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Math 5: Researching Business Needs
11 Views

Want to start your own business one day? Then this video is a must-watch. If you're just planning to keep working at Wendy's forever, then move along.

Math 5: What is Profit?
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If you know your earnings, and you know how much you've spent, how do you calculate your profit? That's right - you hire an accountant. (Or, if you...

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Math 5: Researching Business Needs 11 Views


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Description:

Want to start your own business one day? Then this video is a must-watch. If you're just planning to keep working at Wendy's forever, then move along.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:13

Ah, the wonderful world of business...full of big-time deals, money making, and… [Business people shaking hands]

00:18

… really, really boring meetings. [People asleep in a meeting]

00:20

Seriously, bring something to doodle on…

00:22

Okay, but besides the meetings, the whole "starting a business" thing probably seems

00:26

pretty exciting!

00:27

But before you give it a whirl, it's important to do some research about the needs of a business. [Guy studying about businesses]

00:32

Dive in too quickly, and you might land in a whole pile of unexpected costs. [Man falls over]

00:36

And spoiler alert: it's no fun to swim around in a pool full of bills. [Man sinking in pool of bills]

00:40

No matter what kind of business you're running, there are all sorts of basic needs that need

00:44

to be met, like…rent.

00:45

Whether your business requires a big factory… [Picture of a factory]

00:47

…or a tiny shop, there's going to be some physical space where your business will thrive. [An ice cream stand]

00:52

The library might be a great, free place to study, but you'd have a tough time running

00:55

a business there.

00:56

Especially if you happen to manufacture industrial equipment. [Guy running a production line in the library is told to be quiet]

01:00

Librarians aren't wild about talking, and they like loud, metallic squealing even less.

01:05

You'll also need to cover salaries.

01:06

A thriving business will have lots of moving parts, and will require lots of different [Workers in a factory]

01:11

people to cover all those different tasks.

01:13

And at the end of the day, they'll definitely want to get paid.

01:15

Smiles and gratitude are nice, but they don't pay for groceries. [Man trying to get groceries for free by smiling]

01:18

…Or…maybe they will.

01:20

Huh.

01:21

Honestly, we've never tried…

01:22

Businesses also have to advertise.

01:24

Whether you invest in posters, billboards, or TV ads, advertising's vital if you want [Cars driving past a billboard]

01:28

to get the word out about your business.

01:30

If your business is a secret that you lock away in your diary, that might mean you're ['Super secret diary' is closed]

01:34

a great secret keeper, but you probably won't make a cent. [The diary is stamped priceless]

01:37

If your business produces goods, you'll have to research what it takes to make those goods: [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

01:41

what supplies you'll need, how much of those supplies you'll need, and how much these supplies

01:46

cost.

01:47

So if you want to make butter, it's not just enough to know that you'll need cream. [Woman carrying lots of cream]

01:51

You'll also need to know how much cream you'll need…

01:53

…and how much that'll cost.

01:55

And don't be too surprised if it costs a bit more than your weekly groceries.

01:59

For businesses that produce goods, it's also important to be aware of unit price, aka, [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

02:04

the price of an item per a particular unit, like liters or kilograms.

02:08

So all those butter makers out there need to do some research to find out who offers [Person sits down behind a computer]

02:12

cream for the lowest price per liter, because saving one cent per liter could mean

02:16

saving big bucks.

02:18

And don't worry: you won't have to wrangle all of those extra pennies. [Piles of pennies]

02:21

That's a job for a banker.

02:22

If your business doesn't produce goods, but instead offers a service, you'll need to research [Guy looking for service industry books in the library]

02:26

all the things that go into offering that service.

02:29

For example, a company that operates a bus service doesn't need to make their own buses…

02:33

…but they do need to rent or buy buses, and maintain and clean them.

02:37

But we've seen the messes that get left after a long bus trip…they might just want to [A bus on fire]

02:41

burn the whole thing to the ground. [Guy dancing in front of the bus]

02:43

So whatever kind of business you're looking to run, you'll need to do a lot of research,

02:47

comparing info from different official-looking websites to be sure that your numbers are

02:50

accurate.

02:51

Because if all your info about unit prices comes from Joel's Best Guesses Dot Com, our [Man walks away from the computer]

02:56

best guess is that you might find yourself with a bit less money than you thought you'd [Joel is punched in the face]

03:00

have…

03:01

Sorry, Joel.

03:02

We're sure you try really hard.

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