Major Project: My Business Plan
Synopsis:
Courage of New Paltz offers a diverse range of services tailored to our clients’ preferences, encompassing individual therapy sessions where therapists explore the meaning behind their artwork, traditional therapy sessions, group activities for gaining new insights, and an art shop for acquiring cherished art supplies. These offerings highlight the idea of the town as a cohesive community, exemplified by our social media page featuring individuals’ art pieces, regardless of their backgrounds. Clients will find various opportunities to access resources that enhance their well-being and success in this environment. The process of building the business plan presented many challenging yet rewarding aspects. In general, I struggled with maintaining an active tone, ensuring a smooth flow, selecting appropriate words, and adapting to proper citation in MLA format, as I had only done basic citing in high school. From the initial assignment to the final version of the business plan, difficulties risen in determining the appropriate NAICS code for the business. After some time, it was categorized under 621330 – Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (Except Physicians). Additionally, making the business unique to the town posed challenges until we decided to diversify the services offered. Finding industry trends proved problematic later in the process, as recreational art therapy is relatively small. The majority of data initially found covered recreational therapy as a whole, which was broad and could lead to inaccurate conclusions. However, early on in the annotated bibliography, I found strong evidence regarding the benefits of art therapy. Creating bullet points for the SWOT analysis was challenging, but I learned to highlight significant information. In the draft of the business plan, my primary challenge was strengthening the structure, as some reasoning and data could have been stronger in certain sections. One of the most rewarding aspects was designing a logo that accurately represents the business and its values. Finding the proper data to support my argument was crucial, given the relatively small size of the industry, as mentioned earlier. Overall, witnessing the final result and officially labeling it a business plan was the most rewarding stage throughout the semester in my writing and rhetoric business class. If I were to secure financial backing to proceed with this plan, I would definitely take the opportunity to. I recognize that the people of New Paltz, especially SUNY New Paltz students, value expression and vulnerability, making the business valuable to the community. I would not hesitate to build upon this business plan in the future with the right time, resources, and proper positioning. Most likely, the place I would first proceed with to make the business a reality is SUNY New Paltz itself. Within SUNY New Paltz, I would direct myself to the psychological counseling center, where they can provide their insights on how the business could be further developed. Once they support the idea, I would seek collaboration with some therapists from the center, involving them in the business and allowing them to provide referrals to students. I would then proceed with implementing my ideas in collaboration with them.