Final Reflection. Assignment 30

What sticks out to me the most formative experience is the very first assignment we did, the Bug list! I still catch myself thinking, ah that should've been on my bug list or yep that happened to me again today good thing it was on my bug list. That assignment was so simple but yet it was a great learning experience for me. I'm proud of myself for accomplishing my elevator pitch's, they might've not been good but at least I did them. I hate standing up in front of a camera and talking, when I was little I had a lisp (I think I still do but people tell me other wise) so now I hate seeing myself talking on a recording or hearing myself. I caught myself so many times like "it's okay Jaycie you don't need to turn this one in just take the zero for it" but I couldn't let myself do it, and I'm extremely proud of myself for that!

I believe I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset. I catch myself all the time thinking differently than I used to and I love it. I love being able to take something we learn in class and apply it to my everyday life style. I would recommend that the you work ahead! It's so much easier to just sit down and do a bunch of assignments at once then to do them every week. It helped me tremendously when I got busy with my other classes because all the work for this class was done so I could focus on them more. I would also say to set a reminder or an alarm for the cupcakes because I've forgotten that they were due at noon and not midnight so I missed a couple for that, even though they're only 1 point, the points add up!

Assignment 29. Venture Concept 2

Opportunities:
People who are over weight have the need of my app. People use the app to lose weight but to also get healthy. The main reason these people want help on their journey is so they can stay on track and they can live a healthier and long life. Most of the people on the app realize that their weight is a health issue and they want to change it. There are many forces that allow this to occur but the main one is the availability of fast food. It's so easy nowadays to stop by a drive thru for dinner for many reasons, one being it's convenient and another being it doesn't break the bank account. People don't realize how bad it is for you until a couple years later they have added a couple pounds and the doctors are telling them it's time to shape up or they'll regret it in years to come. This is exactly where the app comes in, they can meal prep for their families days in advance and all they have to do is pop the meal in the oven and they are ready to go! It seems so simple in the moment but in the long run it hurts people. This market is scattered geographically in the United States there are people everywhere who are overweight and unhealthy. In other countries they have less people who are overweight and I simply believe it's because in most of those countries their fast food is healthier and they walk many places, whereas in most parts of the US you drive. Since my product is an app it can be downloaded throughout the country so in my opinion this is an huge advantage because you can workout from nearly anywhere, whether you're at home in Florida or if you're on vacation in Colorado. Also you can workout with your friends who live in different states! Demographically I would say it is more towards older generations who are overweight, you have some children who are as well but for the most past its people in their late 20's and up.

The customers are satisfying their need now by going to the gym. I think the app is better because it gives you workouts as well as meals plans. When they're done with their workout they have a meal that is healthy for them so they know they'll lose weight and feel better. Also I think the atmosphere of working out and meal prepping with other people helps people a lot. 

I think this opportunity is huge because more and more people are hopping on the health train. In this day and age people want to exercise and be healthy but a lot of them don't know where to start or how to get to their goals so with the app it will point them in the right direction easily.

I think the window of opportunity will be open forever. There will always be people who are unhappy with their health and their body so as long as you keep the app updated I believe it will work for a while. If you move with the times people will always find a reason to stay with the app.

Innovation: 

I think the only reason customer would switch is because they find a better way for them to get healthy and workout. With the app we will always be innovating to keep it up to date so unless someone finds it too expensive or it doesn't work with their schedule they will have an incentive to stay.

Venture Concept:

The competitors are the gyms in the area's where the customer lives. Gym's will have an advantage when it comes to equipment because they have everything in one place, but most if not all of the exercises you can do at home with no machine necessary. I think we will lose some of our customers to gym but it just depends on the person and what they're looking for.

I think packaging, price points, and distribution are an important part of the business concept. If we do all of these correct the customer will have no choice but to love our company. I think the price will be a big point, if we can find a price range that will fit everybody's needs but isn't  too expensive we will be in good shape.

I would organize my business like any other business. I would first start out with only a couple employees but obviously as we grow I would want to expand. I think I have an upper hand in this business because I know so many people across the US that would help me expand this business. Marketing is a huge part of this app because it's all online so we need to have a strong marketing department to get the app going and to keep it going.

