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.