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Introduction

Do you go to the grocery store? How about selling your video games at a store in exchange for money to by the latest and greatest new game? Have you ever seen kids out mowing the lawn for your neighbors? These are all examples of businesses. Pretty much everywhere you go to buy something or sell something, you have fond an example of a business. You probably know that, already. But what you may have never spent time thinking about is that many, many businesses do not make it. They do not make enough money to stay open.

In this WebQuest, you will be working with a group of classmates to look at how businesses work and what it takes to find the right business. You will learn about using your money carefully, how you find people to spend money at your business, and other important parts of the process. Of course, it takes more than just learning about opening a business to be successful. You have to know how much money you have to start your business, what kind of business you want to start, how to spend money wisely, and how to make other people believe in what you are doing!

For this WebQuest, here is what happened. Your favorite teacher recently won the lottery. Being the great teacher she (or he) is, she decided to share her money with her students. What better way to encourage students to think than by having them start businesses?! Well, that is just what she decided to do. She is giving each group of four students $500 to start a business. So, what business will your group start, how should you decide, and on what should you spend your $500? That is what you will find out and decide in this WebQuest.

Proceed to the Task section for more details about the WebQuest.

Task

$500? Awesome! We are so totally rich, Bro! Now, what to do, what to do? Right, I forgot, we have to start a business. We can start so many different kinds of businesses. Where do we begin? How do we choose the right one for us? And, more importantly, how do we spend our $500 to make sure we get the most out of our money? What we need is a business plan. Yes, a business plan that helps us choose the right business, spend our money on the right things, and get people to buy our stuff. You will work through this WebQuest and complete a business plan to share with the class, and some sample advertisements, as well.

• Businesses are more likely to work if the owners are doing something they like and something they are good at doing. The first part of the decision process is to figure this out.
• Now that we know what like to do and what we can do well, are there any businesses out there we can start with our $500 that match our likes and skills?
• We should use this information to inform a plan to share with others. Use the Business Starter worksheet to help you achieve this step.
• Finally, we are getting ready to open our business, and we need to let people know we are getting down to business and what we are selling or doing. You will create an advertising plan and a sample advertisement, or two, to convince classmates to pay for your product or service.