30A – Final Reflection

1) One of the best moments of this semester was being able to interview my friends about my business concept and being able to learn how to network through all of these interviews as well. I also really enjoyed finding a specific market and learning how to use my own market as an advantage to reach others like me through business ventures. One of my low moments were probably my elevator pitches. I have pretty bad social anxiety, even if I am alone talking to a camera, and it was a little hard doing the elevator pitches for this class.

2) One of the most formative experiences was being able to not only learn how to network, and succeed at networking, but being able to sit down and read about things such as mindfulness. I really enjoyed that read and thought it was good for my growth as a person.

3) From the beginning semester, I do believe that I have changed a lot as a person, and not only because of this class. However, regarding my entrepreneur skills, I do also know that I have a lot to learn and do not consider myself one yet. I definitely believe that I have moved closer to becoming an entrepreneur and will keep working on myself and my skills in the future.

4) If I were talking to someone wanting to pursue entrepreneurship in the future, I would tell them to work on themselves and their confidence. Entrepreneurship involves selling yourself to consumers, and in order to do that you need confidence within yourself so that people trust that you're telling them the truth. I would also highly recommend those individuals to take this class if they want to learn and grow as an entrepreneur.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

Venture Concept #2

Opportunity

The opportunity that I am exploring in my business venture originates deeply within the culture of American service expectations and the customer expectations that come with it. The expectation of the average American citizen to tip their servers when they are out to eat is the opportunity that I am exploring in this venture, and although I do not have the one-fits-all solution to this opportunity, I am going to be exploring possible catalysts that can spark change in this cultural organization that has been embedded in American culture.

Specifically, most middle-class working Americans citizens who go out to eat often fit the market segmentation of this opportunity. Also, the range of age of the market segment includes American citizens from 18-40 years old. The nature of the need is not more situational rather than vital, not an intense need, but can be vital when the situation arises. This is why the market segmentation is extremely important to set up for the environment in which the opportunity would arise.

To set up this opportunity, we have to put the market consumers in the environment in which it will occur. In this case, imagine an average, working class American family going out to dinner. This particular family has a lovely meal, served to them by a waiter/waitress who was not extremely nice to them during their time at the restaurant. However, at the end of the meal, the family feels the need to still tip this server who was not necessarily deserving of the gratuity. If this scenario was flipped, the server would most likely be mad at the family for not tipping her/him, making the situation extremely uncomfortable for both parties involved. This type of scenario, by the way, would also have to take place in a rather populated area, preferably a city or a strip of town that has a lot of business. Anyhow, another issue with this awkward scenario is that the main driver is the wage of the workers and the sympathy given by the consumers to the workers. From my experience, I have learned that most servers rely on their tips rather than the wages that they are given per hour, mainly because they are paid below minimum wage; corporations assume that these servers will account for the lost wages in the tips that they will supposedly make. This creates an issue with the dynamic of the customer and the workers, making the environment and situation uncomfortable and maybe making some customers not come to the establishment again.

Unlike some, customers who are wealthy enough to tip servers do not come across this issue as often, but from experience I have learned that even the wealthiest of people can show signs of greed. Consumers bite the bullet most of the time and just tip servers to avoid such awkward interactions, which is also an issue that aids in making the whole process of eating out more uncomfortable. The opportunity itself is quite large, spanning across the country at all different restaurants, cafes, and diners that allow tipping. Thankfully, unless things start to change, this window of opportunity will always be open.

Innovation

            Amidst this broad spectrum of this opportunity, I have come up with a startup/catalyst business idea that could solve both workers and customers problems with tipping and gratuity by creating a new innovation restaurant that would no longer allow tipping, paying workers higher wages and leaving both parties satisfied. This innovated restaurant will make money by attracting more customers by not only being new and unique but also creating a more comfortable experience for them. Rather than selling a specific product or service, I am selling an experience that is familiar, yet different in one aspect that can change the dynamic entirely. I would not change many aspects of the prices of certain menu items, or even charge for the experience, however giving the workers a higher wage would require some extra spending that would need to be accounted for.

