30A-Final Reflection

30A- Final Reflection

1. Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.

2. What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?
What was most formative to me was my peer reviews, they have made such a big impact on me and the way I have constructed my business idea over the course of this class. I will always remember the assignment “Growing Your Social Capital” because I interviewed experts who have changed my perspective forever. Contacting these people and talking about my business idea really made me want to pursue it sometime in the future. My most joyous experience was also the same experience I am most proud of myself for accomplishing and that was submitting Venture Concept #1 because I felt really confident that I had finally perfected my business idea.

3. At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?
Now at the end of this semester, I do see myself as having more of an entrepreneurial mindset than I did before. Over the time I’ve spent in this course, I’ve realized that no matter how good you think your business might be, it will always have its downfalls and sometimes the business will fail and there’s not much you can do about. Yet, there is so many opportunities out there to better yourself and your business and I have started to see these opportunities from being in this class. You can always change your business idea and make it better and I believe that is something that also ties in to life itself. There will always be challenges to overcome in life, but it’s your perspective on these challenges that make or break you.

4. What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?
One recommendation I would share with students who are going to journey down this path in the future would be to never give up. There was multiple times throughout this semester that I contemplated dropping this course, and I am so happy I didn’t. I feel as though I’ve learned so much about entrepreneurship, myself, and even life. I have overcome many obstacles and every time I felt stuck and was unsure how to make my business concept a more successful idea, my classmates were there to help. The peer reviews have helped me construct my business in a way that I would have never thought of and they also gave me the confidence to pursue my idea. I would recommend that future students perform their best in this class and I hope they get the same learning experience and confidence that I have gained from being in this course. I would most definitely recommend that they foster the same entrepreneurial mindset that I have fostered over this course, even if they do not want to become an entrepreneur in the future, they should develop the mindset because it helps you see situations in a different way than you did before.

5. Illustration: 

29A-Venture Concept No.2

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

1. Who has the need?
I believe everyone living in the United States has the need for this opportunity. Gun violence and mass shootings are growing every year and we need to do something to stop it. Yes, these issues occur in other countries, but our country blows them out of the water.

The potential customers for my opportunity are everyone who has been affected by gun violence and mass shootings, also people who do not want to see it happen in their area. Parents are afraid to have children for these reasons so I believe as a country we need to step up and let the people know how strongly we feel about restricting gun control laws.

2. The nature of the need:
People are afraid to leave their houses, even to go to work or school, let alone malls, concerts, amusement parks, and festivals. I believe everyone, especially children, should not be scared to leave their houses due to the abuse of guns.

The main force that created this opportunity is the government not taking action to stop innocent people from dying due to the people abusing the use of guns. I believe this market can be defined geographically to the citizens of the United States and demographically it is affecting people of all ages, but the people who would be willing to back the need for stricter gun laws would be people ranging from ages 13-50. Gun abuse has only become worse over the years, I believe people under the age of 13 are just too young to understand it and people over the age of 50 may not care because they are getting old, have other things to worry about, and their kids are already grown so they may not feel as affected by this.

Customer needs of this business opportunity aren't being met because the government has done nothing to stop it, but I believe it all starts with us. If we voice our opinion loud enough, I believe the government will have no choice but to listen. This opportunity is huge and can save the lives of so many people, it can also save people from grieving over loved ones who have been taken too soon due to someone in an unhealthy state of mind owning or operating a gun. I believe this window of opportunity will be open for at least the next decade.

Innovation:
My innovations are to raise awareness of gun violence, attain stricter gun control laws, and run more extensive background checks on gun owners to stop innocent lives from being taken too soon.

I plan to start by raising awareness in my community about the abuse of guns by hosting an event once or twice a year to speak about this issue and how it is only becoming more of a problem for our generation. I then plan to extend it from my community to state-wide, then hopefully nation-wide to gain recognition from the government. Once it reaches government attention I plan to start a go-fund-me (that will be non-profit to me) all proceeds will go to the government so they can implement a law and have money to create more extensive background checks and hopefully stricter gun control.

Venture Concept:
My innovation solves the opportunity I have presented because it will save the lives of countless people in the future. I will start by raising awareness in my community over the abuse of guns by hosting an event every six months to speak about this issue, unfortunately there has been several instances in my community where young innocent lives have been taken because of someone in the wrong state of mind operating a gun, so I believe people will be willing to attend my events. After that I plan to extend my events or even create a webpage to gain awareness over this subject state-wide and hopefully nation-wide.

My goal is to eventually gain government recognition over this opportunity because it seems they are doing nothing to stop gun abuse and mass shootings in our country. I plan to start a go-fund-me to raise money for the government so they are able to afford more extensive background checks on gun owners, to make sure guns do not end up in the hands of someone who is willing to hurt themselves or others.

I believe customers will be very willing to attend events and donate money to save innocent lives. Customer support will be vital to my business opportunity because there is no way we can make this happen without them. My competitors will be people who do not want stricter gun laws because they believe it will take away their right to own and operate a gun, but that is not what I am getting at with this opportunity. I believe people should still be able to buy them if it is for the right reasons, I just think there is absolutely no reason for innocent people to be dying over the abuse of guns.

Three minor elements:
1. My most important resource is having the advantage of getting in touch with the experts I spoke to when doing assignment 20A - growing your social capital. These people are willing to speak with me about my business opportunity at any time, I believe this to be a huge competitive advantage over any competitor that tries to copy my success because they will not have the same resources that I now have.

2. The next venture would be to attain government recognition over this subject and pray that they will do something or implement new laws or regulations to stop gun abuse and mass shootings.

3. Five years from now, I hope that my efforts would be known and recognized by our country. In ten years from now, I hope the government implements new laws and regulations to stop the gun issue in our country. This first venture would achieve my vision of saving innocent lives.

Feedback: 
The feedback I received from venture concept number 1, was really positive. It made me feel really good about my business concept, my fellow classmates mentioned that I have done a great job explaining my business idea and that it is very organized, they also said that I have made great improvements for my business over the course of the class. They agree that there needs to be more regulation on guns to save the lives of innocent people, they also said that I should go through with this business sometime in the future. One thing they mentioned was that I could even change the age group down to age 14 because younger kids are starting to understand the dangers of guns.

The feedback I received from my “What’s Next” assignment was also very positive. My fellow classmates think it was a great idea to start with my community, then go on to state wide, and then nationwide. That is my most important idea for right now, but there was also the idea of extending my concept to being world-wide. The feedback I received about making it a worldwide business was negative, I am not surprised by this because even my interviewees for that assignment said it may not be the best idea or that my concept just might not work in other countries.

How I changed my venture concept: I changed the age group I am targeting due to the feedback I received, and I also tweaked a little bit about how I want to grow my business. Majority of my venture concept is still the same because my classmates said I did a great job with it and I also believe I did a good job explaining my business idea.

4. Illustration:

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 plan to eventually sell the business in a few years or just let it pan out until our government fixes the gun violence problem in this country. Once the gun violence is reduced by restricting gun laws or allowing more extensive background checks so guns do not end up in the hands of the wrong person, I will feel accomplished. For me, it's not about the money, I just want to save the lives of innocent people. No one deserves to die because of someone who is mentally ill operating a gun, and I just want the government to realize that there needs to be more attention on this problem we have in our country.

2. Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?
    I selected this strategy because like I mentioned previously, it's not about the money for me. I just want our government to implement new laws or regulations to save the lives of innocent people from gun violence. In the future, yeah it would be great to sell my business and make a little money from it but I would rather just see a change in our country than gain anything from this business. I would be willing to sell it or just let it die out after changes have been implemented in our government.

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?
   I don't think my exit strategy really influenced any of the other decisions I've made for my business concept. It has not influenced how I have identified an opportunity because for me it was never really about making my business a huge success, it was about gaining recognition about the gun violence issue in our country. My exit strategy has not influenced my growth intentions or any plans for resources that I had. I just want to see a change in our country and for people to feel safe leaving their homes.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

I read The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson.

