Business Plan Essay Example

Business Plan Essay Example Business Plan Essay Business Plan Essay Business plays a vital role In the life and culture of countries. In todays society people are willing to assume the responsibility and the risk for a business operation with the expectation of making a profit. Most businesses develop a new product, a new market, or a new means of production. This report outlines the steps required in setting up a small Business In Antigen and Barbuda. As a guideline we came up with a business In which we would manufacture a commodity for sale locally and regionally. The name of our business is called Waddle Jam. By using this company it would give a clearer picture and understanding of the steps involved. The steps that are outlined in the report are as follows: Come up with a good business Idea Write a business plan (Approach lending Institution for funding) Decide on a winning name for your business Choose the form of business you are going to start Get a business License Register for taxes Prepare to have employees Buy other kinds of business Insurance Get your business records off to a good start There are different forms of business in todays society. The group company Waddle Jam is owned by four individuals therefore the form of business being used is partnership. In this form of business the owners generally decides on the product, acquires the facilities, and brings together the labor force, capital, and production materials. If the business succeeds, the partners reap the reward of profits: If It falls, all the partners take the loss. A business must acquire a business license before they can operate legally within their country. In Antigen business licenses are issued by the high court of Justice. Taxes are apart of every country, In Antigen a business must register to pay taxes. The Institutions that Issue these taxes are Medical Benefits scheme, Social Security and Inland Revenue. In most businesses employees are an essential part of the structure and development of the business. When starting a business you must prepare to have employees. Develop a method In which employees are hired. Each employee needs the skills and qualifications for the type of business you are operating. Operating a business. Getting business records off to a good start will make it easier to manage the accounting and payroll of the company. Business Idea Our business idea came from Mr Lucien Pilgrims love for Jams. He developed this craving from his childhood years when eating crackers and home made Jam at his randomnesss house. As he grew older he looked for that special taste in Jams at the supermarket. During his visits to several supermarkets he realized that there were more imported Jams being sold than Jams made with local fruits. He then decided to conduct a feasibility study about Jams being sold and manufactured locally. The results from his study showed that 10% of Jams on the market were made locally. On further investigation it was revealed that senior citizens made most of the local Jams. These are done on a small scale. The recipes from these Jams are not passed on to the younger generation. Mr Pilgrim then became very concerned that the recipes of the Jams he loved since childhood would soon be buried in the grave along with our ancestors. He then decided to start a business where he would keep the recipe and his culture alive. He approached five people from the community to develop his idea: Jonathan Gilles He supplied the fruit trees Recipes for the Jams Karee Ask Accounting and management skills Successful Business Lawyer Unaware Remain Marketing experience They were all interested in his idea and decided to invest by putting in shares into the business. ANALYSIS Company analysis: Our goal is to make a profit while marketing a product via the internet and also our focus is to produce the best tasting Jam there is on the market. We have developed a fully functional website that has enabled customers to view the various flavors of jams being offered. CUSTOMER ANALYSIS: of the hundred visitors we are expected to have 60% become customers, after viewing our products which expresses culture and heritage. Our value drivers would be cheaper price of products than our competitors and also a better delivery time. Our customer base will be made up of simplifiers which are people who are attracted y sites that make doing business easier, faster otherwise more efficient than is possible in the physical world. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: Our competitor market position is their strength, whereby they already have a strong brand name. Their weakness would be delivery time because they are not located on the island. Our competitors control at least 60% of the market thus far. COLLABORATORS: The hosting site is bravest, they collaborate with the web designer in order for the website to be functional. S. W. O. T ANALYSIS STRENGTHS Staff with experience in accounting, marketing and management skills Practicing lawyer for twelve years Land with numerous fruit trees Entrepreneurial attributes such as commitment, determined perseverance and self confidence There are not many other businesses that sell locally. WEAKNESSES Lack of liquid cash to Finance start up cost Lack of established markets OPPORTUNITIES To be able to expand the Capital Consumers not having to go far to get the product Quality Jams THREATS Take a while to enter market since customer/ client relationship would have to be established for fixed deliveries There are several other local Jams being sold Natural elements such as hurricanes etc, animals such as birds, rodents may destroy ruts The company Waddle Jam main purpose for writing a business plan was to secure funding, such as bank loans. Scotia bank was approached by one of the partners to secure a loan for the company. Following is the information needed by the bank before a loan is granted to the company. You must have tangible security (collateral) in the form of cash or land. You must deposit 35% of the amount of the loan. The loan is paid on principal interest for no more than arrears. The interest rate is between 11-12%. After the loans officer and director of the bank review the requirements, 65% of the initial loan will then be granted to the