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.