Entrepreneurship

“The American Dream” Is being able to own your own business. Calling all the shots, being your own boss. The downside is that more than 50% of all new businesses fail in the first year. Lack of sufficient capital and business knowledge is most often cited as the reasons for failure.

What is an entrepreneur? Entrepreneur is a person who recognizes a business opportunity and organizes, manages, and assumes the risk of starting and operating a business.

Discussion: What are the benefits of working for someone else? Creating your own business and being your own boss? Entrepreneurship vs. self-employed

What Entrepreneur do you know? Bill Gates Henry Ford Milton Hershey Forrest Mars

Characteristics to be successful: independence creativity and talent good work ethics and honesty organization and planning skills decision maker good listener positive attitude risk-taker hard worker self-confidence motivated team worker

Rewards of Entrepreneurship Being the boss This is why most people go into this business. Doing What You Enjoy Someone who likes to cook will open up a cooking shop Having the opportunity to be creative You make the procedures in your business, you can do what you want Building an Enterprise You have to decide if you want to buy an existing company or start a new one. You must research the viability of the venture and choose the form of the business to start.

Challenges of Entrepreneurship Getting funds to start the business It is hard to get loans from a bank because they are afraid if the business will be successful. 9 out of 10 businesses don’t succeed Being Fully responsible for the business Paying bills, hiring employees, making repair, training employees Alone and unsure, afraid you will make the wrong choice Working long hours Uncertain income levels

Steps to being an entrepreneur: 1. Self-assess your interests, talents, and skills. 2. Research as much information as you can. Find out all you can about what is already available. How much does it cost for this service or product? How much are people willing to pay? How many people are already involved in this area of work in your community? What will it take to provide your service or product? Can you provide it for less money or better than anybody else? Interview people who might be interested in your product or service. Gather information from libraries on people, magazines, organizations, that you can call for help. 3. Develop a business plan Description of the type of business

Decisions: A. Will you provide a product or service? B. Who/what will be your target market? C. Will you be a retail, wholesale, or a manufacturing business? D. Will you sell locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally? E. Will you buy a company or start your own?

Young Entrepreneurs Adora Svitak, 12 Tiny Literary Giant Adora is a 12-year-old who has published two books and transformed her writing success into speaking and teaching success. She has spoken at over 400 schools and presented at the annual TED conference. She has been featured on Good Morning America and on CNN.

Philip Hartman, 15 Philip is a home-schooled high school senior at the ripe age of 15. He won the 2008 Young Inventor of the Year award for inventing a new system for fusing optical fibers. His latest invention emits steam onto a windshield and is capable of defrosting a frost-covered windshield in about 15 seconds.

Famous Entrepreneurs Domino’s Pizza In 1960, brothers Tom and James Monaghan borrowed $500 to purchase DomiNick's, a pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The next year, James traded his half of the business to Tom for a Volkswagen Beetle. In 1965, Tom Monaghan renamed the company Domino's Pizza LLC. The first Domino's Pizza franchise store opened in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1967. Tom Monaghan retired in 1998, selling 93 percent of the company to Bain Capital.

Tom Monaghan What entrepreneurship traits did Tom Monaghan portray? Dropped sub sandwiches off the menu Focused on delivery to college campuses Invented a new insulated pizza box to improve delivery Box could be stacked to avoid squishing Sold company in 1998 to Bain Capital for $1billion Returned in 2001 after its fortunes worsened and helped the company recover.

Activity: Fold a piece of paper in half and on the left side write 10 activities you enjoy doing. After listing their 10 activities, write the kind of business you could create from each activity. Share one idea with the class.

Formula for success: Establish and write down a believable goal. Visualize yourself already having accomplished your goal. Maintain a positive attitude. Persevere – don’t allow yourself to give up. Be ready and willing to WORK!!! Do the best you can do. Time is money – save it!!