ADVENTURES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP The Business Project ADVENTURES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The Proposal Choose partners Product or Service Choose wisely!!! Compatible schedule and skills Get contact information Product or Service Something you are familiar with or have an interest in Remember this is a small business, not an oligopoly Don’t get over ambitious !!! Potential business name(s) It’s your first contact with your customers—Your first impression, so make it GOOD! Potential location Remember you must find a real physical location Initial expenses One time expenditures, not wages, rent, etc.

Part I – Description and Market Structure What is your name and why did you choose it? Explain! You should be excited about your name! Detailed description What is your business? Describe it in detail. Use all five senses. Make your business come alive. Draw a floorplan – use color, texture etc. to describe everything! Identify competition Not just identical businesses, but those with similar or substitute products or services Remember you can’t be cheaper, so how will you be better? Think service.

Part II – Leadership Structure Business Finance and Accounting Marketing and Sales Human Resources Facility Maintenance, Repair and Safety List all the tasks you think would fit under these categories. Think about daily, weekly, monthly tasks. What are your strengths and weaknesses and how will you use them to decide which partner is responsible for what tasks?

Part III – Personnel Requirements What are the success criteria for Part III? You can determine how many employees you will need for your business. You can establish hiring criteria – what will your employees do? You can decide how to find qualified employees. You can create a weekly employee schedule. You can apply the theories of wages to determine what you will pay your employees

Part III – Personnel Requirements How many employees will you hire? It needs to make sense for your size and type of business. You are your business’ main employee. You must be working! Remember full-time employees must have benefits. Have a clear job description. Make a weekly schedule. They are harder to make than you may think! Partners should be on the schedule. Explain how you determined pay rates. Go to salary.com if you need specialized employees and do not know what to pay them. Briefly describe the 3 theories of wages in Chapter 8, and explain which one applies to how you are paying your employees. NO janitors or accountants !!!

Market Structure Read Chapter 7, Section 1 and fill out the Market Structure Chart. Do NOT just copy the chart at the end of the section – that will not give you enough details to do well on the quiz on Wednesday. You must incorporate the following into your Part IV discussion: What type of market structure does your business fit into, and why? How will this affect your marketing strategy?

Part IV – Marketing Plan (PLACE) LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!! Explain the importance of your location in attracting your customers. A description of your building and the sign you choose is important here. (PRODUCT)Who are your target customers? What needs/wants are you going to meet for them? Your logo and business card need to support your marketing goals – need to match your target audience. (PROMOTION) Not just advertising. Think promotions and merchandising! Be creative! These don’t have to be expensive.  (PRICE) Determine your prices. Either mark-up wholesale costs, or figure out the standard mark-up and work backward to find your wholesale cost. You will have to guess your number of sales.  

Success Criteria for Part V Students can research and total up all start-up costs they will need for their business project. Students can explain the criteria to qualify for a small business loan, and describe the process of applying for a loan at a bank. Students can determine the monthly loan payment based on a getting a loan for 80% of their start-up costs, a given interest rate, and an appropriate loan term using a loan calculator. Students can create a simple balance sheet, and identify assets, liabilities and owner’s equity.

Part V – Financing Your Business Sample: Start-up costs (must have list of all that you are purchasing) $27,328.42 (round up!) $30,000.00 20% 80% (Owners’ Equity) (Liability – loan) $6,000.00 $24,000.00 Go http://www.planningtips.com/cgi-bin/simple.pl use7% as your interest rate plug in your loan amount plug in your term It will calculate your monthly payment for you! (The amount you round up becomes your cash.) Go to: https://www.sba.gov/content/borrowing-money for loan information Less than 20k 1year 20k – 100k 5 years 100k+ 10 years

Reminders! Don’t forget to interview your small business owner! Final Projects: Business Plan must be typed, and written as one single essay, incorporating all the changes from your feedback. DO NOT break down as Part I, Part II, etc. Turn Business Plan, Financial Reports and Logo, Business Card and Advertising sample in a report cover, with cover page with name of business, partners, and class period. Make sure you have documented all of your sources. Presentation must have a visual element – Powerpoint, posterboard, etc. Samples are encouraged! Be prepared to answer questions about your business.

Success Criteria for Part VI Partners can determine total revenue, using the prices you have established for your goods/services, and estimate the number of sales. Partners can determine the cost of goods sold if applicable, and subtract from total revenue to get net sales. Partners can identify all other operating costs, and subtract from net sales to get net income. Partners can estimate total taxes and subtract from net income to determine the amount of profit, if any. Partners can correctly fill out a sample income statement for their small business. .

Part VI – The Income Statement You need to ESTIMATE your total revenue – remember that it is Price x Quantity Sold! Cost of Goods Sold What you paid for your inventory items (wholesale v. retail). A book cost you $3 (cost of book) and you sell it for $10 (price of book). Or, you may have to find the standard mark-up on your good. For example, you sell clothes. The standard mark-up on clothing is 100%. So, if you price a shirt at $20, the cost of it would have been $10. (You will need to look this up!) Your operating costs are your recurring expenses (i.e rent, utilities, wages, loan payment)