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Homework

Forum Activity #1:
    You live on a busy street and there is a lot of garbage on the roadside. Neither you or any of your neighbors likes the way it looks.  How could you examine this problem and create 3 different solutions that allows you to make a profit? 
    After you’ve made your list of ways to solve this, go to the forum and post your answers and see what others thought up as well!

Personal Reflection #1:
    In this lesson we talked about different kinds of businesses.  We discussed product businesses where you make or build something and also product businesses where you buy something and re-sell it.  We also discussed service businesses and platform businesses. Out of all of these types of businesses, which type would you be most interested in trying to start?  What would be some of the advantages of this type of business over the others? How would this type of business fit your personality and the way God has gifted you? Write some of your thoughts in your class notebook.

Exploring Scripture #1:
    How do you feel about risk?  Are you a person who naturally wants things planned and predictable?  Or, do you thrive on uncertainty and are a person who is willing to accept a risk if it means you might be blessed with a substantial reward?  Both types of personalities can fall into dangers: either fear that can paralyze or arrogance and self-sufficiency. Read James 4:13-16 and Matthew 25:14-30.  Whether you are a person who is prone more toward fear or toward self-sufficiency, these passages have some valuable lessons to teach us. Write in your class notebook about how these passages challenge you, both in your life in general and also in ways that might come into play with entrepreneurship.

Hands-On #1:
    During this course, we are going to encourage you to go out and start your own business.  You should create a section in your class notebook called “Business Ideas” (do this now).   In many of the lessons we’ll give you information that will help you focus in on what type of business you’d like to try and start and encourage you to think of some practical ideas.  Read through the 40 Business Ideas List page in our website. There are a lot of good ideas here. Choose 3 of the ideas that stand out the most to you from this list and write them in your class notebook.  Now, try to add at least 1 more idea of a business you could try and start that isn’t on the list. This should be an idea you come up with on your own. It could be related to one of the other ideas on the list, or a brand-new idea.

Additional Materials & Homework for Advanced Students

Reading #1:
    Read the following article: What Kind of Business Do You Want: Service vs Product-Based Business.  This quick article gives you a good overview of some of the advantages and limitations of product vs service businesses. The ability to scale is important.

Reading #2:
    Read the following article: Dissecting Amazon’s Platform Play.  This is an interesting article detailing how Amazon started as a product based business (also referred to as a pipeline business) selling books but has steadily transformed itself into a platform business.

Video #1:
    Watch this video The Design of the Platform Business.  This gives a helpful overview of the platform business model.

Forum Activity #2:
    After reading the article about Amazon’s transition from a product based business to a platform, what other examples can you think of like this where a company started as a product business but has moved or is moving toward being a platform business?  Go to the forum and post your answer there and comment on other’s posts.