Venture Concept

            Because of how this innovated experience will make customers and service workers feel, it will completely solve the opportunity I described previously by eliminating tension between workers and consumers and alleviating the pressure of having to add gratuity at the end of a check. I do not think that it would be hard at all for consumers to switch to this new service. Not many things would change, and the location would be even more convenient for consumers to possibly just wander in and be pleasantly surprised, leading them to spread the word. There would not be many competitors, however in a different point of view every other restaurant could be a competitor. In this case, their main weakness would be that they enforce gratuity and my establishment would not. Customer service is the main proponent of my business concept, and I would organize my business and advertisement around the production of this unique service exchange.

What’s Next?

            The most important resource in my venture is going to be my social capital and learning how to network in the large service industry market. I would have to learn how to not only provide exceptional service, but also make it prevalent and make consumers aware in some way that is not invasive that they do not have to tip the serves because they are being appropriately compensated for. Next, I would love to tackle a new market and give an opportunity for people of lower incomes to consume my services. This poses a new problem, though, considering that people of lower incomes most likely do not go out to restaurants as those with higher incomes. In this case, I would try to adapt my business idea and turn it into a more mobile service, and even giving people of lower incomes a chance to make their own meals with the food that I serve at my restaurants. I would also provide delivery services with the same rules that come with my first venture concept.

Feedback

The feedback that I received was mostly positive, and the only true criticism that I got was regarding my “What’s Next?” portion, stating that it was rather contradicting that I would switch my market to poorer individuals when poorer individuals do not go out to eat often. It would be more logical to offer a sort of mobile food industry business that can appease to all markets with different incomes, or even try to create an at-home business that can involve delivery or DIY. In summary, I decided not to change any of my Venture Concept but the What’s Next portion, making it more specific and giving lower expectations to the new market.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) As an exit strategy, I definitely intend on selling my business when it becomes lucrative in the end, whether it be five years or ten years down the road. I believe that buying property, making money with it, then selling it for much more than what you bought it for is a great idea.

2) I have selected this exit strategy because I am a very indecisive person, and I know that if I chose a specific business with a specific market, somewhere down the road I would have to change and find a new passion. So, looking at this strategy in a business perspective, I would do it for a decade or so and move on to do something else with the money that I have earned in this first business.

3) This exit strategy has made me less emotional attached to the concept, but it has not diminished how I sell myself to customers or contacts. I know what it takes in order for people to take interest in your business and for experts to help you start your business: passion. If you do not have passion, people take less kindly to the idea, thinking that less work will be put into the business if the owner is not passionate about it. I would definitely be passionate about this business, but I would not shy away from the fact that I would want to move on to make more money after my time comes with however many years owning the business.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

The book I chose to read for this assignment was Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

1) The theme of this book deals with the functions of our brain and how we necessarily react to certain situations and how these reactions can foster good or bad consequences.

2) Although the book is dealing with more psychological and scientific aspects of the mind, I still believe that it coincides with what we are learning in class. When we describe ourselves to potential employers or potential customers, we are using our mind to determine what our market segment is and who we are to potential customers as well.

3) If I were going to design an exercise for the class based on the foundations of what this book is written, it would be similar to the exercise I designed in the last assignment for reading reflection. I would have students describe who they are to potential customers of a certain market segment, relating to them in a way that mirrors their characteristics, Then, I would have the student sell themselves to a completely different market segment to see if they can change the way they see themselves in order to lure customers in by relating to them even if they are nothing alike the market segment they chose.

