The Young Entrepreneurs Financial Literacy Handbook - 2nd Edition is easy to read and understand. It takes the reader on a journey from coming up with ideas for a business to developing business and marketing plans. Stops or topics in between include goal setting, budgeting, business finances, banking, credit, savings, and investing. The author's mission is to provide basic financial skills and help increase the number of future business owners.
Identify famous entrepreneurs and what factors contributed to their success.
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ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How does thinking creatively support business opportunities?
TOPIC 1 HIGHLIGHTS
The dictionary defines opportunity as a favorable or promising combination of circumstances which provide a good chance for advancement or progress. In businessan opportunity has commercial value. We are always looking for opportunities to expand our business by increasing sales and profits. We usually do this by making improvements on existing products and services. We have to think about the needs of ourcustomers.
What improvements can be made to increase our customer base and make the company a leader in its industry?
To take advantage of opportunity, we must learn tothink creatively. When we think creatively, we use our imagination to rise above or transcend traditional ideas, methods, patterns, rules, products, relationships, etc., and produce something new. This process is also referred to as âthinking out of the box.â We also use a technique called âbrainstormingâ, where ideas are given without being judged as good or bad, right or wrong.
The elements of creativity are connection, discovery, invention, and application. We connect things that are usually not connected. Cookie dough and ice cream is an example of this process.
In order to get inspired to think creatively, you mustfirst stop and observe the world around you. Look at people when you are in the mall, in a park, and onvacation.
Describe the personal characteristics of the people you encounter. These characteristics are called demographics and include gender, race, culture,income, education, and ethnicity. Also read newspapers and magazines to get ideas. Finally, use theinternet.
What is an entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is a person who creates, organizes, operates, and owns a business. They assume the financial risk and responsibilities in starting and runninga new business or venture. To start a business requires many skills which will be explored in this handbook.
Entrepreneurship is the process of identifying a potential business, finding and testing it on potential customers, and obtaining the financing to start the business.
To help develop new business opportunities, you must identify current business trends. The biggest trends today are e-business and e-commerce which use the internet. Almost every field including retail sales, education, finance, and publishing does business on the internet. Also, social media businesses such as fashion and entertainment blogs have proved to be financially successful. Developing medical, dating, and game apps is popular. Service businesses such as fitness centers, pet grooming, food catering, and wedding planning are on the rise. Many new entrepreneurs choose franchising when starting their own business. When you purchase a franchise, you become the owner of an outpost of a larger Steamer, and Comfort Inn are examples of franchise businesses. When purchasing a franchise you purchase a territory and franchisorâs business system, which includes accounting, advertising, and procedures.
Finally, if we look at the lives of some famous entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Elon Musk (Tesla and SpaceX), Steven Jobs (Apple Inc.), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Tyler Perry (Tyler Perry Studios), Oprah Winfrey (OWN), Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), we find that their environments and interest provided the inspiration for their success.
ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENTS:
Identify two additional current business trends and their products. Write a short paragraph on each andgive an oral presentation. Work with a partner on this activity.
Use the elements of creative thinking,brainstorming, and demographics to create new school store items to sell. Students work in small groups and compete to see which group can come up with the most sellable new items.
Use the internet to identify 5 e-businesses and give their web addresses.
Identify and research a business franchise. Describe the business and start up costs needed. Use thesearch engine franchise.org to help get information.
Choose two famous entrepreneurs and determine what factors inspired their success. Present your results by writing a short paragraph.
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WRAP-UP: Students will present a 2 minute commercial summarizing this lesson.
