Starting a business is a goal for many people and not just those who major in business. In fact, many entrepreneurs did not major in business but they all needed to learn how to start a business. At Cal State Fullerton we have a class built for the specific needs of innovative non-business majors who want to start their own business: BUAD 410 – Starting and Managing a Professional Practice/Small Business.
In this class, students are walked through the process of how to create an actionable business plan for any concept they can come up with. Previous students have developed plans for:
- An emotional skills building card game to help people overcome disabilities (which finished second in the campus-wide CSUF Business Plan Competition earlier this year!)
- A toy store designed to engage kids with STEM-related projects and activities
- Trend setting restaurants and pubs
The kind of businesses that students can start after taking this class are only limited by their imaginations.
What will you learn by taking BUAD 410?
Every student in this class learns the fundamentals of a business plan. This includes topics like:
- Marketing your product or service
- Implementing appropriate accounting principles
- Funding your business
- Developing a team
- And everything else that goes into creating a successful business
And here is a video featuring testimonials from students who have previously taken this course that highlights what students can expect to learn by taking this course.
How does BUAD 410 operate?
At the beginning of the semester, every student will be asked to pitch, or give a short presentation, their concept. It’s a sixty second exercise where students will have the opportunity to explain what it is their business is and why it would make for a good venture.
From these presentations the class will decide which concepts will be pursued. Even if a student’s idea isn’t picked they will learn those invaluable skills that were outlined in the previous section through their work on the creation of a business plan for the concept that their group works on during the semester.
Once the groups have been decided it is time to get to work on creating the plans. Each team will have the benefit of working with the professor, Jeff Longshaw, as well as a mentor from the private sector. The combined experience and knowledge of the professor and the mentor helps these teams develop actionable business plans and the professor and mentor also engage with the students in a way that helps them learn and internalize the lessons from the class. Lessons that can be used to start any business a student wants.
By the end of the semester each student will have the skills and knowledge that are needed to start a business. It’s a challenging course but for those students who are interested in starting their own business but are not business majors it is a course that they should definitely take.
Who is the professor?
This course is taught by Professor Jeff Longshaw. He earned his MSBA from the USC Marshall School of Business, has been a business management and communications consultant for decades, and is an entrepreneur. He punctuates his lessons with anecdotes from his experience in the private sector as well as from his time in the armed services. These stories bring to life the difficult concepts that are taught in this class and give students a better understanding of how those lessons relate to the real world.
How do you take this class?
Enrollment for the Fall 2017 at Cal State Fullerton is still open and you have an opportunity to take this class and to take your first steps in becoming an entrepreneur. For more information on this class please contact the Center for Entrepreneurship at csufentrepreneurship@fullerton.edu for more information.
#CSUF
For more details on CSUF Entrepreneurship:
http://business.fullerton.edu/Center/Entrepreneurship/
For more details on how we help people become entrepreneurs:
http://business.fullerton.edu/Center/Entrepreneurship/Incubator
For more details on how CSUFConsulting can help businesses thrive:
http://business.fullerton.edu/Center/Entrepreneurship/Consulting
Attend one of our events for entrepreneurs or sign up for a free mentoring session:
http://bit.ly/CSUFEntrepreneurEvents
Knowledge @ CSUF Entrepreneurship video series:
http://bit.ly/csufknowledge