Individuals will buy my product if they are looking to get in shape and start eating healthy. Businesses will buy my product if they are looking to spice up their gym, they will add our app to their price point and the customer can use the gym and app for a low price, and of course they get the meal plans with that deal. I would love the app to grow into new things as well as workouts and meal prepping, I want to change peoples lives with this app and I have a feeling with some new and initiative ideas I can do just that!

Feedback:

I learned a lot from the students and from the people I talked to through this process. The people who are already in the field helped me with some tips and tricks on how to run a "smooth" business as well as they gave me some advice that they had to learn the hard way and that would've helped them tremendously if they were in my shoes. I also learned a lot from people commenting on my blog and I took there comments and changed what I thought need to be about the Venture concept. I added titles to make it a little easier on people to understand what I was talking about and I also added a few points about fast food and where the app can be sold demographically.

Assignment 28. Exit Strategy

My exit strategy is to build the biggest company I can and sell it. I'm not sure if that's in the 5 year or 10 year plan, but I want to make the app extremely successful and make some money off of it. I'm sure it will be hard leaving it behind but I think handing it off will be extremely rewarding in the end. I want to sell I can give my portion of the money I receive so they can build a business of their own of they chose too. They won't get much but I want to give them the opportunity I didn't have and that is the funds, sometimes you need a little money under you for a good idea to sprout and I want my children to have the chance to explore their ideas.
I chose this exit strategy because at the end of the day this isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life, It's awesome to help people lose weight and get healthier but that's not what I'm interested in. I would love to be able to make enough money off the app so I can work as an special needs teacher, or volunteer anytime I want. For the moment this is an awesome way to get my food in the door to helping people but the market isn't there for me long term. I don't think my exit strategy has influenced my other decisions. The goal of this app is to help people and that's exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life just I'd like to switch it up every couple years if I have the chance. I  would also want someone to come in and be a fresh mind, and eyes to take over and grow the company in a way that maybe I couldn't.

Assignment 27. Reading Reflection 3

I chose to read Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc. I think what surprised me the most about the entrepreneur was that he was so old when he found his passion. I guess I never really thought about it or read anything about McDonald's but it's crazy to think he started out with his career so late in life. He turned a place that sold 15 cent hamburgers into a fast food restaurant that would essentially change the life of so many Americans and not many people can say they've done that. I admire most about Kroc is that he never gave up, he knew that he wanted to be an entrepreneur he just needed to wait for the right time for a product to come up with. After making a couple of questionable decisions within his career he knew it was time to go back to the basics and find something he wanted to do, lucky for him it kinda fell into his lap after that. I also admired that he was a good person, he always wanted to be fair in selling his products. The thing I admired the least were his bad decisions before he found the McDonald brothers, he was working at a bar that was selling illegal liquor, and then after that he started selling bad real estate, he definitely made a couple questionable decisions with that. Kroc did experience failure with his Hula Burger he enjoyed the burgers in the comfort of his own home but the public was quick to reject them. He took his failure and learned from it like any good entrepreneur would do.
Kroc never wanted to give up the sales part of him, he started out selling paper cups to whoever needed them from restaurants, soda shops and more. Kroc was a extremely honest man and I believe that's one of the reasons he was in business for so long people like doing business with honest people. I was a little confused when I started reading because I thought he came up with McDonald's but he just added onto the original McDonald's store. If I could ask him questions I would ask after so many years of McDonald's being around did you ever picture it being this big? I mean I guarantee this isn't a town in the USA without a McDonald's, how does that make you feel? My second question would be do you wish you could've found out about McDonald's earlier? If so what would you do differently? I think Kroc's opinion of hard work is to simply never give up, if you have an idea and can make money off of it, go for it, don't give up. If you're working for a bad real estate company, or even for a bar who is selling liquor illegally never give up when you have to start back over, it will be worth it. I do share that opinion, I believe hard work can get you anywhere in life!

