quote for our product.

Raffle Winner

This is the lucky winner of the raffle we held back in December, to win a signed Portsmouth football! Bob, from Aztec Property Services, was very happy with his prize, as you can imagine, beating nearly 250 other lucky hopefuls, to win this ball, including signatures of great Pompey players like Sol Campbell and Gary O'Neil.

Contacting Printing Companies

With Billy and Rob away, Sammy and Andy contacted two different printing companies for our product today, one by email, and the other by visiting the company personally. We got a quote from one of the companies, and are waiting for a reply on the other. Having contacted more than one company means we can compare prices and deals, so we can decide on the best deal. Our business mentor is coming on Friday, so having got a quote for prices means we can start manufacturing our product as soon as Rob and Billy get back.

Product Prototype

This weekend, Billy, the managing director, and Robert, the designer, got together to design the prototype for our product, using the ideas we came up with as a team on Friday. They will bring in these designs on Monday, to show the rest of the team, which we can they show our target audience, and take any pre-orders if possible.
Meanwhile, Sammy, the sales director, will go to a shop which manufactures our product, and enquire about prices for making our product. Because he had contacts at that shop, we might be able to get a discount, which would help reduce our expenses, therefore increasing our overall profits.
Next week, Billy and Robert will be away on a school trip for a few days, so the remainder of the team (Harry, Andy and Sammy) will have to work without Billy and Rob, and start the sales of our product.

Meeting No. 7

Being our first meeting with Marie since 2006, we had a lot to catch up on. Andy was making very good progress on the business plan, and bringing it together. Robert had made designs for our product, after we discussed ideas last meeting. After more discussion with Marie, we altered some of our ideas, so that they would appeal to a wider audience, and therefore sell more, and increasing our overall profits.
Marie was impressed with the business plan so far, but had improvements that would make it better. She asked if it could be sent to her, via e-mail, to which she will reply with improvements. Marie also very kindly brought in examples of calendars, to go with the ones we had already, to give us more ideas.

Meeting No. 6

After coming back from the Christmas holiday, we all met today to report on how we are getting on. Robert had made designs for our main product, and we thought as a team of themes for the product. With only a few weeks left in the challenge, we needed to start thinking about contacting manufactures for our product, and start to sell the product to the product. We have decided on our target audience, so all it requires is to make the product then drive on the sales, as this is the part of the Enterprise Challenge.

Meeting No. 5

Today was the last day of the Winter term, and a day in which the whole school came together for a whole school assembly. We saw this as an oppurtunity to present to the rest of the school, to make them aware of who we are, what we are doing, who we are helping and ultimately who has won the raffle for the signed Portsmouth football. The movie and the raffle were a huge success, but it was a shame that the winner was someone from outside of school.
Our business mentor was there also, to see the movie and for our 5th meeting. We had accomplished so much since our last meeting, such as the raffle, business cards and more product ideas.
After the meeting, we agreed on each others actions that thy must do over the Christmas holiday, and decided on our next meeting.

Whole School Assembly Movie

Harry King tonight created a brilliant movie to go in the whole school assembly on the last day of term (Tuesday 19th). It includes who is in the team, who we are helping, what we are doing and who has won the raffle to win a signed Portsmouth football.

Meeting No. 4

Still undecided, we had to disscuss our product/service, and came up with more ideas as a group. Our Fianance Director counted up our current raffle ticket money, as well as checking it against the targets we had set.He also gave a sample business plan, which will be very helpful, and we overlooked the time line we have created, to check that we were on track. We still had not fully decided on our product and had not created business cards, which we had planned to do.
Our mentor also contacted us, as we had to seen or spoken to her for a while. She informed us that she would attend the whole school assembly on Tuesday 19th December, where we have created a powerpoint presentation, and will reveal the winner of our raffle!

Fund Raising

Throughout this week we have been selling off raffle tickets to the public, for a chance to win a signed Portsmouth football. We asked both teachers and students, as well as friends and family, announcing it in assemblies for every year group. Teachers seemed very excited about the raffle, but it was persuading the students to buy a ticket. The majority said they did not have any money, but we encouraged them to bring it in tomorrow, as a similar ball was sold for over £200 last month, and that all money raised will help go towards our profits, and eventually will help save children in poorer countries such as India and Africa.
When we first perchased this ball, we were offered over £300 for it, but after some disccussion as a group, we decided to decline the offer, as we might loose the public's trust if we sell something we promised to include in a raffle. This could have seriously damaged our selling of the product, and our overall chances of winning the challenge.