4) What I was surprised by the most while reading this book was the negative connotation that comes with the workings of our brain and how our brain can be working against us sometimes. I have witnessed this first hand, sometimes I feel myself become more lazy than when I should be, and then I realized after reading this book is that our brains work against us at times and there are parts of our mind that fight over and try and take control versus the other parts.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1) Ever since I came to study at UF, it was a hard transition from where I was studying before coming here. I was previously an Electrical Engineering major, and I learned very quickly in my educational career that this was going to be a hard first semester, and my grades showed that. I was consistently getting bad grades, losing motivation, and changed my majors more than once. It has been a hard journey here at the University of Florida, but I am trying to do better.

2) What I have learned from this experience so far is that I need to be motivated to do work and study even if I am not motivated. I have to realize sooner or later that school is imperative for me and I need to treat it like a job, whether I like it or not. Obviously, no one necessarily loves going to school but we all need to in order to pursue or passions, if that passion requires school.

3) Failure, for me, is more about shame and how I feel about myself rather than what others feel about me when I fail. Although I realize that failure is good, when it happens to someone so many times its hard to feel like you can actually succeed when the ratio of failure to success is so high. However one may see failure, I believe that it is important to keep getting back up every time you do fail and try and do better. This course has taught me that it is important to fail, and if you don't ever fail then you still need the experience in order to learn and achieve success in your life.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market

      In terms of what is next for my business venture, I really wanted to specify my market and narrow the ranges of certain prospects of the market as well. Considering my current market segment, consisting of more middle class Americans that go out to eat, I believe that I want to focus on a specific service in the restaurant industry that can also appease to another opportunity. An opportunity that I notice about restaurants is that the marketing aspect of the services that they provide is quite unclear and hard to lock down on what exactly restaurants do to promote their business. If the business is local, it may be easy to access local consumers, but I believe that attracting consumers from all over to be able to expand your establishment is one of the biggest problems that restaurants face. The next step in my business venture would be to discover new ways to advertise the business and the service it provides while also trying to expand to different markets.

(No interviews)

New Market

      Considering that my current market segment is mainly middle class Americans that are employed, I was thinking that maybe I could find a way to appease to people who may not be as well off as my current market segment is. One of the main necessities of all people is: food. Unfortunately, the poor demographic obviously does not have the privilege of having as much food as most middle class Americans have. If I could figure out a ways to possibly correlate the price of my services to the social and financial status of my consumers, maybe I could translate my services to people who are not as well off as my current market segment.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

Venture Concept

Opportunity

The opportunity that I am exploring in my business venture originates deeply within the culture of American service expectations and the customer expectations that come with it. The expectation of the average American citizen to tip their servers when they are out to eat is the opportunity that I am exploring in this venture, and although I do not have the one-fits-all solution to this opportunity, I am going to be exploring possible catalysts that can spark change in this cultural organization that has been embedded in American culture.

Specifically, most middle-class working Americans citizens who go out to eat often fit the market segmentation of this opportunity. Also, the range of age of the market segment includes American citizens from 18-40 years old. The nature of the need is not more situational rather than vital, not an intense need, but can be vital when the situation arises. This is why the market segmentation is extremely important to set up for the environment in which the opportunity would arise.

To set up this opportunity, we have to put the market consumers in the environment in which it will occur. In this case, imagine an average, working class American family going out to dinner. This particular family has a lovely meal, served to them by a waiter/waitress who was not extremely nice to them during their time at the restaurant. However, at the end of the meal, the family feels the need to still tip this server who was not necessarily deserving of the gratuity. If this scenario was flipped, the server would most likely be mad at the family for not tipping her/him, making the situation extremely uncomfortable for both parties involved. This type of scenario, by the way, would also have to take place in a rather populated area, preferably a city or a strip of town that has a lot of business. Anyhow, another issue with this awkward scenario is that the main driver is the wage of the workers and the sympathy given by the consumers to the workers. From my experience, I have learned that most servers rely on their tips rather than the wages that they are given per hour, mainly because they are paid below minimum wage; corporations assume that these servers will account for the lost wages in the tips that they will supposedly make. This creates an issue with the dynamic of the customer and the workers, making the environment and situation uncomfortable and maybe making some customers not come to the establishment again.

