Final Reflection

Final Reflection:

-Throughout this course, there have been a number of highs and low; from scrambling to do reading reflections late Sunday nights to getting a lot of positive, and very useful feedback. The most memorable experience within the scope of this class was that of giving away dollar bills to strangers. Awkward yet hilarious, and that is why i shall remember it for so long. 

I think i have definitely have been on a journey and everyday i come a little close to having a true entrepreneurial mindset. I will only truly gain this mindset via becoming fully entrenched in the real-world work environment.

The one recommendation i would have for future students would be that of to simply, keep up with the course and do not be afraid to get ahead. You never know when things will come up and its just always better to have a couple extra days built in to do something. Truly enjoyed this class and will remember it for years to come. 

-Mitch  

Week 15 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

-I was surprised most about the part about how they only extend the loans to women. In these cultures it is to my knowledge that they are very patriarchal in nature and that is the main reason it surprises me so much. you would think they would extend them to the head of the household but i guess not.

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

Nothing was confusing in this reading to me to be honest. The only thing that I had to read over again was the part concerning the function of the loans themselves. Other than that, this was a very interesting read.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-My first question is "Why did you pick this setting to discuss and not a more developed place? and second, "Would you change anything about your study if you were to do it again?" Because I would be curious to know if he say any pitfalls in his research. 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I didn't see anything that the author was wrong about. The only wrong i see in this was that the loans were rather sexist in nature and that seemed strange considering current world social norms. 

Venture concept No. 2

Venture Concept No. 2: Specialized Financial Advising

My innovation is one that is scaled to a national level by big name financial advising firms but it has not yet been scaled down to local subsidiaries of bigger companies. This is exactly my opportunity. My idea is that to bring the robotic financial advisers into a business that highlights more personal interaction than that of a bigger chain advising firm such as Charles Schwab.

 These Robotic advisers are the new age of adviser. They are bringing in many tech-savvy millennials into the business and this greatly increases market potential. My market will be that of the Orlando area in which I believe the market for financial services is large and ever-growing with the rise of new sports teams in the area as well as the potential for more. Demographically this area is very diverse and my business would appeal to mostly younger but some older who could use financial advice in regards to loans, mortgages, investments, etc.

Customers are currently satisfying this need through standardized local firms or national chains in which the level of service is not nearly as personal or effective. With my company, you can enter the investment world into a very safe environment guided by the robo-adviser for the short term to get your feet wet and then ultimately once you feel comfortable, riskier, but more profitable investments can be pursued if one’s liking chooses to. The customers will only be loyal to their current advisers if the current adviser has a leg up in investment advice and services offered and I believe that our services offered will well exceed customers’ expectations to the extent that they will migrate to my services.

The opportunity is really unlimited as the Florida marketplace, in general, is very fast-growing and so could my business seeing it does well in the Orlando area. The window of opportunity is within the next 5-6 year as a lot of millennials will be graduating and looking for sound investment advice in order to repay student loans and start saving their money which they worked so hard to earn in the first place.

My business plan will be that of taking .5-1% fee cut of total assets managed under both the robo-advisers and our personal services. This .5-1%, in most cases, will be much less than that of the returns which our clients will hopefully see through the sound advice of our hard-working staff and robots. The percentage cut we take will depend on the size of the individual assets under our services on an individual client basis.

This new breed of adviser, the Robo adviser, works very simply and functionally. The ones that exist among national chains have that of two preferences for each client to fill out; risk tolerance and financial goals. It will then factor these things into your current investment and diversify you into a diversified platform of electronically traded funds(ETF’s). It will then use such strategies as tax-harvesting to make your returns as efficient as possible hopefully yielding at least a small return each day.

The only competitors are not at a local scale and lack the personal touch that my company will have. By this I mean, the chains have the same type of robo-advisers but they do not use them in complete tandem with a personal investment adviser like we will. We will assign each client a personal, board-certified adviser to go over and explain results of the robo-adviser routinely. This will ensure maximum clarity and help the clients learn about the process and become more competent investors themselves.  I hope to gain a good hold on the local market before I can start expanding, ultimately with the goal of one day becoming one of these national chains, but yet still preserving the same personal and caring nature that we will work so hard to maintain.

Hopefully my business venture is able to more effectively provide services through consistency and with help from the robo-advisers in significant if enough of a fashion in order to gain a competitive advantage over the competition itself. I am confident that with the right application of the 2 types of advisers in tandem that we can achieve our goal and then expand into new markets and spread our knowledge of the financial world with them and help them grow into retirement easily and comfortably.

