Entrepreneur Final Reflection

Before I begin I would like to say that I believe that this class has provided tools, experiences, and information that should provide almost anyone with the necessary understanding to consider an entrepreneurial activity. Perhaps enabling someone to experience a bright new experience and crossing new bridges that they may never have thought that they would ever cross.

Probably the high points during the semester were the reading reflections. I found the readings interesting and they did not involve going out and talking to people. The lows were the assignments that I was unable to accomplish and the ones that did not get submitted correctly. The moments of fun was the interview with the entrepreneur. I wasn't sure wht the answers would be, however, I thought that the interviews went well. The moments of drudgery was doing the elevator pitches. And, the moments of dread was when we had to go out and find people to interview.

The most formative experience is going to be to put all of the experiences from this class to produce an entrepreneurial experience. The experience that I will remember through the years will be developing an elevator pith to use when needed. M most joyous experience was completing assignments properly. The experience that I most proud of accomplishing is successfully completing this class and the valuable knowledge and experience that I will take from it.

I do see myself as an entrepreneur. This class has definitely helped me to improve my entrepreneurial mindset.

For students who are going to journey down this path in the future I would recommend to keep an open mind and to use failures as a learning experience. Don't give up. In order to perform your best in this course be up to date on technology and take on the challenges that you are given. To foster the entrepreneurial mindset be willing to take risks and to accept and use failure to your benefit.

Entrepreneur Week 15 Reading Reflection

Once again I could not log into the EBSCO Host link that you provided to access the required reading. However, I did locate an article here https://hbr.org/2008/06/business-basics-at-the-base-of-the-pyramid/ar/1 that appears to be the same article. Once again it is extremely short. This is what I will write my week 15 reading reflection on.

I found it amazing that microfinance could be a profitable business. However, given the volume of the business the numbers work out. I was also impressed that you were able to bypass the corruption in the local finical system to benefit your customers and to make your business a success, And, that SKS has found that women are more likely to repay their loans than men.

I did not find any part of the reading to be confusing.

One question that I would like to ask the author is do you think that microfinance would be of benefit in the United States to help people escape poverty? Second, if the program was implemented in the United States would women still be the target customers?

I have no basis to find anything that the authors were wrong about. I cannot disagree with anything that the authors said. Your project seems to be working where it has been implemented.

Entrepreneur Venture Concept No. 2

The opportunity that I have identified is to make leaving your home here to spend time someplace else. To achieve that I would like to provide a service that would offer the convenience to the homeowner of only having to contact one person to have their property completely maintained and monitored while they are away. My potential customers would consist of those residents of my community that own property here and do not reside here for the entire year. The unmet need that my company “Don't Worry About It” would provide would be the convenience to the customer to only have to contact one person to for the complete management of their property while they are away.

The forces and changes in the environment that are creating this opportunity is that there are more and more people moving to my community that only reside here for part of the year.

The market is defined geographically as far as I would like to take it. I could manage properties almost anywhere in Florida or, if I would choose, I could also manage my customers other properties that are located in another state. At this time, I do not think that I am going to peruse this option, the logistics would be a big challenge, however, the opportunity does exist. Demographically, the market primarily consists of people that have retired and moved to this community to spend the winter. In the summer they return to their other home, usually located in another state.

Customers are currently satisfying this need by having to do business with many different companies to manage each different aspect of the maintenance and security of their property.

I believe that this opportunity has unlimited potential.

I also believe that this “window of opportunity” will be open for quite some time.

The Innovation of this business is to provide the property owner the convenience of only having to contact one person for the maintenance and security of their property while they are away. I would be the local contact for any security issues. I would also provide any other maintenance that they would require, including maintaining the grounds and pool plus any other projects that the property owner might want such as painting, cleaning, etc. I would offer a basic package for grounds and pool maintenance and security. Optional services would be offered at an additional cost. Discounts could be offered for customers located within close proximity to each other.

My Venture Concept would offer the customer the convenience of managing all of their property maintenance and security through one contact, freeing up their time and making things more simple. The customers would switch for the convenience and the quality of the service. It would not be hard to get the customers to switch. As far as I know there is not much competition for this type of service. The weakness would be the complexity of the types of services that they might want. There is no packaging involved in my business. My price points, distribution, customer support, customer experience and business location all play a defining role in my business concept. In the beginning I would be the only employee. As the business grows I would add employees as needed. The roles in this venture would be expanded to accommodate the needs of the business.

Of the three minor elements my most important resource would be my customers and myself. As the business grows the employees would be an important resource. Included in that would also be the innovation from the employees and myself to adapt to the demands of the customers and to provide them a quality service. My advantage over my competitors will be the willingness to deal with the complexities of the services that I am offering and to expand my services and accommodate new customer demands.

Second, I am going to more or less let my customers influence the direction of the business through the requests that they have for the services that they would like to have done.

Third, I would expand the services provided by the business to accommodate the demands of the customers. In five years I would expect to have several employees and have an expanded service area. In the next decade I would like to have competent employees that would carry out the day to day to day tasks of the business freeing me to spend more time on marketing and administrative aspects of the business.

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch No. 4

Most of the feedback that I received from my previous elevator pitch video was positive. The only negative feedback that I received was that the background was distracting, which I agreed with.

Based on the feedback, I did try to find a background that was less distracting. Otherwise, I just tried to make the pitch more attractive to the recipient.

