Customer Interviews #1

1. Find an opportunity:
My opportunity came from a conversation I had with a co-worker of mine. As we discussed the increase in construction and new buildings around campus, she made a good point - all these buildings are being built on lots that used to house UF parking. With more buildings and even less parking than before, I believe there is an opportunity here.

2. Figure out who may have the unmet need:
Just from my experience in talking to people who go to UF, everybody could use more parking, including faculty members. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone with a UF parking decal who was satisfied with the current amount of parking spots available on campus.

3. Come up with a list of questions: 1. Do you live on campus? 2. Have you ever owned a parking decal? 3. Do you have any experiences with parking on campus? 4. Would you recommend parking on campus to someone else? 5. How much would you pay for a guranteed spot on campus?

4. Go talk to customers: 

5. Tell us what you learned about the opportunity: I learned a few things from talking about this with other students. Even the students who didn't park on campus had experiences or strong opinions formed about parking on campus. I also learned the price someone would pay for a guaranteed spot really depended on their direct involvement with on-campus parking - someone who had never used it before was willing to pay less than someone who had. Also, even though a lot of people hate the parking system, they would still recommend it to a friend because they believe it's a necessity if you own a car. I think there is for sure a need for more parking.

6. Tell us what you learned about interviewing customers: I'm not a particularly shy person, but I found it both easier and harder to talk to strangers while recording them. I found myself constantly looking at them through the video on my phone rather than at their face, which ended up feeling a little awkward. Also, people were a lot more cool with me recording them than I thought they would be, even at night. I also learned that people love to talk about parking.

Week 4 Reading Reflection

1. I was surprised by one of the quotes listed: That adults only use 2 - 10% of their creative potential. How did they measure this information? It seems like it would be hard to quantify, but if true, that is a maddeningly low percentage.
2. The way the author described incongruities confused me. His definition made sense, but his example about the guy who created FedEx was a little confusing - he was right about needing overnight shipping at the time, or wrong? It was unclear.
3. a. How they got the information on the 2 - 10% statistic
    b. Which of the four types of innovation models mentioned are likely to turn out successful businesses?
4. I disagreed with his assessment on the right and left brain hemisphere. While they are certainly different, I've read scientific studies that disprove the notion that people are more inclined to use one over the other, and in fact to use one you need the other.

Top 5 World Problems

Most serious:
1. Global warming
2. Corruption in the government
3. World hunger
4. Global terrorism
5. Wealth disparity

Most implementable solution:
1. Corruption in the government
2. World hunger
3. Wealth disparity
4. Global warming
5. Global terrorism

For my most serious list, I had a hard time narrowing it down to the top five, because I feel like everything on that list is a huge problem. I picked global warming first because that's something that can't really be fixed on a casual basis, it has wide-reaching implications and it affects everybody. Then I picked corruption in the government because I feel like a lot of the problems underneath it could be solved if we had less corruption in the government, like the distribution of food and wealth. I put global terrorism above wealth disparity just because while it's not necessarily any more serious on a smaller scale, it has the possibility to affect more people on a wider scale.

Then, for the most implementable solutions, I wasn't sure which to pick because in some cases they all seem so far-fetched to me. Like I said above, I put corruption in the government first because I think if we repealed Citizens United Act we would see an instant decrease, which would allow the other problems to see perhaps a real solution. I picked world hunger second because in theory we have enough food to feed the world - it's just a matter of distribution. The same is true with wealth disparity. I debated between global warming and terrorism for four and five, and ended up picking global warming fourth because I think we have the policy ideas in place, just no way of feasibly implementing them with the way the government is currently running. Global terrorism is last because I don't think there's one easy solution to that problem.

Week 3 Reading Reflection

1. The section on entrepreneurial stress. While of course I knew that entrepreneur's would experience stress like everybody else does, I think it was interesting they have a specific set of stressers attributed to their field. I also didn't know they were classified as type A personalities.
2. I didn't think anything was that confusing.
3. I would ask about the validity of the study done on exercising rigorously, and I would ask how they measured the entrepreneurial ego.
4. I didn't necessarily disagree with this, but I would like to know more about the study they mentioned with the correlation between exercising and success, and if they accounted for things like spuriousness.

