The first thing that the article talked about was the most surprising part of this reading, or at least the most interesting. It was very intriguing to hear about the fatwa in India that almost destroyed the author's business. It was interesting to read that instead of succumbing to such threats, the author left their offices there and moved elsewhere, and it was very exciting to hear why they only loan to women and the good things his business has the capability of doing.
The most confusing part of this reading for me was ho the author talked about his business as though it was making a product, like Starbucks makes coffee and McDonald's makes burgers. But I never gathered what the product was. I only read that the "product" was loan giving, but I'm not sure if that's all it was because of the fact that the author used such terms as technology and factory-line to make it sound like his business was making something, an actual physical something.
My first question would be in concern to above, how did you make money off giving out loans, or did you actually have a product you were selling? I understand that banks make money from loans as well, but all from interest and being that your company's target audience is those in a lower class, did you not charge them as high of an interest? I understand that the business had high accommodations and thus strong customer loyalty, but in repayment to the business, did their interest rates remain high or low? My second question would be how did men respond to your company? Being that you only gave loans to women, did you ever have any issues with this? Was that maybe why the gang came and harassed your business?
I question how the author had a million dollar business form just giving out loans, while also receiving loans of his own. Where did he make the money that goes into his own pocket, as well as a large enough some to pay his employees who must venture through such rough terranes at such unwelcoming hours. That could be the only thing I don't understand how the author could be "correct about," but overall, I think his business sounds amazing and very innovative. If more businesses learned from him, we could live in a much better, more advantaged and higher-functioning world.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Final Reflection
The experiences I remember the most are the interviews. These were the moments of dread for me, not because I don't like talking to people, but rather because I am aware that people don't like being photographed and recorded my strangers. These were such hard exercises to complete not because of my own hard-work, but rather the need to depend on others for a high grade. People already were shy enough to talk to me, but when they agreed but then learned I had to record them, they would immediately back out. This made all of these assignments very stressful form me.
My favorite post that I am the most proud of is my "Celebrating Failure" post. I enjoyed this amount of reflection and telling myself that it was/is okay to fail. It finally made me believe it.
I think I may slightly be closer to the entrepreneurial mindset, though we have learned in this class that an entrepreneur is not just a mathematician or a business person, I still feel that these are important traits to have, especially after the last couple of readings in the textbook. This makes me still feel a little unsure if I could ever truly be an entrepreneur, but the skills I have developed in this class will nonetheless still be useful throughout my life in other aspects.
My biggest piece of advice is don't be scared of the assignments. In the beginning of this course, I think I was way overthinking on all of the assignments given and thus they became so stressful and scary and I'd really put them off because I didn't understand and was nervous that I would do it wrong. That's not the point of this class. The point of this course is just to try, so that means don't over think on anything, just do. If you think the assignment meant to do this, then just do that! No matter if that was what was intended or not, you'll still learn a lot from just doing that anyways. So don't be shy or scared!
My favorite post that I am the most proud of is my "Celebrating Failure" post. I enjoyed this amount of reflection and telling myself that it was/is okay to fail. It finally made me believe it.
I think I may slightly be closer to the entrepreneurial mindset, though we have learned in this class that an entrepreneur is not just a mathematician or a business person, I still feel that these are important traits to have, especially after the last couple of readings in the textbook. This makes me still feel a little unsure if I could ever truly be an entrepreneur, but the skills I have developed in this class will nonetheless still be useful throughout my life in other aspects.
My biggest piece of advice is don't be scared of the assignments. In the beginning of this course, I think I was way overthinking on all of the assignments given and thus they became so stressful and scary and I'd really put them off because I didn't understand and was nervous that I would do it wrong. That's not the point of this class. The point of this course is just to try, so that means don't over think on anything, just do. If you think the assignment meant to do this, then just do that! No matter if that was what was intended or not, you'll still learn a lot from just doing that anyways. So don't be shy or scared!
