👩‍🏫 Teacher’s Guide

Objective
Students will understand competition and learn how to compare businesses in the market.

Teaching Notes

• Show students how competitors can teach you what customers like.
• Explain that competition can lead to better choices for customers.

🧒 Student Worksheet

Concept and Helping Material

This lesson helps you understand Sussing out your competition and the steps needed to begin a business.

Vocabulary and Definition

• — A person who starts and runs a business.
• — A plan for a product or service you could sell.
• — The group of customers who might buy something.
• — Other businesses selling similar products or services.
• — Money needed to begin a business.

Business QA

1. Why might someone want to start a business?
2. What is an entrepreneur?
3. What is a business idea?
4. Why is it good to choose a problem to solve?
5. What is a market?
6. Why should you think about customers first?
7. What is competition?
8. Why is competition important to study?
9. What is a startup cost?
10. Name one example of a startup cost.
11. What does it mean to test an idea?
12. How can you test a business idea easily?
13. Why do businesses need a plan?
14. What is a target customer?
15. Why do businesses need money to start?
16. What is one way to raise money?
17. What does profit mean?
18. Why is pricing important?
19. How can you stand out from competitors?
20. What is one safe first step to start a business?

Hands-On Experiment or Activities

What You Need: paper, markers, pretend money, idea cards.
What You Do: 1) Write 3 business ideas. 2) Ask classmates which idea they would buy. 3) Count votes and improve the best idea.
Think and Talk: What changed? What stayed the same?

Reflection

• What is one business idea you could start small?
• Why is testing an idea important?
• How can competition help your business idea?
• What is one startup cost you might need?