Take My Liberty BUSI 338 Class

BUSI 338 builds on the basics of turning an opportunity into a business that creates value for customers.

Megginson and Byrd's chapters are read selectively: opportunities and challenges in small business first, then planning and starting the venture, marketing and customer relationships, operations and controls, financing and accounting, the people a small firm depends on and, at the end, growth, succession and social responsibility.

Week one carries Forum 1 and the New Venture Project Summary Report, worth 90 and 40, along with the checklist, introductions and the Connect registration quiz.

Weeks two, four and six carry the project's three phases, each worth 90.

Weeks three, five and seven carry a forum worth 90 and an exam worth 60.

Week eight carries the Final Project Report, worth 90, and the fourth exam.

Short videos accompany each week, and an article is added in the last week.

BUSI 338 is taken around the New Venture Project, which starts in week one with a summary of the venture and grows in phases until the final report pulls it together.

The venture is agreed with you first. It can be an idea you have carried for years, a business you already run in a small way or a concept proposed by the writer, such as a mobile detailing service, a bookkeeping firm for churches or a specialty bakery.

The summary report sets out the opportunity, the customer, the value offered and the founder's plan. The phases then develop it in the order your section's instructions set, usually the market and marketing plan, the operations and legal structure, and the financial plan with startup costs, projections and funding.

The final report revises and integrates the phases into one coherent plan, answering any feedback from your professor.

Forums apply the chapters to small businesses students know, from family restaurants to online shops, and replies follow classmates' posts.

The four exams are yours.

Every item reaches you early enough to read and adjust any personal detail before you submit it.

The venture project is built week by week.

A BUSI 338 writer has owned a small business, worked as a small business banker or advised owners at a development center or accounting firm, usually with a business degree.

They write plans that would hold up at a bank: realistic customer counts, startup costs that include deposits, licenses and insurance, cash flow that shows the lean months.

Financial projections are checked by a second reviewer, along with every citation.

They know the legal and tax choices small owners face, from sole proprietorship to LLC, and explain them plainly.

No writer is told who you are.

If a concept confuses you before an exam, such as how a cash flow statement differs from an income statement, a plain example can be sent.

Forum prompts on faith and business ethics go to writers comfortable relating Scripture to ownership and work.

The first difficulty is starting fast. The project summary is due in week one, before most students have settled on an idea.

The second is the rhythm. A project phase falls in each even week and a 90-point forum and an exam in each odd week, so there is no light week.

The third is the financial phase. Students without accounting experience find startup budgets, sales forecasts and cash flow projections hard to build convincingly.

The fourth is consistency. Each phase must agree with the last, so a price chosen in the marketing phase has to carry into the financial phase.

The fifth is the final report, which needs real revision, not stapled-together phases.

The forums are worth more than most, 90 points each, and reward specific small business examples.

Exams test the chapters closely and leave little time to write.

Because the summary report is due in week one, the venture is best agreed before the course opens, and the summary and Forum 1 then arrive in the opening days.

Each phase arrives a few days before its even week closes, and each forum before its odd week opens, with replies drafted after classmates post.

The final report arrives about five days before week eight closes.

Your quote lists four forums, the summary, three phases and the final report. Exams never appear on it.

Mid-course starters are costed for what remains, after a look at the graded phases.

The project carries 400 points, so it is the part most often handed over first.

Students with a real business idea often keep the final plan as a working document.