Elevator Pitch 4

Week 15 Reading Reflection

I enjoyed this chapter primarily based on the section that discusses the developing a succession strategy.  In our whats next blog where we talked about if we would sell off our business or keep it in the family, there were many things that seemed good on paper but there was a lot of how; this chapter helped clarify that confusion.

While I did not find the IPO process confusing, I did find it cumbersome.  It was a lot of material to read and comprehend and understand, perhaps it was the delivery of this section but I found it kind of overwhelming and I had to reread it several times.

My biggest question from this chapter was why must a person communicate after the sale?  Does not open pandoras box to issues that are out of their control?

Final Reflection

The best experience for me was My Unfair Advantage and the interview with an entrepreneur.  The interview with the entrepreneur gave me a first hand knowledge of the thought process of the entrepreneur, not only the first interview where I was just entering the class but also the one just a week ago where the entrepreneur could see that I had grown.  The unfair advantage helped me realize that I am stronger and better than I thought I was.  In times where I felt weak, the elevator pitches, the unfair advantage helped lift me up and reading other blogs, made me realize that it had a positive influence on ones self esteem.

I definitely think I have a lot more to learn and grow from as an entrepreneur but I most certainly think that a girl who had zero interest in running her own business when I started this class has evolved and I am constantly thinking...is there a need, could I fulfill that need?  I love that!

To do well in this class and to enjoy it, you need to watch the lectures, read the assignments in detail and plan ahead.  This particular course and the path of becoming an entrepreneur require time, patience and dedication.  If you do not have that, you will not enjoy the journey.  I also think acquiring a mentor along the way is incredibly helpful and gives you the opinions of outsiders who are experienced in the business world, this is outside of our student peer comments.

Life's a journey, enjoy the ride and learn from your mistakes.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

1.  Who has the need?
1. The need has not varied by much but it has been more customized to the clientele.  Working families appreciated grocery shopping, bachelors liked the aspect of dry cleaning pick-up or eent catering.  Students, while they likely could not afford the service, they liked the idea of the expansion (what's next) of powerpoint presentations or resume writing. 
2. Nature of the need?
1. The need is not a necessity but self satisfaction of having someone else handle mediocre tasks that you may not necessarily want to do or have time to do.
3. The forces or changes in the environment are creating this opportunity is convenience.  However, I have learned from the comments that this company is not recession proof and an expansion would be needed to keep it afloat.
4. The market has not expanded outside of the Central Florida area but geographically and demographically was conducted with in person surveys. However, I did further research after several peers told me other services like mine existed so I think there is a bigger demographic that I learned about.
5. Customers are currently satisfying this need by piece mealing their needs from different vendors instead of a one stop shop.  They are hiring a separate person to be a nanny and pick-up their kids, a groomer to come to their house, etc.
6. I think the opportunity is there but it may not be on a large scale and I would sway my marketing away from college towns because the students were the least interested.

Innovation

The services I am looking to provide is an on call concierge service.  Not all services will be included, such as oil changes or babysitting but a list of services would be available for lookup on the website or via the smartphone app.  The services will include, drop/off pick-up for airports, children school/after school activities, pet care (to and from the vet or groomers); it would include assistance in being the point of contact for catering events, could assist in making bank deposits, drop off/pick-up of car repair or detailing, dry cleaning drop/off pick-up.  Other services can be added upon reviewing of request and demand.  The cost for the service is a set $20 within a 10 mile radius of the pick-up location.  Thereafter, a charge of $1 per mile will be added for travel costs.

