Week 15 Reading Reflection

1. Throughout this reading, what stood out to me the most as different from my expectations was the section that explained how many households live on such a small amount of money. There are approximately 750 million households that live on less than two dollars a day. I did not ever think that this many people could survive on such a small amount of money, and it was hard to learn that so many people have to do so. 
2. Initially, I did not understand the concept of adopting a profit-centered approach in order to attain commercial capital. Essentially, this is the idea that a non-profit business should approach the market with a profit-based mindset in order to reach the amount of commercial capital, which is necessary to be able to give back those who need it. I think that this is probably pretty difficult for most small businesses to be able to do, but I understand the idea behind it.
3. If I could ask the author any two questions, I would ask him whether or not he would start his business all over again if he had to start from scratch, and I would ask him if he would change anything about his business if he had the opportunity to do it all again. I think that these questions would help me understand how passionate he really is about his business, and I think it would be a good retrospective question for the author. 
4. Overall, I did not come across anything in this article that I did not agree with or thought was wrong. I really like the ideas and explanations that the author put forth, and it definitely helped me gain a better understanding of microfinance. 

Final Reflection

          There have definitely been a lot of interesting assignments and experiences throughout this course. Overall, I think that I will remember giving away ‘Free Money’ for one of the exercise requirements. We were asked to go up to random people, and we had to convince them to keep a single dollar. I definitely have the most fun interviewing random people on campus and seeing their reactions to my questions. For the most part, people were generous and compliant. I am most proud of myself for being able to go up to so many different strangers on campus and ask them to participate in interviews. At first, it was pretty uncomfortable, but as the semester went on it became much easier.

            Now that this semester has come to an end, I definitely have a better understanding of an entrepreneur’s mindset. I genuinely feel that I am much more of an entrepreneur than when I first began this class. Personally, I do not really think that entrepreneurship is something that I want to pursue as a career. I thoroughly enjoyed most of the experiences in this class, but I do not necessarily have a passion for being an entrepreneur.

            My recommendation for any student that may take this course in the future would just be to put as much effort as possible into each exercise. I think it’s important to take every assignment and post seriously in order to really take something away from this course in the end. I think a clear effort should be put into each assignment because each assignments teaches a different lesson. There are a lot of important messages throughout this course, and it’s important to understand them all.

Venture Concept No. 2

           For my first venture concept, I received a lot of really helpful feedback from my peers. One classmate suggested that I kick off my business with an awareness campaign, and I thought this would be a really great way to positively market my company. Starting off my business with this initiative would promote positive brand awareness and associate my helmets with a great cause. Another suggestion included maybe knocking down the price of my helmet. This is an understandable request, but students genuinely are receiving their money’s worth. These were the key criticisms that I received in my first venture concept, and I think that it was very helpful for my overall idea. In order to change my venture concept to accommodate these ideas, I added in a section about my marketing initiative and knocked down the price slightly. I wouldn’t be able to go any lower than these costs, but hopefully this would make the helmets seem more affordable.

 At the University of Florida and Santa Fe College in Gainesville, motor-scooters are a common item to own for undergraduate and graduate students. Most students that are currently enrolled in college range in age from eighteen to twenty-five years old. These students ride scooters, motorcycles, and bicycles daily to and from their home to campus. There is even an abundance of students that live on campus who own these vehicles. Unfortunately, most of these students are not wearing helmets while riding their vehicles. Whether they lost them, didn’t purchase one, or simply refuse to wear a helmet, this is a dangerous situation. It does not matter how far the trip will be, people should always be wearing helmets when riding a bicycle, scooter, or motorcycle. Students are putting themselves in dangerous situations and disregarding their safety by not protecting themselves. Most students will purchase a helmet, and then proceed to lose it or simply never wear it. This could also extend to any non-student in the Gainesville area that does not care to wear a helmet when riding one of these vehicles. Students are not the only ones making these poor decisions, and it is a pretty scary truth. I believe that there will always be a market of incoming students and new-scooter owners who need to purchase helmets. Riding motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles to and from class is a steady trend, and I believe there will always be people who are looking to buy a helmet to keep themselves safe.

