The Twenty Percent

In my home town of Anna Maria Island, there are many local businesses to choose from for this assignment. I choose the Sand Dollar. The Sand Dollar is a gift shop located on the island and is my favorite place to go and look for cute "beachy" things.  I have post a picture to give you a feel of the store. The Sand Dollar is a local business who's owner lives on the island.  The owner of the Sand Dollar did not want to be recorded but I was able to discuss with her about her company. When I asked her who her 20% she believed it to be islanders and tourists. I also believe this to be true seeing as how the store attracts islanders and tourists with its knick knacks. The owner actively tries to invest in items that she believes tourists and islanders would like. She said that because of this her sales are above the roof. She mentioned that she doesn't do any survey or ask customers about feedback.

I interviewed 3 customers. They didn't want to be videotaped so I uploaded the video recordings.

Reflection:After interviewing the 3 customers I believe they agree with the owners predictions.  It appears to be that the the entrepreneur  understand the customers needs. I believe that this is why the Sand Dollar has been a thriving company for many years. There weren't any differences from what the customers stated and the entrepreneur. I am having trouble uploading my second customer interview. Blogger is stating that the file size is too big. The problem is I don't know how to make the file size smaller. I will continue  to try my best and upload the video. It appears to upload the video but cut it off after a couples seconds.

Week 8 Reading Reflection

In this week's reading I learned how entrepreneurs get their companies up and running. It isn't easy to start a company. To start a company you need money and support which is what Kuratko discusses in chapter 8. I learned about investors and venture capitalists. I really enjoyed the venture capital myths and how Kuratko disproves them. I was a little confused on the venture capitalist evaluation process. I would like to ask Kuratko if he thinks the evaluation process is a good source of assessment and does he believe it to be necessary? I would like to ague with Kuratko that a person with little experience could have a brilliant idea but could be sideswiped because of the evaluation process.

Half-way Reflection

In today's blog post I will write a half-way reflection. It have been in this course (ENT3003 Principles of Entrepreneurship) for 2 months. Since beginning this course I have developed a better understanding of entrepreneurship  and skills needed to achieve this title. From doing exercises in this course, like handing out money or interviewing random people for opinions, I know understand the difficulty and much effort that entrepreneurs must face everyday. I also have learned that thinking like an entrepreneur requires understanding what customers want and their demands. After getting into a customers head you can find an unmet need in society. To those who are interested in taking this course next semester, I would stress not to be nervous or hold back in an way. I would make a list of idea you think would be successful in today's society and to think of all the aspects of your ideas. The behaviors I have learned through this course is confidence, boldness, and independence. If you have a business idea that you think is great and could thrive go for it.  There have been times where people weren't interested in hearing what I had to say. For example, when I was trying to complete the assignment, Free Money, there where people who looked at me and just walked away. It was difficult feeling rejection but the learning from  I look forward to finding out what the last half of this course has to teach me.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

Hello Business Bloggers,

In this weeks weekly readings I read an article published in the Harvard Business Review titled Rediscovering Market Segmentation.  I don't know why but it was confusing to me, even after I read it for a second time.  I was surprised by the context of what I was reading. Normally, our weekly readings are mostly related to creating a business and this week we learn about the other side of business: consumers. I know that Yankelovich and Meer were introducing a new way to track and observe consumer spending. What really confused me was there new way of determining what consumers want and how they buy. I understood that the new method involved tracking household consumers spending ( specifically when the razor example was mentioned), but in general (I don't know why) but I could not follow along with the reading. I think I needed some more back ground information on the subject which is what I think the authors could have done better at.  If I could ask the authors questions it would be what was wrong with the old ways of segmentation and predicting consumer habits based of that. Also, can there ever be a perfect way to tract consumer spending habits?

Elevator Pitch No. 2

Hello Buisness Bloggers!