Entrepreneur Week 14 Reading Reflection

I didn't really find anything surprising, however what stood out is the need for large corporation to create a working environment that will promote innovation in order to compete in today's markets. There is also a need for large corporations to develop social entrepreneurship in order to insure their long term success.
I did not find any of the reading to be confusing.
One question that I would like to ask the authors is do they believe that businesses today are making adequate progress in addressing the social issues that are facing us today that they are in a position to have an effect on? My concern is whether the corporate society is going to make the needed adaptions to resolve issues that need to be addresses that are within their control. I cannot think of a second question.
I did not find anything that I thought that the author was wrong about.

Entrepreneur Google Gold

My general approach and strategy for my search engine optimization (SEO) was a big failure. I decided to add “Entrepreneur” in the title of each of my posts. I did not do any other activities for each of my posts.

The keywords that I selected was “Entrepreneur”. I selected that keyword because I thought that it might produce search results. I was wrong. Based on my search results this was a big failure. I did not refine my keywords during the semester because I did not want the change to affect any of my assignments.

I did not use social media to enhance my SEO efforts. Since I did not use social media to improve my blog's profile I had no surprises or general impression of using social media to improve my SEO. Since I did not use social media to promote my blog I do not know whether or not social media was receptive of my blog, or was it get ignored.

In my perspective I did have some posts that went viral. I do not have an explanation as to how or why. I have had from 19 to 56 page views depending on the page. For an obscure blog like mine, I find some of these numbers to be high. My post celebrating failure received 56 hits as of 04/15/2016 at 8:17pm. To me, given the obscurity of my blog, I consider that to be viral. I have no idea how this happened.

I did not make it to the first page in Google. I searched the first twenty pages of Google and did not not make any of them. My SEO strategy was a failure. However, I do believe that I have learned what it might take to improve my Google presence.

Entrepreneur Very Short Interview, Part 2

Once again the entrepreneur that I interviewed was a previous employer of mine who has been in business for more than twenty years.

Revisiting my Very Short Interview, Part 1 from back in January, my impressions of the first interview were very positive. Based on what we have learned during this class, I believe that the entrepreneur that I interviewed had a good understanding of what it means to be an entrepreneur. We need to be willing to take on risks, enter an unknown environment, take on new challenges and remain optimistic.

His perception of what I should learn from a class in entrepreneurship was in line with with what we learned in this class. To maintain a broad perspective, be willing to change in order to adapt, and seek out your own opportunities.

What he wished that he had been taught in school has been addressed in this class. Think creatively and use logic in decision making.

For this interview I chose some questions that pertain to different phases of an entrepreneurial endeavor.

The first question was a two part question.

A. What motivated you to start your own business? Tired of working for other people and reacting to their Mos. Thought that I could do better and the time was right.

B. How did you choose the particular business that you opened? It fit the goals that I had set for my own business. The business had the opportunity to grow. Temporary Insanity?

The next question was : During the time that you operated your business, what would you say was your biggest challenge? When I first acquired the business it only produced one product and that was a seasonal product. My biggest challenge was to diversify the products produced by the business to provide a stable source of income throughout the year.

My third question was: Did you have a plan for when you wanted to retire from the business? My first option was to offer the business to any family members that might want it. Then I would offer it to any employees that wanted to take it over. If neither of those options were taken I would put the business up for sale.

I felt comfortable talking to the entrepreneur that I interviewed the first time, although, I did not know what to expect from this class, I did have some perceptions of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Those perceptions were addressed in this class, however, they were greatly expanded upon. I was also presented with new concepts that I had not associated with entrepreneurship. I was more comfortable talking with the entrepreneur for the second interview. The entrepreneur that I interviewed did not convey a sense that they thought I had progressed in my journey. However, they did express interest in the final grade that I would receive in the class.

Entrepreneur Week 13 Reading Reflection

I had not expected the perspective of the reading. I am familiar with the many of the various valuation methods for determining the value of a business that was presented in this reading, but this is the first time that they have been presented in this way One thing in this reading that stood out that I did not expect is is the complexity of establishing a firm's value. There are many more aspects to be considered than I would have anticipated.. However, they all appear to be appropriate to establish a firm's value.

I did not find any of the reading to be confusing.

One question that I might ask the author is why are there so many different aspects to determining a firm's value? Don't some of them overlap? And, would it be feasible for a small investor be to explore all of these different aspects.

I did not find anything that I thought that the author was wrong about. I also had no disagreement on anything that the author said.

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Celebrating Failure

I did experience failure this semester. Some were in this class. For one, not having the resources available to me to complete some of the assignments. I do not have the video or audio equipment to complete some of the assignments. I also do not have places to do interviews with random individuals.

I also had a failure outside of this class. I am not doing well in one of my other classes. Other than failing at each segment in the class, those were my failures for this semester.

I learned that, at times, you are expected to have resources that may not be available to you. Also, I learned that I need to be more productive with the time that I am using.

I may have more experience at failure than many of the other students in this class. And, therefore, I have had some experience in coping with failures. Perhaps one of my personal flaws is that I do not like to fail. And, If I do fail at something I usually don't like to give up and will learn from my mistakes and try again until I succeed. Once again, I have had many failures in my past that I have had to deal with. This class has shown me that failure is not something unique to me. It does happen to other people as well. Did it change my perspective on failure. Probability not. I still do not like to fail and will continue to learn from my failures and try to apply those experiences to future endeavors in order to make them a success. Am I more likely now to take a risk than I was four months ago? Probably not. I tend to make educated decisions, if the facts are there to make the venture appear to be a reasonable endeavor to enter into, I would give it my best shot.

Entrepreneur My Exit Strategy

My first exit strategy would be to leave my business to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to my children. However, this may not always be an option. As, children can often choose to peruse their own interests that do not include my current business. In that case I would choose to stay with with the business until I retired. At that point I would have decide if the business was suitable for sale, or to be dissolved.
I have chosen this exit strategy because I believe that it would provide the best result deepening on the circumstances that exist at the time that I choose to cease being involved in the business.
I do not believe that my exit strategy would have a negative impact on the planning for the business for the future. Regardless of the direction that would be chosen to exit the business, I would continue to grow the business, look for new opportunities wherever they can be found and would continue to grow the business using resources to acquire more resources. Therefore, it would not matter which direction I went at my exit. If I passed the business to family the business would be in a good position to continue in a positive direction. Should I be in a position to dispose of the business, it should be in a good position to be sold as opposed to liquidation.

Entrepreneur What's Next

For my existing market the Amazon Whisperer exercise does not apply to my current chosen entrepreneurial endeavor. However, my next step in “Don't worry About it” would be to attract local residents that are here year round that could benefit from my services that I have to offer. I believe that I could provide many of those services at a better quality and at a price that they would be willing to pay.

I still do not have a video or audio recorder that I can operate for this assignment. The assortment of available devices is amazing. Shopping is not, at this time, my number one priority. I am working on it. I also do not live on campus and am extremely limited as to where I can interview people and this limits me to the diversity of the people that I can interview. Among the people that I did get get to interview, the consensus among them was that they would be willing to pay for services that would be convent to them and free up their time at a price that they would be willing to pay.

Based on my exceptions and the feedback that I received from prospective customers, I could offer a more extensive maintenance package for the maintenance of the exterior and interior of the structure.

My prospective customers would like for me to maintain their lawn and landscaping. This would not only include maintaining the lawn but, also, maintaining all of the plants and gardens on the property.

Another thing that they would like for me to do is their spring cleaning. That would include a through cleaning of all of the nooks and crannys inside the structure. Also, including cleaning behind furniture and cleaning the inside of the windows. Along with removing cobwebs from the interior wherever they may appear.

On the outside of the structure they would require me to remove all mold and mildew from the outside of the structure. They would also like for me to clean the outside of the windows.

For my new market I would target residents that live here year round but would like someone to preform some or all of the services that I have to offer for them.

There are many people in my current market area that would be willing and able to use some or all of my services. There are people wiling to pay to have many of these services preformed for them so that they do not have to do them themselves. These services would have to be performed so that the consumer is satisfied with the service.

Once again, no video or audio recordings due to a lack of an operable device (working on it).

The services requested by my three interviews varied, however, they all required that the services that were performed were done at a quality and cost that they would be willing to pay for. To be successful, I should be able offer the consumer only the services that they would like to have done for them.

I learned that were opportunities in this new market. What surprised me about this new market is that there are some people willing to pay for some or all of the services that I have to offer. My exceptions were that some people that are year round residents would be interested in at least some of the services that I had to offer. The new market does not offer the opportunities that the original market offers, however, it does offer some potential for profit in the off season.

Entrepreneur Week 12 Reading Reflection

One thing that stood out for me in the reading was the SWOT analysis. This is a new concept to me and I could see how it could prove to be useful for the entrepreneur. Another thing that stood out for me was the concept of the entrepreneurial strategy matrix. This could be very useful to many new entrepreneurs to determine it their business is worth perusing.
I found no parts of the reading to be confusing to me.
One concept that I disagreed with was the concept of transitioning from entrepreneur to manager. I believe that the entrepreneur must be a manager from the start in order to bring together all of the needed resources to get the business going. Also, why is it that the management tasks may shift after the business is up and running but, it took management skills to get the business to that point? Why shouldn't an entrepreneur that is starting a business not have an administrative concept of that business? By the time an entrepreneur reaches the point of actually opening a business, they should have already had to to experience the administrative aspect of the business.
I thought that the author may be wrong in that, by the time an entrepreneur has reached the point of actually opening and operating a business, they should have some idea of the administrative responsibilities that they are going to have after the business is up and running.

Entrepreneur Amazon Whisperer

My “Don't Worry About It” involves a one contact source to maintain a property and provide security for the resident while the owners are away at a different location.

I do not believe that there is an Amazon category for this type of service.

I would provide the consumer with a one contact source for all of their property maintenance and security while they are away.

Perhaps I could extend my service to have their favorite drinks ready for them when they return and maybe mints under their pillows.

I would consider anything to give me an advantage over the completion.

I do not at this time believe that I can address an Amazon advantage due to the nature of the service that I am offering.

Entrepreneur Week 11 Reading Reflection

I hope that I am reading the correct article. It is very short. For the first time in my academic career I was unable to access the EBSCO website through the library portal.
This is the link that I found the article at: https://hbr.org/2015/06/you-need-an-innovation-strategy and it is very short.
I was not surprised by anything in the reading and nothing stood out as different to my exceptions. However, innovation strategy in today's large company's often comes from the top corporate official as a goal for the employees to accomplish. As compared to a small entrepreneurial organization that is looking to fill a customers need in order to make a profit.
None of the reading was confusing to me.
One question that I would like to ask is what do you attribute the success of most modern large company's innovative success to? And, how is this success accomplished?
I did not find anything in the reading that I thought that the author was wrong about. I have no disagreements with the author's opinion.

Entrepreneur My Unfair Advantage

Creating a list of 10 resources including human capital, social capital, financial capital, and capabilities may be a stretch, but, I'll give it a try.

As far as human capital, I have many experiences that would prove useful in my entrepreneurial endeavor.

I am able to identify the unmet needs of my customers.

I am innovative and creative in order to adapt to a dynamic situation.

My education has provided me with resources that will enable me to provide my service to my customers and make a profit doing it.

I am able to acquire more human capital when the need exists.

