Assignment 11A Idea Napkin No. 1

Assignment 11A Idea Napkin No. 1

1.     Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically, regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

• I have been around the horse industry my entire life and have been working with racehorses for the past 27 years. I currently operate a training business with my husband in this area of high horse concentration, we are well known and respected for our work. I am familiar with the thought processes and motivations of horse owners because I am a horse owner. Completely unrelated to the horse world, I have been a massage therapist (for humans) for the past 19 years. Working in a therapeutic relationship requires a level of compassion and empathy. This experience would carry over into my proposed service of helping horse owners manage the aftercare of their deceased animals. I intend to continue to train from our farm while operating the horse cremation service separately.  I would like to transition from the very physical, hands-on role that our current business practice requires into a predominantly managerial position. After establishing the cremation service business, I would operate both the farm and the crematorium at different locations. I will construct a team to carry out the day to day activities of both the farm and the crematorium. I like the flexibility of self-employment, yet I aim to work fewer hours once the new business concept is functioning smoothly.

2.     What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

• I am offering the service of whole horse cremation to highly emotionally and financially invested horse owners. My service includes ethical and respectful removal of remains that can be prearranged to coordinate with euthanasia or is available as needed during regular business hours seven days a week. The remains will be transported to a local facility where they will be cremated without dismemberment. The cremains will be available to the horse owner for memorial purposes along with various urn options. For horse owners unable to afford the expense of private whole horse cremation I can offer alternatives. The option of communal cremation will be available for a reduced fee, the cremains will then be spread in a designated memorial garden. As long as disposal is available at local landfills, we will offer transport services to accepting sites and will work with counties to provide an area separate from household refuse.  

3.              Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common? 

• The option of whole horse cremation is aimed at the horse owner who sees these animals not just as livestock, but as pets or even family members. These are middle to upper-class individuals that have the income to support this type of animal care. This area is home to horse lovers that have spent hundreds of thousands to own their horses, for their pure enjoyment or as an investment. Aftercare that is proportionate to the upkeep provided throughout the animal’s life is a requirement for these owners that are not being met by the currently available options for removal. These racehorse owners, breeding farms with prized stock, show horse owners, and backyard horse-people are influenced by their community of fellow owners and seek to follow norms in the areas of animal care and environmental responsibility.
• The communal cremation is one step over from whole horse, respectfully reducing the animals remains but without the expense of a private service. For the owner that wants to use a service that provides the utmost in dignity while using the most economic option of landfill disposal, that service will provide affordability.

4.     Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

• My service will be the first in this area to offer this option to owners. Impending regulations limiting or banning home burial for the purpose of preserving soil and water quality will force owners of deceased horses to dispose of remains elsewhere. Currently, landfill or rendering plants are the only other options. For people who are willing to spend hundreds of thousands over the lifetime of these animals, a fitting memorial is a given. This community operates on word-of-mouth and shared experience, a positive cremation experience would trigger a chain of referrals. Although this is a service that is required in a limited capacity per individual, the size and scope of the community ‘will support the business.

5.              What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?  

• My core competencies are in the area of horsemanship, networking within this niche community, compassion, empathy for horse owners, 27 years operating a business within this community, and my detail-oriented strategic approach to developing and maintaining that business. I would be the first in this area to offer this service. I am recognized in the community for ethical, honest work practices and can use my existing connections with owners, trainers, veterinarian clinics, and county offices to launch and run this business.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others.  

• I believe that the combined elements of my personal identity, experience, intended service, local demographics, and my unique qualifications fit together for a solid business concept. The aspect that could present a conflict for me personally is the matter of being associated with the grim side of horse ownership. I have misgivings about the dual roles of training and deceased horse removal coordinator. I strongly believe in the need for such a service and can recognize the opportunity, yet I don’t want the operation to coexist on the one property with our current training center.