company. A loan of $441 ,OHO. Price In order for our business to be successful we have to market our product effectively. We intend to sell our product wholesale and retail. Our aim is to decrease the mount of Jams that are imported into the country and replace those Jams with our product. The cost of our products is cheaper as they are locally made and there are easily transported to the various supermarkets. We want our Jams to be lunch snacks to children, on breakfast tables at hotels, restaurants and supermarket shelves and also sold to many tourists that enter the island. Eventually we hope to export our Jams to other countries. Our first target is to get our product into the major supermarkets and hotels. By our estimate this will be about 70% of the population of Antigen and Barbuda and about 0% of tourist. Meetings with prospective customers media advertisements and flyers would be the machinery put in place to market our Jams. As an introduction to our product we intend to give samples to shoppers and tourist at various hotels as an experiment on how effective the product is. Then we will record their general opinion and comparisons to the Jams they normally buy. We choose a location that is accessible to everyone. We are located at Coolidge Industrial Park. This location is away from the busy streets of the city traffic with easy access to the airport. Promotion After our product has been introduced into the market the next step is advertising. Because we have plans to eventually take our product regional we decided to advertise on a regional radio station along with local media. We have received a proposal from Family Radio which broadcast to eight other islands: Montmartre, Inguinal, Nevis, SST Skits, SST Marten, SST Martin, Saba, and SST Status. This is a very popular radio station around the Caribbean. They also have a worldwide audience on the web. In their proposal they are also offering us a banner space on their website which would lead them to our website www. Waddle]amaze. Bravest. Mom where they can view our products and contact information. Decide on a winning name for the business You would want a name that is memorable and is going to summarize what your business does for marketing purposes. The partners of the company did some brainstorming for a catchy name. They came up with the name Waddle Jam. The name Waddle symbolizes the heritage and our culture and Jams spelled J-A-M-Z represents the old techniques brought into the future. Together they signify the past and present. The form of business ownership used by Waddle Jams is partnership. Waddle Jams is under a general partnership agreement. Each of the four partners is Jointly and severally liable for the debts of the partnership. This means if the business suffers loss it is shared between partners however this means that as a partner you can be held responsible for any wrongful act or omission by other partners acting in the ordinary course of the firms business which can be a serious disadvantage. In contrast the most successful partnerships are those where the partners have complimentary talents and are comfortable sharing the decision-making. OBTAINING A BUSINESS LICENSE The company has to pay $100 for registration, and an additional $25 for a search to e done in the register to see if the trademark is registered. A local agent then has to file the paper work in regards to the companys trademark, then after about two days Trademark Licensing A trademark is a sign that that individualizes the goods of a given enterprise distinguishes them from the goods of its competitors. A trademark must be distinctive and it should not be deceptive. Patent The recipe for the Jams is passed to one of the owners of the company so getting patent rights will ensure that the company Waddle Jams is the only company using that recipe for the Jams. Register the business for Taxes Taxes that a company in Antigen pays for are: Medical Benefit (Payable to Director of Medical Benefit Antigen and Barbuda) Social Security (Payable to Director of Social Security Antigen and Barbuda) Educational Levy (Payable to Commissioner of Inland Revenue) Business Tax (Payable to Commissioner of Inland Revenue) Business Tax Medical Benefit Social Security Educational Levy Particulars 35% of Net Profit 3. 5% of Employees and Employers Salary 3% For Employee and 5% for Employer 2. 5% of Employees Salary salary over $5000 The amount of business tax paid to Inland Revenue differs depending on the form of Revenue in the table above is the deductions commissioned for a business operating as a partnership. The deductions made for business tax are payable on a yearly basis. A form is usually given to employers off business by these institutions to ensure the payments of taxes are made. Hiring Employees While starting a business-hiring employees may be the furthest thing from your mind but its amazing how quick a business can grow. A selected numbers of persons must be chosen with the necessary skills and qualifications needed to carry out the different tasks required to perform the functions of the company on a daily basis. We intend to hire at least 12 employees in the business preliminary stage. Following is a description of the type of staff our business requires: Manager Must have at least 5 years of management skills. Executive Secretary Must have at least 5 years experience in administration. Computer skills required. Floor Supervisor In charge of production, must have at least 1 5 years experience in manufacturing. Cooks Must be experience in pastry making etc. Stewards Must have 10 years experience in the related field. Driver/Delivery Person Must be an experienced licensed (85) heavy-duty equipment river. 5 Years) Cleaner Must have 5 years experience in the related field. Security Must have at least 7 years in the related field. Conclusion with the idea to start a business. The procedure in which one has to set up a business deals with a lot of planning, consulting for information and ideas. The most challenging part of doing this exercise is compiling the business plan. A lot of intell ectual power went into the business plan. Even though the project was challenging members of the community were very cooperative and patient in giving us all the necessary information.

