Dudebox: A Business Project Proposal
What the Project is About
The project is about creating Dudebox, a seasonal subscription box for a male clientele. It will contain a series of goodies that users will enjoy, depending on their preferred bouquet. The Basic Package will have personal hygiene products like shaving and skincare goods, while the Premium Package will contain all the Basic Package products plus tech gadgets and tobacco samples. Lastly, the Elite Package will have on top of the second package provisions, car gear, and outdoor and grill essentials. The company will be headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and it will target customers within the state. Over time, it will expand its coverage to the entire country, North America (Canada and Mexico), Asia, Europe, and Africa. Prices per month will be $15, $20, and $25 or $117, $150, and $180 per year for the Basic, Premium, and Elite packages, respectively. I will revise these prices in the coming weeks based on further business analysis.
Table 1: Dudebox’s Service Packages.
Dudebox – the proposed organization – targets men exclusively for various reasons. One of them is that while males make a significant percentage of global purchasers, only a few companies offer services that connect them to the right products on the market. Indeed, most companies promoting personal hygiene and similar products target women due to the general assumption that females buy these goodies for themselves and their families’ male members. Thus, male customers often have difficulty finding the right products for themselves. Yet, unlike women, they never plan their shopping, which is why they spend more money on impulse goods. According to the 2019 survey conducted by CNBC and Acorns, in partnership with SurveyMonkey, 23 percent of men paid $100 on their last impulse purchase, compared to 16% percent of women (Cliff & Mateo, 2019). Men are as likely as women to buy on impulse, but they spend more in this regard. One explanation for this state of affairs is that men never seem to know what they want until they see it.
Apart from that, men also generally earn more than women. Generally, men out-earn women in most occupations. For example, in professions like software development and project management, men earn 4 percent more than women (Do men really earn more than women? [Infographic], n.d.). Men working as registered nurses and school teachers make 3 and 2 percent (respectively) more than women (Do men really earn more than women? [Infographic], n.d.). Additionally, on average, men’s wages increase for a more extended period and achieve higher levels than women’s. Although job choice and family responsibilities could be responsible for these differences, the data implies that men could have higher disposable incomes than females (Do men really earn more than women? [Infographic], n.d.). Therefore, sending them frequent messages about products on the market will simplify their shopping and give them ideas on what to do the next time they go shopping. Notably, by targeting a portion of the public with a proven financial muscle, the proposed Dudebox increases its survival and profitability chances.
What the Project Aims to Achieve
One of the aims of the project is to connect men to various products that will simplify their shopping plans. The resulting business will achieve this goal in two ways. First, in-house reviewers will do thorough research every month to identify products and services for the Basic, Premium, and Elite packages. The team will then use the collected information to create infographics and product reviews, which the company will send to the customers at the end of the month. The monthly will contain links to where individuals can buy these products at discounted rates. Therefore, the main benefit that customers will have through this subscription model is getting information about the latest products and a massive discount if they shop using the links sent to them. Dudebox will, in the course of its monthly researches, identify retailers of specified products and negotiate the best possible deals for its clients. By connecting manufacturers to customers, the company will have achieved one of its fundamental goals.
Dudebox also aims to create a scalable and sustainable business. A scalable business could grow more prominent in the future, while a sustainable business utilizes resources effectively and remains profitable throughout. Growth in any business segment requires adequate planning, and scalability is also a product of improved business services. High-quality services in a specialized niche such as the one chosen by Dudebox lead to increased customer demands and growth. Growth can also occur through strategic advertising and product promotion. With the proliferation of social media and other online platforms, connecting to potential customers in Chicago and the US as a whole should not be difficult. Dudebox founders also believe that once a company has created an effective operational plan and culture, thorough implementation is the key to achieving the intended outcomes. The company must embrace all business challenges, including realizing that implementing a business idea is a complex undertaking that requires consistency, creativity, and innovation. It is not enough to have a plan; one must also use resources wisely and understand their market.
