(Project) MIYB Project 3 - Head of the Class

Two projects ago, we learned about "Concept" as a component of the business plan. By business "Concept," we understand the main idea or set of ideas that describe how a business will achieve its financial goals.

"Concept" is the secret ingredient for a business's success; it answers the very general questions of "How?" and "By doing what?" when it comes to a business attaining its goal.

Here's a metaphor that might help.

A business's goal is like a finish line in a race. It's the place you are trying to get to within a certain time, or before other people get there to win if you're competing against others. But how will you get there? Does your strategy involve racing along the inside track? Holding back until the last minute? And just as important, what will take you to that finish line? Your shoes? Your breakfast? Gasoline?

All of these things that get you there (strategies, energy sources, etc.) work like a business "Concept." It describes specifically not where you are going but how you plan on getting there.

Take the example of a restaurant that serves food in East Harlem. Its goals--like any other business--might be to make a certain amount of money by the end of the year, or to become a household name in the surrounding area within six months. These things are fine goals to have, but they do not count as the business's "Concept." The concept of the business might be to put the customer first, or to sell a certain food that puts them ahead of the competition. These could all be components of the business "Concept" because they are all ways that they are going to succeed in reaching their goals.

Today's Project
Today's project will require you to make presentations to a class of MicroSociety students about what a business "Concept" is and get them to start thinking about what things could qualify as business concepts for the businesses they are building.

You are to go to an assigned room at 4:30 and introduce yourselves to the students in your classroom. Tell them that you are here to introduce an idea that they might find very useful in making up their business plans for their sectors. Then, with permission, present briefly about what a business's "Concept" is and give them a short oral quiz after your presentation.

Your performance today will be determined by the average quiz score of your group. The two highest scoring groups will be awarded $30 FWB toward their clothing stipends.

(Workshop) Spending Analysis

When you make a budget for yourself, it can be like we did last week in the Financial Literacy workshop, where we worked to build a budget based on estimations about future spending, or it can be a budget to show past spending. Today at First Work, we will be taking another look at breaking down costs and making a budget in the second way--from the ground up.

You will be given a bunch of receipts showing expenses from May to October for a fictional organization. Your job is to create a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel to chart the expenses in different categories of spending. First answer the questions below, and then try your hand at sorting and recording.

Questions

1. What different categories of spending do the purchases seem to fall in? (Are most of the receipts from grocery stores? Are there some amounts spent for other types of purchases?)
   
2. What types of information from the receipts do you think it would be necessary to fill in about the purchases? What information would be okay to omit?

Once you figure out this information, you are ready to start a spreadsheet to record information about the individual items on the reciepts.

Project Add-On

Your boss is pleased with your list, but wants two things added: she wants you to (1) Add a box to show the total spending in each of the categories, and (2) Sort your list by date.

Excel Tips

• Remember that you can use functions in Excel to help you when you need to do some math with numbers that are already on the spreadsheet. Your hint with formulas is the location of the function button, as shown below.
  
  
  


• You can also use Excel to sort information for you automatically with the sort button. To use the sort button, you must first select the items you want to sort. The location of the sort button is shown in the picture below.
  
  

(Project) MIYB Project Two: Job Coaching

The project today will require you to help coach students in the Harbor's afterschool program, Senior Education.

Senior Ed is a program geared toward students aged 8-12 that teaches young students in elementary school about the fundamentals of the real world. As a part of this program, Senior Ed students participate in something called Microsociety, which is a pretend "work-world" that the students maintain. MicroSociety has its own currency, businesses, and workers who have work days and days off. Every student in MicroSociety is either a manager or worker in one of the businesses there, and s/he must interview for any of the positions seeked.

Today is a job fair day for the MicroSociety component of Senior Ed. This means that the students will be interviewing for the different positions that will be available to them in the hopes of landing the MicroSociety job of their dreams.

This is where you come in. The project this week is to:

(1) Work in a group to develop some coaching services that you will offer to MicroSociety students as they wait to be interviewed. The coaching services will be geared to prepare the students in some way for the interviews they will have today. The services you offer should not take more than 5-7 minutes for each student. (Some examples of services can be offering help in completing the MicroSociety job application, conducting a short a mock interview and offering feedback or pointers, or some other service that you decide upon.)

(2) Meet with the MicroSociety students as they wait for their interviews and offer your services to as many students as possible.

(3) Give each of the students you serve an evaluation slip that the student will use to rate your services. (Evaluation slips will be supplied to you.) You do not need to collect these back from the students.

(4) Create a written description of your services to be handed in by the end of the day.

Your groups will be judged based on the ratings they recieve and the completeness of the descriptions you hand in at the end of the day.

Good Luck.

Blogging Perspectives/People (Continued)

Blogs, as we have seen last week, can be used in many capacities. A person can use a blog to publish journal entries, thoughts, assignments... The possibilities are limitless. And yet, there is perhaps one thing that remains true for every blog. That is, every blog is a reflection of the blogger.

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Overview
Today's excercise will require that you (1) complete your Blogger profile, (2) answer the questions below as a post on your blog, (3) comment on each other's blogs, and (4) introduce each other in class.

Directions
Complete your Blogger Profile online. To do this, go to the "Dashboard" and follow the link to edit your profile. Then answer the questions below.

Questions

1. Is this picture on its side or upside-down? Describe what this is a picture of.
   
   
   
   
2. What do you think the artist of this collage was trying to say? Why do you think that?
   
   
   


3. What picture/drawing/work of art best represents your character? (Link to an image of it if possible, or describe it for us.)



4. What do you think is going on in the comic strip below. (Feel free to make up characters' lines.
   
   
   

(Project) MIYB: Business Plan Basics

As you have learned in the pre-workshop exercises today, writing a business plan is a big project that starts with good organization and dilligently researched information.
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Today's Project:
Today, as your MIYB Project, you will be broken into two or three groups and asked to create a basic business plan according to the criteria we went over earlier today.

Keeping in mind our "Focus Five" sections of the business plan ((1) Business Concept, (2) Future Goals/Past Milestones, (3) Customer/Market Information, (4) Competitor Information, and (5) Products and Services), create a basic business plan for Redken, a New York-based hair product company who won a 2006 Webby Award for website design in the Beauty and Cosmetics category.

Today's winning group members will recieve, individually, $30 toward their clothing bank. The deadline for submissions of business plans is today, at 6:00PM.


Good Luck.

Internet Scavenger Hunt/ Computer Literature Activity

Here is an activity to test your Internet surfing skills! Using the list below, begin to search the Internet for all the items. You must either cut and paste the items on your blogger post or type a link to the item. The person who finds the most or all the items and posts pictures of them or links to them on their blogs, will win. You will be given a time limit of 40 - 45 minutes. In addition to finding the items, you will be given a few questions to answer. Remember to do your best and good luck!

Scavenger List

1. A Black Butterfly
2. A child catching a ball
3. A man in a business suit with a red tie
4. Two dogs kissing
5. An elephant eating
6. A woman with an attitude
7. A resume
8. The business hours of the Parkchester Library in the Bronx
9. The world champion who ate the most hot dogs in 2006
10. The current Manhattan Borough President
11. The baseball team who won the world series in 1974
12. The number of schools listed in the New York City Public School system
13. A person who has the same first name as you and their importance
14. A black panther
15. An Indian tribal symbol
16. A baby crying
17. A your favorite artist/ actor/ actress or singing group
18. An apartment for rent ad
19. A credit card advertisement
20. A vacation spot

Questions

What item was the most difficult to find? Why?

What was the easiest thing to find? Why?

What item on the list best describes you? Why? (Use poetic devices.)