My Self Employment Placement At Bangor Business School

One of the first things I did at the start of week 7 was to create timeline for my final month on the placement. I carefully mapped out the next and last four weeks of work, ensuring everything I wanted to research was covered and I had enough time to do it all. This included, laws surrounding owning a farm and running a service such as a cafe and designing a mood board and theme for a cafe. I also looked more into developing my business into a hospitality business and what I would need to do this. I wanted to research brands such as mane and tail, who created a brand based of their cleaning products for horses and see if I could do something similar with alpaca cleaning products! These were a few of the topics I wanted to cover in my final month of the placement. I began by researching more into how to hire employees, which I surprisingly knew little about! I researched how to provide pensions for employees and how to do this through certain outlets and what employees also nee...

This week I decided to research what kind of merchandise my shop could sell. This could create a great source of income, especially because Alpaca Wool has a high retail price, with some coats on Net a Porter pricing £500! I created a content analysis of the merchandise already offered by a number of established Alpaca Farms, the majority of items sold were; Alpaca wool related clothing (hats, scarves and gloves), mugs and toys. There weren't any products that were of particularly high quality or branding other than Alpacaly Ever After. I also researched what walks were available at this time of year from the companies I chose to research. I also wanted to book an alpaca wool spinning class, to see how easy the process could be done. After contacting a variety of businesses, Angelsey Alpacas offer walks on an infrequent basis, due to their charitable commitments rescuing alpacas who have been abandoned or are ill. Therefore, they aren't entirely sure when they offer walks. It ...

This week I decided to create a brand for my Business! I started by researching all the social media accounts of the businesses I have chosen as part of my research that are similar to mine. I picked key features that were generating follows and likes and engagement from customers. These included regular posts, modern content and encouraging customers to share their experience which could be shared on their feed. I also looked at creating a logo for the alpaca experience and the coffee shop, as i think it will be important to separate them to encourage customers to come to the coffee shop even if they are not on the walking experience. The name I created was centred around a location in wales. The majority of companies name their centres around where they are based to generate online content and be included in tourist attractions locally. I wanted to create something that showed the outdoor nature of the centre, but also that it was a modern experience. With my funding from Santand...

So this week I decided to read some articles that could help me develop my business. I started by researching any tips on starting an alpaca farm from people who have been in similar circumstances. This helped me to find out how much land I actually need for a small herd and what kind of plants need to be removed that are poisonous to the alpacas. This article also helped me to establish how to build shelter that will be compatible with the needs of the alpacas and the British weather. This includes no metal roof to stop overheating and something secure from rain to stop fleece damage. I also found that the taxation process involved with running a business and how being an owner that participates in the active running of the business can benefit greatly from tax benefits! I also researched what Veterinary care alpacas needed and what could be administered through the staff at my farm. These include worming, vitamin supplements to combat lack of sunlight in winter, the halter traini...

So when I was researching other Alpaca experiences that were on offer, I stumbled across an experience I'd never heard of called Alpaca Therapy. I had no idea what this was so decided to do some research and focus on what this was and could I provide it for my own business. Alpaca Therapy is provided by almost every company I researched bar Harefields Alpaca Coffee Barn. This primarily offers a different experience to the walks and treks as it is targeted to those who suffer from mental illness, ADHD or autism. The Alpaca Therapy aims to provide a calming experience and has the same effect as therapy dogs that are often provided by schools and businesses to calm students or workers. Alpaca Therapy can also be used for interaction at care homes, where many companies take the alpacas to the care homes to interact with the elderly and aim to boost morale and decrease loneliness. Once I understood the concept of the alpaca therapy I looked into what the requirements were to have an ...

So this week, for my self employment placement, I decided to go out into the field... not literally. I visited Hare-field Alpaca Coffee Barn, which is a cafe, that offers views of alpacas while you eat and sells alpaca wool derived products, like hats and scarves! I learnt a lot from my visit, the quality of the wool, the 'approved' alpaca wool colours and even the fact there are competitions for the highest quality alpaca wool!I also assessed the quality of the food and menu and the changes I would make to my own company, the main being ensuring all produce was sourced from local farms. This research led to me looking into products that could be sold that weren't present in any of the alpaca centres I'd researched and I also researched the commercial value of raw alpaca wool, alongside the average price for certain items. It also assisted me in further research into developing a cafe, through what kind of food I would want to offer and how it should be presented. ...