1. What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The long tail is related to supply and demand. There are thousands of products out there that have not been purchased by a huge market, so they make up a "long tail" of items. This book was mainly about how selling things has changed so much over the last few decades due to all the technology advances. Nowadays, it makes more sense to sell a lot of products to reach a variety of different markets to make more income instead of just focusing on one product and trying to make it perfect so a lot of people will buy it. Anderson says in the book how easy it is nowadays for anyone to sell products because of the access to the internet and technological advances. 

2. How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT3003?
This book connects with this class because it talks a lot about the best way to make more sales and as an entrepreneur that is the goal. Having a variety of products that reach different markets will make you more money these days, so that could be a good point to think about when becoming an entrepreneur. It also points out how much technology has changed over the past decades, and I can't even imagine how much it will continue to change in the future, so that is also something to consider when becoming an entrepreneur or even when writing about your business opportunity in this class.

3. If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
I would design an exercise that had to do with a blog post about your opportunity that you chose to write about for this class. You would have to include how your business might be affected by technological advances and also how you would design your business to incorporate multiple different products to reach maximum sales.

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? 
To be honest when i first read the title of the book I thought it was going to be about how to sell less things and make more money, but I clearly read it wrong! I was very happy when I started reading this book because it seemed like valuable information I can take with me after this class and even when I start my career. I think everyone should read this book because it really explains how to have a competitive advantage over others when selling products.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1.  In the past semester I failed because of the amount of times I have procrastinated. I am not failing any of my classes, but I procrastinated my work and I am not going to receive the grades I wanted this semester. It is my first semester at UF and I have never been a fully online student until now, but that is no excuse for my procrastination. I know the amount of time and work I should put in to my school work but I tend to cram everything in last minute to just get by. I said to myself many times through out the semester that I need to be more on top of my school work every day but I never actually did it.

2.  I learned that I am never going to reach the level of success I desire if I keep procrastinating, so it's time to make a major change. I am trying something new to stop procrastinating because I know if I put in the effort I could earn straight A's. I have been making a list every week of everything I need to get done each day, and I think it is helping a lot. When I am done with an assignment I cross it off and go on to the next. I think what I learned the most is that the person I am right now is not the person I want to be, so it is time to make changes.

3.  Failure is hard and can be very embarrassing. I tend to handle failure pretty dramatically at first because it really upsets me, but then I realize we all fail and make mistakes sometimes. It is not the end of the world to fail, because I truly believe that failure is a lesson and creates a pathway to success. I think in order to reach your full potential, failure is necessary. When you fail you learn, you gain experience, and knowledge of what not to do in order to realize what it is you need to do. I think this class has changed my perspective on failure because being an entrepreneur you encounter so much of it, that in the end it helps you be more successful. I feel as if I would be more willing to take risks now than I was a few months ago.

25A - What's Next?

Existing Market:

Step 1. What's next in terms of products and services?
I want to expand my services and events of raising awareness on gun abuse to be nation-wide so we can gain government recognition and they can implement laws and/or regulations on gun laws.

Step 2. Interviewees:

Female age 21, she said that she loves my idea of starting to raise awareness on gun abuse in my own community and then expanding it to state-wide and then nation-wide. She believes we can make a difference in our country but it is going to come down to if we can get the government on our side to actually implement regulations on gun owners and limit gun control laws.

Male age 57, he believes I should start with events in my community to raise awareness on gun abuse and it could be very successful but he pointed out something to me I never thought of before. He says to get more people's support on this issue I need to make it known that I am not trying to banish citizens from owning guns. Some people might take my business idea the wrong way-thinking that I want to take away their right to own and operate a gun but that is not the case. Overall he supports my idea and believes it can save countless innocent lives in the future.

Male age 23, he said he believes my business idea could take off rapidly and successfully if I go about it in the right way. He agreed with starting with events in my community, then starting events state-wide and eventually nation-wide to gain the support of the country. After that, he said that I should get the experts I interviewed for the assignment 20A - growing your social capital, to back me up and then get the governments attention to show them how strongly Americans feel towards this issue.

Step 3. After my interviews, I have decided that it would be best for me to start raising awareness in my community about gun abuse and in my campaign I will include that I am not trying to get rid of our right as citizens to own a gun, just trying to have regulations over gun control laws to stop innocent people from dying due to gun violence and mass shootings.
After I raise awareness in my community, I will make it a state-wide event and hold it in different cities, then eventually nation-wide and start a go-fund-me to raise money to give to our government so they can afford to have more extensive background checks and pay for gun control regulations. My main goal, in terms of growing my existing market, is to gain recognition from our government so they will do something to stop gun abuse and mass shootings.

New Market:

Step 1.  A new market I could target for my business idea would be to not only focus on the gun problems in America, but the gun problems in every country. This would be a huge stretch but I believe it could happen, it would make the world a better safer place.

Step 2. My venture concept could create value for the people in other countries because it would make them safer. Even though some countries in Europe already has stricter gun laws than the US, there is still gun violence.

Step 3. Interviews:

Female age 50, my friend was born in brazil and her parents grew up there but she moved here at age 5. I was able to speak with her mother about my business opportunity. She supports my idea and believes it could work in our country. She said as nice as it would be to have more gun control in Brazil and other countries around the world, it would be an extremely hard task to accomplish. She told me to dream big, and to pursue my existing market and then hopefully other countries will see how well America is doing and will want to adopt the same regulations on guns.

Male age 45, another one of my close friends is from the Philippines and her father still lives over there. I was able to contact him by phone yesterday and explain to him my business idea. He said that he thinks it would be great for America and has the potential to be very successful, but he is not sure how we could get other countries to adopt the same idea. He said to me that he hopes after this class I actually start this business idea because he thinks our country could use young voices of this generation to change our country for the better.

Step 4. From speaking with my interviewees from the new market, nothing really surprised me and my expectations and assumptions about this new market were correct. I believe it would be really hard to get other countries around the world to adopt my business idea, but it could be worth a shot. My main goal is to make our country and the world a safer place.
This new market does not seem to be as attractive as my existing market. My best bet for this idea is to focus on my existing market and try to make that a success before even thinking about expanding to a new market.

24A - Venture Concept No.1

Opportunity:

1. Who has the need?
I believe everyone living in the United States has the need for this opportunity. Gun violence and mass shootings are growing every year and we need to do something to stop it. Yes these issues occur in other countries, but our country blows them out of the water.

The potential customers for my opportunity are everyone who has been affected by gun violence and mass shootings, also people who do not want to see it happen in their area. Parents are afraid to have children for these reasons so I believe as a country we need to step up and let the people know how strongly we feel about restricting gun control laws.

2. The nature of the need:
People are afraid to leave their houses, even to go to work or school, let alone malls, concerts, amusement parks, and festivals. I believe everyone, especially children, should not be scared to leave their houses due to the abuse of guns.

The main force that created this opportunity is the government not taking action to stop innocent people from dying due to the people abusing the use of guns. I believe this market can be defined geographically to the citizens of the United States and demographically it is affecting people of all ages, but the people who would be willing to back the need for stricter gun laws would be people ranging from ages 15-50. Gun abuse has only become worse over the years, I believe people under the age of 15 are just too young to understand it and people over the age of 50 may not care because they are getting old, have other things to worry about, and their kids are already grown so they may not feel as affected by this.

Customer needs of this business opportunity aren't being met because the government has done nothing to stop it, but I believe it all starts with us. If we voice our opinion loud enough I believe the government will have no choice but to listen. This opportunity is huge and can save the lives of so many people, it can also save people from grieving over loved ones who have been taken too soon due to someone in an unhealthy state of mind owning or operating a gun. I believe this window of opportunity will be open for at least the next decade.

