The Personal Mission Statement
June 11th, 2008A personal mission statement is like a personal mantra. It clarifies what you will seek in life. It tells others about what makes you tick in everyday life. Your mission statement should reflect one or more of the following:
Who you want to be;
What you want to do;
To what and to whom you want to devote your life;
The principles to which you want to anchor your life;
The legacy you want to leave.
Alternative Project: Your own Business Concept
May 28th, 2008Your Deliverable should contain the following:
A proposed business model with the 5 elements
A pitch
A personal statement of how this interests you
Feedback from Alums (or graduating student entrepreneurs that are launching a business)
A summary of conversations with potential customers
A list of the type of people you want on your advisory board
You may also include any “alternate” features of “alternative” models you are considering
Exam Questions
May 19th, 2008I have added the final questions. You can have up to 50 pages of cheat sheets. You may create a table of contents and it won’t count against your total cheat pages. The same cheat sheet may be shared between two students, but no more than two: you and a friend.
Introduction
1. What kinds of things can you compare between different businesses? (e.g. Scalability, ability to reach critical mass)
2. What are the five sacred elements in Alan’s business model?
3. What is an elevator pitch? How does Alan differentiate between a “informational” pitch vs. a “persuasive” pitch?
4. How does Alan define a portfolio? What are some common elements?
5. With regard to a portfolio, what is a reflection? How can you go about creating reflections?
Mote.Net
1. What did the founder of Mote (also named Alan) say about pathways to Entrepreneurship?
2. Can you describe how Mote has evolved as a concept?
Peter Roberts & Greenpoint Landscaping
1. What was Peter’s first tip for entrepreneurs?
2. What were Peter’s thoughts regarding the choice of a partner?
3. Compare and contrast Peter’s first business model for landscaping vs. his present model. What did Peter like about that newer model?
4. What did Peter specify as being associated with startup-struggles? (there were two items)
5. Peter differentiated between a dreamer versus a entrepreneur: How? (hint: look at Tip #2 for part of the answer).
6. What were the rest of Peter’s tips?
Ladd Smith & InHarmony Landscaping
1. What did Ladd lack when starting his business?
2. What does Ladd mean by “sales aren’t crap”?
3. What was Ladd’s top advice? What does he suggest to make this work?
4. What are some of the values that Ladd built into his business? (I’ll give you one value: “green”)
Steve Ward & Tom Burns of VieVu
1. How is a “Northwest atmosphere” created at VieVu?
2. Why is there price differentiation between the “law enforcement product” vs. “consumer product”?
3. What were the backgrounds of the two founders? What type of entrepreneurial experiences did each have before creating VieVu?
4. What are Steve’s three tips? How do they resemble the tips from the other entrepreneurs?
Kim Volz and Volz Enterprises
1. What does Kim see as the difference between an entrepreneur vs a dreamer?
2. What does Kim put into his notebook?
Alan’s Lectures on Business Models and Social Entrepreneurship
1. Compare and contrast: a) continuous improvement; b) process reengineering; c) business modeling
2. Why does Alan say that the 5 sacred elements comprise a whole model? Why can’t we just change one element and say it’s the same model?
Elizabeth Rusnak and Bank Loans
1. What is an SBA loan? What is the 504 loan program? What’s the advantage of an SBA loan?
2. What is a line of credit? What is its purpose?
3. What is SCORE? What can they do for you?
4. What are some of Liz’s tips regarding business plans?
5. What do banks examine in a loan applicant? What are the 5 C’s of credit?
Dwayne Northrup, Franchising, and Garlic Jim’s Pizza
1. How did Dwayne and his group choose “Jim” as part of the company name? (check if you were listening)
2. How does Dwayne ensure quality?
3. What’s Dwayne’s business model? What’s the difference between a sub-franchise vs. a franchisee?
4. How does Dwayne target locations?
A Few more Alan Questions
1. What are some benefits associated with reflections (done with a learning portfolio)?What are some typical reasons for doing a learning portfolio?
2. Better yet, what is Alan’s definition for a learning portolio?
3. What are his three critical elements in a learning portfolio?
4. What is a process? What is a legacy process? (hint: remember the apple pie example in class)
5. What is social entrepreneurship? What does Martin Fisher say about social entrepreneurship? What was Martin Fisher’s social entrepreneurship venture?
6. What are some Pros and Cons of the charity model?
7. At the end of the social entrepreneurship lecture, Alan pleaded for policy makers and administrators to learn the art of making business plans. Why did Alan advocate this?
China Entrepreneurship Trip
May 6th, 2008If you’re interested in making the trip to China in early September, please supply the following information and submit it electronically through a Word doc by Tuesday, May 20, 2008. The trip involves a faculty member and two students on a tour sponsored by a UWB alum to the Shenzhen and Yiwu provinces. The trip length will be almost two weeks. The purpose is to acquaint the visitors with entrepreneurial possibilities via China. We will also act as potential pioneers for future students. You may be asked to talk about your experiences with these future students.
