Final Reflection

By completing this course, I was able to exit out of my shell and become a new and more confident person. Countless experiences contribute to this; however, one of the most interesting ones was the Figuring Out Buyer Behavior assignment. By completing this assignment, I interviewed random students which made me uncomfortable in the beginning. Although I consider myself outgoing and social, I was nervous but it ended up being a really great experience and one that I will not forget. In addition, the secret sauce assignment was one of the most enjoyable ones. Having friends give me their opinions on some of my strengths and personality traits was interesting to hear. Some of my friends gave answers I was expecting and others see some of what I thought were my weaknesses as strengths.

I definitely see myself as more of an entrepreneur than I was before I took this class. I have always thought I had a business/entrepreneur side to me since my dad and grandparents are entrepreneurs/business owners. I think I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset because of this class and I am thankful for it.

My one recommendation I would make to students who are going down an entrepreneurial path in the future is do not be defined by your failures. Everyone fails, but not everyone is determined to turn their failure into success. It takes a large amount of grit, passion and mental toughness to truly learn from your mistakes and turn it into a positive learning experience. To perform best in this class, you should watch the lectures and be organized. As long as you stay organized and do not forget to complete or submit an assignment, you should do well. In order to foster that mindset, you have to be prepared to step out of your comfort zone for whatever an assignment asks of you and make time to complete the work.

Venture Concept No. 2

In order for any business idea or product to succeed, there must be an opportunity, innovation and a venture concept. An opportunity can be described as who you are providing the product to and what you need you are attempting to fill for them. An innovation can be described as a creative or relatively newer way to solve the need that the customer has. This process can either change the way people go about their daily life or provide a new way they fulfill their unmet needs. A venture concept can be considered how one administers the innovation of their product to the opportunity they are reaching toward. This is the ultimate reason in which customers would rather use your product rather than someone else’s, it is the difference-maker in the business world.

Opportunity

With opportunity comes customers and unmet needs. For my product that I am providing to customers, I am fulfilling their unmet need with parking. I am catering my product toward University of Florida students who are aged from 18 to 22 and drive either a car or a scooter (or both). These students specifically live near Fraternity Row. The majority of these students are in fraternities; however, some may live at Springs Complex or sorority houses nearby. The force in the environment creating this opportunity is the growing frustration that students have aimed at the current parking situation on Fraternity Row. This opportunity is huge; there are a large number of students who park in this lot or who would like to, but the parking lot is not built for that many people or the types of vehicles that currently park there. The customers are not very loyal to this parking lot now. They want changes to occur- at the very least they want the parking lot renovated to have larger spots for people to park in. The window of opportunity for this business opportunity will be open for as long as the University of Florida does nothing about this. This could be years until a change is made, and it seems inevitable that someone will do something about it soon.

Innovation

With opportunity comes innovation- changes necessary to keep the customers happy and loyal. The service that I am providing to my customer segment can be considered an incremental innovation. It does not change the way people live their life such as the invention of a smartphone or a plane. My product offers a new way in which students can park their car or scooter. A new parking lot with many spaces, and larger spaces than the current parking solution provided by the parking lot on Fraternity Row has better features. This makes parking extremely more convenient for my customers, which is exactly what they are looking for. They want to save time looking for spaces to park in, and have spaces large enough to park their big trucks or large vehicles without the chance of getting in an accident or fender bender. I am making money by selling these spaces in the new parking lot to students who want to purchase them. Once these students realize how much time and how much easier it is to park in this lot, everyone will want to hop on the trend. I am selling these spaces for $90 per semester or $175 for two semesters. This is 10$ more expensive than the current lot, but it is the only way I make my money back for my investments.

Venture Concept

My venture concept is what separates my product from the current parking lot on Fraternity Row. Customers would switch to the service my product provides rather than their current solution because mine makes their life easier. The solution I am providing solves their most important needs when parking anywhere: convenience and safety. My solution not only guarantees spots to students who pay for my product, but it makes the spaces larger in length and width. Due to the increase of the size of the overall space, the parking lot becomes safer as cars are not as close to each other as they were in the lot on Fraternity Row. The customer experience on my product is impacted by the location and price of my product. As I stated previously, the price is extremely fair and equivalent to the added benefits my product offers. There are no true competitors to my product. The only competing service is the parking lot on Fraternity Row. The only thing my business venture needs to turn this idea into a product is a construction crew and investments of time and money.