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 36

Business - Essay Example Such teams have members who are highly committed and work in a work environment that enhances collaboration and learning. Teams that lack these characteristics end up being ineffective for the organization. There are various behaviors that team members and leaders need to carry out in order to form an effective team. In an effective team leaders need have a future oriented approach and they need to have the ability to influence other team members towards the achievement of the team’s goals (Kuczma 11). Leaders need to promote anti-discriminatory behaviors and respect the importance of diversification within teams. The team members need to provide support to their leaders while accepting and respecting the differences between them and other team members. The members need to have a positive attitude towards work and develop strong bonds with other team members. According to TEAM model a new team is developed in a step by step model (Noyes 72). The model states that first a team meeting takes place and the members are informed about the purpose for which the team has been made. Next the team leader indulges in the work of identifying what roles are to be assigned and who will be responsible to carry out those roles. The team then starts performing and in its initial stages it may not perform effectively. Thus evaluation of the performance is carried out and issues are discussed and solutions are identified. This helps in developing the effectiveness of the team which ultimately results in attainment of organizational aims as well as objectives. Conflict is an issue that arises even between the most effective teams and it is the job of the members of the team and the leader to minimize those conflicts. In order to minimize conflicts the collaboration method should be used (Gido 380). While using this method, team members tend to identify a solution that benefits everyone within the team. The members need to face the conflict in

Travelling and Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Travelling and Culture - Essay Example Critically, travelling is an avenue to an open mindset. It is a way of understanding the very essence of live and coming to terms with what the world has to offer in the form of diversity. That travelling is bridge to cultural adaptability and orientation can never be disputed. Indeed, much knowledge in the world is gained through exposure to different experiences and perceptions. This very exposure and experience is a function of travelling which connotes the movement from one situation to another. Spent a stint of your lifetime in Africa, another timeframe in the States and some stay in the Orient countries and you are certainly a well-rounded individual who understands the world in greater depth than the conventional observer. Many educational institutions across the world focus on cultural exchanges between students in different cultural backgrounds with the motive of inundating the students with all that relates to the different cultural backgrounds. This greatly contributes in shaping the mindsets of such students so that they realize and incorporate different aspects into their lifestyles (Arnold 98-9). In many countries across the world, global travelling comes under great onslaught from its critics on the account that it ruins people. In Africa, most students who travel abroad for further studies go back with totally different lifestyles that are often unwelcome in their countries. It then begs the analysis of the whole concept of travelling and its relation to an individual’s cultural opinion. In the analysis, it appears the whole matter boils down to an individual and how they approach different situations. In many instances it can be seen that people who get exposed to different cultures by virtue of travelling approach the whole situation on a different perfective (Bastian 85). While some people get totally indoctrinated with new ways of live and shun their former cultures, others simply appreciate and understand the differences. That create s the whole jam. However, it is imperative to realize that the general make up of an individual is the greatest determinant in the whole cultural equation. Interestingly, culture cannot infuse by itself