Mercer College college students labored with small enterprise house owners to unravel real-world issues as a part of an entrepreneurship class final semester.
College students within the practicum labored as consulting groups tackling subjects akin to rebranding, digital advertising, operations administration, and market analysis and evaluation, mentioned Affiliate Professor of Administration Dr. Marko Horn, who taught the category within the College of Enterprise.
The practicum, which is simply provided within the fall, permits college students majoring or minoring in entrepreneurship to use ideas they’ve realized within the classroom to a real-life setting. This sort of expertise will repay after commencement, Dr. Horn mentioned.
“Experiential studying will assist the scholars as soon as they graduate to set themselves aside within the labor market,” he mentioned. “There can be a number of college students that come out of school with good GPAs, however they don’t have a complete lot of sensible expertise, and that’s one thing {that a} future employer is de facto going to search for.”
Firstly of the autumn 2022 semester, small enterprise house owners visited the category to share what downside they wished assist with. Working in groups, college students chosen a enterprise to work with, wrote a proposal, had the enterprise log out on it after which carried out their plans.
“I wish to personal a enterprise, and I really feel like all of the issues that I did are crucial when desirous about beginning a enterprise,” mentioned Joseph Felker, a senior double-majoring in advertising and administration.
Felker labored with Macon-based Fall Line Brewing Co., which is owned by Mercer alumna Kaitlynn Kressin. His group was charged with analyzing Fall Line’s operations and prices and serving to it discover methods to maintain clients there, akin to providing appetizers that folks can share.
The group went to 24 eating places and microbreweries in Macon, noting menu gadgets, costs, seating capability and foot site visitors, which was compiled into an trade evaluation. The scholars additionally noticed Fall Line’s personal processes, reporting on how lengthy every course of took, the price of uncooked supplies, and the way a lot it price to make gadgets on the restaurant’s menu, Felker mentioned.
“I actually favored the hands-on facet, with the ability to do what I’ve realized for the final three years and apply it in an precise state of affairs,” he mentioned.
Kyla Watson, a junior majoring in entrepreneurship, labored with Macon graphic designer and artist Erin Hawkins on advertising her enterprise, Mama Hawk Attracts.
“We created a social media advertising marketing campaign, we deliberate a couple of pop-up outlets for her, and we additionally created a survey for her shoppers to fill out, so we may study extra about her goal market,” Watson mentioned.
She mentioned she loved the nontraditional class format that allowed her to use data realized at school. Her group wrote a case examine on the work it did for Mama Hawk Attracts and can current it on the Southeast Case Analysis Affiliation (SECRA) convention in February.
“They introduced lots to the desk,” Hawkins mentioned concerning the college students. “They’d loads of conventional advertising info, and since I didn’t main in advertising, they introduced issues to my consideration that I wasn’t conscious of.”
Hawkins shared the survey college students created on the Mama Hawk Attracts Instagram account, and he or she plans on utilizing what she realized from it in her advertising efforts this 12 months. The scholars additionally helped Hawkins rebrand 478 Creatives (previously Inventive Conversations), a collaborative group she co-founded.
“They helped us arrange some new techniques that may assist legitimize our group if we wish to take it to the following degree of a nonprofit or LLC,” Hawkins mentioned. “In addition they arrange an Instagram profile and helped make e-mail templates to make it simpler for us to speak with these within the group and potential folks becoming a member of the group.”
The practicum allowed Shawn Walker, an entrepreneurship main, to work on his personal enterprise, Pritown Child Leisure. Walker graduated in December and is now pursuing a Grasp of Enterprise Administration at Mercer.
He began Pritown Child Leisure in 2020 as a advertising and administration label for artists. The category motivated him to take his enterprise critically and get issues carried out, he mentioned. This included registering as an LLC, operating ads, acting at a dwell occasion, developing with clothes concepts and dealing on TikTok content material.
“We needed to make an inventory of deliverables that we have been going to do all through the interval of the category, and it helped me get lots carried out,” Walker mentioned.
