This week, I focused on finishing the long-form guide to business and condensing this longer document into a one-pager. This one-pager is the document that will be translated into several different languages.

First, I completed the long-form business guide. The last bit of work left to be done was writing an index-like section with helpful city resources for small business owners. Furthermore, I chose to focus some of the space in this section on the resources available to small business owners in minority communities. For example, there is a program in Irvine that seeks to help with grants for women, people of color, veterans, and LGBTQ+ people looking to start a business. 

Next, I took the information from the business guide and created a one-pager with the most pertinent information. The long-form guide was structured by step (i.e. Step 1 is creating a business plan, Step 2 is structuring your business, etc.), so I decided to include these steps and a one-sentence summary of the key information from this section in the one-pager. 

While I would love to translate the long-form document, it is quite long, which presents a barrier to having it translated. Many of the translators have told me they do not have the bandwidth to translate a document much longer than two pages, and the guide is well over ten pages of tightly formatted information. Furthermore, it contains information about specific laws and codes that cannot be translated without losing some of the accuracy and practicality of the information. Thus, I believe the one-pager will be a good compromise: it provides a good amount of information and lists resources, but it is short enough to be effectively translated. 

Additionally, a new member joined the Building Better Business team this week. She has been helping proofread all of the documents. She has also been focusing on learning the policies of the Councilmember's office internship as a whole. These requirements include writing op-eds, speaking at council meetings, participating in conferences, and more. There is a lot to catch up on, so I offered my support to the new member.

The biggest challenge this week was getting the newest member acquainted with the project and the various deliverables people are working on. Given the large number of different workstreams, it was a challenge to accurately explain the different deliverables and offer an experience as enriching to this team member as those who have been working on the project since Week 1. Thinking on this issue, I reached the conclusion that the best thing I can do is offer my support and ensure that the newest member has the ability to join any of the deliverable projects, even if they are halfway done. To do this, I thoroughly explained each deliverable and introduced the new member to the rest of the team.