23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1. Work Ethic

Valuable: this is a resource that is valuable all throughout one's life and to develop it now is key.

Rare: not all students work as hard as I do toward my goals.

Inimitable: there's only one me!

Non-substitutable: See above!

2. Ability to learn quickly.

Valuable: this comes in handy no matter the job and makes the work environment a little easier.
Rare: not all people can learn quickly and I am very grateful for this skill (which I think is a result of working hard).
Inimitable: there's only one me!
Non-substitutable: See above1

3. The right human resources.

Valuable: It's not what you know; it's who you know.
Rare: Having the right connections is rare because there are only a few right connections.
Inimitable: You can't fake a connection.
Non-substitutable: See above.

4. The passion for my idea.

Valuable: I know what it's like to live without passion, so I do think this one is very important because it gives you a reason to get up in the morning.
Rare: I don't think everyone loves what they study or what they do for work; to enjoy what you do is a true blessing.
Inimitable: You can't fake determination.
Non-substitutable: See above.

5. The simplicity of my idea.

Valuable: A simple idea that can change a lot is incredibly valuable because it's easy to understand and people like that.
Rare: I don't think simple ideas are rare...
Inimitable: I don't think the idea of heating stations on campus are inimitable.
Non-substitutable: There are substitutes.

6. The easy implication of my idea.

Valuable: One can see a convenient change in a small matter of time.
Rare: Not many ideas can be implemented as quickly as I think this one can; usually, it takes years to change something on a campus.
Inimitable: It's not inimitable.
Non-substitutable: It's not nonsubstitutable.

7. The student support of my idea.

Valuable: This is a campus and this change is for students; if the students don't like it, then what's the point?
Rare: I think many students are indifferent to changes on campus; this idea really makes students excited and I'm grateful for that.
Inimitable: It's not.
Non-substitutable: It's not.

8. Ability to present my idea clearly.

Valuable: presentation is everything!
Rare: It's not a rare skill.
Inimitable: It's not inimitable.
Non-substitutable: It's not non-substitutable.

9. My people-skills.

Valuable: In order to get support, one needs to be liked!
Rare: It's not rare.
Inimitable: It's not.
Non-substitutable: It's not.

10. Relatively cheap

Valuable: A huge change for a small price? Yes, please!
Rare: I do think good ideas are usually quite expensive, but I don't expect this idea to cost more than a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars depending on how many heating stations are put up throughout campus.
Inimitable: It's not.
Non-substitutable: It's not.

My Top Resource: Human resources because who you know is vitally important to making changes in certain environments and especially on campus!

22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

I did not receive any negative feedback on my last elevator pitch and I am pretty satisfied with it. My peers felt that I was engaging, passionate, and could relate to my problem. They also felt that they could benefit from my solution!  At this time, I don't think I could come up with a better elevator pitch, so I will leave my last one as is.

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

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

Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker explains what an entrepreneur is and defines the term "entrepreneurship" as well as what true innovation is.

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

I found Innovation and Entrepreneurship to be very insightful. There were certain subtle distinctions that Drucker made that made a lot of sense to me. For example, in this course, we have learned that we can become entrepreneurs and that our personality traits and characteristics can help us. In this book, it was pointed out that entrepreneurship is not a personality trait. It can help, but that is not what makes an entrepreneur.

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

In this book, Drucker says that innovation (an important aspect of entrepreneurship) ought to be simple. I think it would be a good exercise to look at a couple of big ideas and describe them in one or two sentences.

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?

I found it really surprising that Drucker says we ought to innovate for the present, not the future. I would expect that innovation ought to be done with the future in mind but I can understand why he would emphasize the importance of the present.

20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Establish contact with three new people, who will be valuable to helping you pursue your business idea. 

I was unable to get responses from two people for this exercise; however, I was able to speak with Dana, a student government leader here at UF. We have taken the same Chinese classes together for the past two semesters and recently became good friends. I believe she is the best person for me to know since she has all the right contacts when I start to get this ball rolling. I would describe her as the "market expert" in a sense because of this reason.

How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

I believe knowing Dana will open up my options and broaden my network spectrum so to speak. I do think this experience differed from other networking experiences because there is more research involved and one must target individual people to speak with.

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I am currently a full time student at the University of Florida; I work two and a half jobs and do my best at whatever the task at hand is. I am a pharmacy technician, call for political surveys over the phone, and I babysit as needed. In the past, I worked at my father's grocery store in all departments (meat, grocery, produce, cooler, cash register, etc.) as well as interned at a local library and then a bakery in Naples, Florida called "Epiphany" where I was able to clean, bake, decorate, and eat the best brownies in the world!

