Final Reflection

What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

The most memorable experience for me was completing the elevator pitches throughout the semester. I saw each pitch progressively getting a little bit polished, a little more convincing, a little more successful. This is a skill that I can not only use in my future career, but in any case where I am trying to persuade someone of something. Because of this, it is an experience that has real life application and resulted in being the assignment that I enjoyed the most. 

At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And we repeated the mantra -- I am an entrepreneur. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

I'm not quite sure see myself as an entrepreneur yet just because I have not actually began any sort of venture, however, I feel like I certainly do have more of an entrepreneurial mindset after having completed this course. That consists of identifying a need in a specific market, making a plan for how you will go about obtaining the necessary resources and providing that need, moving forward with your plan and lastly, learning from your mistakes and failures. Those are skills that have certainly developed more maturely as I have progressed throughout this course. 

What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?

I would certainly recommend keeping up with an agenda for this course because there are so many assignments and setting each assignment due date at least two days earlier than the actual due date. I have lost many points in this course to simply forgetting to do the assignment on time. Had I done this, even when I forgot, I would have had two days of "insurance" to still do the assignment in. I would also make sure to take advantage of every extra credit opportunity possible. Every point means a lot in a class only worth 100 points.  Doing the assignments alone will foster that entrepreneurial mindset that they're looking for. Every time you miss an assignment, you will feel out of the loop when you comment on someone's post for an assignment that you have not completed. You will have a hard time relating. 

Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
     I knew microfinance loans were small, but I did not realize that they were that small. That was probably the thing that surprised me the most. How he started up the business did not seem out of the ordinary though. 

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

     Actually there weren't any parts of the reading that were particularly confusing to me. It was very well written and cohesive.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

     I would ask 1. Working in the microfinance industry, isn't it a huge risk to be lending to people with such a small amount of money? and 2. What happens when they are not able to pay you back?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

     I do not really know much of anything about the microfinance industry so I don't have enough knowledge on the topic to form my own opinion. There wasn't anything in the article that I was truly skeptic about or stuck out as "wrong" to me.

Venture Concept No. 2

Between the Idea Napkin assignments and the three Elevator Pitches we gave, this is the most realistic and thought out venture I have. This venture is essentially a third-party delivery service for restaurants that do not currently deliver, but want to. In Gainesville, the closest thing we have to this is 352 Delivery or DoorStep Delivery. It will differ, however, in that our service will be free to the end consumer, being the customers of the restaurants we would deliver for. I will get more into how this will all work later. Below, I'll describe three things: The opportunity available, the innovation involved and the venture concept itself.

The Opportunity

There is a trade-off to using a third-party deliver service. Not all restaurants deliver. For those that do not delivery, a third-party delivery service provides that option for that restaurant's customers. Although, this allows the end-consumer to be able to get their food delivered when they otherwise could not, it is also expensive. Doorstep Delivery, for example, will charge at least a $4 delivery fee onto every order with a $10 minimum, That is the trade-off. This prevents many people from using these third-party delivery services. The opportunity here involves removing the trade-off entirely so that it is a win-win situation for the customer. If a business can do that, they could potentially do really well. The consumers for such an idea would be anyone within a certain radius of the delivery service office (i,e. a 4 mile radius). Anyone further than that would be out of our delivery range. When it comes to the businesses, any restaurant that does not currently delivery, but would like to or would benefit from doing so would be our direct customers, allowing us to serve the unmet needs of these restaurants and the undermet needs of the end-consumers of the food.

The Innovation

What I would be offering is a free delivery service to the end-consumers. This would attract them to order from us. Although our expenses would be a bit higher than that of Doorstep Delivery or any of our other competitors, our sales would also be higher because of such a large incentive. Assuming that the right marketing is done, we should be able to attract the customers of other delivery services to order from us instead. Aside from that, we would make money by charging the actual restaurants commission for each order. That is the same way that the other delivery services make money. It is usually in the realm of ~25%. We could match the percentage of the our competition to flip some of these restaurants to use our delivery service in place of theirs to build ourselves quickly and allow the restaurants to see how fast their business can grow with us instead. When it comes to speaking with restaurants who do not currently utilize a third party delivery service, we can start a bit higher than that at around 30% and go down from there if necessary.

