1. I id not have any surprises in this reading, it was fairly simple to understand and quite informative.
2. Nothing confused me as well, as I mentioned above it was fairly simple to grasp.
3. What is the main thing I should focus on when starting my venture?
What is the main thing that I should avoid when starting my venture?
4. I do not disagree with the author about anything.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Final Reflection
1. This semester was great, It definitely flew by. It was fun to read my blog and see my growth. by reading my posts it was apparent that I was struggling with a couple concepts at first. However the more of my blog that I read the more I was able to experience my growth. The hardest moments of this class were the assignments in the middle. It is always hard for me to finish what I started so I struggled a little there.
2. The most important experience for me was the interview one. It was incredible to sit down and talk to a successful entrepreneur and pick his brain. I will definitely remember that. My most joyous experience was interviewing people about what I should include in my company. And my most proud experience was probably improving my elevator pitch.
3. I believe that I am now an entrepreneur. Although I have not started my own company, I think that I am capable and I understand the psychology that goes into it.
4. The only thing that I would recommend is to use a planner. A planner was my knight in shinning armor for this class. Without it I don't know what I would have done.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Venture Concept No. 2
1.
Opportunity: From a very young age American children are lead to believe that college is the best time of their lives. We all heard it growing up, Dads reminiscing on fraternity parties, and Moms talking about how much fun they had with their friends. However, when I got to college I caught myself looking around saying "This is supposed to be the best time of my life". I am not sure whether I was spoiled growing up in Miami, however these years were nothing special. However, when I went to Tallahassee my freshman year I was enlightened to what could have been the most fun I have ever had. Everywhere I went there was hundreds of people. Entrance was very cheap and everyone was having a great time. Gainesville on the other hand had higher cover charges, more expensive drinks, and less attendance. I was amazed by this. That is like charging people more money to get in to a county fair than to get into Disney World. It literally made no sense. Therefore, I saw this as a huge opportunity to change the culture and make some money for my future endeavors.
Innovation: I wanted to create a promotional company that would be able to drive attendance through the roof by promoting efficiently. I would promote efficiently by having multiple promoters in each fraternity and sorority. Also, I would have campus promoters who were not greek affiliated. These promoters would be able to get the word out efficiently. When these people inspire enough people to go to the bar the bar would be able to cut cover charges and drink prices. The reason they would cut down these prices is because of the drastic increase to volume. The amount of volume that promotions would bring would allow the bars to remain profitable even when cutting their drink prices. Also, I would change the dimensions behind night life. I would make lady's night on both Wednesday and Friday. By doing this, I would be able to increase the amount of people going out effortlessly. also I would have drink specials on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. These drink specials would include BOGO Y-bombs, and all you can drink specials. The main thing that I would do to increase attendance is a bus system. On Fridays at around 6 I would send busses to every greek house to pick up everyone that wanted to go to the bars. These busses would take the people to whatever bar that has the happy hour that I created.
Venture Concept: The only competition that this company faces is competition from people who promote Downtown Gainesville. However, these people are typically older and not involved in the Midtown scene. The area in which I am able to beat them out is customer relatedness. As I stated above these people are typically older and are not as involved in the needs and wants of my generation. Therefore, I would be able to address those needs effortlessly and service to them.
2. For this exercise I did not receive any feedback because I did not do it originally. However, I did receive a lot of feedback throughout this class about this idea and I will touch on that. One of the main concerns people had about my idea was how I was going to decrease cover prices and rink prices. This is relatively simple to explain. You drive up volume. When you drive up the volume you drastically increase profit. It takes them little to nothing to make those things so they could easily drop their prices.
3. I tried to make my venture concept extremely clear as to how I would drop these prices so that people understood that I was not just blowing smoke.
4.
Opportunity: From a very young age American children are lead to believe that college is the best time of their lives. We all heard it growing up, Dads reminiscing on fraternity parties, and Moms talking about how much fun they had with their friends. However, when I got to college I caught myself looking around saying "This is supposed to be the best time of my life". I am not sure whether I was spoiled growing up in Miami, however these years were nothing special. However, when I went to Tallahassee my freshman year I was enlightened to what could have been the most fun I have ever had. Everywhere I went there was hundreds of people. Entrance was very cheap and everyone was having a great time. Gainesville on the other hand had higher cover charges, more expensive drinks, and less attendance. I was amazed by this. That is like charging people more money to get in to a county fair than to get into Disney World. It literally made no sense. Therefore, I saw this as a huge opportunity to change the culture and make some money for my future endeavors.
