Take My Liberty BUSI 435 Class

Liberty's catalog calls BUSI 435 a practical study of the dynamics of establishing, funding and managing a small new enterprise, or acquiring an existing business, using case studies, practical exercises and class instruction.

Scarborough's chapters are read in four blocks, each studied one week and reviewed the next: chapters one to four in weeks one and two, five to seven in weeks three and four, eight to ten in weeks five and six, and eleven to thirteen in weeks seven and eight.

The first block covers the entrepreneurial mindset, ethics, turning ideas into reality and testing them with a feasibility analysis and a business model.

The second turns to the business plan itself, the forms of ownership and the choices of buying an existing business or a franchise.

The third covers marketing, e-commerce and pricing, and the last block covers the financial plan, cash flow and sources of funding.

A forum runs every week, a 50-point thread in the odd weeks and 50 points of replies in the even weeks, and a 75-point quiz closes each even week.

Beside the forums sits the venture: a proposal with no points in week one, two hand-offs to teammates in weeks two and five, and the two 150-point group submissions in weeks three and six.

BUSI 435 is carried around the group venture, because your individual portions feed the two graded group documents and the deadlines to your teammates come a week before Canvas's.

The proposal in week one sets out the business idea in a page or so, and once your group settles on its venture, every later piece works from it.

For the feasibility study, the slice your teammates hand you, whether market, product or money, is researched and written in time for their week-two merge.

The plan slice in week five works the same way, matching the headings of whatever section you draw.

Forum threads apply the week's chapters to a real small business or to your venture, and replies give classmates a specific suggestion about their idea.

Where a prompt asks for a biblical view, it is answered with care, often on stewardship, integrity and serving customers.

The quizzes are yours, and so are the group's decisions about the venture.

A BUSI 435 writer has started a small business, advised founders at a small business development center, or worked in small business lending, usually with an MBA or a degree in entrepreneurship.

That experience shows where student plans are usually weakest: realistic startup costs, a break-even point that makes sense, a cash flow forecast that survives the first slow month, and a marketing plan that names actual channels and costs.

They know Scarborough's frameworks, from feasibility testing to the business model canvas, and apply them the way a lender or investor would read them.

Each slice and post is checked by a second small business specialist.

Your name stays with the coordinator, and the writer never contacts your group.

If a quiz block is confusing, such as the difference between debt and equity financing, a short explanation can be sent.

Faith prompts are handled thoughtfully, connecting scripture to stewardship and honest dealing in business.

Group timing is the first difficulty. Individual portions are due to the group a week before the graded documents, so a late portion holds up everyone.

Feasibility is the second. Students often treat it as a sales pitch, when the analysis is meant to test whether the idea can work and may conclude that it needs changing.

Financial projections are the third. Startup costs, pricing, break-even and cash flow need numbers that hang together, and many students have never built them.

Market research is the fourth, because estimating the size of a local market and the competition takes real data rather than assumptions.

The weekly forum is the fifth, with a thread or replies every week worth 50 points each.

Even weeks pair forum replies with a 75-point quiz on a block of chapters.

Week six brings the 150-point Business Plan and a quiz together.

The first thread and the proposal are due in week one, so the class is best handed over before it opens.

Threads are ready two days before their odd-week deadlines, and replies follow classmates' posts in the even weeks.

Your individual portions reach you several days before the group's internal deadlines in weeks two and five, so the group has time to merge them.

The quote lists four threads, four reply sets, the proposal and your two individual portions; the quizzes never appear.

A student who joins in week three is quoted from the second thread and the business plan portion onward.

The business plan portion is usually the largest line, especially when it is the financial section.

Some students keep the forums and hand over only their portions of the group documents.