Final Reflection

1. Reading through my old blog posts was almost kind of cringy in a way. I don't know if anyone else gets this way, but I hate reading my old writing, I'm always really critical of myself. But it did bring back a lot of memories. One of the stand out moments was when we had to give away free money: I can vividly recall that experience and my feelings on it. First of all, I was not happy about having to give away my own money. And then when I actually did the assignment, it was really awkward. People were either apathetic or confused. There was one lady with a stroller who was really nice but everyone else seemed pretty uncomfortable with the dollar thing. Then it made me remember all the people I've interviewed over the course of this semester. I can't really say I enjoyed that either. Going back to one of my very first blog posts made me remember that game played in class where you had to choose a business or something like that. Also, when I got in contact with the family friend entrepreneur, it made my mom really happy, which I remembered from my first post.

2. Well, I'll probably always remember having to give money to strangers. In a way I think it was also one of my most formative experiences, because I really didn't want to do it but still managed to do it anyway. Having assignments multiple times every week also really forced me to stay on top of myself. I think my most joyous assignment was either the celebrating failure one, because it was honestly kind of therapeutic, or talking to an entrepreneur because it brought me closer to a valued family friend. I'm proud of myself for managing to turn in almost every assignment.

3. Honestly I don't know if I consider myself an entrepreneur. Starting my own business is not something I have ever seriously considered. I am definitely more knowledgable now, but still don't think I could seriously call myself an entrepreneur since all my training and knowledge is hypothetical. At the very least, I have moved closer to having an entrepreneurial mindset.

4. I think students just need to embrace the class for what it is. Yes, the assignments can be tedious and frustrating at times, but overall this is a class anyone can succeed in if you just do the work. Stay on top of things - even do things early if you can - and enjoy the weekly blog posts. Don't stress about this class but you can't let it fall by the way said either. Also, do all the extra credit stuff on YellowDig.

Week 15 Reading Reflection

1. It's hard to say I was surprised by anything - maybe the fact that they give out such small loans. I thought they only dealt with large quantities. And also the setting was just way different than I was expecting it to be.

2. I was for sure confused by the concept of microfinancing, I had to read it over a couple times to fully understand it.

3. I would ask the author: 1) What made you want to start this business? 2) How long do you think this is sustainable for?

4. I did not disagree with anything the author said.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:
My original venture concept idea was more parking around campus (original, I know).
Who has the need: Anyone who frequently needs to be on the UF campus, like students or faculty members.
The nature of the need: It's pretty self explanatory. People need to park somewhere.
Changes in the environment creating this need: I'm not sure exactly what percentage of the United States population owns cars, but they are definitely an everyday part of our lives. Plus, as you move farther away from campus, you pay less in rent, which incentives people to move farther away, and then they have to deal with parking on campus or taking the bus.
How is the marked defined: The market is defined geographically by people in the Gainesville area, specifically young college students who need to park somewhere.
How are customers currently satisfying this need: They're either buying on-campus decals, walking, taking the bus or riding a bike. I don't think there is much brand loyalty when it comes to parking.
How long will the window of opportunity be open: I don't foresee it closing anytime soon, unless UF suddenly unveils a huge new parking lot or every car explodes at the same time.

Innovation:
Like I mentioned above, there is nothing radical about this idea. The only thing I could do that would be a little bit different would be how people pay. Instead of offering semester long passes only, I would consider doing parking by the hour, and closing the parking garage when it's at full capacity until another car leaves. This would have to be done electronically somehow. This way people wouldn't have to pay a lump sum up front and I would probably make more money charging by the hour: maybe 5$ for the first two hours and then an additional two dollar for every hour after that. If someone was on campus three times a week for four hours each time, or something like that, I think it would definitely add up.

Venture concept:
Customers will switch to this product because they need somewhere to park and it's relatively inexpensive. My competitors are other parking lots around Gainesville, but as long as I was one of the closest to campus I think I would be fine. I'm not sure how many employees I would have. At least a few people to run the garage.

This hasn't changed much from the last time I dis this assignment. My most important asset would be a parking garage. There is nothing next for this venture, at least not that I have planned. Next for me would be to sell my business and get a job with a non-profit or something like that.

On my last venture concept, the student feedback was mostly like: "how are you gonna do this though." Someone else mentioned that I should refurbish current parking garages around campus instead of building one from scratch, which would be nice if I was able to do that. There were also questions about my prices compared to my competitors. I think there's a parking garage in downtown that charges about 130$ for a semester, but it's not within walking distance of campus.

Overall, I didn't change much. I changed up the pay scheme, but that was about it. The feedback would have been helpful if I was actually trying to start a business though.