Innovation: I wanted to create a promotional company that would be able to drive attendance through the roof by promoting efficiently. I would promote efficiently by having multiple promoters in each fraternity and sorority. Also, I would have campus promoters who were not greek affiliated. These promoters would be able to get the word out efficiently. When these people inspire enough people to go to the bar the bar would be able to cut cover charges and drink prices. The reason they would cut down these prices is because of the drastic increase to volume. The amount of volume that promotions would bring would allow the bars to remain profitable even when cutting their drink prices. Also, I would change the dimensions behind night life. I would make lady's night on both Wednesday and Friday. By doing this, I would be able to increase the amount of people going out effortlessly. also I would have drink specials on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. These drink specials would include BOGO Y-bombs, and all you can drink specials. The main thing that I would do to increase attendance is a bus system. On Fridays at around 6 I would send busses to every greek house to pick up everyone that wanted to go to the bars. These busses would take the people to whatever bar that has the happy hour that I created.
Venture Concept: The only competition that this company faces is competition from people who promote Downtown Gainesville. However, these people are typically older and not involved in the Midtown scene. The area in which I am able to beat them out is customer relatedness. As I stated above these people are typically older and are not as involved in the needs and wants of my generation. Therefore, I would be able to address those needs effortlessly and service to them.
2. For this exercise I did not receive any feedback because I did not do it originally. However, I did receive a lot of feedback throughout this class about this idea and I will touch on that. One of the main concerns people had about my idea was how I was going to decrease cover prices and rink prices. This is relatively simple to explain. You drive up volume. When you drive up the volume you drastically increase profit. It takes them little to nothing to make those things so they could easily drop their prices.
3. I tried to make my venture concept extremely clear as to how I would drop these prices so that people understood that I was not just blowing smoke.
4.
Elevator Pitch No. 4
1.
2. People wanted me to present my concrete ideals. For instance, the last time I did this I did not really mention my plans for promotion as much as I mentioned how successful I think it could be. Also, they wanted me to be more engaging so I tried to engage the audience a little bit more this time around. I did not receive any surprising or silly feedback, thank goodness.
3. I changed my engagement with the audience. Also I mentioned concrete examples for how I was going to better attendance.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Week 14 Reading Reflection
1. Week 14 provided me with a deeper understanding for how many factors go into someones work. I enjoyed the pie chart segment on internal and external issues. Overall this was probably my favorite chapter.
2. Gradual internalization was pretty confusing to me. I am not sure why it was so confusing I think I was initially intimidated by the name. However it explains the different richness of certain economies.
3. Should you follow ethics or your own morals? How hard is it to incorporate ethics in a business that bankrupted for not having any?
4. There was nothing I disagreed with the author about.
2. Gradual internalization was pretty confusing to me. I am not sure why it was so confusing I think I was initially intimidated by the name. However it explains the different richness of certain economies.
3. Should you follow ethics or your own morals? How hard is it to incorporate ethics in a business that bankrupted for not having any?
4. There was nothing I disagreed with the author about.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Google Gold
1. For my blog I tried to limit how public it was. I am actually going to pursue this idea so I dd not want to reveal my future methods for my business. I worked very hard constructing my ideas therefore, I did not want someone to read my blog and take credit for my work. However, I did share it via Google.
2. My key words were, promotion, and entrepreneur. I selected these keywords because these words were what my company evolved around. I kept these words constant through out the semester.
3. Once again I did not try to publicize my blog as much as others. This idea really hit home to me so I kept it as sacred as I possibly could. However, as mentioned above I shared it through google. By sharing it I was able to have 500+ views.
4. My post on celebrating failure received the most traffic. I think this post contained the most views due to the fact that I was brutally honest when discussing my failure. It is apparent that people respond to honesty.
5. I made it to the 7th page. As mentioned above this is more or less what I wanted. I did not want everyone having access to my ideas. However, I am fine with a few people viewing them.
