Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Assignment #11 Idea Napkin No. 1

Idea Napkin No 1.

1. My name is Kelly Gest. I am a Sophomore at the University of Florida. I am majoring in Finance and Economics. I worked as a lifeguard over this past summer as well as working at Chick-fil-a. This business would be a major part of my life because I would devote most of my time and resources to it after I graduate. If I were to start this business, this concept would just the beginning of the biggest thing that will change m life completely. 

2. I am offering to customers a way to meet their unfulfilled need of wanting fast, cheap, and healthy food at fast food restaurants. I am creating a muli-purpose fast food restaurant, available to all types of customers. This new fast food restaurant would incorporate speed, health, and affordable options as well as offer "unhealthy options", serve yourself options, and even a variety of different food choices. This might even be considered an "all around the world" fast food restaurant. 

3. I am simply offering my business to anyone who is hungry and wants to choose from a variety of different options. Often, people can't choose where to eat lunch because one individual wants to eat one thing where the other doesn't. This would solve this problem by offering many different types of foods that appeal to many more people. This one restaurant would allow people that want healthy, fast, and cheap meals to actually get what they have been wanting for so long. Even people that just want fast and cheap (that do not care about how healthy it is) will be happy here too because we will have so many choices to choose from. 

4. These individuals care because society is becoming healthier and individuals are raising their expectations of restaurants everywhere. Customers will pay money because they can choose from a variety of options and it will satisfy them for whatever they are in the mood for eating that day.  I think this business will work because it speaks to a wide group of customers. 

5. This concept's core competencies include being healthy, cheap and fast. One advantage that this restaurant will have is that it will have different foods from all around the world so customers can choose how healthy they want to be and what type of food they want. From each part of the world, this restaurant will have the most popular dishes from each area. 

Summary:
These elements fit together because allowing customers to choose food from around the world will help them achieve the level of affordability, healthiness, and quickness they want to experience for that meal. Some weak points are the high costs that is going to take to make all different types of food and the uncertainty in the food industry. One thing that will be interesting to look at during the development of this business is whether or not customers would like that many options from a fast food restaurant. 

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Assignment #9 Testing The Hypothesis (Part 2)

Testing The Hypothesis (Part 2)

Interview #1 
Who: Grocery stores are places that sell food, however, the seem to fall outside the boundary because they, in some way, meet all three trade offs of cheap, fast, and healthy. This is one example where they meet all unmet needs.
What: Does meeting all three needs of being healthy, cheap, and fast equate to being satisfied? Oftentimes, this does not create satisfaction, because it simply eliminates dissatisfaction and creates a neutral feeling.
Why: They desire for someone to cook and prepare their food for them, where people outside the boundary would like to cook their food for themselves.

Interview #2
Who: Many people that are allergic to common foods in restaurants or fast food places do not have a need of being cheap, healthy, and fast. Oftentimes their need is simply to find a place that they can eat because of their allergy restriction.
What: Does having a food allergy mean the same thing creating another trade off for one's self? This is one trade off that you can't necessarily "trade off". In most trade offs you give up one thing to get another, however, this is one example of a trade off that you simply cant give up.
Why: Their underlying need is related to their health and safety rather than their personal preferences.

Interview #3
Who: Many business simply want to stick to their tradition. These businesses are outside the unmet need because their customers know what they're getting and know they won't change because of sociocultural trends. Businesses like these for example, McDonald's, has always been fast and cheap and will continue to be fast and cheap because that is what works for them. Some companies don't have this unmet need because they don't have the desire to achieve all three trade offs.
What: Does refusing to conform to everybody's demands create a successful business? many times if something works for a company, even if not every customer is happy with it, they will continue do do what is successful rather than try to meet everyone's needs.
Why: Having a healthy, fast, and cheap option, such as a veggie burger, at every fast food restaurant might ruin the traditional reputation of that company. If individuals see this as betrayal, they may not want to buy from that company at all.

Interview #4
Who: Many different businesses have different viewpoints on what is considered fast, cheap, and healthy. Varying viewpoints of both customers and businesses creates an unmet need for some and not for others.
What: Does cheap mean the same thing to everyone? Does being healthy mean the same thing? Does being fast mean the same thing to everyone? All of these needs are relative to each individual and their past experiences, viewpoints, economic status, demographic, and more. Many factors weigh into what someone believes to be cheap, fast, or healthy.
Why: With these trade offs being relative to the individual consumer and individual company, it is hard to distinguish when people are facing a trade off or all of their considerations of what is cheap, healthy, and fast are being met.