            My company, Street Smart, will be designing, manufacturing, and selling helmets to students and non-students who own bicycles, scooters, or motorcycles. These helmets will be customizable on our website or in-store, and this will ensure that each customer is beyond satisfied with his or her purchase.

The customizable aspects will consist of:

• ·      Material
• ·      Shape
• ·      Fit (provide measurements)
• ·      Color
• ·      Design

           Customers will be able to personalize their helmets so that they are satisfied with the

purchase in the end. These helmets will provide complete protection to the customer’s head, and an optional eye shield will be available as well. There will be a strap that wraps under the chin in order to secure the helmet safely. Each helmet’s cost will vary, but the helmets will range from around $50.00-$70.00. Most helmets are around this price range, but these land on the higher end because of how customizable and high-quality they are. The purchase will include a helmet and a lock and key to secure the helmet to the scooter when not in use.

            I plan on starting off my company by promoting a safety awareness campaign. With this marketing strategy, I would hope to immediately promote positive brand associations in the minds of my target markets. I want my helmets to symbolize safety awareness and protection. These helmets will attract college students because they are fashionable and comfortable. This will eliminate the danger of students riding to and from classes or work without wearing a helmet. The importance of safety and wearing a helmet cannot be stressed enough, and my company will make that clear to each and every individual customer. Customers will want to buy these helmets because of how comfortable and stylish they will be. I think customers will want to switch to this new product because of how customizable they are. There are currently no other scooter stores in Gainesville that allow customers to personalize their helmets. Also, I think that once customers who already have helmets see what these new ones can look like, they will highly consider switching to this helmet. In Gainesville, there are multiple other scooter stores such as Solano Cycle and New Scooters 4 Less that sell helmets for scooters. My company’s advantage is that neither of these stores allow customizable capabilities to their helmets. Their helmets are limited in sizing, and my helmets will allow customers to provide measurements in order to perfectly fit the helmet, which in turn is safer for the customer while riding. This will reduce the possibility that the helmet will slip or not properly cover the entire head.

            My business will provide a website and a local location that customers can use as resources when inquiring about pricing, options, shipping, and more. The website will clearly outline all of the different customizable options, price points, and shipping details. The local store location will also be convenient for anyone who would want to try on sample helmets or speak with customer service representatives in person. My business itself would consist of the CEO, a team of five store managers, three assistant managers, and part-time staff members. This can also include interns from the college or university in order to provide experience and professional training.

            I think my business has the ‘unfair advantage’ of me being a college student who owns a scooter and struggles with my helmet every day. I understand that wearing helmets can be considered ‘uncool,’ and they can honestly just be uncomfortable. I can talk with peers about what they would like to see in their helmets, what their current problems with them are, and even work out group purchases with athletic teams. Eventually, I would hope that my business would grow to encompass more than just helmets. I think that I could grow my business to providing more safety accessories to scooters, motorcycles, and bicycles. After enough growth, the business could even have separate departments for each vehicle. This would widen my target customers beyond people who simply need helmets. Finally, as an entrepreneur I would hope to be the CEO of this company, and possibly managing or consulting with other scooter companies. I think this venture would help me learn a lot about the scooter business, and I would be able to branch out in that area. I would hopefully be able to look to expand into Tallahassee or Orlando because they also have major universities.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

   
           Throughout the process of making elevator pitches, I would like to think that they have gotten better with each attempt. I really tried to incorporate the feedback that was provided by my classmates, and I really appreciated everyone being so helpful. On my last elevator pitch, there weren't too many corrections from my peers. One person suggested that I make it clear that I market to bicycles as well, and I thought that was an important point.

