Week 15 Reading Reflection

This weeks' reading reflection has been very interesting being that the idea of microfinancing is something that I also recently discussed in my marketing class. SKS and what is is doing I think is great and I really think that they are stimulating the economy and giving people a chance to actually make money for themselves and be able to live comfortably. Something that I found interesting in the reading included the fact that SKS used some of the same business principles as a corporation such as McDonald's. To microfinance someone and give them the opportunity to use the money for the advancement of them and their family. I think the author did a great job explaining the concept and providing examples to show exactly how this process worked which made it easier to understand all together. I really enjoyed learning about this more in depth and being able to relate to it in another class.

Final Reflection

Throughout the semester this class has tested my ability to organize and not procrastinate as much when it comes to assignments. At one point f time during the class I was behind on assignments and had to miss a couple because of the workload from other classes also. It was one point of time I jut wanted to give up but I kept going organized myself more and prioritized better in order to better meet the demands of the class.My favorite assignment had to be the one that we had to identify things that bother us and figure out why these problems existed in the first place and how they could be fixed.This was one of the hardest assignments that I had because you do not think about all the things that bother you and why until they actually are happening to you. The elevator pitch exercise was also one that I think was very useful because you never have time to actually practice those. After this class I have been able to improve upon being an entrepreneur. This class really makes you take a step back and step out of your comfort zone and see what you skills are what you are good at and how far you can push yourself. It challenges you to go above and beyond what you usually expect. The main advice I would give to future students is to actually utilize the exercises you think you can and do not overwhelm yourself. There may be times where you may miss an assignment or two but always remember you can earn it back. The main thing is that you get out what you put into this class so make it your best.

Venture Concept No.2

Opportunity: The main people that this service is going to be catering to would be college students. In particular college students that are very busy during the day and the night. In college every student is busy trying to differentiate themselves by going above and beyond what is expected, plus dealing with the time constraint that University of Florida has does not allow many students enough time in the day. Many students are not able to get more than one meal a day so my service is going to cater to the typical busy college student. Snacks and light meals are becoming more and more common for college students but the problem is actually obtaining these snacks which can break concentration, study time and be a hassle for those who do not have a vehicle. The snacks that are easily available on campus do not have many options and students are usually forced to compromise. Snack machines and places like the HUB and the POD also do not stay open for extended periods of time. The market is concentrated around the University of Florida and appeals to males and females age 17-25 who are young professionals or full-time students. I think that this opportunity has a pretty big chance of succeeding but I think that the opportunity will not be open for long as delivery services are starting to become more and more diverse with their food options. Innovation is constantly happening and this opportunity can be an extension of an already existing business.

Innovation: Tap&Snack is the name of the app that I am going to develop for the snack delivery service. Tap&Snack will work essentially as an Uber for snacks while having students or employees that are not busy deliver snacks to and from locations in the surrounding area. Essentially a customer would choose a snack that they want from a local convenience store and pay for that snack plus a one dollar delivery fee. The snacks would be delivered at a certain time from a store clerk which would make the process easier and a lot more snacks would be able to be delivered at one time. The display of multiple students picking up snacks themselves would be a tool to get others to also wan to buy the snack.  The service would be open until 3am way past when most other stores are open. The best thing about this business is that the customer would not have to leave from the spot that they are currently at. The real revenue generator from this business would come from ad space form local business and or other companies that would want to advertise through the app. Tailoring to the needs and specific wants of the customers are something that I a lot of other service companies are not doing for such a small need.

Venture Concept: My service is going to be able to make the life of every college student easier for a very simple price. My service also offers customization and the ability to save time and add convenience to snacking and small meals.  I do not think that it will take that long for customers to switch to my business because as word spreads I think the business will grow and there is a big platform for that service to spread. Since this service is unique there are not many competitors but people that cold offer the same service would be services such as 2 Dollar Delivery and Doorstep Delivery.  Something that could cause this business to fail is the fact that this business is a service business so demand and revenue rely solely on the need for my service which could make things a lot harder when demand may not be as other times such as finals week when a lot of customers are stuck in the library all night. The packaging is not a big factor for my business since my service will be mostly business to business products. That being said, that is also an advantage because customers will already know what to expect when they’re product arrives. My business is going to be organized in a way that the flow of products from one location to another will be easy. Also, since delivery will be location based speed is something that is going to be emphasized because most people who want to snack want that snack within 5-10 minutes of the initial thought. Employees will be voluntary and to begin most of the initial deliveries will be made by people within the company but soon expand to those that are outside of the company.

Three Minor Elements

1. One thing that I think is really makes the business special and give me an advantage is the simple fact that I am a college student and one of the main ways this business is going to spread is word of mouth. It is nothing to have a good idea that no one is aware of so I am going to use the fact that I am a college student to help gain leverage within the college market. I also think that since many of the employees will also be college students it will also help in spreading awareness about the service.

