Introduction
Financing helps small businesses grow into thriving corporations. In this lesson, students will search the Internet for the financing options available as they imagine they are small business owners.

Lesson Description Students will imagine they are small business owners and use information from the Entrepreneur Magazine Web site to learn about the financing resources for the small business owner that are accessible over the Internet. They can browse the site to collect information from several categories. Students will answer four questions and then use what they have learned to create home pages for their business's Web site. It will be used to inform potential investors of their businesses and financing needs.

Previous Knowledge Expected
entrepreneur: person who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business in order to gain profits.
stock: share of ownership in a corporation that entitles the buyer to a certain part of the future profits and assets of the corporation
capital: tools, equipment, and factories used in the production of goods and services; one of four factors of production

Applied Content Standards (from the National Council on Economic Education)
Standard 14: Entrepreneurs are people who take the risks of organizing productive resources to make goods and services. Profit is an important incentive that leads entrepreneurs to accept the risks of business failure.

Instructional Objectives
1. Students will be able to recognize the different methods of financing available to the small business owner.
2. Students will be able to understand how the small business owner can use the Internet to find information needed to make business decisions.
3. Students will be able to use this information to imagine they are entrepreneurs and create Web sites for their businesses, explaining their financial needs and attracting investors.

Student Web Activity Answers
1. A Web site gets information about the business to a large audience, some of whom may be in a position to help the small business owner.
2. The SBA's ACE-Net (Angel Capital Electronic Network) attempts to match entrepreneurs with "angel" investors. These investors are wealthy individuals who invest in high-growth companies, and provide funds for small business owners who have exhausted all other sources of financing.
3. The Internet can help business owners by providing articles on financing, by helping owners pinpoint what investors are looking for, by providing an E-mail connection to potential investors, and by providing an electronic means for sending a business plan.
4. Entrepreneurs must devise a business plan and a funding proposal in order to convince potential investors to risk money on their start-up. These documents need to be detailed and carefully written to demonstrate the entrepreneur has thought through all aspects of creating a small business.
5. Students' Web sites will vary but should include a description of their businesses, their reasons for needing money, their plans for growth, and their contact addresses.

Go To Student Web Activity