Assignment 21A- Reading Reflection No. 3

The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, Guy Kawasaki

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

• The theme of the book is sort of explained in the title, "The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users". I say that because the book is all about valuable tools and tricks that help people find success within their social media. The book provides value for anyone looking to learn about Social Media, whether you are a normal individual or someone that owns a business. That is something i really liked about the book, that people and businesses on every scale can benefit from it not just "Power Users". The book goes into great detail about everything from starting a profile that will stand out to creating content to attract viewers. He also speaks about individual platforms to use which I found really helpful. Being able to know which type of posts are the best for certain Social Media platforms is very important, and something that this book taught me alot about. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

• I think the book did a great job in enhancing what I learned in ENT 3003. Starting a venture has so many aspects that need to be in place before it is ready to open, and one of the most important is marketing. There are multiple different types of marketing, but with the increase in technology over the years Social Media has become one of the best ways to market your company, as I learned through ENT. That being said, this book broadened my knowledge on how to market using Social Media tremendously, helping me excel in both this class and other ventures I am currently working on. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

• If i were to design an exercise for this class it would be a little different than what the usual assignments are. I would have students take their venture they created and create a couple social media accounts, multiple so they can learn different platforms. They would have to create an account, first making an appealing profile that also explains their message. After that, I would ask them to make 2-3 posts on the account, figuring out which posts are the best for their company on certain platforms. Having people create an account and make posts forces them to get accustomed to how certain Social Media platforms work. 

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 surprise for me when reading the book is how much the author talked about using humor in social media. He explains the importance of using humor to grab a readers attention and cause them to gain interest in your company. It surprised me, especially when talking about businesses, that humor would be an important aspect of your account. I always thought that being semi serious when talking about your company, but he showed ways that using humor could go even farther. 

Assignment 28A-Your 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?

• I believe there are a couple different ways to exit this venture.  When leaving college after creating a client base, I might hold on to the company while trying to create bigger ventures. I would have to hire a manager to watch over the store since I would not be there, but visit from time to time to make sure everything is running smoothly. I don't think it is something I will have for much longer than 5 years, that is enough time for me to make profit off of the venture while further learning how to manage a business, both equally as beneficial to me in my future ventures.  I definitely would not make this venture something to protect for decades or become a family business, I see myself as doing something much bigger than that. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

•  Since new students enter UF every year creating a new market for my company I can see this venture as something with potential for many years. That being said, while in college I imagine my company becoming almost a monopoly for laundry since there are no other services nearby. That being said, the flexibility and potential for profit as a small business is too valuable to give up right away. Also, the business itself is relatively simple so I do not think it would be a problem trusting a manager to oversee the business when im not there. 

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?

• I dont think my exit strategy has influenced much about how i have went about my venture so far. The most important aspects of creating a client base for my venture are marketing and word of mouth since it is on a college campus, and both of those things can be set up and continued whether I am in the area or not. Having great service is vital, and making sure it stays the way i created it after I leave will ensure the companies success for years after. This is why I chose this exit strategy, because I see my company as one that can find a sense of flow that can still be achieved being run by a manager. 

Assignment 26A- Celebrating Failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 

• At the beginning of the semester I decided to change my majors. Doing so, I was unsure which classes would be the best fit for me within the courses, taking one that I really had no idea/interest in. I took this class to try and fulfill a requirement early and get ahead on the track but later found myself having to drop the class. An accumulation of other work, extracurriculars and my lack of interest/comprehension in the class forced me to drop so the sub-par grade that I had did factor into my GPA. Dropping a class means losing money and having to take another class, but I was willing to sacrifice that to make sure my GPA stays high. 

2) Tell us what you learned from it. 

• I learned that I really need to take my time when picking classes and thinking about my educational future, it is not something that can be figured out overnight. I should have taken a look at all of the possible classes and what they entail before choosing one thats fulfills a certain requirement. That being said, I was able to do this when making my schedule for the Spring semester. I started researching the requirements and the classes early so I could fully understand all of them and chose the ones that were the best fit for me. 

3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were just a few months ago?

• I believe that failure, although hard to overcome, is one of the most important aspects of life. It is difficult, but I like to think of failure as a good thing, one to motivate me to be better the next time around. I say "the next time around" because I will always try again. I have always been taught that it matters more what you do after failure than after success and thats something I definitely live by. This class has taught me how to analyze my failures, how to determine what went wrong and what I can do to fix it. Theres a saying that my father has always said to me to help me put failure into perspective with my emotions, "Failure is Inevitable, Suffering is Optional." 

Assignment 25A- Whats Next?

