Some Advice on handling a business

[Long,Jeran]

My name is Jeran Long and I am 15 years old. In my school we have an entrepreneurship class and in that class we create a simulation company, I got elected president even though I'm one year younger than everybody else. The problem I have is 1. That no one listens to me and 2. That they don't listen to reason. To reach our BEP (break even point) we must produce 262 products in 7 weeks. We can hardly even reach 16 products per week. I voted to change the price so that our actual BEP was less than 262.However no one voted with me, it is impossible for us to possibly finish the way we are going and every one (except me) seems fine with it. Now one of the problems with the BEP is that the original designers of the product grossly underestimated the cost ot produce it. They had initially said that it cost 0.40 dollars to make one and now we find out that it actually costs 2.03 dollars. I'm worried that if I can't handle a small problem like this I might not be able to actually manage a company. Normally if they proposed an idea like this in a real company they would be fired, however since this is a course I can not fire anyone, just remove their pay/demote them, also this is supposed to be a team effort after all it's our company not my company. Any ideas?

[DavidJEastman]

Well, first, don't worry about this one project showing you won't cut it in the real world. It's just a simulation with its own unique challenges that make it quite different than a real business situation. The point is simply to get a 'feel' for the responsibility involved, which I can see you already are getting!

Second, if you show your colleagues how your plan is in their best interests (better grades, etc.?) it shouldn't be too tough to convince them. If their grade is not dependent on the performance of the company (like some corporate execs nowadays!) then it will indeed be a challenge!

The best thing about this experience is that it shows you're conscientious about the challenge and want to improve the situation, which is a vital part of the right business attitude and one that is quite rare. Sometimes, all you really need to do is show up where others decline!

Good luck! You're doing fine.

[Gaulkin]

First, in a real company your the boss and what you say goes. If they dont like it then they can kiss your ass. Second in real life your taking advice from people that have been there and done that, not little kids. Don't worry about this showing you whether your worthy or not to run a business.

[PhilFreecash]

It seems like you are on the right mind track. Its unfortunate that your in a entrepreneurship class and know one else wants to challenge them selfs. Assign each person a task and if they screw around and don't listen, let the teacher know you are doing your best effort so he/she knows the situation.

[warrensway]

You are 15 this is great! BEP is very important. I took a Managerial accounting class that had a lot of in depth analysis on this and it changed the way I have run some of my companies. You are looking at this problem correctly. Also you may want to change your project.