Week 4 Reading Reflection

1. The thing that stood out to me the most was the stress placed on intrapreneurship and how it can transform a business primarily in terms of innovation. Higher management personnel are certainly not the only people who can strive for positive change, although that is typically what happens. Others can pitch ideas and implement them as well, especially in areas where there is room for improvement or issues that need to be resolved.

2. There was not anything in particular that I found to be confusing. It was a pretty straightforward reading.

3. If I could ask the author two questions, I would ask:
    - In your opinion, what is the best system that you can use to reward intrapreneurship and why? (i.e. Commission, a bonus, promotion, etc)
    - How would you go about motivating low skill employees, like cashiers, to think with an intrapreneur's mindset?

4. There wasn't anything that I disagreed with either. As I mentioned before, it was a pretty straightforward reading. 

Customer Interviews No. 1

I currently live at The Courtyards which is known more for its proximity to campus and not so much for luxury. The apartments come furnished, but the provided furniture isn't the best in terms of both quality and cosmetics. The furniture is a little older and should probably be replaced. I saw this as a potential opportunity for The Courtyards. It's a problem that they should probably solve and, although it would be expensive to buy new furniture for all of its apartments, it would also be worth their while considering they could charge people a little more per month for that upgrade.

As a result, I asked five random residents at The Courtyards, none of which I know personally, what their thoughts were on the issue and if they would be willing to pay a little extra every month, assuming that they were provided new and better quality furniture. If so, how much extra? My phone was actually stolen two days ago so I do not have a camera to record the interviews with. Instead,  I wrote down their responses below.

Interviewee #1: It doesn't really bother me much that the furniture is old, although it would certainly be nice if The Courtyards actually replaced the current furniture in our apartment.

Interviewee #2: The furniture in our apartment actually seems fairly new to me and I like it. But, to be fair, our apartment used to be the model apartment two years ago so we lucked out and I know that other apartments didn't get so lucky with their furniture.

Interviewee #3: I would LOVE new furniture! Ours is really old and crappy and has a bunch of stains all over. I've asked the leasing office for new furniture before, but they just told me that they can't guarantee anything and, of course, nothing ended up happening.

Interviewee #4: I don't spend much time in my apartment so I don't really mind it, but it looks nice when friends come over if the furniture looked decent. Other than that though, I don't really care too much.

Interviewee #5: This is my third year at The Courtyards and I've heard people complain about the furniture before and I agree with them. It isn't the best. I chose The Courtyards because of how close it is to campus, definitely not for the actual apartments. They need to upgrade.

I asked each one of them if they would be willing to pay a little bit extra per month for newer furniture and how much extra. All of them except interviewee #4 said yes with responses ranging from $15-30 more per month. Interviewee #2, who happened to have newer furniture specified that if he had older furniture, he would "certainly" pay a little more to have newer furniture, saying that it's important to them and how they apartment looks. Overall, this opportunity seems like one that would be worth while for the Courtyards to look into.

The interviews themselves went fine. I'm very comfortable speaking with people, even people like this who I do not know. This definitely made it easier to get my ideas across and made the questioning a little more clear and smooth.

Top 5 World Problems

Problems

Here are the top five world problems in order from biggest problem (#1) to smallest (#5):

1. Poverty  - This is #1 because poverty is the cause of a long chain of other world problems such as lack of food or shelter, malnutrition, crime, drug abuse, and even depression.

2. War - This has historically been a consistent issue no matter what time period a person lives in. I ranked this after poverty because war is often a result of widespread poverty in a country. The outburst of civil wars across the Middle East, like in Libya, Egypt and Syria had, in large part, to do with the corrupt way that government was spending money instead of allocating its resources towards the country itself and its people, causing economic downturn.

3. Obesity - This has recently become a very big problem world wide, especially in more westernized countries. According to FranchiseHelp.com, the fast food industry has grown from $6 billion in 1970 to $160 billion this past year with an 8.6% annual growth rate. I placed this under war because obviously people being mass murdered is worse that gaining some weight. You can lose the weight, but you cannot bring people back to life.

4. Depression - Over 70% of people are likely to experience depression at some point and when it happens, it is important that people are able to get out of it instead of getting stuck there. It happens in every culture  and age group and because so many people go through it, it's something that we need a solution to. It's under Obesity because obesity has more direct effects on a person's health and life expectancy. It's also harder to lose a large amount of weight, which has both a physical and psychological aspect, than it is to get out of most forms of depression which is just psychological.

5. Climate Change - Historically, the climate has always been changing; however, it's changing a lot faster now that it ever has before as a result of the enormous amounts of greenhouse gasses humans add to the atmosphere on an daily basis. I placed this last because, although it is still a huge world issue, it affects people the least directly.


