Ephrata Middle School Entrepreneur Day
Written by Landon – 8th Grade
On Wednesday, December 6th, Ephrata Middle School students learned all about “how to be an entrepreneur” on their half day.
Students at EMS were given all their half day to learn about Entrepreneurship. Community members were invited into classrooms to share their experience of being an entrepreneur, some tips, and guidance. Students from previous years were also invited back to EMS to share the projects they did a few years ago. Both previous students and community members answered questions given by students and teachers. During my science class, Sheldon McBee from Lancaster, came in and talked about his experience through college, finding a job and working at Universal Athletic Club. He is an executive Director at Universal Athletic Club in Lancaster. In college he played football and started his own business. He was a personal trainer and did well in his business, until he found out a ton of other people were doing the exact same thing as him and his business declined. Once he finished talking about his business failure, he began to tell us how he was invited to another company. Here are some of the questions he was asked: 1. Why do people not want to go to the gym? The problem is people may not want to go to the gym. Some reasons may include lack of motivation, people may not know what to do or it can make people uncomfortable. 2. Funding – how does your business manage funding? Money can come from multiple places. You may have various choices to make/borrow money to start a business. You could get a loan from a bank and pay back interest; you can hire an investor and invest your money, or you can sell part of your business for money. He also talked about marketing and steps of the process. (Social media, searches/tags, mailers, signs, etc.) 3. If other people are focused on fitness, how is your business going to stand out? Need to be nationally credited – trainer, 3-month certification course, Purchase insurance. Universal Athletic Club provides things that other gyms do not have. Those things include the ability to rain internationally, one of top one hundred gyms across the country, good customer service, great at finding what is best for you (as a customer) and they focus on people who are busy and do not have a suitable time limit to work out. He also explained parts of a successful business using a plane. Middle of plane = staff, location, and cost 1st wing = sales and marketing 2nd Wing = salesperson No wings? You will get nowhere with your business. Here are some key points hey pointed out about Universal: It cost three million dollars to build the gym. How did they afford it? They had enough money to build and start the business. You should learn how to negotiate with your clients to have a better business. Your business will prosper when you stand out and do something no one else is doing. Make the steps easy for someone to want your business or product. |