Student Resources
“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.”
Will Rogers
FIU Dual Enrollment
Introduction to Entrepreneurship
ENT 1000 Spring 2018
Here students will find class information such as quizzes, tests, vocabulary, links, etc. posted to help them achieve excellence throughout the school year. Here are tools. Use them.
How to Request Your Transcript From F. I. U.
Miami Beach Senior High School
Planner Cover Contest Requirements
1. Use One color, with black, white, & gray
2. Print out in 8.5” x 11” portrait orientation
3. Include a slogan for school spirit
4. Include the next years 2018 - 2019
5. Include the School Name
6. Include Your Name (preferably in the bottom right)
7. Include a graphic, artwork, or logo
8.One talented student will have their artworkselected by Dr. Rodriguez to be on next year’s agenda cover!
Assignment for Thursday, February 22
Students go to the Student Resources links below and create your personal, business resume draft.
Resume Information:
resume template:Resume 2016
Resume Dos and Don'ts
Resume Fact Sheet
Submit your draft to Edmodo. Due by February 26, 2018
Entrepreneurs LinkedIn Page
Please post at your complete current professional profile according to your Entrepreneurship Resume developed previously.
LearningAssignment Guidelines and Some Learning Tips for this Learning Assignment. Please take a moment to read and get familiarized with the following learning materials to support and strengthen your global and international LinkedIn Profile:
Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn
LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover
6 Ways to Attract Recruiters to Your LinkedIn Profile
5 Steps to Writing an Amazing LinkedIn Recommendation
The Challenge is Open.
Here’s what you need to know
February 12, 2018 06:44 AM
Updated February 12, 2018 02:19 PM
Long before South Florida had a formal startup ecosystem, the Miami Herald launched its South Florida Business Plan Challenge.
2018 marks our 20th year of encouraging local entrepreneurs and would-be business owners to put their dreams to paper, their paper to practice. Today, we invite you to take up the challenge by submitting your own brief business plan.
The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. March 26.
This year, we again accept admissions in three tracks: Community (open to anyone living in Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach counties), High School (for grades grades 8-12), and FIU (for students, alumni, faculty and staff of the Florida International University, our signature sponsor.)
In our Community Track, we welcome a special group of high-profile start-up and investment experts. They include investor and sports commentator Alex Rodriguez; serial entrepreneur Dr. Maurice Ferré; Johnson and Johnson’s JLABS COO Dr. JJ Desai; Knight Foundation Miami Program Director Raul Moas; UBS Senior Vice President GhislainGouraige Jr. Once again, venture capitalist Melissa Krinzman will lead our judges.
Once again, the Challenge is presented by Florida International University’s Pino Global Entrepreneur Center. This year’s Challenge Champion will receive mentorship, onsite marketing and free work space at The Shops at Sunset Place for one year, courtesy of Federal Realty, Grass River Property and Comras Company. (See detals below.)
Even if you’re not hatching a business plan, you can join in the celebration. In the coming weeks, we’ll be telling the stories of winners from years past. Many have flourishing businesses; some lasted only a few months. Some never moved beyond the idea stage.
In May, we’ll also be hosting a community-wide lunch celebrating past winners and the ones we will be announcing with help from our sponsors at FIU and the Knight Foundation. Keep an eye on this space to hear more about a special speaker.
▪Meanwhile, read more about the Business Plan Challenge:Rules and tips;this year’s judges; and an update on some 2017 Business Plan Challenge Winners in theCommunity TrackandFIU Track.
The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. March 26.
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How to Write a Great Business Plan: Key Concepts
The first in a comprehensive series to help you craft the perfect business plan for your startup.
Some entrepreneurs succeed without a business plan. Withgreat timing, solid business skills, entrepreneurial drive, and a little luck, some founders build thrivingbusinesses without evercreating evenaninformalbusiness plan.
But the chances are more likely that those entrepreneurs fail.
Will a business plan make success inevitable? Absolutely not. Butgreat planning often means the difference between success and failure.
Where your entrepreneurial dreams are concerned, you should do everything possible to set the stage for success.
And that's why a great business plan is one that helps yousucceed.
What matters most
Many business plans are fantasies. That's because many aspiring entrepreneurs see a business plan as simply a tool--filled with strategies and projections and hyperbole--that will convince lenders or investors the business makes sense.
That's a huge mistake.
First and foremost, your business plan should convinceyouthat your idea makes sense--because your time, your money, and your effort are on the line.
So a solid business plan should be a blueprint for a successful business. It should flesh out strategic plans, develop marketing and sales plans, create the foundation for smooth operations, and maybe--just maybe--convince a lender or investor to jump on board.
For many entrepreneurs, developing a business plan is the first step in the process of deciding whether to actually start a business. Determining if an ideafails on paper can help a prospective founder avoid wasting time and money on a business with no realistic hopeof success.
