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.
Friday, November 30, 2018
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.
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.
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.
Friday, November 16, 2018
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.
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.
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.
Friday, November 9, 2018
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.
Friday, November 2, 2018
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
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