Inspiration Creations
A Unique Home Decor Design Company Utilizing Reclaimed and Recycled Materials
Strategic Plan: Final
Jamie R. Ballard
Department of Interdisciplinary studies, Southern Utah University
INDS 6511: Strategic Leadership
Crystal Koenig Ph.D.
December 23, 2020
Strategic Plan
Executive Summary
This is the three-year Strategic Plan for Inspiration Creations [IC] a unique custom home décor and production company that utilizes recycled materials particularly wood and glass and incorporates the customer’s ideas and special design needs into one-of-a-kind products. The team at IC has many years of experience in their craft along with professional and educational experience in quality control, industrial engineering, and business management. They are the only company in their area at this time providing this service. It is one of the fastest growing areas in the country. They are financially solvent and currently have adequate materials and tools for the upcoming year’s projects. The second year they would like to expand and add a couple more C&C routing machines and two to three more employees.
Management/Leadership
Inspiration Creations is a sole proprietorship startup. There are two full-time employees. A carpenter with a degree in industrial engineering who has over thirty years professional experience in woodworking, design, building, and quality control. A glass designer who has fifteen years in mixed media arts creation and production and professional experience in home design, excavation, and building. A degree in business management also gives her the skills to handle the business activities. There are also two part-time positions that are temporarily filled as needed.
To create the most innovative products in our field in an atmosphere where creators are free to express themselves and engage in amazing collaborations without fear of retribution for their beliefs. To promote based on merit and contribution and set the example for others to have the courage to do the same.
Mission statement
We create products that make our customers visions come to life allowing them to express their love for their home and their loved ones.
Core Values
Our core values are to protect our inalienable rights and the same rights for others. We believe true progress is where we cease to meet quotas based on our gender and the color of our skin and embrace a culture where what we see and acknowledge, is each individual on the inside. This is true progress, diversity, and an unbiased society. We have not made progress when we just select a new group of people to demoralize, demean and ostracize. We believe in treating everyone with respect. We promote based on hard work and contributions, not by what is currently politically correct. We value the ideals of self-governance, self-mastery, and self-control. These are the characteristics of maturity. Those who embrace these values exercise integrity in all they do, help others to achieve their best self and are trustworthy.
Products and Services:
Product Lines
- Custom Home Interior Wood Designs
- Marketing Plan
- Contractor referral
- Create a contractor database
- Produce and provide contractors with a brochure introducing our products and services.
- Contractor referral
- Pricing Strategy
- 100% Markup from cost
- Delivery
- Direct
- Marketing Plan
- Wedding glass
- Marketing
- Vendor/Venue sales
- Create a vendor/venue database of local operators
- Produce and provide operators with a brochure introducing our products with photographs.
- Vendor/Venue sales
- Pricing Strategy
- Market rate
- Delivery
- Direct, customer pickup and delivery.
- Marketing
- Upcycled home & garden décor
- Pricing Strategy
- Market rate
- Delivery
- Direct, customer pickup and delivery.
- Pricing Strategy
- Suppliers
- Wood – Obtained from local lumber companies. Recycled product is donated from various sources.
- Glass – Sourced from recycled donations or customer’s product to be customized.
Research
An analysis was conducted for this type of business in the surrounding area of North Texas.
Industry
Special order unique home décor that utilizes recycled materials.
Competitors
Currently there are no competitors offering this particular type of product/service in the immediate area. There is some competition for individual pre-made products in the glass etching area online. These are mostly found on platforms such as Etsy. As each design is unique there is not direct competition for each product, just similar generalized competition which is difficult to quantify as it is based on individual customer taste.
The target market for the client/customer base is the homeowner or potential homeowner in the upper middle-class in the $85,000 plus yearly income bracket or higher.
This area of North Texas is one of the fastest growing in the United States (McKinney Texas. 2017; Real Estate Agent, 2020).
Median income for the target area is $91,000 (McKinney Statistics, 2017; USCB, 2019).
This is substantially higher than the median income for the US of $68,703 (Heavey, 2020).
Environmental scan
| Population of local community | 195,342 |
| Percentage of population adults 67% or | 130,879 |
| Employed | 82,370 |
Education Level of Community
| High School Diploma 92% |
| Bachelor’s Degree 31% |
| Graduate Degree 15% |
Gender
| Male 49% |
| Female 51% |
Ethnicity
| White 62.9% |
| Hispanic 18.61% |
| Black 12% |
| Mixed races 6.4% |
| Asian 3.3% |
The area has a large adult population, and they are employed at a fairly high percentage. Nearly all the adults in the area possess a high school diploma, around a third of them have bachelor’s degrees and an additional 15% have obtained post-graduate degrees. This relates to the higher than national average earning level.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- Personnel: Experienced, multi-talented, innovative, creative, varied experience, unique skill sets, work integrity, willing to put in whatever time it takes to accomplish the task, success oriented, excellence driven, aware of external forces, motivated.
