business plan

In my entrepreneurship class, I was tasked with developing a full business plan for our mock up company, River City Leatherworks, a Richmond-based leather goods store founded on locally made craftsmanship and seasonal artisan collaborations. The plan required research, financial modeling, merchandising strategy, marketing, and operational structure.

MY TEAM

This was a collaborative project completed with Lauryn Giddings and Sophie Routh, outlined in our partnership agreement. We divided responsibilities based on our strengths: I handled organization, marketing direction, and co-financial modeling, while Lauryn focused on product development and financials, and Sophie led visual merchandising and graphic design. We met weekly, shared drafts, and constantly refined our strategy together.

SKILL DEMONSTRATED

- Target customer demographics and psychographics
- Creating content calendars and advertising plans
- Making bag categories and artisan partnerships
- Developing a year-one revenue plan, fixed costs, breakeven analysis
- Describing how our business will run.

THE PROCESS

We started with an industry overview, studying the premium leather goods market, growth projections, and material trends. Next, we defined the brand’s mission, celebrating Richmond’s creative heritage through seasonal artisan partnerships

We identified competitors, built a detailed customer profile, and created a brand strategy aligning storytelling with local culture.

From there, we modeled financials:

Sales projections of $735,000 in Year 1.
Fixed costs and breakeven analysis.
Seasonal sales planning across 2027.

Finally, we built the marketing plan, including a pre-opening countdown and full 2026 content calendar. Our operations plan outlined store roles, scheduling, and artisan partnerships.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This project taught me how to combine merchandising, financial planning, and marketing strategy into a cohesive business plan. I gained hands-on experience with budgeting, sales forecasting, and brand development, while also shaping the PR and social media voice for the business. Most importantly, I learned how to build a retail concept grounded in community, sustainability, and local artistry with values that reflect my long-term career goals.