Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

 The biggest surprise was the story of Saryamma and how, by joining SKS, she went from not having any money to support her family to propelling herself into India's lower middle class, allowing her husband to be free of bonded labor and sending her kids to school! It also surprises me that they only lend money to women.

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

I was confused with how he was able to get people to use his micro finance company, but obviously he used customer loyalty programs to appeal the most to customers interested in his company.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

How did you decide that it would be in your best interest and profitability to only lend money to women? Did this raise any problems?

How do you start an micro finance firm with no money? How were you able to convince friends and relatives to help you without them raising any doubt?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

No there wasn't. I look up to the author for realizing that he needed to build a new model to eradicate poverty, that it a true entrepreneur!

Final Reflection

1.) As I look back through my blog posts from the semester, I can definitely say that there were some really cool assignments that I enjoyed doing, and there were also some that I did not like as much and might have dreaded. The ones I enjoyed the most were more in the beginning of the semester, the Bug List assignment being my favorite because it really forced me to get thinking, and it was a lot of fun! I also really liked doing the world's biggest problems assignments, and I especially enjoyed reading about other people's posts and their opinions on why they thought each problem was bigger than the others. I thought the elevator pitches were fun, mostly because it gave me a chance to dress business and try out my new business attire (which I never wear). The assignments that I did not like as much were the customer interviews because I felt weird video taping strangers. But the one that takes the cake, the one I dreaded the most, was the free money assignment. I still feel awkward about it. 

2.) The most formative assignment for me was the twenty percent exercise, because I learned a lot and got a lot of good feedback on my post. The amount of positive feedback I received throughout the semester really surprised me. The experience that I will remember and that was also the most joyous experience for me was the secret sauce exercise. It gave me a chance to ask people who know me the best what they think of me, and it was very eye-opening and made me feel good to hear the nice things they had to say about me! I am most proud of myself for accomplishing all of the customer interviews and getting them all done, because that could be awkward and daunting at times.

3.) I think that I see myself as becoming an entrepreneur. I have definitely developed skills throughout this course that will help me in my entrepreneurial pursuits and will help guide me in the right direction. Working through the challenges of this course and seeing the rewards at the end of each assignment helped me see how important it is to put in effort in everything you do. I think I have moved toward having more of an entrepreneurial mindset.

4.) My one recommendation for students taking this course in the future is to get a head start and work ahead. Some of the assignments require more effort than just sitting down in one afternoon and doing them, so it's best to look ahead to what each assignment will require before the day it's due. Also, it feels good to look at what you have to do and realize it's already done! To perform best in this course, just take it seriously. After all, it will only benefit you in the future and help you develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

1.) The Pitch

2.) Reflection on feedback from last pitch.

I received a lot of positive feedback from my previous elevator pitch. People said I was clear and concise, and that my idea was well thought out. Someone also said I was well-versed and seemed confident in what I was talking about throughout my pitch. I'm glad I received such positive feedback from my fellow peers!

3.) What I changed based on feedback.

Based on my feedback, I once again kept my focus on sustainability and tried to come across with poise and confidence. I also tried to smile a little bit to make myself seem more personable.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

The potential customers for my product, which is a solar powered battery charging station, are students at the University of Florida who bring their laptops or cell phones to campus and need a place to charge them. My potential customers has the potential to grow to other universities who will implement my product on their campuses. Also, the potential customers are people who value sustainability and look for new ways to live sustainable lives. From the feedback I received from my first venture concept, a lot of people seem to think that this is a great idea and would work well on college campuses that value sustainability.  The nature of the need lies in how there are limited areas to charge devices around campus and also in how UF tries to be sustainable wherever possible.  It would be useful to place solar-powered charging stations in various areas around campus to increase UF's sustainability efforts. Sustainability is a growing industry in that climate change and the fear of depleting our resources is a growing concern in the world. Implementing a product that is useful but also can give people the opportunity to see how easy it is to be more sustainable in their everyday lives may appeal to the market. There are solar-powered charging stations already, but my product would provide students with immediate access to the stations as they will be placed all over campus for usability. This opportunity I would say is not huge but it isn’t small either. With a growing need for being ecofriendly and with UF valuing sustainable practices, I think it would be easy to implement. This opportunity will be open until someone comes up with a more efficient way to use renewable energy! I would hope that students would use his product just to say that they did something to be sustainable today.

Innovation

I am offering a way for students to be sustainable by using a renewable energy source (solar energy). I believe that my product is incrementally innovative because I did not invent the product, but I have a way to make a more useful product that people will use more frequently. My innovation is a station that will be set up on different parts around campus, that will have multiple battery charging outlets that students can use to charge their laptops or phones. The energy source comes from the solar power, so there will not be a need to plug in the station to any form of electricity; it just has to be outside with exposure to the sun. my idea is to use a strong solar panel that will allow for quick charging of devices, even if it is more expensive. Students are on busy schedules and need quick options especially for charging electronics. By plugging in your device to the station, it charges your electronic using solar energy. I originally thought this would just be a nonprofit business where students just use it for free. That is still the case, however, I want to sell the actual charging stations to campuses nationwide, for students to use all over and be sustainable. I would sell each station for $500, if I am able to contract with the solar contractor that I have contact with. I eventually want to sell my company to someone with more experience in the business industry who can market and sell my product on a larger scale.

