Friday-DAY 10

On the final day, all of the E.E. groups discussed their micro-businesses. Rusty and I had a customer that morning, Bev Wharton. We had to get a gift card from a golf course across the city and return it to her. We even had a little photo op in which we took pictures with the president for the Cliff News. At the end of the day, we had roughly $22 in profit, counting tips. The things that went well was our business ideas. The things that we offered and the prices we had set seemed right and I think it all went pretty well. We had two customers and would've had a third but we couldn't get a meeting time figured out. The things that we would've changed would be when we sent out our email to our possible customers. We sent it out Thursday morning. We would've sent it out Tuesday afternoon if we had known better. The other thing we would have changed would be proofreading our email better. The email we created for Cliff Concierge was misspelled. Two of our customers were unable to reach us through that email and had to go through our professor. In the end, we resent out an email with the spelling fixed. Just in case people were using the misspelled one, we had two emails for the business; the correctly spelled one and the incorrectly spelled one.

Overall, I call Cliff Concierge a success. For the near future, I do not see my group continuing this business venture.

Thursday-DAY 9

On Day 9, Rusty and I learned that our micro-business, Cliff Concierge, would get covered by the media Friday morning. Having just received an email stating that this will no longer happen, I am sort of bummed. However, we still may get some web coverage from all of this. We still have not fully decided whether or not to continue our service. We feel that the only way we could really keep this business going is if we someone got it to be a work study through the school or teamed up with Enactus. 

So far we have had one customer, Judy Thompson. We have another customer, Bev Wharton later in the morning. We hope to get more customers before the deadline.

Wednesday-DAY 8

Today the main subjects I took away from the day were pertaining to leadership styles and my business plan portfolios. We discussed types of leadership methods and which ones we were. I believe I would be a place setting leader. In other words, I would definitely set high goals for my employees and expect them to reach them. Now, this can be difficult because many people are perfectly fine with doing the average amount that is comfortable to them. As long as I can motivate my employees to go above and beyond while still enjoying their work, I believe I will see success.

We spent probably a third of the day researching information on our business plan portfolio. We looked up locations for our business as well as start-up costs. The two locations I found were both on Hamilton. The old blockbuster would be the perfect size and location. Their are hundreds of commuters everyday that would drive by and see that building. However, it is quite pricey at $18 psf at 6000 sq feet. The more safe approach would be settling on a simple plaza slot where the cost is $15 psf at 1500 sq feet. This, although small, will be sufficient to get the business off the ground. The main start-up cost for my screen business would be a screen printing machine. Depending on the year of the model and the number of screening plates (1 up to 6), the price will range from $800 to $4000. My plan is to buy an older model at around $1200 with more than one screening plate. This will give me a nice enough machine to survive a decent business growth over the next few years before upgrading to a newer, nicer, and more technologically advanced screen printer.

Tuesday-DAY 7

Today we discussed ways to get a entrepreneurs business up and running. We looked up businesses or organizations that will lend out loans or grants to entrepreneurs that are in need of capital. They ranged from contests that rewarded innovative companies to business venture individuals who will buy into businesses that can turn out profits. We also learned about bonds and equity as well as about LLC's, partnerships, sole proprietorship, and corporations. The story about partnerships and the guys who stole the "company boat" was astonishing and really shows that you can't trust anybody.

We also got into our E.E. groups and discussed our operation plans as well as our marketing plans. We decided we will send out an email to all J-term students and employees as well as put up some fliers. We have our prices set and are confident we will turn a nice profit.

Monday- DAY 6

Today, we really got into our E.E. Rusty and I have really ironed out how we are going to run our concierge service and I believe that we will even be able to make a little bit of money off of it. Getting help from our professor Judy Thompson made some of of our tough decisions easier to make. Once we finish with the minor details of our operation plan, we will be able to send out emails and put up fliers to possible customers.

In class, we also discussed income statements, balance sheets, and flow statements. Although we do not have to be accountants, we still must know a sufficient amount of knowledge in order to write a quality business plan as well as to know further down in life. 

Friday- DAY 5

Today, we had a speaker come in to discuss entrepreneurship. His name was Mark Rossi. Rossi is the definition of an entrepreneur. He told us that we need to become entrepreneurs now if we plan on. He said its easy to bounce back from a failed business adventure earlier in life than later in life. Rossi showed us that the university will help out with costs. He said he has no overhead costs at the moment. He also has many business ventures. I learned a lot from Rossi.

Then we took a test.

After the test we talked about start up costs as well as fixed and variable costs. The costs we are going to have with micro-businesses will be mainly all variable. With our concierge micro-business, the only costs we are going to have will be simple marketing expenses, such as fliers. The other expenses will be gas expenses for possible transporting of clients to destinations. Besides that, with our phones having unlimited calling and texting, our expenses will be next to none.

Thursday-DAY 4

Starting off for day 4 we discussed a Sioux City event called Entrepalooza. This event is meant to help local entrepreneurs get some financial and informative help to thrive in the Sioux City area. They even have a "Shark Tank" like segment which is called "Swimming with the Sharks."

Through the day we discussed the four P's. When creating your product, you must make sure it is something people want/need. The product must be at a price they can afford as well as a price you can make a profit on. You must promote  your product correctly in order to efficiently use your finances as well as create some brand awareness. Last, in terms of place, its all about location, location, location.

Each of the P's are very important and need to be thought out well in order to create a successful business.

Wednesday: DAY 3

Today, we mainly discussed and performed research. We discussed the two types of research as well. Primary research, which is research done directly while secondary research is carried out indirectly through other existing resources. We discussed the type of primary research methods we could do, such as surveys and interviews. For the secondary research methods, we looked up the different databases and websites looking for information related to our possible business plan. The research I did helped me get more familiar with business and made me confident I could get the right research for it.

We also later watched another episode of Shark Tank. In the episode, we discussed whether we would have made the deals that the Sharks made. The TV show is definitely showing me how creative people can be and that there truly are hundreds if not thousands of business ideas that can see success.

Tuesday: DAY 2

In today's class we learned more about our future business plan. We went through the contents of what our business plan will consist of as well as why we need business plans. We then learned about each component. Each one serves an important purpose. They each are very important for the business plan. If each component of the plan is put together well, the presentation you put on will have a much better chance for success.

Next, we discussed organizations and how some are made up. We discussed Apple and if they will be able to have new, successful, and innovative products in the future. We also discussed competitive advantages and the factors that go with it. Like quality and price.

We also went over our E.E's. I found that nearly all of the screen printing companies had high quality services, but none of them had their own brand. That is where I would set apart from other companies. I would have my own brand; my own clothing line for my customers. That way people that buy the brand will use by screen printing services as well as my screen printing customer will purchase my brand.

Monday

The January Term is starting and so is Entrepreneurship class. For the first day, I mainly learned about the syllabus for the class and what we will be expected to do over the next two weeks.

We learned about chapter one of the book which mainly was basic information and talked about the positives and negatives of taking the entrepreneurship path. 

We also discussed possible entreprenuerial experiences and business plan portfolios. The entrepreneurial experience my group discussed was for a campus concierge service. Basically, we could help students find places to entertain themselves, places to eat, specific service businesses as well as transporting students or providing wake up calls and reminders. The business portfolio idea that I came up with was related around a shirt screen printing business. These are the ideas we discusses and are also the ones I think we are going to stick with.

Later, we watched CBS's Shark Tank. This was a show about millionaires who listen to people's business plans and ideas and have the option to either give provide a financial sum to them in return for a percentage of the company. This program showed me that there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who have great ideas and products but are simply missing the right finances. 

Being an entrepreneur can be difficult but has its many rewards.