AUTUMN RITTER
Minnesota State University - Mankato, Class of 2022

The first few weeks of the IBE were spent determining a lot of the logistical aspects of the business such as what to sell, what to call ourselves, what our logo would be, how much money we would need, etc. We decided to name our company Gold Horn, and we chose to sell custom made hydro-dipped water bottles and MSU flags. Once all of this was decided, we began preparing for our loan request, in which we presented our business plan and necessary loan amount to three bankers from United Prairie Bank. We had to have all of our financial statements, marketing strategy, and sales strategy thoroughly laid out so that the bankers could then decide if they had enough confidence in our business plan to grant us the loan amount, which we were able to receive.

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The loan presentation was the last thing we completed before spring break, as we had planned to utilize spring break as a waiting period for our products to be shipped in. Post-spring break was going to be solely for selling our products on campus. However, the COVID-19 outbreak forced our schooling to be transitioned to online, so this put a huge roadblock in the way of our selling plans. We immediately had to pivot and find a new way to market and sell our products, since it was required that we pay back our loan. In order to do this, we decided to put together a website, which I led the creation of. We purchased a domain name and created an online store so that anyone would be able to visit our website and purchase our products regardless of their location. It was also important that we shifted all of our marketing to social media and other online platforms as well.

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The website creation ended up being a huge benefit to us, and it actually allowed us to sell completely out of our water bottles within five days of the website's launch. Over the span of the semester, we had over 2,000 visitors to the website and 100 sales, not including the sales that were made via personal communication. It also ended up being a huge asset to us in terms of collecting payment, organizing shipping, and managing inventory. The only disadvantage was the a small percentage of our profit was withdrawn by Wix.com to help pay for the website subscription; howver, this was a sacrifice we felt was necessary given the circumstances. Overall, the sales we made throughout the semester totaled $5,191.34, which allowed us to donate $2,345.55 to MYPlace after the repayment of our loan. At the conclusion of the semester, our entire company was also able to hold a Zoom meeting with the MYPlace director to formally present her with the total donation amount and check.

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This experience was easily the best research experience I have had thus far throughout college. I was able to get hands-on experience operating a real company, and there was a heavy amount of information that needed to be sought out in order to even get started. We had to complete market research to help us decide what products consumers were interested in, supply chain research to determine products and their suppliers, financial calculations to determine how much to request for our loan and how much profit we expected to make, and so much more. We then had to present it to the bankers, which acted as a dissemination of our research. It was important that this information was presented accurately, since doing otherwise would mean concealing necessary information from the bankers and unethically manipulating their decision. In a business context, research must be extremely thorough. It is necessary to gather as much information as possible and ensure that the individuals presenting the information have a skill set relevant to the research being presented. Therefore, we made it our highest priority to present all of our findings, even that which we felt was not necessarily positive to our company. In addition, we divided the dissemination so that finance majors were presenting the financial predictions, marketing majors presented the advertisement plans, management majors presented distribution plans, etc. Altogether, this process was very successful, and it helped us accomplish our first goal of receiving the loan.

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The IBE was obviously a group project that involved a lot of interactive discussions and debates. Each person was able to contribute their own individual thoughts, and although these different perspectives became difficult at times, they were ultimately what allowed us to be more open, creative, and successful. With the integration of all my group members ideas, my own ideas, and the advice we had recieved from our superiors, we were able to create our "hypothesis" for company success, which was the product mix and sales strategy we had decided on for Gold Horn. This helped me become more aware of the different forms that research can take, since this was a blend of actual research and experiential research. The preparation that we did to ensure our success was the "actual" research component, and the entire semester was a type of "experiment" to see if our decisions and predictions had been correct. The proof of our research and success was the physical amount that we donated to MYPlace, so this ceremony served as the exhibition of our work.

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The IBE is something I will always be extremely appreciative of. It taught me so much in terms of the business world, and I truly feel that I will be a better researcher and a better manager because of it. I will use the experiences I had - especially learning how to overcome something like the COVID-19 restrictions - to better me as I continue my education and begin my career.

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Attached is an image of my company, Gold Horn, as well as an article featured in the Honors Beacon that provides further insight into my experiences in the IBE.

COMPETENCY FULFILLMENT: Information Literacy - All Levels, Information Synthesis - All Levels, Original Research - All Levels, Dissemination - Levels 1-3