Diamonds Rugs Cleaning Business Plan Reflective Account

Introduction

Diamond Rugs Cleaning Business will be located in London, England. It will be owned by members with experience in the most reputable rug cleaning, carpet cleaning, and vehicle wash businesses in the United Kingdom. This reflective account aims to prepare for the business transition into the startup journey and relate to lessons learned based on my team’s experience during the business plan’s development. The development of this reflective report will rely on critical thinking, which relies on an open mind to embrace new ideas and perspectives and on a knowledge of self and other team members’ views and active participation (Matsuo, 2019). The Gibbs reflective model has six stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. Gibbs is an effective and suitable reflective model with great significance because it acts as a continuous cycle of improvement and is also suitable for a stand-alone experience. This reflective report reflects on my experience with the team when developing the business plan.

Gibbs Reflective Model

The model will be utilized for the critical reflection of the development of the business plan because of its appropriateness with the experience and the thoroughness of the model (Adeani et al., 2020). The integration of its six phases will be instrumental in ascertaining the thoroughness of this reflective paper on all accounts.

Description

We agreed that the business would be called Diamond Rugs Cleaning Business and would be located in London, England. We selected services like commercial carpet cleaning, stain removal, residential carpet cleaning, deodorization, repair, restoration, dyeing of old carpets, cleaning of ventilation ducts, damage restoration services, and other cleaning services. Our startup cost for cleaning rugs and carpet cleaning services will range from £50 to £100 per hour (Calma & Davies, 2021). From careful forecasting and calculation of financial statements and processes, we estimated the budget for the business plan to be £210030. We planned to attract a large and ever-expanding customer base through quality services and outreach promotion to maximize revenue realization.

Feelings

Our team felt confident with the business plan’s success, which led to setting higher targets to accomplish goals. Before completing the business plan, I had less confidence, which was enhanced by seeing my team’s high levels of motivation and a well-laid-out plan. The client service executive feared that during the first two months of the business implementation, she might have a lot of wasted time as she did not expect many calls from clients in the startup stages of the business. The carpet cleaners were optimistic about the prospect of attaining clients from government buildings, corporations, and other commercial businesses but skeptical about services in residential homes because they require a minor breach of privacy at client homes.

Evaluation

A good thing about the experience is the prospect for the business target market based on market research and feasibility analysis (Yaacob et al., 2021). London consists of apartment workers, office workers, and residential clients as the target population for the business. The location’s middle- and upper-class market population is expected to generate enough revenue for the business to run its operations. The downside of the experience, however, was drafting the budget. We had minor disagreements on what was worth to include in the budget and what was not. The situation was only mildly dissolved as some of us believed that risk management should be included in the budget.

Analysis

The situation was brought about by diversity in opinions arising from different perspectives. We should allocate more funds to marketing and uncertainties that may arise. The owners felt that we should allocate more funds to insurance. The manager preferred that more funds should be directed toward facility leasing and remodeling. The client service executive vouched for phone, utility, and stationery. As Kanki argues, we listened to each other’s concerns and reasons for preferences as each member shared their own until we reached an agreeable point that served each stakeholder’s and our client’s and the business’s interests (Kanki, 2019). The use of other literature texts helped me comprehend the situation and seek to reach a resolution

Conclusion

I learned from the experience that when people have different personalities, perspectives, and roles in a project, they may have different opinions regarding matters regarding the project. However, effective communication is essential, enabling team members to share and express their opinions and enhancing empathy in decision-making. I need to develop skills like active listening and communication competency to handle situations like these. This will help me consider myself and others’ opinions during decision-making. Another thing I have learned is the significance of target market analysis when developing a business plan because it could determine the success of a business in its objectives. Evaluating the target population is essential as it enables the business to predict the number of potential clients, which significantly impacts revenue realization.

Action Plan

If I had the same situation in disagreement over a matter again, I would be keen to listen to what other team members propose, express my perspective effectively, and have an open mind to embrace other perspectives (Klimecki, 2019). I will develop the required skills like active listening and communicative competency by practicing in debates and attending conferences where people share their views on matters. To ensure that I act differently next time, I should be able to control my emotions when having a different opinion from any other member. This will stop me from acting irrationally when supporting my opinion.

References

Adeani, I. S., Febriani, R. B., & Syafryadin, S. (2020). Using GIBBS’reflective cycle to reflect literary analysis. Indonesian EFL Journal, 6(2), 139-148.

Calma, A., & Davies, M. (2021). Critical thinking in business education: current outlook and prospects. Studies in Higher Education, 46(11), 2279-2295.

Kanki, B. G. (2019). Communication and crew resource management. In Crew resource management (pp. 103–137). Academic Press.

Klimecki, O. M. (2019). The role of empathy and compassion in conflict resolution. Emotion Review, 11(4), 310-325.

Matsuo, M. (2019). Critical reflection, unlearning, and engagement. Management Learning, 50(4), 465–481.

Yaacob, A., Mohd Asraf, R., Hussain, R. M. R., & Ismail, S. N. (2021). Empowering Learners’ Reflective Thinking through Collaborative Reflective Learning. International Journal of Instruction, 14(1), 709-726.