The Liebowitz Entrepreneur Program (Business 97.5) is the first entrepreneurial program at Brooklyn College that allows students to learn the skills of an entrepreneur through hands-on eperience at the Brooklyn College Boutique, right on campus. The course combines hands-on experience with classroom learning. Within the class curriculum, various facets of entrepreneurship are explored. Students receive a $500 stipend, three college credits and have an opportunity to earn another $1,000 as the Entrepreneur of the Semester. Some of the things we will be learning include: - Types of businesses (retail, wholesale, and service) - How to choose a business that best suits your interests, knowledge, & abilities - Identifying a need for a product or service or retail outlet - Choosing the right name for both your business and, if applicable your product or service (one business entity may produce various products or services, which may be made more attractive through their names) - Creating a business plan - Funding your new business through grants, loans, or stock shares - Requisite governmental forms and registrations--what they are, where to obtain them, how to fill them out, where and how to file them - How to hire and manage employees - The 10 biggest mistakes that new entrepreneurs make - Whether and when to sell your successful business The class will meet fourteen times per semester, always on a Wednesday. On the seven lecture dates throughout the semester we meet at 12:50pm-1:50pm in room 406 Whitehead. Exact dates for the lectures will be announced at the beginning of each semester. On campus selling days, you can choose to work either of the two shifts, which are 10am-1pm or 1pm-4pm. The students' times will be decided later in the semester. There will be two field trips to Manhattan to buy merchandise. We will meet from 10 am to 12 noon, the location to be determined at a later date.

Some of these skills the course focuses on include
• merchandising
• marketing / sales
• accounting.

In addition to actual hands-on experience, students take part in instruction and discussion on these topics in a classroom setting.

Besides working in the retail store, the students and instructor go on various field trips to learn how to buy wholesale, how to check out the competition, and how to best market the student store's products. We discuss current and new business opportunities that we read about in newspapers and magazines and on the internet. We also discuss other topics that the students find relevant and interesting. This is an interactive class, and all questions are encouraged.

Here are some of the topics that this class explores:

1. Merchandising:
A past semester focused on fashion accessories, such as jewelry, hair goods, and small leather items. Future semesters may focus on other types of merchandise. A buying trip to Manhattan gives students a chance to learn the art of buying wholesale and negotiating the best prices for the merchandise. We also look closely at the competition to see what they are selling. Thus far we have used such online resources as www.claires.com and www.forever21.com to see what styles are current. Similarly, we have researched weekly tabloids like In Touch, Star, and US Weekly to see what accessories the celebrities were wearing. Future semesters may use different internet and/or hardcopy resources, depending on the type of merchandise we are studying and what the most relevant publications and web resources are at the time.

2. Selling and interpersonal skills:
This course is designed to significantly improve students' communication skills as they apply in talking to customers. Students learn how to persuade and how to advise customers on their purchases. There is quite a lot of dialogue between salespeople and buyers. Many students who were once introverts find themselves more outgoing and better able to speak more freely with other people. The intended direct result is that students become better skilled at communication and persuasiveness as these skills apply to in-store selling. But a wonderful side benefit is that, as a result, many students notice improved self-esteem and confidence.

3. Marketing:
Marketing comprises a crucial skillset for an entrepreneur. Marketing skills we teach include performing a market analysis, preparing a marketing strategy, and more. The market analysis we perform in this course includes identifying target markets and areas where students (the primary customers of our on-campus retail enterprise) congregate on campus. We test different high-profile locations on campus to compare results. We also prepare a marketing strategy that includes both traditional and new-era approaches to sales. Media and methods include Internet and viral promotions (FaceBook/MySpace), advertising, PR, networking with other departments on campus, community-building, customer service, and other marketing channels and tools. Participants develop a plan to implement marketing strategy, including benchmarks to gauge results. We employ proven and quantifiable marketing techniques such as flyers, raffles, press releases for the school newspaper, special discounts for employees, and holiday sales.

4. Display of the merchandise:
It is very important to display the merchandise in a way that appeals to the customer and encourages sales. This includes the use of creative signage, artistic arrangement, and design. We encourage creativity, non-traditional as well as traditional methods of selling, and having fun while working. Retail sales is an interactive process, and dealing with people is "serious fun."

5. Accounting and bookkeeping skills:
Any business, retail or otherwise, demands a certain amount of knowledge of bookkeeping skills on the part of the owner. A small business, in which the owner wears many hats (or possibly even all of them!), requires an even greater amount of bookkeeping. And retail requires daily bookkeeping. After each selling day we reconcile the cash receipts journal to the actual cash to see that it matches up. We take inventory after each selling day to see what merchandise is selling best and what we need to buy more of, as well as what changes we need to make on future purchasing excursions.

6. Planning strategies:
Following on with the thought mentioned in # 5, above, regarding inventory and planning, we also discuss planning ahead to anticipate seasonal and other special selling variances from the usual pattern. This enable us to have ample merchandise, and appropriate merchandise, on hand, as well as being prepared in other ways, such as signage, appropriately targeted advertising, and staffing.

7. Weekly meetings:
This course offers a mix of practical hands-on experience with classroom learning. Students sell on campus, write ads, take field trips, and do other activities that show entrepreneurial skills far better than simply "telling." Yet we recognize the need for instruction in a classroom setting as well, and there is ample time set aside for in-class discussions. These combine instruction, sharing of opinions and experiences, Q&A sessions, and business meetings. In these meetings we discuss the prior week's activity, sales, merchandising, and new marketing ideas for our on-campus retail venture. Students are asked to prepare suggestions for making our business more profitable.

Another unique aspect of this course is that we encourage students to bring in their own business opportunities that they or a family member are engaged in. The instructors help the students develop new ideas for these businesses.