Chapter 5: The Challenges of Starting a Business

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Link to Chapter 5: The Challenges of Starting a Business

Course Outcomes/Goals -

Describe how to start a business and the resources needed.

5.1 What Is an Entrepreneur?

Your book defines an entrepreneur as, "... someone who identifies a business opportunity and assumes the risk of creating and running a business to take advantage of it."

Three characteristics of entrepreneurial activity:

1. Innovation - Creative problem solving

- Check out this list of innovative companies, choose a company and describe how they are innovative using the collaborative page

2. Running a business - Combine goods/services to make a profit

3. Risk taking - Operating under the 'unknown' outcome of success & trusting in the innovation of a product/service

Why Start a Business?

Why would you start a business? Take this quick survey.

Do you have the right personality to start a business? Take this personal assessment to find out.

What would stop you from starting a business? (money, security, competition, lack of ideas)

Small 'lifestyle business' vs entrepreneurs

The Assignment

Choose an entrepreneur. Research that person to find information about their background (childhood, education, family, etc.), personality, business ventures, and other interesting information. Use Adobe Spark Video to tell the story of your entrepreneur. Use this rubric to self assess your project.

Here is an example of a spark video. Here is an example of the type of information you would want to include about your entrepreneur. Your mission is to take this type of information and turn it into story form, enhanced with visuals, using Adobe Spark Video.

5.2 The Importance of Small Business to the U.S. Economy

Your book defines a small business as, "... is one that is independently owned and operated, exerts little influence in its industry, and (with a few exceptions) has fewer than five hundred employees."

Why are Small Businesses Important?

They generate a large part of our GDP
Create Jobs
Spark Innovation
Provide opportunities for many people, including women and minorities, to achieve financial success and independence

What are reasons can you find?

This video talk about the importance of small businesses and shopping locally.

5.3 What Industries Are Small Businesses In?

Collaboration

There are certain industries that a small business should avoid because they take too much of an investment to start.

How do you define the word industry? Look for an image.

Good Producing Sector (tangible) vs Service Producing Sector (larger sector, intangible)

- Find an example for each and add it to the collaborative page

Good Producing

The largest areas of the goods-producing sector are construction and manufacturing. These businesses tend to focus on local projects.

EcoScraps is one innovative good producing small business used as an example in your book. Here is a quick video about their company, which earns about half a million dollars in sales.

Service Producing

This group is made up of retailers, internet entrepreneurs (eg. Mark Zuckerberg), wholesalers, and professional/personal services (eg. doctors, lawyers, insurance agents, hairdressing). Geese Police is an innovate example of s service producing business from your book. Here is a video about their company.

5.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Business Ownership

Collaboration

Without using your book, you will try to add as many advantages/disadvantages of small business ownership as you can to the collaborative page. After we do some research, we'll compare with our book.

5.5 Starting a Business

What does it take to start a business?

Define - Business idea and addressing these important questions from this section
Business plan
Financing

Business Idea

Does it meet a need or satisfy a want?

Here is a video on finding a business idea based on experience:

Here is a video on finding a business idea based on interests/hobbies.

Ownership Options

In class we'll talk about the positives and negatives of the ownership options below:

Starting a new business
Buying an existing business
Buying a franchise - Example cost?

With your partners, use this collaborative workspace to list positives and negatives of the three ownership options above. We'll discuss these and fill in any gaps using our book.

The Assignment

Read Ch 5.5 and complete the two exercise questions at the end.

5.6 The Business Plan

The AssignmentRead Ch 5.6 and complete the exercise question at the end.

5.7 How to Succeed in Managing a Business

Collaboration

Why Do Businesses Succeed?

Your chapter lists several ways to be successful in business. I will give you one of the strategies to look up. Find some related information to the strategy you were given or other advice on running a successful small business. You might try to search for 'small business attitude' as an example. Add what you find to the collaborative page.

Why Do Businesses Fail?

We'll look at the statistics in your book. Some business fail because they start out in a risky industry. What reasons can you find for business failure? Add what you find to the collaborative page & we'll compare with your book. Here are four common reasons small business fail.

Finding Help

The links above are all resources for small business owners. Find two ways the SBA can help your business and one way the SBDC & SCORE can help. Add these to the collaborative page.

5.8 Cases and Problems

The Assignment

Complete the Learning on the Web case from Ch 5.8.

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