Three Minor Elements

The most important resource that my business has is connections. Having a certain network of connections with people in the business world can help bring my product to new heights. Competitors cannot copy my success because the customers I am providing to are loyal to the solution they choose. The only thing that can sway them away from my product is a competitor providing an extremely low price for the same service, which is very unrealistic and unlikely. The next product that could be aimed at my existing customer segment is something I have not thought about yet. However, I know it will have to be something revolved around improving the lifestyle of a college student. I think that this venture will be a one-and-done for me. I plan to do this, then build upon my business network and connection as a result of it. This will help me realize what it is actually like for an entrepreneur fighting real world problems and solving customer needs.

Based on the feedback I received from my first venture concept, I did not make many changes. Much of the feedback reiterated and agreed with my ideas. I was glad that many people agreed with them!

My Exit Strategy

For my business, I plan to sell it to the University of Florida once I start making enough profit on my product. This could take up to five years. As a result, I will not only rely on this business on my sole source of income. I plan to explore other business ventures and entrepreneurial endeavors and use this as a side business/project.

I selected this particular exit strategy because this is something I do not see much profit in. And once I start making profit in my product, I think it is best to move on from it. It does not have much potential to grow and I can only see a steady or declining market for it. I also have my future set on other business industries such as the sports world or entertainment.

I personally do not think that my exit strategy has influenced the other decisions that I have made in my concept. I make all of my decisions in my business concerning profit and customer needs. The whole purpose of creating this product was to improve the lifestyle and convenience of University of Florida students. My mindset has not changed based on the fact that this will be a side business to my other ventures. I still care about it as a University of Florida student and want to help as much as I can while still making profit.

Reading Reflection No. 3

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

The overall message of this book is that people should look at failures with an entire new perspective. Adams talks about his life story as an entrepreneur and discusses how he maintained his motivation and happiness through all of his failures which guided him to his success. Three important lessons learned throughout the book include building systems instead of goals, think of activities in terms of time and space and learn more about yourself through your strengths and weaknesses to see what job you are fit to do.

This book connected with what we are learning in ENT 3003 by going into further detail and personal experiences on some information we learned in the lectures. Things like taking risks in the business world and creating success out of your failure were discussed in depth in this book. This was also discussed in class but it is great reading about it in someone’s personal experiences.

If I were to create an exercise for ENT 3003 based on this book, I would have students create a list of their strengths, weaknesses and hobbies. I would want them to see what they think they are passionate about and good at completing. After doing this, I want students to search for jobs or internships that have employees with similar strengths/weaknesses and hobbies. This would incorporate a lesson from the book and simultaneously help students find what they are looking for in a job or work environment.

The lesson taught that surprised me the most and changed my perspective on goals was that you should build your life around systems contrary to goals. It was described that the two flaws with goals are that they are in the future and they are specific. I originally expected that this made goals better, but the reasoning Scott provided illustrates a different and eye-opening perspective.

Celebrating Failure

This past semester has taught me many lessons through my failures. For example, one of my friends knows an aspiring rapper who was looking for a songwriter and I volunteered to help. The rapper asked me to write a song for him using a certain beat that his producer made for him. I kept writing lyrics until I thought I compiled a perfect song that would fit his rapping style and the song’s beat. However, I was wrong. The rapper and producer both thought the lyrics I wrote did not synergize well with his style and the instrumental. I tried a couple times to come up with better lyrics and I failed continuously because I did not know what they were truly looking for.

I learned that maybe I should not write songs for aspiring rappers who I have nothing in common with. I also learned that instead of writing about certain things that relate to only my life in songs, I can write about issues around the world and make it more relatable to the audience I am trying to reach.