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Venture Concept No. 2
Opportunity
I believe the unmet needs for my customers is rather numerous. One of their unmet needs is the need for certain foods and ingredients. Another need of theirs is happiness, the joys that only a sweet treat can bring. I also believe an unmet need for my customers goes beyond just the food and what's in it, but also includes their social affairs. Dietary restrictions don't just restrict what foods they can or cannot eat, but also the places they can go and the people they can be with. In all cultures across the world, there is some form of bonding over meals. This is a time to relax, unwind and enjoy the company of your loved ones (loved ones being anyone from friends to family to colleagues). The changes in the environment that have created this opportunity is a mixture of things. One may be a evolutionary change in which more and more people have started to form allergies to certain ingredients, such as gluten. This may be a result of the shocking amount of processed chemicals that are more and more commonly being used in foods, specifically in the U.S. Another environmental change that has created my opportunity is a growing awareness of what people are putting in their bodies. Many more people are starting to take the quality of their food into consideration before eating. I think this also is due to the outrageous amount of chemicals being used in U.S. food market, and with more studies showing the harmful effects of these products, people are taking action.
People are just now reaching out and changing their routines to satisfy this need. This means that this is a growing market with lots of potential as it's fairly new and everyone is still trying to figure out which solution works best. This recent founding of this market means there is a lot of growth to come, which means big opportunity to those that jump on this ever-growing fad now.
I believe the window of opportunity for this market will be rather long as it keeps changing and new discoveries continue to be made. Though you might have to quickly jump into this market to ensure the unmet loyalty of this demographic now, I believe even if you miss this window, new loyalties can be made as opinions and knowledge keeps changing.
Innovation
I'm going to be selling bakery goods, this means foods such as cupcakes, sweet bread (like banana and blubbery), muffins, etc. The different between your normal cupcake and mine will be what's in it, ingredients wise. I will have three different styles of similar foods, so a vegan cupcake, a gluten-free cupcake and a sugar-free cupcake. So the vegan cupcake wouldn't have any eggs or milk in it and the gluten-free cupcake wouldn't have flour and so on. What this innovation will do is two things; one, it will create a sweet-shop for those that need these certain foods and, two, it will be bring together a variety of different dietary restrictions together under one roof so that this is no longer a "speciality" shop or food. I would be selling my baked goods at different prices depending on the product. A cupcake or muffin would probably be about $3 or $4, while a loaf of banana bread would probably be closer to $8 or $10. The price would also take into account which diet it followed. Gluten-free would probably be the most expensive so that price might be a dollar more than that of the other foods.
Venture Concept
I don't think for my particular product it's so much as "switching" as a searching. Because this is such a new market and so little currently exist and people are still trying to figure out the best fit for them in these new dietary lifestyles, there's a constant searching for what is better (tastier) and easier (more convenient). This is why I think my business will be so successful in giving this demographic what they want as the "sweets" for these diets are still being discovered through new ways of making them taste as "normal" as possible. My business will also be convenient as no longer will my customers have to search for the perfect recipe that maintains their dietary needs and then take the time to shop and bake these goods, rather they can easily divulge their sweet tooth with one quick stop to my shop. My competitors are other small restaurants that serve to similar diets as myself, this can range from the savory for dinners and lunches, to other sweet shops such as Karma Cream (a local restaurant in Gainesville that serves vegan ice cream and some other vegan foods). I think these competitors weakness when compared to mine is two things; one, there's very few speciality in which the shop is just a bakery, and two, mine would be one of the first to serve multiple dietary needs, rather than focusing just on one which is how almost all of the restaurants that currently exist are.
I think specifically the location would play into my business concept because if there are other shops already like mine that exist, there are almost none in Gainesville, or at least close to campus. My shop would be in the immediate surrounding area to UF's campus, most likely in the area of University, 13th, or Archer. To start off with, my business would have very few employees. There would be someone to act as a manager/business/financial advisor, one or two bakers, and one or two cashiers that would also do any necessary bus work. This would total to about five employees for one location.
Minor Elements
My company's secret sauce will be our diverse menu in the fact that it serves so many common dietary needs.
My next goal for my company would be to bring in either more sweet goods that they could buy (that would fall under the existing diets we serve), spreading out into more dietary restrictions, or teaching baking classes.