Innovation:
My innovations are to raise awareness of gun violence, attain stricter gun control laws, and run more extensive background checks on gun owners to stop innocent lives from being taken too soon.

I plan to start by raising awareness in my community about the abuse of guns by hosting an event once or twice a year to speak about this issue and how it is only becoming more of a problem for our generation. I then plan to extend it from my community to state-wide, then hopefully nation-wide to gain recognition from the government. Once it reaches government attention I plan to start a go-fund-me (that will be non-profit to me) all proceeds will go to the government so they can implement a law and have money to create more extensive background checks and hopefully stricter gun control.

Venture Concept:
My innovation solves the opportunity I have presented because it will save the lives of countless people in the future. I will start by raising awareness in my community over the abuse of guns by hosting an event every six months to speak about this issue, unfortunately there has been several instances in my community where young innocent lives have been taken because of someone in the wrong state of mind operating a gun, so I believe people will be willing to attend my events. After that I plan to extend my events or even create a webpage to gain awareness over this subject state-wide and hopefully nation-wide.

My goal is to eventually gain government recognition over this opportunity because it seems they are doing nothing to stop gun abuse and mass shootings in our country. I plan to start a go-fund-me to raise money for the government so they are able to afford more extensive background checks on gun owners, to make sure guns do not end up in the hands of someone who is willing to hurt themselves or others.

I believe customers will be very willing to attend events and donate money to save innocent lives. Customer support will be vital to my business opportunity because there is no way we can make this happen without them. My competitors will be people who do not want stricter gun laws because they believe it will take away their right to own and operate a gun, but that is not what I am getting at with this opportunity. I believe people should still be able to buy them if it is for the right reasons, I just think there is absolutely no reason for innocent people to be dying over the abuse of guns.

Three minor elements:
1. My most important resource is having the advantage of getting in touch with the experts I spoke to when doing assignment 20A - growing your social capital. These people are willing to speak with me about my business opportunity at any time, I believe this to be a huge competitive advantage over any competitor that tries to copy my success because they will not have the same resources that I now have.

2. The next venture would be to attain government recognition over this subject and pray that they will do something or implement new laws or regulations to stop gun abuse and mass shootings.

3. Five years from now, I hope that my efforts would be known and recognized by our country. In ten years from now, I hope the government implements new laws and regulations to stop the gun issue in our country. This first venture would achieve my vision of saving innocent lives.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Resources:

1. People nationwide have been complaining for years about how gun laws aren't strict enough.

VRIN: This resource is extremely valuable because it shows that people are already upset/bothered by this subject. It is rare because not only till about a decade ago did this become such a huge problem in our country. Other people could probably come up with this business idea but I believe my solution of raising awareness, raising money for the government (non-profit for me), and attempting to increase background checks is inimitable. Other people's ideas and resources may be similar but I believe they can't substitute my idea.

2. I have a lot of people supporting me and willing to help me accomplish my business idea of raising awareness for wrongful gun use. 

VRIN: This resource of mine is valuable because I believe a lot of people don't understand the importance and pull we (as citizens) have over this subject. I believe it is rare to have so much support over a topic that some people do not even believe in, some people love their gun rights and have no problem with the laws as they are right now. I think this resource is inimitable and non-suitable because i do not believe everyone who tries to accomplish this business idea would have the same support system I do. 

3. No one supports innocent people dying due to gun violence.

VRIN: This resource is valuable because it shows that as human beings we are compassionate and believe every life is worth living and should not be taken away because of someone who should not be operating a gun. I do not believe this resource is rare, when mass shootings occur I feel like America as a whole is saddened by the innocent lives taken away from us too soon. This resource is not very inimitable or non-suitable because I believe this resource cannot be copied, it is human emotion that takes place when these tragedy's occur.

4. I will put up flyers and send out invitations to people in my community to attend my events that support awareness of wrongful gun use, gun violence, and gun control.

VRIN: This resource is valuable and rare because it is a very personal approach to raising awareness in my community. It is kind of inimitable because I do not believe that every person who wants to stop gun violence would take such a personal approach to the subject because they fear it might cause more problems. I think this resource is non-suitable because although others could take this same approach to my business idea, they would not go as far as personally writing letters to people in their community. 

5. I can be very persuasive when it comes to the subject of stopping gun violence and mass shootings, so I believe I can get the people who attend my events to see my point of view and then they will be more willing to donate money to the go-fund-me I plan to start. 

VRIN: This resource is valuable because when I believe in something, I am not afraid to stand up for my beliefs. It is rare because I believe not everyone can be as persuasive and passionate as I am on this subject. It is inimitable and non-suitable because of how strongly I feel about my business idea, I do not see other people putting as much effort in to stopping gun violence because most people think it is a government issue.

6. I will be frugal with my money when it comes to starting this business because it is going to be non-profit for me, but it can make a HUGE difference in our country so I believe it is worth every penny I put in to it. 

VRIN: This resource is valuable because it is going to make such a huge difference in our country. It is rare for someone to start a business like this knowing they are going to make no income off of it. It is inimitable because I do not believe many people would be willing to spend their own hard worked money on something they are going to make no profit off of, but to me it is worth every dollar to save innocent lives from gun violence. I believe there are other resources that can provide the same benefits but like I had mentioned, not many people are willingly going to spend the time and money to make this business a success so I believe it is non-suitable.

7. I found out recently that the government is attempting to train dogs to be able to attack shooters in schools, but I think it is messed up to put a dog's life at stake to take down a shooter instead of just increasing the restriction on gun laws. There is a REAL problem at hand that they should not be training dogs to take care of. 

VRIN: I believe this resource is valuable because animals should not be taking the risk to save human lives from a person who should not be allowed to own a gun in the first place! This is rare because I believe a lot of people would be okay with the fact they want to train dogs to save us from shooters, but I am completely against it. This is not very inimitable because I believe certain people would feel the same way I do, and can easily copy this concept. Though, I think it is non-suitable because no other resource could provide the same benefit. We need to save innocent human AND animal lives from gun violence. 

8. I have great connections in my community that are willing to back my business idea, attend my gun violence awareness events, and even donate money towards my go-fundme to get the government to realize how strongly we (as citizens of this country) feel towards this issue.

VRIN: This resource is valuable because it provides me a great advantage over other people who are against gun violence. It is rare to have such good connections to people that are willing to support you. It is inimitable because I come from a wealthy town and I am lucky to have support from people who are able to donate money to my business idea. It is non-suitable because there are no other resources that can provide the same benefits as having personal connections to people who support you.

9. I can get in touch with the people I interviewed for the assignment 20A - growing your social capital. These experts are willing to communicate with me whenever I need them.

VRIN: This resource is extremely valuable because speaking with these people taught me a lot about my business idea. They gave me great feedback and new perspectives on how to make this happen. It is rare to have such great connections to smart reliable people on this subject. It is inimitable because I do not believe anyone can copy my connections and have the same competitive advantage that I do. It is non-suitable because although there are other people out there who are experts on this topic, I do not believe anyone can provide the same benefits that these expert interviewees provided me. 

10. I believe advertising and getting government recognition will be easy for me to attain due to my business ideas, once I gain awareness in my community I will then start raising awareness for the whole state of Florida and then hopefully the whole country. 

VRIN: This resource is valuable because advertising and getting my message out there is only the start of my idea. This is rare because I do not think many people believe in themselves enough to advertise to raise awareness for the idea of more gun control, people just rely on the government but it has been years and they have not done a thing to increase gun control, end mass shootings, and stop gun violence all together. This is inimitable because I do not think anyone would be willing or capable of copying my advertising and gaining government recognition. Although other resources can provide the same benefits and people can advertise to attempt to raise awareness, it is non-suitable because I feel so determined about this business idea that I will make it successful. 