Interview #5
Who: It seems that more wealthy individuals do not run into this problem as often as lower income individuals do. Some individuals that enjoy eating a fine dining restaurants every night might not care about what fast food restaurants serve. Many individuals actually enjoy a long dinner, which is why they wouldn't consider being fast a relative trade off. The same thing happens with being cheap, as a wealthy individual, they might not care about the price of their food. Often, these individuals have home chefs or people to cook for them which would eliminate their need for a healthy option at fast food restaurants.
What: Does economic status mean the same thing as facing less trade offs? This one seems to lean towards yes. Individuals of higher income do not seem to face the same problems or have the same needs as lower income individuals.
Why: These individuals do not have these unmet needs because they are not considered a need to them.

Inside the boundaryOutside the boundary
Who is In: People that like to have cheap, fast, healthy foods. Individuals that aren't focused on allergies, wanting home cooked meals, spending quality time at a restaurant,
Who is Not: Wealthier individuals, traditional businesses, people with allergies, people that like to cook at home or have home chefs, depending on their viewpoints of what they consider cheap, fast, and healthy they may or may not be inside the boundary. 
What the Need Is: needing to be healthy, cheap, and fast options at fast food restaurants.
What the Need Is Not: Not trying to satisfy every single individual that is going to eat a meal that day, getting every company to conform to sociocultural trends, getting people to change their eating habits 
Why the Need Exists: because of trade offs. Different people value different things more or less importantly. people have different understandings of what is cheap, fast, and healthy.  Alternative Explanations: Their needs and wants may change on a daily basis. Trends in society might quickly affect their unmet needs. 













Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Assignment #8 Solving The Problem

Solving The Problem

1.  Selected Opportunity: Fast food companies face a trade off: having to choose two among being fast, cheap, and healthy. These trade offs are created because of cost-benefit analysis, consumer demand, and lack of correct resources that the company has. My opportunity is to exploit flaws in fast food markets to create a well balanced option for consumers. 
2.  My product that I propose is a veggie burger for fast food restaurants. Although some places are selling veggie burgers, not many of them are cheap. Therefore, I propose a veggie burger that could be bought in bulk or create a strong relationship with farmers in order to get a security on the supplies needed for veggie burgers. Also, using multi grain buns or lettuce wraps will appeal to individuals who are looking for a fast, healthy, and cheap option. During some of my interviews, I realized that maybe these three factors weren't the only things influencing people to buy or not to buy from a specific restaurant. Focusing on the quality of the food at the restaurant might be the most motivating factor to get individuals to buy from you. Therefore, I am proposing a fast food restaurant to market to customers that has a little higher quality food, at a fast pace, is a little healthier, and might be slightly more expensive, but still have competitive prices. 

Assignment #7 Testing the Hypothesis (Part 1)

Testing the Hypothesis (Part 1)

Opportunity: Fast food companies in the United States are unable to provide all three elements of healthy, cheap, and fast. They are only able to reach a maximum of 2 of these elements because of trade offs relating to cost-benefit analysis, consumer demand, and lack of correct resources.
  • The who: fast food companies in the United States
  • The what: They are unable to provide all three elements of healthy, cheap, and fast
  • The why: trade offs relating to cost-benefit analysis, understanding consumer demand, and lack of correct resources. 
Boundaries of the Hypothesis (my beliefs)
  • Testing the who: Do other food companies, not just fast food, have this problem? It seems that dine-in restaurants also have this problem: they are neither fast nor cheap, however, they are relatively the healthier option. 
  • Testing the what: Are healthy, fast, and cheap the only trade offs that fast food restaurants face? Fast food restaurants face numerous trad off that their products face, such as if it tastes good, whether or not it is fresh, and even how large the portions should be. 
  • Testing the why: Are these the only reasons fast food companies face these trade offs? All companies face trade offs for several different reasons. Some examples of other reasons for trade offs in the fast food industry include newer food regulations, laws and ethics they must abide by, or lack of adequate employees. 
Interview #1 Summary:
This individual has stated that they don't look at the nutritional value of anything that they eat. Therefore they don't recognize this as a "trade off". They only see a benefit in the situation of a fast food restaurant with unhealthy yet cheap and fast option. They do recognize that every restaurant does have pros as well as cons. Although they live this type of lifestyle, they still recognize that there are other trade offs that fast food companies face like store cleanliness, lower employee appreciation for customers, and increased likelihood of a broken machine or the store running out of something. 

