Business Plan

So, as I have been applying to various jobs this week and thinking about how much I want to be in Utah to help Sarah with wedding stuff and hang out with the 4WMs, I came up with a master plan. Actually it came to me as I was walking out of Target with my bottle of contact solution after picking up the most pathetic-ever paycheck from WS.

How amazing would it be, I pondered, to be able to work with your friends instead of having to make new friends at every place that you work? I also realized that if I could come up with an outstanding business proposition (besides our long-term goals with Oganawambula), there might be a way that we could all live near each other and work together - never to be separated again!

Here's the plan that I came up with using our various talents and interests: An education consulting business for NGOs.

Brilliant, right? Here's what we do - we plan effective and amazing education plans for NGOs that run schools and/or orphanages in other countries. In my mind I see us also expanding so that we could provide training, etc. for those educators as well. I think that so many NGOs go to developing countries with high education goals, but may not have the best plans. We would, in conjunction with any government guidelines, develop a curriculum that is extremely effective using the local society and culture as our guide. Here are the various duties:

Whitney and Jen - You would each basically be taking over the development of the actual curriculum with Whitney's focus being on earlier education and Jen working on intermediate education (Jen, I was thinking we would bring on Kate, Jeannine, and whoever else as consultants if you feel the need to discuss and prepare with people who have experience in other disciplines). This curriculum will be fairly detailed and we will focus on meeting and expanding individual government standards while using whatever local resources we can (good for the local economy) and focusing on the cultural needs of the area.

Sarah - Your focus would be on marketing us to our various clients and donors. You (along with me) will identify organizations and countries that may need our expertise and then you would work on the most effective ways to market our services to them, as well as to the various individuals and communities where this would be happening (to engender public good-will).

Me - Along with any of you 3, I will identify those places where we would be working, with an emphasis on researching and understanding local culture, customs, etc. I would get that information to Jen and Whitney to help in their development. I would seek out resources (local, if possible) that J and W see fit to use in their curriculum, including various textbooks, and perhaps local academics, etc. to help with any consulting that we would need.

We would all need to travel, of course, but we would fit traveling requirements to various needs (families, future children, etc.).

So - what do you think? I think it sounds amazing. Is anybody worried that all of this was going through my head while I was supposed to be paying attention to the road on my way home from Target? Haha.

Anyway, I will go back to my job applications now. Hopefully I can continue to bring the same enthusiasm to that area...