Week 8: Half-way Reflection

This is a reflection of the half-way point of this Spring 2016 semester here at UF.

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

I must say that what I learned in this course so far is planning and implementation of the plan. Having to set up interviews, and research business ventures is not something that is easy enough to just throw together in 15 minutes like any normal college student might want to do.

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 believe that the elevator pitches were the most challenging thing for me and made me want to quit. The reason this is, is because of the amount of research and the extreme time constraint put on us. I like things to be perfect so it is really hard to make up a business idea and have all of the information you would need for an investors pitch in such a short time. If you have ever seen shark tank you know that some of these people have been doing research for years and even already have their product launched. This is an example of how difficult it is in this class.

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' ?

If I had to give three tips, they would be the following:
1 Be sure and do all of the assignments early and plan them out because going out and recording interviews takes preparation.
2 Don't give up, because it is all for your benefit and it will pay off.
3 Be as creative as possible because that will allow you to think outside of the box with your ideas and endeavors.

Good luck,
GO GATORS!!!

Week 8: Reading Reflection

1) Not really a huge surprise, but a surprise none the less was when I saw that venture capital firms want to own control of your company and tell you how to run the business was completely a myth. I feel that if the venture capital firms are saying yes or no and approving of the companies big decisions rather than just the everyday things, they have a significant impact on what happens because these are big decisions.

2) More or less I was not really confused by anything during the reading aside from the question that I have in number three.

3) One question that I have for the author is how it works that you could have a greater return on equity if you borrow more? This is the only question I was able to run across during my reading of this chapter. I found it to be very interesting, and I am curious of how this greater borrowing can create higher equity.

4) In number one I mentioned the myth and I do not know that I entirely agree with this statement but otherwise I enjoyed reading the chapter.

Week 7: Free Money

I did my five encounters with random people that I saw walking around the parking lot of my apartment complex and tried to get them to take a dollar from me. At first I assumed that it would be really easy to get people to take the dollar, but then I realized that when people were busy or shy they wanted nothing to do with me or my dollar. Of the videos that I took, only one person decided to take the dollar without question. The other did not. Here are the links to the videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic1N3UIiPSM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8247NWPezEo

The biggest thing that I realized doing this assignment is that I lost out on four dollars. It was much harder to give the dollar to some people than others. I had two people just take it and move on and then one who just kept asking questions about what it was for and why I was giving it to them. He had asked at what point what the catch was. This was an interesting challenge given I could not tell them it was for class. For the most part my reason for giving the dollar was just because I was feeling like giving a dollar away because I felt like it. This was definitely an odd challenge and I enjoyed seeing people's different reactions.

Week 7: Reading Reflection

1) I think that the most interesting thing from this reading is how much marketing has had to evolve with the way people approach purchasing, and with the technologies. Things are changing so fast now it is hard for marketers to keep up with what people want. Not only that, but the ability to stay ahead of what they want because things are “old” so quickly.

2) One part of the reading that was a little confusing to me was how the author feels that demographics is almost obsolete now. I feel like the characteristics, such as values, as he mentioned tie into a demographic location. Maybe that same area of people all hold similar value and preferences. This also goes along with the question about something I thought was “wrong”. I just cannot say that I completely agree with that because there are many factors going into where to target specific market segments.  

3)  only really have one question for this article, but I am curious as to why adding a model in the commercials is now so effective but it was not as common quite a few years back. People have not really changed their taste that much in the years, so I wonder why it wasn’t used then.

4) This question is answered as well in number 3.

Week 7: Elevator Pitch No. 2

I decided to change my elevator pitch from opening a new Jimmy Johns to something a little more personal to me. I decided to go with my career goal job where I own and operate a financial advising firm. Here is the video of my pitch:

https://youtu.be/V_kObDgmXJk

Week 6: Reading Reflection

The following are the four questions I will be responding too through the reading of this weeks reflection.

1) The biggest surprise for me during the reading was when he said how sometimes the biggest competitive factor could be something that may not be obvious. I thought this was surprising since if it is such a large impact you would think that it would be a clear arrow pointing to what is causing the competition.  