- Company has access to some materials at lower costs
- Substantial tool and supply inventory
Weaknesses
- Not as savvy or active in social media, this exposes us to others who can market better with media.
- Lack the same level of competitiveness that most have these days
- Self-financed/less capital, a small business
- Small network
Opportunities
- More options for remote work for us and others
- New tech design equipment
- Rapid growth and home building in the area
- New connections
- Online opportunities for sales
- Completely new work environment to be re-imagined
Threats
- New competition could come to the area
- Increased labor costs and taxes
- No longer being able to obtain the materials we need. Supply chain issues.
- Permitting changes for this type of construction and production
- Government Regulations
- New technologies for this industry could emerge that are too expensive to adopt.
- Change in customer tastes and desires
We have a lot of strength in the capabilities of the key employees in production and business. We do need to invest in more development in social media and marketing knowledge and utilization. This could be facilitated by either employee training, or hiring someone who possesses the necessary skills and desire to handle this area of the business. This would help expand our network.
We are currently financially sound with enough materials and tools for most of the coming year. Our goal to expand and grow into 2022 will require the acquisition of larger higher end equipment. This will mean we will need to be free to do business in 2021 to meet these goals for capital investments. This is also dependent on not having any supply chain issues which are showing more vulnerabilities.
Due to the current volatile political environment our most critical focus will be staying on top of changing business requirements. Government restrictions can destroy small businesses (Grundvig, 2020; Jaxen, 2020a; Jaxen, 2020b). The 2021 year will be a big year for determining who will be able to stay in business.
As new technologies come on the market, we will need to determine the cost effectiveness of acquiring them. They have the potential of making products more efficiently. We will also need to research sources for better pricing.
We will need to keep in touch with changing customer tastes and desires and with the new contractors and their insights for what new trends are emerging. We will need to continue to design and create products that are appealing to markets as they develop.
Industry Outlook
It is surprisingly good for the time being. The North Texas area is still growing rapidly as more people move from areas which have greater government restrictions. There are many new homes going up with lots of additional homeowners and new contractors to funnel those customers our direction.
There, currently are no other companies in the area providing the same product and service. There is some competition for glass etching online for pre-made products. This is not a substantial part of the income stream and does not affect the general overall business opportunities and income. It is an industry where creativity in the use of recycled products is the only real limit to expansion.
We have adequate resources presently: Supplies, tools, and talent. There is currently more work than we can handle. This usually brings in more competition with new ideas. Even if other companies come to compete in this market, their inventory of products may be far different from ours and will attract a different clientele. We are creative, adaptive, and innovative and we will still be able to compete in changing markets.
Long term Goals
To replace two incomes and be able to maintain business from a location of our choice.
Short Term Objectives
Objective 1: Clarify products in all sections by the first quarter
- Test market the products for consideration
- Determine the best sellers
- Which products are scalable?
Objective 2: Increase sales by 15% by the end of the fourth quarter
- Increase contractor and vendor contacts
- Place more business cards and brochures with potentials
Action/Plans/Methods
- Get feedback from vendors
- Survey of customers
- Determine Social Marketing Plan
- Training for existing personnel
- Outsource
- Hire Social Media Tech
Communication Plan
Hold a meeting where the Strategy Plan is laid out (Hughes, 2014). Post Vision and Mission Statements in visible locations. Include all employees on internal communiques. Give all a copy of the plan. Have follow-up meetings quarterly to make an accounting of how the company is doing in implementing the plan and holding to the mission and values.
Review and Updating Plan
This strategic plan will be reviewed quarterly the first year, biannually the second year and third year.
The business manager will be responsible for reviewing and informing the President and Vice-President whether the plan is on track or if a meeting needs to be convened to review and adjust.
References
Grundvig, J. (2020, Sept. 20). Vaxxter.com. https://vaxxter.com/the-real-meaning-behind-operation-warp-speed/
Heavey, S. (2020, Sept. 15). U.S. median income hit record in 2019, Census data shows. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-census-idUSKBN2662EY
Hughes, R. L., Beatty, K. C., & Dinwoodie, D. L., (2014). Becoming a strategic leader: Your role in your organization’s enduring success (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Jaxen, J. (2020 a). Second wave of politicized lockdowns missing science and sanity. The Highwire.com. https://thehighwire.com/second-wave-of-politicized-lockdowns-missing-science-and-sanity/
Jaxen, J. (2020 b). Will the shots be mandatory? The Highwire.com. https://thehighwire.com/will-the-shots-be-mandatory/
McKinney Texas. (2017).Mckinneytexas.org. https://www.mckinneytexas.org/294/Demographics-Census-Reports
Real Estate Agent. (2020) Realestateagent.com. https://www.realestateagent.com/blog/fastest-growing-cities-in-the-u-s-in-2020/
United States Census Bureau [USCB], (2019, July 1).https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/mckinneycitytexas/PST045219
Master's Candidate Interdisciplinary Studies 