M1. Analyse the personal development needed to run the business successfully
Personal development is a lifelong process. It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities,
consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realise and maximise their potential. In this
assignment I will cover my strengths and weaknesses, what I need to work on, what might stop me
and how will I compensate for those weaknesses including a time scale given.
What am I good at? (Strengths)
Having worked in the same sector for nearly 10 years I have learnt to keep up with the constant
change within the food industry. Also attending various trainings have also helped to enhance my
knowledge within the food market. Furthermore, working with social media for the past year helped
me gain knowledge on how to do marketing with the use of social media. Both will help running my
cheese business in the current economy.
What am I not good at? (Weaknesses)
I have not got enough of how to use the web to start an online site therefore I will need to complete
a training course in order to improve this. Although I’m experienced in various roles within the
business, I have not covered areas such as training. Me and my wife have been there for nearly 10
years and we never had the urge to hire new employees. But when we consider doing so, I need to
follow a course on how to give proper training or hire an external trainer.
What do I need to work on?
Since I want to setup a business abroad I need to be able to speak that language fluently. In this case
the language is English. In a time with globalization and social media, speaking a foreign language
besides your mother language helps a lot. I think my English is lacking a little bit to speak the
language fluently so my plan is to take an English course of 8 weeks before we start settling in the
United Kingdom. This will help improve my English for sure and when I will start living there it will
keep improving.
What might stop me?
As explained in my P3, competitors (see *Fig.1) have been leading the sector for a longer period of
time in the United Kingdom. This will make it hard for me to gain customer confidence and attention.
Since they have been a trusted seller for a long time, it will be hard to change people’s mind to come
take a look at my store and products. Although it will be hard, Dutch cheese is very popular among
some British people.
*Fig. 1
Direct competitors Indirect competitors
Tesco Paxton & Whitfield
ASDA The Fine Cheese Co. Bath
Sainsbury House of Cheese
How will I compensate for those weaknesses and what would be the time scale?
You cannot turn a weakness into a strength if you are busy denying the weakness exists. So my first
assignment is to recognize that I have weaknesses (3 in total) and determine what they are. (1) Not
enough knowledge about setting up an online site is covered by following a training course. (2)
Training will not be relevant for now, but when we get more customers we might want to look into
that and hire an external trainer to train our new employee(s). (3) As I explained before, my English is
currently not on the highest level and will improve by following an 8 week course before we start
settling.
Personal development is a lifelong process. It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities,
consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realise and maximise their potential. In this
assignment I will cover my strengths and weaknesses, what I need to work on, what might stop me
and how will I compensate for those weaknesses including a time scale given.
What am I good at? (Strengths)
Having worked in the same sector for nearly 10 years I have learnt to keep up with the constant
change within the food industry. Also attending various trainings have also helped to enhance my
knowledge within the food market. Furthermore, working with social media for the past year helped
me gain knowledge on how to do marketing with the use of social media. Both will help running my
cheese business in the current economy.
What am I not good at? (Weaknesses)
I have not got enough of how to use the web to start an online site therefore I will need to complete
a training course in order to improve this. Although I’m experienced in various roles within the
business, I have not covered areas such as training. Me and my wife have been there for nearly 10
years and we never had the urge to hire new employees. But when we consider doing so, I need to
follow a course on how to give proper training or hire an external trainer.
What do I need to work on?
Since I want to setup a business abroad I need to be able to speak that language fluently. In this case
the language is English. In a time with globalization and social media, speaking a foreign language
besides your mother language helps a lot. I think my English is lacking a little bit to speak the
language fluently so my plan is to take an English course of 8 weeks before we start settling in the
United Kingdom. This will help improve my English for sure and when I will start living there it will
keep improving.
What might stop me?
As explained in my P3, competitors (see *Fig.1) have been leading the sector for a longer period of
time in the United Kingdom. This will make it hard for me to gain customer confidence and attention.
Since they have been a trusted seller for a long time, it will be hard to change people’s mind to come
take a look at my store and products. Although it will be hard, Dutch cheese is very popular among
some British people.
*Fig. 1
Direct competitors Indirect competitors
Tesco Paxton & Whitfield
ASDA The Fine Cheese Co. Bath
Sainsbury House of Cheese
How will I compensate for those weaknesses and what would be the time scale?
You cannot turn a weakness into a strength if you are busy denying the weakness exists. So my first
assignment is to recognize that I have weaknesses (3 in total) and determine what they are. (1) Not
enough knowledge about setting up an online site is covered by following a training course. (2)
Training will not be relevant for now, but when we get more customers we might want to look into
that and hire an external trainer to train our new employee(s). (3) As I explained before, my English is
currently not on the highest level and will improve by following an 8 week course before we start
settling.
