The Knowledge Hut
Business Plan, April 26th, 2012…
The Mission of The
Knowledge Hut Stores is to help younger Americans of Color to better understand
their history, grow and develop as more productive and reliable adults and
learn better ethical behaviors through the development, production and sale of
positive, defined and responsible products.
A. Name of Company: The Knowledge Hut
Stores
B. Mission Statement
And Objectives:
Mission Statement: The Mission of The Knowledge Hut Stores is to help younger
Americans of Color to better understand their history, grow and develop as more
productive and reliable adults and learn better ethical behaviors through the
development, production and sale of positive, defined and responsible products.
Objectives: To help parents, guardians, grandparents and others who
care for youth to assist them in developing strong personal and community-wide
values including responsibility, good health habits and hygiene, good ethics, good family values, cleanness,
reliability, good and positive cultural values and other positive traits in an
on-going fashion through the sale of good products that reflect those
values. While we are a for profit store,
we will network with non-profits and social service agencies to bring on more
support services for needy Non-White youths.
C. Form of Business: A
Type B Corporation.
D. Trademarks,
Copyrights, and other legal issues:
We presently have no Trademark protections or copyrighted in house
documents or documentation, but we have registered with Go-Daddy.
E. Products or
Services: We have already test marketed
positive-message Tee-Shirts; Black Greeting cards; and Afro-Centric, hand-made
Jewelry.
F. Management /
Leadership. I Brother Tracy Gibson, am the sole owner and proprietor for the
company. While we were in early
development stages, we had five employees for our Parent company (Brother Tracy
Gibson and Associates, INC.)
G. Location and
Geographical Information: We did our Test marketing from our Parent Company’s
office at 3918 Lancaster Avenue from April 2006 to September 2007. We will
re-enter the market as a Home-Based On-Line store as soon as we get proper
financing. We have been operating as
home based for two years, for research and development. We have many plans in the works to start a
Philadelphia-Centered, Bricks and Mortar company and later expand to fifteen
stores.
H. Development stage: We
are working on getting grants and getting other established financing from
Banks, Friends and Family, Wealthy individuals., and / or other financial
institutions and / or investors to assist in paying for our initial
development.
I. Milestones Achieved
to Date: We are working on our Business Plan with the Temple University Small
Business Development Center and working on grants with the Wheatal Perk
Corporation in Chicago. We are planning to do test marketing again very soon.
J. Specialty Business
Information: Once we get funding, we
will produce short promotional films to put on You Tube; Develop our own Web
Page; hand out flyers in the communities; and we will also have posters &
Brochures & Buttons.
K. Financial Status: We
are seeking financing from the community right now, because Bank financing is
tight and very hard to come by, and because I , the President and CEO, am
presently on disability.
Executive Summary
We have registered
our company name The Knowledge Hut Stores with Go.Daddy Network. Eventually we
want to be an LLC. We are planning to copyright our idea within the next few
days. We have done some test marketing through our Parent
company—BTGandA.Com--and we are operating a mail order firm right now. We are low on funds to develop our Tee-Shirts
and buy other products right now. Our mission is to instill positive values in young
people by helping them choose more politically conscious and ethical products.
Our company came
about when our founder recognized a need to curtail the negative impact some of
the more lured rap music and rap videos were having on American inner city and
suburban youth. We will be selling Tee-Shirts, greeting cards, books and
posters chosen by our staff to reflect and promote better values in youth.
Those values include: doing homework;
not bullying; having respect for parents and elders; avoiding teen pregnancy
and STD’s; and staying out of trouble with the law. We also hope to have outreach information in
our stores from the youth social service network, churches and Non-profit
organizations that work on youth issues such as staying in school, attending
college or university and starting youth-run businesses.
Our target market
is youth and young adults, ages 12 through 27 and their parents, grandparents
and guardians. Market trends show that church-going parents are looking for
products to purchase that will enhance and support family and church values,
and there is an obvious need to increase business knowledge and political
awareness among young people. We have circulated a petition and generated 30
supportive signatures from people who support the concept of ``The Knowledge
Hut’’ stores and the community seems ready for the positive change. Few stores
of any size are offering only products that encourage better values in young
customers so competition at this point is null.
