14A - Halfway Reflection

14A - Halfway Reflection

1) Some behaviors I have used to keep up with the requirement is to try to complete the posts as quickly as possible and knock them out of the park. Furthermore, by looking at what is needed a few days ahead, I can start planning out what I would do in the assignment. I am planning and working efficiently when I do work

2)  I wanted to give up commenting on others posts because sometimes I was lazy. Sometimes I felt like I was stretching comments out to make the word count because I couldn’t think of great information to add. What made me pull through is that I realize that this journey is important to not only actively do the assignments well but also analyze others situation and help them out. Just because this may not be a huge deal to me doesn’t mean that others won’t benefit from my input.

3) Three tips I would offer next semester’s students is to work ahead if you feel like you’re a busy person. These assignments, if done efficiently, can take very short time to do. And if you’re in a period where you’re feeling particularly motivated, work hard and work quickly so you don’t have to later Another tip is to make sure you are passionate about your idea. This will help you do the assignments because you will want to think about it and want to share your ideas. Finally, make your idea small scale and feasible in the short term. You don’t want to be working on an opportunity if it will take you years upon years to see any progress. Set small goals in your entrepreneurial journey.

13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

13A Reading Reflection No. 1

Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s

Ray Kroc

1.

What surprised you the most?

I didn’t realize that he was initially a salesman. I had no idea what this mans background was but it gives me hope that you don’t have to have the best education or the most elite job to be a billionaire. You just have to be at the right place at the right time with the right work ethic.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I admire his business philosophy. He had a tough-minded business philosophy and he stuck with that his whole career. He never strayed from his values of courtesy, cleanliness, and service while creating his fast-food empire.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

He seemed to take advantage of the brothers in almost an evil or vicious way. He definitely was cut throat.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

He encountered adversity initially from his wife. She did not believe that he should give up his job in order to pursue selling Multimixers to dairy bars throughout America. He followed his dream anyway and sold Multimixers to bars to start his business adventures.

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

He is extremely curious. This curiosity led him to be extremely observant of the world which actually led to him finding out about this new restaurant called McDonalds that was an efficient and effective business. From there he took the things he observed and was social and confident enough to talk with the owners that he learned from them about their business.

3. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The reading was done in a first person perspective years after the events happened. I am not sure if the thoughts and conversations are as accurate as the book makes it seem.

4. If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

What was the most significant turning point in your professional life?

What was the most important piece of advice someone has given you?

These questions would help me in my entrepreneurial adventure the most.

5. What do you think the entrepreneur’s opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

He embraced hard work and believed that anyone in the United States has the ability to reach their reasonable goals. I believe I share that opinion because I feel exactly the same way about reaching reasonable goals. I am a goal oriented person and I have set goals consistently for myself throughout my life. For example, my goal of becoming a personal trainer is a month away from completion. If you would have asked me if I could have done this a year ago I would not have thought I would be able to. But I embraced the grind just like I embrace the grind for any other goal I set for myself. If I want something, I go and get it.

12A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

12A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment: Residents living within 10 miles of San Juan, Puerto Rico whose water supply has been impacted by the hurricane.

Summaries: I found in my interviews that many people have created unique ways to save water. Some people have issues bathing because of the significant amount of water it uses. For most they limit showers and baths as much as possible to conserve their fresh water for drinking. Other people have gone to a rationing system because they are not sure when the next supply of water will come to the market. Furthermore, once this water gets to the market there are large lines to get to it, thus making the opportunity cost of searching for water huge. This is undoubtedly a horrible way to live.

Conclusions: This may actually hurt my profits though, if people are willing to go to this extent to save water they may have a better supply of water than I realized. I didn’t take into account the fact that people will adapt their lifestyles as best as possible to give them the best opportunity to survive. I initially thought people would live normal lives with less water. I now realize that this hurricane hits every aspect of someone’s life. 

11A Napkin

11A Idea Napkin

You - I am a people person, I know I can strike up a conversation with anyone and it can usually go well if they want to talk. I also have a background with Hispanic people as I am a member of the Hispanic Student Association here at UF. This will help me when I go to Puerto Rico because I understand some aspects of their culture and I can use that to my advantage when selling water bottles. May have a sales internship this summer. I aspire to be a personal trainer and physical therapist long term. I know I want to work in the gym industry to help people better themselves. I know this business will help me in my life because there are many opportunities to help people in Puerto Rico. Furthermore, many skills that I can’t even imagine happening will be developed because of this business. For example, one may learn how to accept rejection better by starting a business, and one can discover how they react to challenge.

What are you offering to customers - I am offering a mobile water distribution service They do not have enough clean water to survive, often finding themselves in long lines at grocery stores not knowing whether there will be water.

Who are you offering it to - to people in Puerto Rico that are struggling from the most recent hurricane.

Why do they care - They do not have enough clean water to survive, often finding themselves in long lines at grocery stores not knowing whether there will be water. They need water to survive

What are your core competencies - People may not have the ability to relate to Hispanics like I do. It takes a great salesman to standout from the competition, and I know I can do it. Furthermore, I believe the portable distribution service would set me apart so that smaller towns and villages can be supplied better.

I think the part that most sticks out would be me, because I am not fluent in Spanish. It may be difficult to communicate with Puerto Ricans. However, I can use google translate and I know common phrases that will make communication somewhat possible. On the other hand, the Who What and Why all fit together. They are all related to one another because of the fact that a hurricane hit Puerto Rico and devastated their infrastructure. This impacts water availability to the people of Puerto Rico.

