30A - Final Reflection

2) The post that sticks out most to me while I was looking through my posts was the "What's Next" assignment. I really felt that the assignment made me be creative and think outside the box for a completely different market that still related to my idea. When I was able to quickly think of alternatives to find different markets to reach to, I felt very accomplished and felt that I have grown from the class. Also, I liked reading back on old posts and seeing how my idea grew and developed into a more detailed plan as the course went on.

3) I definitely see myself as more of an entrepreneur now that the class is coming to an end. i have noticed that I am more creative and like to think of alternative solutions to problems. Therefore, this class has helped me grow and develop a better entrepreneurial mindset.

4) If I were to make a recommendation to students, I would say to really put the effort into this class because you can get a lot out of it. Also, I would recommend picking a business idea that you are passionate about and really are interested in since many of the assignments are based off that idea. If I was not passionate about my idea I would have found it more difficult to complete the assignments. 

29A- Venture Concept No. 2

1. Business name: Support for students

Opportunity:
My service serves the unmet need of resources for college students. Adjusting to college life can be difficult for many students and I personally believe there is a lack of resources and support for students who are on their own for the first time. The customers would all be students usually from ages 17-23. I do not want the focus to just be toward students with mental health issues, but for any struggling student that is going through a difficult time. Therefore, the customer base would all be students. Since everyone going to college has never been on their own before and away from family, I believe they all have similar struggles in college that can be addressed in a positive way.

Innovation: 

Therefore, my company/nonprofit organization would focus on providing the support necessary for students. More specifically, the organization would have a range of services from one on one appointments with psychologists, group therapy, stress/time management classes. The setback I faced based on my interviews was if we would have sufficient funds to make this organization successful since salaries for psychologists could be expensive. 

The three minor elements: 

1. Our most important resource will be the unique classes and psychiatrists that are provided for students.
2. Whats next? we can provide new classes that help the college students adjust.
3. I would like to have created a successful, profitable business that helps many college students improve their overall mental health and happiness.

2) The feedback I received from my previous venture concept description was all positive. All of the student responses said that they really liked the idea and thought it would be a great help to students. Moreover, the feedback from my "What's next" exercise was also positive. All of the responses said they liked my alternative idea of helping the elderly and that it might be an even better market than helping college students since elderly people sometimes have more money than college students.

3) I didn't change my venture concept a lot since I received positive feedback. However, the feedback made me more confident in my idea and gave me hope that it could be successful in the future.

4) 

28A- Your exit strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

I intend to stay with the business until I retire, and either sell the company or pass it down to my children. If the business still has room to grow and would be successful for many more years to come, then I would see if my children wanted to take over. However, if a buyer approached me and offered me a great price for the company, then I would probably sell it and I can help my children start their own company if they wanted to be entrepreneurs. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I selected this exit strategy because since I am passionate about the business, I would not want to sell it after a couple years. If the business is successful enough, I would like to continue to grow it and help others. I would want to keep the business because I want to have a business, but help others too, so this business would provide that for me.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

My exit strategy has influenced the other decisions I make because now I have a better understanding of what type of business would be fulfilling to me and make me happy. Since helping others is very important to me, I know that my decisions for identifying opportunities will be centered around that. My exit strategy influenced my growth intentions because since I want to have the business until I retire, I would need to strategize about how I want to grow the business if I want it to be successful for many years.

27A- Reading reflection no. 3

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

I read the book The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawasaki. The general theme of the book was how to effectively use social media platforms.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

The book connected with what we are learning in ENT 3003 because social media is a crucial tool to have when having your own business. Effectively using social media can significantly increase the number of customers your business has, so this book connected really well to this class.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If i had to design an exercise for this class based on the book, I would have an exercise that has students practice using social media based on the methods discussed in the book. Doing so can put the practices into action so it can be learned better.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

One of the biggest "aha" moments i had when reading the book was when Kawasaki explained that we should have a picture, graphic, or video with every social media post. It surprised me because I never thought that a visual aspect to the post would be important to grab your audiences attention. Therefore, I found this tip very useful.

26A- Celebrating Failure

1) This semester I was a participant in HLC (Heavener leadership challenge). After graduating from the program as a participant, we have the option to apply to become a facilitator, which help run the program. I love HLC, so I wanted to apply to become a facilitator to continue my involvement in the program. However, there were only two spots open for this Spring, so I did not receive an interview for the position. 

2) I learned that sometimes you can't get everything you apply for, but if we really want it, we can try to improve and try again. Therefore, since I did not receive an interview for the facilitator position this semester, I am going to keep applying and try my best to get it next semester. 

3) I look at failure as a learning experience. If everything was handed to us, we would not learn from our experiences and we would not be able to improve. Growing and improving are critical parts of life as we get older. Therefore, I am disappointed when I fail because it is hard at times, but I don't usually give up easily when I fail because I know there is always room for improvement. This class has changed my perspective on failure because I realized that in the business world, we are bound to fail and make mistakes. How we learn from our failures determines how we do in the future. I am definitely more likely to take a risk now because of this class. I am going to try to go out of my box and apply for things even if I'm not sure I will get it.

25A - What's next?

Existing Market. 

Step 1: what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.

• I want to create more new classes that help college students adjust to college life, and begin to help them shift into adulthood and being on their own. We can have new classes that now help students budget their money or invest.

Step 2: 

• When I interviewed 3 customers that relate to the market I have identified, they suggested having more classes that work in self love and confidence classes, as well as more variety to group therapy sessions. When I told them about my ideas for classes for budgeting and investing, they agreed that those classes would be very beneficial toward college students, but to also keep it focused on mental illness and achieving your best self.

Step 3: 

• Based on my expectations and feedback from customers, I want to keep my business focused on helping students conquer their mental illnesses. For the future, I want to provide as many services as possible to students so we can accommodate as many as possible, while also providing the highest quality of therapy and classes. As I was interviewing people, I realized that achieving happiness and being happy with ourselves is something that many people struggle with, and it can sometimes take many years to accomplish. Therefore, introducing classes about confidence and techniques to stay positive and happy would be beneficial. Classes paired with individual therapy sessions with psychiatrists would hopefully be beneficial for students. 
• However, since my business targets a specific market of people, we may face issues when trying to become profitable. Therefore, I still believe that introducing classes about investing or budgeting would target a wider range of college students, not just students with mental illnesses. In my opinion, I feel that students are thrown into the real world after they graduate, and oftentimes feel unprepared. Therefore, if we provide classes for students that can directly help them prepare for the real world, they would feel more confident starting their new lives after college.

New Market.

Step 1: A completely different market of people would be affluent elderly people. 

Step 2: We could provide classes for elderly people to keep them busy and occupied.

Step 3: I interviewed both of my grandparents for this part of the assignment. Both feel that they are oftentimes bored at home with nothing to do, and they wish they could be more active. They think this business could be beneficial to them if we provide activities and different classes that keep elderly people busy. We could have fun classes such as cooking or golf that keep them busy, or we can also have classes that improve their memory or other skills they could work on.

Step 4:  Reflect, in two to three paragraphs, on what you learned about this new market. What surprised you the most? Were any of your expectations/assumptions correct? Does this new market, on second thought, appear to be as attractive as your existing market? And so on. 

I surprisingly came up with this idea fairly quickly. Whenever I call my grandparents, they are always just sitting at home watching tv or going on walks. Therefore, my assumptions to provide them with more activities was correct. I was not very surprised at all after interviewing my grandparents. Since i know them so well all of their answers were pretty much expected.

I am not sure if this market is as attractive as my existing market. However, since many older people, especially in Fort Lauderdale where Im from, are wealthy, this many be more profitable than a business targeting college students on a budget. Therefore, I would need to interview more people to get their opinions on which business would be more profitable. 

