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: