Final Reflection

Final Reflection 

1) Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.

My favorite assignments this semester have been the ones where I have been able to be creative and brainstorm for the future and its endless possibilities. The worst assignments I thought were the elevator pitches. It is hard to hear and see yourself on camera. I always cringe when hearing myself on camera, so that was a bit difficult for me. The other challenge in the elevator pitches was the timing and remembering what to say. 

2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

The most formative assignment, in my opinion, was the unfair advantage assignment. Having to think of all the challenges to your possible future business was very difficult especially because it is really all make believe and I have never owned and operated my own business before. The Bug List was an interesting assignment and one that I will definitely remember mainly because of the name and the receptiveness of it. The aspect of this course I am the most proud of is being able to stay on top of all the assignments, as there were quite a few of them and due at different times. 

3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

I definitely see myself now as someone who could potentially become an entrepreneur. I think it requires a lot of dedicated, hard work and planning but this class has given me a peek as to what to what it would be like and the challenges I would face. While I do not know if I would be ready to own and operate my own business anytime soon, I do think I would be interested in it down the line. 

4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

My advice would to be to try and complete every assignment because none of them are impossible. Also time management is key, it served me best to pick one a day throughout the week to do my assignments so I wasn't being rushed on Friday and not completing my best work. 

Venture Concept No. 2

Food and Culture Festival
Opportunity:

• The opportunity I am presenting the community with is the idea of a company that will partner with elementary and middle schools in order to put on a food and culture festival that will introduce kids to cultures and ethnicities for all over the world. The environment most kids are in today does not expose them to cultures outside of their own mainly because peoples lives have become incredibly isolated to their own unit. Because there is seemingly a lack in kinds worldly knowledge this service will be extremely useful 
• The market will mainly be targeted to kids 5-13 and their parents, this is due to the fact that the festival id intended to be a family bonding experience held at local elementary and middle schools. The demographic will honestly depend on the demographic of the school the festival is being held at. 
• As far as I know now, this service is a completely unique one. Customers will not be presented with the opportunity to have to choose in-between my service and mother because it does not exist. 
• This opportunity is very big and will benefit a large group of people. While it will be targeting elementary/middle schoolers and their parents, anyone can attend. 
• In mind this will be something that is available as often as the school allows us to be of service. This means we could run a food and culture festival every month or just do it once a quarter. 

Innovation: 

The service that I have created is extremely innovative, a company that works in partnership with a school and the teachers lessons plans to provide a valuable learning and growth opportunity is one that does not exist today. Many parents may feel a responsibility to educate their children on the differences amount the various culture of the world but are either not quite sure of them theirselves or  do not have the time/resources to present that knowledge to their kids. This "event planning company" will have the time and money to dedicate to creating fun interactive stations providing food, games and learning opportunities all centered around a few closely related cultures in order to convey some worldly knowledge in a fun way. The best way we could turn a profit from this event would be to partner with the school and get paid directly through them, or charge a basic entrance fee that would supplement the costs. Each ticket price, if charged, would depend on the costs associated with planning the event. 

Venture Concept: 

• Because this opportunity does not yet exist I do not think it would be difficult getting people to "switch" over from not doing anything to really educate their kids on worldly concepts to instead attend regular culture festivals. The only main difficulty I would anticipate would be the very first event and convincing people that it will be not only beneficial but fun to attend. People are typically wary of trying new things but I believe they will be more inclined to attend  due to the face that it is run through the school and they would trust it. 
• There will be no real professional competitors to this opportunity. Like I have already mentioned this is a unique service/business that is not offered yet. The only competitors I would really have would be individual homes/parents who feel they do not need to attend the event because they can do  better job of teaching their kids about different cultures on their own. Or the parents who do not seem the benefit of it in the first place. 
• Customer support and and experience will play a very large role with the services offered by my business. If the customers do not enjoy or have a passion for food this experience may not seem beneficial in their eyes, when in reality food is just one way a culture can be easily transmitted to people. The event, while primarily food focused will have other elements of cultural learning tied in. The customer will need to be open minded and willing to try new things in order for the event to be successful. Along with an open mind support will be needed to continue to put-on these events. Parents will need to show that the value the idea and see it as beneficial. 
• My role would most likely be oversee and director of the event. The way duties would be delegated would be assigning teams and team leaders to individual components that would need to be completed for the event to be successful. teams would be broken up into set up/clean up, marketing, food preparation, booth workers, information gathers etc and from there the teams would work to get each specific task done. 

