That's why, in our October 8 business class, we hosted two 12th grade-IB Business students from our school, Can T.&Can S., who came to let us have an idea about how to start a company, what are the liabilities and what should we do in order to succeed. When I was a 9th grader, I worked as an employee in the Public Relations Department of our school's first Junior Achievement company called "JADE" (Junior Achievement Developing Educations). As the members of JADE, we were very disciplined; we were attending every meeting on Thursdays, keeping meeting reports, brainstorming, discussing product ideas and performing events on special days. The same year, we attended the Junior Achievement global competition and gained two awards, which we were very proud of. It was a great experience for me to learn how businesses work and I decided to continue this "extra school". Therefore, in my sophomore year,
I decided to join JAGS (Junior Achievement Goods and Services), another Junior Achievement company in our school. To be honest, I found the working environment more intimate and was able to develop better ideas. That helped me understand how important it was to have a warm working atmosphere and how it contributed to your success. This year, on January, the founders of JAGS will announce me as the new CEO, and pass the company on me. I'm looking forward to it and hope to improve it as much as possible!
After telling about my company experience, I want to mention about our friday lesson. The guest students said "You can even start a company by planting tomato in your garden and selling them," adding that it doesn't continue as easy as it was in the beginning. They explained the founding process which took 1-2 months. Then they talked about the key points where we should pay attention to and warned us.
Their advices were:
-Every department should focus on their own area
-The employes and heads of the finance department should be taking business/economy lesson
-Every meeting should be recorded, keeping records is really important since they ask you to show them during the JA competitions.
-Companies may not stick with their foundation purposes
-You can donate your profit to the charity which also make your event a social responsibility project, save it for the following year or spend it for other company events.
-Think big!
-Don't worry, succeeding takes time!
-You should hire your employes by interviewing them and making them fill up forms
-You should make sure that you chose your employes not according to your relations but according to their skills
-It is better if there are less members in each department who are working more, rather than more members working less. More people=less profit, less people=more profit
-The things thought us in our Business Books are enough to win if applied correctly.
-You will learn about terms such as balance sheets, income statements, liabilities in the following business lessons and understand the concept better.
-Human relations are really important!
-Always make a signed contract with the people you are dealing with; there can be problems in the future.
-Everything, every mistake is an experience. Being a part of a company really helps!
The last 15 minutes, Mr.Sen told us to form groups and brainstorm about new business and product ideas, and we came up with some!
In conclusion, these advices, warnings and brainstorming really reduced my concerns and I thank them again for enlightening us!
I had no idea that JA was being done by students in earlier grades, starting in Grae 9. I thought they only participated in business started by students in Grade 11 last year.
ReplyDeleteThis post is a useful summary of the main tips that the two Cans gave their juniors.