Identifying Local Opportunities

Problem #1
1. Florida leads U.S. in new HIV cases after years of cuts in public health.
2. Link
3. While the rates of HIV decline across the country, Florida's rates of new HIV cases continue to increase, specifically in the Miami Dade area. Many believe this is due to the past four years of personnel health cuts that have shrunk the budgets of local health departments. Others think money is not the problem, but the silence on the subject from the state's top health officer, Dr. Armstrong. Still others believe there is not an increase at all, but that the increase in cases can be attributed to increased testing.
4. The problem is the increase in new cases of HIV/Aids.
5. This problem is primarily affecting the Miami Dade and Broward areas of Florida, specifically people who have unprotected sex or do not know enough about how to have safe sex.

Problem #2 
1. Women cops hope to arrest sexist behavior in GPD.
2. Link
3. GPD Captain Brian Helmerson is retiring after accusations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Some of the accusations include placing the cellphone of a female officer between his legs and saying "come and get it," as well as making comments about the bodies of female officers. However the concerns of these women went beyond the actions of one crude captain, but of a culture that tolerates treating female and male cops, and insubordinates, in a demeaning way.
4. The problem is the police culture that enables treating officers differently based on gender or rank, as well as making demeaning and inappropriate comments to colleagues.
5. This problem is primarily affecting the female lieutenants at GPD, but also affects male officers as well.

Problem #3
1. Are prescription medicines the new oil?
2. Link
3. Likening the increase of prescription medication to the increase in the price of oil, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will focus on the topic of medication prices this upcoming Tuesday. Companies like Valeant Pharmaceuticals have taken heat for hiking prices up by more than 230%. Brand name medications can cost twice as much in the US as other countries, which the companies argue are to increase funding for new treatments.
4. The problem is the insane price of prescription medication and how these companies are able to control who receives medication by making them impossible for the average citizen to easily purchase.
5. This problem affects everybody, but the poor and the ill feel it more so than most.

Problem #4
1. Climate change could cost jobs in South Florida, says White House advisor
2. Link
3. Business leaders in South Florida see global warming as a threat to their future profitability and even existence. Yet if sea levels keep rising like they do, Miami property owners could lose billions of dollars from costal flooding. Simon, an activist, said that Florida had made more progress than many other states in reducing carbon emissions, but still has untapped potential in solar energy. This is because Florida's big utilities companies make the price of solar energy expensive due to competing interests. The mayor of Miami also stated that this plan to raise roads and install pumps in Miami has not received any funding from the state.
4. The problem is that global warming is beginning to affect the infrastructure of Miami and its businesses.
5. This problem affects everybody in the South Florida region and even beyond, and especially companies who profit of things like greenhouse emissions.

Problem #5
1. U.S.-Cuba commercial flights on the horizon
2. Link
3. American Airlines is hopeful that the airline will be flying regularly scheduled fights between the US and Cuba within the first half of this year, and Miami will play a big role in resumption of commercial flights to the island. Cuba also wants to be able to play planes into the US. This is a new competitive business venture for airlines.
4. The problem is in the routes that the airlines plan on taking and also in the qualifications you must have in order to qualify for these flights.
5. This problem affects airlines and people who want to travel either from Cuba to the US or from the US to Cuba.

Very Short Interview No. 1

The entrepreneur I interviewed is family friend named Doug Armstrong, a 70 year old business man who has never worked for anyone but himself in his life. When he was 17 years old, he opened his first business - a donut store he owned for five years before selling it. He then started his own company selling car stereos, which he owned for 20 years. Finally he started a company selling inflatable boats, which he owned for an additional 15 years. With over 50 years of experience, Doug is a wealth of entrepreneaur knowledge. I think one of the biggest things that sets him apart from small business owners is that Doug has never in his life worked for anyone but himself and has a strong desire for independence and an interest in niche markets. For example, at the time he started his stereo company, that was an up and coming trend.

Here is a transcription of our conversation:

Me: What do you think makes someone an entrepreneur?
Doug: An entrepreneur is a person that can formulate or seize an idea and carry it through to an operating business with great enthusiasm.

Me: What should my expectations be in this class?
Doug: To be taught the pre-planning aspects and the risk vs. reward ratios for the types of business that you are interested in starting. How to secure funding from banks. Also to understand that you don't use short term cash (operating capital) to purchase long term assets such as equipment or vehicles.

