Assignment #14 Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?  

• Through out this course I have worked harder to start the assignments early instead of doing them at the last minute. A lot of the assignments require a great deal of time and interaction with other people. To be able to do this and get this most out of each assignment you need to start early and pace yourself throughout the week. I have also had to be determined when asking others for their input during interviews. A lot of people are quick to say no I don't want to talk to you. 

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

• When I was working on the workshop I couldn't think of a quick instant solution to my problem. I started to get really frustrated with the assignment thinking it was too difficult to do. The reason I stuck with it was because one I wanted to get the extra credit points and two because I was determined to do it since I knew others had done it too. I think I have become more tenacious. I want to learn as much as possible in this course and to do that you need to be tenacious and work hard. I think the interviews and workshop have contributed the most to my experiences. 

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ? 

• The three tips I would give are:
• 1. Start assignments early.  The earlier you start the more time and effort you can put into the assignments and you are going to need it. 
• 2. Don't get discouraged when people don't want to be interviewed. It is hard to talk to strangers, but it is even harder when no one wants to talk to you. But just be persistent.
• 3. Focus on what you are learning from each assignment. By digging deeper into the assignments and understanding why each is important helps me to be tenacious and work hard on them. Understanding what I am getting out of the assignment makes it more worthwhile. 

Assignment #13- Reading Reflection #1

I read "Grinding it Out" by Ray Kroc.

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?
• What surprised me the most was that Ray Kroc did not actually create McDonalds.  He simply expanded the business to what we know it to be today. Two brothers started McDonalds and had no plans to expand the business until Ray came along and said he would do it for them. After many years he was finally successful and bought out the brothers to be the sole owner of the McDonalds name. 
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• I admired his endurance to grind it out. Ray hit many lows and hard times that were hard to come out of. Through his hard work and determination to make McDonald's a huge franchise he made it through all of the tough times. It is hard for me to imagine that I would have kept with the idea for as long as he did.  
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• Ray Kroc gave up his family to start McDonald's. With his first wife and daughter he did not spend any time with them so they grew apart and he ended up getting a divorce and being estranged from them.  His next wife he married after only knowing her for a few weeks. This marriage did not last long. A woman named Joni, who was married, was Ray Kroc's true love. After many years she finally decided to divorce her husband and marry Ray. When this happened Ray dropped his second wife like she meant nothing to him. I found this to be extremely revolting behavior. To me family should always come first, and because of that in my eyes Ray was not a good man. 
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• Ray faced many adversities and failures. The whole point of the book is to point out how he over came each by grinding it out. No matter what came out Ray believed in McDonalds and the company it could be. He out in all his time and money to grind it out and make things work, and in the end he was successful. McDonalds is one of the worlds most known restaurants. 

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

• Ray was persistent. He did not stop when he hit a wall, he plowed through it. He was also very smart to surround himself with hard working, smart individuals. He knew what he lacked in and surrounded himself with people who had those traits.  

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

• There was one part of the book that started to explain the financials and financial problems that McDonalds faced early on. This part of the book was hard for me to follow simply because I do not completely understand finance and how to all works together. I did understand that over all point that McDonalds was in trouble and had to find a way to get out of it.  

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

• Do you ever regret leaving your first wife and daughter and not having a strong relationship with your daughter?
• I would ask this question to see if he would go back and change how he treated them, or would he do the same thing over again. 
• Did you ever imagine that McDonalds would be as huge as it is today?
• I would ask this question because I know the book said that he thought McDonalds would be a huge success, but I want to know if he imagined it to go as global as it has. Wanting a company to be a success is much different than wanting it to be a success globally. 

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

• I think Ray's opinion of hard work was doing what ever it took to make his company grow.  He let nothing come in the way of work, not family, not health, nothing personal. He spent all his time on McDonalds and grinding it out. I do not agree with Ray's opinion. I believe that family comes above everything, even work. 