1. Name
2. Statement of Personal Interest
Assignment 3 - 2008
April 27th, 2008Due Wednesday May 7, 2008
Two Sections
I. Portfolio Collaboration & Reflection
Remember the elements needed in a portfolio? Collaboration is one of them. It’s clear that for many of you, it’s a highly personal thing. Create a couple demo or sample pages from your portfolio. Perhaps it’s the front page with a mission statement on it. Or perhaps it’s one of your academic or personal pages.
Find someone you trust and respect. Get their opinion with regard to clarity and content. Do they clearly understand the intent or message behind your page? Does it convey who you are? Do they have any suggestions?
HW Questions
1) Create a couple prototype pages for your learning portfolio. You should write down what you want to convey to a reader: what message should they get? What mood should it evoke? What lessons did you want to convey?
2) Show your pages to a trusted person. Ask them what they think is the intent behind each page. If that person(s) offers advice or help (e.g. your trusted person may say: “I know someone who can help you get what you want”) Record all this information.
3) Ask a trusted person (can be the same one in the previous question) regarding suggested improvements.
4) Summarize the preceding (Items #1 to #3).
Section II Business Models
1. Which two businesses are you thinking of using for your project?
Student Appointment Schedule
April 22nd, 2008My office in in room 336 in the UW1 Building (425.352.3259)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
11:40am Adriana, Alanna, Whitney, Selena
Noon Kara, Justin, Kevin, Viddy
12:20 Tony, Tanner, Brian
12:40 Calvin, JaneAnn, Paul
1:00 Michael Woo, Rob, Kylie
1:30 Wisam, Karim, Anthony, Justin
2:00 Boyoung, Jiyean, Aika
2:45 Sam, Alexa G., Selena
3:15 Vanessa, Sabrina
Thursday, April 24, 2008
1:30 Alexa H
2:20 Richmond Ang
3:45 Michael Good
TBA
Lidia, Lara, Lucia, Andrew
Daniel, Jordan, Mike, Hal
Assignment 2
April 7th, 20083-part Assignment Due Monday, April 21, 2008
Portfolio
If you downloaded the lecture slides, then you saw the following typical delineation for the portfolio. You’re not obligated to religiously follow this method of sectioning your portfolio. It’s a way to think about the items for inclusion. If you don’t section your portfolio in this manner, then you can just include a single mission statement for yourself.
Home or Index - Introduce yourself and welcome viewers by telling them a bit about what they can view in your portfolio.
Academic - Share what you have done and what you plan to do with your course work, highlighting what you learned from your favorite course or project. Add a pitch or mission statement. Highlight involvement in Academic Institutes. Offer samples of your academic work.
Personal - Share what you are involved in outside the classroom, highlighting an interesting experience. You may want to expand on your highlight of an interesting experience and how an out of class experience has helped you with your academic or professional development Add a pitch or mission statement.
Professional - Share some of your professional skills and traits, how you obtained them and how you use them, highlighting one of which you are especially proud. Add a pitch or mission.
Portfolio Homework Questions
1. Make a paper plan with the headings “Academic,” “Personal,” and “Professional.” Next, jot down topics or ideas that come to mind when you see each heading listed on the page. Finally, decide the topics and concepts that are most important to you and expand on those or highlight why they are important.
2. Propose the materials to be used. Do you prefer using a traditional scrapbook? Will you use a photo notebook? Or will you use a three-ring binder and customize your portfolio?
3. Set an appt with the instructor. Alan will bring a schedule of open appt times to class and then later hang it on his office door (UW1-336). Hopefully, you will have already set an appointment the week before this assignment was due. You may choose to meet with Alan with 1 or 2 of your classmates.
Business Ownership
The following reading has been adapted from a section in an old textbook. It highlights the first well-used airline reservation system. It also shows that new business models can emerge from within established companies. This is the definition of “Intrapreneurhip” (new ventures inside established companies) as opposed to “Enterpreneurship” (new startups). It doesn’t explicitly explain every detail for its business model; you might have to read between the lines. It’s well worth it.
1. Contrast the old model (phone calls) and the new business model (represented by Sabre) used by American Airline. You can use a format similar to here.
2. Summarize each model with a catchy 1 or 2-sentence description. For example: “Sabre is the Amazon.com of Airline travel: it brings airline schedules straight to the consumer”. (It’s not accurate, but I am just making an example).
3. In the late 90s, Orbitz and Expedia began casting its shadow. If you were managing Sabre, what would you do to meet this competitive threat?
4. From what functional area (e.g. information technology, marketing, sales, accounting, operations, human relations) did the Sabre project champion hail? You can give a simple one-sentence answer.
Landscaping Business Models
On April 14 and April 16, the owners of two different landscaping businesses visit our class. Be sure to ask enough questions to adequately answer the homework.