Solutions

This list ranks the solutions to each of the five problems above from most viable solution (#1) to least viable solution (#5):

1. Depression - Get people help! Over 80% of those who fall to depression never receive help to improve. Often times, what can relieve a person of this awful condition is a lifestyle change or a series of small changes. For example, changes in diet, more exercise or even a change in perception.

2. Obesity - This is the same idea as depression. We need to get people help. As opposed to just helping people on a psychological basis, we also need to help people physically. I placed this solution after depression because we have to help people change in two ways, physically and psychologically, instead of just one. Fixing obesity at a society level requires changing social views on health, which I think has already started to an extent.

3. War -  It has to come to an end at some point. The solutions vary drastically depending on the issue at hand. Whether it be that the two sides of the conflict are tired of fighting or they simply come to some sort of agreement, there is always a solution that comes out eventually. This is something that is much harder to prevent than, for example, gaining weight, but is still feasible.

4. Climate Change - This requires effort on behalf of the entire world's population to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollution in the soil, less use of plastics, etc. There is no one solution to this. Rather it's an effort to contribute as many smaller solutions as possible.

5. Poverty - This will always be around. Realistically speaking, money will never be allocated evenly. Human nature has a large amount to do with that. We all want what is best for us. Some poeple choose not to share their wealth while others choose not to make any by not working or using their wealth irresponsibly. I don't really see a viable solution to this problem. Although there are ways to help alleviate poverty in certain areas by doing things like creating jobs, there will still always be a lower, middle and higher class in terms of wealth. 

Week 3 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that I did not expect, but makes sense to me, is that many entrepreneurs use their businesses as a way to deal with loneliness and coping with people problems. It is something that I had never previously thought about. I suppose having something like a business that can ALWAYS keep you occupied can allow a person to forget about their social issues and focus more on themselves and trying to be as successful as possible.

2. The table about the typology of entrepreneurship styles was a little bit confusing to me at first but was clarified with the reading. Even then, it still took me a bit to really understand what was going on in the table.

3. If I could ask the author two questions, I would ask:

- Being an entrepreneur means that you will have to deal with failure time and time again; but what if you have to deal with failure on a very regular basis? At one point do you call it quits and move on to do something else?

- If an entrepreneur does not have a Type A personality, to what extent will this affect their successes? And will these effects be positive or negative?

4. To be honest, there wasn't anything that the author said that I disagreed with. It was a pretty straight forward reading . All of the characteristics that the author described in an entrepreneur seemed to fit well and the reasons for why some people elect to become an entrepreneur made sense. 

Identifying Local Opportunities

As I flipped through various local newspaper articles, I found a few problems described that present potential opportunities for an entrepreneur:

1. "Is it OK to discipline employees"
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/money/2016/01/23/ok-discipline-employees/79056678/

This article describes the struggle faced by mangers when they must stand up to employees who do not meet their expectations or goals. A vast number of managers simply do not like to deal with it. It involves hurting a person's feelings and, as a result of not taking action, employees figure it is okay to be disobedient, at least to some degree. The article describes a couple of steps to go about disciplining an employee with letting them go being a last resort.

2. "Private schools to hire educators, coaches and support staff"
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2016/01/20/private-schools-hire-educators-coaches-support-staff/79077

This article serves as an advertisement for an event at a Tallahassee private school. The event is a career fair in which almost a dozen schools are participating in in an effort to find the best teachers and staff members for their schools. Many are in need to replace teachers temporarily teaching courses that they are not 100% qualified to teach. Others would like to start offering new classes, but need to find teachers for.

3. "Mayor's Challenge - 10-week fitness program begins in Tarpon Springs"
http://www.tbnweekly.com/pubs/tarpon_springs_beacon/content_articles/012116_tsb-01.txt

In Tarpon Springs, the mayor holds an annual fitness challenge in which residents can enroll to participate in. At the end of the challenge, there is a 5K race that most of them elect to run in. There is a large range of people who join this challenge from old to young, muscular to overweight. Throughout this 10-week period, the mayor holds fitness related and sporting events to encourage participation and enthusiasm. The issue here is that the mayor wants more people to join. Last year 250 people in the Tampa Bay area enrolled, 80 of which went to the 5K. This year, he is looking to expand on that number.

4. "FAFSA Nights scheduled for area schools"
http://www.tbnweekly.com/pinellas_county_schools/content_articles/010616_sch-01.txt

High school students often express anxiety when it comes to paying for college and it is a large factor in determining where they ultimately go. As a result, high schools in the area have created nights for students and their families to sit down as a large group, answer any questions and fill out their FAFSA applications to reap as many financial benefits as possible.

