Did you know EBA majors create a business plan?

Did you know that Economic and Business Analytics (EBA) majors at PHC create a 30-plus-page business plan for their final exam in Financial Analysis class?

This past school year, Edward Xin (EBA, ‘25) won PHC’s 2025 business plan award. His plan covered creating a company that would offer comprehensive automobile care and storage services for exotic vehicles in the Northeastern United States.

Here, Xin shares some of his creative process and several tips on how to make a successful business plan.

His first piece of advice is, “As long as it’s something that you can see yourself doing, you will put more effort into it and make it something more realistic. Also, the more you already know about that specific subject, the more comprehensive your business plan can be.”

For Xin, exotic cars are very close to his heart. He’s loved cars ever since he was a little kid playing on the floor with Hot Wheels. He came across the idea for his business plan while browsing the internet, reading about exotic cars.

“I’ve definitely thought about putting this business plan into practice at some point during my life, though not quite at the scale of a 40,000 square foot warehouse that I wrote in my business plan,” Xin said.

Xin’s second piece of advice is not to be afraid to try new things.

Right away, Xin deviated from many of his classmates and predecessors in getting an Adobe InDesign account to create the layout for his presentation.

“When I first opened it, I had no idea what I was doing. I was like, ‘Wow, there are so many tools. How do I even type in this text box?’ I messed around with it, watched a few YouTube tutorials, and got the hang of it,” Xin said.

He did things unconventionally, almost backwards. First, he created a layout that he was proud of and then wrote the content to fill it.

“It was more like squeezing in content to fit the pages that I already had set up. I had to make sure every single page was perfect, and then I could move on, which took forever,” Xin said.

However unconventional Xin’s method was—it paid off. His superior designs contrasted with designs made in Microsoft Word, which didn’t allow much room for creativity.

“I think using Adobe has turned this thing into a new direction, so I do look forward to seeing what future winners come up with,” he said.

Even if Xin hadn’t won, creating the business plan alone would have been worth it to him.

“Business Methods class was a lot of theory and concepts about how to run a business. And, the first part of Financial Analysis was, well, a lot about analysis and finances. Making the business plan involved applying all of that together. It was really cool to see that all come together,” he said.

---

 Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.