The 6P and the Q - Quality of Life Curriculum

Plan and Act for Business, Home and Community
Earn Your Living, Live Your Life, Grow Your Community

Interweave Self Reliance is a program of Interweave Solutions that enables participants to plan and act for business, home and community. Key components of the program include the “6 P’s and the Q” curriculum facilitated in weekly meetings, networking, regular mentoring and potential financing opportunities.

OUR GOAL: To help participants create, implement and evolve three plans:

  1. A Business Plan – to grow personal and family income
  2. A Quality of Life Personal Plan – a plan of goals and action steps that bring balance and fulfillment in an individuals personal and family life
  3. A Quality of Life Community Action Plan – established with neighbors to solve community problems

The 6 P’s of Business

Plan, Product, Process, Price, Promotion and Paperwork

Plan Principles - What are the steps you need to make your business successful?

  1. Turn your Business Idea into a Business Plan – Put into writing your ideas and goals for your prospective business. This plan helps you think through your ideas and helps you look for potential funding. The best funding is your own. If you do not yet have a business but want to start one, this is the plan you will develop in this course. Key elements will be the development of your product, process, promotion, price and paperwork.
  2. Develop an ongoing Business Strategy Plan – This is the key plan that guides your business and is constantly evolving and growing with your business. If you have an existing business, this is the plan you will develop and grow through this course. It provides goals and action steps for product development, better processes, successful promotion, competitive pricing and improved paperwork. Each goal will have a strategy for achieving it.
  3. Create a Mission Statement – This is your guiding constitution for your business.
  4. Put Your Skin in the Game – Be invested in your business. You as the owner need to invest as much of your own time and money as possible before asking for someone else’s cash.
  5. Bootstrap Your Business – Grow your business with profits and savings first, then turn to loans or investors. The term comes from the German legend of Baron Munchhausen pulling himself out of the sea by pulling on his own bootstraps. The larger meaning is when you "pull yourself up by your bootstraps," you succeed - on your own - despite limited resources.
  6. Eat the Elephant Principle – Think Big, Start Small, Act Now! - Prove you can do business, start small and grow. The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
  7. Value your business. – Do you need an exit strategy? Know how to put a value on your business.

Product Principles – What is the item or service you provide?

  1. Know Your Market – Provide a product or service that you like and the market needs.
  2. Know Your Business – Begin keeping records, testing promotion ideas, learning principles of business as they apply to you. Start small, start somewhere.
  3. Know Your Competition – Why do people buy from your competition? You should know their prices and marketing so that you can know how to attract customers.
  4. Know and Value Your Customers – Listen to your customers and know what they need and want. Know their ages, buying patterns and needs and work to meet those needs.

Process Principles – How do you provide your product or service?

  1. Many Suppliers are Better Than One – Identify more than one supplier for raw material.
  2. Sell, Don’t Shelve – Money is made when the product is sold, not sitting on the shelf. Know what is selling and keep your shelves clean of products that don’t sell.
  3. Hire Slow, Fire Fast – Think twice before hiring a family member or friend and if an employee is not working out, you need to let them go sooner rather than later. Business is not a charity. Be kind on your own but not with your business.
  4. Inspect, Don’t Expect – Be engaged in the business and know the paperwork.
  5. See Yourself as Successful and Worthy to Succeed – If you work hard you deserve to make money even if the rest of your family may be poor. Be generous and kind with your own salary but not the businesses income. Don’t be afraid of success.
  6. Put Your Heart In It – Business is a full time job. If you are working on the business just a few hours a day then you have a hobby but not a business.
  7. Work On Your Business, Not Just ON Your Business – Think about how to grow and improve the business. Don’t just make tortillas, make a tortilla business.
  8. Be Faster, Friendlier, Cleaner, Better OR Cheaper than Your Competitor – Identify why the customer should buy from you. What is your comparative advantage?
  9. Constantly Improve

Promotion Principles – How to sell your product or service?