I think it's important we get more ideas like this to actually happen, so things like this don't happen:

Google Gold

1. I honestly didn't think about getting my blog to show up on google, I just used the recommended labels, tags and titles. I'm not even sure I would want people to find this blog honestly so I'm fine with it.

2. I didn't have any key words beyond like "week 14" or the title. I used the word entrepreneur a lot.

3. I didn't use social media for my blog at all. I mean, I used youtube to upload my videos if that counts. And when I uploaded audio clips to soundcloud some random people liked them, not sure how they found them. That was it though.

4. My most viral post was the celebrating failure one. I have no idea why, it got 8 views. Maybe people wanted to read about someone else's failure.

5. Actually, I did end up checking on Google for "ENT3003 Spring Semester Blog" and my blog was the fourth result. So I guess I did make it to the first page, which is kinda cool.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1. As someone who is interested in being a manager, I liked all the information on different managing styles, I think that would be really useful to anyone looking to adopt a certain style.

2. I wasn't confused by anything.

3. I would ask what they think the best style is and how to know when to enter a foreign market.

4. I don't disagree with the author on anything.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

I couldn't remember what I originally talked about in that first interview all those months ago, so I went back to my blogpost to get a refresher (if you'd like to reference it as well, click here). Looking back, using the information I've gained both from this class and from my managerial accounting class over the semester, I think Doug gave me some really solid advice. He even provided easy to follow examples. Knowing even more how difficult it can be to start your own business, it just gives me that much more respect for Doug.

I wasn't able to record the interview because Doug lives in Fort Lauderdale, so we conducted our conversation via e-mail. First, I asked him if anything he told me in that first interview had changed. It didn't. If anything, he even more strongly emphasized smart financial planning. Then, since he's had so many different businesses, I asked him which have been the most rewarding and difficult to get off the ground. I figured he would tell me his first business - a donut store he owned for five years - since that was the first time he ever tried, but in fact he told me that since he started it so young, and was still really naive to the whole process, that it was actually one of the easier businesses he ever owned. He told me he almost lucked out in a way with the donut business. The hardest business for him was the stereo business, partly because he owned it the longest and had invested so much in it that seeing it go had been really hard on him. Plus, as he was more of an adult when he began it, he had more responsibilities and awareness of the business world. The last question I asked him was centered around the fact that he's never worked for anyone else a day in his life - I asked him what the best and worst part of being in charge of your own business was. He told me the best part about working for himself was being able to sleep in (lol) and that the worst part was that he couldn't just up and quit his job if things weren't going the way he wanted to. All the responsibility was on himself, 24/7. But he also told me - more seriously - that it made his success all the more rewarding because he knew how hard he worked to achieve it.

I definitely feel more comfortable talking about entrepreneurship now just because I have a little bit more knowledge on the subject. It's never easy to talk about things you know nothing about. Doug didn't mention to me that I seemed any more comfortable on the subject, maybe because the interview was done over e-mail, but I felt more comfortable and at ease.

All in all this was one of my more favorite assignments, partly because it gave me a reason to keep in touch with an old family friend.

Celebrating Failure

1. To start off, I am not good at math. In fact I'm pretty much awful. For reference, when I took the ACT back in high school, I scored so low on the math section I was deemed "not college ready." For my business degree, I have to take survey of calculus before my junior year. So this semester I signed up for MAC2233. Within one week, I realized I was going to fail. So I dropped  the class and picked up the pre-calculus course, MAC1140. I failed the first two exams. I wouldn't say I tried really hard ... because I find it extremely difficult to motivate myself to study for math, but I failed the first two exams. After the first exam (the grade I got was class average) I thought I could pull it together for exam two. Instead I did even worse on that exam and literally cried the entire way home from the exam. Realizing this was going to destroy my GPA, I dropped the class and I'm now enrolled in MAC2233 at Santa Fe (hoping it's a little bit easier there!)

2. I learned a few things from this class (not much of which was math related). First, I learned that while school is important, I shouldn't be stressing myself out so much to the point where I cried for over an hour about a class. I also did learn a few math concepts which I hope will help me in MAC2233 this summer.

3. I'm not a person that handles failure well. Emotionally, I cry when I get frustrated, which means I cry... a lot. And I place a lot of expectation on myself to get good grades since I feel like that is why I'm here at school, and when things don't go according to plan I get really upset. I was really stressed and upset for the first half of the semester. It wasn't until I dropped math that I was even able to enjoy myself again. And it's also embarrassing to be so bad at something even when you're trying. I don't know how much  this class has changed my perspective on failure or taking risks. I'm not adverse to risk, I just want to succeed in any risks I do take, that hasn't really changed. If anything I'm just trying to recognize that everyone fails and it's okay to straight up fail sometimes.

Also I wasn't sure what picture to include so here's something I just thought was funny. No matter what you fail in, at least it wasn't this: