21A

I think this assignment was very cool and interesting. I was able to read a book about business that is sure to help me succeed in my own business ventures in the near future. I hope to take the experiences from this book and apply it to whatever I do moving forward in business. the general theme of the book is entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur has a hard working spirit and always is looking for ways to keep revenues flowing and to minimize expenses as often as possible. This book helped to connect and enhance many of the values we have learned in this class. An entrepreneur should not spend a considerable amount of time and research in research and development but rather should focus on how to make revenue as quickly as possible and how to keep the business alive for another day. I would design an exercise where students sit and think of many different opportunities that exist in the world and whether or not that is room to exploit them for profit. The book surprised me a lot with how successful the end business became. I had no idea a business can be grown from the ground up like that.

20A

1.
The domain expert I added to my social capital is a barber in my area named Rafi. I think Rafi is a domain expert in the field of cutting hair because I have heard many positive reviews about him as well as examined the app he uses on mobile phones to allow customers to book appointments. I contacted Rafi through the app which has a direct message feature. For the favor, I asked him what he did to create his app and he helped me to find exactly what I was looking for. Having Rafi in my network will provide me insight into actually working day in and day out as a barber and the mechanics of dealing with an app that sets your schedule.

2.
The market expert I added to my social network is a hostess at a nearby restaurant and market called Canvas. Her name is Alexis and because the crowd that eats at Canvas is similar as a segment to the one I am targeting I figured she could provide valuable insight into the minds of my market segment. I contacted her by going into Canvas. I asked them to keep an eye out and inform me of recent purchases in the market area by kids to try and help me unnderstand their buying habits a bit better.

3.
On Amazon I found a few sellers of hair products and supplies that I can buy in bulk and have delivered to me wiith free one day shipping. Although these suppliers are not actual people
(or they are on the other side of the computer I suppose), Creating a relationship with these suppliers over email and large purchase orders could be very beneficial. i asked them for any discounts that may apply with large orders as a favor and have not heard back.

Reflection

This assignemnt has helped me to realize there is a strategy to filling out your social network and how you can use it to your advantage. 

19A

You:

I am a rising senior at UF. I like to play sports and cook. I have many skills and experiences. I have worked in many places such as nature preserves, restaurants, certified public accounting firms, and banks. I have also volunteered at animal shelters and nursing homes. I have gained a lot from these experiences and can use them as an entrepreneur.




What are you offering:

My customers will have the unmet need of needing a haircut. Customers will need a haircut so bad they will be inclined to pay me to give them one.




To who:

I intend to offer my service to males in their late teens and early twenties. However I am willing to cut anyone’s hair if they want to pay me.




Why:

My customers care about my service because it improves their self image drastically in a short amount of time. A haircut is one of the easiest ways a person can change their entire look.




Core competencies:

My speed, agility, and strength give me an edge when I cut hair that most barbers can not compete with. In fact, my physical abilities are so far off the charts they set me apart from most humans.





I believe all the elements listed above blend together perfectly. I am shocked at the sheer flawlessness of my plan I am reluctant to put it into a post for an assignment as I believe this may lead many people to be jealous of me. The feedback I received on my previous assignments were all positive as I expected because I am so perfect. My ideas are wonderful and I am glad to see the students at UF put aside their jealous feelings to accurately evaluate my plans for entrepreneurship. I also took away that my client base could be refined more.

18A

My customer avatar is a person with many hobbies. After thinking about it however I think some of the stereotypical hobbies of males include sports. Cars are another hobby that my customer avatar would possess and the type of car they drive varys a lot. The type of TV shows they would watch also vary and could include shows about sports and cars. Some of the prototypical customer avatars I would be catering to would be old enough to have children, however, I think my service is geared towards men in their late teens and twenties. Some may be adopted but they may be to personal of a question to consider with regard to my service. My client base would include a wide array of different political views and the types of books they read would also differ greatly.





I have a lot in common with the avatar i described above because I am a male in my early twenties. I like to play and watch sports however I am not into cars as the average guy usually is. I do not have children either.

17A

Link to video:

https://youtu.be/Seff8CPc9so



The feedback that stood out to me from the last elevator pitch was all of them. I enjoy receiving constructive criticism and I think the students of this entrepreneurship class did a good job of evaluating my work and providing feedback I can use to improve my self as well as my work. Some of the feedback included how I did a good job speaking. I can use that to my advantage as an entrepreneur to speak my way through business opportunities that present themselves. I do not believe that any feedback is silly. I believe that if interpreted correctly feedback can always be constructive. Based on the feed back I decided to lean into my ability to read and enunciate clearly. I am able to read words off of a paper well so for this video I wrote more words down and practiced really hard so I could read them even better.

16A

One the many things that sets me apart from a lot of people in the world is that I am a student at the University of Florida and am about to graduate with my undergrad in accounting and possibly my masters in accounting in a few years to come. When I think about my human capital this is one of things that comes to mind first because it is an experience that has changed my life for the better and has given me a lot to bring to the table, business wise. I take care of a lot of plants as well. And although this might not sound like all that but taking care of all the plants in my house has taught me how to wait watch things grow. The process of becoming is very unique for all things and it is an important one to go threw to become better and watching my plants grow has taught me that valuable lesson. I also work a lot with animals and have even had the opportunity to raise and train service dogs for the needy. This experience taught me the importance of charity and working with others. And the last two things that set me apart from the rest are my attention to detail and cleanliness. I am a super organized and a neat person. I think that comes out a lot in my work as well. It helps to to keep things very planned out and to stay on schedule.

Interviews: (altered to keep things brief)

https://soundcloud.com/user-954326705/interview-1-shortened-answer

I learned from the first interview that i have a lot of perspectives of my own that are not the same as what other pople think. I would have never considered myself a quick learner.

https://soundcloud.com/user-954326705/interview-2-16a

From this interview I learned that my cleanliness has rubbed off on the people around me. I think this is a good thing though.
https://soundcloud.com/user-954326705/interview316a

In this interview I was able to confirm the fact that I am a hard worker. I have always prided myse;f in my work and it is nice to see other people taking notice.
https://soundcloud.com/user-954326705/interview-4-16a

I learned in this interview what a lot of the same things as in my first interview. I would not have considered myself a problem solver.

https://soundcloud.com/user-954326705/recording-30

I liked being called nice. I always considered myself more friendly though.

although my interview files were shortened up the morning before the assignment was due, I was able to post more streamlined version and summarize the results to save time. I think a lot of these differences are mainly from people perceiving my work as fitting into their life rather than my work as their whole life. this is not necessarily a bad thing but it creates different thoughts about whats going on and what someone is thinking. From my initial list I would not change a thing.

15A

My three interviews began relatively the same. I asked how the customers in my target segment were picking a set of alternatives and what the thought process was behind eventually making their decision. From this, I gathered that my target segment picks a set of hair dressers based on proximity to home and then decides based on reviews from friends and family or their own experience. Due the nature of the service, customers always have to go into the store to get their hair cut which highlights one of the key elements that makes my service so unique and what ultimately creates most of the value for the customer. The nature of my service is also relatively cheap and the transactions are done with cash most of the time. And the purchase decision is a relatively quick one to come too. Customers are able to tell immediately, however, if the purchase was good or not based on whether or not they like their hair when I am finished. From my interviews I was able to identify a few of the key elements involved in my transactions, like how they are mainly cash transactions and customers are able to tell the quality of the hair cut immediately. From this I am able to alter my ideas a bit to fit better in this ever complex market of cutting hair in a cheap and convenient way.