I believe my top resource is number 9--getting in touch with the people I interviewed for assignment 20A (growing your social capital). I believe this resource is my best one because the connections I have to these people gives me a huge competitive advantage in my business over other people who may have similar ideas. The experts I interviewed gave me so much insight to my topic of raising awareness for gun control that I believe I will outshine anyone else who has a similar idea. These people also gave me insight about the fact that my idea is a government issue but we, as citizens of this country, have the power to impact the government and gain control. Every voice matters. 

22A- Elevator Pitch No. 3

22A- Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/7Wo25P0A71c

In this video, what was important to me was to get my point across clearly. I felt I had memorized my speech very well, and I included more hand motions and nonverbal communication. The feedback I had received on my previous post has really made a difference on my perspective of my business idea. I felt very comfortable in front of the camera but I did have to practice a few times before getting it right. I feel like my tone of voice really describes how strongly I feel about my business idea. The one thing I am concerned about is how well you guys will be able to hear me, I tried speaking very loud but I am not sure if the video captured it as loud. 

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

For this reading reflection I chose to read How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big by Scott Adams. 

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

Adams uses examples in his book from his personal life to show that failure happens to everyone, but it is not always a bad thing to fail. He explains the times in his life when he has failed, which then lead him to success when he created Dilbert, a famous comic strip. I believe the theme of this book is how to accept failure and use it to your advantage. The argument of the book is that failure should not cause you to give up, it should drive you to work harder and reach the success you desire. 

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

In my opinion, the book helped me connect and enhance what I am learning in ENT3003 because at times in this class I felt like giving up. I felt as if my business idea could not be successful and it drove me crazy for a few weeks. I had a bad start to this semester, but with the feedback and interviews I have conducted for this class I knew I couldn't give up just yet. I found better ways to make my business idea a success. I think sometimes we feel incapable of things, whether its because we feel that way about ourselves or someone else told us we would fail. This book not only opened my eyes to better further my success in this class, it gave me a new perspective on life itself. This book also connects with this class because it is about an entrepreneur who had much failure in his career but pushed through it and made himself better because of his failures. I believe this to be a key aspect of becoming an entrepreneur.

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

Based on this book being about failure and how to overcome it, I think a good exercise for this class would be implementing a blog post in the middle of the semester about how you may have failed in the beginning of this course or maybe even questioned your success in your business idea and how you overcame that fear of failure. I think this would involve looking back on all the work you've accomplished since the beginning of the course and really taking in the perspectives of your fellow classmates feedback and your interviewees feedback. 

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?

When reading this book, I thought it would be all about his failures in entrepreneurship and how he overcame them. But while reading I realized it is way more than that. It is not only about his life and ups and downs, it can be applied to life in general. Adams says instead of having goals we should implement a system or a method to how we want to live our life. We all go through times that we feel we are not enough or not capable of doing or getting what we want, but that failure is only a lesson. These lessons in life make us better, they give us insight in to knowing what we want and what we don't want, or what brings failure or what brings us the success we desire. Failure helps shape us in to who we want to be as individuals and I believe that is the most important lesson I've learned from this book. Whether you want to become and entrepreneur or not, I would recommend reading this book. 

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

20A - Growing Your Social Capital  

• Domain Expert: Professor Adam Winkler. He is a specialist in American constitutional law and the supreme court. He teaches at UCLA as a professor of law. He has written many books including 'Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America' and 'We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights'. He is one of the top twenty law professors for citations by the supreme courts. 
• Market Expert: Dario Kaplan, he has worked with conducting customer research in my area. He is an expert in finding the targeted customer. He has owned and operated guns since he turned the age of 18 and has been searching to find ways to get Americans to acknowledge gun abuse these past couple years. He taught me a lot about the ways I can make a difference with my business concept. 
• Supplier in my industry: Emma Gonzalez, a student from the Parkland mass shooting that had spoke at the anti-gun rally in Ft. Lauderdale. In her speech she states "It's time for victims to be the change that we need to see". She has become so influential and the video of her speech that went viral spoke to millions of Americans. She truly opened my eyes by coming forward after losing 17 of her classmates to talk about these issues and spread awareness on gun abuse and mass shootings. 
• How I found and contacted these people:
• I had the pleasure of speaking with Winkler over the phone because one of my best friends went to UCLA and had him as a professor. She was able to get me in contact with him. 
• I met with Kaplan due to the fact my father knows him really well. He was able to talk to me about what my best strategy would be to go about my business idea. 
• I got to meet Emma Gonzalez at the Ft. Lauderdale rally because I attended it due to it being so close to my home town, so I was able to contact her this week over the phone to speak on the issue.
• Nature of exchange: 
• Winkler spoke to me about his teachings and the books he's written. He offered me insight to the ways to protect our country for gun abuse and told me he was happy i had reached out and am trying to do something about this issue to protect our country. In return, I told him I would do my best to get people acknowledging that there is a way to try to get the recognition needed to attain more gun control laws. 
• Kaplan explained to me the best way to market my business idea and he believes throwing non-profit events to get people talking about these issues would be my best bet. He said he'd love to attend one of my events in the future.
• Gonzalez was happy that I came to the rally and fully supports trying to get more people to realize how bad the gun problems in our country are increasing every year. She went through so much trauma and feels no one ever deserves to go through that. When I spoke to her on the phone, she loved my idea to raise awareness and maybe start a go-fund-me to show the government that people are serious about this issue and they need to do something about it, but she said to me it all starts with us-the future leaders of this generation. 
• How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? and how have you reflected on this assignment?
• Now that I have had contact with these people, I have their contact information and could always call them if I had a question about the way to go about my business idea. Including these people in my network will greatly enhance my ability to exploit the opportunity of raising awareness for gun abuse/mass shootings and trying to stop it. Being able to say I have contact with these people will show my customer segment that I am serious about this and that I have the knowledge and resources needed to make my business concept the best it can be. This has been a huge eye opener for me and networking with these people have made me truly interested in starting this business in the future. 

19A - Idea Napkin No.2

19A - Idea Napkin No.2

1. You: I am a junior attaining my business degree for the bachelor of science in business administration. My talents include being a great personal communicator, managing my time well between work and school, and being able to look at things from different perspectives. I aspire to do something helpful in the future, maybe working for a company that is trying to make our plant more "green" or being some sort of financial advisor or account manager. I love to help people and want to make a difference in this world with my career. I think my aspirations really made me want to choose the business concept I proposed, which is to stop gun abuse and mass shootings in our country. I believe my will to help people and help the planet had a huge impact on me choosing my business concept, so I believe it would allow me to be successful in my business concept. 

2. What are you offering to customers? My idea is to offer more intensive background checks on gun owners, start having non-profit events every six months to raise awareness in my community on the abuse of gun use, and maybe even start a go-fund-me to raise money for the government so they can put trackers on guns and make sure they do not get illegally sold in to the wrong hands. My business concept idea has the potential to save thousands of lives.

3. Who are you offering it to? My target audience is everyone living in this country ranging from ages 18-70. Ideally the people that will most enticed by my business will be people from 18-40. We are the younger generation that will soon be the leaders of america and we need to make a change and stop gun abuse and mass shootings. 

4. Why do they care? My customers care because they want to make our country safer and stop innocent people from losing their lives due to wrongful gun use. They want to feel safe leaving their homes, going to work, malls, concerts, and even school. We should be able to live freely in our country without having to worry we might die at any time due to someone in the wrong state of mind owning and operating a gun. 

5. What are your core competencies? One of my core competencies is that I am a very open minded person. I can see how others react to things and take that in to consideration when doing things or making decisions. I am always open to new ideas and making my life and others lives better. I am very passionate and dedicated and I think that shows with my business idea. I believe no ones ever put in the time or effort to stop gun abuse and mass shootings because they think its a government issue, but I believe the people of our country should try to stop this issue or at least show the government that the people of the country are trying to make a difference.