Creating employment is also another goal that the project aims to achieve. Currently, the unemployment rate in the United States is 6.2 percent, with the number of jobless individuals numbering about ten million (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic worsened matters as many industries crumbled. However, the situation is better than a year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021). Additionally, the ongoing health crisis also opened some opportunities for many creative minds. IT has proven, for example, that e-commerce is the next business frontier. Future civilizations might conduct business entirely online, and it pays to start an online company now and grow it slowly and steadily over the years, making improvements along the way. A successful Dudebox will employ people, including researchers, product reviewers, infographics developers, systems managers, etc. Many skilled and talented people out there can put their talents to good use if they get an environment that gives them autonomy (Burcharth, Knudsen, & Søndergaard, 2017). Creating employment for these individuals is essential because it will also transform the national economy while promoting the entrepreneurial culture. Lastly, the proposed project aims to create value for its shareholders. Without a doubt, all corporate organizations’ main aim is to make profits and create value for their shareholders (Li, Liu, & Gregoriou, 2021). As Dudebox would also exist as a for-profit organization, its fundamental goal is creating value for the business owners and partners. Dudebox will create value by offering better quality on the market, reducing its operating costs, improving customer service, and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement and growth. Owners of the company will receive a share of Dudebox’s value in a proportionate way to their initial capital contribution. Dudebox will also try to prevent loss-making by identifying and taking advantage of opportunities for improvement. The company will also identify and eliminate business waste by implementing total quality management (TQM) and continuous improvement.
Why the Project is Important
The proposed Dudebox business project is vital to me for various reasons. First, it is an effort to build a business that can grow into a big corporation and employer in the future. Therefore, completing the project will be fulfilling in that it will represent a significant milestone in my personal development. Although having a business may lead to financial gains, its benefits are beyond monetary rewards. Second, the project is important because it solves an issue that bothers many men. Throughout the world, women regard men as the lousiest shoppers around. While this may be true, there are many underlying causes, including having a busy schedule and poor planning. The proposed business will solve this challenge by connecting male customers to exclusive deals on selected items. The company will also provide essential guides on how men can pick the right product based on their physical characteristics.
Starting Dudebox is also a leap of faith, persistence, and getting out of my comfort zone. For this reason, the project is vital to me. In a small way through Dudebox, entering the business world means accepting the challenges customers face and preparing to interact with people from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. Notably, people from different backgrounds have different beliefs and ways of life, and working with them requires open-mindedness and tolerance. It is of great importance to me now because I consider myself a global citizen and a component of its diversity. Thus, I look forward to working with people from all over the country and even the world and learning new things that I have never known. Besides being a business and a potential source of income, Dudebox also represents a learning opportunity for me and those who will work for the company. The lessons it will produce will go a long way in shaping our view of the world and utilizing resources, among other things.
Lastly, the project is essential to me for the freedom it may offer me as its chief executive officer and owner. I have always valued personal freedom and experimentation, which does not always augur well with other businesses. The bureaucracies of large-scale operators, for example, sometimes stiffen innovation and personal growth. Therefore, instead of being limited by others’ routines imposed on me, I have chosen autonomy by creating a business entity whose growth will depend primarily on our strategy implementation. Therefore, I appreciate the opportunity to work for myself and create a schedule that revolves around my passion. Indeed, this business is closely tied to my tastes and preferences, and I believe that it will increase my chances of success. Aligning one’s goals, beliefs, and values with business operations can increase personal satisfaction while simultaneously creating value for customers and shareholders. I am excited to implement the project and run it in the coming years. I will value all the lessons it will teach me and take advantage of them to grow as an entrepreneur.
How I will Conduct the Project
I will implement the project in phases, starting with identifying a working space. Currently, I am considering either working from home or finding a co-working space in town. Working from home is particularly appealing given the ongoing health crisis. Working from a co-working space can also be ideal as I could meet friends and potential partners there. After deciding where I will base most of the operations, the next step is to outline the products that the company will focus on clearly. Doing so will ensure that future work is specific and focused and that employees will not spend their time researching other products. I will also develop the business plan at this point, and a draft of the company’s mission, vision, motto, and core values, among other things. The business plan will help me approximate the project’s cost and find financial aid if I need to. It will also serve as an official document for business registration purposes and compliance with requirements about taxation.
