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Mod 1a intro
- 1. San Diego City College Buse 157 Starting a Small Business Nancy Fredericks Module 1 Introduction to the Course
- 2. Is Entrepreneurship for Me?
Editor's Notes
- The required textbook for this course is The Successful Business Plan by Rhonda Abrams. This is the 4 th edition. The book has been available for a few years. Be sure to check the City College bookstore. A new or used copy should be easy to find at our bookstore or your favorite online bookseller. A new book sells for approximately $30.00.
- If you are thinking of opening a business, the first big question should be, “Is Entrepreneurship for Me?” What makes a successful business owner? There is a great deal of information of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, but the information varies widely. A few things that most of the articles and books agree on are that entrepreneurs are: Self motivated Have the urge to achieve, build or grow Have commercial leanings. Which means they enjoy exchanging goods and services for money. Risk takers Optimistic Adaptable Organized
- Author Michael Gerber wrote The E-Myth . His book is about entrepreneurship and starting a business. He claims that the “Myth” is really that many people go into business because they want to do the one thing they enjoy (ideas like, cook great food, meet travelers at the airport, sell terrific hair products). Mr. Gerber says that the truth is that business owners spend very little time doing what they love, and most of their time doing all the other tasks necessary to run a successful business. Gerber’s other big thought covered in his book is that businesses fail for a variety of reasons. Most of the reasons are related directly to poor planning. The federal Small Business Administration reports that 8 out of 10 businesses fail in the first year. It’s even higher in the food service industry. Why is food service higher? Likely the cost of food products, waste, theft, unpredictability of sales volume, poor marketing or lack of experience. For more information on business statistics visit the federal Small Business Administration at www.sba.gov.
- A written business plan is a tool to help business owners think through all the components of owning and operating their businesses, before they open. It’s not meant to be an operating manual or an implementation plan. It’s a overview, with some firm financial projections to help guide them. Many textbooks, including ours, call a business plan a roadmap. Our author says, “If you don’t know where you are going, how ill you know when you are lost?”
- We will read all about the business plan process as we move through our book and the course. In chapter two, we learn that the planning process starts with the your big idea for a business, then we lay out the concept, gather data and information to determine if this idea will work or not, we focus and adjust our concept as we learn more, then we outline or write the specific and create our plan. Once the plan is written, we also bind it, like a book, so pages can’t fall out and perhaps present it to a bank or lender for a loan. As you think through our big idea, here are some decisions you will need to make. Is anyone else involved in owning or operating this business with me? What products or services will be offered? What do I think I’ll charge for them? Who is our idea customer? What do we know about them? What’s my territory?