I think the best way I can describe where I see my venture in five or ten years would be something similar to Sprinkles Cupcakes, a well-known specialty cupcake shop that I believe started in New York and has now spread across the nation with multiple locations. I want my business to become sort-of a franchise so that everyone no matter where they live can enjoy their favorite baked goods no matter what they're diets consist of, but I also want to make sure my bakery maintains a homey feel to it because that's how I imagine a bakery should feel. I believe this type of warm and welcoming setting for a bakery will succeed the most in accordance to customers' desires.
This first shop will help me as an entrepreneur because it will have started in Gainesville, a college-town is the perfect place to start a new business as you can get the most feedback and more people are more open-minded in the areas. I believe this opportunity will allow me to grow and learn the most to perfect and polish my business to be the most successful it can be.
Peer Feedback
Almost all of my feedback from students was positive. Everyone said they loved my idea and I seemed very creative and focused. I think that's a great impression to give as the founder of a start-up company in order to receive good feedback and lots of growing sales. One suggestion I received to see if I could work a deal with Publix or other local grocery stores to sell some of my products in their stores. I think that's an amazing idea so that those that have never heard of me and are just shopping for their grocieries see my locally-made food and become curious what that's about. Then maybe that can draw more customers to my stores. A lot of people said my company had growing potential beyond just Gainesville. However, as much as I want to see my company grow and succeed, I also don't want it to loose that homey feel and that locality factor. I believe my company needs a face no matter where it is, that means a hands-on manager and a hands-on team.
Revisions
The only revisions I want to make are in where I want my brand to go and what I want it to do next. Like I mentioned in the peer feedback section, someone mentioned trying to sell in local grocery stores. I absolutley love this idea and think it would give my company just a little bit of added revenue with a whole lot of added customers. Another peer review I wanted to look at was my What's Next post. Here, a lot of people reacted extremely positivley to my idea of going into catering/large orders. They thought this would be a great wy to increase my customer loyalty. This was my personal favorite of all the ideas listed in that post and it had the best reactions in the comments, so that would without-a-question be my next step for my business.
I believe the unmet needs for my customers is rather numerous. One of their unmet needs is the need for certain foods and ingredients. Another need of theirs is happiness, the joys that only a sweet treat can bring. I also believe an unmet need for my customers goes beyond just the food and what's in it, but also includes their social affairs. Dietary restrictions don't just restrict what foods they can or cannot eat, but also the places they can go and the people they can be with. In all cultures across the world, there is some form of bonding over meals. This is a time to relax, unwind and enjoy the company of your loved ones (loved ones being anyone from friends to family to colleagues). The changes in the environment that have created this opportunity is a mixture of things. One may be a evolutionary change in which more and more people have started to form allergies to certain ingredients, such as gluten. This may be a result of the shocking amount of processed chemicals that are more and more commonly being used in foods, specifically in the U.S. Another environmental change that has created my opportunity is a growing awareness of what people are putting in their bodies. Many more people are starting to take the quality of their food into consideration before eating. I think this also is due to the outrageous amount of chemicals being used in U.S. food market, and with more studies showing the harmful effects of these products, people are taking action.
People are just now reaching out and changing their routines to satisfy this need. This means that this is a growing market with lots of potential as it's fairly new and everyone is still trying to figure out which solution works best. This recent founding of this market means there is a lot of growth to come, which means big opportunity to those that jump on this ever-growing fad now.
I believe the window of opportunity for this market will be rather long as it keeps changing and new discoveries continue to be made. Though you might have to quickly jump into this market to ensure the unmet loyalty of this demographic now, I believe even if you miss this window, new loyalties can be made as opinions and knowledge keeps changing.
Innovation
I'm going to be selling bakery goods, this means foods such as cupcakes, sweet bread (like banana and blubbery), muffins, etc. The different between your normal cupcake and mine will be what's in it, ingredients wise. I will have three different styles of similar foods, so a vegan cupcake, a gluten-free cupcake and a sugar-free cupcake. So the vegan cupcake wouldn't have any eggs or milk in it and the gluten-free cupcake wouldn't have flour and so on. What this innovation will do is two things; one, it will create a sweet-shop for those that need these certain foods and, two, it will be bring together a variety of different dietary restrictions together under one roof so that this is no longer a "speciality" shop or food. I would be selling my baked goods at different prices depending on the product. A cupcake or muffin would probably be about $3 or $4, while a loaf of banana bread would probably be closer to $8 or $10. The price would also take into account which diet it followed. Gluten-free would probably be the most expensive so that price might be a dollar more than that of the other foods.