In general, I think failure is definitely hard in the moment. Meaning that for a couple of hours or even days, one can get distracted by his/her failures. However, I try to look at failure as a way to go about things differently. I try to learn by my mistakes and think of new ideas to approach whatever I am trying to accomplish. It is hard to do this initially, but once you can accept the failure you must know it is time to look at it as an opportunity. This class has helped me become more confident in myself to take more risks. I learned that even if I fail, I had a helpful learning experience that I will use to grow and better myself.

What's Next?

Existing Market

For my product and services for my venture, I believe that talking to President Fuchs and approving a property where I can buy to build my parking lot is the next step. I believe that once I get the rights to land around where the best location to be, I can focus further on what will draw the customers to my product and what innovative features I would need to attract more. In the customer’s perspective right now, they think of this product as an idea and they really it. I want to show them that this is a real product that is in the making.

In terms of growing my existing market, the thing that makes the most sense is showing them that this is not just an idea, but rather a reality. I want them to know that changes are coming and the best way to show them this is by starting my construction. It would attract people who I did not even know were in my customer segment. In addition, every in my customer segment would be pleased to know that their needs are on the way to being fulfilled.

New Market

Instead of targeting fraternity students are students living near fraternity row, I decided to target University of Florida students who do not live on campus for my radically different market. My venture concept is able to create value for people in that market by giving them a spot to park their car or scooter while they are on campus. If these students do not live on campus and have either a car or scooter, they are using their vehicle to get to class but may not have anywhere to park it. My venture concept covers this issue and provides them a trustworthy solution.

I do not think that this new market would be best to target for my product consumption. Although I do believe that some people from this market would benefit from and purchase my product, it is not feasible to allocate my marketing efforts and resources to draw these customers in. The majority of my customers would not be from this segment, so I would not want to change my product design or features to draw more people from this segment and lose some from my existing segment.  

Venture Concept No. 1

In order for any business idea or product to succeed, there must be an opportunity, innovation and a venture concept. An opportunity can be described as who you are providing the product to and what you need you are attempting to fill for them. An innovation can be described as a creative or relatively newer way to solve the need that the customer has. This process can either change the way people go about their daily life or provide a new way they fulfill their unmet needs. A venture concept can be considered how one administers the innovation of their product to the opportunity they are reaching toward. This is the ultimate reason in which customers would rather use your product rather than someone else’s, it is the difference-maker in the business world.

Opportunity

With opportunity comes customers and unmet needs. For my product that I am providing to customers, I am fulfilling their unmet need with parking. I am catering my product toward University of Florida students who are aged from 18 to 22 and drive either a car or a scooter (or both). These students specifically live near Fraternity Row. The majority of these students are in fraternities; however, some may live at Springs Complex or sorority houses nearby. The force in the environment creating this opportunity is the growing frustration that students have aimed at the current parking situation on Fraternity Row. This opportunity is huge; there are a large number of students who park in this lot or who would like to, but the parking lot is not built for that many people or the types of vehicles that currently park there. The customers are not very loyal to this parking lot now. They want changes to occur- at the very least they want the parking lot renovated to have larger spots for people to park in. The window of opportunity for this business opportunity will be open for as long as the University of Florida does nothing about this. This could be years until a change is made, and it seems inevitable that someone will do something about it soon.

Innovation

With opportunity comes innovation- changes necessary to keep the customers happy and loyal. The service that I am providing to my customer segment can be considered an incremental innovation. It does not change the way people live their life such as the invention of a smartphone or a plane. My product offers a new way in which students can park their car or scooter. A new parking lot with many spaces, and larger spaces than the current parking solution provided by the parking lot on Fraternity Row has better features. This makes parking extremely more convenient for my customers, which is exactly what they are looking for. They want to save time looking for spaces to park in, and have spaces large enough to park their big trucks or large vehicles without the chance of getting in an accident or fender bender. I am making money by selling these spaces in the new parking lot to students who want to purchase them. Once these students realize how much time and how much easier it is to park in this lot, everyone will want to hop on the trend. I am selling these spaces for $90 per semester or $175 for two semesters. This is 10$ more expensive than the current lot, but it is the only way I make my money back for my investments.