Venture Concept

My innovation will address the opportunity I have identified because it is an immediate way for people to be more sustainable in their everyday lives, and it is accessible and easy to use for anyone. By implementing this product, UF will have another way for students to be sustainable on campus and show how easy it is to implement solar energy into products that can be used in everyday life. From feedback I have received, many people, students especially, think that this is a great opportunity that not only satisfies the need for students to charge their electronics, but also provides universities with another way to practice sustainability on campus. People who value the earth and believe that climate change is a big issue will care about this product and want to use it. Customers would use this product because it is free to them and they can charge their electronics sustainably. The competitors of my product are other solar energy companies, such as the ones who sell cell phone chargers that are solar powered. I may add another product line to my product that would be a customizable solar powered charger that would be an individual purchase. Packaging does not play a significant role in my business, it is more about the benefits of implementing and using my product. I would find people who value the environment to help me start my business. I would also contact the UF Office of Sustainability for advice and about the possibility of implementing my product onto campus. A student survey would also be useful, because already I have received nothing but positive feedback about my product. 

I think that my most important resource will be financial resources and business contacts. Both of these are vital to starting a business. Having a contact in the solar power industry will be a huge advantage when figuring out how to keep my costs low to start up my business. The next thing for my venture would be to increase my product offering such as selling solar powered individual chargers that are customizable to each consumer. What is next for me would be that I would hopefully build a prototype and sell it to the school, and then be able to sell my product to universities and campuses nationwide.

Feedback

I received mostly positive feedback about my product, with students saying that they would definitely use it if it were available on campus. One student said it would also be useful in heavily populated areas such as coffee shops or restaurants, so it may have the possibility to extend beyond just college campuses. Another student said that my idea goes above and beyond addressing an unmet need because I not only did that but also found a way to increase UF's sustainability methods on campus. I also received positive feedback about my exit strategy because students agreed that it would be great to sell my product and focus on my career path but also make money from the product.

I did not change much about my venture concept because I received such positive feedback and I also could not figure out many ways to change it to sound better and clearer than it already was. However, I did incorporate feedback into my concept based on the comments and suggestions I received from student feedback. I also included my exit strategy and examples.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I liked reading about the factors in large corporations that have exhibited successful innovations because it was very good advice and things you wouldn't normally think would be that important such as atmosphere and small, flat organizations.

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

The section about the entrepreneurial assessment instrument was confusing because I wonder if every entrepreneur even knows about it and there is a way to assess their skills.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Can you be both radical and incremental at times and still be successful? Because sometimes it is a good thing to take risks and jump to an idea.

How successful are companies that have innovation teams in regards to keeping everyone in the company on the same page when it comes to innovating? Because these teams are separate from the rest of the workforce so how do they stay as one big team.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I agreed with everything the author wrote about in regards to entrepreneurial mind-sets and ethical challenges. I especially enjoyed reading about the environment awareness and green capitalism that was discussed.

Google Gold

During the course, I did not even really think about Search Engine Optimization because it did not ever cross my mind that someone would be searching for my blog I should have thought about it a lot sooner in the course. That being said, some of the activities I did for each blog post that could contribute to SEO were talking about solar energy and keeping it at the forefront of each post, since it is what my product was based around.

I didn't really use keywords, but there were phrases that I said multiple times in a lot of my posts, which included battery powered solar charging stations and sustainability.

YouTube was the only social media platform that I used to promote my blog through elevator pitches and customer interviews, but they really don't have more than 20 or so views so it wasn't very effective. For the most part social media was ignored.

My most viral post was "The Twenty Percent." I think it obtained the most traffic because I did a good job with my interviews and also because one student told Dr. Pryor how good of a job I did! 

I was on the first page of google results when I typed in "Jennie Carmody blog." So I guess using my full name really helped with SEO!

Very Short Interview Part 2

I revisited the owner of the Cymplify coffee shop here in Gainesville for part 2 of this interview. My impression of the initial interview was that I really didn't know much about entrepreneurship, especially based on the questions I asked. I felt a lot more comfortable interviewing this time because I felt that I was more confident in my knowledge about entrepreneurship and was able to ask more intelligent questions. 

This is the set of questions I asked:

How do you see your business growing in the next 5 years?
He said that in the next 5 years he sees his business growing more. He hopes to keep on putting on more special events in the lot near his business, such as more food truck rallies and small food and music festivals. He also thinks that partnering with local businesses would be a good idea for word of mouth advertising. 

That being said, where do you see yourself in the next 5 to 10 years?
He said that he sees himself still running his business in the next few years, and hopes that business continues to grow and more opportunities for growth come about. He loves what he does and loves that everything in regards to his business are in his own hands, that is what he loves most about being an entrepreneur.

Do you have an exit strategy for your business?
He does not have an exit strategy for his business yet because he is still so dedicated and involved in its progress. But he says he will most likely sell the business when he gets too old to take care of it. 