  1. Brand Your Company – A brand is all the customers’ interaction with your company. Use T-shirts, colors, labels, etc. to make a brand and image. Your smile and how you treat customers are part of your brand.
  2. Sell Your Idea Before Producing Your Product – Sometimes you can sell your products or services with brochures and samples and get customers to commit before you invest to produce your product.
  3. Location, Location, Location – Where you locate business can be as important as what you sell.
  4. Improve Sales, Improve Sales, Improve Sales – Always be thinking of how you can sell more of your product or service. Most businesses can succeed if they have more customers.
  5. Know Your Competitive Advantage – Identify why people buy from you and promote that reason. Is it price, cleanliness, friendliness? Know and promote your advantage over your competitors.

Price Principles – How much do you charge for your product or service?

  1. Know the True Price of Your Product or Service – Knowing your fixed and variable costs make it possible to determine the true cost of the product.
  2. Pay Yourself a Salary – You and your business are separate entities. Pay yourself a salary and no more so that you don’t rob from your business for family needs.
  3. Don’t Steal from Your Business, Eat Your Inventory or Give it Away – Don’t give money to relatives, eat your inventory or give away your products. If you want to be kind, buy it from the business yourself before you give it away.
  4. Buy Low, Sell High – Time, Quantity and Location can help you plan when and how to buy low and when to sell high.
  5. Cash is King. Sell for Cash, Buy on Credit – When you offer credit you are financing your customer’s purchase with your money and are creating collection challenges. Let others finance your business and not visa versa.
  6. Make a Profit Daily – Always be looking for how to increase your sells and revenue and decrease your expenses. You make a profit every day by setting and meeting sales goals.
  7. Base Your Price on what the Market will let You Charge – You can charge much more than what it costs to make your product or service (a profit) if there is high demand and you are better than your competition. Don’t always compete on price.

Paperwork Principles – How do you keep track of your inventory or finances?

  1. Will Your Boat Float? – Know what your break-even point is and create a break-even analysis. If you aren’t selling enough to break even, your boat is sinking.
  2. Will Your Boat Sail? – A boat without sails is going nowhere. Create a realistic cash flow budget that projects you’re your income and expenses. Separate business and personal finances.
  3. Record Income, Expenses and Inventory – Profit and Loss Statements, Balance Sheets
  4. Put it in Writing – Have written agreements.
  5. Create a Legal Structure
  6. Protect Your Intellectual Property

The “Q” - QUALITY OF LIFE in Home and Community

Home Life Principles

What is your plan for living a well balanced life. Constantly evaluate your “Q” wheel and create specific goals and action steps in the key areas of your life.

  1. Education – For both adults and children.
  2. Be Prepared – Set goals, manage budgets and resources, prepare for home storage, gardening, emergencies.
  3. Sustain Physical, Social and Emotional Health – Live with hope and faith. Avoid and overcome addictions.
  4. Strengthen Your Family – Effective parenting, overcoming domestic violence/abuse, and regular family time.
  5. Sustain Employment/Income
  6. Help Others in the Home and Neighborhood
  7. You can Fix-up, Repair and Beautify Home Surroundings

Community Action Principles

What can we do together to solve problems and improve our lives?

  1. Health – Families in our community can enjoy health and well-being, and we can join with others to improve physical, emotional and social health:
    • Physical – cleanliness, good nutrition, protection from AIDS/disease, addiction, violence and abuse.
    • Emotional, Spiritual – Faith, Hope, Gratitude, Helping others, Fulfilling goals, Commitments.
    • Social – Strengthening families, working with others, helping each other
  2. Education – We can learn together to gain skills, information and confidence to improve our homes and communities. Parents can help their children learn and succeed in school.
  3. Human Rights – Every human being is entitled to certain rights regardless of race, gender, age, marital status, or beliefs. We can understand our rights and join with others to protect and respect rights and dignity.
  4. Environment – We can learn and share ideas and simple technologies to solve environmental problems related to water, health, safety and income.
  5. Conflict Resolution & Peace – We can learn and work together to resolve conflicts with family members and neighbors.