3 Minor Elements: 

1. My "secret sauce" that would allow for leverage over the competition is the fact that this service has no competition. There is no other company working to provide an opportunity to families to expose them in various cultures in the world. Once the event proves successful once, there is no stopping them from continuing. The trust the school board will also have with us will also be a great advantage. 
2. The next venture I would like to tackle, once the business roves successful, would be trademarking the name and franchising it out to states across the nation so that our mission can be spread. I think people across the country would benefit from more culture, but I cannot everywhere at once to assist with the set up. 
3. Due to the idea of franchising, I see my roll as the spokesperson of the company in 10 plus years. As spokesperson I will be the one promoting the company and bringing it to as many school that will hear by pitch. The idea of making this event a standard within American schools is the dream. Not only would it be great for the business but truly emulate the main goal of the company which is to educate families in a fun and interesting way. 

Feedback:
Overall, the feedback I have received in the duration of this course in regards to my business plan has really allowed me to analyze the exact market I plan on entering and the specific tactics I will need in order to be successful. The feedback has also made me see the future possibilities that await in this venture and the markets I did not expect to be apart of my business plan that can also be available. because of this feedback I will not just be limiting my venture concept to school but also business and established organizations.

Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

Depending on the success and growth of the business, I may decide to make a career out of running it. As I discussed in the last few posts, I would love to expand the business into other states and make it a nation wide service. Because of my dreams of grandeur I think the best exit strategy for me would to retire at the end of my career and pass leadership over to the person who would know the company best and was most qualified to run it. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I selected this strategy mainly because it felt like the most professional and logical thing to do. Of course, many things can change in the course of a businesses life but if the company becomes a franchise or a national name there are certain procedures that would have to be implemented. 

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

My exit strategy has influenced the other decisions I made within my concept by firming up my desire of wanting to expand. I think expansion would be the best next move and take the company to a whole other level. Due to the desire to expand I will most definitely need to recruit many more employees and set up an executive board to help make al decisions. 

Reading Reflection No.3

For my last reading reflection I chose The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, by Guy Kawaski

1. What was the general argument or theme of the book?

This book talked about all the various uses and benefits of social media, apart form the common personal reasons people use it to post about themselves. It goes deeper into the self promotion, marketing and displacement functions that people should be taking advantage of rather than posting the same picture of your dog or where you vacationed this summer. 

2. How did, in your opinion, this book connect with and enhance what you are learning currently in ENT 3003? 

The book talked a lot about how to expand your business through the various uses of social media. This is right on track with what we have been covering in the class, especially with the many proposals of our own "future" business and how we would expand it. Social media today is the most prevalent strategy in expanding the reach and visibility of the business. 

3. If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would the exercise involved? 

I would probably ask for a mock of social media strategy plan. This would include which social media they would use, amount of posts, expected number of likes/shares and a strategy they would employ to increase the likes and shares each time. As a marketing major this is stuff I would most likely be needing to know/doing in my future career. So it will definitely be beneficial. 

4. What was your biggest surprise or "aha" moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed the most form your expectations. 

My personal "aha" moment was when he started talking about feeding the "Content Monster", which is what they call the moment when you figure what type of content it is that you need to be posting on your social media accounts. I liked the term they used and how it was a play on words for a real need. 

Celebrating Failure

This semester I have been trying to stick to a regimented eating and diet schedule, that I have started and failed multiple times. Overall, I am known to be a pretty healthy eater but recently with my hectic schedule and increased events it has been harder for me to remain on a constant health streak. I first started this diet in the beginning of October and have struggled to complete one successful week of the program. Each week there seems to be something, and event or another temptation, pulling me to the "dark side" of unhealthy foods. Week after week I say I will have a fresh start on Monday and get back on track yet once the weekend rolls around I tend to let the ball drop.

Through these failures I learned that I need to work on my self control. College is full of temptations and it is easy to get sucked into things that may not be beneficial with to your life. It is important to remember that while things may sound great in the moment they may cause more lasting hurt than good in the moment. I learned that maybe a strict diet is not the best thing for me, and to maybe start with a smaller goal such as a more flexible diet that would allow me to slowly ween of the temptations.

Why failure can be a hard pill to swallow it can also be a big learning curve. The biggest thing in failure is the story and the lessons that come out of it. As it was mentioned in the prompt,  Edision failed over 1,000 times when creating the lightbulb but learned from the failure. After failing it can be very easy to let your stress and emotions get the best of you, I have wanted to throw in the towel and give up many times myself. Giving up is the worst idea when it comes to failure, the best thing you can do is push through it and use it to your advantage. There are always lessons to be learned whenever you try something new.