Venture Concept

1.  What are the reasons to think customers would switch to this new product?  How hard will it be to get them to switch?
1. Trust and convenience were the number one reasons I read that people would want this product.  As long as the people had background checks done and a reputable standing of clients, people would like to utilize this service.  The biggest demand being a loyal rewards program.  The expansion idea of resume and presentation services was also well received and something I would seriously consider adding. 
2. Who are the competitors?  What are their possible weaknesses or vulnerabilities? 
1. This was a rude awakening for me, I thought this was an innovative idea and many of my peers told me about other services.  Some specialized with just certain demographics like seniors and others were versatile like mine. One Concierge and Gazelle Concierge are just to name a few.
3. What role does packaging, your price points, distribution, customer support, the customer experience or the business location play in defining your business concept?
1. The best feedback I received was a referral services and loyal rewards.  Ie: if someone uses two services a week, could they get a discounted rate.  If they refer a friend, could they get one service for free.  My pricing structure has not changed and it would remain at $20 per errand.
4. How would you organize a “business” to support the ongoing production of your new product, service, or process? How many employees? What roles are in the venture?
1. I started out the company with just me in my previous post.  This time around I would include a couple of contract people to be on call, I realized if I had multiple clients and they needed me at the same time, I would quickly lose business if I could not fulfill the demands.  Eventually I would like to grow the business to other areas outside of Central Florida and use my family who lives in other states to trust to run the business.

Google Gold

1.  Some of the activities for each blog post to pursue SEO is labels, keyword searches, images, while I did not personally activate locations, I know that would have been beneficial as well.

2.  The keywords that were used were the ones provided by the professor such as Week 13 reading reflection, Google Gold for this project, etc.

3.  The only form of social media that I used was YouTube, I gained more traction to by YouTube account which was awesome.  I do not necessarily think I gained a whole lot of extra traction to by though, perhaps if I talked about more scandalous topics like celebrity bloggers or isolated to a group, like makeup and hair enthusiast but for this particular class, it looks like the most traction I got was from my fellow peers.

4.  My most viral post was Venture Concept No. 1.  I am thinking the post was so viewed because of the keyword search, specifically "venture".  I captured people from all over the US, not just Florida.

5.  I did not make it to the first page of google results.  I searched the first 10 pages and did not come up so I am uncertain if I am doing this correctly, how would I find what page?

Week 14 Reading Reflection

Not necessarily a surprise but establishing a firms value was somewhat overwhelming.  There is different valuation methods that require a great deal of accounting knowledge.  With a cheat sheet in front of me I'm sure I would understand the value more but when reading and then reflecting back on it, I kept mixing everything up.  I had no idea that there were so many method for venture valuation.

A question for the author would be why do most analyst agree that the real value of any venture is in its potential earning power?  And why does discounted earnings method determine the firms true value vs. other methods?

It is hard for me to say if the author was wrong about anything because this was a greatly detailed chapter with different methods of measurement and I do not know enough to determine if they are wrong.  I have more "why's" than anything.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

So that the two interviews compare next to each other, I am including the link to my first interview:

http://nicoleslifeatuf.blogspot.com/2016/01/very-short-interview-no-1.html

I found my first interview to be spot on but a little simplistic.  Perhaps because I am obtaining a business degree I have a better understanding of business models and what is required to make your business truly successful, especially with the exercises from this class.  I realized that before you start moving forward in pursuing a business you need to listen first, you need to survey people, you need to query the demand.

My interview with my entrepreneur a second time took place via phone.  The questions I asked are as follows:

What efforts did you put in to determining the demand for a daycare before opening?

Honestly, my decision to open a daycare was purely for selfish reasons.  I had no job and the I needed to earn income sooner than later.  I started in my home and once I gained enough money, I expanded to full functioning daycare in a commercial area.  My thought has always been, people will always have children, more than half will go back to work, there will always be a demand.  My location for my business was decided by some friends who worked in the theme parks.  They were constantly complaining about the lack of availability of a daycare close to their job and the hours of operation.

Do you query your customers on changes in the business before actually putting them in place?

Sometimes.  When we decided to do an "after hours" babysitting service once a month for the parents to have date nights, we asked that parents.  Other decisions, like us recently going gluten free was a decision I made on my own.

What's next for you?

We are expanding.  I am actually in Puerto Rico right now looking at land that my family owns.  We are thinking of opening a daycare here and having my brothers wife run the operation.  It is a small step and more of a 3 year plan than immediately.

I do think that the entrepreneur that I interviewed was surprised in my level of confidence in this interview.  On question three, she actually commented "great question", that made me feel and made me realize the personal growth I have had in my knowledge as a potential business owner which in turns gives you more confidence.  I feel like I personally have grown as a person, with little steps, my experience in public speaking has improved slightly and I've learned something critical in becoming a business owner.  Seek first to understand, ask questions...then execute!