Howley and Eckman emphasize that "successful business startups can offer a lot to a community, but the real point is educational" (p. 56). The first goal of student entrepreneurship is always learning; the program, then, must be integrated into the school’s ongoing curriculum. Entrepreneurship is well suited to interdisciplinary approaches; students must draw on mathematical and literacy skills as well as more specialized vocational or business-oriented understandings.

Classroom instruction, especially at higher grade levels will need to address specific elements of business planning and operation. These include:

• market research (considering the community’s business needs),
• student self-assessment (identifying personal skills and resources that contribute to the likelihood of a business’s success or failure),
• development of business plans (laying out goals, strategies, resource needs, costs, and timelines),
• management of production or services (creating the product or providing services on schedule, within budget, and with good quality),
• marketing (creating awareness and building demand for the product or service), and
• administration (keeping records, keeping the operation running smoothly, managing income and expenses).

Some enterprises may require start-up funds in order to purchase raw materials or initial inventory. There are a variety of strategies for raising such funds, including small grants, contributions, fundraising events, or investments by community members.

As with service learning approaches described in the last issue of Benefits², the teacher’s role in entrepreneurial education changes substantially from the more traditional function of "sage on the stage." Teachers must function more as facilitators, structuring the environment so that students can productively explore and test their own ideas, nurturing students’ self-development rather than leading them to a preconceived outcome. As is usually the case with real-world, hands-on experiences, learning through entrepreneurship is less tidy than traditional instruction, conceptually as well as literally. Students work in groups, conferring, debating ideas and issues; ideas spill over from one subject to another; the learning environment expands well beyond the classroom.

Some entrepreneurial activities, such as a student-operated school store, may be confined to the school campus, with other students as the intended clients or customers. Many activities, though, will need to extend beyond school boundaries and into the community for marketing and sales, and sometimes for production or service as well. In these cases, the school principal and other staff must be prepared to adapt their traditional modes of operation to accommodate the program’s needs. Rules for off-campus visits or use of school facilities may need to become more flexible. Schedules may need to be changed, consolidating class periods or extending the school day. Schools may need to share facilities, equipment, or other resources not only with student groups but also with other community members. (These and similar issues will be discussed in greater detail in an upcoming issue of Benefits².)

For many types of entrepreneurial activity, community cooperation is essential to student success. Formal school-community partnerships, while not an absolute requirement, can greatly facilitate entrepreneurship programs. Partnerships provide a structured forum for identifying community priorities and needs, building support for specific activities, generating start-up funds or other needed resources, adapting rules and customs to the needs of entrepreneurial programs, and addressing problems as they arise. For a program to be most successful in supporting student learning and growth, students will need to play an active role in such partnerships. Students should function as working members of the group and participate in decisionmaking as well as other activities. (Future issues of Benefits² will address collaborative tools and structures that can help such partnerships to succeed.)

Rural entrepreneurship programs are intended to benefit the community as well as students. It is important, then, to be sure that student-created businesses fill gaps in locally available products and services rather than competing with existing enterprises. This requires a close understanding of the community and thorough initial market research.

Some enterprises may require start-up funds in order to purchase raw materials or initial inventory. There are a variety of strategies for raising such funds, including small grants, contributions, fundraising events, or investments by community members. Programs need to distinguish between contributions and investments, and initial planning activities need to make any necessary provisions for recouping and repaying start-up funds, as well as for distributing profits.

Ideally, student-developed businesses will be successful enough to sustain themselves beyond the immediate instructional goals of the school program. It is important to consider the possibility that any student-created enterprise may become a viable, profit-making business; the initial planning process needs to include specifications as to rights and ownership, and to provide for transition from a school-guided activity to an independent enterprise.

Students benefit from entrepreneurship education in many ways. They learn life-long, transferable skills that will serve them in the world of work: planning, decisionmaking, communication, budgeting, advertising, marketing, merchandising, and production. They also learn how to deal with risk and, sometimes, how to cope with failure. One of the more important benefits for rural students may be exposure to adult role models who understand the importance of learning skills for work. As is true of service learning, both schools and townspeople can benefit from a stronger sense of community as well as from the availability of new products or services.