9A - Testing the Hypothesis

9A - Continuing Your Opportunity Research

Who: People that are in areas that have sufficient water or weren’t extremely devastated by the hurricane. Although the may need water eventually, they might not want it right now because their money could be going to other options (Food, energy, etc.). People that have cheaper sources of water to purchase from.

What: the need I identified differs from another need based on a basic level. For example, people will not consume water if they are not thirsty. They may stockpile it, but nobody drinks unless they need the water. Another example relates to hunger. Nobody would drink water to satisfy their hunger, they would eat food. People eventually want a long term solution. Things like an infrastructure renovation. I wont be able to provide that.

Why: The underlying cause of the outsiders’ need is different than those on the inside because the outsiders have less of an immediate need for water. They may be using it for safety or a safeguard in the future. For example, when hurricanes come and hit Jacksonville my family stocks up on water for the short term. We don't have much plan for the long term. If our stockpile was sufficient, our most persistent need would be a fixed water infrastructure, not short term clean water.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who is in Puerto Ricans that have had their clean water supply impacted by hurricane. People that are running low on their water supplies	Who is not Puerto Ricans that have not had their water impacted by the hurricane. People that already have help from the government or other entrepreneurs.
What the need is Need for an immediate relief in the water supply of an area.	What the Need is Not Need for a long-term supply of water. This solution is only for short term problems.
Why the Need Exists Life relies on water, without water these people do not satisfy their physiological needs and could lead to other dangerous implications: crime, looting, etc.	Alternative Explanations People may not want water from me specifically, could be that I am a poor salesman or there is some bias against me.

8A - Solving The Problem

8A - Solving The Problem

Selected Opportunity- people in Puerto Rico do not have enough clean water for consumption because of the recent hurricane

Product/service that will solve the opportunity- bottled water packages could be used to satisfy the opportunity. Plan to fly out to Puerto Rico with bottled water and renting out a truck to transport the water to high population areas.

7A– Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

7A - testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1)      The opportunity I plan on pursuing is sending water to Puerto Rico and selling it to the residents and businesses

2)      Who: The people and businesses in Puerto Rico

What: do not have necessities like water

Why: Hurricane destroyed their economy and infrastructure and the help from America is starting to die down.

3)      Testing the who: Animals need water (pets), farmers need water for crops, resorts need water for clean swimming pools, people who like to garden cannot garden, people who are not close to supermarkets need water because they may have run out of their stockpile.

Testing the what: people need clean water, not dirty water

Testing the Why: some people may have poor water saving habits (they could be wasteful) and they may have poor storage (water could evaporate more than they want)

5)      I found that many people have stopped doing their hobbies that are water intensive (like swimming, gardening, etc) and tried to save their water as much as possible for drinking. They didn’t want to waste any water because they were not sure when they would be getting more. I think that my water plan may actually have potential because the demand is high right now and people may not want to have to go through what they’re going through right now so they will buy lots of extra water. 

6A - Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Regulatory

Opportunity 1:

Solar Panels tariff

Where I found it: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/forecast-shows-how-tariffs-will-hurt-solar-growth-state-by-state#gs.XAbQJGQ
What leads you to believe that this information suggests an opportunity might exist: solar panels are expected to decrease in prominence because of the tariff, alternative energy systems may gain in popularity (like wind power)
Who do you think is most likely to be the customer with the opportunity: middle class individuals that are wanting to protect the environment
Is the opportunity relatively easy or relatively difficult to exploit, why? Relatively difficult, need to choose an energy source and focus on that. Most likely would be wind power based on affordability. I have no experience with developing wind turbines for personal use.

Opportunity 2:

Washing Machines

Where I found it: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/business/trump-tariffs-washing-machines-solar-panels.html

What leads you to believe that this information suggests an opportunity might exist: the price of washing machines will go up because we have a tariff on them. There is an opportunity to make washer machines at a low price.
Who do you think is most likely to be the customer with the opportunity: The customer is most likely to be someone in a family that is in a suburban or rural area where they do their laundry not at a laundromat. Most likely mid to high income.
Is the opportunity relatively easy or relatively difficult to exploit, why? Pretty difficult to start a washing machine business because I have no idea how to make one and the time and effort it would take to get deals for the parts would be ridiculous.

Economic

Opportunity 1:

Puerto Rico struggling to obtain necessities of life.

Where I found it: https://thinkprogress.org/fema-puerto-rico-aid-4bf6fda50ca3/
What leads you to believe that this information suggests an opportunity might exist: Utility companies are running out of supply. Demand > Supply. Doesn’t look like the mainland will be stepping in to help Puerto Rico anymore
Who do you think is most likely to be the customer with the opportunity: I think that poorer individuals in Puerto Rico will be desperate for water, they will not be able to stockpile water from the store when the supermarkets open back up. Also businesses may be willing to buy my water and sell at higher price to locals.
Is the opportunity relatively easy or relatively difficult to exploit, why? Very easy to transport water bottles to Puerto Rico as it is a territory. Living in Florida means flights won’t be too expensive. Water is very easy to transport. Problem would be to transport water around Puerto Rico

Opportunity 2:

Greek life in Florida is falling apart, lack of parties and social life on campus.

Where I found it: https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/jacksonville/unf-greek-life-events-suspended-indefinitely

What leads you to believe that this information suggests an opportunity might exist? People want to go out and party/spend money on drinks for fun. With social atmosphere falling apart from Greek life being irresponsible, there is a demand for social activities.
Who do you think is most likely to be the customer with the opportunity? Customer would be social minded individuals at universities. Need to be older than 21 to drink
Is the opportunity relatively easy or difficult to exploit, why?  Very easy to rent out buses and get drinks. Can set up a party bus type of situation and