2. My key words were, promotion, and entrepreneur. I selected these keywords because these words were what my company evolved around. I kept these words constant through out the semester.
3. Once again I did not try to publicize my blog as much as others. This idea really hit home to me so I kept it as sacred as I possibly could. However, as mentioned above I shared it through google. By sharing it I was able to have 500+ views.
4. My post on celebrating failure received the most traffic. I think this post contained the most views due to the fact that I was brutally honest when discussing my failure. It is apparent that people respond to honesty.
5. I made it to the 7th page. As mentioned above this is more or less what I wanted. I did not want everyone having access to my ideas. However, I am fine with a few people viewing them.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Very Short Interview, Part 2
Part 1
When revisiting my initial interview I was happy to see how every question I had has been answered by this class. The initial interview was good not great. Bob provided me with great advice, however I wish I was easier to talk to and maintained a flowing conversation. Bob was very sincere and I really enjoyed rereading his interpretation of a entrepreneur.
Part 2
I avoided recording this interview to make sure Bob felt comfortable. I wanted to encourage open conversation and make it feel more personal and less like an assignment.
Question One: What was one time you failed?
Answer: One of the many times I failed was when I understaffed to cut costs. When I did this many of my clients were upset by the long wait times. This I had to change immediately.
Question Two: What was the way that you dealt with failure?
Answer: I am a very head on person. I attack things when I fail. Therefore, whenever I messed up my new focus was learning from that mistake and saying to myself that that will never happen again. Honestly, I really do not take failure to heavily.
Question three: How did you enjoy running your own company?
Answer: I loved it. Not every man is his own boss. I was never one that enjoyed being told what to do so having my own company was a dream come true. I mean yes it is hard, however it is also extremely rewarding and very exciting.
Part 3
This interview was exactly what I wanted to see out of myself. I aspired to having a real talk with this entrepreneur now that I know more about the process, and that is exactly what we did. Bob was impressed by my questions and said after every one "that is a great question". Bob was a great guy to interview and I figure that we are friends now. This class has definitely better prepared me for the interview process.
When revisiting my initial interview I was happy to see how every question I had has been answered by this class. The initial interview was good not great. Bob provided me with great advice, however I wish I was easier to talk to and maintained a flowing conversation. Bob was very sincere and I really enjoyed rereading his interpretation of a entrepreneur.
Part 2
I avoided recording this interview to make sure Bob felt comfortable. I wanted to encourage open conversation and make it feel more personal and less like an assignment.
Question One: What was one time you failed?
Answer: One of the many times I failed was when I understaffed to cut costs. When I did this many of my clients were upset by the long wait times. This I had to change immediately.
Question Two: What was the way that you dealt with failure?
Answer: I am a very head on person. I attack things when I fail. Therefore, whenever I messed up my new focus was learning from that mistake and saying to myself that that will never happen again. Honestly, I really do not take failure to heavily.
Question three: How did you enjoy running your own company?
Answer: I loved it. Not every man is his own boss. I was never one that enjoyed being told what to do so having my own company was a dream come true. I mean yes it is hard, however it is also extremely rewarding and very exciting.
Part 3
This interview was exactly what I wanted to see out of myself. I aspired to having a real talk with this entrepreneur now that I know more about the process, and that is exactly what we did. Bob was impressed by my questions and said after every one "that is a great question". Bob was a great guy to interview and I figure that we are friends now. This class has definitely better prepared me for the interview process.
Very Short Interview No. 1
The entrepreneur that I chose to interview is Bob Simon. Bob started his own elevator company when he was 40 years old. During his journey he experience multiple ups and downs and found a way to succeed. Bob learned from his mistakes and eventually overcame them.
Question 1: What was the hardest thing about starting your own company?
Answer: The hardest thing about starting my own company was quitting my previous job. It took a leap of faith to start this company and I'm very glad I did it.
Question 2: What do you wish you learned about entrepreneurship in college?
Answer: I wish I learned more about failing. It is easy to fail when you don't have much to lose. However when you start your own company you need to know how to avoid failure. minimizing failures is key.
Question 3: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Answer: It means that you are unique. You saw an opportunity and you took it. Not many people can say they've done what I did.
The main thing that I learned while speaking to Bob was that you can't be scared to fail. Bob quit his job to pursue something he liked and it turned out to be a huge success. That being said, entrepreneurs take failure as a learning tool and use what they learn for future success. Bob was an excellent interview and I greatly enjoyed this assignment.
Question 1: What was the hardest thing about starting your own company?
Answer: The hardest thing about starting my own company was quitting my previous job. It took a leap of faith to start this company and I'm very glad I did it.
Question 2: What do you wish you learned about entrepreneurship in college?
Answer: I wish I learned more about failing. It is easy to fail when you don't have much to lose. However when you start your own company you need to know how to avoid failure. minimizing failures is key.
Question 3: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Answer: It means that you are unique. You saw an opportunity and you took it. Not many people can say they've done what I did.
The main thing that I learned while speaking to Bob was that you can't be scared to fail. Bob quit his job to pursue something he liked and it turned out to be a huge success. That being said, entrepreneurs take failure as a learning tool and use what they learn for future success. Bob was an excellent interview and I greatly enjoyed this assignment.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Week 13 Reading Reflection
1. What I found surprising was the heavy focus on emotional bias. I think that this was a tad over expanded. I personally do not understand why someone would feel emotionally tied to a sinking ship.
2. I was confused by how someone would hold on to a sinking ship of a business. I feel as though that is irrational and not relatable.
3. I would ask about clues for purchase or sale of a company (not valuation methods). I would also ask for books on how to better value companies.
4. The only thing I disagree with is emotional bias. I do not think that is entirely true. Also I believe it to be quite rare.
2. I was confused by how someone would hold on to a sinking ship of a business. I feel as though that is irrational and not relatable.
3. I would ask about clues for purchase or sale of a company (not valuation methods). I would also ask for books on how to better value companies.
4. The only thing I disagree with is emotional bias. I do not think that is entirely true. Also I believe it to be quite rare.
Celebrating Failure
1. The area in which I continue to fail is remembering to do assignments. I am extremely busy and typically have a lot going on. However I made a planner I even began using sticky notes just to try to avoid forgetting. However, I can not seem to get it together. It makes me extremely upset when I do so.
2. What I have learned from it is if I do all my assignments ahead of time I have less room for failure. It has also made me learn useful tricks for remembering things.
3. I handle failure extremely poorly. I am my biggest critic. Although that is a strength it also makes provides for a lot of stress. I typically hammer in why I messed up and how it came to this. As of lately I have been improving the way I handle failure. It is not as necessary to focus on past mistakes. Instead I try to better plan my future. I am more likely to take risks now that I have a better understanding for failure.
2. What I have learned from it is if I do all my assignments ahead of time I have less room for failure. It has also made me learn useful tricks for remembering things.
3. I handle failure extremely poorly. I am my biggest critic. Although that is a strength it also makes provides for a lot of stress. I typically hammer in why I messed up and how it came to this. As of lately I have been improving the way I handle failure. It is not as necessary to focus on past mistakes. Instead I try to better plan my future. I am more likely to take risks now that I have a better understanding for failure.
Monday, April 4, 2016
My Exit Strategy
1) When I am done with my years at UF I plan on selling my business for profit. I want to use this business as a way to generate profit so that I am able to eventually create and manage my own hedge-fund.
2) I look at this business venture as a young man's dream. No one wants to be dealing with drunk young kids nightly when they are old and tired. However, I have always wanted to manage my own hedge fund.
3) My exit strategy has not influenced my decisions. I tried to not look at the exit it all and grow it to be as well off as possible.
2) I look at this business venture as a young man's dream. No one wants to be dealing with drunk young kids nightly when they are old and tired. However, I have always wanted to manage my own hedge fund.
3) My exit strategy has not influenced my decisions. I tried to not look at the exit it all and grow it to be as well off as possible.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Week 12 Reading Reflection
1. One of my biggest surprises was the emphasis on strategic planning. I understand that planning is important but I never knew that it had to be this detailed. Prior, I believed it planning was more on a trial and error basis. However, now I see that there is a lot more behind the scenes action.
2. I found the difference between entrepreneurial action and strategic action confusing and unnecessary. These are so similar that it is confusing and quite unnecessary to separate them. En entrepreneurs actions would be whats best for the company.
3. I would ask for him to go into detail about the differences of strategic and entrepreneurial actions. Also I would ask him for ways to improve my own strategic planning for small scale businesses.
4. I disagreed with his choice of separating entrepreneurial and strategic planning. There seems to be no difference.
2. I found the difference between entrepreneurial action and strategic action confusing and unnecessary. These are so similar that it is confusing and quite unnecessary to separate them. En entrepreneurs actions would be whats best for the company.
3. I would ask for him to go into detail about the differences of strategic and entrepreneurial actions. Also I would ask him for ways to improve my own strategic planning for small scale businesses.
4. I disagreed with his choice of separating entrepreneurial and strategic planning. There seems to be no difference.
What's Next
Existing Market
1. Since my venture deals with a service I tried to focus on how to best utilize this service. I focused on whats next by implementing drink specials, making entrance more efficient, and increasing campus involvement.
2.
3. In terms of growing in my existing market it is clear that I need to gain customer loyalty and support. Therefore, these interviews are extremely useful.. For instance, one future customer mentioned that I need to get promoters from multiple fraternities so that I am best able to get maximum numbers at every bar.
Also, I received advice on how to get guys out to the bar. A future client said that I should increase the amount of ladies nights and make sure that there are beer specials. Both beer and women seem to attract guys to the bars. This was incredible advice that I will take into account.
New Market
1. For the new market I looked at expansion of my service. I want to eventually control all of Gainesville's night life. Therefore, I interviewed people that enjoy going downtown to go out. Downtown is a huge market with a tremendous upside due to the amount of people it can hold.
2. The value that I am able to offer the people of downtown is a fairly simple one. I want to increase numbers at certain bars. By increasing numbers I will be able to lower drink prices. Therefore, people will be able to go out for cheaper and thus have a better time knowing that they aren't breaking their pockets.
3.
4. What surprised me the most about this new market is the fact that people seem to want the same things as the other market. However the main difference was the fact that people wanted a cheaper transportation alternative. This market wants cheaper transportation and cheaper drinks. Most of my assumptions were correct. It seems like wherever you go people are trying to spend as little as possible. Therefore, my service will allow them to.
This new market is still extremely attractive. I can fit a lot more in a downtown club than I can in a midtown bar. Therefore, I can make the downtown drinks cheaper and allow for a better time which will give me more customer loyalty and satisfaction. Overall this exercise has made this venture seem much more promising.
1. Since my venture deals with a service I tried to focus on how to best utilize this service. I focused on whats next by implementing drink specials, making entrance more efficient, and increasing campus involvement.
3. In terms of growing in my existing market it is clear that I need to gain customer loyalty and support. Therefore, these interviews are extremely useful.. For instance, one future customer mentioned that I need to get promoters from multiple fraternities so that I am best able to get maximum numbers at every bar.
Also, I received advice on how to get guys out to the bar. A future client said that I should increase the amount of ladies nights and make sure that there are beer specials. Both beer and women seem to attract guys to the bars. This was incredible advice that I will take into account.
New Market
1. For the new market I looked at expansion of my service. I want to eventually control all of Gainesville's night life. Therefore, I interviewed people that enjoy going downtown to go out. Downtown is a huge market with a tremendous upside due to the amount of people it can hold.
2. The value that I am able to offer the people of downtown is a fairly simple one. I want to increase numbers at certain bars. By increasing numbers I will be able to lower drink prices. Therefore, people will be able to go out for cheaper and thus have a better time knowing that they aren't breaking their pockets.
4. What surprised me the most about this new market is the fact that people seem to want the same things as the other market. However the main difference was the fact that people wanted a cheaper transportation alternative. This market wants cheaper transportation and cheaper drinks. Most of my assumptions were correct. It seems like wherever you go people are trying to spend as little as possible. Therefore, my service will allow them to.
This new market is still extremely attractive. I can fit a lot more in a downtown club than I can in a midtown bar. Therefore, I can make the downtown drinks cheaper and allow for a better time which will give me more customer loyalty and satisfaction. Overall this exercise has made this venture seem much more promising.
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