Interview #2 Summary:
This student is very unhappy with the trade offs that fast food companies face because they want fast, cheap, and healthy food. This is an issue they face in their everyday live when they have to decide for themselves whether or not they want to spend a lot of money on healthy food or save some money and choose the more unhealthy option. As a college student on a college budget, this student, more often than they would like, chooses the unhealthy option more frequently. They identify with this problem and hopes that an opportunity arises where they can get heap, fast, and healthy food. 

Interview #3 Summary:
As an individual that loves good food, these three trade offs do not affect her specifically. She doesn't really care about the price, time it takes, or healthiness of the food, as long as it tastes good. She has noticed that chain restaurants versus standalone restaurants have separate aspects to them that are beneficial, however, she focuses on the quality and reputation of the food item itself. One reason she thinks that many people face this issue is because of where their priorities lie and what they value in their meal. 

Interview #4 Summary:
This interviewee has experienced many problems when trying to order her meal. She values quick and efficient service. Oftentimes, she noticed, that the slow service is cause by counterproductive customers but blames the slow pace on the company rather than the customer. This has lead to her frustration in the food industry. She has also identified that many fast food companies are focused on other issues at hand such as productivity, customer satisfaction, and net revenue. 

Interview #5 Summary:
One thing that this individual pointed out when I told her this statement was that many people don't even eat what the fast food chains offer because of the company's policy. Some people are very into politics which helps them decide where they want to buy from and where they refuse to buy from. He says this is their form of protesting. This was a very political view that hadn't even crossed my mind that people choose where to eat, shop, or buy based on the political views of the company itself. 

What I Know Now:
I now know that there are many defenses to my hypothesis statement. Many different viewpoints, ideas, and boundaries contribute to the complexity of this problem. Some individuals face this problem on a daily basis, some only few times, and others not at all, and every individual has a different reason for whether or not they have this issue and to what extent if affects them. This opportunity has increased in dimension by providing specifics on who faces this problem, what specifically is the problem, and why people face this problem. One main thing that I point out after these interviews helped me realize that fast food chains face so much more that 3 trade offs and they have many more problems than just the idea of a trade off. 

Assignment #6 Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Economic Trends
  1.  The workforce is getting older. This creates an opportunity for businesses to appeal to the younger generations who find it more difficult to find a job or figure out what they want in their life. 
    • I found this trend when I was trying to understand what I should do with my career and how the workforce looked, compared to myself. 
    • I believe an opportunity exists because of the shift in how younger generations are to start their careers and focus more on what they want to get out of life, whether it be a work-life balance, more benefits, or something else. 
    • Most likely the prototypical customer of this opportunity is a young millennial trying to jumpstart their career, while trying to get more of a work-life balance that has become a recent trend as well. 
    • I think this opportunity is easy to exploit because younger generations tend to be more impressionable and are looking for something to solve their problem of a slow starting career. 
    • Why? I personally saw this opportunity because I am about to start my career and am concerned with changes in the workplace that would impact me negatively. Someone who has already established themselves in their career might not see this as a problem. 
  2.  Suburbs growing more rapidly than rural or urban areas. This presents an opportunity for businesses to get a head start in the suburbs. 
    • Recently my family has been wanting to make a big move, so we have been looking at ideal places to live and trends affecting this area. 
    • An opportunity exists because when people decide to move to another location In large numbers, that creates a higher demand for needs in those specific areas. 
    • The prototypical customer would be anyone currently living in or looking to move to the suburbs. 
    • This would be a relatively easy opportunity to exploit, as long as one studies which specific suburbs people are becoming interested in and what they normally demand as consumers. 
    • Why? This opportunity presented itself to me specifically because my family is in the middle of a big move and need to look at how places are changing and how the market for houses is being affected by these changes. One who is not looking for a home might not see this opportunity because they aren't interested in how the demographics in some places could be changing. 
Regulatory Changes
  1. Paid leave and minimum wage hikes. I see this as an opportunity for businesses to help create a better work -life balance. I also see this as an opportunity for big businesses to focus more on their workers. 
    • I discovered this regulatory changes when I saw people post about it on social media and how it was affecting them. 
    • I think an opportunity exists because of the direct effect this has on businesses and families. However, this seems to pose an issue for small businesses who can't keep up with the high minimum wages and increased amount of paid leave. 
    • The most likely customer would be individuals looking for better pay and willing to work hard for it. 
    • This might be a difficult opportunity to exploit because of the risk involved in onboarding new people and struggle that small businesses face. 
    • Why? This opportunity stood out to me because I have worked for small businesses and large corporations and saw the difference in what a dollar meant to each of them. Therefore, individuals who work in large corporations may not see an issue
  2. Federal tax policy reform. This would be an opportunity to benefit small businesses in America and use those benefits like tax deductions to invest back into themselves or individuals. 
    • I realized this opportunity on social media and the news where they were talking about how this would impact the overall economy. 
    • What leads me to believe that an opportunity exists is the benefits that small businesses would receive once implemented. Small businesses would be able to get tax deductions which would really help small businesses succeed. 
    • The most likely customer to this opportunity would be small business owners and workers in America. 
    • This opportunity is definitely easy to exploit because it is a direct benefit to small businesses. 
    • Why? I just saw this and thought it applied to me as an individual who wants to start their own business one day. Therefore, I am very interested in how things are affecting the future of small business. An individual who isn't interested in small businesses might not see this as an opportunity because they are simply not bothered by small businesses in America. 

