2.1 Choose the business, and the discovery visit

A good capstone business

• ☐ Real, open now, with real customers
• ☐ The owner agrees to take part for about six weeks, and to share results
• ☐ At least one other person works there, or will soon (so you can set up the team)
• ☐ Has a clear problem Lynk can fix (Module 1, item 1.2)
• ☐ Close enough for you to visit at least three times
• ☐ Not your own business (your builder business doesn't count)

Good examples: a salon with no-shows, a provision shop where the money doesn't add up, a phone repair shop with lost jobs, a chop bar with delivery orders on WhatsApp, an event rentals business, a small clinic, a tutoring centre.

Agree with the owner, in writing (a WhatsApp message is fine):

1. What you'll do, and roughly when.
2. That the business will be in their own Lynk account, and they own everything.
3. That you'll share the results (with their permission) as a case study.
4. What it costs them: your fee (if any) and any Lynk costs (Module 1, item 1.3).

Plan two hours or more: one hour watching, one hour talking.

Discovery template

The business

1. Name, kind of business, town and area
2. How long open; how many people work there; their roles
3. Opening hours; branches

Customers

4. Who are the customers? How do they find the business?
5. How do they enquire, book or order today (walk in, WhatsApp, calls, Instagram)?
6. Do they come back? How often?

Money

7. How do customers pay? Credit?
8. How does the owner know what came in each day?
9. What do they spend money on each month (rent, stock, staff, transport)?

Work

10. Walk me through a normal day, from opening to closing.
11. Where does work wait or get stuck?
12. What gets lost, forgotten or goes wrong?

Online

13. Website? Google Maps? Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp Business?

Numbers: your "before" (estimates are fine, write down where each came from)

14. Customers a day or week; enquiries a week; how many become customers
15. No-shows a week (booked businesses); money owed to the business now
16. Days the money doesn't add up; items missing in a stock count
17. Google reviews; website visits (if any)

Priorities

18. If you could fix one thing this month, what would it be?
19. Ask one worker: What makes your job harder than it needs to be?

After the visit, write down:

• The leak: the business's biggest problem, in one sentence (Course 4, item 2.1)
• The before numbers
• The owner's one thing

Your build plan. Fix the leak first; add the rest only if it helps.

Turn discovery into a plan. Fix the leak first; add the rest only if it helps.

Build plan template

Then write the one-page proposal (Module 1, item 1.3): what you found, what you'll do, what's not included, when, your fee and Lynk costs, payment, and next step. Send it, and get the owner's yes in writing.