Assignment 26. Celebrating Failure

This semester I started interning with the Marketing department for the UAA. Of course like any other new intern I was terrified I was going to mess up and I wanted to make sure I did a good job. Well in fact my first game didn't go as planned it went horribly (for me at least). I was in charge of finding a person for a dizzy bat competition at a volleyball game, that part went extremely well. I found a student who was extremely energetic and was excited to be on the court for a competition, that went great but the execution not so great. We got down on the court and I didn't have a headset because we ran out (which would've helped me tremendously but that's okay) so I immediately send him on the court to start doing the dizzy bat competition, he had to spin around 30 times then find a big Moe's burrito in the crowd. I sent him out too early so the competition didn't count, I was supposed to wait for a cue and then send him out, so since I sent him out too early it didn't count so he had to complete the competition twice. I missed such a simple thing yet it was such a big deal. Now if I had a headset my manager could've told me to have him stop but I had no way of getting in touch with them. After all the cameras we're ready the announcer started and the guy did the competition again but only spin around 10 times so it was a little easier for him and he was a great sport. I was so excited to be in the moment, I didn't let my common sense kick in and say "Jaycie wait for someone to cue you and the announcer will do the rest and let him know when to start."
I was so embarrassed after I completely failed that promotion, it ended up okay but it could've went better. I have learned to just think things through take a breath and make sure you understand everything that is going on in the promotion and how to execute it correctly. Things happen and it was my first game but I never want to feel like that again so I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it doesn't happen again. I do believe it has helped to take read the task sheet better and understand what the promotion is and how to execute it correctly. After that incident, I told myself I would do better and I wasn't going to let that hold me back and I ended up getting asked to be a team leader for the UF Women's Soccer team and the UF Softball team, so who knows maybe the failure is what lit the spark in me to do better!
Failure is hard, and the feeling is horrible. When I first applied to UF I didn't get all my paperwork in on time so I had to wait an entire semester to see if I was accepted to my college. Those first couple days I felt awful, I felt like I failed myself and everyone in my life that was rooting for me, but I learned that it wasn't the end of the world. I ended up taking the semester off, working a lot and that money went towards my tuition at UF so everything does happen for a reason. This class has taught me to take risks and it is okay to fail, you will fail more than you succeed but when you do succeed it makes all the failures worth it. I am extremely glad I took this class because I do believe I will take more risks now and it will be okay when I fail. I will get back up and I will try again!

Assignment 25. What's next?

I think the next product in the app will be creating fitness goals for everyone who uses the app. I will put a fitness trainer with everyone on the app and they will create a workout plan for the person. The workouts for everyone will be similar so we're all doing the same thing but the outcomes will be different depending on how much weight this person wants to lose and how much muscle they want to gain. I also want to figure out a way to partner with gyms so that we can have classes during the week that people can come to and mingle with their fellow people while working out.

My first interview was with a regular who goes to GHF, she loved the idea of the app and wanted to sign up when we bring it to life. She explained how she loved GHF but it was a little pricey for her so she would love an app that she can workout with anywhere anytime. She also loved the meal prep ideas she said that would help her stay on track with eating right because that 's extremely difficult for her. She gave me some ideas for the app and how to market it when it does start running, she said we could advertise at local events to get the word out and I think that's an awesome idea. She told me that I once I get the app up and running she would recommend finding a building that they could use for their workouts instead of going to a local gym.

My second interview was a little hesitant about the idea of an app at first but it grew upon him. He's very old school and just likes going to the gym everyday and seeing all of his friends. He said that he liked the idea of classes every week and would attend those. His social life at the gym is very important and recommended that we incorporate that a little more in the app and it would attract more customers like him.

My third and final interview said he would love to be able to workout wherever and whenever he can. He lives in the country about 30 minutes away from a gym and says it would make his life so much easier if he could just workout at home on his land and then meal prep. He also liked the idea about classes once a week, he said that driving into town once a week vs everyday would make a huge difference.
I believe my market is always growing and as long as we continue to grow with it we will be in good shape. I think the big thing we need to think about is how can we be innovative? So many people can just walk into a gym and workout but we need to keep things fun and worth while for our customers, that is going to be the hardest part but also the fun part as well. Keeping things update and enjoyable for these customers is what's going to keep the app going!

The new market I would target are the people who are just going to the gym because they want to, not because they're overweight or need to health wise. Yes we started the company to get people healthy but once they get there what are we going to to just kick them out? No we accept any and everybody and I want the people who just the love working out to use our app as well.

This will create value for this market just like it does the other market. It will make it easier and more convenience for people to workout plus most of the time they won't even have to leave their house! I also want to talk to the local high school coaches and see if they're interested in having their athletes on the app, so summer workouts can be done anywhere! I know when I went to school it was so hard to get the team together to workout because someone was always on vacation or had another commitment so now during the summer these athletes can workout whenever an wherever they are!

