KNOX ACADEMY

STANDARD GRADE
BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT

UNIT 2
STARTING YOUR
OWN BUSINESS

PUPIL BOOKLET Part

2
Name ………………………………………………………………………
Unit 2 Task Checklist (…continued)

Date
Task Description Compl
eted
16 Choose Your Business Name
17a Choose Your Business Location
(Multimap)
17b Describe Your Business Premises
18 Match the Mission Statements
19 Write Your Mission Statement (aims)
20 Who Will You Employ?
21 Equipment Required
22 Banks Behaving Badly
23 Cash Flow Forecast
24 Logo Design
25 Letterhead Design
26 Business Card Design
27 Website Features
28 What’s Wrong with the Website?
29 Website Creation
30 PSYBT
31 Business Plan

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Your Business
For the remainder of this unit you are going to be
able to be creative and use your own business
idea.

If you cannot think of a suitable business you

could use one of the following examples:

• Hairdressing
• Chauffeur Driven Limousine
• Mechanic
• Sandwich Shop

My chosen business is:

Have you checked with your teacher?

Name Your Business

It is important to have a good business name as Nick Jenkins (founder of
Moonpig.com) describes.

Memorable Brand
• Word of mouth
• Can’t misspell
• Represented in graphical format

Available on the Internet

• Check Nominet
• Different versions .com and .co.uk
• Unique name

Trademark
It wasn't that expensive to go for trademarking and it gave the name an
extra layer of protection.

"I employed a trade mark attorney and Moonpig is now a trade mark in the
UK and the USA. "It's such a small insurance premium. I think it's
critical as the brand name is the thing that customers really recognise."

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Points to help you decide on a name for your business
• Do you want the name to reflect what your business does -
framing, moving, cleaning, building? Include your own name?

• A traditional-sounding name, conveying durability and old-

fashioned values, or a modern name, suggesting a fresh,
innovative approach?

• If you're likely to be trading overseas, check that the name doesn't

mean anything inappropriate in the relevant languages.

• Think about callers and customers - avoid very long names,

strange wordings and unusual spelling.

• Are you focusing on the local market? – include Haddington

• Keep your trading name creative, but your corporate name

bland. This will give you the flexibility to develop other brands and
trading names in the future.

Sensitive Words
There are some words and expressions that you can't use in a business name
unless you have official permission.

Expression Example
Words that suggest your British, National, International, European
business is of national
importance
Association, Authority, Chartered,
Words that suggest a special
Council, Institute, Society
status
Charity, Insurance, Register, Trust
Words that suggest a particular
function
Health Centre
Words that suggest a
specialised activity
Words that suggest Parliament, Government, Royal,
connections with government Queen, Prince
or royalty

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TASK 16:

Check that name you are considering is not already used, or one that is
similar exists.

You could use www.yell.com and

www.companieshouse.gov.uk to check

You wouldn’t want your reputation damaged by another

company.

My chosen business name is:

Have you checked with your teacher?

Factors of Production
In Unit 1 you will have learned about the 4 factors of production.

Fill in the table below to refresh your memory.

In the boxes below enter some examples of each factor of production

that an entrepreneur who produces crisps would need.

Factor of Production Example

Land

Labour

Capital

Enterprise

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Locate Your Business
Location can be extremely important unless you are doing business via
phone and/or the Internet (e-commerce)

Some thoughts that you might like to consider are:

• Do you need to be near your customers?

o Are you near a bus stop/train station?
o If coming by car, can they park?

• Where are your competitors located?

• Usually, businesses like to be visible and accessible

• If you don’t rely on passing trade, location is less important

• If you run a business from home you must check the terms of your
deeds/lease first and ensure that your insurance covers you for
business use.

• Can you locate in a less expensive area to save on rent? If you

need premises in a prime location the extra costs may be justified.

TASK 17a:

Where would you like to locate your business?

Access Multimap.com and take a screen shot of the area that you
would like to locate in.

Paste this into Microsoft Word and identify

your nearest competitor with drawing tools.

Use the crop tool to select only the part of the image that you need.

TASK 17b:

Describe your premises in terms of size, facilities and whether you will
rent or buy. You will wish to word process this to use in your business
plan later. Place a copy in your folder.

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Your Mission Statement
A mission statement is a statement that defines the purpose of a
company – what it stands for i.e. what broad products or services it
intends to offer customers.

The mission statement also gives readers a window on the raison d’être
(the main purpose) of the company.

An effective mission statement should be concise enough for you to

describe your company’s purpose and ideals in less than 30 seconds.

Where would I see a Mission Statement?