from one country to another. It must be conveyed through the actions of man like travelling and entertainment. Therefore the argument on whether travelling helps to communicate between cultures gets much backing considering that as people approach new cultural environments, they also spill part of their cultural adaptations in such environments thereby creating the whole link. However, some people may argue against travelling on the account that it is not the only avenue for cultural communication (Lincoln 55). For instance, in most large cities across the world, it is not uncommon to locate a French restaurant that offers purely French cuisines or a Chinese restaurant that brings Beijing to such local environments. The argument then goes that it demands more or less than travelling to communicate different cultures. Travelling contributes to the growth of knowledge and prevents narrow-mindedness. It creates the chance to annihilate the many different stereotypes that people hold against each other especially from different cultural environments. Even inter-cultural marriages are negotiated in such forums, making unity amidst diversity. Indeed travelling makes this

Jamba Juice to Saudi Arabia Essay Example for Free

Jamba Juice to Saudi Arabia Essay The problems that may arise in Saudi Arabia while Jamba Juice is launched in the country can be bifurcated into three as below: 1. Competition problem in Saudi Arabia Competition is an important problem for any business entity which may hit the firm and its expansion plan. Large numbers of players are operating in the market with their highly developed products and services. However the some business entities are overcoming from these problems through their uniqueness in the market. As far as Saudi Arabian market is concerned, it occupies a large number of national as well as international players. Soft drinks in Saudi Arabian market reports that its size and shape of the market at a national level. It registered 6% of total volume and growth in 2007. The popularity of these drinks and juices are found due to the large availability of different companies and with their unique products. Carbonates and bottled water remained as most popular and the fruits and vegetable juices are remained at second in terms of volume.   However the functional drinks were registered as more in the year of 2007 as it is substitute for all these drinks and juices in Saudi Arabia. As a new player, Jumbo Juice can survive if and when they find all these competitive condition and come up with unique product. Hence the market was already grabbed by the major player with their strong brand, unique product and service. 2. Health Consciousness Every person in the universe gives main priority to his health and life condition. In Saudi Arabia the consumers are more careful about their health and it found that there is an increasing trend towards health conscious. This trend were initially pushed and published in Saudi Arabian country through media and Television.   However a large number of public programs were conducted by the local people and the local administration throughout the country. And it still continuously programming in the Saudi Arabian Television about the health care conscious. Ultimately it hit to the large foreign customer in the state who is more conscious than the local consumer. However the trend pushed the people to buy good quality and diabetes free product. Due to this effect the branded company will get the benefit. The bottle water and low calorie cola registered an impressive 8% growth in the total volume terms in 2007. Similarly the famous branded company whilst fruit and vegetable juice were re gistered 6% growth in its operation in the land. 3. Saudi Arabian law ‘Sharia’ The Saudi Arabian legal system formed in the year of 1992 on the basis of sharia or the Islamic law, which another factor is affecting to multinational players to investment in the Saudi Arabia. The sharia was strictly applied throughout the state and in accordance with the explanation of Hanbai school of Sunni Islam. The Muslim’s believed that the sharia as the sacred law and every individual should follow it and it is the supreme on to all. The law has its own position and grade in history and still it is being strictly practice in Saudi Arabia.