As far as my social capital goes, I do have social capital available to me.

I also posses the ability to acquire new social capital (fill in the holes) to satisfy the demands of the situation.

My finical capital may limited at this time. However, I do believe that I have or can raise the the capital resources needed to launch my endeavor.

I will be relaying a great deal on my capabilities. I have the experience to be able to do many of the tasks required by my endeavor myself.

I posses the knowledge to be able to acquire to more human resources as the situation dictates in order to accomplish the objectives to satisfy my customers.

As for the VRIN of my resources, My past experiences are valuable and may not be resources that others have.

Being able to identify the unmet needs of my customers may not be unique.

My ability to be innovative and creative in order to adapt to a dynamic situation may be a resource that everyone does not posse.

Many other people may have the same education as I do.

My ability to acquire more human capital as needed may not be very unique. However, I have done it before.

Many others will have social capital available to them.

Having the ability and experience of filling my social capital needs may not be unique.

Others may have access to more finical capital than I do.

My capabilities of my experience to do many of the tasks required by my endeavor may be unique.

And, my experience at acquiring more human resources will be helpful but, may not be unique.

My best VRIN asset would be my experience in many of the skills needed to accomplish my endeavor. This resource is most important in that it will enable me to get a solid start at my endeavor without doing a lot of research and enduring a lot of trial and error situations.

Entrepreneur Growing My Social Capita

I have lived in my local community for many years and am familiar with the other entrepreneurs that I may have to do business with to make my company “Don't worry about it” successful.

Most of these other entrepreneurs are successful and have never attended college. They do not see why anyone should need to attend college to be a successful entrepreneurs and are not receptive to participating in a factious college project.

Given the requirements of this assignment,I do not believe that making social contacts with these individuals for a fictitious relationship would prove to be something that I could accomplish.

However, should I decide to start and operate my company “Don't worry about it”, I have no doubt that I could create the necessary social contacts with other entrepreneurs that are necessary to make my business successful.

Entrepreneur Week 10 Reading Reflection

Nothing in this reading stood out as being different from my exceptions.
None of the reading was confusing to me, it all made perfect sense.
Given that nothing stood out and that nothing was confusing too me, I do not have any questions for the author.
I could not find anything that I thought the author was wrong about.

Entrepreneur Week 9 Reading Reflection

One thing that stood out for me was the process for developing an information-gathering questionnaire was something that I had never thought of . The process presented in the textbook makes a lot of sense. I was surprised at the complexity of the marketing research suggested by the author.

None of the reading was confusing to me.

One question that I would like to ask the author is do they really think that many small upcoming entrepreneurs will have the resources to do the extensive marketing research that they suggest? Do the authors believe that their suggested social media and mobile marketing plans are feasible for entrepreneurs starting a small business that has limited finical resources?

I am not sure if they are wrong or not, but, many small start ups will not have the resources to engage the in depth marketing research that is suggested in the text. Also, to achieve the mobile marketing results that they suggest, may be out of reach for many small entrepreneurs with limited resources.

Entrepreneur Idea Napkin No. 2

I am a full time resident of my community. I live here 365 days a year. I have experience in grounds maintenance and the knowledge of what ti takes to present a property to the owner in the same condition when they return that it was in when they left it. My aspirations for this business is to fulfill an unmet customer need. To provide a one-stop place to have their property completely maintained and monitored while they are away. If I started this business it would play a significant role in my life by providing me with a source of income and by providing my customers peace of mind.
My company "Don't Worry About It", would offer complete property maintenance and security protection for residents that are only here for part of the year. It would provide the unmet need of the convince to have one contact point for their complete property maintenance and security. Discounts would also be offered to customers who refer their neighbors that live on the same block and their referral if their referral subscribes to my services.
The demographics of my customers are that they live in this community for a portion of the year, for the other portion of the year they live in some other location. The psychographic characteristics of my customers is their expectation to be able to return to a property that is in the same condition as when they left it. The one thing that my customers have in common is that they will not be able to take care of their property themselves for a period of time.
My customers would care for the simple reason that they would only have to contact one place to have their property maintained and monitored while they are not there. They would not have the hassle of dealing with multiple vendors to maintain different aspects of their property.
My core competencies are that I am making it more convent for the property owner to have their property maintained and monitored while they are not there. I would be offering a one contact service to have their property maintained and monitored while the owners are away from their local property.
These five elements fit together. I would be available year round to support my customers. My customers would benefit from me meeting their unmet need for the convenience of having to deal with only one person for the complete maintenance and security of their property while they are not there. Many of the people that live in my community are seasonal residents. They live here for part of the year and for the other part of the year they live some place else. While they are living someplace else the convenience of only having to contact one person for their complete property management would be desirable. Again. to only have to deal with one person to maintain and monitor their property while are away would be much more simple than having to deal with multiple organizations to maintain each aspect of their property.

