opportunity to demonstrate

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to give you the opportunity to demonstrate not only what you may already know or have learned about small business and entrepreneurship from class lectures and text assignments but to provide you the opportunity to interact with a real business and to learn first hand from a business owner.

Step 1

Identify a small business with which you are familiar. Perhaps you have a small store, a dry cleaners, or an auto repair shop in your neighborhood that you frequent. Maybe you know someone in your family or close circle of friends who has started and currently operates a business. The important thing is that you select a small business owner, other than yourself, who is willing to spend approximately 30 minutes with you to answer in detail the few questions below.

Step 2

Politely ask the business owner the following questions taking note of his or her responses in order to compile the report called for in Step 3 below. You are encouraged to insert additional questions as you deem appropriate or alter the content of the questions below to suit the specific business owner’s situation or circumstance.

• When / how did you decide to go into business for yourself?
• Why / how did you select the business you are currently in?
• What are your short-term and long-term goals for your business?
• Has owning your own business been enjoyable / profitable?
• Do you have a business plan?
• What have been your most significant challenges in owning your own business?
• What would you recommend to others who are considering starting their own business?

Step 3

In your written presentation:

• First, identify the business owner you have interviewed and the date / time / place of the interview. Then describe the nature of the business they own in as much detail as you can.
• Next, your report should summarize the information provided by your selected interviewee in a clear and concise manner. Assuming you have selected a business in which you have some degree of interest, your summary should reflect your own views and opinions regarding the interviewee’s responses.
• While there is no minimum / maximum size standard for Stage No. 2, I will expect a paper that is intelligently constructed, grammatically correct, and detailed enough to clearly demonstrate that you have taken this assignment seriously.
• This paper must be word-processed or typed using 11-12 point font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins. Please prepare the assignment as a “.doc”, “.rtf”, or “.txt” document and submit it within the assignment folder provided.