So, at a minimum, your plan should:
Be as objective and rational as possible. What may have seemed like a good idea for a business can, after some thought and analysis, provenot viable because ofheavy competition, insufficient funding, or a nonexistent market. (Sometimes even the best ideas are simply ahead of their time.)
Serve as a guide to the business's operations for the first months and sometimes years, creating a blueprint for company leaders to follow.
Communicate the company's purpose and vision, describe management responsibilities, detail personnel requirements, provide an overview of marketing plans, and evaluate current and future competition in the marketplace.
Create the foundation of a financing proposal for investors and lenders to use to evaluate the company.
A good business plan delves into each of the above categories, but it should also accomplish other objectives. Most of all, a good business plan isconvincing. It proves a case. It provides concrete, factual evidence showing your idea for a business is in fact sound and reasonable and has every chance of success.
Whomustyour business plan convince?
First and foremost, your business plan should convinceyouthat your idea for a business is not just a dream but can be a viable reality. Entrepreneurs are by nature confident, positive, can-dopeople. After you objectively evaluate your capital needs, products or services,competition, marketing plans, and potential to make a profit, you'll have a much better grasp on your chances for success.
And if you're not convinced, fine: Take a step backand refine your ideas and your plans.
Whocanyour business plan convince?
1. Potential sources of financing.If you need seed money from a bankor friends and relatives, your business plan can help you make a great case. Financial statements can show where you have been. Financial projections describe where you plan to go.
Your business plan shows how you will get there. Lending naturally involves risk, and a great business plan can help lenders understand and quantity that risk, increasing your chances for approval.
2. Potential partners and investors. Where friends and family are concerned, sharing your business plan may not be necessary (although it certainly could help).
Other investors--including angel investors or venture capitalists--generally require a business plan in order to evaluate your business.
3. Skilled employees. When you need to attract talent, you needsomethingto show prospective employees since you're still in the startup phase. Early on, your business is more of an idea than a reality, so your business plan can help prospective employees understand your goals--and, more important, their place in helping you achieve those goals.
4. Potential joint ventures. Joint ventures are like partnerships between two companies. A joint venture is a formal agreement to share the work--and share the revenueand profit. As a new company, you will likely be an unknown quantity in your market. Setting up a joint venture with an established partner could make all the difference in getting your business off the ground.
But above all, your business plan should convinceyouthat it makes sense to move forward.
As you map out your plan, you may discover issues or challenges you had not anticipated.
Maybe the market isn't as large as you thought. Maybe, after evaluating the competition, you realize your plan to be the low-cost provider isn't feasible since the profit margins will be too low to cover your costs.
Or you might realize the fundamental idea for your business is sound, but how you implement that idea should change. Maybe establishing a storefront for your operation isn't as cost-effective as taking your products directly to customers--not only will your operating costs be lower, but you can charge a premium since you provide additional customer convenience.
Think of it this way.Successful businesses do not remainstatic. They learn from mistakes,and adapt and react to changes: changes in the economy, the marketplace, their customers, their products and services, etc. Successful businesses identify opportunities and challenges and react accordingly.
Creating a business plan lets you spot opportunities and challenges without risk. Use your plan to dip your toe in the business water. It's the perfect way to review and revise your ideas and concepts before you ever spend a penny.
Many people see writing a business plan as a "necessary evil" required to attract financing or investors. Instead, see your plan as a no-cost way to explore the viability of your potential business and avoid costly mistakes.
Next time we'll take a closer look at the main components of a business plan. We'll start with theExecutive Summary.
More from this series:
1.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Key Concepts
2.How to Write a Great Business Plan: the Executive Summary
3.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Overview and Objectives
4.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Products and Services
5.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Market Opportunities
6.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Sales and Marketing
7.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Competitive Analysis
8.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Operations
9.How to Write a Great Business Plan: Management Team
How to Write a Great Business Plan: Financial Analysis
Business Selection Checklist
Business Selection Checklist
The following chart is designed to help you choose the business that’s right for you. To fill it out, follow these three steps:
(1) In the far left-hand column, list the business ideas you’re considering by order of interest. So, in the top left-hand blank space, put the idea you think you’re most interested in. Underneath it put the next idea and so forth until you’ve listed all of your possible ideas down the left side of the chart.
(2) Now take each idea and rate it on a scale of 0-3 in each of the areas listed. Use the following rating system: 0-none, 1-below average, 2-average, and 3-above average.
Here’s a look at each of the categories and some of the things you should consider when rating them:
Your knowledge of the business. How much do you know about the area? Will you have to spend extra time and money teaching yourself the business? Will you have to take on a partner because you don’t know the business well enough?
Rating: 0-no knowledge of the business; 1-some indirect knowledge of the business; 2-limited knowledge; 3-working knowledge.
Your experience in the field. In some cases, you may have a lot of knowledge about the subject, but not much experience. Have you ever owned or worked in this type of business before? To what extent is hands-on experience crucial to the business?