My first interview is with a high school volleyball coach, he loved the idea of the app. He said that most of the time they don't start conditioning until about a month until school starts because they never have enough girls, so if they could do it from anywhere that would make their life a whole lot easier. He did bring up a good point though what if the girls are just logging on and saying their doing the workouts but they aren't, so that is a kink I need to workout. Overall he loved the idea.

My second interview was with a regular gym goer. He stated he wasn't a big fan of the app, he likes to come to gym and workout for a couple hours every day, that's his routine. He said it's a nice getaway and it clears his mind, the gym is a safe place for him so he wouldn't want to take that away. My comment to that is what if you could workout anywhere though? Imagine doing your workout at a park with gorgeous scenery or at a preserver where you have animals running around you, we want people to get out of their comfort zone and explore.

I learned that for the most part the markets are very similar.  They of course have their differences but I think we could touch on everything that my interviews talked about, it will be a process but I believe we can do it. It's so hard to please everybody in different markets but I think if we start by doing one thing at a time and just keeping adding more incentives it will help the app tremendously.

Assignment 24. Venture Concept

People who are over weight have the need of my app. People use the app to lose weight but to also get healthy. The main reason these people want help on their journey is so they can stay on track and they can live a healthier and long life. Most of the people on the app realize that their weight is a health issue and they want to change it.

There are many forces that allow this to occur but the main one is the availability of fast food. It's so easy nowadays to stop by a drive thru for dinner for many reasons, one being it's convenient and another being it doesn't break the bank account. People don't realize how bad it is for you until a couple years later they have added a couple pounds and the doctors are telling them it's time to shape up or they'll regret it in years to come. It seems so simple in the moment but in the long run it hurts people.

This market is scattered geographically in the United States there are people everywhere who are overweight and unhealthy. In other countries they have less people who are overweight and I simply believe it's because in most of those countries their fast food is healthier and they walk many places, whereas in most parts of the US you drive. Demographically I would say it is more towards older generations who are overweight, you have some children who are as well but for the most past its people in their late 20's and up.

The customers are satisfying their need now by going to the gym. I think the app is better because it gives you workouts as well as meals plans. When they're done with their workout they have a meal that is healthy for them so they know they'll lose weight and feel better. Also I think the atmosphere of working out and meal prepping with other people helps people a lot. 

I think this opportunity is huge because more and more people are hopping on the health train. In this day and age people want to exercise and be healthy but a lot of them don't know where to start or how to get to their goals so with the app it will point them in the right direction easily.

I think the window of opportunity will be open forever. There will always be people who are unhappy with their health and their body so as long as you keep the app updated I believe it will work for a while. If you move with the times people will always find a reason to stay with the app.

I think the only reason customer would switch is because they find a better way for them to get healthy and workout. With the app we will always be innovating to keep it up to date so unless someone finds it too expensive or it doesn't work with their schedule they will have an incentive to stay.

The competitors are the gyms in the area's where the customer lives. Gym's will have an advantage when it comes to equipment because they have everything in one place, but most if not all of the exercises you can do at home with no machine necessary. I think we will lose some of our customers to gym but it just depends on the person and what they're looking for.

I think packaging, price points, and distribution are an important part of the business concept. If we do all of these correct the customer will have no choice but to love our company. I think the price will be a big point, if we can find a price range that will fit everybody's needs but isn't  too expensive we will be in good shape.

I would organize my business like any other business. I would first start out with only a couple employees but obviously as we grow I would want to expand. I think I have an upper hand in this business because I know so many people across the US that would help me expand this business. Marketing is a huge part of this app because it's all online so we need to have a strong marketing department to get the app going and to keep it going.

Individuals will buy my product if they are looking to get in shape and start eating healthy. Businesses will buy my product if they are looking to spice up their gym, they will add our app to their price point and the customer can use the gym and app for a low price, and of course they get the meal plans with that deal. I would love the app to grow into new things as well as workouts and meal prepping, I want to change peoples lives with this app and I have a feeling with some new and initiative ideas I can do just that!

Assignment 23 Your Venture's unfair advatage

Gym contacts: I know many people who work at the gym and I can get fitness plans for my clients without paying for them.