2. The next opportunity that I am looking for is expanding beyond snacks and becoming the place to go for all college needs. For example, as I stated in the last exercise chargers, headphones and other things that college students just do not have enough time to go and get for themselves. The main goal of this service is to make college easier for everyone and I want to be able to offer anything that a college student may need away from home.

3. I want this service to be something that I can implement and have as a side business while pursuing my career. College students are a never ending market and as education becomes more intensive and time consuming the more people are going to need and appreciate this service. This service can also essentially run it’s self so not much will be needed on my part to make sure that 5 year later that this service is something that can still thrive.

FEEDBACK
The main thing that I received from my feedback is that my idea was a great idea for students and that it would be something that many could see as being successful in the future. Something that I did revise based on the feedback that I did receive is the method of which the snacks would be delivered. Since this is a B2B business many consumers would not wan to pay above retail price for a snack if they could buy it a regular price this meaning there would not be a large amount of profit and not funds to give drivers. Instead I would initially start the business with store clerks doing snack drops every 30 minutes at certain locations on campus. Once the app expands and gains revenue from ads and other sources of income then that is when actual employees can be hired. With that feedback I changed the original concept to match one that is more fitting.

Week 14 Reading Reflections

This week's reading reflection was very informative about creating a company culture that can correlate to evolving social trends. The main thing that interested me is the concept of social entrepreneurship which involves going beyond your own personal value. The type of leadership style called Ecovision is the best type for a social based entrepreneurs based on the text. The author did a good job explaining how a company must set a standard of company values or morals. This helps guide the company and future endeavors. The two questions I would ask the author is how do u tailor specific social trends to your company and how do you asses differing views between employees about values?

Going for Google Gold

Looking back on my SEO efforts I can say that I did not do as much as I could throughout the posts because of the amount of posts that I have. Some of the things that I did do to make it easier to find my blog would include making sure that all the posts had a keyword in the them that relates to the post and the blog. Since this was a class blog the use of social media was not as prevalent as I would have used on other blogs. The main focus was to attract my fellow peers to my blog to be able to leave feedback and advice. I think that social media can highly influence the amount of people that visit a blog and that it is a useful tool to utilize. The most viral post that I had was my Elevator Pitch number 2. This one had the second highest amount of page views but had more comments than the post  with more page views which was my first pitch . I think this post had the most traffic because it is something that a lot of people are interested in especially seeing someone talk about their company. I did not show up sadly on any of the initial Google Pages.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

Reflecting on the initial interview I realized that most of the questions asked were just focused on the broad scope of entrepreneurship. There was a lot of good advice about steps taken to become an entrepreneur and what that entails from the perspective of the person I chose to interview. I think that the first interview was good but I also wanted to get more in depth about entrepreneurship on a personal level. Once again the person that I chose to interview is Sean "Millz" Grant. Sean known as Millz to most of the public is the owner of Rain and Simons Nightclub in downtown Gainesville

1. If you could go back and change one thing in your journey what would it be?

•  " Even if I had the choice to change anything I wouldn't because I appreciate the struggle that I went through to be where I am today. When things are easier you don't appreciate them as much  and I respect the grind more than anyone else" He continued to talk about how everyone wants to take the easy way out now and does not want to actually go out and work for what they want. " Take life one step at a time and respect the process."

2. How do you deal with failure?

• " I make sure that I don't let it stop me. There are going to be days where a party or event does not turn out to be the best thing or not a lot of people show up but you shrug it off. Ask yourself man where did I mess up at. Failure is a part of the game everything isn't going to go the way you want but you don't stop until it does" 

3. Has there ever been a time you felt like giving up?

• "A couple of time yeah. There have been times when I said is this really worth it. It's not easy being a club owner and never having time for yourself or your family I think wanting to give a better life to my people is what motivates me to not stop and to keep pushing"

This interview I was a lot more comfortable asking the questions and a lot more interested because these were questions that I was able to formulate myself . I think that made me a lot more interested in the interview and also influenced me to get a lot more in depth information this time. Millz also seemed more interested because they were not generic questions that most people usually get. I think this interview went better than the last one.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

This week's reading took a lot at the steps and the process involved when wanting to buy or sell a specific business. Th main thing that stood out to me during this reading is the amount of questions and the details that go into buying an existing business. For example, due diligence questions are asked in order to help create a valuation of how much the business is worth. Valuation in itself is very dependent on many factors from the buyer and seller and change based on certain criteria. One of the main things that I learned is the benefits of acquisition rather than going through the start-up process themselves. I would ask the author how not being with the business from the start may cause managerial problems in the future, and what problems could occur from trying to transform visions across different owners. I think this week's reading really helped in understanding how much people can value a business across a spectrum and some key elements of that valuation.