Unlike some, customers who are wealthy enough to tip servers do not come across this issue as often, but from experience I have learned that even the wealthiest of people can show signs of greed. Consumers bite the bullet most of the time and just tip servers to avoid such awkward interactions, which is also an issue that aids in making the whole process of eating out more uncomfortable. The opportunity itself is quite large, spanning across the country at all different restaurants, cafes, and diners that allow tipping. Thankfully, unless things start to change, this window of opportunity will always be open.

Innovation

            Amidst this broad spectrum of this opportunity, I have come up with a startup/catalyst business idea that could solve both workers and customers problems with tipping and gratuity by creating a new innovation restaurant that would no longer allow tipping, paying workers higher wages and leaving both parties satisfied. This innovated restaurant will make money by attracting more customers by not only being new and unique but also creating a more comfortable experience for them. Rather than selling a specific product or service, I am selling an experience that is familiar, yet different in one aspect that can change the dynamic entirely. I would not change many aspects of the prices of certain menu items, or even charge for the experience, however giving the workers a higher wage would require some extra spending that would need to be accounted for.

Venture Concept

            Because of how this innovated experience will make customers and service workers feel, it will completely solve the opportunity I described previously by eliminating tension between workers and consumers and alleviating the pressure of having to add gratuity at the end of a check. I do not think that it would be hard at all for consumers to switch to this new service. Not many things would change, and the location would be even more convenient for consumers to possibly just wander in and be pleasantly surprised, leading them to spread the word. There would not be many competitors, however in a different point of view every other restaurant could be a competitor. In this case, their main weakness would be that they enforce gratuity and my establishment would not. Customer service is the main proponent of my business concept, and I would organize my business and advertisement around the production of this unique service exchange.

What’s Next?

            The most important resource in my venture is going to be my social capital and learning how to network in the large service industry market. I would have to learn how to not only provide exceptional service, but also make it prevalent and make consumers aware in some way that is not invasive that they do not have to tip the serves because they are being appropriately compensated for. Next, I would love to tackle a more specified product that can be packaged and narrowed down to a very specific market. But, in the next ten years, assuming that I would have launched my business venture, I would love to have more than one establishment practicing this type of service and possibly influencing others to follow my lead in this endeavor.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

For the VRIN analysis of these resources, I gave them a rating of 1-10 at the end of each description to help me identify the top resource.

Resources

1. Intelligence (High GPA)
1. Value: It is quite valuable for a business to have an intelligent employee with the grades to back it up. (8)
2. Rarity: It is not very rare out of the many students in the world to have a high GPA. (3)
3. Inimitable: Considering it is a resource that can be learning and improved upon, it is quite inimitable, giving it a low rating. (4)
4. Non-Substitute: There are many resources that can produce intelligence: tutors, study sites, TA's. (3)

Total: 18

1. Sociable
1. Value: Not very valuable (2)
2. Rarity: Not very rare (2)
3. Inimitable: Can easily be imitated (1)
4. Non-Substitute: Not many resources can teach people how to be social, however. (4)

Total: 9

1. Important Contacts (Possible future employer and Production manager)
1. Value: Very valuable when starting a future business. (9)
2. Rarity: Rare, not all experts are the same, can provide unique insight (8)
3. Inimitable: Cannot be imitated unless you have the same contacts (8)
4. Non-Substitute: Cannot be substituted with another resource (10)

Total: 35

1. Want to change tipping culture in America
1. Value: Not extremely value, only an idea (5)
2. Rarity: Quite rare, not many people I have seen, at least, want to change this (6)
3. Inimitable: Can be imitated, just need the passion for it and knowledge to start the business (3)
4. Non-Substitute: Not very applicable, but growing up in the country can lead someone to have this mindset (4)

Total: 18

1. Access to Scholarship Funds to use for Startup
1. Value: Pretty valuable to have finances set aside for future endeavors (7)
2. Rarity: Not very rare (4)
3. Inimitable: Quite inimitable, relates back to intelligence resource (4)
4. Non-Substitute: Intelligence and sociable resources can be used to gain this resource (3)

Total: 18

1. Empathetic
1. Value: Valuable when working with people or trying to change organizational culture (8)
2. Rarity: Not very rare (4)
3. Inimitable: Can be imitated (4)
4. Non-Substitute: Some resources can be used to reproduce, but can be easily learned (4)

Total: 20

1. Summer Marketing Internship
1. Value: Very valuable for my specific business knowledge (9)
2. Rarity: Pretty rare, but many college students do internships (5)
3. Inimitable: Not very easily inimitable, unless someone is doing a very similar internship in the same field of expertise (7)
4. Non-Substitute: Can be gained with resources involving social capital, but difficult to obtain (7)

Total: 28

1. Attending one of the best Business Colleges (in country)
1. Value: Very valuable, it used to one's advantage (7)
2. Rarity: Not very rare (50,000+ students) (5)
3. Inimitable: Can be inimitable by many other students if accepted (5)
4. Non-Substitute: Can be obtained with some other resources such as intelligence, social capital, etc. (4)

Total: 21

1. Parent owns on personal business
1. Value: This can be very valuable in gaining knowledge about a field of expertise and not necessarily having to work for that knowledge (9)
2. Rarity: Not extremely rare (5)
3. Inimitable: Cannot necessarily be copied unless someone has a parent who owns their own business (5)
4. Non-Substitute: Since this is an effect of an outside person on you, then it is out of your control and cant be changed using your own resources (1)

Total: 20

1. Training in Accounting Work
1. Value: Very valuable in regards to field of accounting (8)
2. Rarity: Not very rare, there are many accountants (4)
3. Inimitable: Can be inimitable and copied easily (4)
4. Non-Substitute: Using human and social capital, this training can be received by anyone with a strong desire (3)

Total: 19

Top Resource

Looking at my VRIN Analysis, I have observed that my most valuable resources regard social capital and the contacts that I have acquired throughout my life and through this course. I believe that this is important in any aspect of life when it comes to wanting to start your own business, because not everything can be done on your own and it is extremely important to have insight and even help along the way.

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I chose for this assignment is "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck.

1) The general theme or argument of this book is that our mindset determines the way we can change in our lives and how we can change our qualities to become better people in the entrepreneurship universe. It also touches on how our mindsets can grow, or remained fixed. Both ways describe different kinds of people, those being stuck in their ways and those who are aware that people can grow and learn.

2) Based on what we have been learning in this course, I believe that this book relates closely to what we have been studying recently, especially what we have been doing in these past few assignments involving selling ourselves and our qualities as entrepreneurs. If an entrepreneur has a mindset that is open to change and growth, then the entrepreneur themselves will be much more desirable to potential customers. If we have mindsets fluid and relatable to our customers, which is what we are learning about in class, it will be easier to appease to the market segment.

3) If I were to design an exercise in the class based on the book, I would ask students to try and describe themselves as someone completely different than who they are personally. Each student would be given a specific market segment and then be asked to describe themselves as if they were apart of that market segment. This would help the students be able to broaden how they think and also be able to put themselves in the shoes of consumers from market segments other than themselves.

4) What surprised me most about this book was that it was about the human mind and how it can be broad and complicated and change the way people think about others and the way people think about themselves. However, the book itself tries to de-complicate this concept by separating the "mindset" into two segments. Simplifying the idea of the "mindset" is somewhat contradicting of the author to do, considering that you would have to have a more fixed mindset to believe that there are only growth and fixed mindsets. This statement may be confusing, but I just thought that it was odd how talking about something so broad (the human mindset) can even be simplified into segments.