Entrepreneur The Twenty Percent

The entrepreneur that I chose is engaged primarily in a wholesale business with a small retail market for their products.. The 20 percent of the customers that contribute 80 percent of this entrepreneurs income is from their wholesale customers.
Their primary customers are retail markets and restaurants that have customers who consume the products that they have to offer. Their customers unmet needs are finding the not-so-common products that they have to offer. They find their customers from telephone listings, merchant registries, advertising, and word of mouth. Their customers demographics vary depending on the product offered. They offer products appealing to low income consumers up to specialty products for higher income consumers. Since their consumer base is so diverse, their customers consume many forms of media, including various forms of print media as well as electronic forms of media. Some of their marketing process involves the old fashioned method of contacting potential customers.
One retailer identified their customers as mostly local residents. Their customers unmet needs is a desire to obtain the products that they are offering that cannot be found elsewhere. They find most of their customers from their business location on a major street and through word of mouth. Another retailer markets to customers looking products for a specific geographical region of the world. Their customers unmet needs are in locating products that are normally consumed in that specific geographic region of the world. They find their customers from word of mouth and various advertising methods. Their customers demographics vary from people that are from that geographic region to customers just looking for products associated with that region. Since their customers come from different income and social levels, they consume different types of media from print to electronic. A retailer serving one of the high end products is marketing to a higher income consumer. Their customers unmet needs are the desire to indulge in a higher quality and unique product. They find their customers through more specific marketing activities targeted toward their consumers. Their customers demographics are higher income and educated. These customers consume strategically placed print media and electronic media. This type of customer is attracted to a high quality and unique product.
The entrepreneur does understand their customers' problems. Since there is a big difference in their customers demographics, some customers require more specific delivery times and attention. These differences exist because of the range of the demographics among their clients.

Entrepreneur Week 8 Reading Reflection

So far this chapter has been the most interesting and en lighting.

I was surprised at the other alternatives to commercial banks for debt financing. Social lending was something new to me. I also found trade credit accounts receivable financing, and factoring to be interesting. The opportunity to take advantage of direct public offerings also proved to be interesting. I was surprised that VC's don't want to run your business. Business angles was also a new concept to me.

I did not find any of the reading to be confusing.

One question that I would like to ask is that why a venture capitalist does not want to have some control of your business (their money)? I can not think of a second question.

I may disagree that venture capitalists don't want to be involved in the control of your business that is using their money to finance it.

Entrepreneur Half-way Reflection

Half-way through the semester, time flies when you are having fun. It's nice to know that we have made it this far.

If Tenaciousness is a skill then it is something that I have developed since my early childhood. I can relate to the Webster definition of "very determined to do something". Personally, I don't like to leave anything unfinished. If I don't believe that I can accomplish something, I will not start it. Had I not been tenacious I would not be in this class. I had no college prep classes when I was in high school, so, when I decided to further my education, I started at the bottom. I am surprised that I am at where I am at today. But, I am here and the only direction to go is forward, failure is not an option.

I often wounder why I don't just give up but, then, since failure is not an option, I can't just give up, I have to keep going. If, perhaps, you do fail at something, at least you put forth the effort to try and accomplish it.

I hope this comes out to three tips. Failure is not an option. Don't give up. Learn from your mistakes. If someone else can do it, so can you. Always look forward.

Life's challenges are always going to be like this, get used to it.

Entrepreneur Week 7 Reading Reflection

One of the surprises in the reading was the availability of factoring as a financing option. Another surprise was the option to sell stock through a DPO. Also, the availability of venture capitalists that don't want to run your business was also a surprise to me. And,, the opportunity to attract Angel investors was something that I was not aware of.

None of the reading was confusing, it was perfectible understandable.

I have no questions to ask the author. All of the opportunities presented would be based on personal preference and the availability of opportunities that would meet the entrepreneurs needs.

I could not find anything that the author was wrong about. All of the opportunities presented in the text would be options that each individual entrepreneur would have to consider for their own situation.

Entrepreneur Free Money

Finding a place to confront people in my area is difficult. I do not have a video camera so I could not record any of my encounters.
I went to a public sidewalk and approached anyone that was walking down the sidewalk regardless of race, sexual preference, political preference, or economic status.
I told the people that I had some fortunate experiences that provided me with some extra dollars to give away and would they like to have one.
My plan for the conversations was to simply ask the people if they would like to receive a free dollar. I would just tell the people that I had been fortunate and had some extra dollars and that I wanted to give them away to whom ever would take them.
Of the five attempts I do not expect to have any difficulty in in giving the dollars away..

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch No. 2

I did not receive any feedback on my first elevator pitch. So I did my own critique on it and found a need for improvement. I need to be more relaxed and confident. No one is going to believe me if I don;t believe it myself.

I have also modified my pitch to make it more relevant to the person that I am pitching it to. And, since this is supposed to happen on an elevator, there might not be much time for the pitch. So, mine has been revised to make it short, sweet, and to the point.

Hope it works.

Entrepreneur Week 6 Reading Reflection

With this reading there were no surprises and nothing stood out that would be different to any of my expectations. I have often considered all of the competitive forces mentioned in this article when considering the feasibility of an entrepreneurial endeavor.
Nor did I did not find any of the reading to be confusing.
I have no questions for this author. I found this pretension on the subject to be very through, complete, and accurate.
Once again, I did not find anything that the author was wrong about. The subject was well presented and complete. I also have no disagreements with the author concerning the subject matter of this article This article was very complete in examining the five forces that shape strategy and how they should affect the decision making of the entrepreneur considering a business venture .

Entrepreneur Idea Napkin No. 1

I am a local resident of my community and am here 365 days a year. I am familiar with the demands of landscaping based on the type of plants and the weather conditions. I know what the residents expect to find when they return to their property after their absence.

My company “Don't Worry About It” would offer the seasonal residents of my community the opportunity to have one source for their property management and maintenance while they are away..

I am offering this service to the many seasonal residents that live in my community. The demographics of the people that I would service would be relatively unchanging. They stay here for the season and they go elsewhere for the the other season. The psychographic attitudes of these people is that they want to leave their property and return to it in the same condition that they left it.

All of the customers have one thing in common, They expect to return to to a place that is in the same condition as when they left it.

My customers would be willing to pay me in order to assure that their property will be maintained and managed while they are away and that they will return to a property that has been well maintained and is suitable to live in when they return.

