Aiding the Equestrian Community with Entrepreneurship
Essential Question(s):
How can I use my newfound business knowledge, even in the time of COVID-19, to make a lasting and memorable impact in our ever-changing world?
- What are strategies that can help my business grow in the time of COVID-19 and further down the road?
- How can my newfound business knowledge further help me support these young equestrians and the movement in which I choose to take part?
Statement of Purpose:
For my senior project, I will be focusing on my horse and dog treat business that I started four years ago. I will be analyzing business data to lower my costs, interviewing entrepreneurs to gain insight, especially during the time of COVID-19, getting more involved in my chosen charity of this year, as well as keeping up with running the business itself.
Overview:
I have been an avid equestrian for twelve years now. I have dedicated the majority of my time to practicing and improving my horseback riding technique. I compete almost every weekend and practice every day of the week. Over the years, I have realized just how lucky I am to be able to do what I love almost every day and be able to compete at the level I am at with such wonderful horses. Not everyone has this opportunity.
With all my time in the equestrian community, came my deepest desire to do something for the riding community. Four years ago, AJCS Treats was founded. AJCS Treats is a horse and dog treat business that I started with my sisters. We decided to do something with the money we earn. Each year, we donate our profits to a new charity of our choosing. In the past, we have donated our profits to animal welfare charities. But, with COVID-19 and all the hardships that it has caused for young riders, we wanted to dedicate our year (and potentially even more time) to helping equestrians who are struggling to continue the sport at all.
For my senior project, I want to help support young equestrians who can no longer afford the sport with the help of my treat business earnings. In order to help as many young equestrians as I can, I need to do more than just the treat production itself. I need to learn from other entrepreneurs and potentially use their methods to strengthen my business; I need to analyze data and business costs in order to pay the least for production supplies and make more in the end; I need to devote more time to my chosen charity and be hands-on rather than just giving a certain amount of money at the end of the year. This time will be so useful to devote my time to my business, its growth, my research, and this project as a whole instead of having a lot of other schoolwork or consuming distractions. The 4Cs will come into play in this project: I am confident this project will help me continue to do social good (citizenship) for our world. There will also be creativity for the many different treats I design to raise profits. Critical thinking comes into play in the business side of things with analysis and proper research. Courage in this instance falls on me and how far I choose to take this project as well as the risk-taking I might have to do.
How will you measure your success?
Success here will be the number of young riders I can help to achieve their goals with the help of my business earnings as well as my involvement with the Hunter Circuit Foundation. Success here can also be measured in numbers and how much I made this year with the help of these six weeks rather than a regular year without this extra time.
Resource List:
I will be in constant contact with the Hunter Circuit Foundation for whatever I can do to help and filling them in on how much I’ve made and brainstorming who else we can help to achieve their riding dreams.
I have been in touch with entrepreneurs who started young that have agreed to participate in remote interviews to help inspire me for my own business. Joseph Tahl (real estate), my father Rodney Propp, my horse trainer Brianne Goutal, Rachel Benun (cake baker), Matt Krohl (hairdresser). This is just my list so far and I feel that having a variety of different businesses will be nice to compare and contrast in their experiences and techniques.
Daily Plan & Schedule:
In each week, half of my time will most likely be dedicated to keeping the business running and this extra time will be more effective: design brainstorming, baking, decorating, packaging, selling, PR, etc. But, for the other half of each week, I will be focusing on the numbers and strategies. One week will be solely dedicated to interviewing entrepreneurs and collecting data. The next few weeks will be about the numbers: analyzing costs of supplies and how those costs can be cut down, what my goals are and how to achieve them in terms of profit, analyzing the effect of COVID-19 on the business, and how I can further combat that, etc. Then a week or so will be dedicated to meeting with the Hunter Circuit Foundation daily in order to: fill them in on how much I’ve made, figure out how many people this money can help, start choosing underprivileged riders to receive our help, start planning right away trips (transportation, living, horse showing) for the recipients, etc. This is a rough schedule and I’ll definitely be doing more than just this, but what I put down here is how I’d like my weeks to go with of course time carved out to document my progress, blog work, cohort meetings, etc.
Documentation Plan:
I think my main source of documentation will be a google slides presentation. This will serve almost like my project’s diary. Everything I learn, study, and achieve will be on these slides for easy access and viewing. I will of course be using the business’ Instagram (@ajcstreats) for PR, updating our website and the customers, etc. But, this project and my progress will be viewable on this slide presentation that I will create shortly.
Material Needs:
N/A- I have everything I need with me!
Thank you so much and I am so excited.