‘Beautiful legs by Post’ is a business plan prepared by an American named Elizabeth Preis and a Briton named Dickson Addis. The business plan was mainly written to aid in raising the initial capital for running a business of selling tights to the rising number of professional women all over the United Kingdom.
The main purpose of coming up with this business plan was to find ways of raising an extra 110,000 dollars in the next month to finance the mailing of catalogs (Arthur). The two entrepreneurs had found a willing supplier for the tights. For them to get the supplies, the two needed additional funds to achieve their goal of mailing over 120,000 catalogs in the months of November, January, and February. The other purpose of this business plan was to find out if this business was a good investment to venture into, although Dickson was a qualified accountant from the London School of Economics, he was short of retailing experience and therefore needed someone with a solid retailing background if his ideas were to be of any credibility. Elizabeth Preis was the right partner for this venture because she shared the same ideas as Dickson, after accomplishing this, the two decided that high-quality tights were the right idea for a mail-order trade (Arthur 2002).
The other purpose of the plan was to find out if selling high-quality tights in the United Kingdom was the right idea for upcoming entrepreneurs. The craving for this mode of dressing had reduced significantly over the past years and they felt that it was a good idea to try introducing it back and find out the reaction of the consumers before venturing into it completely. They had to find out their target market which was made up of women who had expressed their interest in purchasing these tights by mail order. With over 85% of executive women willing to purchase the tights by mail order, the two entrepreneurs settled for this business opportunity which was very promising.
The business plan is well documented in that the above purpose may be fulfilled in one way or another. In relation to how they plan to raise the extra cash, we must examine their profit and loss account (Arthur 2002), from September 1995 to August 1996 the company will have gotten some profit. As goods entrepreneurs we expect them to invest more in their business for success, therefore raising the extra cash will not be very hard although they might face some drawbacks.
With the “Friend of a Friend” Rate the business is expected to generate enough cash over a short period of time. The two can use this cash to finance the mail9ing of catalogs. This will only be achieved if the business offers good services to its customers hence the business will generate new customers (Arthur 2002). With an increase in the number of women doing professional jobs in the UK, the other purpose of the business plan will be achieved. This field faces very little competition because there are no firms that sell quality tights by mail-order catalogs. Being a sole firm in the market, their business will be dominant in that no other firm that may try to offer the same services can compete with them.
If I was to grade the plan document, I would give it a B. he is because it has tackled the major factors that n entrepreneur must observe to succeed in business. First of all, the two have the needed experience to run the proposed business, Dickson is a qualified accountant while Elizabeth is good in retailing. That means the business will be managed well, therefore its objectives will be achieved. By locating their business in London, the two entrepreneurs were smart in choosing a location for that business; they will enjoy the availability of customers because there is no firm offering the same services they plan to offer to their clients. I would have given them an A, but because they are not sure where the additional money for running the business will come from, I will hold on to the B. I would advise Dickson and Elizabeth to include expansion in their plan; they should not concentrate on the UK market but try to venture into other parts of the world. They should also consider selling tights for men so that the business can grow fast.
The venture is good; this can be seen by the ready market in the UK, many women are willing to purchase these tights by mail order like never before. The two entrepreneurs are also opportunists because they chose to venture into the business at the right time when tights are needed by many professional women of the United Kingdom. The founders are not realistic about fundraising, I would have suggested that they borrow money from a bank or friend and repay back even if interest is required. This is a long-term investment and taking loans from a bank should not be a problem.
I conclusion, I would like to argue that failure to raise the 110,000 pounds in the next thirty days will be a great disadvantage to them, they might end up losing the supplier. It is also very dangerous because there are many entrepreneurs out there who are ready to venture into this kind of business, when they find out about this venture the founder will have themselves to blame because they will be bitten at their own game.
References
Arthur M. Blank Centre for Entrepreneurship. Beautiful legs by Post (2002). Web.