Venture Concept
I don't think for my particular product it's so much as "switching" as a searching. Because this is such a new market and so little currently exist and people are still trying to figure out the best fit for them in these new dietary lifestyles, there's a constant searching for what is better (tastier) and easier (more convenient). This is why I think my business will be so successful in giving this demographic what they want as the "sweets" for these diets are still being discovered through new ways of making them taste as "normal" as possible. My business will also be convenient as no longer will my customers have to search for the perfect recipe that maintains their dietary needs and then take the time to shop and bake these goods, rather they can easily divulge their sweet tooth with one quick stop to my shop. My competitors are other small restaurants that serve to similar diets as myself, this can range from the savory for dinners and lunches, to other sweet shops such as Karma Cream (a local restaurant in Gainesville that serves vegan ice cream and some other vegan foods). I think these competitors weakness when compared to mine is two things; one, there's very few speciality in which the shop is just a bakery, and two, mine would be one of the first to serve multiple dietary needs, rather than focusing just on one which is how almost all of the restaurants that currently exist are.
I think specifically the location would play into my business concept because if there are other shops already like mine that exist, there are almost none in Gainesville, or at least close to campus. My shop would be in the immediate surrounding area to UF's campus, most likely in the area of University, 13th, or Archer. To start off with, my business would have very few employees. There would be someone to act as a manager/business/financial advisor, one or two bakers, and one or two cashiers that would also do any necessary bus work. This would total to about five employees for one location.
Minor Elements
My company's secret sauce will be our diverse menu in the fact that it serves so many common dietary needs.
My next goal for my company would be to bring in either more sweet goods that they could buy (that would fall under the existing diets we serve), spreading out into more dietary restrictions, or teaching baking classes.
I think the best way I can describe where I see my venture in five or ten years would be something similar to Sprinkles Cupcakes, a well-known specialty cupcake shop that I believe started in New York and has now spread across the nation with multiple locations. I want my business to become sort-of a franchise so that everyone no matter where they live can enjoy their favorite baked goods no matter what they're diets consist of, but I also want to make sure my bakery maintains a homey feel to it because that's how I imagine a bakery should feel. I believe this type of warm and welcoming setting for a bakery will succeed the most in accordance to customers' desires.
This first shop will help me as an entrepreneur because it will have started in Gainesville, a college-town is the perfect place to start a new business as you can get the most feedback and more people are more open-minded in the areas. I believe this opportunity will allow me to grow and learn the most to perfect and polish my business to be the most successful it can be.
Peer Feedback
Almost all of my feedback from students was positive. Everyone said they loved my idea and I seemed very creative and focused. I think that's a great impression to give as the founder of a start-up company in order to receive good feedback and lots of growing sales. One suggestion I received to see if I could work a deal with Publix or other local grocery stores to sell some of my products in their stores. I think that's an amazing idea so that those that have never heard of me and are just shopping for their grocieries see my locally-made food and become curious what that's about. Then maybe that can draw more customers to my stores. A lot of people said my company had growing potential beyond just Gainesville. However, as much as I want to see my company grow and succeed, I also don't want it to loose that homey feel and that locality factor. I believe my company needs a face no matter where it is, that means a hands-on manager and a hands-on team.
Revisions
The only revisions I want to make are in where I want my brand to go and what I want it to do next. Like I mentioned in the peer feedback section, someone mentioned trying to sell in local grocery stores. I absolutley love this idea and think it would give my company just a little bit of added revenue with a whole lot of added customers. Another peer review I wanted to look at was my What's Next post. Here, a lot of people reacted extremely positivley to my idea of going into catering/large orders. They thought this would be a great wy to increase my customer loyalty. This was my personal favorite of all the ideas listed in that post and it had the best reactions in the comments, so that would without-a-question be my next step for my business.