As mentioned in a previous post, I was brought up to work. Never was I handed anything - I always had to earn my rewards. This trained me to think as worker and push myself harder than any of my friends. While they were hanging out during break, I was working two jobs - 10 -12 hours a day sometimes.

By the time I graduated high school, I had my associates degree and a 5.04 GPA - all this because I was taught that there is no reward without much effort and nothing good comes easy.

These experiences helped form me into the person I am today: a hard worker with an ever-evolving skill set.

In the future, I would like to travel. I would like to teach English in a foreign country someday, open a coffee shop and cafe, perhaps have my own cooking show! In regards to this assignment and the business idea I chose to pursue, I don't see it playing much of a role outside of the university. I believe this experience will help guide my decisions in the future, but I do not see myself pursuing it in the long run.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

I am offering the idea of a heating station in several locations throughout campus so that students can save money by bringing lunches from home. Accompanying this heating station, I think it would be great to have a frozen foods vending machine with cheap lunches (hello, $0.94 chicken pot pie!).

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

I am offering this to the students of UF. We all have long days on campus sometimes - whether that's because we have three lectures a day or just do all of our studying in the libraries. Either way, we all get hungry because we're all human. Unlike the staff members of UF, we don't have access to microwaves. We are forced to either starve or buy a $7.00 lunch from Starbucks, Panda Express, Subway, Firehouse Subs, etc. None of these are healthy options and they're all too pricey for students!

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

Students will care because they work hard and don't want to blow their money eating out. Some may not care and some may have a dining card. But for the rest of us, we like to be conservative and smart with our money.

Microwave access will be free of charge. The frozen foods vending machine would cost money, but not much (e.g. $0.94 chicken pot pie, $1.29 burger, etc.). It is a better deal than waiting in line at Starbucks for an overpriced panini sandwich.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

See my answer to question 1.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

I do believe these elements work together perfectly in order to fulfill this goal of mine. I see a need and a practical solution. Every student I've discussed this idea with have agreed that it would be great for students because it would save them money and be very convenient for students who bring their own meals to campus.

For the "feedback memo" -- please summarize at least two main points that you took away from the feedback you received. Also, please describe how you incorporated the feedback into this idea napkin.

Unfortunately, there was no critique on my first idea napkin; all of my peers agreed that this is a good idea.

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

My custom avatar is the average student who attends the University of Florida.

What kind of hobbies does your customer have? 

Procrastinating on homework, scrolling through a plethora of memes daily, complaining, binge-watching a favorite t.v. show, drinking coffee, hanging out with friends, etc.

What kind of car do they tend to drive? (What color is it?) 

I don't know what other students drive, but mine is a 2006 black Volvo S80.

What TV shows do they watch? 

Frasier, Parks and Rec, Friends, Lost, The Walking Dead, etc.

Do they have children? Are any of them adopted? 

Typically no and no.

What are their favorite books, and who are their favorite politicians? 

I can only speak for myself here. Some favorites are anything by J.R.R. Tolkien and Mark Twain as well as biographies and history books (currently reading a biography on Andrew Jackson and a history on how the Catholic Church built western civilization - both of which are absolutely fascinating). Philosophy books by Plato and Aristotle are also "lit" as the kids say.

How old are they? 

18-22

How old do they feel?

Again, I can only speak for myself, but I feel ancient. 200 years old is probably accurate.

What do you have in common with the customer avatar? 

The avatar is basically me.

If you have anything in common with the avatar, do you think that is a coincidence? Why?

It's no coincidence! This product is made for students by a student! We're poor and hungry and just want a hot meal less than the cost of tuition.

17A - Elevator Pitch No. 2

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

Reviewing the feedback from my last pitch, it seems that my peers felt engaged while watching the video and could relate to the Struggle. I tried to keep the light humor and passion for my idea in this pitch as well while relating my struggles and experiences to my fellow Gators' struggles and experiences.

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

One of my peers noticed a lot of pausing in my last video which I also noticed and didn't like and he suggested I try to make the next video flow a bit more smoothly. I tried to do that in this pitch.

16A –What’s Your Secret Sauce?

1) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. 

• I always arrive early and leave late.
• I always offer to do more than what my job requires.
• I am not afraid to ask others how I can improve.
• I pay attention to small details and leave my work space cleaner and more organized than I found it.
• I work very hard and try to prioritize tasks.
• I am not afraid to ask questions and seek advice if I don't know how to approach a problem.
• I have an amicable personality but know when it's time to be serious.
• I know my weaknesses and what areas I need to improve upon, so I focus on that a lot.