• Valuable: this is valuable because having a fitness plan is essential when talking about losing weight
• Rare: this isn't rare, I a lot of people know people who work in a gym
• Inimitable: this can be imitated.
• Non-substitutable: I could hire someone but that would cost me more than just talking to my resources

Meal prepping experience: I have experience with meal prepping and eating healthy so it will be easy to put together meals for clients

• Valuable: this is extremely valuable because it's a big part of the app
• Rare: it's not rare for people to know how to do it, but it's easier said than done
• Inimitable: this can be imitated
• Non-substituable: I could also hire someone to do this job as well but they might not do it as well, and it would save me money

Social capital: I can contact my clients and get to know them on a personal level not just them as people buying my product.

• Valuable: this is extremely valuable because clients are happier when the have a relationship with the person who is helping them lose weight
• Rare: Now a days it's rare to have a relationship with anyone in an organization like that
• Non-substituable: Nothing substitutes this

Uniqueness within the company: I have experience with coming up with unique ideas for different events

• Valuable: This is extremely valuable because the more the unique the idea is the better
• Rare: This is rare now a days
• Inimitable: This can be imitated
• Non-substituable: This can be substituted by someone with a creative personality

Public speaking experience: I have spoken in front of many crowds

• Valuable: This is valuable because many people don't like speaking to people
• Rare: This isn't very rare
• Inimitable: This can't be imitated
• Non-substituable: I can find someone who likes to speak to people as much as I do, it would cost me money and I'd have to find someone I would like

Personal relationships with people in the health field: I know people who inspire people to lose weight on social media

• Valuable: This is valuable because I can reach people on social media
• Rare: This is rare, you have to know people who inspire people to be healthy
• Inimitable: This can be copied
• Non-substituable: This can't be substituted

Support of organizations: there's many organizations that support the cause of eating healthier especially the local schools

• Valuable: This is very valuable because parents would give anything to get their kids to eat healthier
• Rare: This isn't very rare anymore
• Inimitable: this can be imitated
• Non-substituable: Anybody can go to the local schools and try to get them healthier meal plans

Financial capital: I have money in my savings already to start a business I just have to put the ideas on paper

• Valuable: this is valuable because I have enough money to start up without taking out any loans
• Rare: This is rare now a days
• Inimitable: This can be imitated if people who wanted to start a business starting saving their money
• Non-substituable: I could substitute it by getting a loan but it wouldn't make sense to do that

Social capital: My uncle works on apps and he could help me start up mine

• Valuable: This is extremely valuable because it's going to cost me less to start up my business
• Rare: This is extremely rare
• Inimitable: This can be imitated by anyone who can make apps
• Non-substituable: This can be substituted by another person or computer who can make apps

Connections: I have many connections throughout the United States

• Valuable: this is extremely valuable because once I launch my app and post it on Facebook I will have people from all over the country who will be able to know about it
• Valuable: This is extremely valuable because it will get the word out about my business
• Rare: This is rare
• Inimitable: You can imitate it with any social media
• Non-substituable: This can't be substituted

Assignment 21. Reflection 2

I chose How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. The theme of this book was to embrace your failures. All throughout the book Adams shares his experiences of his life and how time and time again he has failed but yet he uses his failure in his favor he says "invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its pocket." I think that his mindset is what set him of for success.

I believe the books goes hand in hand with what we're learning in ENT 3003. With entrepreneurship I believe you have so many obstacles coming at you from every angle and to be honest one of the most challenging things you could do is start a business from scratch so I do believe you will fail time and time again so this book tells you to take those failures evaluate them and turn them into successes.

If I had to design an exercise for the class the exercise would involve Adams point to not read the news for truth. I would pick some of the craziest articles and have the students read them and then have them read articles about the same topics but that are actually true. This exercise would help students understand that when you read the news you take it with a grain of salt and read it for exposure of topics not word for word what the author is saying. 

My "aha" moment when reading this book was that Scott believes that systems trump goals, and that people who use systems over goals are more successful. I think it took me by surprise because my whole life everyone has been asking me what my goals are for the this semester, or the next couple months, or even within 5 years, yet no one ever talked about systems like that. I found it very interesting that he said you should have systems instead of goals. I might have to give that one a try. My favorite part of the book was when he talked about faking it till you make it. My family and I have always said that so it was pretty cool to read about how this successful person has the same idea we have about that situation.