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.