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Year 9 Commerce Business Reflections
On the 20th of August 2014, all of Year Nine Commerce class set out to run a business. The Year Nine Commerce class was to create a store that was innovative and creative and buy the products to sell and run the business all on our own then give all profits to a charity. There were all sorts of different businesses from Asian food to ice cream. My stall was a lollie shop called Lachlan’s Lollies, I sold a wide range of lollies and all sorts of jellies. Along my journey of running my store I ran into a few issues such as thieves. I also had to lower the price of my jellies to $1 from $2 because all my lollies were selling out but my jellies weren’t. After I did this, the Jellies sold out in no time. Overall I feel that running a business was a great experience and it taught me the time and preparation that must go into a business before hand. Overall my business ran very well and made a lot more money than I anticipated.
Lachlan Robertson
This week, the Year 9-Commerce class got an opportunity to feel what it is like to be a sole trader. I ran my business on the 16th and 17th of August and I sold wedges. Everyone else in the class chose to run their businesses at school but I was the only one to open it outside of school. Nevertheless, we all faced similar challenges on the path of entrepreneurship.
The benefits of running the business outside of school included having my parents there to help me and there was no time limit or rush to get everything set up and then packed away. The difficulties I faced were that at the time I realised I had forgotten some things. There was also no smooth flow; at times, there were lots of people waiting to order but at other times, it got very quiet.
Overall, I achieved my goals. I didn’t make a loss and made the profit I had wished for. My profit is going to the Leukemia Foundation. The business went smoothly as there were no major complications. I also had a few people telling me that they liked the business name, as I had hoped for. Most of the wedges sold out early on Saturday as there were a lot of customers but I went back on Sunday to sell the remaining to achieve my financial goal.
The one thing I would change if I were to do it again, would be to be more prepared with the equipment. The layout of the stall didn’t go to plan because I didn’t think it all through at the beginning. However, I am content with the outcome and the money is going towards a good cause.
Jasleen Atwal
The business was a lot more successful than I deemed it to be; but then again, the preparation on the day of the business was also more challenging than I expected. The main problem I had was figuring a way of heating up as well as keeping the food warm before high school lunch started.
I initially planned to cook and reheat all the food in a wok. However, my family kept strongly insisting me to use another heating method for my food. Tension climaxed on the actual day of my business, sending many last-minute formal email requests two hours prior to lunch. I began panicking and thoughts of failure and disaster raced through my head; I thought I couldn’t keep up with it all anymore. Despite the copious amounts of pressure I undergone through the double period of commerce, my ultimate objective was to keep track and organised of the preparations for my business.
With the combination of luck and organisational skills, it turned out that I could use the oven from the canteen to heat up my food in time. My friend, Kelly, could assist frying the dumplings for me and I also received support from many of my beloved commerce students. My business was thriving by the start of lunch, a large crowd already gathering around my stall and it only began fading out after the halftime bell. I sold out almost everything and I’m glad to say that I will donate $146 to Retina Australia.
Joey Huang
On Wednesday the 20th of August, the year 9 Commerce students ran their businesses. For the students at Macquarie College, it was a fun day to buy lots of food and have fun, but for the commerce students it was stressful, chaotic and very challenging.
Before the businesses begun running, every one of us was in a rush to decorate, set up, start cooking, double check that everything was in place and make our stalls look perfect. Lugging desks and chairs from the demountables to the COLA is no easy task. We were all completely busy doing what we needed to do. For instance: cooking chinese food, salting chips, melting chocolate, arranging cupcakes and finding power sources. Even though we all had our own responsibilities and things to do, we all found time to help each other to get things rolling. The stress was high but the teamwork was high as well.
By the end of 5th period, the COLA had 12 colourful stalls lining it, and the customers wasted no time to come and get what they wanted. Some selling in under 5 minutes, some in 20 and some none at all, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter. Donating the profit we made was important, but who got the most money wasn’t.
We all had fun running our businesses that day, and we all walked away with semi-stressful smiles from ear to ear. I think we’re all a little relieved that it’s over, but we all had a great time and wouldn’t change one thing about the day.
Lauren Hose