Existing Market
Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture.

Whats next for me in my venture is eventually expanding to other schools, but i think there are things that could be implemented to expand the venture here at UF as well. That is making an agreement with different offices and businesses around the school to wash any uniforms they have at a bulk price. For example, if Shands Hospital is in need of people to clean their scrubs and such, I can make a deal with them. 

Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about your ideas of what customers might want next. 

Interviewee 1: This interviewee stated that he agreed with my plan to look for businesses around uf. He stated that although Uf has a large population, there is always room for growth. I asked him about possibly expanding to businesses and he liked the idea a lot, he stated that business are good for my venture because they are a large group of people in the small area. 

Interviewee 2: This interviewee didn't agree with my idea to expand my venture. He stated that any businesses that have required uniforms probably have someone handle their laundry, but gave me good ideas how to market the venture. 

Interviewee 3: This interviewee gave me a different perspective on the situation. When I told her about my idea, she stated that I should market at these companies instead of looking to use them for their service. 

Based on my feedback from the people I interviewed, I decided I would not try to use businesses for their services directly, but I would use them to market my product and try to expand my customers. 

New Market 

Step 1: Identify a radically different market from what you're currently planning to target. If you're currently targeting B2B, think about going after a B2C market. If you're currently targeting an affluent part of society, think about targeting a very poor part of society.

A new market that I would be looking to target is other schools across the us with large a large population of students. Targeting college students means that I am targeting a group of people with limited disposable income, so no matter what school it will be targeting low income people. 

Step 2: Once you have identified a radically different market, describe how you think your venture concept might be able to create value for people in that market. You may have to get creative with this -- that's OK -- and perfectly welcome!

I think that my venture can create value for people all over using the same concept. If students at schools live in a type of confined area, i think it will be easy to transfer our ideas between places. 

Step 3: Interview two people from this new market. Again, describe to each interviewee what your concept is. Then, ask them how they think your business might be help to meet customers like them. What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market? 

The interviews that I conducted gave me great insight to how my venture would do at different schools. I talked to people at other students with connections but also struggle with this problem. They agreed that as long as alot of students are confined in a small area the concept would be effective. They brought up that I should really seek out everything in the areas that I am looking to invade to make sure my venture is worth it.

After identifying both the present market and the new market, i realized that my venture would be a good idea to expand. In terms of the present market, my idea was changed a little because I would not be directly invading businesses. 

24A- Venture Concept No. 1

My name is Brian Maloney, I am a sophomore here at UF majoring in Marketing with a minor in Entrepreneurship.
Opportunity 
College students across the country struggle to manage their time correctly, leaving what they believe to be the "least important", but also the most tedious to do last, laundry. This is a problem that can stem from a number of things, mostly being the inconvenience of their current laundry system or the lack of time in ones schedule. The potential customers within this business are college students that live on or near a large college campus, for this concept I am using The University of Florida. Using a large college campus gives a large market for customers. Also, being on a college campus, most of my potential customers fall within very similar demographics.
Nowadays college students are flat out lazy. Whether they have never done their own laundry before or they simply hate the task, it is a problem that most, if not all college students face including myself. Students at UF struggle to get their laundry done, being that there is no other service currently running on campus. That being said, the window of opportunity for this business could be infinite if everything runs the way it should. I say that because new students are entering the university every year giving a whole new individual market for my business to infiltrate.

Innovation 
I like to call the business that I am creating a hybrid laundry service. I use that term because there are multiple different options you can choose on how to get your laundry done. The different options have different prices based on the amount of work necessary, so I believe that I will make money on the more time consuming orders. Customers are allowed to drop their laundry off and pick it up, drop it off and have it delivered, have it picked up and come in to pick it up, or have it both picked up and delivered...all different options with different prices based on the service, a small fee of $2 per load if they want it to be folded for them. The cost of the business would be expensive at the beginning with all of the initial costs, but they are majority one time investments so I would be making money over time. This is innovative because there are no other services near by with these kind of options and conveniency, meaning the power is in the customers hand.

Venture Concept
I will have to make large initial investments such as the space and laundry machines, but after that costs will be low with nothing really to buy but detergent and fabric softer, things of that type. I will have 2 people working in the store taking in the clothes putting them in washing machines and changing them to the dryer when it is time, also folding when it is done. To deliver i will have 1-2 drivers on any given day based on how busy we are. I will be employing fellow college students to keep costs low. Also, giving students jobs helps market the company because employees will be able to refer their friends and provide a good word of mouth. Customers will be switching to my company because of the conveniency and efficiency, all clothes will be done and delivered within 24 hours guaranteed. It will not be very hard to get them to switch over because there is no large competition in the area. Customer service is one of the most important aspects of the company, if not the most important. That is because word of mouth will be the best way this company is marketed, so a good experience is crucial to make sure customers have a good word about our company.