My customers would care because they don't they would not have to worry about their property while they are away. The property would be maintained and made ready for them to return to a place that is groomed both outside and inside to their satisfaction.

My core competencies that would set me apart from other providers is that my company would provide all of the services that anyone would need to be provided while they were away. My company would not only maintain the landscaping of the property but also provide a contact number for the security system company to contact if they need to contact someone locally and providing routine security inspections on the property. My company would also insure that the interior of the residence was clean and ready to be lived in when they returned. We would also maintain swimming pools and spas while the residents were away.

The elements of my concept fit together. My company would provide the property owner with one contact that would be responsible for for all aspects of their property maintenance while they are away. My company would be responsible for maintaining the landscaping. Plus, being a local contact for their security system operator and making routine security inspections on the property. Also, my company would see to it that pools and spas are maintained. In addition, we would make sure that the interior of the residence was clean and ready to be used by the resident when they returned.

Entrepreneur Week 5 Reading Reflection

Although the reading assignment for this week was Ch. 9 Assessment of Entrepreneurial Opportunities, I red ch. 6 Assessment of Entrepreneurial Opportunities. I found it to be very interesting.

My biggest surprise in the reading was that many entrepreneurs don't realize the importance in determining a marketing approach for their product. How can you sell a product if you don;t know who is going to buy it.

I did not find any part of the reading to be confusing.

One of the questions that I would ask of the authors is why do entrepreneurs not concern themselves with the legal issues that pertain to their endeavor? The second would be how can an entrepreneurs hire and retain employees that don't fit into the team and work well the other employees to accomplish the company's goals?

I did not find anything that I thought that the author was wrong about. Also, I did not disagree with anything that the author said.

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch No. 1

Elevator Pitch No. 1

 

The problem is in order to keep track of all of your appointments and assignments that are due. For people that use multiple devices this means that every important date must be entered separately on each device. This is time consuming. My company, TimeTrac is going to develop a cross platform app that can be updated from one platform to another without without having to enter the information separately on each device.

Entrepreneur Week 4 Reading Reflection

What surprised me the most and was different from my exceptions were the two approaches to creative problem-solving. I had never considered these two separate approaches, they were always blurred together in my perception of entrepreneurship.

I didn't find any part of the reading to be confusing, it made sense to me.

One question that I would like to ask the author is that do you really believe that entrepreneurship can be taught? The second question would be how long do you think that it would take?

I did not find anything that I thought that the author was wrong about, therefore, there was nothing that I was in disagreement with.

Entrepreneur Top 5 World Problems

Top 5 World Problems

Global warming

We need to improve technology and make it affordable in order to reduce the greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuel. Also, we should increase the efficiency and affordability of renewable energy sources.

Global unemployment

We should provide retraining for people that have been displaced due to technology. And we need to continue to raise economic investments in emerging economies.

The global water crisis

According to the World Bank and World Health Organization, there are 2 billion people that do not have access to clean water and another 1 billion people that don't have enough water to meet their daily needs.

Global food shortage

Find affordable means of agricultural production for the people that need it.

Global outbreak of disease

We need to do more research and find cures and prevention for diseases and make them available all over the world. Due to the amount of global travel that occurs today, diseases can spread rapidly from one place to another.

I choose global warming as number one because I believe that it has or will have an effect on the other four problems listed here.

Global unemployment was my second choice because if this could be resolved it would solve or almost eliminate the other three problems.

The global water crisis was my third choice because people need water to survive. They can go longer without food and still survive.

My fourth choice of the global food shortage was chosen because people must have food to survive.

The fifth choice of the global outbreak of disease was chosen because global travel is very assailable tom many people today and the travel times are very short allowing for people traveling with infectiou diseases to spread them world wide very quickly.

Top five solutions

Global unemployment

We should provide retraining for people that have been displaced due to technology. And we need to continue to raise economic investments in emerging economies.

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Global warming

We need to improve technology and make it affordable in order to reduce the greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuel. Also, we should increase the efficiency and affordability of renewable energy sources.

Global food shortage

Find affordable means of agricultural production for the people that need it.

Global outbreak of disease

We need to do more research and find cures and prevention for diseases and make them available all over the world. Due to the amount of global travel that occurs today, diseases can spread rapidly from one place to another.

The global water crisis

According to the World Bank and World Health Organization, there are 2 billion people that do not have access to clean water and another 1 billion people that don't have enough water to meet their daily needs.

Resolving the problem of global unemployment is the most implementable because if it is carried out properly it will result in a profit for all of the parties involved and this should help to resolve the other four problems. .

My second choice of global warming is implementable because most of the solutions are based on technology that is creating jobs, all we have to do is convince most people that the small investment that they will make will benefit not only the environment but the economy as well.

If the third problem of global food shortages can be resolved there is a good chance that some of that food produced may end up for sale benefiting the economy.

Resolving the global outbreak of disease will benefit not only the drug companies with profits but, will also reduce the health care cost of dealing with these diseases.

Eliminating the global water crisis is the least implementable because it does not always provide a profit. However, implementing it through tax deductible not for profit organizations will provide financial incentives for some people and organizations.

Entrepreneur Week 3 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise in this reading was that different types of exercise can effect the outcome of different types of personal and professional goals. It is common belief that exercise reduces stress. But that different types of exercise can have different physiological outcomes amazed me.

 

I did not find any of the readings confusing.

My first question to the authors would, if you put your customers first by providing them with a quality product or service and their was some gray area in the law, would it be ethically correct to not be 100% in compliance with that law if it did not affect the quality of the product or service that you were providing?