Rating: 0-no experience; 1-indirect experience; 2-limited experience; 3-familiar with the business.
Your skills. Ignore, for now, those skills that might be common to each of your ideas, and try to concentrate on skills that are unique to that business. To what extent do you possess those skills? If you lack them, how difficult will it be to acquire them?
Rating: 0-none; 1-limited skills; 2-some skills; 3-extensive skills.
Ease of entry. Think both of the costs of entering the business and of the competitive barriers that might exist. For example, a service business that you can run from your home might be relatively inexpensive to start, but if several others are already providing that service, entry in the field may be difficult.
Rating: 0-crowded field, very difficult to enter; 1-limited entry available; 2-mix of large and small competitors; 3-virtually unrestricted entry for any size business.
Uniqueness. Uniqueness does not necessarily mean that literally no one else is providing the same product or service; it can mean that no one else is providing the product or service in the same way you intend to provide it, or it can mean that no one else is providing that product or service in your area. You’re looking for some way to distinguish your product or service from others who are already in business.
Rating: 0-your product or service widely available; 1-a few to several others offering your product or service; 2-only one or two others; 3-no others providing your product or service.
Business idea / Your knowledge / Your experience / Your skills / Ease of entry / Uniqueness / Total(3) Now total up the numbers. Here are some tips for making sense of the numbers and for narrowing your list of business possibilities:
- eliminate any of your ideas that scored less than a total of 10
- eliminate any idea that did not score at least a 2 in every category
- eliminate any idea that did not score at least a 3 in the uniqueness category
How many ideas are left? If the answer is “none,” then you need to use the list to identify where you need to improve and you need to develop a strategy for raising the “1’s” to “2’s” or “3’s.” If the answer is “more than one,” you have a pleasant dilemma: a choice of which business to start. If the answer is “one,” you may have just found the business that’s perfect for you.
SAMPLE BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE
______Company, LLC
Business Plan
December 31, 2011
J. Q. Entrepreneur
100 Opportunity Place
Success, IL 20010
999.999.9999
Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement
The undersigned ("Recipient") hereby agrees that all financial and other information ("Information") that it has and will receive concerning _____ Company, LLC is confidential and will not be disclosed to any individual or entity without prior written consent. The Information shall remain the property of ____Company, LLC and shall be returned to ___Company, LLC promptly at its request together with all copies made thereof. Recipient acknowledges that no remedy of law may be adequate to compensate _____ Company, LLC for a violation of this Agreement and Recipient hereby agrees that in addition to any legal or other rights that may be available in the event of a breach hereunder, _____ Company, LLC may seek equitable relief to enforce this Agreement in any Court of competent jurisdiction.
______
Date Signature
This is a business plan and does not imply an offering of securities.
Table of Contents(can be placed before or after the Executive Summary)
1.0 Executive Summary...... #
2.0 Mission, Vision, & Culture...... #
3.0 Company Description...... #
4.0 Opportunity Analysis & Research...... #
4.1 Industry Analysis...... #
4.2 Environmental Analysis...... #
4.3 Competitive Analysis
5.0 Marketing Strategy & Plan
5.1 Products/Services
5.2 Pricing
5.3 Promotion
5.4 Place
6.0 Management & Operations
6.1 Management Team
6.2 Research & Development
6.3 Physical Location
6.4 Facilities
6.5 Inventory, Production, & Quality Assurance
7.0 Financial Analysis & Projections
7.1 Sources & Uses of Capital
7.2 Cash Flow Projections
7.3 Balance Sheet Projections
7.4 Income Statement Projections
7.5 Breakeven Analysis
7.6 Ratio Analysis
7.7 Risks & Assumptions
8.0 Funding Request & Exit Strategy
8.1 Amount & Type of Funds Requested
8.2 Exit Plan
8.3 Milestones
Appendices
Resumes
Sample Promotional Materials
Product Illustrations/Diagrams
Detailed Financial Projections
1.0
Executive Summary(1 – 2 pages)
- Full legal name of your organization
- Business idea
- Target market
- Type of organization (manufacturing, wholesale, retail) and products/service
- Marketing and sales strategy
- Key success factors
- Economics of one unit (optional)
- Short- and long-term business goals
- Management skills and resources – current and future requirements
- Ownership – owners, shares, and legal structure
- Sources and uses of funds
- Summary of the financial projections
- Growth and exit strategy
2.0Mission, Vision,and Culture
- Mission statement
- Vision statement
- Core beliefs and culture
- Social responsibility commitment
3.0 Company Description
- Industry
- Type of organization (manufacturing, wholesale, service)
- Needs will this business will satisfy
- Strategic advantage
- Legal structure (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, C Corp, etc.) and rationale.
- State in which registered or will register
- Location(s) of physical operation
- Geographic reach
- Owner(s), partners, or stockholders. If your business is incorporated, percentage of the company owned by each shareholder.
4.0 OpportunityAnalysis & Research