Resources



There are many resources available on-line to help you through every part of the Project ECHO program. ECHO has started to collect some of the favorite sites and books that students, teachers and mentors most often refer to.
This list is growing! If you’ve come across websites, books or videos that have been beneficial to you through your ECHO experience, please let us know. We’d like to make our Resources Page a thorough compilation of information that can assist those who participate in our program. Simply Contact Us so that we can add them here.

Resources For Students


The following links and resources are provided to assist students as they progress through the textbook, Launching ECHO.
Lesson 1: Introduction to Business Plans
- Aquarium Services Example for high school student start-up
- Coffee Shop Example
- Convenience Store Example
- Shaved Ice Beverage Example
Lesson 2: Business Description
Lesson 3: Industry & Market Analysis
- Market analysis and segmentation for a locksmith company
- Market analysis summary for a pet photography business
Lesson 4: Competitive Analysis
For more reading on competitive analysis and some examples, check out the links below.
- Competitive Analysis
- How to Do a Competitive Analysis in 5 Easy Steps
- A Competitive Analysis Example
- Competitor Analysis Example #2
Lesson 5: Marketing Plan
- Window cleaning service marketing plan
- Restaurant marketing plan
- Stealth Marketing video on YouTube
- The Strategy of Stealth Marketing
- Stealth Marketing: When You’re Being Pitched and Don’t Even Know It!
- 10 Best Stealth Marketing Campaigns
Guerilla Marketing:
Lesson 6: Operations Plan
Lesson 7: Management Team & Organizational Structure
- Example of a convenience store management
- For a more sopshisticated discussion and sample organizational chart
- How to create an organizational chart
Lesson 8: Financial Plans
Financial plans are an essential part of your business plan and it’s vital to demonstrate your income and expenses appropriately. To get started, check out these sample financial plans from different types of businesses.
- Locksmith financials
- Pet photography business
- Steak restaurant business
- Specialty Gift business
- Here’s a website that will take you to a Breakeven Calculator
***Additional Document includes a spreadsheet created by Antonio Evans, UCLA MBA Volunteer
Lesson 9: Executive Summary
Lesson 10: The Pitch and Presentation
Additional Project ECHO Resources:
Ideation and Determining Your Value Proposition
Looking for more information? Check out what current Project ECHO teachers share with their students:
- Outliers: The story of Success by Malcom Gladwell [A journey through the world of the “outliers” the best, the brightest, the most famous, and the most successful].
- 30 Days to Launch! An Entrepreneurs Diary to Building A Billion-Dollar Business by Rick Steel [Launching a business may seem like no easy task. It can seem completely bewildering, overwhelming, almost impossible. Where do you even start? And once you start, what do you do next? With this remarkable book, the impossible is possible. If you have an idea, a spark of a dream, but you’re stalling on how to make it a reality, then this book will show you how to do so—one day at a time.]
- Entrepreneurship – Owning Your Own Future by Steve Mariotti [Student/ Teacher Text Book]
- The Lean Startup by Eric Viking [How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
- Virtual Enterprise curriculum
- NFTE curriculum
- Career Solutions Publishing – free service that publishes 1-page career-related articles every Monday
- PMIEF – Project Management Institute Education Foundation: a digital badge offered to students ages 12-19 who have developed project management skills and knowledge.
- AdAge.com: Ad Age is a global source of news, intelligence and conversation for marketing and media communities
- Bloomberg Businessweek
- Liveplan: online business plans
- Harvard Business Review case studies
Teacher Resources
Teachers who are preparing their teams for the upcoming High School Enrepreneur’s Business Plan Competition have access to curriculum materials via this website. These materials have been developed by Project ECHO to help students prepare for the upcoming business plan competition. To gain access to the curriculum, a teacher must first submit the on-line registration materials found on the home page.
Starting a Business
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/index.html
Information on income statement, balance sheet, cash-flows, business terms
http://www.businessplans.org/guide.html
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
by Kathleen Allen
448 pages, Publisher: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, ISBN: 0026440687
This book and related materials give students the information and decision-making skills necessary to start a small business and make it grow.There is special emphasis on developing the Business Plan. Available at McGraw Hill or Amazon.
To Access the Current Program information and curriculum, click here.
