Suggested Target Age: Grades 5-8

Topics Covered: entrepreneurs, starting a business, risk, capital, business plan, profit, marketing, competition

Time Required: 45 minutes

Sources: U.S. Mint; Fasten Network; Entrenuity

What Will the Students Learn?

• How to brainstorm about entrepreneurial ventures and their potential for success
• Whether they possess entrepreneurial characteristics and how to strengthen those traits
• What the key components of a business plan are

State Contents Standards Key
Virginia: Civics and Economics: CE.9, CE.10, CE.12; Economics and Financial Literacy: Objectives 1, 2
Indiana: Social Studies: 8.4.5; Guidance: 6-8.2.1, 6-8.2.6, 9-12.2.12
Florida: Social Studies: SS.D.2.3, SS.D.2.4
California: CA Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards: 10.3.5, 12.1, 12.2.5, 12.2.8, 3.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, B1.1, B1.2, B1.5, B2.1-5

NOTE: This lesson can be done with or without computers/access to the Internet.

Materials Needed:

• Entrepreneurial Tendency Evaluation - One copy per stundent
• Business Scenario Handout - 3 copies, one for each team
• Business Plan Worksheet - 3 copies, one for each team

1. Write the word “entrepreneur” on the board and ask whether any of the youth can give you a definition of it. (Here’s a good general definition from the U.S. Mint: An entrepreneur is “a person who assumes the risk to start a business with the idea of making a profit.”) Ask for a show of hands of how many youth are interested in one day owning and running their own business. Then tell them that successful entrepreneurs tend to display certain characteristics or traits. Tell them you have a little self-assessment quiz they can take to see how “entrepreneurially minded” they are.
   
   
2. Pass out copies to each student of the Entrepreneurial Tendency Self-Evaluation. They should complete the self-assessment and score themselves.
   
   
3. Hold a short class discussion on the findings from the entrepreneurial self-evaluation. Were there some students who said they wanted to own/run their own business who scored low? Were there some who indicated little interest in being an entrepreneur who actually scored pretty high? Note that the Entrepreneurial Tendency Self-Evaluation offers some suggestions for how students could strengthen their entrepreneurial skills. Have the students brainstorm about additional activities they might engage in to strengthen different entrepreneurial traits (you will see that there is a blank space under each trait where they can write in their suggestions).
   
   
4. Now divide the class into three teams. Each team will be pretending to launch a different business. Hand out one copy of the Business Scenario Handout for each team. Each team should review their Business Scenario sheet. Then their job is to write a basic business plan for their business. Hand out one copy of the Business Plan Worksheet and tell the teams that their job is to complete the worksheet. It covers the key essentials of products/services offered; targeted customer market; start-up costs; advertising; pricing; and competition.
   
   
• Team A – starting a lawn-mowing business
• Team B – starting a painting business (painting indoors)
• Team C – starting a catering service
  
  
5. Tell the students that each team needs to work through the Business Plan Worksheet, discussing and deciding together what they think their customer market is, what materials they will need to start-up their business and how much those start-up costs might be, how many employees they think they will need for the business (it will be good for them to brainstorm what different roles there are in the business to help them figure out how many people they need), what their prices are going to be, and who their competitors might be and how to “outshine” them. On the pricing question, help the teams recognize that they need to try to estimate their potential sales, so that they can figure out how much money they need to earn in order to pay their business expenses (such as their employees’ salaries). As instructor, be aware that that this exercise will involve a lot of “informed guesswork.” You are looking for business plans that (a) “fit” with the information provided in the Business Scenario and (b) that will identify a coherent strategy for covering their costs and making a profit.
   
   
6. When each team has completed the Business Plan Worksheet (20 minutes or so), have them elect a spokesperson. Team A’s spokesperson should then tell the class what Team A’s business is, how many employees they’ll have, who their intended customers are, what their start-up costs will be and the price(s) at which they plan to sell their product(s) and/or service(s). When the spokesperson is finished, class members can ask questions of any of Team A’s members about the business plan. Then repeat this process for Team B and Team C.

7. When all the groups have shared, ask for a class vote on which team had the best business plan -- that is, the one most likely to succeed (make a profit).