Course 1: BUSN 630 – Small Business Essentials

This course provides students with the principles, practices, strategies, and requirements needed to form and manage a small business. Students will learn about establishing online, home-based, mobile and commercially zoned small businesses. Topics include legal forms of organization, hiring employees, financial issues, establishing credit, securing loans, developing sales and marketing strategies and legal issues. Students will learn how to identify and analyze personal and business skills necessary to start a small business.

Expected course time: 54 hours over 6 weeks (individual hours or weeks may change based on course schedule).

Objectives:

• Differentiate and describe legal forms of ownership.

• Describe business and personal skills necessary to starting a small business.

• Identify and describe legal issues and requirements of federal, state, county and city governments.

• Identify and describe best practices for hiring and recruitment of employees.

• Describe various sales and marketing strategies.

• Explain and develop a networking strategy, outlining target customers, mentors, industry peers, advisory groups and government.

• Describe the accounting equation and explain how financial statements are used in business accounting.

• Construct and describe an implementation and exit strategy for a small business.

Course 2: BUSN 631 – Small Business Planning

This course includes preplanning, strategizing, organizing, developing and writing a small business plan. Students will develop a personal vision statement and create a business concept that aligns with their plan. The course also includes management and organization, marketing strategies, financials and exit strategies.

Expected course time: 54 hours over 6 weeks (individual hours or weeks may change based on course schedule).

Objectives:

• Describe and assess personal skills and develop a personal vision statement outlining their desired lifestyle, professional and financial goals.

• Describe and develop a business model concept that creates customer value in a product or service as well as describes how the product or service will be delivered that is aligned to the Personal Vision Statement.

• Explain management and organization, market strategies and financial requirements.

• Prepare and present a written business plan that describes how a successful small business can be formed based on projections derived from the Business Model Concept.