24A - venture concept no. 1

Business name: Support for students

Opportunity:
My service serves the unmet need of resources for college students. Adjusting to college life can be difficult for many students and I personally believe there is a lack of resources and support for students who are on their own for the first time. The customers would all be students usually from ages 17-23. I do not want the focus to just be toward students with mental health issues, but for any struggling student that is going through a difficult time. Therefore, the customer base would all be students. Since everyone going to college has never been on their own before and away from family, I believe they all have similar struggles in college that can be addressed in a positive way.


Innovation: 
Therefore, my company/nonprofit organization would focus on providing the support necessary for students. More specifically, the organization would have a range of services from one on one appointments with psychologists, group therapy, stress/time management classes. The setback I faced based on my interviews was if we would have sufficient funds to make this organization successful since salaries for psychologists could be expensive. 

The three minor elements: 

1. Our most important resource will be the unique classes and psychiatrists that are provided for students.
2. Whats next? we can provide new classes that help the college students adjust.
3. I would like to have created a successful, profitable business that helps many college students improve their overall mental health and happiness.

23A- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Human Capital: My dad is an entrepreneur 

• Valuable: This is a very valuable resource because my dad would provide necessary advice and support needed for the company.
• Rare: This is very rare because my dad has his own unique experience from being an entrepreneur.
• Inimitable: It's hard to copy a personal relationship.
• Non-substitutable: Its hard to substitute a personal relationship that is unique to their experience. 

2. Social Capital: Friends who are psychiatrists 

• Valuable: We can use their advice from their experience to help us develop a successful company.
• Rare: There are lots of psychiatrists.
• Inimitable: its not hard to copy this social capital
• Non-Substitutable: we might not be able to find a substitute that is this beneficial. 

3. Financial Capital: Savings 

• Valuable: money is necessary to start a business
• Rare: not that rare to have savings 
• Inimitable: not hard to copy financial capital
• Non-Substitutable: There are other ways to obtain capital to start a business

4. Business classes:

• Valuable: classes in business will be beneficial to start a company.
• Rare: it's not rare to take a business class.
• Inimitable: not hard to copy
• Non-substitutable: there are other degrees/classes that could also give business experience

5. Organized:

• Valuable: Organizational skills are important to start a business. 
• Rare: many people are organized
• Inimitable: not hard to copy
• non-substitutable: its hard to substitute organizational skills

6. Passion:

• Valuable: unlike other businesses, truly caring about what I do is going to be very beneficial.
• Rare: many people are passionate
• Inimitable: not that hard to copy
• Non-substitutable: hard to substitute individual passion.

7. Leadership: 

• Valuable: Since I have been in leadership positions many times, that would be beneficial when managing a business.
• Rare: not rare
• Inimitable: its hard to copy individual leadership style, but many can be a leader
• non-substitutable: leadership is very important when running your own business, i don't think you can substitute it.

8. Social Capital: connections 

• Valuable: having connections can be very beneficial when starting a business
• Rare: connections aren't that rare
• inimitable: you can find connections in your community
• Non-substitutable: its hard to substitute connections.

9. Personal experience with the issue:

• Valuable: I have a direct experience with people with mental illnesses so that could be beneficial when starting my specific business.
• rare: many people could have experienced this
• inimitable: cant copy individual experiences
• non-substitutable: its hard to substitute personal experience

10. skill in empathy: 

• Valuable: When managing others it is important to be empathetic to their feelings.
• rare: many people can possess empathy
• inimitable: many people can have this skill
• non-substitutable: it's hard to substitute this skill.

-My top resource would be that my dad is an entrepreneur. He has been managing his own business for over 20 years so he has a ton of experience in entrepreneurship which he can teach me. He also has told me before that if i want to start my own business, he would help me get it off the ground. 

22A - elevator pitch 3

1) The pitch. 

 https://youtu.be/JcXIjfqSVK8

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. 

The feedback that I received from multiple people was to keep the same energy I had while delivering the feedback, but try to memorize it more. Some of the feedback said that it looked like I was reading too much during the pitch, but that the content of the pitch was great.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

Based on the feedback, I kept the same pitch because I received only positive feedback on it. However, I tried to memorize it more and have it look like I was not reading from a script as much since that was the critique I received.