Introduction “I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in some

Introduction
“I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.” –George Carlin
Do we actually feel better if we enter a well-designed and smartly advertised place? Does it matter how, where and when entrepreneurs are presenting, marketing and selling their products? What knowledge do they need to have in order to be successful sale agents? Not just any agents, but entrepreneurial ones..Do they need to know how to valuate business, embrace most advanced platforms and if so, how? What if an entrepreneur has a very limited budget combined with big plans? What strategies could she-he use then? What is effectuation and why modern entrepreneurs need it? How to valuate any business, what is branding and how to use it?
Now that you have a solid understanding of your product and looked at different forms of ownerships, embarked on globalizing your business idea via a franchise proposition, it is time to answer all the above questions and go live.
At the end of these two units: 5 and 6 you will create a website/ blog/ or equivalent that showcases your product or service. Prior to getting ready to go live you will learn about three important components that will help you succeed: branding, effectuating and business valuation. You will have two weeks to strategize and create your website- that is why unit 5 and unit 6 are put together. Let it not mislead you! Two weeks give you enough time to fully prepare and create your own website without stressing out about it. However, please note that procrastination will not be rewarded: please plan your tasks in advance.
This week you will learn about branding, effectuation, writing a job description and will engage in market business valuation. You will also need to prepare a detailed plan on when and how you will create your website. Creating your own website or blog in week 6 might sound like a big task. However, it is not. Websites can be created in less than 30 minutes. Once you have your content prepared, of course, and this week you will be working on being fully prepared.
At this point you already have a lot of knowledge about your product and about entrepreneurial strategies on how to sell it-present it in local as well as globalized contexts. You also have an understanding on what important elements you need to employ while making the product attractive to your potential clients from all over the world. You will have three more topics to cover to help you fully prepare to create a successful website: learn about effectuation, business valuation and branding (including writing your own job description). You will need to have a good understanding of these topics in order to make your website reflect the entrepreneurial values in an efficient and effective way. Moreover, you will be guided throughout this whole preparation process.
Deciding on what you want to include in your website does not need to be an arduous task either. Think about it-you have your product and a lot of knowledge. The time to get ready to go live is approaching. You will have two weeks to ensure that you are well prepared to produce an effective and attractive website. Skim through all the materials this week and plan in detail all your actions. Start your work immediately. Be proactive.
Reading Assignment
Please note the reading assignment includes reading required in two weeks. Plan your work well. Tip: peruse all materials first to assess and plan well. Remember: you have two weeks to complete all the tasks. Do not leave any tasks to be done at the last minute.
Please note that the steps necessary in creating your website or blog are described in the Written Assignment description.
1. Prior to embarking on the virtual sales platform for your product we will spend some time preparing the entrepreneurial background. Since creating and managing a website requires fusing your knowledge on entrepreneurship and your managerial and selling skills, you are asked to visit the following Society for Effectual Action website:
http://www.effectuation.org/?page_id=207

Your task is to understand effectuation and causation as well as principles associated with effectuation. You will find this information while visiting the main site of the Effectuation Society. Read thoroughly on the following topics:
Bird in Hand Principle
Affordable Loss Principle
Lemonade Principle
Crazy-Quilt Principle, and
What is the effectual cycle?
When reading you should be assessing how well you are using the effectual principles in developing your ideas and running your business.
Are you following any of the listed above principles? How?
This should be visible in your website. Your website should look like a website of an Entrepreneur. Remember, you want visitors of your website to understand very quickly that you are an entrepreneur and not just another sales person. You want to ensure that your product or service will get the limelight it deserves and will be presented in a way that highlights you as original and daring and yet effective and localized.
The simplest way to achieve this is to make your website look creative, modern, collaborative and inviting. If your product or service is creative, original and modern you do not have a lot of work to do to cover this requirement. If it is not there yet, you need to make it shine through a modern looking website. This is where effectual thinking can help you.
2. Research the internet to find a job description that resembles your present position within your company. Your job is find at least two examples and compile your own job description taking into account your tasks as well as the necessary knowledge required in your present position. Monster.com has sample job descriptions that you may want to review first: https://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/job-descriptions.aspx
Look for positions that are most similar to yours–but do not forget that you are an Entrepreneur. Pay attention to how the jobs are described. Do additional research.
Briefly describe the knowledge one needs to have to do your job well.
Follow up with a list of tasks that you do.
Use active verbs.
Be brief. Imagine that you are leaving for a couple of weeks and need to transfer your knowledge to your replacement. What would you need them to know? What would you need them to do in your absence? Do additional research, as necessary.
3. Finalize your job description. Ensure that it will have a list of tasks as well as state what knowledge is needed in your position. You will need to submit your job description later this week (week 5) as well as will need it in week 6 to complete your website.
Yes, knowing what is needed when managing your company is really important in branding and marketing your business. You are the soul and the center of your company. Moreover, to brand your product well you need to become neutral about your company–be able to see it how others might see it. This part sometimes presents a problem to entrepreneurs who might tend to think that their company is part of their family, so to speak. That everyone understands and sees what they see and understands their vision. To describe your own position is a good start in becoming neutral–step away from what is so very yours in order to prepare a true and effective branding and marketing proposition.
4. Read about branding and market valuation. You will need branding knowledge to make your website stand out in an original and individual way. You will need market valuation knowledge to make rough estimations to assess your own business and ensure that this assessment is visible in your website. You will also need to understand market valuation when assessing other websites while choosing the ones that appeal to your business sense. To understand branding please read:
Small Business Marketing: https://businessadvising.org/small-business-marketing-branding-basics/
The Power of Branding: https://www.fastcompany.com/3004657/true-power-brand
After reading this information, you should be able to answer the following questions prior to moving onto another task:
What is your big idea – what lies at the heart of your company?