Mission Statements typically appear in business plans or alternatively
will appear in the ‘Corporate Relations’ or ‘About us’ sections of
websites.

Mission Statement Guidelines

• A mission statement should say who your company is, what you do, what
you stand for and why you do it.

• The best mission statements tend to be 3-4 sentences long.

• Avoid saying how great you are, what great quality and what great service
you provide.

• Make sure you actually believe in your mission statement, if you don’t, it’s
a lie, and your customers will soon realise it.

TASK 18:
Match the following Mission Statements to these companies:

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“To provide our customers with
safe, good value, point-to-point
air services. To effect and to
offer a consistent and reliable
product and fares appealing to
leisure and business markets
on a range of European routes.
To achieve this we will develop
our people and establish lasting
relationships with our
suppliers.”

‘to organize the world’s

information and make it
universally accessible and
useful’.

“Establish (_______________) as
the premier purveyor of the
finest coffee in the world while
maintaining our
uncompromising principles
while we grow.”

“provide a global trading

platform where practically
anyone can trade practically
anything.“

“to build a place where people

can come to find and discover
anything they might want to
buy online.”

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TASK 19:

Write a Mission Statement for your company. Your will require this later in
the unit.

You may wish to word process your Mission Statement – place a copy in
your folder.

People in Your Business

What Skills and Qualifications do you have?

Which of the following skills do you have – when would they be useful in
your business? Complete the following table.

Communication (good at talking and writing to people)

Numeracy (good with figures)

IT (word processing, database, spreadsheet, desk-top publishing)

Subjects that I am studying this year

My local further education college

(and a course that would be useful for my business) –
access the Internet for this

Who will you need to employ?

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It is likely that you will need some support. Even as Sole Trader you can
employ others.

What skills and qualities will they need? In the Human Resources Unit you
will learn that Job Descriptions and Person Specifications are
required.

TASK 20:

Complete the table below showing job title; duties and skills required for
your employees and in addition their annual salary.

Annual Salary = rate per hour x hours per week x 52 weeks

eg £6 per hour for 35 hours a week = 6 x 35 = £210 per week

£210 x 52 = £10,920 (assume that holidays, sickness etc all covered in
this)

Job Title Duties Skills Salary

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Equipment Required in Your Business
TASK 21:

Make a list of all the equipment you will need to run your business and
write an approximate cost beside each.

Look up catalogues at home or use websites to assist you.

Item Purchased from Cost

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Financing Your Business
TASK 22:

Watch the video “Banks Behaving Badly” and jot down some notes
below for class discussion.

Businesses in the Private Sector aim to make a profit.

Break-even is the point before making a profit where “you make neither
a profit nor loss” in other words you cover all your costs.

As part of a business plan a Cash Flow Forecast must be prepared which

will show that you business is likely to succeed and make a profit.

What will your income be?

• This has to be a guess since you don’t really know how much you
will earn from selling your goods/service
o How much can you charge?
o Can you charge less than your competitors?
o Do you have something special and can charge more?
• Remember that businesses take a while to establish themselves
and may not have a high income at the start.

What are your expenses likely to be?

• Purchase of machinery
• Purchase of raw materials
• Insurance
• Electricity
• Telephone
• Rent
• Petrol

It is important to have more money coming in (income) than is

going

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 out (expenditure) otherwise your business will go bankrupt.

Cash Flow Forecast

• This shows money coming in and going out month by month

• It lets you see if there are times where your expenditure is likely to
be more than your income

• You may be able to arrange an overdraft (short term loan) with your
bank to cover these months

TASK 23:

Using a spreadsheet prepare a cash flow forecast using the

information above.

Your teacher will provide you with a template.

Be Creative: Get Yourself Known

• You will create a logo

• You may wish to create some business cards to hand out to
potential customers and a letterhead when writing letters
• You should also have an online presence

Logo Design

When it comes to seeing a logo that makes you wonder, “Why didn’t I
think of that?” what is it about the design that gives that impression?

There are five elements that can be seen in every iconic logo:

1. It’s describable
2. It’s memorable
3. It’s effective without colour
4. It’s scalable i.e. works when just an inch in size
5. It’s relevant to the industry in question

• If you can’t describe what a logo looks like then how will you be able
to remember it?
• The mark must work in black only.
• Remember what the logo will look like on office stationery (pens, pin
badges etc.) – all those little things that can easily be overlooked.
• You must differentiate yourself from closely associated competitors.

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Take the example of the Open University (the UK’s leading distance-
learning organisation.)

This is how the Open University logo appeared in the past:

TASK 24:

Design a logo for your business.

