Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

Biggest surprise was the way the narrator personalized the article. Business is very opinionated and the author certainly highlighted this.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The issue revolving around fatwa was somewhat confusing to me. In fact, not even completely sure what the issue is.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-How do you bring yourself to have a relationship with clients that doesn't seem strictly business related?

-To what extent should a client be kept within your business if they are not profitable? When do you say enough is enough?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I disagreed with nothing from the author.

Final Reflection

Going back and reflecting from this past semester with ENT3003, I would say the experience I'll remember is getting interviews for the venture concept. It would so strange or me to go out and just ask people if I could interview them, but I got much much better at it over the course of the semester. Definitely won't forget the initial awkwardness from the first round of interviews. This was also the most joyous thing I had to do, as interviewing people always presented new perspectives on the idea. Getting in touch with Collin from NS4L was really cool too. The experience Im most proud of doing is just doing what was asked of the course as a whole. It was a lot of fun (though annoying at times) and provided me with different experiences that I thoroughly enjoyed. If I had simply half-assed the course I would not be able to say the things I am saying now. Do I consider myself an Entrepreneur? Obviously on paper I am not, because I have not done anything in terms of business yet. However in my head I am an entrepreneur, always have been and always will be. I am constantly looking for opportunities to lead to success. A recommendation I have for students is to make sure that this is what they want. There will be lots of uncertainties and failure - I am saying this without having finished my freshman year of college. They are simple facts you have to accept if you wish to be an entrepreneur. For future students, simply do what is asked of you an take a genuine interest in the course. Take advantage of it. The A is easy to get, but the experience are only attainable if you reach out for them. To foster this mindset I would say just be excited to be in the course, it's not difficult, yet it can be one of the most interesting and eye opening course you take here at UF.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

The feedback I received from the previous pitch was overwhelmingly positive. A lot of people seemed to raise concerns over how I am going to beat out competitors, with that I have one answer that wasn't mentioned in the elevator pitch as I seem to define that as a more specific detail, the answer being marketing. Having a personal connection to the University of Florida allows me to understand how exactly students think. Winning the marketing and customer service game will be the key to my success with a good product.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity.
The opportunity that presented itself for my product was the abundance of scooters here in Gainesville and the insane amount of rain we get here which is part of the reason Gainesville has the nickname "The Swamp". Scooter culture is vast and ever-growing and with that comes a line of different opportunities for products to become successful. I noticed that a vast majority of scooters don't have any sort of cover for them and that most scooters are stored outside. Anyone who owns a scooter understands that if you leave it out for a few days without using it that it will take several tries just to start it up. In the long run this is not good for the scooter, so this is just one of the things that made me realize that scooter covers could and should becomes the norm when owning a scooter. The elements will take a toll on scooters, which would lead to ever increasing maintenance costs. Of course I don't expect students to put the cover on every time they get off the scooter, but perhaps at night or certainly when they know they won't be using it for awhile. The market is defined geographically as basically universities around the nation (starting with the University of Florida) that have scooter culture with the target demographic of course being college students. Eventually I'd hope to have partnerships with scooter dealers to allow scooters to come standard with a weather cover, thus allowing the weather covers to become the "norm". Customers are not currently satisfying the need, unless we define it as maintenance repairs at the local scooter shop. The idea here is to make customers realize that they have a need and then proceed to give them the product that satisfy this need. The opportunity is as big as the the scooter culture around the country. Of course the opportunity can and will lead to other opportunities, so I would argue that the opportunity is enormous. The window of opportunity for this specific product will be open so long as nobody succeeds in making scooter covers the norm. 
Innovation.
Specifically speaking my product is a all purpose weather scooter cover for scooters here in Gainesville. It is made out of a waterproof fabric of sorts and has elastic "waistbands" to fit around the scooter which also allows it to say onto the scooter. It goes over the scooter to protect it from natures elements when stored outside whether it be rain, sun, wind, etc. thus increasing the longevity of the scooter. It works simply by going over the scooter when being used and when it's not being used it folds up and fits comfortably;y into the storage compartment of the scooter. I will make money by having the scooter covers mass produced overseas (sorry USA) to be able to sell them at an affordable price. $25 for a good scooter cover would be my price with a roughly $10-$20 profit margin per scooter cover. If sales are lacking and customers want something of a higher quality and American made, I have no issue with going that direction as well.
Venture Concept.
Customers would undoubtedly switch to my product because there is no current mainstream scooter cover for scooters here in the Swamp. In my case it is not a matter of getting them to switch from one brand to mine, but rather to get the customers to buy into the idea to have a scooter over in the first place. If marketed correctly I do not see this is a particularly difficult challenge. $25 for a scooter cover that will save hundreds of dollars down the road in maintenance is simply logical. The competitors are companies that already have scooter companies, however seeing as they do not have much popularity with scooters here, there isn't too much competition. Location is huge in terms of my scooter covers, because if there are no scooters around, then my product will fail. Thus I will only go to places that have scooter culture, starting here in Gainesville. Customer support is essential to any business, I have to win that battle. I would organize a business to support the continued production of my product having different teams with different departments completing different tasks, with myself overlooking everything. No more than 10 employees are needed to begin with, as we grow as a company, more employees will be hired.
Feedback.
The feedback I received was completely positive in regards to the first post I made about the venture concept.  There was nothing but good comments about my venture concept. I didn't change anything because I received no negative feedback!
Change.
Due to the completely positive feedback, I didn't have to change anything.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

Ultimately I found it somewhat that giant organizations (EU, WTO, and NAFTA) would be deemed somewhat responsible for entrepreneurs around the world.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

Intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship are different how???

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-Do you think corporate greed has grown to a level within the US to the point where it is unhealthy for the whole of society?

-Whats the best advantage of developing a mindset of corporate entrepreneurship.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I did not disagree with anything the author stated.

Google Gold

Throughout the semester I used various words and phrases that I thought would help push my blog towards the forefront (SEO). Generally I would promote my product with a brief description so if someone managed to come across my blog they would know exactly what my product is. The amount of blogs I have read throughout the semester in which I was generally confused after is surprisingly high.

Keywords included
-Gainesville
-Scooter
-transportation
-University of Florida
-weather cover

I haven't made it to the first page yet unless someone searches my blog name. Social media did little to nothing for my blog, as I did not advertise the blog on social media. The course provided plenty of feedback with the various peer reviews that were assigned to my blog.

Im not sure what I would deem the most viral post to be. However the most notable feedback I got was for the elevator pitches.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

I couldn't meet up with the exact same Entrepreneur, as he was busy. However, I did meet up with an entrepreneur whom I know very well and I asked him three questions.

Q: As you set out an entrepreneur, what was the biggest challenge of that initial stage?
A: The most difficult thing for me was simply getting into the world of business. I had left home and quit my job all within a year and I was only 19 years old. Not knowing what is going to happen is a scary thing, but I would advise anyone to try and put yourself in a situation in which you don't know what is going to happen. Life will work out.

Q: How did you go about growing your network to the point where it is today?
A: Being in the culinary industry, I started from the bottom and worked my way up. Always being nice to people and not being afraid of meeting new people is key towards building a network. Constantly put yourself in a situation in which you will meet people, make a good impression, and boom thats how you network. Eventually you will meet people who "know" people or something of that sort. Soon enough people will be going out of there way specifically to network with you.

Q: How do you know if the venture you create is the one you want to build a career around?
A: With me, I have built my career not around a single venture, but rather around an entire industry (culinary industry). I always have new ideas within the industry, and sometimes I decide to act on them. At the end of the day, you will know if what you are doing is what you love. You just know.

While this entrepreneur was not the same one I interviewed with the last assignment, it is someone that I had talked to before. The level of comfort level was obviously there as we discussed various topics. I actually met the man through my father (who is an entrepreneur himself) this semester. I know him only as Mike of custom foods, and hopefully this assignment will  help me with my entrepreneurial endeavors in the future.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The fact that the process of the deals was so lengthy and in depth was a bit surprising to me. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The process of buying a business and all the little steps and what not that go into the process, I have not learned all of the "steps" yet. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-What is the best way of buying and valuing a business?

2. Which method is most common for valuing a business?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I did not disagree with the author or anything, seeing as the author is the expert and I am the student.

Celebrating Failure

I suppose I will take this assignment as an opportunity to talk about the fact that I cannot seem to do well in Survey of Calculus MAC2233 (have an exam Thursday wish me luck). Throughout the first two exams, both methods of studying I did resulted in bas results on the exams. Hours upon hours were spent studying material, but evidently in the wrong way. This had led me to prepare more for my upcoming way and led me to study for efficiently. Also, for the first two exams I was in Colorado until a few days before the exam, for this exam Ill be here the entire time. I learned that sometimes my best just isn't enough, which is why I believe people all have specific things they are good at. Also, I learned to persevere and to set a mentality of success which hopefully will heed positive results in the course and throughout life in general. I think failure is something that needs to happen on the path to success, if you never experience failure, you will never understand what success is. i handle failure by looking towards to future.

My Exit Strategy

1) With this venture specifically, I definitely would try to sell it in 5 years to make a profit. This idea is small in my eyes and I definitely would not want to limit my entrepreneurial career to one small idea. Ultimately I would like to use this idea as a sort of means to "test the waters" with the real world.

2) I have selected this strategy because I do not wish to have this venture as something that I am stuck with for the rest of my life. I hope to do bigger and better things and use this as a learning process.

3) Absolutely I think my exit strategy has influenced my decisions for my concept.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The author didn't seem to outline what EXACTLY boost the value of a firm. There were plenty of formulas but there didn't seem to be much analysis of real world situations.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The formulas that were provided confused me because I don't completely understand how a mathematical formula can determine the value of a firm.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-What do you personally think makes a company "valuable"?

-What exactly do you consider "valuable"? 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I didn't disagree with anything the author said.