I believe this five elements fit very well together. They show myself and my business idea as one. I don't think there are any aspects of business concept that are weak or don't fit in. I believe my business concept could be very successful and save the lives of thousands of people in the future. One thing I've realized is that things don't just happen by you not trying to do something about it. We have the power to change the world if we put in the effort to make things happen. 

Feedback: When writing this blog post, I first thought about the feedback I have gotten from my fellow classmates. They have pointed out some things I did not realize should be part of my business concept in the beginning. I learned so much from what they've commented on my previous posts. I thought about the way they interpreted what I had wrote and how I could implement that feedback to make my business better. I also thought about the feedback I received from my interviewees, they opened my eyes to a new perspective on my business concept and I have truly went about this business in a different way because of them. 

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

My customer avatar is somewhere between an 18-35 year old woman who is tired of seeing the abuse of guns leading to mass shootings. She watches the news, stays up to date with politics, and has children or is thinking about having children/adopting sometime in the near future. She wants to be able to protect herself, her family, and all the lives of innocent others from people that are owning/operating guns for all the wrong reasons. She drives a black or silver Honda accord sport 2015. She is most likely a Democrat or she is able to see both sides of political parties, she also despises Trump being our president. Her hobbies include surfing the web for information on what's happening in todays society, watching the news every night after work, taking her children to school and soccer practice, and hanging out with her neighbors/friends.

I have a little bit in common with my customer avatar, we both want to protect our families, friends, and all the other innocent lives out there from gun abuse and mass shootings. I enjoy watching the news with my parents and keeping up to date with what's going on in our society. Although, I am not a democrat, I see both views equally. I drive the same car, and I hope to have a family and children of my own in the future. I believe it is not a coincidence I see myself in this avatar because after all I am the one who created it, came up with my idea, and the targeted customer segment.

16A - What's Your Secret Sauce

16A - What's Your Secret Sauce

• Five ways in which I feel I have human capital:

1. Caring- I care so much about the people in my life and always want the best for them. I am very supporting of their actions and their feelings. I also care about people I don't even know too well, I just want what is best for everyone. I feel I am very caring of the environment, I love animals and do not want them harmed or locked up and I also want be as helpful as I possibly can to keep this earth clean. 
2. Passionate- I am a very passionate person and I believe that is one of my best attributes as well as one of my worst. When I feel strongly about a subject there is no changing the way I feel. I feel it is my downfall because I am passionate of other people's feelings as well, if someone is not happy with my actions I try so hard to fix them because I don't like when people are upset with me. 
3. Knowledgeable of my own self- I think this is really what makes me unique. I notice my own actions and I know when I am doing the right thing and the wrong thing. I am very aware of myself and the effect I have on others. I know when I need to step up and I always own up to my own actions whether they are right or wrong. 
4. Middle Man/Negotiator- I see myself as a negotiator because I am the middle child. All my life I was in the middle of the fights between my older sister and younger brother. I try to get them to see both of their points of view so they can solve their argument without getting irrational. I also do this when my close friends are arguing. I want everyone to get along so I try to keep the peace with my friends and family. 
5. Dependable on others- I think this is another downfall of mine because I care so much what other people think of me. I always ask friends and family for advice on how to deal with things. This can be a good thing at times, but I feel it is more a downfall, but this is what makes me who I am. 

https://youtu.be/Ca9gk5ID-hI  

https://youtu.be/stR2nV3G2x0

https://youtu.be/x6xdv684QRA

https://youtu.be/krcXSaRuzUw

https://youtu.be/UXqJujBrTBQ

• Reflect on the differences:
• I believe there were more similarities than differences between what I think my human capital is and what the people closest to me think my human capital is. I think there were so many similarities because like I had mentioned I am very knowledgable of myself. I am very good at seeing the perspectives of others and taking them into consideration. One difference was I don't really view myself as achieving everything I put my mind too, I think I get very stressed out so sometimes I don't do my best with tough situations and with balancing school work with my job. Even with my interviews I do not think I would make any corrections to my list. 

15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #2

15A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #2

• Report findings and draw conclusions:
• In each interview I was given a totally new perspective on how to raise awareness for wrongful gun use.
•  My interview with Skyler was really helpful, she brought up that the best way to raise awareness on my issue would be to raise money to increase background checks on gun owners. She thinks background checks should be done monthly to see how the gun owner is doing, how they are feeling emotionally, have they encountered any physical harm in the last month, and have they been using the gun regularly or does it just sit in a drawer in their home for safety reasons. 
• My second interview was also very insightful. I interviewed a friend of mine that owns a gun for safety reasons, but he believes there needs to be more control over gun use to stop abuse. His idea was to have a non-profit event every six months to raise awareness in my community on the abuse of gun use today. I could send out letters to my neighbors and talk with friends and family to get them to attend the event. He believes it is only getting worse, with the amount of mass shootings increasing every year, and it needs to come to a stop.
• My third interview gave me the best perspective on how to go about my opportunity. Leslie believes I should raise money to give to the state/government by starting a gofundme to be able to track guns so they cannot be sold illegally to someone that should not be able to own a gun. It is way too easy to get your hands on a gun and I believe that is half the problem with these mass shootings or just any shooting in general. No innocent person deserves to die because of someone in the wrong state of mind having a gun. 
• This segment truly opened my eyes to the different possibilities I have to raise awareness for wrongful gun use and to help stop mass shootings in our country. All three of my interviewees said they would love to give money towards these regulations and would also bring their friends and family to attend a non-profit event to raise awareness in our community. They believe the money would be going to good use, they also fully support stopping innocent people from dying for all the wrong reasons.This can be a huge step in the right direction for my opportunity of raising awareness for wrongful gun use and to stop the mass shootings in our country. 

13A- Reading Reflection No. 1

13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

• For my first reading reflection I read the biography of Coco Chanel by Lisa Chaney. What had surprised me the most from reading this book was her childhood and background, I always figured she was born in to a rich family but that was not the case. Her family did not have money and her parents were not involved in her life. Her mother died when she was 12 years old and her father did not support her, so he put her in an orphanage after her mother died. She spent the rest of her childhood in a catholic convent where the nuns had taught her how to sew. When she became an adult, she still had a troubled life due to her background and upbringing. Her career didn't take off until she met her first lover, who offered to help her start a business in Paris. She started out selling hats, and then opened two more stores and starting designing clothes. Gabrielle's (Coco) career didn't really take off until she had made a dress out of an old jersey and many people started asking her where she got it, she then offered to make it for them. 
• What I admire the most about Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel is that she overcame her very troubled upbringing and found her passion for design. 
• What I least admire about her is that her lover is the reason she was able to start her business. I think it is so stereotypical of her to have relied on a man to start her business. I understand she did not have the money to start her design business on her own, but I hate that her career started on the opportunity a man handed to her. Most people think women can not accomplish things without a man in their life, and I believe that is entirely not true.
• Gabrielle experienced adversity in her career because of her childhood and the fact that she grew up with no money. Her career also took several years to actually take off, but in my opinion she became one of the most influential entrepreneur's to this day.
• Her main competency was that she was determined to bring her designs to life, she was very tenacious in the fact that she never gave up until she succeeded.
• The part of the reading that was confusing to me was all the french words and places that were mentioned. I actually took french 1 and 2 while attaining my AA and I still did not understand all the french words and sayings through out the book.
• If I was able to ask Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel two questions they would be: What drove you to never give up on your designs and career? What advice would you give to someone trying to start their own business? I would ask her these questions because from taking this course, I see how difficult it is to become an entrepreneur and I am curious how people become so successful when starting their own business.
• I think Coco Chanel's opinion of hard work would be to never give up on your dream. I believe she would think hard work is necessary to be happy with yourself and your career. I support this opinion 100%.

