21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams

• 1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
• The general theme of the book is to keep on working hard and pursuing excellence despite the rise of setbacks. No matter what have obtained in life we are wired to always want more and we have to work hard with the systems we put in place in order to achieve more. 
• 2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
• I think this book gave me a good understanding that you are not always going to be exactly where you want of get exactly what you want and that is okay. However, if you are working hard and doing everything you can in order to make you more successful throughout the journey that is what is most important. 
• 3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
• My exercise based around the book for this class would be a workshop that helps students see all of the perceived "failures" that have happened in their life and turn that thinking around because everything in life that has happened to us has put us in the place we are today, which is what makes us all special and unique in our own ways. 
• 4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
• The biggest thing that I took away from this book was to stop setting goals. All your life you are told to set goals because the give you something to work for, but I learned that there are two main flaws with goals. To get an outcome for an unknown day you must put in work today and unless you get exactly what you wanted that it is considered a disappointment. This book suggests that you put systems in place in your life that help to get you where you want to go and that is something that I would like to start doing in my life. 

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1. Who they are, what their background is:
1. Joe, he is a software expert and has business that helps people to create websites and app.

2. How this person is a “domain expert”:
1. He is very good with the creating of apps and writing code. He has created many apps throughout his career thus far and believes that my idea is definitely capable of being brought to the market.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
1. I have know Joe's brother for many because we went to high school together so it was relatively easy to get into contact.

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:
1. He talked me through all the steps of creating such a software and the details that go into it. It was a laid back type of exchange but also one that was very informative for me.

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
1. By networking with Joe it will allow for me to actually reach out to people in the software industry and have legit contacts if I were to try and put such an idea into production.

Market Expert:

1. Who they are, what their background is:
1. Nicholas, he is an expert with cars as he helps to do safety testing/ sales with Toyota in my area.

2. How this person is a “market expert”:
1. He is involved every day with customers and other industry experts her desire to be the absolute safest on the roadways.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
1. Where purchasing a car at the local Toyota dealership I met him and was able to contact him again for this assignment.

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:
1. It was quite casual and happened over the phone. He was very intrigued by the idea that I had and said that it was something that could for sure help make the roadways much safer.
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
1. Including him in my network would all for me to have an in with a company such as Toyota as well and a way to maybe to some testing on my product as well.

Industry Supplier:

1. Who they are, what their background is:
1. Ricky Espinoza.
2. How this person is a “industry supplier”:
1. Rickey works for a local company in the social media marketing department. He specifically handles the app. He helps to solves technical issues with the app as well as help to market the app to perspective customers as well.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
1. Ricky is someone that I met while in Junior College and have remained in contact with off and on ever since.

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:
1. We communicated via text. He was able to understand what my general idea was with this company and the direction I desired to take it in. He was able to give me some helpful pointers and give me some guidance based upon his experience.

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
1. This exchange brought me some peace of mind in knowing that what I am trying to do with this business idea is actually capable of happening. It will allow for me to have someone with knowledge like his in my corner as I continue on in the process.

Finally: Reflect. This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

• Targeted marketing is not easy. I thought that getting into contact with people would be relatively simple, but as work and daily life consume most of peoples time it is hard to get in contact and have the necessary time needed to discuss all of the topics. I am glad that I started this assignment early because I was able to get all the information I needed. This has also allowed for me to see the benefit of networking and knowing the right people. This is something that I will no doubt have to get better at in the future too because a lot of the times it is not about what you know but rather who you know.

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

• I am Kyle Frick. I am currently a Junior at the University of Florida majoring in Business Administration, through the UF Online Program. I have transferred here by way of Daytona State College, where I played baseball for two years. I have a strong ability to lead people. I am able to get things done through people through building strong relationships as I have compassion for others and genuinely care. This also means that I have a  desire to help people grow themselves and better their lives better. My business concept is built around helping others and striving to generate more overall safety for people while driving. This business concept is something where I see myself being the owner/CEO who will be leading the charge and growing the company as the face of it.  

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

• I am offering a product to cell phone users and ultimately cell phone companies that will help to reduce the amount of distracted driving related crashes. Most drivers nowadays cannot resist using their cell phone while driving and this has caused the roadways to become more dangerous than ever before. My company will be able to stop the amount of distracted driving related car accidents because we have created an app that is capable of temporarily disabling a smart phone while driving. By expanding and growing this company countless injuries will be spared and lives will be saved.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

• I plan on offering this product to consumers who will have to personally download the app to their phone initially, but my long-term goal is to generate deals with the large cell phone companies across the world and have this technology downloaded onto every smart phone prior to setup. The initial consumers will predominately be drivers between the ages of 15 and 45, but I think that my biggest target market will be parents of young drivers. This is because teenagers are the most likely people to use their phones while driving. Eventually I would like to target Apple and Android as business partners as well because they dominate the cell phone market. 

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

• I believe that people will care about this product because they want to remain safe personally and they would like for their young children to remain safe too. I think it is hard to put a price point on your well being, however, I think that a $0.99 app in the app store would be a good starting range because it will not be too high for people to turn down. Additionally, in app advertisements will be able to help me generate more income. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

• To my knowledge nothing quite like this is available to the public as of rightnow. The best option currently available is for people to manually place their phone on "do not disturb" every time they get into the car. My app will take the thinking out of it for the customer because as long as the app is downloaded to their phone nothing will have to be done when the driver gets in the vehicle. 

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

• I think that all of these elements fit will together and that this business idea will be able to succeed far into the future. Creating brand awareness and developing a following will be the hardest part initially, but in this day and age social media influencers can do so much for a brand that I would try to pitch my idea to them first and then hopefully have them advertise for me. I believe that this product has come onto the scene at the right time and has the ability to be a huge success.  

Feedback Memo:  While I did not receive any feedback in the comments of my initial napkin post I have been able to receive feedback through other related assignments that have helped me to make necessary changes. My biggest change is probably in my target market and ideal customer. Initially I thought it would be young adults and teenagers, however, after many interviews with people of all ages I think that it is best to go after parents first. They will most likely be the ones who mandate that their kids download the app and the ones who pay the money. I think this change will have the biggest impact on my companies overall success.

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

     The customers for my business idea could be both individuals and companies, however, for this assignment my avatar will reflect an ideal individual customer.
     She is a forty-five year old women from the state of Florida. She has a husband and a total of three children. The ages of those children are eighteen, sixteen, and fifteen. Besides her job, she loves spending quality time with her family when at all possible. Seeing them happy makes her happy.
    While the family is not super rich they do have enough money for all their needs and maybe just a little bit extra. Each of the children are of driving age with two having their licenses and the other one having their learners permit. The two older kids share a Toyota Camry, which she insisted on getting them because it had the highest safety rating out of all vehicles in her price range.
     Safety is a big thing for her as a mom and she constantly worries about her children when they are out driving and asks for each of them to send confirmation text messages back to her upon arrival at their destination. 

What do I have in common with her? Personally I do not have much in common with the customer avatar, but her description is very similar to a description I would probably give to my mother. Like many women this age family and family safety is important in their life.
     I do not thin that this is coincidence. As entrepreneurs I believe that our desire to fill an unmet need is taken from everyday problems that we experience or that those around us experience. We have to be good at putting ourselves in other peoples shoes and that is what can help us to think outside the box and come up with possible solutions.

17A - Elevator Pitch No. 2