Product Proposal

Introduction and Statement of Purpose

As part of my original work I will be creating a business portfolio encompassing

my internship with my mentor, Mrs. Sandra Richardson, and how I will have assisted in

the development of her pilot organization, Women to Women Empowerment. This is

something I will present on Final Presentation night, but will be an ongoing project I will

be working on for the next five years in that I will continue to assist her for the remainder

of my time in ISM and throughout college. My mentor and I decided upon the creation of

a business portfolio as a tool that can greatly assist the both of us. The contents of my

portfolio will be comprised of a compilation of research, objectives, goals, analysis, and

implementation of my knowledge and skill to further advance the development and

success of Women to Women. Every task that I complete will be filled into the portfolio

and will stem from areas of either research, administrative experience, project

coordination or project management. Each of these tasks revolve around different

aspects highly utilized in the development of a business and the finished outcomes

contained within the portfolio will show my professional growth throughout the entirety of

them. This portfolio will provide my mentor with insight to my ideas, processes, and

actions that she can then utilize in her organization, but will also allow her to assist me

in a more productive manner for she can continue to check my progress and

experiences. Each aspect of the portfolio will provide a description of what I have

learned, assessed, and implemented through various tasks and once fully completed

after my internship, can be reflected upon in future business ventures. The portfolio will
be comprised of three main parts pertaining to to research, tasks, and future

achievements. This portfolio will be a physical representation of my work as an intern for

Women to Women Empowerment and will show the progress of both myself and the

business over time. The research portion will show the objective information I sought

and utilized in my project, the administrative tasks/projects section will provide a

physical accumulation of all the tasks I have accomplished for Women to Women, and

the future progress section will depict a game plan I have worked alongside my mentor

to create that will map out both my individual and committed goals. For this project I

would like to hone in on a specific future event as means of working towards; the

summer seminar held by Women to Women, which I will play an important role in

helping to develop.

Review of Skills and Research

In order to complete this portfolio I will need to employ some of the skills I have

learned, and continue to learn, from both my ISM and internship experiences. While my

topic and final project are centered around business development, I will utilize a wide

variety of interpersonal and communicative skills to achieve this product. The first skill

necessary in this process that I will elaborate on is the ability to communicate in not only

a professional manner and style, but also with efficiency and adept ability to get

messages across. Talking is something we do all day every day, but few people and

instances result in proper communication and transfer of ideas and knowledge. Through

this project, I will have the ability to practice tasks such as emailing or in-person

interviewing with other professionals that will sharpen my ability to maintain productive
discourse. This will be most apparent in my research and project management/

production stages, for I will have to speak with professionals who hold information I wish

to acquire or when I must coordinate an event or task that involves other parties and

contributions. Another skill I will form through this project is an effective ability to provide

leadership and independent input into my project. Since my project will affect not just

myself, but the organization I am working along side with, I must be able to take

initiative on tasks and operations that occur without having to be walked through

repeated steps and explanations. I think this will be the most important thing that I learn

because if I plan on one day developing and managing a company of my own I will have

to experience uncharted territory that cannot be explained or solved by anyone else.

Ranging from such instances as small as re-formatting documents in a new style to

orchestrating events and side projects, the work that I will accomplish will advance my

proficiency in this aspect.

In order to work on this product I must first make sure that I have an in depth

understanding of Women to Women. This will include such knowledge as to why the

organization was founded and what the goals and plans of the organization are, both

future and long term. Another thing to look into will be what their mission statement is

and if it has changed over the course of time, and what it serves to accomplish. Other

such aspects like what the organizations limits are, and what areas they can thrive in,

are equally important because they will help me determine where I can implement my

newfound research, and to what degrees. And possibly the most important thing to

know about Women to Women will be its failures or areas of improvement, this way, I

will know what subjects to focus my research and analyzation over. By knowing all of
these things I will be better prepared for the next stage of my research, which will be

over other organizations that are similar to ours. The same basic research will need to

be conducted on other such organizations as well, starting with where they are located

and what have they already accomplished. It is important to understand not only

Women to Womens strengths and weaknesses, but also those of other businesses

because we can avoid similar mistakes or setbacks already made, and get insight as to

what paths may be better to take.

Methodology

I will now explain and elaborate on the steps that I have taken, and will need to

be taken, in order to complete this assignment in time for Final Presentation night.

Everything mentioned within this section can be viewed on a chronological timeline

attached at the bottom of this proposal.

The first step, as I have already introduced, is to research. While this theoretically

should be the least lengthy part of my process, I would like to allot a good portion of

time to it because I believe it is necessary in order to build a strong base for my project.

This research will not be a limited venture, and I plan to continue my research

throughout the whole project. However, as my official first step I will have completed

basic but in depth research on the Woman to Woman Empowerment organization and

others like it, as depicted in the research portion of this proposal.

Next, I will need to produce a layout for my portfolio, and create a template for its

organization. This is another step that I would like to have a physical plan created in
order to move onto the next step, however, can be modified as I continue in my

progress and discover new ways of implementation. I do not want this step to be

overlooked because I know that the way I present my ideas and my work can have a big

impact on how people perceive it, which is why I would like to ensure that it is created

with the upmost quality and care. For a greater explanation on this aspect, look to the

materials section, where I will explain what my creative and professional ideas for this

concept is. On a very basic level, I would like this portfolio to be comprised of three

major sections, with individual subsections apparent throughout.