           In this final elevator pitch, I did not change too much from what I did in my last one. I mention bicycles and motorcycles in the beginning as well so people do not think that I only market to scooters. Hopefully, I have finally created a successful elevator pitch, and I really do appreciate everyone's helpful comments and corrections.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1. Since this reading involved multiple chapters, I chose to focus on topics from both chapters depending on what the question was asking. In chapter three, the section about Signode's I-Teams stood out to me the most. I thought it was really interesting how much work went into developing these teams, and I would have never really thought about it before. There is a really extensive process in regards to creating a new business venture, and they approached it perfectly. 
2. Throughout this reading, the section about 'Felony Franks' was slightly confusing to me. I initially did not understand why so many people would be against having this type of hot dog stand. However, I can understand that Mr. Andrews may have just been targeting the wrong market. People have different interpretations of things, and I understand that this may be negatively interpreted by certain audiences. 
3. If I was able to ask the author two questions, I would ask him what he believe is the best way to handle the obligations of social enterprise. I would them ask him about companies that he believes have failed to uphold their obligations in regards to social enterprise and sustainability.
4. Overall, I did not find anything specifically that I thought was wrong. I had no strong disagreements with anything that the author put forward in these chapters, and I learned a lot from the readings. I thought that these chapters complement each other well. 

Google Gold

           Personally, I did not necessarily try as hard as I could in order to make my blog easily reachable. On every comment, as instructed, I left a link to my own blog in order for other students to utilize. I was hoping that by doing this, my blog would have more views and people would be curious enough to read my posts. Other than this, I can't really say that I did too much in order to optimize the likelihood that my blog would appear on search engines.
           I used key words such as entrepreneur, student, and professional. I selected these key words because I thought that they would be the most relatable to this course. I figured that when people read my blog, these are the words that would come to mind. I did not really revise or change my words throughout the semester.
           Overall, I utilized Facebook in order to enhance my search engine optimization efforts. I thought that this was an effective way of promoting my blog, but it did not necessarily attract attention from my target audience. I don't think that too my college students look to Facebook to find blogs or class information, therefore I did not see too many relevant responses.
           I had two posts that were equally viewed, and they both had much higher views than my other posts. My second elevator pitch and the "What's Next" posts received a lot of attention. I think that these were probably two of my better posts, and maybe people looked at them because it was a little later in the semester. Also, I know that I would sometimes look at other posts for helpful ideas or tips, and I think that could be a possible reason for the higher number of views.
           I did not make it to the first page of Google's results for my keywords, and I could not find what page my blog appeared on. I did not do promote my blog as well as I could have, and I think that it why it is not higher up on Google's results. There are definitely many more blogs that have more popular posts which land higher in the search results.

Very Short Interview Part 2

           Personally, looking back on the first interview with the entrepreneur, I regret not asking him more in depth questions about his company and journey. I agree with everything he said to me in regards to what it means to be an entrepreneur and what I learned from this class. Overall, I definitely believe that entrepreneurs solve problems. I definitely think that I have a stronger sense of creativity when it comes to approaching real world problems.
           In my second interview with my entrepreneur, which I was unable to record due to the fact that he is currently negotiating a contract with a lobbyist, I asked him three questions. The three questions I asked were:

• What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
• What key resources have you leaned on when struggling to succeed with promoting/marketing an idea?
• Do you think there are problems that every entrepreneur will struggle with regardless of what their product or business is?

           The first question was in the last interview as well, and I was just curious if he would give me a different response. He essentially said that he believes entrepreneurs are people who look for problems to solve in the world. I agree with this response, and it was very similar to his previous one. In response to my other two questions, he believes that connections are key when it comes to marketing and promoting ideas. As an entrepreneur, one of our strongest assets is being able to meet people and form positive connections. He also believes that entrepreneurs' obstacles are unique to their business, but they certainly all deal with multiple obstacles throughout their journey.

           Overall, I definitely feel like I have made progress throughout this course. I was much more comfortable speaking with the entrepreneur, and I think that I asked him better questions that the last interview. He even remarked that he saw more confidence in me, and he believed that my questions were much more in depth and specific. I think this class has made me much more comfortable in regards to speaking with people that I don't really know that well. Also, I definitely feel like I understand how people can grow more comfortable in all kinds of social situations.