Assignment #5 Identifying Local Opportunities

Identifying Local Opportunities
From the Miami Herald
  1. "Teens burned to death after 116-mph crash. Lawsuit blames Tesla for the speed and fire."
  2. "VENEZUELA - Food shortages, hyperinflation stoke hunger that overwhelms - About one-third of Venezuelans are eating only one meal a day, due to the country's economic collapse under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Lack of food and hyperinflation are the leading causes of the hunger."
  3. "Here are the major chains that may have stocked turkey recalled in salmonella outbreak."
  4. "Federal government - Paychecks, mortgages, audits: - how South Florida is feeling shutdown's effects"
    • https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AMIHB%21Miami%2BHerald%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0106%21January%2B06&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/170CB70673783178
    • The effect of the 2 week long  government shutdown has been difficult for those in South Florida. Thousands of South Florida government workers won't get their paychecks on time. Courts are running low on money, therefore, it will soon be difficult to function. All sorts of government agencies have been running low on money as well, which has an enormous impact on South Florida. Because Trump won't approve of a national budget until it includes a certain amount of money for a border wall that he approves. 
    • The problem presented is the lack of productivity currently in the federal government, the unproductive nature of government agencies, and lack of pay for government workers. Also airport security seems to be heavily affected by this. 
    • This problem is the large affect that this shutdown has on government workers and their families, who rely on their income. This also affects the United States as a whole and other countries since it is a global economy. 
  5. "Florida Health officials delayed notifying residents about tainted water, emails say"

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Assignment #4 Forming an Opportunity Belief

Forming an Opportunity Belief


  1. I believe that students are unhappy with parking options available on campus. 
  2. The unmet need is that students want to have easy and convenient access to parking on campus.  This need, I believe, has become an increasing issue with today's students. To meet this need, students are seeking alternative routes to campus in which they don't need parking, such as walking, busing, biking, or even ubering. 
  3. The prototypical "customer" would be students that live off campus who need a place to park on campus. 
All prototypical customers are students at UF.
  1. Prototypical customer #1: A student who lives off campus and needs on campus parking. The nature of the need is being able to park conveniently on campus during school hours because they live far off campus. They sometimes experience this need, but sometimes they get lucky and find a parking spot. This need has existed for them ever since they arrived to UF for their freshman semester. They address this need by not driving to campus as much as they would like to, oftentimes using the bus. They are pretty unsatisfied with this solution because they would like to utilize their car and its benefits. 
    • Reflection: I learned that this is a pretty big issue for this customer who would like to see improvements happening soon. 
  2. Prototypical customer #2: This customer is a student at UF, however they do not own a car, and therefore, does not have a need for improved parking on campus. However, they are reluctant to get a car because of the difficulties that they see others having when it comes to parking on campus. They do not have an unmet need as of right now regarding on campus parking, however they may in the future if they decide to buy a car. 
    • Reflection: This student is an example of one who doesn't have this unmet need. He takes away from my idea that all student at UF want more convenient parking. 
  3. Prototypical customer #3: This customer lives off campus and has a car however, they live walking distance to campus so they do not use their car to get to campus. They became aware of this need once they moved to an off campus location this year, but filled it by deciding to walk to campus anyways. They are happy with their decision to walk. 
    • Reflection:  This student is another example of one who doesn't need improved on campus parking. This shows me that my opportunity isn't as pressing of an issue as I thought it was. 
Summary
I do still believe that my opportunity is still there, just not as much as I had originally thought. There are plenty of students that are satisfied with their means of transportation on getting to campus, or they just don't even need it. My opportunity has become more specific and has given me more ideas that I should consider when evaluating this opportunity, such as, the location of parking, who should get what decals, and the magnitude of the demand for on campus parking. Entrepreneurs should definitely take feedback into consideration when exploiting an opportunity. Satisfying the customer and their needs is definitely one of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship. For new firms I believe you should weigh heavily the feedback of customer, however, for more established firms, one should weigh a cost benefit analysis more heavily than feedback. 

