Assignment 14A

Halfway Reflection

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

1A. One thing that I have done to keep up with the requirements of this course is to schedule out what I have to do each week for this course. This has allowed me to plan for how much time I will need to allot before this time has passed. 

2. 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?

2A. One week I saved my weekly assignments until a few hours before each of them were due. To be honest, I considered giving up and not doing the assignments. I tried to justify this by telling myself that I had had a difficult week. What pulled me through was picturing how I would feel a few days after the assignments were due. Would I be glad that I decided to not do the assignments? No. I would only be satisfied if I had given it my best effort. I ended up completing the assignments with quality and in a timely manner. I don’t feel that my tenacity has improved immensely, but I do feel that I have been planning better than I was at the beginning of the semester. This has saved me from needing tenacity and discipline when my motivation wanes. 

3. 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' ?

3A. My first tip to be more tenacious is to understand your reason for taking this class. If you can need motivation, you can return to this and strive to achieve what you desire from this class. My second tip is to plan out your academic week. This will allow you to have a clear image of what you need to do each week, which will undoubtedly foster your tenacity. My third tip is to strive to do your best. Constantly ask yourself, “Is this the best work that I can do?” If not, strive to make it your best. This will force you to pursue excellence. 

Assignment 13A

Reflection on Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

1a. The thing that surprised me the most about this book was that Phil Knight’s company, Nike, had many struggles along the way to becoming the renowned empire that it is today. For many years, Knight struggled immensely with financing his company. 

1b. What I admire most about Knight is his perseverance. No matter how difficult the challenges that he faced, he seemed to always believe in himself and his company. This allowed him to surpass great challenges that seemed impossible to defeat.

1c. I least admired how Knight treated his family. Although he did seem to love them, at times he ignored important family matters when obsessing over his company.

2. A few competencies that Phil Knight had were his knowledge of running, his connection to his track coach at Oregon, and his perseverance. Each of these greatly benefitted him when starting Nike and allowed him to break from Onitsuka Tiger, the company he was originally partnering with. 

3. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the relationships that Knight had with managers working for Onituska Tiger. These managers sometimes helped Knight out, and then they betrayed him. Knight did not make this clear why this happened, so this made the story a bit confusing.

4. I would ask him how he was able to believe in himself despite the overwhelming challenges that he faced. I would also ask him what he would pursue today if he was my age. I would ask him these questions because I feel like the answers would help me in my own life. 

5. I think Knight's definition of hard work was relentlessly pursuing opportunities in the face of hardship. I would agree with this definition because it seems to encapsulate what hard work really seems like to me: doing the stuff that you don’t want to do and doing it without stopping. 

Assignment 12A

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Although the group of people I would market towards are parents, teachers, and schools, I decided to talk to some students because they are the group of people that have the problem. In order to find more about the people who would benefit from my service, I interviewed three people who are currently enrolled in school: two of my younger cousins and one family friend. I asked them mainly about how they studied, what type of classes they found the most difficult to study for, and whether their teachers had even attempted to teach them how to study for their class. A major finding from these interviews that I drew was that students have a hard time studying for math-based classes. When probing the interviewees why they found it so hard to study for such classes, they all decided that there wasn’t any material to study. Unsurprisingly, each one said that math classes were the classes that they struggled with the most. After receiving these answers, I asked the interviewees whether their teachers had told them how to study for their tests. Each interviewee had a few different answers, but the ones that were talked about the most were study guides and rereading the material. When I asked this same question about math classes specifically, the answer was study guides. I asked them how they studied for math classes and each one said that they simply completed the study guide, and that was it. I then asked the interviewees if they had tried anything besides only completing the study guides, and the answers varied. My younger cousin said that he had tried to do other problems from the textbook for one of his math tests, and he got a better grade than normal. 

These interviews revealed important information that I expected before coming into the interviews. These interviews confirmed to me that kids in middle school struggle with math-based exams, and aren’t really doing anything about it. Additionally, their teachers don’t seem to be much help when it comes to studying for the tests. Although it was obvious that the interviewees wanted to get better scores on their tests, each one seemed to believe that it was out of the realm of possibility for them to do so. This revealed to me that my service needs to include some psychological reinforcement in addition to the educational aspect.

Assignment 11A

Idea Napkin

1. I am a student at the University of Florida and am majoring in General Business. My skills include problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity. My aspirations are to enjoy life and help people solve their problems. I see my business concept as one that I would work on in my free time and continue to work at until I feel that I am not helping anyone by pursuing this opportunity. 

2. WHAT ARE YOU OFFERING TO CUSTOMERS?

My service would be a service that goes to schools and informs teachers about how they should be telling their students how to study and learn their specific class. I would mainly focus on helping teachers inform their students how they should be studying for tests. This will help students clear their confusion about how they can be effective and efficient when studying in order to reach their goals in the classroom.

3. WHO ARE YOU OFFERING IT TO?

Although I would be selling my service to schools, the students would be the primary market that would benefit from my service. The service would primarily be targeted towards middle school and high school students who are seeking better grades on tests. I would not limit my market to any specific gender, race, or income level.

