Final reflect

1. The moments of drudgery were the assignments requiring multiple interviews. Joyous experiences were being to complete all my work and the friendly comments i received.

2.The experience i feel i will remember was interviewing my group of friends one one of the earlier assignments, afterwards we just hung out and talked about stuff. It was nice.

3. I can't say that i see myself as an entrepreneur, but i believe with the knowledge i learned from class and some hard work i could become one.

4. Don't forget to do the work and don't wait until last minute to do it. Do the assignments a day or so in advance so your not stressed. Also look up some of the books because they have very helpful tips and mindsets for you.

venture concept 2

Safely Carting Undergrads and Teachers Swiftly

Opportunity

While attending the University of Florida i noticed that everyone on campus has a scooter and that a lot of students classes are on completely different sides of the campus, sometime multiple at a time. At UF the only way to get to classes on time is mostly to walk or run to them. Sure, you could take a scooter or a bike, but finding a place to put it can often be tiresome and make you late. I feel that there is a need for fast paced travel between classes, perhaps a shuttle of some sorts. Sure, there are the buses, but there often crowded and get stuck in traffic on the way to the stop. Several of the students have started to use electronic boards to quicken there commute, but those are often an expensive purchase and hold a limited charge. I see a need for travel around this campus are, and i have a solution.

Innovation

I would created an app based transportation service for University students and faculty. The service would provide easier and faster forms of travel around the campus. Think of it similar to Uber, except instead of using cars it would use golf carts. The service would be faster than most vehicles because unlike cars and buses, carts can take the sidewalk and drive directly to the building. The service would be in 2 parts. A scheduled half, similar to bus stops, where carts would travel back and forth between a popular destination on/around campus. The second would be a direct travel, where you would schedule a pickup to go where you need to. The cost would be cheaper as well or could be included with a plan with the campus so you can use it whenever. The good thing about this system is that it can be transferred to other college campuses as well. I feel that the opportunity would be open for only a short amount of time before all the students end up buying other forms of transportation.

Venture Concept  

•  Students would switch to this new form of transport because students would always like an easier way to do something and a large population of the students wished that their classes weren't so far from their dorm. Switching would be easy. All they would need to do is get the app and set up their account or show their ID.
•  Competitors would be Uber-like companies, Ride-share services, public transportation. Their vulnerabilities would be that Ubers often charge rates are too high, Public transportation is  traffic, crowds, and possibly sanitation. Lastly ride-share services can be difficult to set a location for pickup.
•  Price points: Prices would be dependent on if the student would rather pay for a single trip or larger sum for an extended period of time (i.e. semester, yearly, monthly)
• Support: My service would have number to call and one of my representatives could help fix your issue or if you can't call you can leave send the issue through the app directly to us.
• Employees: The total amount of employees for the current version would be estimated to be about 25 or more. It would be made up of myself, marketing advising, customer service representatives, drivers, technicians, and App/tech support.

2. I honestly didn't need to change my concept much at all. All of the feedback was positive for the idea. They did point out the situation of foot traffic on sidewalks, but i plan to make sure the carts have a route and are trained to avoid all pedestrians. They also think when i want expand my company i should expand in to senior citizen transport route.

3. The only real change really needed for my concept would be a six seat cart and avoiding pedestrian traffic.

4.

reading reflection 3

1.The book is a collection of over 100 practical tips to treat your social media presence like a business and to get the attention your brand, product or business deserves.

2. It gave me tips on expanding the image and securing the professionalism of my business. Gave me a wider view of how i should market it to people.

3. I would have everyone try create a professional social media account to see if they could. Then see if they fit the criteria.

4. That talking and using 2 forms of media back and forth can gain a larger following than one all together. Letting the accounts talk to each other in a way. Allowing for a wider range of customers.

exit strategy

1.  I would say the business would be a short term project, I would probably sell it off if it didn't have a next step for expansion. However, if i were to keep going i would was it on to someone i knew was capable of the position and wouldn't compromise ideals 

2. I seems like a reasonable plan for my business. Mine wasn't necessarily built to turn into something as big as like UBER, but it allows for improvement if decided upon. 

3. Though i might not expect much form the business, it should be successful. With this strategy i have a open mind for newer, possibly better opportunities. It did influence on how i would let my company grow. At its own pace. 

celebrating Failure

1. I took my grammar exam twice this semester, 3 days apart. The first time i din't score as well as i thought. So i studied really hard for the second one.When that came around and i took it i ended up getting the same exact grade as the last one. It sucked. 