Assignment #11- Idea Napkin #1

1) You- I am a student at the University of Florida. I have witnessed this problem of losing your keys while out partying, and I have first hand experience seeing people have this problem and understand the frustration. I am also a business student taking principles of entrepreneurship and understand how to start get a business. My family also runs their own business so I have grown up listening to work stories and learning about business. I am a very self motivated driven individual and will work hard to see my business become successful. My goal for this business is to help college students lose their keys less and save time, money, and frustration. If I were to pursue this business idea I see myself supplementing my income with the profit.

2) What are you offering to customers? The product I am creating is a bracelet, anklet, and clip that you will attach your keys to and then wear as an accessory to your outfit. the bracelet and anklet will be marketed towards females and the clip will be marketed towards both males and females. The customer will not need to worry about their keys falling out of their pocket or purse because it will be secured to their body. 

3) Who are you offering it to? My customers will be college students and young adults around colleges that go out to crowded places to drink. The main characteristics of my customers will be younger drinkers who binge drink and lose track of what they are doing and where their things are. They also drink in crowded areas. 

4) Why do they care? The customers will pay for my product because it saves them, time, money, and frustration. The customer usually realizes that they lost their keys when they have finally made it home late at night. At this point they have a few options waste time and money to go back to the bars and look for their keys, waste money on calling a locksmith, if you can find one working that late, to come open the door, or pounding on doors and windows to wake up your roommate if you have one. All of these cause frustration. If the customer had my product they would not have to go through any of these in the end saving them time, money, and frustration. 

5) What are your core competencies?  What sets me apart from everyone else is my specific designs and fashion ideas. To make the product successful it needs to be fashionable so that students will wear it. I also know exactly how to market the product to the customer since I am also a college student. I will be able to relate to the customer more than others. 

Reflection: I think that everything works together except for me. I do not think I have enough experience or ambition to make this product successful. I do not have a big aspiration to start my own business.  But I think this could be a very viable opportunity. 

Assignment #9- Testing the Hypothesis #2

Who: I found that the who that applies to my problem is not simply all college students and young adults. The who depends largely on if they go out to party, where they go out to party, and how much they usually drink. I talked with one female who says that she doesn't drink often and when she does it is usually at home with a few friends. I talked with another male who said that he does not have the problem because he doesn't binge drink and therefore doesn't have a problem keeping track of his keys.  Because of these interviews, I determined that this problem applies specifically to those who go out to crowded bars or house parties and drink excessively. It is important to note that the where the person was drinking greatly affected if they would lose their keys. Two of my interviewees mentioned that when they have a chill night out and go downtown to less crowded bars they do not lose their keys. It is when they go out to crowded bars or house parties.
- The who that does not have this problem is mainly college students and young adults who do not drink. This covers a decent percentage of college students that we would have to take out of the market for this product.

What: I found that when I mentioned losing your keys people often also brought up losing their phone and ID. This is where I made a distinction between what the problem is and what they solution is. Two of my interviewees suggested combining in your phone and ID to the product. But through conversations with other interviewees I determined that the problem and solution would be different. Losing your phone and ID are a different problem because you constantly take out your phone and ID during a night out, compared with your keys you only need when you leave your home and when you get home. You never have to take them out. This is why I specifically focused the problem on losing your keys and created a solution to only solve that one problem.

Why: The under lying cause is excessive drinking. The difference between those in the boundary and those who are outside the boundary seem to be the amount a person drinks in addition to where they drink. The more a person drinks and the more crowded an area they are in the more likely they are going to lose their keys.



                 Inside the Boundary                                             Outside the Boundary

WHO:  Those who drink excessively                         Those who do not drink

             Those who drink in crowded areas                 Those who do not drink in crowded areas

                                                                                     Those who drink in moderation 


 WHAT: A way to not lose their keys                        A way to not lose their phone and ID

               A product that keeps their keys                    A product that keeps their phone and ID
               attached to their body                                         attached to their body


 WHY:   College students and young adults               People misplace small items easily
               drink to much in crowded areas and
               lose their keys                                               Pockets are not made deep enough to keep
                                                                                     keys from slipping out

                                                                                     Purses aren't secure enough to keep keys
                                                                                     from falling out

Assignment 10- Elevator Pitch

Here is the link to my elevator pitch:

https://youtu.be/yKCZNiApiBE