The Venture

The original problem which gave rise to an opportunity was the trade-off that I previously mentioned. Although the consumer can get their food delivered from restaurants that do not have delivery services, the customer must also pay a larger price for that food. A free delivery service would create a win-win situation for the end-customer, giving them an incentive to order more food. Not only will they be able to order their food for delivery, but they will be able to do so free of charge. This gives us a large competitive edge over competing third-party delivery services while pleasing the end-consumer. At the same time, we will also be providing restaurants that do not have a delivery service the ability to deliver their food and for approximately the same cost as our competitors.

The best way to go about doing this would be to set up an office for the delivery drivers near the center of town, or wherever we think most of our business would come from. For example, if this were to be opened in Gainesville, it would be smart to open somewhere near Butler Plaza so that we are near UF's campus while also being close to the highway for quick access to Newberry rd. This office would serve as a place for the drivers to come back to and as an office for us to process orders, handle customer calls, etc. The orders would primarily be made online, but could also be placed over the phone. In terms of advertising, hotels (for people who are not familiar with the area and want food delivered), dorms and off-campus housing would be the main focuses. We would also have a car sign for each driver so that people see our name and logo as the car passes by.

Essentially an order would be placed, either on-line or over the phone. When the order is placed, the order would be faxed immediately to the restaurant by someone in our office. The driver would immediately be sent out to pick up the food and deliver it to the customer. A couple minutes after the fax is sent, one of our employees would call the restaurant to ensure that the fax went through. This way, by the time that the driver gets to the restaurant, the food would be ready, allowing for quicker delivery. At the end of every month, we would send each restaurant a check with an invoice showing all of the orders we took for them and the totals of the orders. We would keep 25-30% of it, depending on what the agreement is with that restaurant and give them the rest.

Our Unfair Advantage

Our biggest advantage over our competitors is by far the free delivery aspect of our concept. That is what will drive our customers to order through us over anyone else. It would also serve as a huge marketing tool, especially with the lower and middle class who really pay attention to prices. The higher class folks may just pay attention to who can deliver the quickest, but it could also be an incentive for any of them who search good deals.

The Next Product

For any businesses that do not want to pay the 25-30% commission, we can also provide pick-up ordering online. That is, if a restaurant does not have the ability to take orders in advance online for carryout, we can give them the ability to do so. It would work in a similar fashion in that we would receive the order and fax it to the restaurant to make. The customer would then come by to pick it up at their specified time. We would take 5-10% of those orders as opposed to 25-30%.

The Next Move for Me

If this takes off, the next move for me would be to find another city to open a delivery service in; one that either does not have one or one that has too few delivery services relative to its population. The idea would be to keep opening these delivery services and make a franchise out of it.

Feedback from My First Venture Concept

I originally said that I would match my competitors' prices for ~25%/order in commission for the first 6 months and, after building report with the business, to raise that slightly to 28-30% to cover more of our delivery costs. One person was reasonably concerned that most businesses would not be too happy about that switch in higher pricing. I changed that here. Instead, I would match the price my competitors give to restaurants who they already work with in an effort to flip them to working with us and remain at that same price, unless if my competitors' price goes up as well. I would also offer an initially higher price to restaurants who do not currently use a third-party delivery service because I would not be forced to match anyone then. That was the only constructive criticism I received. 

Elevator Pitch No. 4

I happen to be a pre-dental student so my pitch had to do with recruiting for a pre-dental honor society that I am a part of. On my last pitch, the feedback I received was very good, except I did not dress appropriately for the pitch. I think wearing scrubs, like I did in the video is far more appropriate. That was really the only thing I changed because that was the only thing really mentioned in my previous feedback.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

1. I completed the initial interview, but did not post the assignment in time, so I don't remember what exactly I asked the entrepreneur to reflect on.

2. I called the same entrepreneur back who owns a donut shop in Tallahassee called Donut Kingdom and I asked them the following questions. I could not record this since they are so far away.

- What would you say is your primary market?
Mostly college students. We're located right in between FSU and FAMU so most of our business comes from them.

- In what ways do you market to this group?
We use apps such as "Hooked" and "Pocket Points" to offer coupons through mobile applications in an inexpensive manner. We also offer a third party free deliver service and post frequently on social media.

- What is your goal? Or your mission statement rather?
We want to be able to provide quality donuts and ensure that every one of our customers walks out of the door satisfied with their visit.