My second question is that given the corporate entrepreneur that does not follow the status quo of their coworkers who are walking a fine line line between clever resourcefulness and outright rule breaking, wouldn't that corporate entrepreneur be acting ethically?

I did not find anything that the author was wrong about. Therefore, I cannot disagree with what she or he said, or How.

Entrepreneur Identifying Local Opportunities

For two veterans, new bedset was kismet

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028315/04046

A local retired furniture salesman with some leftover new furniture found a home for some of it. After loosing everything being unable to work in the cold harsh northern environment the Army veteran and his wife relocated to Citrus County Florida. Having spent all of their money on motel rooms they found shelter at a local mission. The mission helped them get housing through the VA Supportive Housing initiative, run in partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The problem, they had no furniture for their apartment and no money to buy it with. Through the local Disable American Veterans they were hooked up with retired furniture salesman who is also an Air Force veteran. He and his wife donated a new bedroom set to the couple for their new apartment.

The problem presented in this article is that there are people in need in our local community.

The homeless couple that relocated from up north were the one with the problem.

Bank makes $10,000 donation to food bank

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028315/04044

A bank made a $10,000 donation to a local food bank that provides food to local residents in need. This donation will enable the food bank to purchase 88 pallets or 112,000 pounds of food that will provide about 80,000 meals.

The problem presented in this article is that there are still people in our community that are not able to buy food.

The people with the problem here are the ones in the community that are not able to buy food.

A refuge for recovery

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028315/04035

Club Recovery, a non-profit organization, has provided a meeting place for recovering addicts in programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous for over three years. Now they are loosing the lease on their building. They have acquires a 1.6 acre piece of secluded property, however, they need to build a building, parking lot and retention pond on the property at cost of about $160,000 to $200,000 dollars. A GoFundMe account has raised over $70,000 in six months.

The problem here is that there are people in need of recovery from addictions in our community.

The problem here is that there are addicts in our community that are seeking help for their problems, also, there are charities that help these people that are in need as well.

Community comes together to ensure families don't go hungry

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028315/04033

The Church Without Walls held their annual Thanksgiving food and turkey giveaway at their recently acquired property. Pastor Doug Alexander said that over 1,200 turkeys and related Thanksgiving food items were given away. He also said that the whole community had come together to make this happen.

There are still people in our community that are not able to get food to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Those with the problem are the ones that need help to get food for a Thanksgiving meal.

Learning to focus

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028315/04041

Locally horses are being used as therapy to treat children with sensory processing disorder. This helps to increase their coordination and balance. Also, some of the children ave very tight muscles. Laying them flat on the back of the horse helps them to relax and loosen their muscles.

There are children with some unusual ailments that have some unusual treatments.

The children are the ones with the problem due to no fault of their own.

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Entrepreneur Very Short Interview No. 1

The entrepreneur that I interviewed was a previous employer of mine who has been in business for more than twenty years.I worked for him for over ten years. He realized an opportunity and made a success of it. He managed the business to best benefit not only himself, but also his customers, suppliers and his employees.

What should my expectations be in this course?
Coming into this course  I had expected it to be concerned with finding opportunities to open a business. That is not all that entrepreneurship is about. It is a process of realizing opportunities and taking advantage of those opportunities to provide a need for consumers.

On to the interview with my entrepreneur.
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What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Stepping out into a new horizon.  Taking on a new environment that is not known or well structured or known to you. Willing to take on good amounts of risk due to an unknown environment. Entrepreneurs must like to take on challenges.and they have to be optimistic.

What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?
Think broadly. Don't look down a narrow path. You may not know which way things may come at you. Maintain a broad perspective. Entrepreneurs  have to be willing to change because of the unknown that may exist, they must be able to adapt to their circumstances. Seek out change. Entrepreneurs need to make their own roads, one will not be built for you.

What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur?
Learning to think creatively.  How to use logic in decision making. To start with what you know in order to arrive at a decision about what you don't know. Learn decision making.

What I got from this interview is that entrepreneurs need to be flexible, adaptive, and be able to accept and to change. You need to have an open mind and constantly be adapting to your circumstances. Seek out change to improve your situation.  Entrepreneurs need to be creative and be able to use logic in their decision making.

Entrepreneur World's Biggest Problems

10 of the world's biggest problems

The global water crisis

According to the World Bank and World Health Organization, there are 2 billion people that do not have access to clean water and another 1 billion people that don't have enough water to meet their daily needs. We need to come up with affordable solutions to access water and to purify it for consumption.

Global extinction of species that are important to the human food chain.

We need to improve agricultural fertilizer and weed and pest control technology so that they will be more environmentally friendly. Changing industrial practices to return water used for industrial purposes can be returned in a usable form back into the environment.

Global warming

We need to improve technology and make it affordable that will reduce the greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuel. Also, we should increase the efficiency and affordability of renewable energy sources.

Global food shortage

find affordable means of agricultural production for the people that need it.

Global unemployment

We should provide retraining for people that have been displaced due to technology. And we need to continue to raise economic investments in emerging economies.

Escalating political and social instability

We need to try to work with these situations to best resolve the cause of the problem.

Global outbreak of disease

We need to do more research and find cures and prevention for diseases and make them available all over the world. Due to the amount of global travel that occurs today, diseases can spread rapidly from one place to another.
Nuclear weapons

We should create an environment that discourages the use of nuclear weapons to resolve a conflict.

Global Overpopulation

The world has finite resources to support our population. We should use education and technology to see that we maintain a world population that the earth can support.

People don't know what the world's problems are.

We need to educate everyone to realize that there are global problems that are going to affect not only them, but their children and their grandchildren and more.