Venture Concept

My venture concept is what separates my product from the current parking lot on Fraternity Row. Customers would switch to the service my product provides rather than their current solution because mine makes their life easier. The solution I am providing solves their most important needs when parking anywhere: convenience and safety. My solution not only guarantees spots to students who pay for my product, but it makes the spaces larger in length and width. Due to the increase of the size of the overall space, the parking lot becomes safer as cars are not as close to each other as they were in the lot on Fraternity Row. The customer experience on my product is impacted by the location and price of my product. As I stated previously, the price is extremely fair and equivalent to the added benefits my product offers. There are no true competitors to my product. The only competing service is the parking lot on Fraternity Row. The only thing my business venture needs to turn this idea into a product is a construction crew and investments of time and money.

Three Minor Elements

The most important resource that my business has is connections. Having a certain network of connections with people in the business world can help bring my product to new heights. Competitors cannot copy my success because the customers I am providing to are loyal to the solution they choose. The only thing that can sway them away from my product is a competitor providing an extremely low price for the same service, which is very unrealistic and unlikely. The next product that could be aimed at my existing customer segment is something I have not thought about yet. However, I know it will have to be something revolved around improving the lifestyle of a college student. I think that this venture will be a one-and-done for me. I plan to do this, then build upon my business network and connection as a result of it. This will help me realize what it is actually like for an entrepreneur fighting real world problems and solving customer needs.

My Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.     Skills

Valuable: In order to succeed, you must have the proper skillset to suit the industry/venture you are entering.

Rare: Not everyone has the skills necessary to succeed, so it is somewhat rare.

Inimitable: It is hard to just have the skills, you must practice what you are working towards.

Non-substitutable: Other people can have the skills necessary, they are just hard to find.

2.     Employees

Valuable: In order for my project to be built, employees are necessary for the hard work to be completed.

Rare: Employees are not rare.

Inimitable: It is not inimitable to have employees.

Non-substitutable: There are other employees that can provide the same services.

3.     Connections

Valuable: In order to get the permission to complete my project, having connections and a social network is vital.

Rare: It is rare to have great connections in the business world.

Inimitable: It is hard to copy having good connections.

Non-substitutable: There is no substitute to having a good business network.

4.     Financial Capital

Valuable: As a way to fund my project, money is a key part.

Rare: It is not rare to have money to fund a business venture.

Inimitable: It is hard not to have finances to fund a business.

Non-substitutable: There is no other way to fund a business besides money.

5.     Equipment

Valuable: In order to build my product, equipment is necessary to construct it.

Rare: It is not rare to have construction equipment.

Inimitable: It is easy to copy construction equipment if you are a construction company.

Non-substitutable: It is, there are other resources you can use.

6.     Customer Loyalty

Valuable: Having a loyal customer base is extremely valuable.

Rare: It is pretty rare to have customer loyalty.

Inimitable: It is not inimitable; but can be built and maintained over time.

Non-substitutable: Having customer loyalty is not substitutable.

7.     Educational

Valuable: It is extremely valuable for a business to have educational capital.

Rare: It is rare for smaller companies to have this.

Inimitable: It is inimitable through time and dedication to the job by employees.

Non-substitutable: It is hard to substitute educational capital.

8.     Intellectual (partnerships/ way of doing things)

Valuable: Having a certain way of doing things is extremely valuable and efficient.

Rare: It is rare for certain businesses to have a high degree of intellectual capital.

Inimitable: It is hard for companies to copy intellectual capital.

Non-substitutable: There are no substitutes for time spent and experiences gathered.

9.     Organizational Culture

Valuable: Having a positive organizational culture is extremely valuable and sets up a productive work environment.

Rare: It is not rare to have a positive organizational culture.

Inimitable: It is easy to copy a certain companies rules and work environment based on the hierarchical structure and office layout.

Non-substitutable: There are not many substitutes for having a great organizational structure.

10.  Fraternity Students

Valuable: These students and some of my friends are extremely valuable to my business.

Rare: It is not rare for other companies to rely on these students for financial income.

Inimitable: These students live close to where my product will be, so it is hard to copy that.

Non-substitutable: There are not many substitutes for this customer segment of mine.

After completing the VRIN analysis, my top resource is business connections. It is extremely vital to my venture because it sets up my business. To further explain, my product can only begin from the business connections I establish. This would be talking to and convincing UF President Fuchs, getting employees and construction workers, and establishing connections with my customer segment. This is by far the most important resource to my business venture.