2) Interview the five people who know you the best.

Unfortunately, I was unable to record all of my interviews because the people who know me best do not live locally. I was able to get some answers via text, however.

My friend Dana said that I am: "very encouraging, dedicated when pursuing new things, understanding of situations, warm, and approachable".

My friend Aly said that I am: "Understanding, a good listener, conscientious, reliable, helpful, organized, responsible, trustworthy".

My sister Sophia said that I "have a very great work ethic both in the workforce and in personal life". I am "very well organized. Once given a topic, you make sure you become knowledgeable about that topic". I also lift the workplace mood with my humor and people are "usually" happy to see me when I come to work. When I work, I do a thorough job.

My friend Emma said, "One thing that you do really well is that you meet people where they're at. You meet them halfway, find out what they need, etc. You're dedicated, no matter how new or old the activity, and you see things through to completion. In addition to this, you strive towards excellence. You don't just finish a job or assignment; if it needs to be completed, you will make it the best it can be in the situation. You're extremely good at communication, both in terms or speaking and in listening. You listen well to instruction, and will ask for clarification if necessary. When speaking, you make the purpose of your words clear. You are also extremely diligent, and you have the level of maturity and responsibility to do things without being told. You see something that needs to be done, and you do it."

My friend Hannah said that, "You're incredibly compassionate, very kind, extremely creative. You know how to make great things with a budget. You know how to make great things even when you're going through difficulty. You're a decent person. You treat people well. You don't cut corners, you don't take advantage of them. You treat them well. You don't let people take advantage of you. You're very smart and savvy. You know how to sniff out a stinky situation before it happens. And I have to say you have a determination about you to do take on whatever situation is before you and whenever you set your mind to do something, you do it and that makes you very exceptional."

3) Reflect on the differences. How do you see yourself, and how do others see you? Are there differences in how you assess yourself compared to others? What do you think causes these differences? Do you think your interviewees are correct about you? Finally, going back to your list from part 1, would you make any corrections to the list? How?

I think it's very interesting to see how others view me. They all seemed to notice how I am as a person and they noticed how I treat others. I never really considered that aspect of my personality; I just treat people the way I want to be treated. Others seem to view me as determined, honest, reliable, and caring. I just focus on the things that need to be improved upon. I can accept when I'm good at something or if I have a valuable character trait, but I don't dwell on it.

I don't know that my interviewees are right about me. I see so much that needs to be improved; I don't see myself as a very driven or motivated person.

Going back to my original list, I think it's interesting that I focused on very specific habits whereas my interviewees focused on me in general.

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Beginning these interviews, I assumed price would be the number 1 factor in determining how a student decides what and where to eat; however, health reasons and convenience were at the top! One student said she was watching her weight, so that was a main factor in her decision-making process. Another student said they usually ate Krishna lunch regardless because it's cheap and tastes good! 

When asked how they knew they had made a good or bad decision after eating out, one student said it was based upon how she felt after the meal which makes sense!

While I was surprised that price was not the main deciding factor for these students, I do understand their reasoning behind the decisions they do make. I think most students would still benefit from heating stations around campus.

14A – Halfway Reflection

For this exercise, I'd like you reflect on the past two months. In your post for this exercise, pretend that you're talking to a student from next semester's course. What would you tell them?

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

I won't lie. Sometimes I do wait until the last minute to even look at what's due for the week, but that's life! You have to roll with the punches. But one of the best ways to do well in this course is to put a lot of thought into what product you're developing as well as speaking to others about it - you will find that many people are as excited about your idea as you are and they will often offer thoughts of their own to improve your idea! Listen to them. They are your future customers!

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

I haven't felt like giving up in this course yet but I have felt overwhelmed by the amount of work due for this course and others. It's okay to feel down and it's okay to take some time for yourself, but let the stress fuel you until you're on top of things again (good luck, pals!). Write out a to-do list, rearrange in order of priority, and then set a schedule for yourself.

I don't know that I've developed a tenacious attitude in the last two months; I don't feel that I've changed at all. I just know what my responsibilities are and somehow get them all done. It's one day at a time, right?

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset'?

1. Prioritize your workload.

2. Know that these four years, these classes: they're important but they'll pass and on your deathbed, I doubt you'll be crying over not getting an A+++ in all your classes. School is important, but grades are not always measure of how well you're doing. Do your best and don't beat yourself up if it feels like your best isn't good enough. You are not defined by your failures or successes. You are enough as you are.

3. Breathe.

Source: Linked In

Enjoy your spring break, pals! You've earned it!