5. "Starkey seeks mentors for students"
http://www.tbnweekly.com/pinellas_county_schools/content_articles/012116_sch-04.txt

Starkey Elementary School is looking for volunteers to serve as mentors for their students. Their goal is to build the interpersonal skills of the students while allowing them to feel comfortable with someone who they look up to and provide them with encouragement, guidance and support. There are 35 students signed up for the mentor program which serves as a great way for people to provide community service. They currently do not have enough volunteers for all the students. This article serves as an ad for this opportunity. 

Bug List

We all have pet peeves and things that bug us. Here's a list of 20 things that bug me:
1. People who speed past you on the highway when you are already speeding.
    Reason: The person is usually impatient or in a hurry.
2. When my Wi-Fi at home randomly goes out.
    Reason: Too many people connected at the same time or an issue from the service provider themselves.
3. When people talk in a classroom setting as the professor is giving their lecture
    Reason: For the most part, they're sitting with their friends and they are getting bored of the lecture.
4. When I'm driving and someone cuts me off as they turn when I have the right of way.
    Reason: They do not want to wait for all of the cars behind me to pass.
5. When I play a team sport like basketball or soccer and someone hogs the ball each time they get it, even though their teammates can help them tremendously
    Reason: They are not very good at working in teams and prefer to hold the ball.
6. When someone makes a racist or prejudice comment about a group of people based on a non-representative sub-population of that group.
    Reason: Little interaction with that group of people. Bases perception of group on what they have heard from others.
7. Seeing people expect an unproportionately large amount of goods/services for an employee of a business while paying very little, like at a restaurant.
    Reason: They are cheap and do not want to pay for anything.
8. When people have a bad habit of consistently pointing out the negative things around them and do recognize the positive aspects of those things.
    Reason: More pessimistic perception of the world
9. When people are tardy to an appointment, whether it be with a friend or doctor. I think it's very disrespectful.
    Reason: Varies
10. Waking up to random spot of acne on my face.
    Reason: Also varies from my diet, to sleep, to how often I washed my face day before, etc
11. I really don't like it when someone consistently boasts about things.
    Reason: They want to impress others.
12. When printers do not connect properly to your laptop
    Reason: Technical issue with the actual printer
13. When people bash their parents in front of their friends.
    Reason: Not very thankful people
14. When someone at work is on their phone while I am talking to them as a customer
    Reason: Uninterested in their job
15. Receiving too many marketing emails from the same business
    Reason: I bought something from them and provided my email.
16. When someone passes by me with an unpleasant body odor
    Reason: Did not shower or use deodorant
17. People who frequently post exposing pictures of themselves on social media
    Reason: Trying to impress others
18. I am a bouncer and it bugs me when people give me a fake ID and they keep denying that it's a fake, even after I caught them.
    Reason: They think they will get into trouble if they admit they're wrong.
19. I hate when an advertisement is almost as long or even longer than a video online.
    Reason: It's how the website makes money
20. I hate how enormous many effective iphone cases are.
    Reason: iPhones break very easily.

Overall, this was actually a pretty difficult list to come up with. It definitely took me longer than I thought it would because I do not actively search for the things that bug me. The first few were easy to come up with whereas the last few took me a while to think of. 

Introduction

My name is Abraham Khalil and I am a 3rd year undergraduate student at UF from Tallahassee, FL. Although I'm a business management major, I am also a pre-dental student. I chose business management in hopes that it will help me run my own dental practice in the future. As of now, I am most interested in orthodontics as a specialty.

Here are some other random fun facts about me:
- My family owns a donut shop in Tallahassee called Donut Kingdom.
- I'm the eldest of four.
- I hate everything about Florida State athletics.
- DJ Khaled is my second cousin.
- I think I'm going to be diabetic within the next couple of years based on how many donuts I consume.

My Entrepreneurship Story

Entrepreneurship is something that has always run in my family. My parents own a donut shop called Donut Kingdom in Tallahassee, FL and before opening that, they owned a couple of convenience stores. I have an uncle who owns 180+ MetroPCS stores across the US and one of my dad's cousins who owns clothing stores. I have other relatives who own different businesses overseas in the middle east, but I probably couldn't pronounce the names of them anyways. Needless to say, I've grown up around people who aspire to think and act upon the mentality of an entrepreneur.

 



As a result, I've always been interested in business ownership and growth. My biggest interest is the business world is probably marketing. It takes a ton creativity and becomes a large factor in the "growth" aspect of business, especially when first getting a business established. I'm currently taking a business course here at UF and I already love it. Although I am a business management major, I am also a pre-dental student. My end goal is to own and manage my own practice. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this semester and hope that my love for business only grows further.

My Recitation of The Entrepreneur's Mantra

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