Whats Next?

Existing Market:

• In terms of my current market, I think what should come next is trying to infiltrate as many school systems as possible. I would like to cover multiple states not just Florida and the areas that are easy for me to reach. My expanding into more states I think we could create more of a name for ourselves and ultimately impact more people. 
• After talking to some parents who would already be included in my target market, they  gave me the feedback of trying to expand outside of just elementary and middle schools. They informed me that churches and maybe even big office companies would appreciate events like this. They thought it would be a good way to promote something beneficial to their employees or members who may be more secluded within their daily lies. One person in particular informed me that companies may specifically like the idea as they are always trying to promote diversity and not get pegged to secluding any types of ethnicities. Once I told them about my initial thought/plans for expansion, they agreed that more states would be good but it could not hurt to expand my target audience. 
• After taking into accountant the responses I got and thinking about my future I think the plan for my business should be to start off expanding into more states. Once I am able to measure the success had in different geographical climates I can then decide if expanding my target audience would be worth it. My first step to expand into another state would probably go to one where I already have connection, as an entrepreneur your own personal and business success is very close tied with who you know. Getting your foot in the door is typically the foot step to pursuing something great. I would most likely reach out to someone of my contacts in New York, my mom taught there for 10 years before moving down to Florida and has a lot of established relationships with school board members in the county she used to be employed. From there I would utilize her contacts and make my way ti the School Board Superintendent, pitch my idea and show her examples of the past success and the effects it has made n the community. Hopefully, this will be successful and the business can grow form there. I would continue to network and expand the business to other school counties in order to keep growing. The more connections I am able to make the better. After then impacting at least 5 states and measuring the overall success rates within each community, I would decide to open up the opportunity to other businesses and organizations that were interested. 

New Market: 

• As I mentioned earlier the new market I would consider targeting would be well established businesses looking to encourage, promote and celebrate diversity within their company through the my businesses culture festivals. This would target an extremely different group of people than my original market, by going directly to businesses there is a chance most of them will not be parents but young professionals who are extremely work focused. This is a stark comparison to the K-8th grade students I was originally trying to inform. 
• This entirely new market, I believe, will find value in the idea of food and culture festival mainly because it will be a well deserved break from their already hectic work day and honor some of the cultures that are possibly already displayed in their office. I think company executives will primarily value this opportunity because they are constantly under a microscope making sure they are taking appropriate measures to increase diversity. There are many laws regulating employment discrimination when it comes to race, gender and age. Because of this I think businesses executives will think providing their workers with an opportunity to be exposed too many cultures in a fun and discrete way will make their business look better as a whole. 
• For my first interview I decided to reach out to my uncle who is the CEO and runs his own company with over 100 employees. I explained to him the concept of my business and the service it would offer and asked if it was something that his company or one like his would be interested in partnering with a few times over the year. He immediately responded saying that while he thought it was a great opportunity to expose his employees to more cultural diversity and shed a positive light on his company within the community, I would have to change a few aspects of the service first. He did not want it to feel too gimmicky, I would be dealing with grown adult who would most likely not enjoy little games that were meant to be educational. He did however love the food aspect. The second person I interviewed was the VP of a success marketing firm here in Gainesville. After giving them the same run down I gave my Uncle their response was pretty similar. They loved the idea but definitely wanted it more catered to their adult employees. They also thought this would be a great event to run on their lunch hour not a whole separate event. 
• Reflecting on my interviews and original ideas, I think that this market would be a great one to get involved with. It makes sense to change the event slightly to cater more to the adult professional demographic, and the changes would not be hard to make. The idea of making it more food centered would also attract more people, especially if the event would go on at the business during their lunch hour because people who aren't necessarily interested in the event itself would be interested in getting lunch. I also learned that diversity and promoting various cultural groups is extremely important in employment today. Title X11 laws and employment discrimination groups are quick to attack business that seemingly are not complying with their laws. Business owners today are always looking for news ways to appear more culturally diverse to the community in order to avoid harassment claims, so by using my services they would be able to shed a positive light other business while also satisfying their employees and future prospects. 