1. Define and contrast the models as well as the critical issues (i.e. strengths and weaknesses) of Greenpoint Landscaping vs. InHarmony Landscaping.
2. What were the original motivations for Peter Roberts and Ladd Smith to start their businesses? What motivated each to evolve their business to its present design?
Assignment 1 - 2008
April 1st, 2008Due at Class on Monday, April 8, 2008
Did I tell you that I front load my classes? I want 2/3 of the reading and concepts finished by the halfway point of the course.
Introduction to Writing a Business Plan v1.99 (revised April 7, 2008) - Read p 4 to 5 and then p. 7 to 8. This includes the section on the 5 Sacred elements of a business model and the elevator pitch. Both are essential readings for all business professionals
Portfolio Keeping (Class Text) - Read the 1st 3 Chapters (up to p 23) Don’t need it for this assignment
Optional Readings
Greenpoint Landscaping - Peter Roberts, co-founder of the Student club, is the entrepreneur behind this company.
The Gardening Service for the Upper Crust - The Hazel case from class
Answer the following questions:
Business Ownership
1) Choose a company that is really accessible to you or if you don’t have a readily accessible company, you may use the Hazel case from class. Outline the business model and also create a table that outlines strengths and weaknesses of the model (e.g. scalability, profitability, simplicity, labor intensity, capital requirements, typical crises). You don’t have to interview. It’s to get you going. You may ask in class for what this looks like.
Here are some hints: what type of skills / education is required in the owners and employees? Did the owner have to create an entirely new market? Or did the owner “tweak” an existing niche? Does the business require special work hours?
2) Create two types of elevator pitches for the business. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you may have to assume 1 or 2 things about the business. Be ready to present at class. a) The first pitch is an informational pitch. It’s not your business and you’re wanting to quickly explain it to me; b) The second pitch is “persuasive” or compelling.
The Learning & Best Works Portfolio
An artifact is a concrete item. It can be a project paper, power point presentation, piece of art, or media presentation. In this context, it’s something you created during your time at UWB.
Examples of Educational Portfolios at Kalamazoo College
The examples aren’t as strong as last year’s freshmen portfolios, but there are at least two reasons for this:
a) Much of the Kalamazoo student time is devoted to designing web pages
b) I’m sure that many personal reflections are not being displayed. That’s because some of these can be…very personal.
Answer the following questions
1) Describe an artifact that is associated with your most concentrated or meaningful learning to date. What were the lessons learned? What does this tell you about yourself as a professional or student?
2) Describe an artifact that is associated with your best work to date. “Best” is obviously subjective but you should imagine that you’re trying to impress an audience (e.g. potential employer, peers, professor, significant friend).
Homework Style
Your homework should be typed (printed) and not handwritten. It should be professionally neat. You should strive for a concise style, but not be forced to create a brief document.
You may use bullet points and your instructor loves tables and graphics.
You may list the question and then provide the answer.
Avoid double-spacing, but use single- or 1.5-spacing.
Use 11 or 12 point font.
Syllabus & Class Materials - 2008
April 1st, 2008The Syllabus will get continually updated at the speakers step forward.
Course Syllabus Revised April 26, 2008
Introduction to Writing a Business Plan v1.99 (Also revised on April 7, 2008) - You won’t need to read most of it, but it’s being made available to you.
Lectures
introduction (March 31, 2008)
Portfolios 101 (April 7, 2008)
Business Entities (April 30, 2008)
Loans and Startup Resources (May 5, 2008)
Degrees of Change (May 14, 2008)
Business Ownership Project - 2008
March 20th, 2008Due Monday, June 9 (Finals Week) at my office in room 336 in UW1
You are to describe and contrast two different businesses. You will interview the owners of each company.
Requirements
1. Each must represent a different business model. For example, you may not use two brick-and-mortar retail stores (e.g. Wine Store and Bookstore).
2. You must describe the two models (e.g. Basics of Hazel’s Model) . You might even do a quick comparison of both businesses in a single table. The model must run through the 5 sacred elements. You may wish to also have a table(s) that contain further descriptions of each business.
3. You must have a single sentence or two sentences that describe each business (e.g. “They aim to be the Nordstroms of Casual Cafes - casual atmosphere coupled with very good food and outstanding service”)
4. You should then include a narrative about each business. You should still contrast each business. Typical questions that are asked should include:
a) When did you know that you wanted to start your own business? What was the inspiration for starting this business?
b) Was your initial idea the same as your current business? How did you change directions?
c) How did you obtain your starting capital?
d) What were some especially difficult obstacles? Did you ever have any difficulty with having enough cash?
e) What type of qualifications must an owner have? What type of qualifications are needed in the employees? How easy is it to find the right employees?
f) If the person sold or shut down his/her business, you may ask: when did you realize it was time to get out of the business? What were some lessons learned for closing your business?
5. You should include a cover page and executive summary (no more than 1 paragraph).