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Introduction Participation in sports for children and youth is ever growing and there have been many benefits associated with it, including self-confidence and self-esteem, social and life skills development and improving mental and physical health. (Allender et al., 2006; Coplan & Findlay 2008; Donaldson and Ronan, 2006) Apart from these benefits, advocates of sport participation believe that sports provide the appropriate context for social and life development skills, which brings about the idea of character development through sports participation. (Weiss, Smith, & Stuntz, 2008). Life skills as suggested by The World Health Organization (1999), play a very important role in the healthy development of adolescents, as it helps prepare them for their future. The use of sports to help with such development is further supported by sport psychologists whom have argued that life skills can be taught in combination with athletic skills in sport contexts (Danish & Nellen, 1997). Sports has been thought to be a platform whereby children and youth are able to learn and cooperate with their teammates, develop self-control, display courage and leadership, communicate and form solutions to internal or external group conflicts and the learning of good virtues such as teamwork, fairness and good work ethics. (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995; Weiss & Bredemeier, 1990). Many parents therefore encourage and enroll their children into sports in hope that they will be able to learn and pick up these positive character-related values and behaviour. On the other hand, there have been other studies to argue the fact that sports instead of developing character, it undermines character. (Bredemeier, 1985, 1994; Bredemeier, Weiss, Shields, & Shewchuk, 198... ...certain behaviours which they interpret as being able to gain praises from their coach. As such, the way in which coaches verbalise, comment and teach the rules of the game to their players, will ultimately determine the way in which the players will interpret and act upon the rules during game play. (Bar et al., 1989) With the increasing number of primary school students taking part in sports, sport can present itself as a great platform for character development; but the positive outcomes are not always guaranteed. A coach who is able to capitalise on this invaluable and unique platform to inculcate good values is essential in order to ensure positive character development outcomes. This study aimed to describe and analyse a successful primary school netball coach's experiences, strategies and the desired outcomes for athletes as a function of her coaching.

Resilience and Adult Development Essay

The word resilience is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as: â€Å"an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change†. This in the psychological world still has the same meaning as Bjorklund states: â€Å"resilience is the maintenance of healthy functioning following exposure to trauma†. In dealing with life and adult development we are either going to become more resilient or breakdown. It is my belief that the more a person goes through and is tested in life it will determine whether they will breakdown or become a more resilient person. My research has determined that faith and spirituality will help a person become resilient in life. I find great value in the ability to help persons find the meaning to their stressful situations. When we usually think of the word value we tend to think on monetary terms. However, there are something’s that are worth more than money. I believe that being able to help people identify, realize, and find fact the root of their stress and then help them with tools to decrease their stress level is something that money cannot hold value over. I am essentially changing someone’s life for the better. I say that because when a person can reduce their stressful situations they are more likely to be positive. Alternately, if they cannot reduce their stress level they will have to either adapt or let the stress consume them. When the stress level is able to be adapted to the person’s lifestyle then it is considered that the person is becoming resilient. If the person cannot handle the stress they can have a breakdown that can lead to many issues ranging from depression and on. As I stated in my Abstract paragraph, the word resilience is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as: â€Å"an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change†. This in the psychological world still has the same meaning as Bjorklund states: â€Å"resilience is the maintenance of healthy functioning following exposure to trauma†. In saying that, if we are dealing with a client who is in stressful experiences and we assist them in finding meaning for that stress; we in turn give them the strength and ability to become resilient. They will not only learn how to manage a stressful event but they will also welcome more challenging events with skills that will not break them as previous experiences have done. Stress is defined as a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation (Bjorklund, 2011). Stress affects humans on different levels and there are many different ways that humans cope with stress. Some adults use a support group of friends or family members that they speak with to work through stress. Another coping mechanism that is also used is when adults choose to fix the problem or the stress itself taking on a role to control the stress personally. While these are only a few of some coping strategies I chose to focus on these two as they are two ways that I also deal with stress in my own life. When I am stressed about school, work, or relationship problems I find that talking to my friends or mom helps me see things clearer than before. When I am doing this, it is referred to in the book as a coping behavior (Bjorklund, 2011). In thinking of one’s development of their intellect and personality as an adult; I believe that each person’s experiences will help to shape who they will be when they reach this age of development. From the readings, we discover that biological and environmental components are mainly what influence our intellect and personality. The biological factors include personal traits and genetics (Bjorklund, 2011, p. 250) while the environmental factors are from a single person’s family history and social structure. As someone who has worked with adults with mental disabilities for over eight years now; I immediately thought of genetic deficiencies as a possible interference of this development in the biological sense. If someone has a genetic disease at birth then that can shape how their childhood and teenage years will be which will influence how they develop their intellect and personality as an adult. If someone is born with the genetic disorder of Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome, they are born with very