Me: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Doug: Someone who seizes an idea and has the courage to carry it through to an operating entity.

Me: What do you wish you were taught in school before becoming an entrepreneur?
Doug: Financial planning so you truly  understand the financial requirements of operating the business and controlled growth... An example: When I started my first business and started to run into cash flow problems due to very rapid growth. I foolishly assumed that all I had to do was increase sales when in fact that made the problems worse because of the additional inventory that needed to be purchased.

Although my family has known Doug for many years, I really didn't know much about his businesses. It was fascinating to learn the history of his life and his thoughts on entrepreneurship, particularly what he wished he had known before. I look forward to speaking with him again. 

World's Biggest Problems

1. Corruption in the government. Big business, gorged on wealth and an almost unlimited supply of money when compared to the funds of "normal people," are able to control the actions of government officials through lobbying and paying for their campaigns. This is a problem because of course big business doesn't have the best interests of the common man at heart, but at furthering their own profits with little regard for anything else. It would be hard to completely eradicate this without tons of arguments regarding the freedom of speech and freedom to campaign for who you like, but I believe we could make great strides by limiting the amount of money people and corporations like big lobbying groups are allowed to donate. This would even the playing field for sure. 
2. Global warming. Due to the mass amounts of people on the planet, the Earth is experiencing temperature change at such a rapid rate that is has never before been recorded in the entirety of human history. This is due to a huge cocktail of things, so there is no one simple solution, but reducing carbon emissions from big factories, cars, and most importantly radically reducing the amount of meat and dairy products that the average American consumes would help a lot. The methane and forest destruction that comes from agribusiness is unparalled, and as changes in methane can be seen rapidly in the atmosphere, this would be a quick, noticeable difference. Of course, meat and dairy products are a part of the American way of life - with more countries, like China, deciding they too want to live that diet - and it's very hard to get people to change their lives like that. 
3. Police brutality. While of course not all police officers are guilty of excessive force, there is a large enough grouping that makes this problem relevant and important. The culture of the police force is a toxic one - "us against them," when really it should be the police helping the people of the county. Of course in circumstances where they are being attacked, it is 100% okay to attack back, but there is an almost systematic use of police force, leading to unnecessary murders, of predominantly black citizens going about their day. In order to eradicate this, we would need to change the police culture, educate police officers on racism, and make them more liable in the court of law when using excessive force, as I believe we have seen many examples of in the past.
4. The American court system. Like police brutality, we have a system in place that makes it so rich, white citizens receive lesser punishments than poor minorities. In addition to this, the cost of a good lawyer to have a fighting chance against the state is much more than most people can pay. In order to fix this, we would really have to dismantle the entire system and start over, somehow finding a way to lower attorney fees and prejudice against minorities. 
5. Overpopulation in jails. Going off the court system, we have criminalized drug laws to the point where people with three marijuana offenses can now constitutionally face life in prison. This is not only cruel and unusual, but results to a huge overcrowding of the jail system. The United States incarcerates more of it's own citizens than any other country in the world. This is due to privatized prisons who want more people in their beds so they can make more money. In order to fix this, we need to reduce privatized prisons and also repeal these ridiculous drug laws, including changing the three strikes law to violent felonies only. 
6. World hunger. At any given moment, one billion people in the world are starving. Meanwhile, people in the US and other first-world countries are eating so much we gorge ourselves on food and weigh 600 pounds. However there is no real easy solution to this problem. If the UN decided to just donate tons of food, the governments of the corrupt countries would just take it for themselves. It would take more than just someone donating bags of rice to eradicate global hunger. 
7. Donald Trump. I seriously believe that Donald Trump is promoting terrorism in the United States. Through fear-mongering, he has been able to brainwash a contingent of the population who honestly believe we should make all American Muslims wear letters on their clothes - how is this NOT literally when Hitler did? His extreme misunderstanding on virtually all topics, belligerent attitude toward minorities and woman, and overall disgusting ideas make the United States - one of the most powerful countries in the world - look absolutely stupid, and the idea of him in office is just too terrifying to comprehend. If Trump had access to nuclear codes, it wouldn't be long before World War III out. To stop this, people need to realize that he's a terrible, terrible person and stop supporting him in the polls. Let him fade back into irrelevance. 
8. Global terrorism. While Donald Trump may have the idea of it completely wrong, there is no denying it is a huge problem. The recent horrifying Paris attacks have shown that they can infiltrate anywhere and are completely ruthless in their pursuit of death. For this problem, I really don't know what the answer is. But I think a good place to start is to bring education to the impoverished countries where terrorism grows. Instead of chopping off the heads, that grow back just like the hydra, we should be preventing the ideals from ever being able to take root and spread. 
9. Wealth disparity. There is a shrinking middle class in the United States. The top 1% of the country has as much money as the other 99% combined. That is an exorbitant amount of money and disparity, mostly due to big business again gorging themselves on profit and big bonuses, and evading tax payments. I'm not sure what the answer to this problem is, but I know if these people with billions of dollars had to pay the proper taxes it would at least be a lot more fair to the rest of the country. 
10. Homeless war veterans. While homelessness in general is a growing problem in the US, a large population of the homeless people we see are former war veterans. It honestly sickens me that this country is capable of having men give their lives to the service, and then when they return home just toss them like yesterday's trash. With the budget the US army has, we should absolutely be able to provide more benefits to the men and women who have served this country. 