Hope you all are having a great week! Today my blog post will include my second shot at an elevator pitch. I had my roommate record me instead of using my webcam like I did last time. From my first elevator pitch I changed a few things. I received feedback that I was nervous and shaky, and I was. In my second try at an elevator pitch I tried not to show to the camera that I was nervous. I also received feedback I could elaborate more and I tried to fix that also in my second pitch.  (Please excuse my hair in the video, I was having a really bad hair day. )

Customer Interviews No. 3

In my final round of interviews I received a greater understanding of students wants on the issue. My interview process went similarly to the last two rounds of interviews. I asked the year of the student, if he/she had a car and what they thought about parking on campus. After this final round of interviews I felt that I received good enough information to draw a conclusion. I felt that from a vast majority of the students I interviewed most felt that parking was a hassle that needs to be fixed. In addition students would pay for a parking spot in a parking garage right next to or on campus.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this weeks reading. The biggest surprise to me was last week in macroeconomics we learned something similar to Porter's forces. In microeconomics we learned about how fast growing industries that make a huge profit very fast won't always stay that way because of competitors and substitutes. In Porter's five competitive strategies we learn the same thing. I really enjoyed the similarity between my two classes. Since the last chapter of macroeconomics was similar to Porter's strategies nothing confused me too much or that I disagreed with. I would like to ask the author if there is any way that due to the ability to copyright a product can you eliminate a chunk of competitors? Also has this ever worked in the past? All in all I really enjoyed this weeks reading.

Idea Napkin No. 1

Good Afternoon Business Bloggers!

   Today, I am writing more in depth of me and the business opportunity I wish to pursue. First, I would like to start with a brief description of who I am. I am a second-year student at the University of Florida. I hope to graduate with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Innovation.
  My business opportunity was to find a solution to the parking conundrum on campus, on behalf of my fellow students. I feel strongly that there could be a big business opportunity in parking at UF. Though my business opportunity probably will change, it is the foundation I am working off of. If I where to start a business, I think it would take over a big junk of my life. Starting a business requires much time and effort that a college student's schedule does not allow. So, perhaps starting a business now would not be the best idea. However, I can always brainstorm.  After interviewing customers and taking into consideration the limited space available at UF, I have tailored my opportunity into a more detailed foundation to work off of.
  I wish to create a service that transports students to and from their apartments/pick up locations at a click of a button. This service would be at a low cost because students typically are on a tight budget. Even more important, the service would be in high demand and would attract many customers returning a profit.  Customers are students that attend UF as well living in a close proximity to the university. From my interviews, it is clear that students desire better access to parking on campus in order to conveniently walk to class. I feel that this service is different from similar services like Uber because it is a set low price and is specific to University of Florida students and sponsored by University of Florida. Additionally, this service would focus on hiring UF students, since jobs for college students are usually in high demand.
   Confident about this business opportunity, I recognize that there could be confounding variables affecting my service, but on a holistic level, I know my service meets the demands meet of students. I feel like many would compare my service to others like Uber but due to the short distances students would be picked up and dropped off the price would be low because of gas.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

This week in chapter 9 I learned about new venture start-ups! I think this has been the most interesting chapter so far because it teaches how to create an environment for your new venture. What stood out to be the most was the paragraph about legal issues that might arise. It is easy to see the bright side of starting a business but no one expects to be receiving law suits. The area that was slightly confusing to me was The Elements Affecting New-Venture performance. It was difficult to understand the idea where the author was trying to prevail but as I read it understood. I don't disagree with anything the author writes because I am learning from Kuratko's book. If I could ask the author a question it would be if he began any business venture that he didn't think went as he expected?

Interviewing Customers No. 2

Hey Buisness Bloggers!


  In this weeks blog I did a second round of interviews for my student parking on campus opportunity. In this round I felt like I ask more questions that exemplified the emotions students felt on campus parking. After interviewing last week and this weeks interviewers I came to the conclusion that many students feel that parking on campus is a hassle and a issue that needs to be resolved. Many students feel that parking on campus should be free. Some students take the bus and feel that is working for them. Some students can't reach class on time because they are too busy looking for any available parking spot. I felt that I interviewed the right customers last time. I interviewed students that attend the University of Florida. This time however not only did I interview several students but I interviewed a former gator faculty and faculty member. I feel that this gave me a different perspective on the parking situation. Also this time I interviewed  students that live off campus vs the interviewees from round one that lived in the dorms.  My questions from round one where similar to my questions this round because I feel they retrieved the necessary information. After round 2 I felt that I had a good understanding of students problem with parking.

Tips for interviewing: 

• Be prepared with your questions
• Make the interviewee feel comfortable
• Make sure you get different genders and age groups to interview

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Hello Business Bloggers!

 This week I am doing an elevator pitch on my business app! My app is called KEY. It opens a car door from your phone. Many have trouble getting into their car because they can't find their car keys. KEY can get you into your car at the click of a button.  KEY is an easy efficient solution to lost keys or key jams.