Welcome to Business and Enterprise Basics. Over the next 10 weeks you are going to design, cost, market, and pitch your own mini-business. Not a hypothetical one in a textbook, yours.

Before we dive in, pause for a moment and think:

• Name one shop, cafe, app, or service you have used in the last 48 hours.
• What problem did it solve for you? Hunger? Boredom? Getting somewhere? Looking smart for a night out?

Today is the kickoff. We'll look at what a business actually is, the three main shapes a business can take in Ireland, walk through the full 10-week journey so you know what is coming, and then capture your first goals and 3 early idea seeds.

This module is one continuous 10-week project. Every week you add one concrete page to your Mini Business Portfolio. By Lesson 10, your portfolio IS your business plan, and your pitch is the live presentation of a real idea you've carried all the way through.

By Lesson 10, your portfolio is your pitch.

One thing to settle today: how will you work?

Your teacher may want the class to work in pairs, in small teams of 3 to 4, or solo. The choice matters because your portfolio needs a stable owner for the next 10 weeks.

A business is any organisation that gives customers something they want (a product or a service) in exchange for money. Enterprise is the human side of that: the willingness to spot a problem and actually do something about it. You don't need to start a company to be enterprising, you just need to act on an opportunity.

In Ireland, almost every business you can name falls into one of three legal shapes. The shape affects who owns it, who is responsible if things go wrong, and how it pays tax.

Two more ideas worth naming before you start

Your Mini Business Portfolio is the running collection of weekly pages you'll build, starting today with your Action Plan. Each page is an inline form on the lesson, you type your answers and the platform saves them automatically. By Lesson 10 the portfolio IS your business plan.

You're going to read three short Irish business stories, one of each legal shape, and answer a few questions. The point is to see that the three shapes are not abstract textbook categories, they map onto real businesses you walk past on the way to school.

Time to put your stake in the ground. This is the first page of your Mini Business Portfolio: your 01_action_plan. You'll set 2 or 3 goals for the next 10 weeks and capture 3 early business ideas you (or your team) are curious about. These ideas are seeds for Lesson 3, when we'll pick ONE idea and lock it in.

Quick demo: how to sharpen a vague goal

A vague goal sounds like "I want to understand business" or "we want to do well." Those are wishes, not goals — there's no way to know whether you got there. To sharpen one, do three things:

1. Pick a deadline. "By Lesson 6" beats "eventually".
2. Pick a measurable signal. What would prove you'd done it? A number, a finished page, a successful pitch, a piece of customer feedback.
3. Write it as one sentence. Put the two together.

What a finished Action Plan looks like

Here's a snippet from a sample 01_action_plan for a fictional pair running a mini-business:

• Grouping: Pair (Aoife and Sean)
• Goal 1: By Lesson 5, have a clear value proposition we can both explain in one sentence.
• Goal 2: By Lesson 6, know our break-even number per week.
• Early idea seeds: hot chocolate stand at sports events, customised tote bags for the school musical, dog-walking service for the estate.

Yours doesn't have to be polished. The point is to get your starting goals and ideas on the page so we can return to them in Lesson 3.

Instructions

• Start with your grouping. On the first line of the goal field, write "Solo" or "Pair (your names)" or "Team of N (your names)". Then write your 2 or 3 sharpened goals underneath, using the rule above.
• Then fill the three idea slots with business ideas you're curious about. Don't filter yet, write down anything that has even half-caught your interest. Pick problems you've seen, gaps in your area, things you wish existed.
• Working solo? Just type your own answers as you go. Working in a pair or team? Decide together — one person types, but everyone contributes.
• The reflection at the bottom asks what you're nervous about. Be honest, this stays on your portfolio and you'll look back at it in Lesson 3 and again in Lesson 10.
• Running short on time? Prioritise one well-sharpened goal and three quick idea seeds over polish. You can come back and add a second or third goal later in the week.