3. I would certainly say that I have progressed throughout the semester. I am far more comfortable speaking about entrepreneurship in general and have learned a great deal about it. Most importantly, I've learned that entrepreneurship involves an incredible amount of failure before ever being able to see a hint of success. Some people see more failure than others and the best entrepreneurs are the ones who can manage to minimize those failures and deal with their failures as learning experiences as opposed to hits to their self-esteem.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I took financial accounting a year ago and saw much of this material there. As a result, most of this actually ended up being a review for me. In that class, we focused on different ratios utilized to look at the health of a business and its future potential. This included things like Return on Investment (ROI) and the ratio of assets to liabilities that the company holds. Although Kuratko didn't talk about either of those, he did mention something very similar which was the price/earning ratio (P/E). That did not come as a surprise, but it was different.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

It was pretty straight forward and I honestly did not find anything confusing about the reading. It was very objective, stating many facts which left little room for opinions and discussion.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

What is the best way to determine how health a business is in terms of its liabilities? And what method could one use to evaluate intangible goods that a company possess, such as trademarks, research that has been done, recipes, etc.? 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I don't disagree with anything. As aforementioned, Kuratko was very objective and didn't state many opinions to disagree with in the first place.

Celebrating Failure

One instance of failure for me was at work. Although I am a business management major, I am also a pre-dental student. Because of this, this past summer I became a certified dental assistant and began working at a practice here in Gainesville part-time. One of my responsibilities was to take impressions, or molds, of peoples' teeth. When I first started, I was absolutely awful at it. I had to retake the impressions multiple times on the same patient because I could not get it right. Usually, if I could not get it right within the first two tries, I let another dental assistant do it. After having taken nearly 15 bad impressions back to back to back, it became a little demoralizing, especially because all of the other dental assistants could take them properly and I was the only one who couldn't.

I watched another dental assistant do it a few times before trying again and asked for tips. After having done this, I realized what I had been doing wrong the entire time and gave it another go on the next patient that needed impressions. The impressions came out perfectly. And yes I was quite proud of myself. Not only did it come out right on that patient, but I also got it right on the next four patients.

I suppose the lesson I could take away from this is to make sure to learn whatever I can from those people who have more experience or knowledge than I do. Had I consulted one of the other dental assistants sooner, I may not have taken 15 bad impressions. That number may have been cut down to just five or six.I was a bit hesitant to ask, though, because I was a bit embarrassed that taking impressions was a skill that everyone else in my office had perfected, except for me. I didn't want to admit that I couldn't do it properly.

In general, everyone hates failure, myself included, and when you fail over and over again, especially at the same task, you start to lose confidence in yourself. When you fail at completing a task, it should not be taken that way; rather you should examine what exactly went wrong in your attempt and try to correct it. That is the only way that you can FINALLY be successful. Taking good impressions was an example of that for me.

I hate to be a downer, but honestly, I don't think this class has changed the way that I view failure. The view I stated in the paragraph above is the view I came into the class with and it is the same view that I still hold. This class did make me think consciously about failure and the way that I handle it, and forced me to put it in words, giving me a more clear view of the perspective that I have. It is not that my perspective has changed, but it has just been made more clear to me, if that makes sense. 

My Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

My exit strategy all depends on the success of my venture. Obviously, we would all like our own capital venture to be very successful, but that is certainly not always how things turn out. Assuming that it is not that successful, I would sell it within the next five years; however, if it takes off, I would keep it, allowing it to produce residual monthly income for me until I retire. At that point, I would sell it for a large sum of money that could be used for my retirement, or even for buying assets that my future family members to use.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

If it is not very successful, I would want to sell it to gain as much money as I can back to invest elsewhere to make better use of my money. If it is successful, I would want to keep it so that I have a steady source of income to support myself and my family for as long as possible until I retire. At that point, I could sell it so that I no longer have to work, can afford to retire and have a way to invest in anything else in the event that I elect to do so.

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

To be honest, going into a new venture, leaving it is not something that I would think about. The whole point of a venture is to create financial stability for yourself, unless if it is purposely something short term. An exit strategy could be used as a backup plan in case things do not go the way that you want it to, but I would be so focused on ensuring the venture's success that I really don't think my exit strategy would influence my decisions going into the venture.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1. Much of this material we covered in the principles of management course so, to be honest, none of this material comes as a surprise to me. It is mostly about strategic, or company wide, planning set by top management.

2. As mentioned above, none of the reading was really new to me, but rather a review of material I've seen before. Nothing was confusing especially because it was all pretty straightforward coming from the textbook.

3. I would ask the author two questions: how possible is it to be a successful firm without a strategic plan? And secondly, is there a general process that a firm can take to formulate their strategic goals?

4. Like I said in question #2, the reading was pretty straightforward. It was very objective and included very little opinionated material, making it not-so-open to interpretation. As a result, I agree with everything that the author said.