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.