This may either be using a computer program of your choice or in ink on

paper (do not use pencil for your finished logo). If you draw your logo this
can be scanned in to be used on your website and business card.

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TASK 25:

You will send many letters out from your business and will require a
letterhead.

Create a letterhead which includes your business name, address and

logo.

You should use a word processing program for this. Make the top margin
0.5” and ensure that the letterhead only takes up the top section of the
page.

An example of the Knox Academy letterhead is shown below:

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Business Cards
Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company
or individual.

They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a

memory aid.

A business card typically includes the giver's name, company (usually with
a logo) and contact information such as street addresses, telephone
number, fax number, e-mail addresses and website.

Traditionally many cards were simple black text on white card; today a
professional business card will sometimes include one or more aspects of
striking visual design.

TASK 26:

Using a program such as Microsoft Publisher,

design a business card for your business.

Remember to include your logo from Task 23.

Your teacher will show you some business card examples

Website Design

TASK 27:

What makes a good website is the first place to start when designing a
website.

Using Amazon’s website (www.amazon.co.uk) list 10 features that you

think are useful and add to the usability of the site.

• •

• •

• •

• •

• •

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TASK 28:

Watch the video “What’s Wrong with the Website” and jot down
some notes below for class discussion.

Even if you were not intending to create a website for your business
immediately, you'll probably be using email and want to have a presence
on the web at some point in the future.

Choosing a domain name:

The website address – for example, mynewbusiness.co.uk - is known as a

domain name. For most businesses based in the UK, a name ending with
.co.uk is suitable. Your email address will normally include this name –
for example, enquiries@mynewbusiness.co.uk.

To reserve a domain name for your business, you need to register it

through an agent, who will charge a small annual fee. You should do this
as soon as possible - even if you're not going to use your domain name
straight away.

Registering your domain name:

• Decide on a suitable domain name for your website - if you

are unable to use one that exactly matches your business name.
You can use numbers as well as letters. Hyphens can be used to
separate words - but you can't include spaces, full stops or other
punctuation. It's a good idea to have a few alternative names in
case your first choice has already been taken.

• Check whether the name is available and register with

Nominet - the official registry for UK domain names.

TASK 29:

Create a simple website for your business including

contact details and the products/services that you provide.
Remember to include your logo, mission statement etc.

Your teacher will give you a login for the Edubuzz system, if you do not
already have access.

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Business Advice
When starting up a business it is a good idea to seek advice from others
who have experience of supporting people in business or have run
businesses themselves.

Some of the places that you can get business advice from are:
• Friends/family
• Your business partner
• Bank Manager
• Lawyers
• Accountants
• The local Council Planning Department
• The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust

TASK 30:

Watch the video on the PSYBT Website. It can be found in the ‘About
Us’ section of the website.

Jot down some notes below:

Business Plan
TASK 31:

You are now about to prepare a Business Plan based on

all the information that you have gathered in this unit.

You may prepare the Business Plan as a report (see

contents on next page) or as a PowerPoint presentation
to give to your Bank Manager.

The Business Plan shows that you have taken steps to reduce the risk of
the business enterprise and will possibly convince the Bank Manger to give
you a loan.

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 Business Plan Outline

General details • Its name

about the business • Its objectives
• Its proposed location
• Type of ownership (eg sole trader,
partnership or limited company)

Human resources • The key people in the business

• Their skills
• Their positions of authority and
responsibility
• Wages and salaries

The product or • What will be produced or provided

service • The quantity to be produced or
provided
• The price of the product or service
• Whether or not market research has
been done

The market • What market is being targeted ( eg

what age group – young or old)
• Size and potential growth of the
market
• Results of market research
• Intentions about advertising and
promotion

Premises and • Location of premises

equipment • Cost of premises and equipment
• Type of premises and equipment
• How much equipment is required
• Expected lifespan (eg ten-year
lease)

Profit estimates • Forecast of sales

• Costs and break-even point
• Projected timescale for profit-
making

Cash flow • Cash budgets for future period

• Expected income and expenditure
• Where income will come from
• How much of a loan or overdraft is
needed
• Where the initial funding will come
from – all from the owner(s) or

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 partially from a loan or grant

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 Business Plan Helpsheet

Your final Business Plan should contain:

1 Front cover, with your Business Name, logo and the

words ‘Business Plan’, presented attractively.

2 Contents page

3 Brief description of your business ie product or

service, target market

4 Your Mission Statement

5 The location of your business

6 Equipment

7 Staffing

8 Sources of finance, cash flow forecast

9 Letterhead/business card

10 Website details

Make sure your layout is consistent:

• same font

• use of footers

• line spacing

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