8.7 Discussion Questions
- How are social connections made in early life the same as those made on the college campus? How are they different?
- What are some benefits of professional associations that are not available from government agencies or departments?
- How is the role of government agencies with regard to entrepreneurship different from the roles of industry and trade associations?
- How does the SBA help aspiring entrepreneurs?
- Why is it important for government programs to offer grants to organizations, both public and private, to educate and assist entrepreneurs at no charge?
- What are some risks associated with surrounding yourself with others who are similar to you in background? Industry experience? Education? Age? Personality? Ability to process information?
- If the figures on a pro forma are hypothetical, then why go through the exercise of creating a document with fake numbers?
- What are some disadvantages of having licensed professionals such as accountants and attorneys offering advice to an entrepreneur?
- A young, very creative, artistic woman wants to start her own graphic design business. If she is out of the office looking for new clients, she is not producing any work that generates income. What are her options?
- What can happen if a new business does not have any kind of business plan? What if the business plan that was originally written is not effective after the business starts?
- Why are schedules important? If the new business owner keeps a schedule only in their head and does not write it down, what might be some weaknesses of that idea?
- Why is benchmarking relevant? What are some conditions in which benchmarking against national figures would be less accurate? How would you find information regarding benchmarking?
- Why is cash flow more important than profit? If a company does not have enough cash, what are possible ways for it to get more cash?
- Why is money management so important to a business? What are the consequences if money is mismanaged?
- When is the assembly-line approach appropriate in service-oriented businesses? What are the benefits of using the assembly-line approach in this type of work?
- How does the term “division of labor” apply to the concepts of “jack of all trades” and “specialist”?
- What is the difference between capital expenses and operational expenses? What type of financing should be used for capital expenses? Operational expenses? Why?
- Why should hiring the right people take precedence over buying the right equipment?
- How do the needs of a small business and its founder change from the startup stage to the growth stage?