Venture Concept No. 1

Business name: The World to You
Opportunity:

• The opportunity I am presenting the community with is the idea of a company that will partner with elementary and middle schools in order to put on a food and culture festival that will introduce kids to cultures and ethnicities for all over the world. The environment most kids are in today does not expose them to cultures outside of their own mainly because peoples lives have become incredibly isolated to their own unit. Because there is seemingly a lack in kinds worldly knowledge this service will be extremely useful 
• The market will mainly be targeted to kids 5-13 and their parents, this is due to the fact that the festival id intended to be a family bonding experience held at local elementary and middle schools. The demographic will honestly depend on the demographic of the school the festival is being held at. 
• As far as I know now, this service is a completely unique one. Customers will not be presented with the opportunity to have to choose in-between my service and mother because it does not exist. 
• This opportunity is very big and will benefit a large group of people. While it will be targeting elementary/middle schoolers and their parents, anyone can attend. 
• In mind this will be something that is available as often as the school allows us to be of service. This means we could run a food and culture festival every month or just do it once a quarter. 

Innovation: 

The service that I have created is extremely innovative, a company that works in partnership with a school and the teachers lessons plans to provide a valuable learning and growth opportunity is one that does not exist today. Many parents may feel a responsibility to educate their children on the differences amount the various culture of the world but are either not quite sure of them theirselves or  do not have the time/resources to present that knowledge to their kids. This "event planning company" will have the time and money to dedicate to creating fun interactive stations providing food, games and learning opportunities all centered around a few closely related cultures in order to convey some worldly knowledge in a fun way. The best way we could turn a profit from this event would be to partner with the school and get paid directly through them, or charge a basic entrance fee that would supplement the costs. Each ticket price, if charged, would depend on the costs associated with planning the event. 

Venture Concept: 

• Because this opportunity does not yet exist I do not think it would be difficult getting people to "switch" over from not doing anything to really educate their kids on worldly concepts to instead attend regular culture festivals. The only main difficulty I would anticipate would be the very first event and convincing people that it will be not only beneficial but fun to attend. People are typically wary of trying new things but I believe they will be more inclined to attend  due to the face that it is run through the school and they would trust it. 
• There will be no real professional competitors to this opportunity. Like I have already mentioned this is a unique service/business that is not offered yet. The only competitors I would really have would be individual homes/parents who feel they do not need to attend the event because they can do  better job of teaching their kids about different cultures on their own. Or the parents who do not seem the benefit of it in the first place. 
• Customer support and and experience will play a very large role with the services offered by my business. If the customers do not enjoy or have a passion for food this experience may not seem beneficial in their eyes, when in reality food is just one way a culture can be easily transmitted to people. The event, while primarily food focused will have other elements of cultural learning tied in. The customer will need to be open minded and willing to try new things in order for the event to be successful. Along with an open mind support will be needed to continue to put-on these events. Parents will need to show that the value the idea and see it as beneficial. 
• My role would most likely be oversee and director of the event. The way duties would be delegated would be assigning teams and team leaders to individual components that would need to be completed for the event to be successful. teams would be broken up into set up/clean up, marketing, food preparation, booth workers, information gathers etc and from there the teams would work to get each specific task done. 

3 Minor Elements: 

1. My "secret sauce" that would allow for leverage over the competition is the fact that this service has no competition. There is no other company working to provide an opportunity to families to expose them in various cultures in the world. Once the event proves successful once, there is no stopping them from continuing. The trust the school board will also have with us will also be a great advantage. 
2. The next venture I would like to tackle, once the business roves successful, would be trademarking the name and franchising it out to states across the nation so that our mission can be spread. I think people across the country would benefit from more culture, but I cannot everywhere at once to assist with the set up. 
3. Due to the idea of franchising, I see my roll as the spokesperson of the company in 10 plus years. As spokesperson I will be the one promoting the company and bringing it to as many school that will hear by pitch. The idea of making this event a standard within American schools is the dream. Not only would it be great for the business but truly emulate the main goal of the company which is to educate families in a fun and interesting way. 

3 Minor Elements: 

1. My "secret sauce" that would allow for leverage over the competition is the fact that this service has no competition. There is no other company working to provide an opportunity to families to expose them in various cultures in the world. Once the event proves successful once, there is no stopping them from continuing. The trust the school board will also have with us will also be a great advantage. 
2. The next venture I would like to tackle, once the business roves successful, would be trademarking the name and franchising it out to states across the nation so that our mission can be spread. I think people across the country would benefit from more culture, but I cannot everywhere at once to assist with the set up. 
3. Due to the idea of franchising, I see my roll as the spokesperson of the company in 10 plus years. As spokesperson I will be the one promoting the company and bringing it to as many school that will hear by pitch. The idea of making this event a standard within American schools is the dream. Not only would it be great for the business but truly emulate the main goal of the company which is to educate families in a fun and interesting way. 