I think we can
compete successfully, especially if we can get on Board with Macy’s because
they have hundreds of stores nationwide. {We have written letters of intent to
possible investors about actually having our stores within the Macy’s network }
. While we have not actually officially
approached Macy’s as yet, we think their up-beat, youth oriented specialty
shops would be perfect for our store and well suited for our idea. We have
written General Mills about carrying their Nature Valley Granola Bars. {We do not want to sell potato chips, sodas
and Twinkies which hamper young people’s energy by providing too many empty
calories and too much sugar}. There could be barrios if someone beats us to the
punch and gets investors or gets a major similar contract before we do.
Our concept
designer has sound business experience, having worked @ Macy’s, Sears, Gimbals
and Staples as a cashier; and having test marketed some products that will be
sold @ The Knowledge Hut @ our parent company—Brother Tracy Gibson And
Associates, Inc.… Brother Gibson has also taken some business courses at Temple
University and with the Money School in Wilmington and New Castle,
Delaware. We did the test marketing
from April 2006 to September 2007. Our key manager will be our concept
designer, Brother Tracy Gibson, until we can get funding and hire additional
staff.
We want to have 15
locations and about 300 employees. We also want to manufacture our own products
in the United States and provide shipping and handling at a reasonable cost. At
the same time, however, we want to pay all employees good wages and have
suitable benefits available for employees, as we can afford. According to
reliable internet sources most book stores reach about $3 Million Dollars in
annual sales per store. Since we will sell
other products besides books, we project $5 Million a year in sales for each
store. The total income from all 15
stores would be $60,000,000.00 {Sixty Million Dollars a year.}
We are seeking $15
Million Dollars in startup funds through about five investors. The funds will
be used to buy, modernize and refurbish existing property and hire staff. Investors will get their funds back.
Business Budget:
My Salary: $50,000.00 A Year.
Staff and Staff Development {Includes use of a consultant for initial
personnel development} : $200,000.00.
Office Supplies: $700.00.
Office Furniture: $2,500.00.
Computers: $18,000.00.
Rent for One Year: $24,000.00.
Rental Use of vehicles plus car fair: $6,000.00.
Capitalization and Renovation of buildings to be purchased: $
100,000.00.
Legal Fees: Donated.
Merchandize and Inventory to be bought wholesale to be modified or
improved on: $200,000.00.
Purchase and Modernization of Property to be used for Factories: $1,500,000.00.
Postage for one year: $780.00.
Internet and Web Page development: $3,000.00.
Phone and utility bills: $10,800.00.
Community Outreach and advertising: $500,000.00.
Additional Communications, accounting and bookkeeping programs:
$6,000.00.
Other legal fees, licenses, contracts: $6,000.00.
Other costs for consultants: $500.00.
RE: ``The Knowledge Hut
Stores’’ and Why We Need Them…
It has come to my
knowledge, more and more over the years, that our young people are in deep,
deep trouble. Unless we act as responsible and concerned adults, they are
doomed to create another generation of lost souls who are down and out
economically and unprepared morally, ethically, culturally and politically for
what faces them in a few short years.
This is why I have
labored so hard to create the concept of ``The Knowledge Hut Stores’’ and why I
think the concept will be a Big Success when it goes national very soon.
The concept is a
simple one: instead of throwing a whole bunch of assorted products at young
people when they come to shop, why not give them a selection of products that
are designed to stimulate their thinking; develop the mind and body correctly;
spark learning; and develop good strong family values and strong positive study
habits in them including better eating habits.
What we would like
to sell to our young people is music and videos with positive messages and positive images;
Tee-Shirts that are developed to make people think of positive things and that
are designed, drawn, written and developed by the young people themselves; food
snacks and drinks that are healthy and exclude white flour, potato chips, soda
and too much sugar, salt and fat; greeting cards with inspirational and funny
sayings in them that are written and designed by the youths themselves that
reflect strong positive political and cultural values; and plenty of books that
reflect the same values and also describe and create roads to self-awareness,
self-reliance, honor, holistic thinking, sharing progressive ideas, interacting
positively with elders, other young people and other members of the community
with respect, decency and humanity, and teach our history, languages and
culture in a positive and upbeat way.