Elevator Pitch No. 4
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Week 14 Reading Reflection
One of the most surprising things in this weeks readings was the table 4.2 on chapter 4 where the author discuss the stages of social entrepreneurs behaviors. Here, one of the stages mentioned is philanthropy. I never had previously thought much about businesses donating to any philanthropic cause, and I never thought of it's connection to the entrepreneurial world. However, in this table the author points out its exact benefits and necessity to that of a growing entrepreneurial business.
The sustained corporate entrepreneurship layout was rather confusing to me. The makeup of businesses has always been something I've pondered about, especially that of large corporate companies. However, the larger the brand, the more confusing I truly find it. Though the graph 3.5 did help immensely, I wish each box had been a little more well-explained of what exactly each of those people did and their place in the company. Also, I don't know where I, an entrepreneur, would fit into it, especially that of my own company.
The author talks about the importance of preparing for failure as it's a very real possibility in any entrepreneurial venture and the idea of learning from failures has become common thinking. But besides stating these facts, the author doesn't really discuss how to deal with the actualities of the situation. I'm definitely one to promote learning from your mistakes, but either way, you still have failed in the present, and what can you do to move past this? You may have financial standings that are ruined, or idea that were stolen, or many other possibilities that you are left with in the rubble of your failure, what do you do next to get to that "now look back and learn from your mistake(s)" stage? Then, in chapter 4, the author discuss why unethical behavior remains, even with the knowledge of its misconceptions and clear mistaken choice. However, after listing the five reasons why this might be ignored, the author gives little reason to combat those reasons. The one that stuck out to me was greed, which I think many people view entrepreneurs as, which is then tied into their view that entrepreneurs are thus unethical. How can entrepreneurs move away from that mindset? Even those that actually are greedy, how would the author suggest teaching them that any unethical decisions are still not the right choices?
Under the section titled "Developing Individual Managers for Corporate Entrepreneurship," the author briefly talks about innovative thinking and states that it is foreign to traditional organizations and there are large misconceptions around this idea. However, I think that though it may still be foreign to some rather old-fashioned businesses, I believe many organizations have caught on to the importance of innovative thinking in today's fast-paced world that expects the newest and most open-mindedness in companies they support. An ignorance to such open thinking will only lead to the companies inevitable downfall as the world gravitates towards innovation more and more.
The sustained corporate entrepreneurship layout was rather confusing to me. The makeup of businesses has always been something I've pondered about, especially that of large corporate companies. However, the larger the brand, the more confusing I truly find it. Though the graph 3.5 did help immensely, I wish each box had been a little more well-explained of what exactly each of those people did and their place in the company. Also, I don't know where I, an entrepreneur, would fit into it, especially that of my own company.
The author talks about the importance of preparing for failure as it's a very real possibility in any entrepreneurial venture and the idea of learning from failures has become common thinking. But besides stating these facts, the author doesn't really discuss how to deal with the actualities of the situation. I'm definitely one to promote learning from your mistakes, but either way, you still have failed in the present, and what can you do to move past this? You may have financial standings that are ruined, or idea that were stolen, or many other possibilities that you are left with in the rubble of your failure, what do you do next to get to that "now look back and learn from your mistake(s)" stage? Then, in chapter 4, the author discuss why unethical behavior remains, even with the knowledge of its misconceptions and clear mistaken choice. However, after listing the five reasons why this might be ignored, the author gives little reason to combat those reasons. The one that stuck out to me was greed, which I think many people view entrepreneurs as, which is then tied into their view that entrepreneurs are thus unethical. How can entrepreneurs move away from that mindset? Even those that actually are greedy, how would the author suggest teaching them that any unethical decisions are still not the right choices?
Under the section titled "Developing Individual Managers for Corporate Entrepreneurship," the author briefly talks about innovative thinking and states that it is foreign to traditional organizations and there are large misconceptions around this idea. However, I think that though it may still be foreign to some rather old-fashioned businesses, I believe many organizations have caught on to the importance of innovative thinking in today's fast-paced world that expects the newest and most open-mindedness in companies they support. An ignorance to such open thinking will only lead to the companies inevitable downfall as the world gravitates towards innovation more and more.