Reading Reflection No. 2

The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, Guy Kawasaki

1.     The general theme of this book was how to help someone to grow their social media account and their presence on certain media outlets. Some of the lessons the book taught me were to take care of my social media accounts as if it is a business, give content that your followers will actually want to see or hear and use other social media platforms to get your points across (utilize each one together).

2.     The book enhanced what I was learning in ENT 3003 based off the idea that it is vital to expand one’s social/business network and connecting to your target audience is key. Both of these were huge points made in the book and throughout this class, and I was happy to go into deeper detail on them while I was reading the book.

3.     If I had to design an exercise for this class based on the book, I would have the exercise be bringing your product to social media. This would be possibly making an account and promoting your product on these social media applications such as Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and seeing the people who would realistically be interested in the product.

4.     I honestly thought that the biggest “aha” moment I had when reading the book was when it discussed the lesson of giving content that your followers actually want to see rather than posting stuff about yourself/interests. This definitely makes sense to me now; as an entrepreneur, it is vital to gain interest and attention to your account by providing things your target audience (followers) want to see.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

Based off the feedback I received from my last elevator pitch, I wanted to make attempt more personal. I tried to memorize what I was going to say beforehand so I would not stumble on my words. I like how the feedback also said that I cared about what I was talking about and my body language showed that I was interested in helping these students find a solution. Overall, I think the feedback was great and allowed me to make a more personal and well-prepared pitch. I combined all the elements of the feedback I received and decided to go with this video as my third elevator pitch. As they say, the third time is the charm.

Growing Your Social Capital

1.     Matthew Toren is the founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com, and he grants many people advice and mentorship on how to make your idea become a reality. His website is one of the biggest social networking sites/groups for young entrepreneurs throughout the world.

2.     Matthew Toren can be considered a domain expert. He gives up-and-coming entrepreneurs great advice on how to start, grow and maintain their businesses and provides a platform where other people can help you through networking as well.

3.     I found this person on Twitter when I was looking up successful entrepreneurs. I found his email on the internet and also direct messaged him on Twitter.

4.     Sadly, Mr. Toren did not answer any of my messages yet. However, if he eventually does I am sure it will be extremely helpful advice or tips that I may not have thought of yet.

5.     Including this person in my network will make this idea become an actual business concept. He has much experience with all different types of projects and has given people the type of advice that can make them become millionaires (by following each step and through hard work and dedication).

1.     Jeff Bezos is the richest man alive. An entrepreneur, investor and best known for being the founder, CEO and president of Amazon, Bezos has accomplished more than imaginable.

2.     Because of the amount of people Bezos is able to reach, he and I share a similar target with college students. College students use Amazon more than necessary. Due to this, he is the market expert I decided to reach out.

3.     I think it was fairly easy to find this person. Everyone knows who he is and what he does. However, it was difficult to get in contact with him because of his magnitude of success. I emailed him (his email was quite easy to find) and direct messaged him on Twitter just in case he did not answer the email.

4.     Sadly again, I was left on delivered. If or when he responds, I will know how to market better to reach my target consumers and gain some better insight on how to run a successful business.

5.     Including Jeff Bezos in my network would completely change my life. Besides this business, I can explore all the business ideas I have and run them through him to see if they would be successful and what I would have to do to make it sustainable and expandable. He can turn a small business into a global necessity.

1. W. Kent Fuchs is the current President of the University of Florida. He has gained a lot of experience of working with other universities and overall helping out college students to success in the world.

2. President Fuchs is a supplier in industry. He allows people to use University of Florida’s own property and establish certain businesses or services that benefit its students. He owns the property that I would like to use for building a parking lot that would benefit students tremendously.

3. I found out about W. Kent Fuchs when I was applying to the University of Florida and I researched important people at UF. I was able to get his email from the UF website fairly quickly.

4. I emailed President Fuchs about hypothetically allowing him to let me build a parking lot on his property and saying how it would benefit the students who need this product. He did not answer my email, but when he does I am sure he will give me a well-written and thought out answer as to why I can or cannot do this and what I need to do to be able to accomplish this goal.