2. Failure sucks, but it was not worth getting mad or upset over. I could still pass the class with all the other points i had. 

3. Failure is apart of life. You will fail eventually at something at sometime and that's OK. You just need to learn from it or just accept it and get over it. This class really didn't effect the way i still look at failure, but allowed me to see if it is more likely to happen or what would fail and fix from failing. I would like to analyse what i do before i take a risk.

What's Next

Existing Market

I will continue to target University of Florida students. I want to advertise heavily to UF students so that there thousands of customers for my service. The next step in my business plan for this market expand the range of the transport to popular areas in Gainesville. Like the publix or the moveis or downtown.

The first student i interviewed was a sophomore. He said to make sure to have proper app updates for the app because often times when he was going to use a delivery or ride app it bug out. The second was a graduate. He said that it would be good to offer it to faculty members and teachers as well. The last was a junior, she said that the idea could expand to go to houses near the campus area, but not within walking distance.

The interviews gave me better insight into my existing market, allowing me to better the service. The last interviewer made a good point, there are those that live a decent bit off campus. Perhaps it would best to map out frequently college rented housing for an estimate of how far the service should travel. The first interviewer made a good point about bugs, i used to test for them for a marketing company. I would definitely need to hire a support team for those issues.

New Market

The new market i would wish to target would be multiple colleges and there students. I feel that college students share some similarities such a school pride, but i feel that some colleges may share a different mindsets than the others. I would also be dealing with a new campus to map out and work with.

The first person i interviewed was my cousin Drew, he graduated from USF. He said that the carts should have a map with short cuts on hand, because the campus at USF was huge. The second is my friend who attends the University of Indiana. said that the carts should be prepared for off road and the drivers should be locals because the University is a densely packed place. Also added about temperature controls for the cold days.

After the interviews, I learned that college life can vary from place to place. From temperature, to campus setup, to even different hot spots for each college/town. I was expecting drastic variations between college layouts, so i would definitely need to hire someone who knows their way around the campus the service is sent to and someone who knows about where all the students like to go around town/campus (after class). This new market appears to be just as attractive as my existing market, perhaps more so because of the amount of different major colleges in each state.

What Makes Me Special

I'm a current student at University of Florida

•  V- I am a part of my target audience and understand its needs.
•  R- Who else would know about the UF student other than a UF student?
•  I- There are a large amount of UF students on campus and those who have graduated from here 
•  N- no one could substitute me, i am a UF student.  

My mother has worked in marketing and advertising

• V- She can give me the knowledge i need to promote my business properly
• R - Not every entrepreneur has a source marketing tip this close to them 
• I - Anyone who majors in advertising could be able to have an advantage 
• N - I could hire an outside source to advertise my idea, but this would cost me more I trust my mother's experience 

I am certified in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Photoshop, etc.

• V- I can always make a proper pretension of my product and keep track of all the data of it
• R - sure there can be experts who are certified in one or two, but I'm certified in multiple
• I - there are probably those more properly trained or experience

This service is specific to University of Florida students/Faculty

• V-I think this is very valuable because I have a specific target market
• I- There are other ride companies, but none specified to a specific place 

I am very detailed oriented in what i do

• V- It is good to always have a well thought out plan for whatever your doing.

I know someone close who can repair the carts

• V- It is valuable to have someone who could fix the product of the service
• R - It's rare because he is a close friend of my family
• I - There are other mechanics out there to work on the carts 
• N - There are outside sources i could hire, but i would have no connection or trust with them. Plus would cost me more 

I have product/service testing experience 

• V- You need marketing, without it who would be able to get your product out in the open. Adapt to the peoples wants.
• R - Having someone of my age with a decent amount of experience in the marketing field is rare
• I - there are those who probably who have more years of experience than me.

I am a very sociable, people person

• V- It's always good to have a friendly face for the company.
• I -Some people could be much better to talking and building connections than me
• N- there are other sociable people out there, but there is only one me 

My original design for the idea (using Go Carts instead of cars/buses) 

• R - idea is the basis for my proposed business is out of the box
• I - someone could make similar rideshare service, but not exactly the same.
• N -There are similar companies, but those companies are huge entities with flaws far greater than my own business.

Job experience in volunteering, marketing, and retail  

• V- My experience in multiple field of an industry gives me a wide understanding of how a company should work 
• R - Having been in multiple stages of a successful company could be a rarity to some
• I -There are experts in specific fields and those who have worked in as many or more positions than me 
• N - I could get experts who are masters in their fields, but i would need to find one in each stage of a company.