2) Provide a summary of the feedback you received from your previous venture concept description. 

-The feedback i got was overwhelmingly positive as they said my post was detailed and well thought out. The actual only piece of constructive criticism I received was to clarify the relationship between the robo-adviser, adviser and client and I did that in the section about competitive advantage.

3) Describe how you changed your venture concept, based on what you learned from the feedback.

-I did not change much as I received all good feedback. I did clarify a few things such as the interactions between robo-advisers and advisers as requested in my feedback. Other than that, no changes were made. 

That's all the time I have for today,

Mitch

Reading Reflection Week 14

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

- The biggest surprise to me in this reading was that of the explanation of the entrepreneurial mind-set that varies in different organizations themselves. It was an interesting section that really made me think about the mindset i would like to have in the future.

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

-No part of the reading confused me this week as it was all coursework i had seen in other previous classes or in my internships.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-I would ask the author "Do you think different organizations encourage different mindsets for their employees" and "What role ethics plays in the different mindsets one can take as an entrepreneur?'' 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

-I don't think the author was wrong about any of the material as it all seemed very spot on. I enjoyed this chapter as it was interesting to apply to my own future as an entrepreneur. 

Google gold

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

-I just simply put keywords in the labels section of all my posts in order to get as much views as possible. It was moderately successful in the long run looking back at all my posts.

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

-My keywords were simply the week of the post and other things related to the individual post such as if it was a video or interview.

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

-I posted once about my blog for the class but it did not recieve any increased traffic from the post itself. Perhaps, next time i can more actively promote it.

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

-It was my second elevator pitch because I think it was of my well done video posts and people may have returned a second time to watch it. I rehearsed it a fair amount so it is nice that the hard work paid off.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

-I never made it to the first page as my blog was relatively a low traffic blog itself. I made it to the 6th page of results and i know this is not ideal but it is the truth. 

Very short Interview Part 2

1. From where you stand now, what is your impression of that initial interview?

-My impression of the initial interview was that it was very useful and it allowed me to start thinking and acting as other entrepreneurs do. The answers I were given were all very relatable in the sense that being an entrepreneur can be as simple as selling lemonade on the street as a kid. 

2. Interview: Daniel Moore

-What ways have you improved as an entrepreneur in the recent past?
"I have recently improved in my interactions with customers. I recently underwent a training program for salesmanship and personality of correct businessmen and women. This helped me in many aspects of my entrepreneurial life."

-What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
"My favorite aspect is that I, and only I, control my destiny in the business-world. It truly is a blessing to be successful and the fact that I built all my success myself makes it all the more satisfying."

-What advice do you have for me, a future entrepreneur?
"I would say, simply, work hard and do not let anyone tell you that you're not good enough to be successful."

3. In your post, discuss your comfort level in talking about entrepreneurship in this interview now, compared to three months ago. Did the entrepreneur convey a sense that they thought you had progressed in your journey?

-I had about the same level of comfort with this interview in all honesty. The entrepreneur seemed to think I seemed more well-versed with some concepts but did not explicitly convey that i had progressed.

Celebrating Failure

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. 

-This semester, there have been multiple times where i have failed but the one that stands out most was on my second exam for a class not to be named. I studied for about 7 days and went into the exam feeling very good about it. 5 minutes later, i realized i had studied the wrong material entirely and failed the hell out of that exam. 

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

-I learned that i need to check the syllabus before every exam to make sure i have the relevant course material straight.

3) Reflect, in general, on what you think about failure. Failure is hard, isn't it? It's embarrassing, sure, but it also means that we have to change something about ourselves. Talk about how you handle failure (emotionally, behaviorally). Finally, talk about how this class has changed your perspective on failure -- are you more likely to take a risk now than you were four months ago? 

-Failure is hard but necessary. Often, I learn more about myself and life through failure than i do from succeeding. This class has taught me that most business ventures fail and that through these experiences help you mitigate risk in the future. 

Exit Strategy

Venture Concept: Allen Financial Services Inc.

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children?

-I intend to take my business and develop into a nationally known name and then retire and pass it down to my children if they decide to do the same profession. Otherwise, the only solution i see is if I got bought out by a very large firm for an offer i could not turn down, only then would i sell my firm. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

-I have selected this strategy because I feel specifically that hard work pays off if you build something and developing a business over many years of hard work would be worth a lot. If i pass the same good habits to my children and they continue to develop it, then great success could be achieved. 