The next step after that will be to narrow down what basic research I feel is

important and progressive to my portfolio. What I select to include will then be recorded

under a Basic Research tab that is designated to portraying concrete information on

Woman to Woman. This tab will contain multiple subsections that also show the

research I have conducted on other organizations, and how their processes and

objectives compare and contrast to each other. This tab will be the first section of my

portfolio and will serve to assist someone not greatly familiar with the specified

organizations or goals held by them. Along with standard documents from each of these

companies I will have provided a short to medium exposition explaining the significance

of what is contained on the pages, and what I have discovered in my research.

Next, I will need to meet with my mentor and she will be able to present me with

administrative tasks to complete based off of my research. While it cannot be specified

exactly what tasks I will begin to accomplish, they will all be centered around the core

concept of business development. These tasks are not just busy work but are actual
administrative projects I will be completing for my mentor that will aid to the

organization. Also, these tasks will be renewed with every meeting and even given over

periods of time to be worked on simultaneously. One of the main focuses I will be

tasked around involves the seminar that is held towards the end of summer, which is an

area my mentor has specified to me she will use my insight, as part of the demographic

it strives to help, in order to advance it from last years production. I have already

completed tasks around this topic such as formatting the congratulations and one-pager

documents that are the first impression many of the attendees see. Every task I do

opens the door to establishing a higher understanding of business development, for

example, what should have been a simple reformatting of a page led me to discover I

will need to establish a template to keep all my future documents uniform. Tasks like

these will be completed and then placed into the portfolio in a manner I will specify with

the next step.

After having completed a task (and this will apply to each task individually,

meaning the the previous step and this one will be repeated a number of times) I will

then either insert it accordingly into my portfolio if it is something tangible much like

what I elaborated on earlier, or write a detailed exposition on what the task served to

accomplish, and how I managed to do it. There is an evident pattern developing in the

progression of these steps, but they will come with meticulous planning and preparation

so that each page inserted will be valuable to the portfolio as a whole. So, as I complete

tasks I will file them into the portfolio under the second main tab.
 Lastly, I will complete my third section of the portfolio, which is centered around

what future goals and events/projects I will be working on for this organization. This part

of the portfolio is the true project part of my original work for when I was researching

things to do for my original project I became faced with a dilemma. I was in a unique

situation compared to some of my other peers for instead of having the aid of my

mentor for just one year, I am going to have her for an extended period of time. I am

incredibly thankful for this because it will allow me to work on projects with her for a

much longer period of time and this will ultimately give me more experience in my

profession, however, this also means that projects require longer amounts of time to be

completed, especially if it is on as large of a scale as business administration. So, by

finishing my portfolio with a future game plan of what I expect to happen in my

internship, and what I will continue to work towards, will be a great way to portray the

work that is going to have taken place over the course of the next five years in an

understandable and estimated exposition.

Materials

Thankfully, this project will not require too heavy of a burden on my wallet,

however, I will make sure that the materials and resources I complete it with are of

quality and precision. This will start with the physical portfolio itself, which I would like to

be made of leather and bound in a professional way. I have also looked into getting the

cover inscribed with titles such as my name and description of the project to give it a

more polished look than just a thrown together binder. I will also need plastic dividers to

place all of the papers and documents inside of, and of course I will make sure these
are all uniform. In order to differentiate between different parts and subparts in the

portfolio I will also need cover letters and dividers that clearly state what each section

pertains to. Lastly, I will need resume paper, for this is what I am going to print

everything I plan on putting into the binder on. The reason for this is that resume paper

holds a thicker and better quality than printer paper, and I would like to keep my portfolio

in mint condition so I can utilize it post presentation night. The anticipated cost of these

materials should range around $200-$300, and I would like to enlist my mentor in the

selection of them to incorporate the opinion of a professional.

Conclusion

I believe that the outcome of my original project will be something I am proud to

have created. I do not want to finish this project with the mentality that it is simply a

grade that I will get, or a responsibility I have previously committed to. The reason I

choose this specific project was because I felt it was going to be the most beneficial for

my mentor and especially myself. This project will require me to utilize skills that would

otherwise remain dormant and will give me an advantage when I enter my career

because I will already have experience in business development. Also, this portfolio is

something that I can look back upon and will be able to show as what I have already

accomplished in this profession.

Calendar/Timeline

Research
 Have completed my research on Women to Women Empowerment -

(March 23)
Have completed my research on similar organizations in the DFW area -

(March 28)
Have completed my research on similar organizations Texas-wide - (April

3)
Have completed my research on similar organizations on a national level -

(April 10)
Meet with my mentor to discuss the finalization of the research aspect and

begin receiving administrative tasks - (April 11)

Any corrections and edits that need to be made to be done by - (April 17)

Administrative tasks

Buy portfolio and dividers/tabs - (April 17)

Meet with mentor on (April 18) to go over assignment from previous

meeting and receive new tasks. Have task completed by then.

Meet with mentor on (April 25)
- Go over assignment from previous meeting
- Receive new tasks
- Have task completed by then
- Discuss progress of portfolio
- Discuss future game plan section
Meet with mentor on (May 2)
- Go over assignment from previous meeting
- Receive new tasks
- Have task completed by then
- Discuss progress of portfolio
- Discuss future game plan section
Meet with mentor on (May 9)
- Finalize assignment section of the portfolio
- Review expectations on future game plan section

Finalization

Have everything printed by (May 13)

Have binder completely filled out by (May 16)
 Mentor meeting (May 16)
- Review portfolio one last time