I feel I have definitely grown in my abilities to understand entrepreneurship and what it takes to manage your own business. The entrepreneur did not really convey that I had progressed, but I believe he felt more comfortable in this interview than in the last when I was more hesitant to ask follow-up questions.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I thought that the traditional pricing model was surprising because event though both enterprises the same net worth and salaries, the net earnings are different therefore making the pricing different.

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

I was confused when the author was explaining the differences between the price earnings ratio method and the discounted earnings method. They both put values on companies but I guess they do it in different ways.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

How can two different business be valued the same yet one of them not be able to make sufficient returns? I was confused by this.

How can a business owner do the final valuation of the company without one of the elements that was talked about in the reading? What if they don't know about accuracy of projections or control factors?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I don't think I spotted anything that I disagreed with in this reading. The author did a good job of explaining things, especially by going over the terminology definitions when talking about letters of intent or LOIs.

Celebrating Failure

This past semester has been great, but it has also had its fair share of obstacles. On top of school, I work as a manager and event planner for a restaurant, and also have been volunteering for an event production company; it's been busy! I would say that the most notable failure that I have encountered this semester was a couple weeks ago while working  at the restaurant. I work at One Love Cafe, and my mom is the owner, so I am highly involved in the operation of the restaurant and try my best to make sure that everything always runs smoothly. Well, if you have ever worked in a restaurant, I'm sure that you would agree that this does not always happen- no matter how hard you try. Anyways, a few weeks ago we were having a typical steadily busy Thursday night, when our head chef had to leave because of personal matters. The other guys in the back are great don't get me wrong, but without the leader who usually calls out orders and makes sure everything is going out the way it's supposed to, things got a little crazy. Food tickets were getting lost, people weren't getting their food, items were missing from people's orders, and there were a lot of unhappy customers. I felt like we had failed that night big time. My mom claimed it was the most terrible night of her life, and it made me feel even worse! I had to reassure her that everything was going to be okay and tomorrow is a new day and everything will be fine. The cherry on top were the very hostile reviews that a couple people left on Facebook. They were bad. I'm at the point where they don't really phase me just because I think its sad that people have to post negative things about businesses that they have no idea the amount of effort and handwork goes into keeping them afloat. But I digress. This was the biggest fail that we had at the restaurant, and I wish that those customers did not have to have their first experience at One Love on a night where so many things were going wrong. I felt responsible and it made me feel horrible because all I want is for our customers to be happy! But the next day was smooth and everything went well, so everything turned out okay and my mom felt better too. 

From this fail, I learned that you cannot always control everything, and things like this happen-it's normal to have a rough time every once in a while. Sometimes things just don't go your way no matter how hard you try. You just have to remain positive and try harder next time. 

Failure is definitely hard, but it is also a learning experience. It teaches you to be strong and confident with your abilities, and shows you that sometimes even the hardest working people can fail. You just have to remain motivated and keep pushing through the obstacles life throws at you. I try to handle failure by always looking on the bright side and looking to the future; there is always a glimmer of hope in each failure you will encounter and there is always time to make up for things that don't work out perfectly. I think I am more likely to take risks now than four months ago, because this class has pushed me to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. Failure is something that is natural and it is going to happen to successful people; getting back up again and trying harder is what makes you stronger.

My Exit Strategy

1. Identify the exit strategy you plan to make.

The exit strategy I plan to make is to sell my business in the next 5 years once I have developed a solid and dependable solar charging station. Once I have broken into the market and sold my product to at least 3 different college campuses or businesses, then I will take the opportunity to sell it to someone who is an expert in the market and can take my business to the next level of profitability.

2. Why have you chosen this strategy?

I have chosen this strategy because this is a business that I most likely would do as a hobby/on the side, while still trying to go in the direction of the career I want to have. Once I get the business up and running it will be a lot of work and require a lot of time to run it once it becomes successful and the demand increases. Selling the business would allow me to make money from selling it while also providing people with a sustainable product from the person who takes over my business.

3. How has it influenced your decisions?

This strategy has influenced my decisions in a number of ways. First off, I wanted my business to be something that I could develop and then sell for a large amount of money while still keeping the business going by a different owner. It has influenced how I use resources because I can start out with a small amount of capital and use the solar contractor to help me make my product at a low cost. Once it is up and running it would be marketed to many different universities across the country emphasizing sustainability and then be sold to them, making a lot of money. This would attract someone to buy my company after seeing that it is profitable, who has a lot more experience in the marketing and business strategies than I would have if I were not to sell the business.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

It surprised me when reading about how a lot of entrepreneurs and business firms do not have the necessary skills, knowledge, or time to form strategic plans. I would think that this would be just as important as being innovative. In the study they talked about it said that 101 firms had no written plan, and it had a direct effect on their business performance.

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

I was confused about the chart that talked about the strategic approaches categorized as position, leverage, and opportunities. It was not very clear about how the three relate to each other.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

How can an entrepreneur be successful if he/she does not know how to strategically plan their business concepts and business ventures? It seems like a very important part of being an entrepreneur.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I think the author did a good job of laying out all of the items concerning entrepreneurial growth. Thought I was confused about a few things, overall everything the author said made sense and was knowledgable.