Explain your values behind your product – what do you believe in?
What is your vision – where are you going with your product? What is its purpose? What do you hope to achieve with it?
Your professional personality – how do you want to be viewed vis-a-vis your product?
5. Next, read about market valuation: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/66442
Please note that there are several Business Valuation approaches and Methods and there are three fundamental ways to measure the value of a business or professional practice:
Asset approach
Market approach
Income approach.
The article covers a mixture of all these methods in a very approachable way. You need to have a sense of what your business might be worth. You also need to be able to construct a rough assessment of similar businesses-and their websites. In order to do your business valuation you need to be able to become neutral about your business.
When you were writing your job description you were asked to imagine that you needed to leave your company for a couple of weeks and to find a replacement and describe to this person what needed to be understood, as well as what needed to be done. Now imagine that you are meeting a potential client who is interested in buying your business. This person asks you: “how much your company is worth?”
Remember, this is a potential business deal that might allow you to do something new and exciting, perhaps follow another dream or reach a new goal in your life.
What rough number could you- would you give?
How would you arrive at this number?
Is the number reflective of calculating your assets, is it based on a market approach or is it based on what income your business is able to generate, or something else?
6. Start doing research to find at least three websites or blogs that present similar product or service. Use the knowledge from points 1-4.
Valuate and evaluate what you see to choose the best possible examples. Do not take the first three you see. Go deeper.
7. Decide on your platform. You may use any of the indicated below websites or you may find a different one that seems more suitable and effective for your particular taste, beliefs and product.
There are many free websites to choose. The purpose here is to help you create a website content without spending any money. You might want to do a quick search to find something you can use — either a free blog or a free website that looks appealing to you. You will end up having a ready content that might help you in your future entrepreneurial endeavors.
Please visit:
Top 10 free web hosting sites: http://www.prchecker.info/web-hosting/top-10-free-web-hosting-sites/
Now you have all the tools to create your efficient and effective website. Good luck!
Discussion Assignment
During Unit 5, please submit your job description. Make sure that it has a minimum of 150 words.
This Discussion Forum will be monitored closely by your professor during both Units 5-6 for signs of hard work and proper feedback.
Learning Journal
What have you learned about your product or service in this unit? How did you learn it? What went well and what would you want to improve in the future? How did you give and receive feedback?
Written Assignment
Due Date: By the end of Week/Unit 6
Your assignment is to build a website, a blog or a wiki (your choice) featuring your product or service. This website will be assessed by your peers and your professor by a 10 point scale.
You will need to submit the address of your website of blog as your regular assignment. Make sure it is functional. Should you encounter any problems, please contact your professor early. Last minute inquiries will not constitute a valid reason to not submit this assignment and will be marked a 0.
In creating your website or blog please observe the following steps and guidelines:
According to Michael Hyatt in Platform Get Noticed in a Noisy World A Step-by-Step Guide for Anyone with Something to Say or Sell (Thomas Nelson, 2012, page 83-84), a successful blog outline includes the following five components:
1. Lead paragraph
2. Relevant image
3. Personal experience
4. Main body
5. Discussion question
Since you will be required to use this formula as a framework for developing your website or blog, please familiarize yourself with what each point entails (details underneath). Please note that your final product will be marked based on how well you translate these points into the chosen shell of your website or blog or a wiki.
Below is the detailed list of the five components that you will need to include in your website.
1. Lead paragraph.
This is an equivalent to a headline. This is where you will indicate your product combined with the most relevant couple of words that have one purpose: catch the reader’s attention while disambiguating your product from the rest. You will need to extend your research to places where this is done well-as described in the Reading section of this module. Then you will need to come up with your own original lead paragraph. This paragraph will disclose your branding.
2. Relevant image
You can either insert your original picture or describe it. This part should be longer than part 1 and provide enough details to allow anyone to understand what your product or service is all about. Remember: a picture tells a thousand words, but if you have problems getting or inserting a good picture, just describe it using your own original idea and your own words.
3. Personal experience
This is where you introduce self as an entrepreneur. Your job description submitted in week 5 will provide you a good base—just make it shorter. You also need to add a testimonial—a description from someone else using the product or service you are advertising. In real life this part would include at least three, and often more personal experiences with the product-called testimonials. In order to make your website effective and also, get a good mark from this assignment you need to include a minimum of one testimonial. Make this testimonial reflect the true and original value of your product or service. Avoid general statements like: wonderful product, great service as they do not disclose the necessary details that could make your readers into your potential clients.
4. Main body
This will include your product information. Provide a long version of your product and include technical specifications, or details, including available formats or versions. A minimum of 100 words is required in this part.
You could start with a catchy line that states what your product is all about versus its utility, and continue to situate the product in the reality and field it is in.
You also need to include your coordinates so that interested clients would be able to contact you. Your valuation skills will be visible here.
5. Discussion question
Just inviting potential clients does not seem to be enough in order to attract clients and create a sales buzz. Posing a discussion question to engage your readers is a potent way to spread the news about your product or service and elicit true interest. You already have entrepreneurial experience eliciting engagement from your peers. Use this knowledge and this time go a little further and pose a question that will be interesting to your readers and will get a lot of responses.
Please note that the remaining points will be assigned on your applied entrepreneurial creativeness, inclusion of effectuation, branding knowledge, good writing skills and an overall effort. Please familiarize yourself with the scale that will be used for scoring. You will need to know it well also to be able to provide constructive feedback to others.
If you still have questions on how a good entrepreneurial website should look, please visit http://michaelhyatt.com/platform