Google Gold
- The best strategy to achieve SEO is to create a headline, or post title, using key words that people would regularly type into Google, something I learned from my public relations classes. However, since we did not choose the title for our posts in the class, I didn't really put much thought into SEO for my posts. Another good way to create web traffic to your site is to use hashtags to also be easily found on a good search. I didn't do this, the only hashtags I used were the ones we were suggested to use (the labels for each week). The only other way to get any views to your page, then, would have been to repeat key words throughout your post, which I did try to do. But this is the least valuable strategy of the three I've listed, so it wasn't all that successful in my Google search.
- Key words that I used in every post included "dietary restrictions", "vegan", "sugar free" and "gluten free". These words were much too broad though, especially when only being used in the body of a post, and not the title.
- I never posted my blog on any social media sites, except for canvas, so the only views I got from this were those that came to my blog to comment on posts. Though from other similar experiences to this, I have learned that social media can help, but not as much as people assume it does. I write for an online publication and my first article that I posted to my Facebook received a lot of attention and traffic to the site, however, the weeks to follow did not gain nearly as much attention as that first piece did.
- My post "viral" post was my "Celebrating Failure" article. With six views, this was the most attention any post received, with my next highest being five views on a couple of different posts.
- I did not make it to the first page of my Google search, I couldn't find any remnants of blog until page 20, and even that took a couple of different searches to finally find.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Very Short Interview No. 2
From where I stand now at the end of this course, I still think that this initial interview was very helpful and beneficial to me. I think the entrepreneur gave me a lot of good tips and advice that I definitely saw come into play throughout this course. The only thing that the entrepreneur did mention, that was not really brought up in this class, was working together on a team. I'm sure this is important in the real-world of entrepreneurship, however this specific class just never had this piece within its assignments.
How have you dealt with any unpredictable changes that have occurred?
"Somebody saw an item, and wanted matching pieces, but I didn't have it because the stuff is all uniquely made. I always tell them sure I can do it, none of the pieces will be exactly the same, but I can get it for them."
How do you decide what you business's next step is?
"I always ask when I'm selling my merchandise, 'Is there anything that you would like that you don't see?'. Some of my best-selling products have come from that tactic."
Have you begun to think about your exit strategy? If so, what is it and why?
"No because I always want to continue doing it, at least as a hobby. But I have already slowed down marketing it as a business."
Reflection:
I felt much more comfortable talking to the entrepreneur this time in the interview than I did the first time. As seen above, I knew many more terms of the field as well as had a better understanding of what went into. Coming up with my own questions made me realize that I had a much better sense of entrepreneurship now, as my questions were much more broad in the first interview and much more detailed this time.
I definitely think my entrepreneur could tell my gain in knowledge talking to me this time as opposed to the first time. She were a little stunned after I used the term "exit strategy," I don't think she expected me to know this term, nor was she ready to be asked it! She also paused after the first question as she really had to think about unpredictable changes she's had to withstand, I think having thought of something so specific about parts of the job really showed her how I've grown and learned in entrepreneurship.
How have you dealt with any unpredictable changes that have occurred?
"Somebody saw an item, and wanted matching pieces, but I didn't have it because the stuff is all uniquely made. I always tell them sure I can do it, none of the pieces will be exactly the same, but I can get it for them."
How do you decide what you business's next step is?
"I always ask when I'm selling my merchandise, 'Is there anything that you would like that you don't see?'. Some of my best-selling products have come from that tactic."
Have you begun to think about your exit strategy? If so, what is it and why?
"No because I always want to continue doing it, at least as a hobby. But I have already slowed down marketing it as a business."
Reflection:
I felt much more comfortable talking to the entrepreneur this time in the interview than I did the first time. As seen above, I knew many more terms of the field as well as had a better understanding of what went into. Coming up with my own questions made me realize that I had a much better sense of entrepreneurship now, as my questions were much more broad in the first interview and much more detailed this time.
I definitely think my entrepreneur could tell my gain in knowledge talking to me this time as opposed to the first time. She were a little stunned after I used the term "exit strategy," I don't think she expected me to know this term, nor was she ready to be asked it! She also paused after the first question as she really had to think about unpredictable changes she's had to withstand, I think having thought of something so specific about parts of the job really showed her how I've grown and learned in entrepreneurship.
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