CASE 3: The Horse Feather Company

INTRODUCTION

Formulating a business venture is a very hard task to do. You need to consider a lot of elements in order
to sustain your business and to maintain its status in the society. You need to consider a lot of strategies
like the social media and other mediums and enable to be flexible to answer for the changes that the
customers’ demands. As the business becomes bigger due to the efforts the owners do in pushing its
business beyond its limit sometimes the things that we didn’t consider in starting the business are
needed to monitor its status quo and work force is needed especially the professionals once in making
sure that we comply with the requirements in the government. As the HorseFeathers becomes a
successful business, as its owner is very hands on in making all the business efforts. However there are
instances that some task are beyond their capacity to control like computing their taxes and the
registration of the business to the BIR wherein they encounter some failures which increase in their
expenses due to certain errors they commit. These serve as a lesson, that as a business owner we should
know are limitation in controlling our business and put trust to our employees in handling some tasks in
our business because their service are also one of the factors in attaining success. Another thing is that
money is not also the most important factor you need to consider in making your business, as you long
as you have the skill, passion and plan there is no doubt that you will succeed.

BACKGROUND

The HorseFeather business started due to the passion of its owner in making jewelry. She stop going to
school and pursue her passion. After its success, her mother joins her as her partner in the business.
They build this business with an aim to empower money wherever they go as they feel beautiful by the
jewelry they created.
The business started trough online selling the owner posted in website called Etsy.com. As time passes
by she created a facebook page of the business to interact with its customer to build relationship with
them and to communicate to them. As time passes by due to replication of its product in online which
they sell it lower than its price she decided to create its own page and hire a writer to put caption on the
pictures she posted on the page regarding the jewelry.
Through their dedication and hard work they are also at Oscar Academy Awards Talent Suite and in a
national television known as Fox New wherein Chelsea and her mother Tammy where invited to tell
their story about the success of its business line. Moreover Chelsea tap other advertising mediums such
as news paper, magazines, radio and etc to spread a word about their business to the world.
As of now, their business are getting bigger and bigger as they extend their location to seven different
countries like France, South Africa, Canada, Ireland, Istanbul, and the United Kingdom. They hire a lot of
employees as their sales so Chelsea and her mother could focus on offering more unique and aesthetic
designs to their customers. Wherein they acquire more customers to visit their location for custom
design and their website as well.
ALTERNATIVES
One thing is for sure that there is no million dollar business that never faces failures. Even HorseFeather
started with flying colors due to the strategy and being resourceful of its owners they face certain failure
that makes them change their perspective around certain things. The owners seek professionals in order
to complete some tasks to avoid the errors they commit and they got loan in financial services that will
be used for the expansion of their business.
They discover that some of their products are being replicated illegally, they create a trademark which is
being put in their product to avoid and to stop this illegal replication and to avoid bad image from their
customers due this products as the owner wanted to see and maintain quality and aesthetic to their
products. There trademark is a symbol which they use to put in their products wherein they put this
symbols in metal parts of their product. Moreover, they use the trademark for their packaging,
established by use as representing a company or product.
When Chelsea and her mother decided to split the location of their business in to their homes,
somehow it work yet it puts confusion to the customers and to them as to the creation of design. yet
somehow it attracts more customers
As they expand their business, resources are needed such as money that can be allocated as their capital
to buy resources and to be used to pay their expenses. By that they are required to borrow some money
in financial business such as bank, cooperatives and etc.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

As I read the story of how Chelsea who is the owner of HorseFeathers gifts pursue and struggle to make
her business known to the world, her actions were great and somehow for me calculated because it
resulted to good outcome. However, as she and her mother Tammy decided to go to other location on
their own respective places and split the location of the business is not a great action for me and
therefore it creates confusion to the customers. Somehow they decided to merged again and locate in
Kentucky.
For all we know, before we perform the business we conduct business plans in order to have
contingency plan and to create action in possible unfortunate events. Business plan has a purpose to
help articulate a strategy for starting your business which include explicit objectives for hiring new
employees, market analysis, financial projections, and potential investors (Lindzon, 2015).
As she was confused where to put up the location of its business because she started the business in
online selling and decided to pursue it when she quit school, Chelsea never did conduct nor do business
plan that’s why it cause her 3 times to relocate and find the place that would suite her business.
Even though her business is still progressing, Chelsea should create a business plan for her
business, at the same time mission and vision to serve as a path and guidelines on what she wanted to
purse with her business five years from now.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Creating a business plan takes time because you and your team to brainstorm possible unfortunate
events and provide action to avoid or prevent it from happening in the future. This could be done by
hiring marketing experts and other professionals that would help you foresee the future of your
business and the economy in order to provide solutions for these problems.
Chelsea also need to hire professionals like marketer, analyst and accountant as her business is getting
bigger she needs these professionals in order to monitor the motion of its business the outflow and
inflow of money, and to provide strategies in advertising the business and to create new and unique
designs to stand up against it competitors.
Moreover, I recommend Chelsea and her mother Tammy to attend school with regards to jewelry
designing through online for her to still monitor her business and to manage her time and she could also
attend seminars regarding jewelry designing to enhance her skill and to gain new knowledge about
jewelry design and to know some techniques that could lessen expenses and to make her business
bigger. As what they say learning never stops.