Name: The Core of a Business - Key Activities & Resources: Crash Course Business Entrepreneurship #8
Uploaded: 2020-03-30T02:43:49.000Z
Duration: 10 min 2 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of manner

What are we actually supposed to do all day?

When someone says they're “studying business” or they “work in business,” they could

They could be in marketing, sales, finance or human resources.

So much goes into keeping a company running smoothly.

As entrepreneurs, we probably stumbled into business -- we were passionate about an idea

or saw a problem we wanted to solve that developed into a business.

Or maybe our side hustle got so big it turned into our main hustle.

So here's a secret: as entrepreneurs, we have to do all those business-y jobs.

Yes marketing, yes sales, yes finance, yes HR.

You may be concocting the perfect blend of spices for artisanal pickles, but you still

You may love being outside planting flowers and sculpting shrubs, but you still have to

You may draw a daily webcomic, but you still have to make sure the tech is running smoothly

But to help us prioritize, we need to figure out what tasks we need to do to deliver value

to our customers -- called key activities -- and what stuff we need to get it all done

I'm Anna Akana, and this is Crash Course Business: Entrepreneurship.

Our idea is the core of our business, but so much more goes into operating a business

In our value proposition, we wrote down why customers should choose us over the competition

-- our competitive advantage, if you will.

All of the tasks we absolutely need to do to keep our business going and maintain that

competitive advantage are what we call our key activities.

So yeah, if you teach ukulele lessons, playing the ukulele is one of your key activities.

But let's not forget about all the less sexy stuff that you -- or your staff if you

Maybe it's putting up flyers advertising your fun music curriculum.

Maybe it's making and posting how-to videos on YouTube.

Maybe it's offering free trial lessons at the public library.

Or maybe it's just driving from client to client.

Or biking, scooting, unicycling... you do you.

For IKEA, they need to design new 1000-piece puzzles -- I mean… furniture -- that people

But they also need to source materials that are high quality but low cost to keep prices

keep their stores stocked, manage any shipments, maintain their website, and update social

media to show off those meatballs and communicate with customers.

When we're just getting started, figuring out what's essential to our business keeps

us focused, helps us develop strategies to make better decisions down the road, and potentially

saves us a lot of time and money fixing a big mistake.

And I don't mean a “found 20 bucks in your pants pocket” surprise, but “the

website went down and customers can't make orders” surprise.

Not to mention, I just feel wayyy more confident when I'm well prepared.

For me, one of my key activities is writing.

YouTube videos, TV pilots, songs, books -- I do a lot of writing!

But when I put that down on my business plan outline, like the Business Model Canvas in

the Key Activities section, I'm not going to spell out exactly how long I'm going

to write each day or get into specific word counts.

Think big picture to start and keep it simple.

You don't need every logistical piece entirely mapped out!

And remember, we're focusing on the activities that are absolutely crucial to delivering

If I listed out every single thing I do in a day, we'd be here for a while.

So I'm not going to put down “feed cats,” even though they might be hungry, because

that's not directly helping me deliver value to my audience.

To really make sure we've covered our bases when making a list of key activities, we can

One, if you have a product, what are the necessary steps to produce it?

Two, if you have a service, what are you offering customers and what do you have to do in order

Three, how are you sharing updates and information with customers, or how are they getting your

Four, what's most important to creating revenue?

And finally, what activities do you find yourself doing every day?

So we do amazing things that provide value for our customers, but all that doing usually

In business speak, the stuff we need to accomplish our key activities are known as our key resources.

If we don't outline our key resources, we might get caught unprepared or not be able

Knowing /what/ is just as important as knowing how!

If you're selling merch online, what online store system are you going to use?

Will you need software to record the sales so you're ready for tax season?

Will you need storage for the merch in your basement?

Will you need shipping materials to send packages?

Will you need employees to help you operate all of this?

There's a lot to consider, so let's break key resources up into four loose categories.

***First, there are physical resources for business activities like manufacturing equipment,

buildings for employees, warehouses to make and store products, vehicles, cash registers

or credit card machines, and distribution networks.

For example, Amazon relies heavily on their warehouses -- both for data storage and product

They also need all the equipment to create their original products, the buildings that