Feedback:
Overall, the feedback I have received in the duration of this course in regards to my business plan has really allowed me to analyze the exact market I plan on entering and the specific tactics I will need in order to be successful. The feedback has also made me see the future possibilities that await in this venture and the markets I did not expect to be apart of my business plan that can also be available. because of this feedback I will not just be limiting my venture concept to school but also business and established organizations.

Your Ventures Unfair Advantage

1. Lack of competition
Valuable: no other services like this exist
Rare: will be the form of its kind in gainesville
Imitable: will have to jump through many hoops in order to perform the task
Non Substitutable:  event that occurs once a month

2. Social Capital
V: Many parents have agreed they would attend
R: not rare will have a large amount of consumers within the school
I: reach out to people and promote event
NS: not substitutable in the industry

3. Promotional Experience
V: I was a director of marketing for a magazine and know how to promote an event
R: not an advantage many have
I: a very valuable skill others would want
NS: social media experience could also be used for this

4. Low cost
V: only need funds from school to keep event going
R: could be a pot luck or volunteer based how people bring food
I: If profit isn't a main concern low cost is a good idea
NS: can be donation based

5. Dont need profit
V: money won't measure success more so the turn out
R: not a common thing
I: more people value money - sets us apart
NS: Cant be substituted

6: Personal Relationships with future users
V: More parents and students involved the more involved they get with the school
R: Hard to get busy parents to connect with the school the way the kids do
I: most business do not focus on creating lasting relationships
NS: cant be substituted

7: Part of existing establishment
V: Already has a built in consumer market and audience
R: rare because it is already a known place people go everyday and can market itself
I: most services begin not having any established relationships
NS: Cant be substituted

8: Ideas and hopes for customers
V: parents have already expressed extreme interest in proving culture to their kids
R:  not rare any companies establish business off a want or need of customers
I: important to know what people like/dont like before hand
NS: can get feedback for lots of different areas

9: Lasting Market
V: schools will never stop existing
R: its hard to say your client base will never really change
I: people could do this at other well established markets
NS: schools could be swapped out for churches

10: No set measure of success or failure
V:since there is not a set number of things to be sold/ no break even point success can be measured in lots of ways
R: many things cost money and want money in return this is pretty rare
I: not normal in this indusrty
NS: this can't be substituted

Top resource:
#1 lack of competition
Since there is a lack of competition in this industry, since this service does not even exist it will be super valuable and attract a lot of consumers.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/4BvKUG_a3DA

The feedback I received from my second elevator pitch was overall super positive. It was nice to receive such great comments from my peers who acknowledged the changes I made and thought they improved my performance. One specific compliment was the use of my hands in the video as it gave more life to the pitch and captured he audiences attention more. I decided to do things very similar in my last pitch, such as walking around slightly, using my hands and looking to different points of the room. One thing I did fin during this attempt was how much more comfortable I felt during this attempt compared to all the others! at this point I felt like I could deliver the pitch in front of a live audience.

Reading Reflection No. 2

For this assignment I chose to read I Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win by Scott Adams.

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
 The overall theme for this book was primarily that oneself is completely uncharge of their own life and the direction it takes. Adams gives off the impression that each decision you make is completely yours and needed to benefit you and you only. Decisions that benefit you may not always be the best for others, but sometimes there is a very fine line in-between allowing yourself to succeed at the expense of others.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
themes demonstrated in this class while learning the entrepreneurial way. Adams also pushes the idea to get out of your comfort zone and make some more risky decisions, as no risk reaps no reward. These concepts are very important to an entrepreneurs success and I think it drives in the points that we learn in this class hearing form someone who has actually done it.

 3. If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
My exercise would be similar to the bug list exercise we completed at the beginning of the semester. Instead of picking 10 pet peeves of ours it would be 10 things you have failed at, big or small, and what you learned form those failures. By talking about what you learned form the failures it reinforces the idea of growth and success.

4. What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
Overall, my biggest surprise was how he was able to turn the idea of being selfish into a good thing. Many people would argue that that is one of the worst character traits in people but Adams made it seem like a necessary factor to self improvement and success. It also gave me a new outlook on what it means to be successful.

Growing Your Social Capital

1) One person must be an expert in your domain
The one person who would be an expert on the location I would be offering my service is the School Board Principal of the county that I am trying to break into. I set up a meeting with the Principal to pitch my idea and receive feedback as well as understand the regulations I will face. During the meeting, he explained that while the idea was a great one. I would have to have all employees background cheeped which can take up to 6 weeks and setup meetings with the Principal of each individual school to figure out how to plan the event without any disruption to the learning environment. Also, I was informed that if this made a profit a portion of it would have to go back to the school board.