5. Including President Fuchs in my network would allow me to help the University of Florida and its students in a large way. I would be able to solve issues that he may not even know that his students encounter every day. In addition, it would give me the chance to solve the overall parking issue at the University of Florida.

I think that this experience will help me become more active and prepared for when I encounter future networking events. I practiced sending professional emails and understood what needs to be said to interest people of great success. Although not everyone I contacted answered my messages, I will continue to wait for their responses because their advice/answers go a long way in helping me become the entrepreneur I want to become. This experience differed from my networking experiences in the past because I only had the chance to email or message them rather than meeting up with them in person. This is important because a lot of business is done through emails and messages and I had the chance to polish up on my communication skills.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1.     I am Blake Rubenstein, a sophomore business management major from Miami, Florida. I am really into athletics and being active whether it is on or off the field/court. I really enjoy working with others and like to believe that they feel the same way. I am also a great communicator and empathize extremely well. I see my current business concept playing a very minimal role in my life (as I stated in my last idea napkin). If I were to start it, it would be a one-time opportunity that would be done and then I would move on from it.

2.     I am providing my customers a parking lot close to Fraternity Row that will offer these students a large quantity of spaces to park their car or scooters in. In addition, these spaces will be larger than the current spots on Fraternity Row so that any vehicle can park here with no problems. This fills the customer’s current unmet needs.

3.      The customers that I am providing this product to is people that live on or near Fraternity Row. These University of Florida students are aged from 18-22 and all drive certain types of vehicles or scooters. To add to this, these students can either live in a dorm, the houses along Fraternity Row, or the sorority that is also situated nearby.

4.     Customers care about my solution and will pay money for it because it solves their current unmet needs. This lot will be way more convenient to them in every way possible. It is close to where they live, there will be a large supply of spots, and every type of vehicle or scooter can fit in these spaces without a problem.

5.   The things that sets me apart from everyone else is I do not care about the money involved. Although this seems like a bad mindset to have for a business, being one of these students who suffers from this issue and knowing other students that also suffer from it makes it personal. I want to solve this problem to help other students out and do it so they are not affected by this problem anymore.

I think that all of these elements work extremely well with each other. When people know what my true goal is and what I am aiming to accomplish, they will really want to invest their time and money in my product. I am a student who is affected by this issue so I know what the others need and I will provide it to them at a more than reasonable price.

Some of the things I took to heart from the feedback I received on the last idea napkin include adding a certain customer demographic to my customer segment. I had to realize that this problem is not only for the students that live on Fraternity Row because they are not the only students that park in this lot. I understand that anyone with the certain University of Florida decal can park there, and the majority of these students can include students living in dorms nearby or the sorority house right next to Fraternity Row. I took this into account and added it to this current idea napkin.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

I thought that the feedback provided to me from my first elevator pitch was extremely helpful. I thought the most useful thing was sticking to only one solution instead of deciding between two different alternatives. I also think it was insightful to use proper lighting and to eliminate any background noise as I want this video to be as professional as possible. Therefore, I took all these suggestions and followed through on them in this second elevator pitch. I provided better lighting with less background noise, and I only discussed the one solution I am offering to my customer segment.

Create a Customer Avatar

My prototypical customer is a University of Florida student who is living near or on Fraternity Row. I anticipate the majority of my customers to be students who are in fraternities that are situated on Fraternity Row that have a car and/or scooter. These types of students are involved around campus and like to have fun. Balancing school and social life is a huge part of being in a fraternity. These students tend to drive all different types of cars/scooters. Their ages typically range from 18 to 22.

My customers and I have in common in the fact that we are both males in fraternities at the University of Florida. I understand where the need is located and how to solve it in a way in which everyone involved will be content. We are also extremely close in age and hobbies. This is not a coincidence because we are both UF students who are in fraternities that live on Fraternity Row and have a car/scooter.

What's Your Secret Sauce

What Makes Me Different:

·      I am a great communicator. I believe I am extremely personable and can find ways to connect with everyone. I communicate very clearly and work well with others.