14A - Halfway Reflection

14A - Halfway Reflection

• Some behaviors that I have developed to keep up with the requirements of this course are time management and striving to do the best that I can to earn a good grade in this class. There are two assignments due every Friday and peer reviews due every Monday, so I try to do one assignment by Wednesday and the other one by Friday afternoon. I then complete the peer reviews Monday morning every week. One thing I've realized since being at UF and taking this course is that it is hard to balance your time to be able to complete all of the work for every course you are enrolled in, so time management has been huge for me this semester. I really enjoy how this class is set up to have the all of the assignments due on the same day every week. I believe it helps us all stay on schedule.

• Unfortunately, I felt like giving up several times in this course. Especially when picking an opportunity we will have to write about for the rest of the semester. I wanted to pick an opportunity that really had meaning to me, but it is hard to think of something you will need to keep talking about for weeks on end. I doubted myself and thought I had picked an opportunity that would be tough to write about, but I found it really is not tough at all. One thing that really kept me going was the peer reviews. Seeing what my classmates thought about my opportunity has really given me some new perspective on my subject, it pushed me to want to learn more and educate more people on the topic I have chosen for my opportunity. 

• I believe I have developed a tenacious attitude during these past two months of school because just two months ago I got accepted in to the University of Florida. It has always been a dream of mine to attend this University and I am striving to do the absolute best I can to earn my business degree. This class has definitely helped give me this tenacious attitude because I have felt like giving up on it, but I pushed through it and feel very determined to earn the best grade I can.

• Some tips I would give to students is to remember that you're in this class, at UF, to earn your degree. It is all in the grand scheme of things, at the end of your time in this course and at UF you will then move on to the real world. You can potentially land your dream job at the end of all of this, and that's the most important part! You're here to learn and show people what you can do, so why not put in the effort to do your best? What I have learned is that developing the tenacious mindset is all about YOU. Believe in yourself and you can accomplish all you wish to, and you will succeed if you push yourself to never give up! 

Assignment 9A-Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Assignment 9A-Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Opportunity: The amount of mass shootings is increasing every year, putting everyone's lives at risk no matter where they go. I believe our country needs to implement more restriction on the gun control law to protect the wrong people from being able to purchase and carry guns.

Interview #1

• In this interview I spoke with someone who agrees with the opportunity i have constructed. They feel as if their lives are in danger anytime they go out in public, and that is not something people want to deal with in their everyday lives. Although, this person feels as if he is not in the boundary to do anything about restricting gun laws, as much as he wishes he could help the issue of mass shootings. 

Interview #2

• In this interview I spoke with someone who agrees with my opportunity, he recently had 3 friends die in a shooting related to drug money. These 3 innocent people happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got killed because of someone else's problem. My interviewee believes there needs to be more restriction on the second amendment, which is the right to keep and bear arms. People who are involved in drug trade, people going through dramatic events in their lives, people who are mentally ill, or have any kind of disorder should not have the right to own a gun and they should be background checked every month after getting the gun to make sure they are still safe candidates to owning and operating a gun. He believes if we push hard enough on this topic we can get the government to think about implementing more restriction on gun laws. 

Interview #3

• In this interview I spoke with someone who opposes my opportunity. He highly believes in his right to own a gun under any circumstance. He believes in owning one for protection and for hunting, so why should he have to sacrifice his gun and love of hunting for people who are abusing the power of the second amendment? I agree with him on this topic, but at the same time don't we all want to stop the mass fatalities of innocent people? He said yes to that question, but does not feel that anyone besides the government has the power to implement a restriction on gun laws to stop the fatalities.

Interview #4

• In this interview I spoke with someone who agrees with my opportunity. She said she is so tired of seeing new stories in the news almost every month about another mass shooting in America. She believes we could do things such as protest to get the attention of state and local governments, which those governments can then determine the right of being allowed to carry a gun in a public place. From there we could maybe get the attention of the federal government to actually implement more restrictions on the second amendment. 

Interview #5

• In this interview I spoke with someone who agrees with my opportunity, but does not believe we have the power to do anything about it. Gun control has been a huge issue for many years but it does not seem to be getting any better, in fact, it's getting worse. The government does do background checks on people before they can be registered to own a gun, but that does not mean at any point in their future their mindset can change, things happen to people everyday causing them to be unstable and at that point that person should not be allowed to own a gun anymore. People can also purchase guns through other people that already own them, meaning they don't have to go through the government to purchase it, and that is one of the scariest parts. 

Furthering what I concluded in my post Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1: I believe there is a lot of areas in my opportunity that I did not cover. From reading my peer reviews and interviewing 5 more people I have come to the conclusion that although this may not seem like an entrepreneurial opportunity because it has more to do with the government actually implementing these laws, there is always something we (the people of the U.S.) can do to try to make our government implement more restriction on the gun control law. One problem is that there are loop holes to getting around background checks and people can sell their guns to anyone without the government even knowing, and those people tend to be the crazy ones starting the mass shootings. Another problem is that everyone feels a different way about this topic and it is going to be hard to find a solution to please everyone. In my opinion, the solution will be to do more extensive background checks on people who are looking to purchase a gun, and regulate those background checks monthly to make sure a gun does not fall in the hands of someone dangerous to society or even themselves.

Inside the boundary:                                                    Outside the boundary:

                                                   

Who is in: The government and people                       Who is not: People that are not affected 

who are affected and want to do something                  by the increase in mass shootings,   

about the growing rate of mass shootings.                    People who don't want their guns taken
                                                                                       away or being regulated.

What the need is: More restriction on                        What the need is not: Restriction and 

gun control laws to protect the safety                           regulation on people that own guns for the

of the U.S. citizens                                                          right reasons.

Why the need exists: Innocent people are                  Alternative explanations: People feel so 

losing their lives everyday due to mass                        differently regarding this topic that it will be 

shootings.                                                                       hard to find a solution that pleases

                                                                                       everyone. What we can do right now:
                                                                                       educate  U.S. citizens on the gun control

                                                                                       issue as much as possible and hope

                                                                                       we can get state and local governments

                                                                                       attention and in the long run get federal

                                                                                       governments attention to actually do 

                                                                                       something about this issue.

Assignment 7A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Post Tag: Assignment 7A-Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Implementing Gun Control Laws

• Opportunity: The amount of mass shootings is increasing every year, putting everyone's lives at risk no matter where they go. I believe our country needs to implement a law to protect the wrong people from being able to purchase guns.
• The Who: Citizens of the United States
• The What: The abuse of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution of the Bill of Rights, the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
• The Why: Every citizen has the ability to purchase guns, even people not in their right state of mind and it is causing mass killings all over the country. 

• Testing the who: I believe all citizens of the United States, and people who are not citizens but living in this country are the "who" of this opportunity. All citizens have access to purchasing a gun and that means everyone in the U.S. is also in danger of getting killed in a shooting.
• Testing the what: The abuse of the second amendment is increasing every year. I believe our amendments were set in place for a reason, they are the bylaws of our country but the second amendment of the right to keep and bear arms needs to have more restriction and boundaries.
• Testing the why: Why people feel the need to purchase guns is a huge issue going on in our country right now. Some people purchase guns because they feel it will keep them safe but other people are purchasing them for all the wrong reasons. The argument is who should be allowed to purchase guns and who shouldn't. I believe there needs to be more restriction on who has the right to keep and bear arms to prevent innocent people from these mass fatalities. 

Interview #1

• In this interview, I talked with a student who is in college and had a friend get shot and die at a party right in front of his eyes. After his friend got shot, my interviewee sat and held him until the police arrived, he died in my interviewee's arms. He went through something most college students don't go through, losing an innocent person, in this case his best friend, to someone who abused the power of owning a gun. The shooter was under the influence of alcohol and he got mad at someone who was at the party. He shot the gun off in the direction of a huge group of people and it happen to hit and kill an innocent person. My interviewee highly agrees with the opportunity I have constructed, that there needs to be more restriction on who can purchase and own a gun. 