4. WHY DO THEY CARE?

Although schools would directly pay for my service, I will talk about why students care about my service because they are the ones who will benefit the most from it.  Students will find my service valuable because not only will it allow them to get better grades in the classroom, it will also save them time when studying. This will make their parents happier and will give them more time for activities that they would rather be doing. Additionally, this service will benefit them for many more years as they still have many years of schooling ahead.

5. WHAT ARE YOUR CORE COMPETENCIES?

I believe that my primary core competency is that, from what I have seen, there is not a single company that is offering this service to schools. While the barriers to entry might be relatively nominal, I believe through some experience, I could develop a service tailored perfectly to the needs of the students. This experience would put me far ahead of anyone else trying to compete against me. Another core competency that I have is that I am young and have recently experienced the need that I am trying to fill. My proximity to the problem gives me a more empathetic nature than most potential competitors.

COHESIVENESS

Although I do believe that my business model is fairly cohesive, one part that seems to be a bit unsteady is my target market. I talked about how the need is one that comes from students, although they cannot pay for my service. I may need to market my service more towards parents and schools. This is something that I have struggled with, and I am unsure how this fits into my business model. Although schools and parents would both benefit from my service greatly, I am unsure whether I should also consider these segments as a part of my target market because they would not be benefited as much as students would be.

Assignment 10A

Here is the link to my elevator pitch:
https://youtu.be/HdIQdNWpFw0

Assignment 9A

Who: After interviewing 5 more people, it was very clear to me that although students will benefit from my service, they are not the group who will allow this opportunity to be carried out. One of the people that I interviewed, Sam, said that students don’t really have any way to help me, other than maybe through social media. I had not considered this, but it did seem like a good idea. If students could hear about my service through social media, then they could tell their parents and teachers about my service. This could allow my service to spread through word of mouth.

What: The need that I have identified is a need for students to be better informed. When interviewing my brother about this opportunity, one of his first questions was, “so, is it like a tutoring service?” This is NOT what my service would provide. For my service to be carried out, I wouldn’t even have to be in contact with the students. This service would inform the teachers of the students on how to improve their students studying effectiveness. 

Why: Interestingly enough, the need of the students (outsiders) is actually the need that I am addressing. This seems to blur to the boundary between who my target market is. One of my interviewees, Lyndi, was very unsure about this. TO clear any confusion, I made the distinction that the need is a need of STUDENTS, but this need is one that can be rectified easiest THROUGH TEACHERS AND PARENTS. This seemed to make sense to Lyndi, and she said she then agreed that I would need to go through parents and teachers to get this need filled.

Inside the boundary

• parents and teachers
• the need for better studying practices for students
• the need exists because no one has informed students

Outside the boundary

• students have the need but are outside the boundary
• the need is not a tutoring service
• an alternative explanation could be that it is the students’ responsibility to figure out the best way to study.

Assignment 8A

Assignment 8A

1.) The opportunity that I would like to exploit is to help teach schools (elementary and high schools) how they can inform their students about how they should be learning and studying.

2.) The service that I would like to offer is to teach principals and teachers how they should be telling their students how to study. In order to do this, I would reference scientific studies that prove which ways are effective when trying to study for tests, and which methods are ineffective. I would distinguish between two different types of classes: quantitative classes and qualitative classes. Each one would have distinct differences and would give teachers a systematic plan to enact in order to better inform students about how they can improve their learning and studying. 

Assignment 7A

Assignment 7A

Testing my hypothesis: 

1. The opportunity that I would like to address is how students are never taught how to study for tests, and what is the most efficient way to learn new material. 
2. The who: students that want to get better grades

The what: Students do not know how to study effectively, and feel lost when trying to learn new material.

The why: No one ever teaches students how to learn and study effectively, despite how important it is for everyone.

3. Testing the who: While this problem is most directly connected to students, they will not be of much financial help in order for me to carry out this opportunity. After talking to one of my friends about this idea, he mentioned that he thought this was a great idea, but not many students would be willing to pay enough money for this to be a profitable opportunity. He said that this opportunity might be one that should be targeted towards elementary schools, high schools, and parents that want their kids to excel in school. While targeting parents had already come to me before talking to my friend, targeting schools had not. It had never occurred to me that schools might be willing to pay for someone to teach their kids how they can better study and learn new material. 

4. Testing the what: I think that this problem is not that no one knows the most efficient ways to study, as there is lots of research out about which ways work and which ways do not. I think the problem is that students do not know about this research, and there is not any way for kids to learn about this at a young age. The problem is that schools do not teach their students how they should study. By informing school teachers and principals that their students could achieve higher scores if they were taught how to learn and to study, it would follow that schools would decide to teach their students the most effective ways to go about learning. When talking to my mom about this newly defined problem, she mentioned how it would be difficult for a principal or teacher to trust a college student without a degree. She said that there would need to be evidence that shows substantial improvements in grades for a school to dish out money for such a program to be adopted. This revealed to me that a complication in my opportunity would be convincing schools that significant improvements in grades could be achieved.