Entrepreneur Week 2 Reading Reflection

Today's concept of an Entrepreneur is not the one that I had associated with it. Entrepreneurship for me was always associated with starting a business. Whereas, entrepreneurship is a mindset. This mindset can not only be used to start a business, but also to be used in entrepreneurial management.

Entrepreneurs are go geters, thinkers who can overcome the odds by learning from their mistakes. and accomplish what they set out to do. And, although they may be small business owners,they are driven by innovation, growth, and profitability. Entrepreneurs may be found in any type of organization, for-profit, not for-profit, or non business activities.

Entrepreneurs are responsible for change and creative innovative ideas. Under the micro view of entrepreneurship the trait school of thought that the atmosphere of being raised in an entrepreneurial

environment can lead to entrepreneurial success has been something that I have considered to be a big asset. And, if this is true, there is no reason that entrepreneurship cannot be taught, learned and used.

With regards to the worldwide entrepreneurial revolution of the twenty-first century being as important as the industrial revolution of the twentieth-century, wasn't the industrial revolution led by entrepreneurs?

The entrepreneurial mindset is an important part of today's economy and can provide valuable opportunities to those who are willing to take the challenge.

Entrepreneur Bug List

When you go to an internet site and chose to have the products listed by price from low to high and the first few least expensive products are out of stock with no expected ship date.

It is nice to know that these products exist, however, if the product is needed soon, filtering through these items is time consuming.

When tracking items on the USPS website, the items are often delivered before the tracking page shows that they have arrived at my local post office.

Either my local post office has antiquated equipment, or the items are not being properly processed. I am just thankful that I receive delivery.

When you use the drive through to order at a fast food restaurant during non-rush times and it takes longer to get your order than if you went inside and ordered it. I have had this experiences at different restaurants and different locations. Perhaps everyone is taking breaks at the same time and they are temporally understaffed.

When you go to a website and search for something and half of the items presented are not what you are looking for. This has happened on more than one website. Most of the time the items presented are accessories for the item that was searched for. There can be a lot of these items requiring time to sift through them.

My local supercenter started selling bulk mixed nuts by the pound around the first of December. By the week before Christmas all of the pecans and walnuts were gone from all six bins.

People are going to look out for themselves and get the best bang for their buck.

Trying to set up an online account and they tell you the username and password don't match. When you try to rest the password nothing happens. If you try to set up a new account they tell you that hat the account already exists, however, you cannot log on to it.

This is a technical issue and I don't quite understand it myself.

Reality tv shows. Come on, these are tv shows and the only connection to reality that most of these tv shows have is if you are on a tv show.

People driving below the posted speed limit in the left lane on a multiple lane divided highway for no reason.

They must not know the law that says that they are not supposed to do that. They have no idea about what they are doing. They don't care and are inconsiderate.

Illegal marketing calls. especially the ones that leave a message. I have limited space on my answering machine for legitimate calls.

Most of these calls are illegal scams, why should they care.

People that wear too much cologne or perfume.

Apparently they have disposable income and perhaps they like the fragrance and want to share it.

People that I call the "averages", on a two lane highway they drive at 45 mph in the 55 mph area and when they get to town with a 35 mph sped limit, they still drive at 45mph. The 35mph speed limit through town is set for a reason. And so is the 55mph in the country.

They don't pay attention and this must just be a comfortable speed for them to drive.

When you are seated in a restaurant and the waitress/waiter is busy and cannot take the time to acknowledge that you are there and that they will be with you when they can.

People that chew with their mouth open and talk that way while they are chewing.

These people just don't know any better or they are being socially unacceptable.

When people tell you about their bad health conditions and then tell you that they continue to engage in activities that cause those health conditions.

People like this must be ignorant and just don't know.

People that drive through the business lane at the bank drive through that do not have business accounts.

They are in a hurry and want to get served faster and don't pay attention to the signs.

Parents that are to busy shopping to properly supervise their children in a store.

When you have children you should keep track of them at all times.

When someone tells me that I am wrong but cannot tell me why I am wrong.

If I am wrong there should be a reason.

People that use the excuse of old age as the reason for their failures when they are not really old.

I am referring to people in their late middle age aand I would expect them to have Alzheimers long before they reach retirement age.

People that claim to be one thing but are actually the opposite in real life.

These people bug me because they want you to think that they are something that they are not.

People who overspend their means and complain they are broke.

They don't have their priorities in order, they eat out at restaurants and take trips that hey can not afford to take.

It was difficult for me to come up with 20 “bugs” that really bother me and that I have come into contact with. I have had to look into my past experiences to come up with some of these bugs. These days I work and go to school and don't have much of a social life.

Entrepreneur My Entrepreneurship Story

My first experience was pulling a lawnmower behind my bicycle and finding people that wanted me to mow their yard.
Most of the customers that I had were people that did not do their own lawn maintenance and did not want to pay the expense for the professional lawn maintenance service. I thought that some of my customers were demanding for the service expected for the amount that they were paying.
However, it put money in my pocket to be able to engage in my summer activities.

After that, when I was in junior high (middle) school, I took on a paper route to earn some money. The only route that I was able to get was a route for the evincing newspaper in my area. There was a morning newspaper with routes available, however, the routes were large and required a motor vehicle to deliver them. I did not have a drivers license and had to settle for what I could do.
The evening newspaper was not very popular, most people preferred to get their newspaper in the morning.
At one point during the delivery of my newspapers, I was harassed by a neighborhood boy that was also steeling my newspapers that I had to pay for. This situation was resolved, however I was never able to attract enough customers to the route to make it worthwhile.
The newspaper eventually went out of business for lack of subscribers..