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If you're like me, when someone first told me about DECA's School-based Enterprises (SBE) Program I felt overwhelmed. I was a fairly new teacher, at a brand new school, starting the school's first school store. I had no idea where to begin. I decided to let my students make the decision on the direction they wanted the business to head. We previewed DECA's SBE certification requirements together and realized it was the perfect outline of a small business plan in one neat package. So, with DECA's help, my group of eight students started our school's first entrepreneurial business called Titans Corner. The result was Gold certification our first year and re-certification every year since. Here is some advice that made this process a much more efficient one for us.

Your Business Plan - The SBE Document

• Use the SBE certification requirements as the business plan for your school-based enterprise.
• Each requirement sets the foundation for your business in small steps.
• The requirements help your students think through what an SBE should be accomplishing.
• The document is a complete set of goals that will help your business achieve Gold level easily.

The Written Report - A Team Effort

• Utilize groups of your students to divide and conquer the document.
• I currently utilize my Advanced Marketing class as the team who writes the document, rather than one to three individual students.
• Each team of two to three students takes on one section of the certification requirements and insures that all goals are met within the business and that pictures are provided for the document.
• Each team member is also part of the staff that manages and works in the store so they are very familiar with what needs to happen for a successful operation and documentation of each goal.

Putting the Pieces Together - Some Assembly Required

• Once each team has documented their section, they are required to provide an electronic copy to the SBE Document Assembly Team (one to two students).
• I suggest having each team set standardized fonts, headings, and margins for each of their documents. This makes for an easy assembly of all parts of the final document.
• Finalize the document by asking each team to proofread their sections and suggest edits.
• Once your Document Assembly Team has made the final edits your SBE is ready to GO FOR GOLD!

Your SBE will be unique to your school and marketing program. My final advice is to allow your students to take ownership of the process and treat this marketing lab like a real business. By providing your students with this type of hands on experience, they are sure to gain skills beyond what you can teach in the classroom. This will lead to success in DECA competition and their future endeavors. 

Sandi Tucker has been teaching Marketing Education in Virginia for 14 years and opened Titans Corner in 2003. 

Help us make the School-based Enterprises Program even more valuable for your students! Tell us more about how we can use online sharing, improved website functionality, and community features to enrich this program - in ways that you'll really find useful! 

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