distinctive facial features, a small head size(microcephaly), intellectual disabilities, and behavioral problems. After going through Erikson’s stages of development, by the time they reach adulthood they may have a very biased view of the world based on if their experiences environmentally were positive or negative. If they were positive then we can expect that this person even with their disabilities will be positive or vice versa. In regards to how the development of one’s intellect and personality can be enhanced I believe that where biological factors may fail; environmental factors can succeed. If I have the above mentioned disorder but throughout my life my environmental factors have been only positive I may have an enhanced view of the world in a positive light and my personality and intellect would reflect that through the way I treated others and how I lived my life. As a psychologist, working with clients I think that this could affect them in both positive and negative ways. If you have both negative biological and environmental factors then you are more likely to present a negative personality as would a all positive personality would have had positive factors. I think that in working with the clients in regards to treatment if nothing but negative traits are presented then the psychologist would see issues of highly negative and possibly aggressive behavior. This would be one of the major issues I could see that the client could possibly be a danger to himself or others. I believe that when working with clients it is in our best interest to lead by example. If I am working with a client and I feel that reading a book is something that the client should do to assist a behavior but I cannot provide a book title I am not being of any help. I believe that some of my ethical impacts such as being honest, respectful, hard-working, provide support, allow me to give the client the most positive model to value and deal with a new person about. The clients will be able to notice my beliefs and will be intrigued by it. This could lead to the client wanting to enter a more positive lifestyle for their own personal gain to assist with their own understanding of what they deem ethical. When thinking of the type of experiences that being resilient is needed I automatically think of death. Death can leave a large gap in a person’s life. Death depending on the adult and their culture can be seen as either highly positive or something to be seen as saddening. While death is a major player in what we experience as a loss, there are other losses that we encounter as adults. For some the loss of their youth could be seen as a stressful time. Some people cannot cope with the feelings of getting older. If a person can learn to cope with things like death and other losses then they will be able to become more resilient. Things that would be a difficult issue when working with clients in this arena would be loss of a parent. As someone who lost their father through a gruesome murder it would be hard for me at first to push my own feelings aside to assist them with their feelings of loss. While I know this area would be difficult I know I would be able to assist them because I was brave enough to get counseling when I lost my father. By admitting that I needed help I gave myself the opportunity to get skills to become the resilient person I am today. Due to that new found resilience I was able to deal with other loss such as loss of jobs. I have lost jobs in this economy and I could be a sounding board for others to let them know that it does get better and I could provide them with resources for assistance. There was a weekly discussion that we talked about in this class about time and how it relates to development I found that discussion to be one of the discussions that plays apart in how we become resilient as well. For example, my physical features from 6 to 16 showed major changes as did my features from 16 to 27. I say that to emphasize that change is inevitable no matter how we try to push it off. Ultimately time is the one thing we cannot dominate. Aging is a natural process. As I stated before the differences I have seen in myself from these ages are quite different and these changes have affected me in positive and negative ways. For example, at age 6 I was a young, energetic, and full of life kid with pigtails and missing teeth. I was not yet at puberty but could see changes in myself. I went up in shoe sizes which made me sad because I had to give away my favorite pair of LA Gear light up sneakers (negative effect), but I got my first pair of Jordan’s (positive effect). As we age, over time our body continues to age and change accordingly. At 16, I had entered adolescence and with that came menstrual cycles, breasts, and braces. I considered all of these as negatives because I was a dancer on my high school’s dance team and extra attention was not something I desired. However, something else I learned at 16 was that doing daring stunts like I did as a child could weigh heavily on me now as a teenager. My bones were not as strong as when I was younger and I ended up breaking my foot. Now at age 27 I wouldn’t dare attempt all of the dance moves that I did in ballet as I have so many aches and pains all signs of the body wearing down or aging. I said all of that to give a personal experience of how we age and now as I near 30 I know that bones break easily, and we are prone to more diseases just from father time continuing to tick. Our book states that a question was posed if primary aging could be stopped by turning back the clock (Bjorklund, 2011). Father time would easily say no. In regards to a professional such as a psychologist; working with patients and knowing the aging process would give the psychologists the ability to not only understand where the person is in their life cycle but also prepare them for their next phase. If a psychologist is working with a 25 year old who is on top of the world and loving life but is afraid of entering their 30’s. The psychologist would be able to explain how the next stage would play out and how there may be some physical changes that may develop but they are simply due to the body adjusting to its new limits. The biggest surprise in the reading was the aging process being affected by our socioeconomic status. If this is true that would mean that lower class persons are sicker, thinner, and more ill than those in richer classes and those monetary values can equate to the value of our aging process and how well it goes. The time and resilient factors are parallel to me in how we develop as adults. It is through our experiences and through time that we learn from our life changes. While one may say that the longer we continue to hide away from things the easier it is to deal. In actuality, by not dealing with issues we are putting more stress in our life that can affect us in negative ways and minimize our chances of becoming more resilient by dealing with our issues head on.