It has been proven
that young people sometimes get in trouble with the law mostly during the hours
of 3 P.M. and 7 P.M. when they are out of school and their parents and
guardians are not yet home. ``The
Knowledge Hut Stores’’ will be designed not only as a place to help young
people buy positive products, but also as a place to congregate and learn about
positive things going on in the community as well as sit and read or play
positive board and educational video games. They will also be encouraged to interact
in other positive Ways. Eventually they should be able to work towards credits
for their GED at our stores and make connections for positive career moves or
for going to college or university. Social awareness and social service
organizations from the surrounding community will be asked to present positive
information about their organizations (Such as Planned Parenthood and The Human
Rights Network) and to put on workshops about the services they provide and how
they benefit the community. These stores
will not only benefit the young people, but also the adults who care for them
because the parents, grandparents and other guardians will know that their
children and young adults are in a warm, safe and responsible place that will
help nurture and care for the young people until they get home safely.
Our target market
is Black young people between the ages of 12 and 27; Latin youth between the
ages of 12 and 27; and poor White and progressive-thinking young people of all
races, genders and sexual orientations of the same ages.
We want to
eventually have a fully operational and state-of-the-art GREEN factory that
mass produces many of the items that will be sold by the store. Many youth will
be hired to learn management skills and we will hire young people from the
surrounding community to work in our store. (Right now I have looked at and
thought about the property at Broad and LeHigh Avenue, which was once a major
factory in the North Philadelphia area, as a site for our first factory.) This
would have a positive impact on the unemployment rate that is despicably high
and out of control in North Philadelphia.
We don’t know how we will do it, but we want to pay our workers a good
living wage. As we said, our purpose is
NOT to just make a profit, but to help develop our young people’s futures in a
strong and positive Way.
I am presently in
the process of developing and writing the Business Plan for ``The Knowledge Hut
Stores’’ at the Temple University Small Business Development Center in
Philadelphia on Temple’s Campus. The
plan will be complete in 12 short weeks.
I will be in touch with you to let you know how this idea is blossoming,
blooming and developing. We will
certainly need financial supporters, developers and investors as this idea
takes shape and becomes a reality. We
are willing to take a small 20% of the profits from the stores at first just to
get this crucial idea off the ground. We
reserve the right to have final say as to what products are sold in the stores,
but we will take any products the investors want to add into full
consideration.
We will have full
financial compliance for anyone who wishes to invest with us. A Mr. Frank Breitman, a Center City
investment lawyer and Real Estate Manager, will be coming on board to help us devise
specific investment strategies. {We have worked with Mr. Breitman in the past
and we fully trust his work, investment management skills, opinions, financial
advice and views. } He can be reached in Philadelphia at: 12159281077.
We hope you will
contact us if you know of any financial people who might be interested in
investing in our concept with seed money (as we are in the development stages);
or who might want to help us get the whole project off the ground. (Please contact Mr. Breitman for larger
investments.
With Peace and Blessings,
I Am,
Brother Tracy Gibson,
President and CEO OF Brother Tracy Gibson and Associates, Inc.
Brother Tracy Gibson
Writer – Advisor – Visionary – Businessman
Fund Raiser – Activist
670 North 41st Street
Apartment B
Philadelphia, PA 19104
1 [215] 823 9985
III Industry Analysis and Trends
- We will be comparing The Knowledge Hut Stores to the major bookstores for our analysis. There are some 10,000 bookstores in the U.S. and annual revenues have been $16 Billion Dollars. According to reliable information culled from FirstResearch.Com. Each store can expect $3 Million Dollars in annual sales and an annual sales per employee of $130,000.00 a year. While a major chain—Borders—declared bankruptcy in early 2011, the estimated growth rate for most stores is about ? ? Percent.
- Back to school and Holiday shoppers constitute a large percentage of sales. There are some highly technical marketing programs available for bookstores, such as _________________ and most of the networks use them. These programs help manage inventory.
- The state and federal government helps regulate bookstores for employee / consumer protection laws. The publishing industry also regulates itself ``To ensure equitable treatment of independent bookstores,’’ according to FirstResearch.Com.
- Most Big Book Networks have their own distribution centers and some may even have their own book publishers.
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