2) One person must be an expert in your domain
Since my product is really a service to be offered through the school system I thought an expert in my domain would be most likely the leader of the Scholastic Book Fairs thats get brought to all schools. They target the same exact people, young kids and their families, and they are also a an outside organization that goes into schools independently. The starter of the book fair was an entrepreneur who had an idea to make reading fun and enticing for kids. I found him after googling about the startup of the book fair that has been the highlight of many kids elementary and middle school experiences. After talking with him I found out some great tips about dealing with the school system and how to really get them on your side rather than make it harder to deal with their rules.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry.
After believing for a while that this food fair concept was an unique idea to me, I was proven wrong once researching a bit. I found that in some school districts in Oregon there is a similar ai started by a mom who wanted hr kids to try new foods. After finding her email, she explained to be that her company started off small, just few moms making dishes and a pop up tent. Then she explained that more people got involved and liked the idea so the business grew. She recommended starting small and working out the kinks first and then allowing it to grow over time. She also said that it is better to start small because it will warm people up to the idea and make them curious, growing overall interest and involvement.

Finally: Reflect
I think that this set of targeted individuals has been the most helpful of anyone I have contacted yet. They really gave me advice that would allow me to get the ball moving on actually crating this business. I now know the ext steps I would have to take and the exact ways to go about creating this business.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. My name is Brooke Desantis and I am a junior marketing major at the University of Florida. I few of my self proclaimed talents would be my creative skills and dedicated work ethic. I have an extremely creative mind and love brainstorming, problem solving and thinking of unique ideas. When  it comes to completing a given task or sticking to something, I am always very dedicated ad goal oriented. I have found some of these talents through previous experiences, such as being the creative director of a student run magazine. It was through planing launch parties, marketing campaigns and ad concepts that I found out more about myself and truly understood the direction I wanted to take my life in. After graduation, I would love to be apart of the creative teams of well known companies , coming up with the ideas behind their mass media campaigns that reach millions of viewers. In regards to my business concept  would love to be behind the idea of coming up with the graphics and layout of each food event while also figuring out great ways to market each pop up

2. The service my business would provide to customers would be a chance to gain exposure to cultures and cuisines unlike their own. This would mainly target younger children who are still very much in their formative years and have very little knowledge of cultures and the different aspects within each culture. This event, while run through the school will not only be for the kids but also offer a fun experience families can partake in together.

3. As I mentioned earlier the main targets are kids grades K-8, as the events will be through elementary and middle schools. While it will focus on the kids, we do expect that this will be a family event so the clientele would also be the parents most likely aged 30-40.

4. The consumers will care about the service offered because we are not only providing them with an opportunity they may not be able to experience on their own but it will also be something fun and exciting to attend. Pretty much everyone loves food and festivals so by combing that with educational and familial benefits, people will be very enticed to go.

5. This service is something that, I believe, has never been provided before. Due to it be unique I think more people would be open to attending.

After looking at the other students business proposals I feel that my plan would be just as successful as theirs if implemented in the right way. I may have more hurdles to jump through while dealing with the school system but nothing that would be too difficult to figure out. Overall though I feel that all the moving parts fit together nicely and offer a great service that many would like to take advantage of.

Two pieces of feedback I noticed about my first Idea Napkin was that the idea would e great mainly because so many people do love anything where food is included. They also mentioned that I may run into problems dealing with school system backgrounds checks and to be aware of the issue before hand!

Elevator Pitch no. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccH5ZYT6zxc&feature=youtu.be

Based on the feedback I received from my last pitch I decided to try and talk with my hands and move around a bit more this time. They also told me not to use my name and company, so this time I just went straight into the pitch and did not introduce myself. Thankfully, all of the feedback I received was helpful and allowed me to better my presentation.

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For my product, I chose a of a typical working mom. This woman to be about 39, and have two kids both in elementary school. While still working her 9-5 day job, she as the full time job of bring an involved parent who wants the best fir her kids. She loves taking them to mexican restaurants, due to the exciting atmosphere and new foods. She also traveled heavily in her 20s and has personally been exposed to so many cultures world wide. Her hobbies include watching the Food Network and taking her kids to the beach on the weekends. Thus woman and I share the same hobbies of loving the beach and traveling as well. While maybe she did not know her kids were needing to be exposed to more cultures, she recently heard about a school program that would provide food and fun experiences to her kids after school one day. She thinks this would be a great idea and would love to get involved to spread the word to more parents.

