Business Plan

Last week I met with the CEO of Goodwill Denver, Jesse Wolff, to "pick his brain" about this nonprofit. He got straight to business. Within the first three minutes of our meeting he asked "do you have a business plan written out?" Not extensively, no. Meaning "not at all, no." He went on to explain that the nonprofit sector is very competitive in Colorado and that there is not a lot of money. His frankness was refreshing. I've spent too much time with my head in the clouds and not enough thinking about how the cash flow will work. Yet I still believe that all the needs of this organization will be provided for. However, that doesn't make planning any less important.

My aunt was the first to tell me I needed a business plan (in late June), but amidst all the things to learn about the nonprofit world (from incorporation paperwork to assembling a board of directors) I neglected the planning process to show how this idea will work on a large-scale. I have ideas buzzing in my mind about how to conduct operations and I have one year of experience in small-scale efforts, but this does not convince anyone wanting to know how this will endeavor will succeed. My little efforts at Mines had no cost other than my time, but that will have to change once operations are expanded. For example, I cannot store all the books in my house or office or neighbor's garage. Storage space could cost money, which means it must be accounted for in the business plan. It took my meeting with Mr. Wolff to decide it was high time to work "extensively" on the business plan.

A friend of mine and fellow graduate from Mines, Dylan Engberg, met with me a couple weeks ago and gave me many of his materials and sources for business planning. One source he shared was the Denver Small Business Development Center (denversbdc.org), which offers free consulting to start-up businesses in the Denver area. I scheduled an appointment last Wednesday (immediately after I met with Mr. Wolff) and I have my first consultation this afternoon. I look forward to learning about business plans and getting started on the logistics of running and growing this not-for-profit business.

Monthly Update - August

It has been a month since my last post, so you may be wondering what is new with this project. In the last month, I've busied myself with:

1. Meetings regarding nonprofit establishment, structure, operations

2. Finalizing my accounting from last year's fundraisers

3. Selling textbooks collected last year
     A. Listing books on Amazon
     B. Packing and shipping sold books
     C. Finding buyers for on-campus sales
     D. Accounting for sold books

4. Collecting new textbooks
     A. Contacting organizations and individuals to collect the books
     B. Following-up on tips to pick up books

5. Organizing inventory of books
     A. Developing/enhancing inventory system physically and electronically

6. Changing office locations

Needless to say, the last month has been busy, but the project is progressing. In my following posts, I will highlight some of the important lessons from the last month.