ENTREPRENEURSHIP/SMALL BUSINESS

Career Summary

About 10 million people in the U.S. work force, nationally, are self-employed. When an individual is self-employed as a business owner, he becomes his most important employee. One should be prepared to wear many hats, such as a store manager, a personnel manager, a salesperson, a purchaser and buyer, a shipper and receiver, a marketer, a bookkeeper, a janitor, a manual laborer, and a public relations worker. There are numerous issues that a prospective business owner must consider before committing to the small business ownership. Traditionally, the best business to be in is the one in which an entrepreneur is most skilled and interested. A future business owner has to develop a business plan, which will precisely define the parameters of the business, identify the objectives, and serve as a blueprint for the course of action. The proprietor must decide on the format of the business enterprise (corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship), tax status (e.g., should you opt for a Subchapter S status?), licensing requirements and other regulations. Other issues that need to be addressed include obtaining financing, charting a marketing strategy, engineering an advertising campaign, hiring qualified personnel, contacting suppliers, making manufacturing arrangements. It's crucial to candidly assess your own experience and skills and recognize your deficiencies. A coursework in Business Administration that covers the issues of Small Business ownership might be just the right solution in remedying those deficiencies.

Program Description

The GCC Certificate and Associate in Science Degree in Business Administration - Entrepreneurship/Small Business program are aimed directly at persons who expect to own or manage a small business or improve the profitability of their existing business enterprise. A combination of the Business Administration core curriculum and a cluster of specialty courses provides detailed instruction in such topics as starting and managing a small business, marketing methods, consumer psychology, advertising, budgeting, pricing, staffing, accounting principles and payroll accounting, capital acquisition, management styles, workplace morale, interpersonal communications, decision making. Students will learn how to develop business plans and operating strategies that take advantage of government and market-based resources available to entrepreneurs. The program offers an overview of the retail, wholesale, service, and manufacturing industries, the real-world process of establishing an import/export business and teaches comprehensive computer skills.

Students interested in pursuing a Bachelor's degree should meet with an academic and/or transfer counselor to discuss transfer requirements.

Key Skills and Characteristics

	Self-starter, with strong organizational, leadership skills, and initiative.
	Managerial ability and decisiveness.
	A desire to be autonomous and independent.
	A developed sense of creativity, innovation and drive.
	Willingness to take calculated risks.
	Ability to visualize a business and all its parts as a whole.
	A motivation to think primarily in terms of business growth and expansion rather than profit.
	The need to have financial security.

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