 

                                                             

Whats Your Secret Sauce?

1. Describe 5 ways in which you think your human capital is truly unique?

• I have the ability to think of endless creative ideas. 
• I am very god at playing devils advocate, seeing things from both point of view in order to weigh the pro and cons of a situation. This allows me to anticipate problems before they happen. 
• I am a very rational thinker, while being creative I tend to know what will woken realistically and do not let my ideas get the better of me.
• I am a people person, I have no problem going up to individuals I do not know and talking things through or explaining new ideas. 
• I am super honest, I am the worst liar and believe that no matter how bad a situation may be honesty is always the best policy. 

2. Interview 5 people who know you best 

• Mom: "You have the best work ethic, no matter the task big or small, you give it your all and always get it done" My mom says my work ethic is unparalleled, as I will not stop until the assigned task is done and to the liking of whoever asked for it. 
• Sage, best friend, "You are the most attentive and caring friend, you always are clued into everyone emotions and can tell when someone is off even just the slightest bit." Sage said that my attention to peoples emotional state is a very valuable characteristic as it allows me to truly read people. 
• Casey, best friend, "You always make even the worst situations more lighthearted. You have the unique ability to improve everyones mood and bring a light to even the darkest of times" Casey says that my dedication to peoples attitude is part of the reason why people would want to work or me/ do things for me. 
• Hunter, sister, "You seemingly never ru out of ideas when tasked with a problem to solve, I have always been jealous of how creative you are." Hunter stated that I seem to never run out of ideas to through out whenever any question is asked no matter how big or small. 
• Dad, "Your adventurous spirit is something about you that I admire" My dad stated that being able to take risks and try new things will serve me well in the business world as nothing can come by playing it safe. 

3. Reflect on your differences

I tend to agree with everything my friends and family stated about me in their interviews. All of the positive traits they listed would be the ones that I would list of myself and I do see how they can be of benefit to me in my future entrepreneurship success. The only differences I would note is my confidence levels. My family and friends tend to be much more confident in my abilities then I am myself. I am definitely not one to brag or boast of any personal attribute or success I have so it is hard to hear such nice things being sad about me and owning u to agreeing with them. After all of this I do not think I would go back and change anything from the list of positive attributes I gave for myself. 

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Segment and people:
My last segment of people focused mainly on Gainesville residents who had older children, most similar to me in age range, to determine if a food festival would have been something they would have taken their kids to if it was available. This time I decided to take a whole new approach and go directly to the schools to ask administrators if this is something they would allow/appreciate. For my interviews I went to a local Gainesville Elementary school and asked to the Principal, Vice Principal and head 3rd grade teacher. After explaining what this company would be (an outside organization working with the school system to improve kids worldly knowledge by putting on  food festival monthly) each of the interviewees approved of the idea. They loved the idea of bringing in outside resources to teach the kids in a learning environment that was unlike the classroom, as they thought it would be a great disguise for something educational. The only real concern I heard came from the Principal and Vice Principal regarding the school boards rules and regulations when dealing with third party vendors. They said the only real hurdle that we would need to jump through would be obtaining the correct background checks.

Need awareness and information:
Given the three interviews and their responses I found that while people may love the idea they may not be able to choose the product simply off of what it offers but rather how well it complies with the rules and regulations of the organization. It seems to me that the schools will evaluate if they can employ this company based on how well it does in all security checks, how expensive it is, if the counties school board approves and if the parents seem receptive to the idea. These are all things I did not originally assume to be in the evaluation of the product when it came to thinking of people choosing to utilize the offered services. When dealing with a school though I now realize there is much more at stake so many more questions need to be asked and certain  features need to be in accordance before they can bring in something like this.

Conclusions:
My "product" is more of an experience that a company will provide and it has yet to be done yet so there is not really any completion that the schools can choose over us. The main issue would really be the security clearances the school has in place. Overall, the idea of the service would be one the schools would love to implement, as they mentioned in their interviews, and it would be a great way to teach kids in an unconventional way.

Halfway Reflection

Halfway Reflection

1. Tenaciousness is a competency
A few behaviors I have developed throughout the duration of this course all focus around being on top of and aware of upcoming assignments and their due dates. While each of these assignments may not be the most difficult to understand there are a lot of them so I have gotten very used to checking my planner daily and cross referencing the dates for assignments I have written down with those posted on canvas. I have also tried to get done the assignments done as earlier as possible as it is necessary for others to comment on your post and I want to give them as much time to do that as possible.