Bug List

1. When public places have bathrooms that are only for paying customers.
Why: It's a bathroom and people need to pee like who cares?
Answer: They probably want people to buy something from them or discourage homeless people from using their bathrooms.

Week 2 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that surprised me was that the failure rate of entrepreneurship isn't as high as the public likes to think. Only 18% of companies having experienced "failure" definitely made me re-think the popular opinion that most businesses fail.

2. The integrative model of entrepreneurial inputs and outcomes.

3. How do United States start-up businesses compare to other countries in terms of value/success and the number of start-ups?
What do you think will be new trends in entrepreneurship research going into 2016?

4. The author didn't really offer any personal opinions on the subject, except the belief that there are identifiable schools of thought within entrepreneurship. I agree with that belief, so I don't think I disagreed with anything the author said in chapter 1.

My Entrepreneurship Story

Like most little kids, my encounters with entrepreneurship didn't extend past lemonade stands on the weekend, where I would make 15$ and use that to get my nails done at the place down the street. My younger brother took that same little-kid entrepreneurship spirit and built himself a Middle School Candy Empire. 

When my brother was in 7th grade, he noticed that all of his friends at school were obsessed with the candy Smarties. One day at Target, he bought a bulk bag of Smarties for around three dollars. Something similar to this: 

At school, he began selling individual Smarties packs for 25 cents each. Seeing as he only paid three dollars for the whole pack, and the pack he purchased contained far more than just 12 smarties (which would allow him to break even at 3 dollars), my brother quickly turned a profit. I remember him coming home from school one day with ten dollars. My mom and I thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. As the Smartie Craze continued, the teachers began to find out about his little candy ring - something that was prohibited at his school. For a few weeks he continued re-stocking his Smarties supplies and turning them for a profit, making probably around 30$ after costs before the teachers shut him down.

Although a very small example of entrepreneurship, I chose this example because it touched on what Professor Pryor said about regaining that entrepreneurship spirit we have as children. 

It's also that reason that inspired me to choose this class as my elective. As someone who really doesn't have much interest in creating my own business, I thought it would be worthwhile to perhaps take a deeper look at something I've always dismissed as either too much work, too impractical, or too daring. I hope to gain a new perspective on entrepreneurship throughout the semester. 

ENT3003 Introduction

My name is Taylor Noe. I was born in Miami, where I lived for about eight years, and then moved to Weston, where I lived until 10th grade, when I moved to Stuart. Then I moved to Gainesville to come to UF.

This is my second year, and my fourth semester. I'm a general business administration major with a specialization in criminology planning on completing the GRE this semester to apply for UF's dual masters program in International Business. I also want to go to Law School. One day I would like to work for the United Nations or a similar government agency.

My favorite thing to do in the world is travel. I have been to France, England, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Mexico, The Keys, The Bahamas, Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, California, Chicago, and New York. In fact I'm going back to the Big Apple next month for a few days with a close friend for our - sixth! - visit. I would love to one day live in a big city like Chicago, New York or D.C.

One of my favorite pictures and my laptop background for about a year now is a photo I took in Capri, Italy.

Europe was the most amazing time of my life and I can't wait to go back again. 

The Entrepreneur's Mantra

First Blog Post

Testing, testing, 1 2 3.