Interview #2

• In this interview, I spoke with someone who owns a gun and opposes the opportunity I have constructed. This interviewee believes in the second amendment, that all citizens should have the right to keep and bear arms. He said he owns a gun for his own protection, incase he ever needs to protect himself or his family. He does not believe in restricted gun laws because he thinks that himself, as well as others, should be able to own a gun without having to go through extra processes to purchase it. I believe this specific person should have the right to own a gun due to his understanding of why the second amendment was implemented in the first place. 

Interview #3

• In this interview, I spoke with a peer advisor in my life who agrees with restricting gun laws for the safety of innocent people. She told me that as much as she agrees and abides with the second amendment, people that are mentally ill or not in their right state of mind should not have the opportunity to purchase a gun and harm themselves or others. She watches the news and does research on this topic because she is highly concerned with her safety as well as her families and other innocent lives all around the country. She told me in just 2018 alone, there has already been 262 mass shooting incidents. She stated "this is absolutely absurd and needs to come to a stop".

Interview #4

• In this interview, I was able to speak with the CEO of CBI (Cheney Brother Inc), Byron Russell. He does not agree with the opportunity I have constructed about restricting gun laws because he feels owning a gun is a right to protect yourself as well as being able to own a gun to go hunting. He is a very wealthy important man and feels the need to be able to protect himself and his company's employees in case something bad happens. He is also a huge family man, so not only does he feel the need to be able to protect his family, he loves to take his daughters hunting with him. He is a prime example of someone who abides by the second amendment and should have the ability to own and operate a gun when necessary. 

Interview #5

• In my final interview, I spoke with my old boss who is highly against guns in general. She opposes my opportunity of restricted gun laws because she feels the second amendment should be completely outlawed. This woman does not believe in owning a gun under any circumstances. She feels only military officials should have the right to own a gun for war purposes. She told me she has thought about purchasing one just to keep in the office for the protection of herself and her employees, but she decided against it due to the fact that she feels she shouldn't have to own a gun in order to feel safe. She feels to achieve the goal we all want, which is a world with less violence and less innocent people dying, no one should have the right to own and operate a gun.  

Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before?

• The interviews, or rather the interviewees, opened my eyes to a new perspective on guns. I knew the amount of mass shootings are increasing every year, but I did not know how many people are against the restricting of gun laws. 
• Adding boundaries and restrictions on the second amendment would make it that much more of a process for the people who should be allowed to own and operate a gun the ability to purchase it. That is why I believe the two interviewee's who opposed my opportunity were against adding restrictions to gun laws, it would make their lives more difficult.
• With the increasing number of mass shootings, I feel as if people are more and more scared to even leave their homes without carrying a gun on them to protect themselves from the criminals who are going around creating the mass shootings. 
• I believe people should not feel as if they need a gun to protect themselves, but that is clearly what our world has come to. It is so sad to hear other people's perspective on this topic because it has shown me that guns have done nothing but cause turmoil in our country. All of my interviewee's got really aggressive with their opinions on whether or not they believe in the opportunity I proposed. 
• Personally, after speaking with the interviewee's, I believe whether they should be allowed the right to keep and bear arms or not, guns are causing huge safety issues in our country and we need to take the initiative to stop this fear of guns and mass shootings.

6A - Identifying Opportunities In Economic And Regulatory Trends

6A - Identifying Opportunities In Economic And Regulatory Trends 

Economic Trend 1: Climate Change Is Causing More Natural Disasters

• Source: https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666
• I believe climate change is increasing every year due to many factors and there is an opportunity here to make people more aware of this and we could inform them of ways to stop the increase in climate change.
• The U.S. climate is changing as a result of global warming caused by an increase of greenhouse gases. Temperatures are rising causing food prices to increase because harvest foods cannot grow in such high heat. Climate change also creates unpredictable violent storms, droughts, and floods. Rising sea-levels creates worse flooding in low-lying places, such as Florida. Also, wild fires in the west of the U.S. have increased a significant amount in the last 40 years. 
• The customer with this opportunity is everyone! We all can make a difference in climate change if we use less greenhouse gases, stop littering, stop polluting our environment, and stop killing so many animals. Every little thing we do in our everyday lives affects climate change. 
• I think this opportunity to turn climate change around will be very difficult to exploit due to the fact a lot of people do not believe in climate change including our president Donald Trump.
• Some individuals might not form this belief of an opportunity existing because like I had mentioned, people are oblivious to climate change. I am sure some people feel the same way I do on this subject but not everyone. I think I feel this way because as I've grown up I have noticed the climate changing every year. From what I see in my everyday life and on the news there are more storms, fires, floods, and hotter summers every year.

Economic Trend 2: Financial Markets Control Oil, Gas, And Food Prices

• Source: https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666
• I see an opportunity here to bring back company's and client's control of prices. Prices should be controlled by supply and demand and the company supplying us with the products should have control of prices.
• Unfortunately, supply and demand have become significantly less important in controlling prices. Commodities traders are now setting prices for oil, gas, and food. Meanwhile foreign exchange traders are determining the value of the U.S. dollar bill. 
• The customer with the opportunity here is the government and the company that is supplying the product and/or services. 
• I think this opportunity will be difficult to exploit due to the fact it would change everything. It would change imports and exports, company's value, the way the government runs things, and it would change investors perspectives and they made decide not to invest anymore. 
• I see this opportunity where as others may not because I don't think many people care, they think prices are prices and theres no way to change it. I believe the people who are supplying us with oil, gas, and food should be deciding the price at which they want to sell it. Prices should not be controlled from outside sources, such as commodity traders and foreign exchange traders.

Regulatory Trend 1: Paid sick leave and minimum wage policies at local and state levels

• Source: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7671-regulatory-issues-changes.html
• Though raising minimum wage and enforcing paid sick leave have become a bigger concern over the years there is still no law stating these things are mandatory. 
• Paid leave bills have been introduced to congress but they are unlikely to gain recognition by any of the Republican party. No matter how big or small the business, most employers want to form a workplace that supports their employees in time of need. Although, for entrepreneurs and small businesses paid sick leave creates a huge risk, it would require them to change their planning and budgeting. 
• I believe the customer of this opportunity would be our government and our tax money. A portion of government funds and tax money should be given towards paid sick leave so entrepreneurs and small businesses can still thrive. There should be a government law stating that minimum wage needs to be a higher amount due to every product/service price going up every year. People can not afford what they need to survive off a minimum wage salary.
• I think this opportunity will be difficult to exploit because no one wants to put forth the money to be able to offer paid sick leave and the government seems to not want to raise minimum wage salary.
• I see this to be a great opportunity to help employees out in time of need and allow minimum wage salary workers to be able to afford things they need in their every day lives, whereas others might see it as a waste of money and that these sick people should have to deal with it on their own. I see myself to be a very caring person of the people around me and I always want to help out others when needed so that is why I formed this belief of opportunity.

Regulatory Trend 2: Moving Toward A Cleaner Grid

• Source: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/top-10-utility-regulation-trends-of-2018-so-far#gs.zbRvFQI
• Reading this article made me realize there is many things we are in the midst of doing to create a cleaner atmosphere.
• More utilities are announcing coal plant retirements and there has been large investments in renewable energy. There has been more than $10 billion of new investments towards renewable energy, due to falling costs, strengthened state energy and environmental policies, and increased desire from customers to obtain items that have renewable energy. California, Virginia, Idaho, Arizona, Michigan, and Colorado are just a few states that have begun working towards a cleaner environment.
• The customer with this opportunity to work towards a cleaner environment is everyone! Like I had previously mentioned when talking about climate change, it is the power of the people in our country to work towards saving our planet. 
• I believe this opportunity to be relatively easy to exploit because I think most people want our country to be cleaner than it has been in past years. We need to preserve our resources and energy for the future generations.
• I am happy to say more people are starting to realize the importance of a clean environment. I think this article presented an opportunity to me that other people may not see because I highly believe in keeping our planet green. Some people are just careless towards our environment because they are too caught up in their lives to care about preserving our planet, but as a 21 year old looking to grow up and start a family within the next 10 or 20 years I am concerned for future generations. 

Assignment 5A - Identifying Local Opportunities

Assignment 5A - Identifying Local Opportunities

Article 1. County inspects Pahokee 'plume'; Bacterial blob in water came from raw sewage; officials seeking source

• URL: http://bi.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA553618662/1d64e9258cbae58a03f31f8238e0abc6?u=gain40375
• Summary of article: A bluish bacteria was spreading along the surface of Lake Okeechobee near the city's marina this summer. 
• A long time resident Sam McKinstry was the first to notice the "plume" bacteria around the marina and began asking the city and county officials about it. According to Sam the lake has had a raw sewage problem for years and no one has done anything about. 
• Palm Beach County mayor Melissa McKinlay says that raw sewage likely caused the plume bacteria, but she insists it has not been an ongoing problem. Mckinlay sent a crew from the county's water utilities department to check it out. The crew said there is no spill from any of the county's water outlets, but they took a sample of the bluish plume bacteria to test it. 
• The results revealed there was a significant amount of a certain bacteria in the water, and that bacteria comes from raw sewage. So was Sam McKinstry right all this time? The people of Pahokee were very alarmed. 
• The article stated at that point in time they did not know where the raw sewage was coming from but the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is working with the city to find out more information. The city applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to clear out the sewage and repair the docks but the funding has not come through. They hope once it does the dock will be up and running and the bacteria will be cleared out. 
• The problem: Bacteria produced by raw sewage found in Lake Okeechobee around the city of Pahokee's marina. 
• The people: This affects the residents of Pahokee, anyone living around Lake Okeechobee could also be at risk, the mayor Melissa McKinlay, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Article 2. 2 hurricanes, tropical storm spin in Atlantic Two hurricanes spin in Atlantic, a third storm strengthens; None poses threat to S. Fla., for now; Carolinas brace for Florence

• URL: http://bi.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA553618669/464542fbf90b5f96f7dfd1196752b2a0?u=gain40375
• Summary of article: It's hurricane season again for people living on the east coast of the United States. Hurricane Florence is supposed to hit the Carolinas this weekend while Hurricane Helene seemed to turn back out to sea, not posing a threat to us on the east coast. There is another tropical storm named Isaac that they believe will turn in to a hurricane and pose a threat to Puerto Rico but it is projected to weaken by the time it reaches them. 
• Governor's are telling everyone to be prepared for Florence as it can always get bigger as it approaches land. Some people are evacuating the area completely.
• Florence will cause the east coast of Florida to have huge waves that will be up to 5-10 feet. 
• The problem: Hurricanes pose a huge threat to communities, as we have seen in the past they can almost destroy a whole city. They can cause insane amounts of flooding, power outages for days on end, and even tear down houses if the winds are strong enough. Everyone needs to be prepared for the damages hurricanes can cause.
• The people: The people that will be affected the most are the people who live in North and South Carolina because that is where hurricane Florence will hit. People in Florida all the way up to Virginia need to be prepared for rain and huge waves hitting the beaches. They also need to be prepared for more hurricanes to come during the 2018 hurricane season.

Article 3. Traffic stop leads to attempted murder arrest Traffic stop leads to attempted murder arrest for West Palm-area man

• URL: http://bi.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA553896813/c8382e3aa59af451aba457017fa2c00a?u=gain40375
• Summary of Article: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office reported a man facing attempted murder charges after trying to run over two deputies who pulled him over because his taillights were not working. 
• The man's name is Marieau Julme, age 35. When the deputies pulled him over, Julme opened the center console and the deputies saw small plastic bags that seemed to be filled with drugs. When they asked him to step out of the car, he put the car in drive and sped off, nearly hitting the two deputies. He aimed the car right at them forcing them to jump out of the way so they wouldn't get run over.
• Julme almost got away due to speeding off in traffic and losing another cop that was trying to chase him. He was later spotted on a different road and they pulled him over and made him step out of the car. He tried to run away but they caught him. 
• The Judge ordered that he would be held without bail on the attempted murder and aggravated assault charges.  
• The problem: Marieau Julme attempting to murder two deputies for pulling him over due to his taillights being out. He seemed to have had drugs on him so he tried to escape but deputies caught him. 
• The people: The deputies could have died, Julme is being held without bail, and Julme could have caused innocent people to get in serious traffic accidents due to speeding off but luckily no one was hurt.

Article 4. Will Florida take high road by establishing marijuana banks?

• URL: http://bi.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA553896807/60f799a542428b1e9a3bcaae19efc71c?u=gain40375
• Summary of Article: Nicole Fried is a lawyer and medicinal marijuana lobbyist that has been trying to get banks to be open to funding medical marijuana. She is running as the Democratic candidate for Florida commissioner of agriculture.
•  Fried's campaign was terminated by Wells Fargo and BB&T after finding out her connection to marijuana businesses. She wants the state of Florida to open up it's own bank for the medical marijuana industry. She also believes Florida will one day legalize recreational use of marijuana just like 9 other states already have. 
• John Morgan, a lawyer that bankrolled the push for medicinal marijuana, tweeted that he is going to look at starting a fund where everyone can donate to get full marijuana legalization on the ballet for 2020. If it gets legalized we will need a lot of banking services for it. 
• This makes Nicole Fried's idea of starting a state-sanctioned marijuana bank the first important step of getting banks across the state to be okay with marijuana as it becomes a huge industry.
• Fried is also thinking about what to name the bank, and how it will affect the lingo and color schemes that banks already have. 
• If marijuana banks reach success, tellers will have to be trained for a new set of challenges.
• The problem: Banks are not open to backing marijuana activists due to potential problems with federal anti-money-laundering regulations. Marijuana has not been legalized in the state of Florida yet, but probably will at some point in the future.
• The people: Nicole Fried, who is the Democratic candidate for Florida commissioner of agriculture. John Morgan, a lawyer that bankrolled the push for medicinal marijuana. This also affects people that need medical marijuana for their health and people that are looking for it to become legalized for recreational use. 

Article 5. Wellington residents oppose plan; Builder wants over 200 homes on former golf course near Forest Hill

• URL: http://bi.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA553747737/506bf4b3764f676c5ea018200df9a7e4?u=gain40375
• Summary of article: Company representatives want to build over 200 homes on a former golf course in Wellington, FL. The Polo Club North project from 13th Floor Homes has gotten many concerns from residents who live near the golf course. They do not want homes being built there due to traffic safety reasons and density problems. Some residents were persistently clear that they do not want any development on the land. One resident suggested they build a park or preserve and called on Wellington to buy the land. 
• Company attorney Dan Daley said no matter what something will be redeveloped here, and its not a matter of if, if its a matter of when. He proposed plans of adding in new traffic lanes and keeping 27 of the 56 acres green space. 
• He states plans are subject to change and resident feedback will be key to letting these homes be built. 
• Polo Club North has not yet closed the deal on the land, but it is under contract to buy from Palm Beach Polo Inc.
• The golf course has sat vacant for 20 years, and other proposals for the land had been presented that were way worse than building homes. 
• Vice Mayor Michael Drahos told 13th Floor Homes he would not support it, due to the fact he had grew up there and he backed the residents that do not want the land taken over by new homes. 
• It will take a lot of time and a master plan amendment to change the property's use from open-space golf course to it becoming a residential area. 
• The problem: 13th Floor Homes is proposing a project called the Polo Club North to build over 200 homes on a golf course in Wellington that has been vacant for 20 years. Residents in the area as well as the Vice Mayor Michael Drahos, are against this plan.
• The people: It will affect the residents living in Wellington, Fl near the golf course by Forest Hill Blvd. It is also affecting the company 13th Floor Homes and Vice Mayor Michael Drahos.