Finance Accounts

With us now starting to bring in money, it is needed to start our fianancial accounts for our business. Our Fianance Director, Andy, today went to meet an fianance advisor, Colin Aubrey, to discuss what was needed to include in fianance records. He explained very clearly what was needed, as well as what was essential in a business plan. Colin very kindly said that he would ask some of his staff if they could prepare some fianance records to base ours on, and promised to email them to us within 2 days. He also guaranteed that we had the support of both him, and his staff, throughout the challenge, and wished us good luck in winning the Enterprise Challenge.

Staff Meeting

Because today was the staff meeting, which doesn't happen again until after the end of the challenge, we tried to make the most of the occasion, by handing out leaflets to as many staff members as possible as they walked through the doors. In the leaflet, which can be found in the previous post, explains what we are doing, and giving them information about our capital raising idea, which is a raffle. All staff seemed very enthuastic about the challenge, and our headteacher was kind enough to introduce the staff meeting with a little speech about S.O.N., and about the leaflet we had produced for them.

Staff Meeting Leaflet

This is our leaflet that we have created, and will be shown to all staff at their next meeting, to inform them about what we are doing, and they can do to help us. We have told them about our capital raising idea, and who is in our team. This leaflet, along witht he questionnaire, will be shown on Thursday 7th December 2006.
http://www.4shared.com/file/6956987/dbd0af5d/leaflet.html

Meeting No. 3

With Mr Rogers away, we could not use his room for our meeting. Instead we used the library for our 3rd meeting. There we all decided upon the final logo, the page template and the questionnaire. Before, our logo was not in colour, as we initially were going to have it black and white, to save money on colour ink, but after we created a page template, we decided to change the logo to the colour blue. Meanwhile, Sammy researched manufacturers in the area, for some of our product ideas.
When we had done this, we then looked for a colour printer in the school. This took a while, as most teachers had left, but we eventually did find a room, and printed off the page template design, the logo designs, and the questionnaire, as well as the business card design.

Agenda 1

http://www.4shared.com/file/6649985/a18b4542/Friday_17th_November.html

Agenda 2

http://www.4shared.com/file/6650003/cf8837ca/Friday_24th_November.html

Time line

http://www.4shared.com/file/6542034/6b3c623f/time_line.html

Meeting No. 2

Today was our first meeting with Marie, our business mentor, in our school's conference room. There we made a short presentation to Marie about what we have done so far, before discussing our ideas with each other.
She seemed very enthusiastic about the Enterprise Challenge and our ideas, considering it is her first year doing the challenge. We think we can say she was impressed by what we have done so far, and can see our determination to win this challenge, because of our effort so far.
What Marie told was made us realise what we haven't accomplished yet, and what we need to do in order to win the challenge, and that once-in-a-lifetime trip to Goa.

Meeting No. 1 Pictures

Here are some pictures of our first meeting, on Friday 17th November, talking about our ideas for company name and logo, as well as product and fund raising ideas. You can also see our designer thinking of ideas for our company logo, and a bit of awsome photography through a chair.

Presentation for Marie

Today, Billy, Harry and Andy continued on the time line we had started, whilst creating a PowerPoint presentation for our business mentor, Marie. Because she is visiting tomorrow, we thought of creating a small presentation, just saying what we had done so far, like coming up with a business name, logo and time line.
On our time line, we added events like when our market research needed doing by, and key events like Trident, and end of the school term.

Time line

Today we met up a lunchtime to create a time line for our company, making different sections for each month, and using sticky labels to say what we needed to do by a certain date. Giving deadlines for each task will help us keep track of our progress, and if we miss a deadline, we know we need to catch up on it.
For example, we gave deadlines for fund raising and product confirmation, when we needed the money raised by, and most important of all, when we needed to hand in all our information and profit.
Even though we did not finish the time line, we completed the basic outline of what we needed to do, and we can still alter dates when necessary.

Meeting No. 1

Today was our first formal meeting, in which everyone attended, eager to give their thoughts and comments on the Enterprise Challenge. As it was our first meeting, we needed to discuss the following issues:

• Possible business name



• Possible business logo



• Possible fund raising ideas



• Possible products



• Jobs in the business



• Advertising



• Possible tag lines
  

We also contacted our business mentor, Marie Potter, to inform her about dates for our meeting with her, in which she swiftly replied.

After the meeting, we decided on jobs to do in the following week, and possible agendas for the next meeting.