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.