Next, I will find programmers to develop an interactive website for the business. It will have various features, including company information on the home page and an option for clients to create an account to access the reviewed information and infographics. Clients will enter their email addresses, where a link to create an account with us will be sent on the web page. The company will then save all its customers’ email addresses in a database and use them to send promotional messages to customers, including those who register successfully and those who do not. Notably, this is a business that looks like a magazine. Instead of providing general news in specific areas (such as technology or games), it will provide news about products that men might love. Therefore, each monthly publication will have only a few pages and a section where customers can buy the reviewed products. The interactive website will also include integrated payment options for the customer’s convenience. For a start, customers will pay the monthly subscription using their preferred credit or debit card or PayPal.
Once the website is up and running and has undergone various tests and relevant improvements, I will commence advertising using social and traditional media. I will create a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok account for the company for social media advertising. I will then create promotional messages daily and post them on these platforms. I will ensure that each promotional message contains a link to the company website so that men can start signing up. I will also include the monthly and yearly charges in these social media posts to help customers decide. Occasionally, I will go live on these pages (especially after garnering at least 500 followers) to answer questions. Social media advertising is my first choice for promoting the company because it is cheap and readily available. Social media advertising also offers one the opportunity to interact directly with clients and answer their questions (Voorveld et al., 2018). The only challenge with this form of advertising is that its users may have limited coverage, often dependent on their followers’ size.
Where social media fails, the traditional mass media performs better. Therefore, I will also include radio and television advertising to promote the company. I will put advertising messages on two TV stations and four radio stations to popularize the company and its services. The main disadvantage of mass media advertising is that it can be quite expensive, especially if it runs for a long time. The more popular a TV or radio is, the more expensive it will be to advertise with them. Regardless of the price, I will monitor all marketing campaigns to determine the most effective one to focus all attention and resources on it. Since this is a small upcoming firm with limited resources, there is no room for wasteful advertising. Thus, the owner will disband all marketing approaches that do not result in significant gains for Dudebox. I will measure each advertising option’s effectiveness by considering its outcomes against a list of key performance indicators to be developed later alongside the business project.
Considerations for Improvement
Starting a business may be easy, but maintaining it can be hard. I will ensure that this business grows by learning every day. Each business day counts as a learning opportunity and a chance to make improvements. Failing to learn is, therefore, more catastrophic than not starting the business. I will put together the requisite resources and monitor their utilization and the company’s progress to make changes for the future. I will also seek to partner with skilled and talented individuals from the onset to aid the business. All employees will enjoy personal autonomy at work because it beats logic to hire skilled and talented individuals to micromanage them and make it hard for them to progress. I will also seek to partner with reliable businesses, including suppliers, to streamline business operations. Unreliable partners within any industry create problems in the supply chain that translates to low-quality services to consumers.
Following the laws and regulations is an important consideration for the business. The government’s laws help consumers and businesses alike, which is why all players must embrace them. Regulations also ensure that businesses engage in ethical conduct and contribute to the development of the economy. Remitting taxes on time ensures that the authorities have enough resources to develop and implement new projects that benefit the community as a whole. For example, roads and similar infrastructure make businesses run smoothly and improve the economy. Lastly, my business will give back to the community through corporate social responsibility and effective natural resource utilization. The company will reduce its carbon footprint, plant trees, support conservation efforts, offer employment opportunities to the surrounding community, and provide educational scholarships to needy students. The bigger the company grows, the more it will contribute to various projects in the community.
References
Burcharth, A., Knudsen, M. P., & Søndergaard, H. A. (2017). The role of employee autonomy for open innovation performance. Business Process Management Journal, 23(6), 1245-1269. Web.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). The unemployment situation – February 2021. Web.
Cliff, E. & Mateo, S. (2019). One-third of Americans have cut spending in the last year, according to the ‘Invest in You Spending Survey.’ CNBC. Web.
Do men really earn more than women? [Infographic] (n.d.). Payscale. Web.
Li, S., Liu, G. S., & Gregoriou, A. (2021). Do more mergers and acquisitions create value for shareholders? Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, 56(2), 755-787. Web.
Voorveld, H. A., Van Noort, G., Muntinga, D. G., & Bronner, F. (2018). Engagement with social media and social media advertising: The differentiating role of platform type. Journal of advertising, 47(1), 38-54. Web.