Assignment #3 My Entrepreneurship Story

My Entrepreneurship Story

For an assignment in middle school, we were tasked with coming up with a brand new product that we would "sell" to the class. My best friend, Hayley, and I set out to create what we considered the biggest contribution to the food industry since sliced bread. We invented the "sporkife": a spoon, fork, and knife all in one utensil. What we did was attach a spork to a knife, as seen in the picture. We realize this was an awful invention after trying to use it. It was painful to use since the knife was where your hand was supposed to go and it was also impractical because typically, you need to use a knife and fork together to cut your food. However, we did not present these flaws to the class and only talked about all the benefits it had, and the class ended up loving the idea.

Why ENT3003? 
I enrolled in ENT3003 honestly because I love watching the show Shark Tank. I also am interested in opening my own small business one day. I hope to be able to see a vision for my future and be confident in my ability to start a business of my own. I'm not sure what kind of business I would like to own, so I hope this class gives me some ideas on what I could do with my skills. 

Assignment #2 Bug List

Bug List

  1. When my roommates don't clean up after themselves. 
    • Why? They are probably too busy at the moment and will get around to cleaning shortly. 
  2. Walking up to the stoplight and it doesn't allow me to cross immediately.
    •  Why? It is timed and I have no way of knowing when I should be at the stoplight.
  3. Falling asleep with wet hair. 
    • Why? I delay taking a shower until the end of the night. Simple solution: shower earlier. 
  4. Someone not saying thank you when I hold the door open for them. 
    • Why? They probably have something else on their mind. 
  5. My headphones being tangled. 
    • Why? I am too lazy to wrap them nice and neatly every time I put them away. 
  6. When something won't download properly on the computer.
    • Why? I am doing something wrong and bad with technology. 
  7. The wifi not working. 
    • Why? Maybe too many people are using it at one time. 
  8. Needing to take multiple attempts to get my hair into a decent ponytail. 
    • Why? I am usually a rush, if I were to slow down a little bit I would probably have more success. 
  9. Wanting to stay hydrated, but having to pee all day long. 
    • Why? That's just how the human body works. 
  10. Opening the fridge to an empty Brita that my roommates left for me to refill. 
    • Why? They probably don't realize they emptied out the Brita. 
  11. When my nail polish chips. 
    • Why? I always forget to put a top coat on. 
  12. Dropping the spoon in my food. 
    • Why? Carelessness. 
  13. Just being hungry
    • Why? I don't eat as often as I should. 
  14. When I get locked out of my apartment.
    • Why? I am a forgetful human. 
  15. My phone keeps reminding me that I'm out of storage.
    • Why? I bought a phone with too little storage. 
  16. Needing to sneeze but ending up not. 
    • Why? I'm not sure why this happens. 
  17. Not being able to figure out what my password is to literally anything?
    • Why? Because I don't have my passwords written down, like they should be. 
  18. Not being able to find the remote when I am trying to watch something that starts in 1 minute. 
    • Why? I misplace things a lot. 
  19. One of my roommates when she goes up and down the stairs. 
    • Why? I don't know its like she is trying to be as loud as possible or something. 
  20.  People who have road rage at people for driving the speed limit. 
    • Why? Maybe they have anger issues, I don't know, but there isn't a reason to get mad at someone for driving the speed limit, especially if you're not in a rush. 
Reflection
I mainly think I had a hard time coming up with "bugs" because I simply don't get annoyed by many things. Sure, I find some of the things on my list inconvenient, but I am not left, necessarily, disappointed by these daily bugs. Not many things that happen to me on a daily basis are enough to bug me. It was difficult to do this assignment because I haven't ever had to go about my day, out of my way, to notice things that bother me. Usually, when things bother me, I get inconvenienced for less than one minute then have forgotten about what was wrong so I can go about my day happily. 

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