How to Write a Family History Project

Writing a family history may seem like a daunting task, but when the relatives start nagging, you can follow these five  easy steps to make your family history project a reality. Choose a Format What do you envision for your family history project? A simple photocopied booklet shared only with family members or a full-scale, hard-bound book to serve as a reference for other genealogists? Perhaps youd rather produce a family newsletter, cookbook, or website. Now is the time to be honest with yourself about the type of family history that meetings your needs and your schedule. Otherwise, youll have a half-finished product nagging you for years to come. Considering your interests, potential audience, and the types of materials you have to work with, here are some forms your family history can take: Memoir/Narrative: A combination of story and personal experience, memoirs,  and narratives do not need to be all-inclusive or objective. Memoirs usually focus on a specific episode or time period in the life of a single ancestor, while a narrative generally encompasses a group of ancestors.Cookbook: Share your familys favorite recipes while writing about the people who created them. A fun project to assemble, cookbooks help carry on the family tradition  of cooking and eating together.Scrapbook or Album: If youre fortunate enough to have a large collection of family photos and memorabilia, a scrapbook or photo album can be a fun way to tell your familys story. Include your photos in chronological order and include stories, descriptions, and family trees to complement the pictures. Most family histories are generally narrative in nature, with a combination of personal stories, photos, and family trees. Define the Scope Do you intend to write mostly about just one particular relative, or everyone in your family tree? As the author, you need to choose a focus for your family history book. Some possibilities include: Single Line of Descent:  Begin  with the earliest known ancestor for a particular surname and follows him/her through a single line of descent (to yourself, for example). Each chapter of your book would cover one ancestor or generation.All Descendants Of...:  Begin  with an individual or couple and cover all of their descendants, with chapters organized by generation. If youre focusing your family history on an immigrant ancestor, this is a good way to go.Grandparents:  Include  a section on each of your four grandparents, or eight great-grandparents, or sixteen great-great-grandparents if you are feeling  ambitious. Each individual section should focus on one grandparent and work backward through their ancestry or forward from his/her earliest known ancestor. Again, these suggestions can easily be adapted to fit your interests, time constraints,  and creativity. Set Realistic Deadlines Even though youll likely find yourself scrambling to meet them, deadlines force you to complete each stage of your project. The goal here is to get each piece done within a specified time frame. Revising and polishing can always be done later. The best way to meet these deadlines is to schedule writing time, just as you would a visit to the doctor or the hairdresser. Choose a Plot and  Themes Thinking of your ancestors as characters in your family  story, ask yourself: what problems and obstacles did they face? A plot gives your family history interest and focus. Popular family history plots and themes include: Immigration/MigrationRags to RichesPioneer or Farm LifeWar Survival Do Your Background Research If you want your family history to read more like a suspense novel than a dull, dry textbook,  it is important to make the reader feel like an eyewitness to your familys life. Even when your ancestors didnt leave accounts of their daily lives, social histories can help you learn about the experiences of people in a given time and place. Read town and city histories to learn what life was life during certain periods of interest.  Research timelines  of wars, natural disasters, and epidemics to see if any might have influenced your ancestors. Read up on the fashions, art, transportation, and common foods of the time. If you havent already, be sure to interview all of your living relatives. Family stories told in a relatives own words will add a personal touch to your book. Dont Be Afraid to Use Records and Documents Photos, pedigree charts, maps, and other illustrations can also add interest to family history and help break up the writing into manageable chunks for the reader. Be sure to include detailed captions for any photos or illustrations that you incorporate. Include an Index and Source Citations Source citations are an essential part of any family book, to both provide credibility to your research, and to leave a trail that others can follow to verify your findings.