My most important resource I believe is being affiliated with Greek Life. Although this does nothing to essentiality help the company run, it provides a huge market of people that I can target for the company. Putting customers first while also being connected with them is going to make it extremely hard for competitors to copy. Also, invading a market that does not have this type of business already in it gives my company an extreme advantage in targeting customers.
Whats next for my venture is expanding to other larger schools across the company. Any school that has a very large population that has a center of living for students like UF will have the potential for this business.
Whats next for me is moving on to bigger concepts, while using while I learned in this venture to help in the process.

Assignment 22A- Elevator Pitch No. 3

The feedback that i received played a lot into how i went about this pitch. I tried to be more persuasive almost and try and make the viewer feel like they really needed the service.

23A-Your Ventures Unfair Advantage

1. Marketing Experience: I have experience doing marketing, such as social media for multiple companies

• Valuable: Marketing is extremely vital for a businesses growth, this is extremely vital 
• Rare: This skill isn't really that rare, but i like to think i kind of have my own style or approach to things 
• Inimitable: Although the usage of marketing is surely imitable, I believe the style that I use is somewhat inimitable 
• Non-substitutable: I could easily pay someone to cover the marketing aspect of the company, but that would waste money on something i actually enjoy doing 

2.  Everlasting Market 

• Valuable: with thousands of new students coming to campus each year, the market will likely never die out as long as there are students on campus
• Rare: this is relatively rare, most companies have to create a new market for them to reach every year, being located on campus basically does that for us
• Inimitable: No other company in my segment has the benefit of new students coming to campus each year 
• Non-substitutable: Most companies die out due to the lack of people in their market

3. Greek Life Affiliation 

• Valuable: This gives me instant connection to thousands of students across campus 
• Rare: Greek Life Affiliation is definitely not rare, but that it for sure helps the business
• Inimitable: It would be very hard for someone to find a better way to connect with so many students as a whole
• Non-substitutable: I find this to be non-substitutable, i think having access to thousands of similar students across campus and knowing what appeals to them is invaluable

4. Entrepreneurship Experience 

• Valuable: This is extremely valuable because i have previous knowledge on what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur 
• Rare: This experience is not rare, but something that is very valuable 
• Inimitable: This could be easy to imitate, but I think the hardest part about this is going out and doing things that gives you experience as an entrepreneur 
• Non-substitutable: This resource is not substitutable

5. Financial Capital 

• Valuable: You would not be able to start up a company like mine without having the capital 
• Rare: This may be rare, not everyone has the capital they need to start up a business 
• Inimitable: This could be imitated, a lot of people either have or know ways they can get enough capital to start a business 
• Non-substitutable: You could go to investors or take out a loan to get the capital you need

6. Interpersonal Skills

• Valuable: Being able to create good connections with people, especially customers is extremely important 
• Rare: This resource is not rare, many people have good people skills 
• Inimitable: Its hard to imitate someone who is good with people, for some it just comes naturally 
• Non-substitutable: There is no substitute for good connections with people, especially in business 

7. Education 

• Valuable: The education I am currently receiving in Business is vital to my future as a businessman
• Rare: This resource is not rare, many people go to college and receive a degree in business 
• Inimitable; Although education can be obtained anywhere, I think what UF offers is very hard to imitate in terms of education
• Non-substitutable: This resource is substitutable, I think people could be well educated without going to school nowadays 

8. Customer-First Mentality 

• Valuable: This mentality is important to have in business, this will allow me to receive great feedback and create a beneficial word of mouth 
• Rare: This may be rare, alot of companies to not care about their customers let alone put them first 
• Inimitable: In my line of business this would be very hard to imitate because there is no other competition that offers the same options as me
• Non-substitutable: This resource is not substitutable 

9. Genderless Demographic 

• Valuable: Not having to appeal to any gender is very valuable 
• Rare: This is not rare 
• Inimitable: This is easy to imitate, a lot of companies appeal to more than just one gender 
• Non-substitutable: This resource is non-substitutable 

10. Maximum Conveniency 

• Valuable: Being able to adhere to any students needs and provide them with the most convenient experience will be vital
• Rare: There are no other companies with this resource so it is rare 
• Inimitable: It could be imitated, but that would take hiring people to be willing to drive places for your customers
• Non-substitutable: I could hire people to drive for me but that is only something I would do if the businesses grows to that point 

My top resource is #1. I think that the service plan and idea will be able to sell itself, I think it is a good enough service as to where people will want to use it if they are exposed to it. Since I am experienced in Marketing, it will be easier for me to reach my market and the people that I am targeting; that is extremely valuable. 