2. Tenaciousness is also about attitude
Last week was probably my most stressful week to date, I had family in town for the homecoming week as well as exams to study for and assignments due. While it was stressful and I felt overwhelmed I pushed through and designed a schedule I needed to stick to in order to  keep me on track and level headed. The thing that really pushed me through was knowing that by Sunday all of my stress would be over. Something that really helped too, was being able to physically cross things off my to do list. I have most definitely developed a tenacious attitude this semester after balancing all the different aspects of my life and receiving positive feedback from all.

3. 3 Tips
The three tips I would give a future Principles of Entrepreneurship Student would be to stay on top of each assignment. It is important to know the due dates of each assignment as there are no late submissions accepted. Next I would tell them to not wait till the last minute to complete each assignment. It is is way more stressful to try and complete assignments the night or morning they are due rather than space them out and work on them the week they are due. Procrastination always results in lesser quality work and its easier to get an assignment done when not in a time crunch. Finally the best way to become a tenacious student is to read peoples comments on your posts. There is no better way to improve as a student than to receive constructive criticism and feedback. Do not take it personally too as everyone is in the same boat and are just trying to help you improve.

this is a picture of me right before I went sky diving recently! 

Reading Reflection No.1

Reading Reflection No.1 

For my reading reflection I chose, Grinding It Out by Ray Kroc, where he talks about how he took a small business and transformed it into a global empire. 

1. After reading about Kroc and learning his story, I was most surprised that all of his success did not happen until much later on in life. He did not meet the McDonalds brothers until age 52, and that is when his real career began. I most admire that he did not let his past failures stop him, he continued trying regardless of many failed career attempts. The one thing though that I was a tad discouraged by was how reckless he was with some of his decisions. 

2. A few competencies I noticed of Kroc was his great work ethic and perseverance. He continued working random odd jobs in order to make ends meet even though it was not exactly what he wanted to do in life. 

3. The one part of the story that confused me the most was probably when he talked about the "shady" work he got into selling bad real estate. I was not sure whether that meant he was dealing with things that were illegal or if just taking advantage of people. 

4. The two questions I would ask would probably be what helped him get through all the hard times. What was the thing he held onto when he was in his darkest days because he seemingly never gave up. The other question I would ask would be how does it feel to know he was part of the one of the largest business in the globe, because that in itself has to be an incredible feeling. 

5. I think Kroc's opinion of hard work is that anything is possible as long as you are prepared to do whatever it takes to succeed in life and not give up. I agree with this too, as nothing ever comes easy and most truly success people have had difficult journeys in order to get to where they are today. 

Figuring Out Buying Behavior No. 1

Figuring Out Buying Behavior No. 1

Segment and People:
The people I chose to interview for this segment were those who lived in the suburbs of Gainesville and had kids ages 5-11. These people are the ones that would be open to the idea of exposing their children to more cultures but are struggling to find an inexpensive and feasible way to do so. The first person I interviewed was the mother of the children my friend nannies for who has two twin boys that are 8 years old. The second person I interviewed was a single father of one 10 year old girl who was my dads good friend from college. Finally, my third interview was with both the husband and wife who cook meals at my sorority house who have 3 kids all within the age range.

Need awareness and Information:
All of these people are very dedicated parents who really want to provide the best for their children. While they lead very busy and chaotic lives they seem to be invested in the growth of their kids, especially when it comes to who they will become in the future. After to talking to all of them, I found that they were extra concerned with the idea of making their kids well rounded as they are growing up very close to a highly ranked university that they would all like their kids to one day attend. The first two interviews both showed similarities in the fact that they wanted to expose their kids to need cultures and cuisines but just did not know how to do it. This is mainly due to a "self proclaimed" lack of skill in the kitchen and a lack of knowledge of ethnically diverse restaurants in the area. The last interview was different due to the fact that both the mother and the father were trained chefs who were skilled in many different cuisines. Their children, they revealed to me, already had a pretty good understanding of a variety of cultures as they started cooking dishes from around the world for the kids at a very young age.

Conclusions:
In summary, I found that the majority of parents were unaware of the exact need of cultural exposure but were open to the idea of solving the problem if given the opportunity. When asked how they would try to expose their kids to diverse cuisines on there own many said they would google the easiest recipes within any culture and they and prepare it themselves. After learning about the idea of a food festival put on through the school all the parents said they would definitely attend and even do more on their own to teach their kids. While each parent was not the exact same the best way I could label this newly found segment within the Gainesville community would be parents dedicated to the worldliness and growth of their kids.