This week we looked at a spreadsheet of profits of an office supply company. Here are their numbers before we considered changing anything.

After looking through the the numbers, there are four categories that lose money, Bookcases, Tables, Rubber Bands and Scissors/Rulers/Trimmers. Of those four, Bookcases, Rubber Bands and Scissors/Rulers/Trimmers are in the bottom 4 of amount sold. We think it would make sense to discontinue selling these products, as we don’t sell many of them, and we lose money on every sale. Tables are in the upper half of number of things sold, but we lose the most money on selling them. We can’t speak for the behalf of the company, but they seem to do much better with electronic office supplies, rather than furniture and miscellaneous office items.

If the company wants to continue selling these negative-profit items, they should try packaging them with profitable items to increase their sales. For example, while tables don’t do so well, chairs make about $100K for the company. They should try to package chairs in with tables in some sort of deal that will allow them to sell more chairs to improve their chair profit, and slow the bleeding of their monetary loss from tables.

Vevo is a music video and entertainment company that focuses on getting views from the music videos they put on YouTube. Many of the most popular musical artists today, such as Justin Bieber, Adele and Katy Perry go through Vevo to put their videos on YouTube.

Using indeed.com, we found an entry-level position and upper management position at Vevo. The entry-level position is a Coordinator for the Content Team. Vevo expects that as a Coordinator for the Content Team, you assist with quality control and creation of video content, work alongside the video engineer, and an “extraordinary level” of internal support for clients, right holders and partners. The qualifications for this job are:
• College degree preferred
• 1-2 years of experience in data entry/e-commerce/legal field
• Video editing knowledge
• Well Organized
• Proficiency in Final Cut Pro X, Microsoft, Google and Apple applications

The upper management position is the Vice President of East Coast Sales. As the Vice President of East Coast sales, besides being highly motivated, a self starter and creative, you need:
• BA/BS degree
• 10+ years in online/interactive media sales management
• proven experience building a sales function within small company environments
• strong contacts with interactive agencies and clients

According to the company profile, Vevo is the “world’s leading all-premium music video and entertainment platform with over 10 billion monthly views globally”. In essence, they’re the MTV of the Internet; the “best” company that focuses on music videos with globally known artists.

We believe Vevo is consistent with its claim. While there are many more popular music companies, and YouTube comments that essentially say, “screw Vevo”, Vevo is actively trying to be the world’s leading all-premium music video and entertainment platform.

After reading a few reviews on glassdoor.com, working for Vevo doesn’t sound like a career path we’d choose. Out of about 20 reviews, maybe four or five were generally positive. A majority of the reviews given by former employees had many of the same complaints, upper management is too egotistic, there’s no room for growth within the company, and the company itself doesn’t know where it’s going next.

The reviews on Glassdoor.com make it seem that the path from entry level to upper management is almost non-existent. If Vevo had its ducks in a row, however, the road from A to B is certainly doable, albeit tough. While creating content for Vevo, you would have to also be involved with how your content is being sold and distributed. The next logical move up would be a job like Coordinator of the Rights Management Team, which deals with earning revenue from viewed ads and resolving issues regarding creative rights. After this job, the next step would be a job similar to the Manager of Audience Sales, in which you work with the sales team to sell directly to advertisers, as well as create relationships with agencies and TV/Video buyers. After this job, the next step, hopefully, would be a job like the VP of East Coast Sales.

 

We created a service blueprint of a retail environment because many of us have worked extensively within retail. We think this properly portrays the general interactions between the customer and the business throughout a typical retail experience.

 

 

We decided to put our spa named “Executive Health” in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California.

We decided that Brentwood would be the best spot for our spa because of the affluence of the community it lies within. The average annual household income is $112,927. There are quite a few houses that lie within and over the $500k range. Included is a picture from zillow.com.

 

Brentwood lies close to four major roadways: Freeways 101, 405, and 10, and the Pacific Coast Highway. This creates a good amount of traffic cycling through the area and will garner many visits to the spa.

We plan to put our spa on the San Vicente Boulevard. With Wilshire Boulevard and Montana Avenue close by, it will have much foot traffic as well.

San Vicente has athletic gear retailers, such as LuluLemon, many restaurants, and clothing stores, and there are typically farmer’s markets on the street, signaling that this is a conscious area.

It is safe to assume that many of the residents of Brentwood work in the surrounding towns. Some of these towns are Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu, and Los Angeles, which are high-stress environments. It is important for the residents to come back to a peaceful area, which they can find in our spa.