 

Reading Reflection No. 2

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

• What was the general theme or argument of the book? 

The theme of this book was very different from any other that ive ever read. Instead of a made up story that an author uses his imagination to create, this story tells true events in Adams' life that he hopes people can find value through. He hopes that people will be able to learn from his failures, and identifies things that are valueable to sucess that are often overlooked, such as smart friends. He stresses the importance of pushing yourself to your limit, going above and beyond what you think you are capable of. The main theme i interpreted in this book is that life is full of failures and with every failure comes something valuable, it is our job to find the value in each failure 

• How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? 

I thought the book connected very well with ENT 3003. For example, the time consuming and tedious assignments that we have every week eventually become alot to handle, in this book i was able to find ways to boost my mental ability and help me work harder when the times get tough. Also, it taught me alot about time management and the importance of being consistant, which are two very important qualities to suceeed im this class 

• If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If i had to design an exersize for this class, it would have to do with evaluating what you think is the niggest failure of your life so far. I would design it so the person has to talk about everything, what made them fail, what the outcome was, what they think they could have done better. Although some people may think of things well in the past, evaluating failure are extremely important and having a exersize for that in this class would be perfect 

• 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 'aha' moment was when Adams was talking about Passion. I had always thought of passion as the driving force behind sucessful businesspeople, especially entrepreneurs. However, Adams provides reasons and examples statung that people should look alot less for passion on their Search for sucess. An example he gave was that passionate people are more likely to take unrealistic chances because of their immense passion, leading them to have a higher possibility of failure. He goes on to give alternative things to boost energy and moral, but I was diffinetly surprised when he basically told the readers to forget about passion 

Assignment 20A- Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert

• Who are they, what their background is:

Emmanuel, Owner of A-Best Coin Laundry and Dry

• How this person is a "domain expert":

As the owner of a laundry service that is located around campus, he deals with the same audience that i would potentially be targeting. He has years of experience with all of the machines and things necessary to run the business smoothly

• How I found and contacted this person: 

Since this is the service that one of my friends uses, he was not very hard to contact. My friend had his number so I gave him a call and he agreed to meet with me.

• Nature of Exchange: 

We met at his store so I could see everything that went on and evaluate all of the aspects of the service. I asked him questions about the cost of everything to get some knowledge on that side of the business.

• How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

Talking to him about the company as a whole gave me a lot of insight as to how the company runs, including the cost of things. This helps because i can now try and evaluate the potential for profit based on how much everything would cost.

Market Expert

• Who are they, what their background is: 

Stephen, Owner of S & S Cleaners 

• How is this person a "market expert":

He graduated from UF, so he knows the area just as well as anyone. He has been in the business for over 50 years, so therefore has a tremendous amount of experience in the market.

• How I found and contacted this person: 

Stephen was a lot harder to get in contact with, I went to the store and was not able to see him. However when i was there I was given his phone number and when I gave him a call he gave me his email for any questions that I had.

• Nature of Exchange: 

Through many emails, I was able to have a lengthy conversation with him on a lot of topics. First about how he started and what it was like in the beginning. Next he told me what kind of system he uses to be the most efficient. Finally, he told me about how he reaches out to his market, what kind of marketing he likes to use and things of that nature.

• How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity: 

I think he could help tremendously. Not only did he give me a ton of great info on how the company works and what to look out for in the potential business, but having him as someone I can contact can be a huge connection for both knowledge and business relations.

Industry Supplier 

• Who are they, what their background is:

Rani Mahmoudi

• How is this person is a "industry supplier":

He works for a place called Discount Appliances that is located in Gainsville.   

• How I found and contacted this person: 

He is a mutual friend of mine, I was able to get his number and talk to him about the company and everything they provide.

• Nature of Exchange: 

I was able to ask about the different appliances that would be necessary to run the business. All aspects including make/model, durability and price were discussed to get a grip on what the initial investments might come out to cost.

• How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

Having a good relation with some who is familiar with the specific appliances necessary as well as work for a company that sells them in bulk gives me a good connection in terms of executing the business idea. 

Reflection 

This was a really good assignment for me and my business idea. I got to learn alot about running the company and how companies market their business to the people locally. I also got a chance to evaluate alot about how much the business might cost, this is important in figuring out if the business can generate a substantial profit or not. As well as good information, I made connections that could help alot with starting the business and making it run efficiently.