·      I am social. I think I am extremely outgoing and love to meet new people whenever I can. I can sometimes get easily distracted because of a conversation.

·      I am funny. I like to use humor to connect to people and I think it is a huge part of my personality.

·      I am very optimistic. I like to look at the brighter side of things even when all goes wrong. I believe that every failure provides a valuable lesson to be learned.

·      I am an opportunist. I believe that there is a hidden opportunity to learn and grew no matter what the situation may appears to be.

Interviews:

1.     I think that my friend Ethan did a good job discussing some of my personality traits. I am a big risk-taker but I do believe that the reward must be big enough for the risk to be feasible.

https://soundcloud.com/user-420248784/ethan-interview

 2.     I think that my friend Anthony did a great job in characterizing some skills which make me a hard worker. He talked about how I am both creative and organized, which leads to me do well in the work that I complete.

https://soundcloud.com/user-420248784/anthony-interview

3. I also believe that my friend Ryan did a wonderful job in summarizing what type of person I am. He said that I am outgoing and confident, which is a large part in what makes me who I am. He also said I know when to draw the line between having fun and doing work while in group project settings which I really agree with.

https://soundcloud.com/user-420248784/ryan-interview

4. My dear friend Ronalda painted a great picture of my true colors. She discussed how I have very little fear of failure which will help lead me to success in my future career paths. I agree how this sets a bold yet positive example and great influence for working with others.

https://soundcloud.com/user-420248784/ronalda-interview

5. My friend Jordan said some of my greatest strengths are my knowledge and skill set. He also said my unique sense of humor is what makes me unique. I think this is the recipe to my secret sauce.

https://soundcloud.com/user-420248784/jordan

I think my friends did a great job in painting a portrait for who I really am and some of my personality traits and skills that characterize what type of person I am. I think my interviewees were overall correct. I would add to the list that I am a big risk taker. I did not realize some of the decisions I have made in my life quantify as risks but others would beg to differ.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

I interviewed three random college students who live on Fraternity Row and have either a car or a scooter or both.

After talking about the solution to the current parking problems on Fraternity Row, I learned that the most important factor was convenience. Students want to park their car or scooter in a spot close to where they live and want to do it as quickly as possible. This would require a larger lot and larger spaces; however, it has to be in close proximity to their fraternity house for their need to be fulfilled. Price also appears to be a concern for the students I interviewed. They do not want the price to be higher than the amount they pay each semester to park their car or scooter on Fraternity Row.

The segment I am targeting is more likely to complete the transaction online. They all pay for their current parking situations with debit or credit cards online and they feel its most convenient to pay for it in this way. Their parents may typically be involved with this situation unless they fund themselves for college.

When my customers reflect on their decision on whether or not this was a good purchase, they will evaluate whether or not their needs were satisfied. This will be assessed based on if they parked efficiently. This purchase will be a bad idea if they feel like the parking lot is still always full or if they feel the parking is not convenient enough for them.

This segment can be best described as convenience dependent. They are college students that do not have much time to waste doing things such as finding a spot to park in or parking their car or scooter in general. They care a great amount about getting things done in a low-price and efficient manner.

Halfway Reflection

To keep up with the requirements of this course, you must be organized. All the assignments are due at the same time on the same days. As a result, I have made sure to set a time and day each week to complete these assignments, so I do not submit them late or forget to do them. This has helped me become better at my time-management skills and become more organized.

I felt like giving up when I was completing my interviews for my product. It was hard to find people that fit into the criteria I was targeting and some of the people that I found that fit the criteria did not treat the interview seriously. I eventually got through it by taking a break and listening to some calm music. I eventually went back out, searched for more people and it ended up working out. I feel like I have developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months because of this course. A good example was the experience I just mentioned. Although I was a little frustrated, I know I have to do my work and complete it to the best of my abilities if I want to get a good grade in this class. 

Three tips I would offer next semester’s students about fostering the skills to support tenacity and developing the “tenacious mindset” include:

1.     Being open to criticism when it comes your blog posts and ideas

2.     Going to live lecture, actually paying attention because everything you are learning is applicable even if your goal is not to be an entrepreneur

3.     Being organized, pick days where you can work on this class because it is time-consuming