2) During the reading I was not very confused in any part of it. But, I was very interested in all of his viewpoints in reading about the supplier and customer sides of the competitive advantage.

3) Two questions I had for the author were the following: If price war is so bad for companies to compete in that way, why do so many tend to do so? Is it because that is the easiest way to compete? Also, why is government not included in an advantage or disadvantage for companies since they tend to be a big part in how they can operate with laws and regulation?  

4) There was nothing really that came to mind that Mr. Porter said that I believed to be wrong or that I really disagreed with. It was a well written article and I enjoyed reading it.

Week 6: Idea Napkin No. 1

My "idea napkin" is probably a little bit different than most others. A lot of people will be doing things such as a product that might help other college students, or just something that will make day to day life run smoother. However, that is not quite the case for me. Since my career goal is to become a financial advisor being a CFP, my business will be operating my own advising firm.



1) Though I am only 19, and most people would not feel very comfortable allowing me to take their money and invest it for them, I am a person who surrounds himself with others who will be able to help me do such a thing. My aspirations are to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can so that I can start making a huge impact on people’s lives by allowing them to reach financial goals throughout the milestones in life. The main way that I see this business playing a role in my life is that it will allow me to personally connect to thousands of people and learn a lot about the different styles of living people may have. This experience could help better me as a person as well as the people that I meet.



2) Basically, what I would be offering my customers is an opportunity to talk with me and come up with the best form of investment for them to reach a financial goal they might be shooting for. An example of this might be someone trying to plan on a way to pay for their child’s college in “X” number of years, and it would be my duty to figure out how to do this in a way that suits them the best.



3) Given that most young people are not too worried about making long term investments, such as retirement, or things like that, I would be targeting people who are ages 30 and up give or take a few years. Looking for local businesses and offering these investment opportunities to the company’s employees would be a good way of targeting the correct individuals. But the key is that I need to find customers who all are looking at their future and it is my job to get them thinking about it if they are not already.



4) A big question would be why do they care about this service? Well, if you were to really think about it, how bad would it be if we were talking about retiring and then not knowing if you are going to outlive your money? The people in the world are living much longer than they used to, so retiring at 65 and living another possibly 30 or more years is not unlikely. Therefore, people should care very much that they can comfortably live and have a good time when they stop working.



5) I think what really sets me apart from anyone else is my desire to really get on a personal level with each person I am working for. I think that is one of the most important things in the financial advising business is getting your clients to really trust you so that you are able to take your knowledge and use it to benefit them to the best that you can. That sense of family is what sets me apart from some other advisors when I become one.


All in all, I believe that all of these points go rather well with each other. It is difficult to say everything about this business as of now because it is something that takes much experience to fully understand and have it down. But in this learning process of the business, I am going to take what I can from it and use it to make my very own business.

Week 5: Reading Reflection

1)      The biggest surprise for me in the reading was how big of a deal the lack of business definition is in the success of a new venture. I would have thought that if it works, it works. But I guess that if you design a business and focus on something that people may not actually want when your definition was for something they do, it would be rather important.

2)      Fortunately, there was nothing in this chapters reading that really had me confused! I enjoyed reading about new ventures and the thoughts put into them.

3)      Two questions to the author: My first question is how big of an impact does the HR actually have on the success of a new company since it is only a minimal part of the business? My second question is how ignorance of legal issues is even necessary to put as a possible reason to fail. It is very obvious that illegal activity is never good.

4)   There was really nothing I disagreed with in this chapter except for the inclusion of legal issues because of its common sense reality.

Week 5: Elevator Pitch No. 1

Hello everyone! What I decided to do after speaking with some of my friends about an idea is to open a new Jimmy Johns franchise location near the Oaks Mall. I said this because they have a short area range to which they deliver because of their motto on speed, so the more stores, the more people get to eat their freaky fast, freaky good sandwiches. I think it would be fantastic if this could happen in reality since it was an option for me to live in that area!

If the video is not able to open, here is the link!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj4e2-3pcn0