To Write a Business Plan

Ashland, OR.
Since I have been a business major for three years now, I was well aware that this moment would be coming. The entire business school curriculum is designed to prepare students for the "capstone assignment." Each major has a capstone, but the school of business' capstone is a bit more rigorous: write a business plan for a company of our choosing... from scratch. The plan was hypothetical-- though it didn't have to be-- and was to feature all necessary details including an actual location (though it didn't have to be currently available) products to be sold, number of employees, pay rates for each, and so on. All of this was done in the form of an excel template created by a now-retired professor. This automated much of the math for us-- all we needed were the inputs, the rest could be calculated. The calculations were transferred into other protected sheets which took the form of necessary financial statements to be featured in the final business plan. We were given a textbook as a guide, and set out choosing our business, and began to write the plan, piece by piece. There were two primary schools of thought on how to do business plans among SOU professors. The first, was to simply met to discuss, and have the entire project due at the end Since deadlines help me stay on task, I chose the alternative-- intermittent deadlines in which small sections, and finally the entire plan, followed by a presentation.
The process was very informative, and at time fun. Many other times, though, it proved stressful. The plan indirectly resulted in one of the worst bouts of anxiety I have had to face, and it took awhile to figure out which business I would do, and then how to gather information. Once the ball was rolling however, the process went well. I chose a bird watching supply store for my business located in the small, under-served town of Sherwood Oregon, outside of Portland. I got in touch with other birding stores for information, and with their help, and a number of online sources, the term flew by, and before long, it was time to present the plan. The professors sitting in on my plan were all people I respected, and no students came by to hear our speeches. This turned out to be a good thing: I fainted three quarters of the way through mine and was cut short. In a way, I was disappointing that I wasn't able to finish, but I was given a passing grade for what I got done.
I'm pleased with the results. I have the experience of planning a business, and have the plan itself in a neat maroon folder to show for it. In short, I suppose the stress was worth it: I made several friends, had an experience that will come in handy in the business world, and have  a plan for a potential business of mine. Sure it was hypothetical, but Sherwood is under-served in the industry. Will there ever bee a Sherwood Backyard and Bird? It's hard to say.