5. Testing the why: When talking to my sister about this opportunity, she agreed with me that the reason that students have this problem is that no one is there to guide them on how to study and learn. She also addressed a new issue that I had not seen. She said that it would be hard to standardize a course to teach principals and teachers about how they should inform their students since all classes are so different. She said that this might be why this opportunity had not previously been addressed. While this is true, I think that two separate courses could be offered: teachers who teach quantitative subjects and others who teach qualitative courses could be taught two distinct ways to tell their students how they should study. This would give students a specific plan to enact in their courses. My sister agreed with me that this would be beneficial to students, as these different types of course obviously need to be learned in distinct ways.

6. Summary: After interviewing my Mom, Sister, Dad, and two of my friends, there were a few clear takeaways that I could draw from these discussions. The first revelation I drew from these interviews is that I might not be the person who could exploit this opportunity because I do not have any credibility. Each person that I interviewed seemed to point out that it would be extremely difficult for schools to pay money to a college student to teach their teachers how they could better inform their students how they can learn and study more effectively. Another takeaway from my interviews was that while there is scientific evidence pertaining to learning and studying effectively, each of my interviewees pointed out that every person learns differently. While I disagree with this fact, it was useful to understand that people have this perception, because it reveals to me a misconception that will need to be addressed when convincing schools to purchase this service. I think that these interviews were revealing and somewhat disheartening, but I still believe this opportunity is one that could be exploited.

Assignment 6A

 Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Regulatory Opportunity #1- Trying to connect U.S. farmers and manufacturers to Chinese buyers.

a.) I found this opportunity by reading the Wall Street Journal. After reading an article about Chinese tariffs, I had an idea for this opportunity. 

b.) This article talks about how China has dropped tariffs on U.S. imports, but it also mentioned how CHina’s trade deal that they signed with the U.S. will force them to import a certain amount of U.S. products over the coming years. I believe that this means that Chinese buyers are going to be looking for opportunities whenever they get the chance to buy from U.S. suppliers. I believe that the prototypical customers a U.S. supplier that has the products that China has vowed to buy. The article mentions soybeans, poultry, and oil. Although i’m not completely familiar with international trade, I believe that this opportunity might not be difficult to exploit, because it does not cost any money.

c.) I saw this opportunity mainly because the article specifically mentioned the products that China needs to import. This seemed like an obvious opportunity to try to connect these specific industries in the United States.

2. Regulatory Opportunity #2- Selling airline companies marketing advice related to “No Travel” ban to China

a.) I found this opportunity from reading a Wall Street Journal article. The article was about the coronavirus outbreak in China, and how many countries have banned travel to China

b.) This article mentions how many countries have set regulations on traveling to China due to the recent Coronavirus outbreak. this information makes me think that there might be an opportunity available because many openly have inevitably canceled flights to China. In order to exploit this, I think that Airline companies should advertise other countries s that have similar attractions to China that their customers might want to fly to. Additionally, airline companies should offer discounts to customers who had to cancel flights to China. I don’t think this opportunity would be too difficult to exploit. I would need to research countries that are similar to China, create macerating information for customers of airlines, and then sell these to Airline companies.

c.) I saw this opportunity because I thought of all the disgruntled travelers that would have to cancel their plans. As I know how frustrating it is to have to cancel plans, I thought that an opportunity would be available to replace plans to travel to China with other travel plans. 

3. Economic Opportunity #1- Connecting Skilled Workers to Small businesses 

a.) I found this opportunity from reading a Wall Street Journal article. The article talked about how unemployment has dropped very low, so many small businesses are having trouble finding skilled workers.

b.) This article goes into detail about the current state of the U.S. economy and how unemployment rates have affected small businesses. This makes me think that many small businesses desperately need skilled workers, but don’t have the resources to seek out these workers. I think a typical customer for this service would be almost any small businesses that are hiring. I think this opportunity would be relatively easy to exploit, as it will not cost any money or require any innovation.

c.) I saw this opportunity because of my past experiences. My aunt and uncle own an event planning business and I know that low unemployment rates have made it harder for them to find workers that have the skills that are needed for the jobs that they are hiring for.

4. Economic Opportunity #2- Help find jobs for energy company workers

a.) I found this opportunity from reading a Wall Street Journal article about struggling energy companies. This article addressed the lack of revenues coming from Chinese buyers due to the impact of the Coronavirus.

b.) This article talks about how many energy companies are struggling, and how some might go bankrupt this year. This would cause many people that worked at these companies to be out of work. I think that the prototypical customer for this service would be someone who recently lost their job due to the bankruptcy of an energy company. I think that this opportunity would be easy to exploit if energy companies close, but this might not happen if the state of the Coronavirus in China improves soon. 

c.) I saw this opportunity in this article because I was trying to think about how the news in the article would affect individual people. I realized that people might lose their jobs, and would eventually be looking for more jobs. I think that a service that evaluates their skills, and help them find jobs to match these skills would be a successful opportunity.