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? For instance, has it influenced how you have identified an opportunity? Has it influenced your growth intentions or how you plan to acquire and use resources?

-I think my exit strategy has influenced the other decisions I've made in my concept by it has allowed me to plan to work a long time and work towards what I want then to settle for some short term results. It also helped me identify the opportunity to breach the market itself. 

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

- The biggest surprise to me in this reading was that of the section on emotional bias and how one needs to take an objective point of view on their business to truly become successful. It was a very valid point that i will definitely think more about in the coming years. 

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

-No part of the reading confused me this week as it was all coursework i had seen in other previous classes.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-I would ask the author "Do you think emotional bias might make one work harder towards success and perhaps try where others might fail?" and "What part of due diligence do you find most important?" I ask these because these are relevant to many of my other class' coursework and would be interested in seeing if the viewpoints differ. 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

-I don't think the author was wrong about, perhaps, any of this material but the only thing i would change in this is the over-simplification some of the topics. I know i say this almost every week but i do think this book is rather simple in nature. That would be the only thing I would have changed personally. 

Venture Concept No. 1

Venture Concept No. 1: Specialized Financial Advising

My innovation is one that is scaled to a national level by big name financial advising firms but it has not yet been scaled down to local subsidiaries of bigger companies. This is exactly my opportunity. My idea is that to bring the robotic financial advisers into a business that highlights more personal interaction than that of a bigger chain advising firm such as Charles Schwab.

 These Robotic advisers are the new age of adviser. They are bringing in many tech-savvy millennials into the business and this greatly increases market potential. My market will be that of the Orlando area in which I believe the market for financial services is large and ever-growing with the rise of new sports teams in the area as well as the potential for more. Demographically this area is very diverse and my business would appeal to mostly younger but some older who could use financial advice in regards to loans, mortgages, investments, etc.

Customers are currently satisfying this need through standardized local firms or national chains in which the level of service is not nearly as personal or effective. With my company, you can enter the investment world into a very safe environment guided by the robo-adviser for the short term to get your feet wet and then ultimately once you feel comfortable, riskier, but more profitable investments can be pursued if one’s liking chooses to. The customers will only be loyal to their current advisers if the current adviser has a leg up in investment advice and services offered and I believe that our services offered will well exceed customers’ expectations to the extent that they will migrate to my services.

The opportunity is really unlimited as the Florida marketplace, in general, is very fast-growing and so could my business seeing it does well in the Orlando area. The window of opportunity is within the next 5-6 year as a lot of millennials will be graduating and looking for sound investment advice in order to repay student loans and start saving their money which they worked so hard to earn in the first place.

My business plan will be that of taking .5-1% fee cut of total assets managed under both the robo-advisers and our personal services. This .5-1%, in most cases, will be much less than that of the returns which our clients will hopefully see through the sound advice of our hard-working staff and robots. The percentage cut we take will depend on the size of the individual assets under our services on an individual client basis.

This new breed of adviser, the Robo adviser, works very simply and functionally. The ones that exist among national chains have that of two preferences for each client to fill out; risk tolerance and financial goals. It will then factor these things into your current investment and diversify you into a diversified platform of electronically traded funds(ETF’s). It will then use such strategies as tax-harvesting to make your returns as efficient as possible hopefully yielding at least a small return each day.

The only competitors are not at a local scale and lack the personal touch that my company will have. I hope to gain a good hold on the local market before I can start expanding, ultimately with the goal of one day becoming one of these national chains, but yet still preserving the same personal and caring nature that we will work so hard to maintain.

Hopefully my business venture is able to more effectively provide services through consistency and with help from the robo-advisers in significant if enough of a fashion in order to gain a competitive advantage over the competition itself. I am confident that with the right application of the 2 types of advisers in tandem that we can achieve our goal and then expand into new markets and spread our knowledge of the financial world with them and help them grow into retirement easily and comfortably.

Well that's about all the time I have for today,

Mitch

Amazon Whisperer

• Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money.

-The current drivers which I currently include in my business concept are that of my financial services themselves. These services which i would provide to all my clients are all based on a flat percentage fee of total assets managed per client.

• Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want?

-The next thing the customers want in this market is robo-advisers. These robo-advisers utilize tax-harvesting analysis among other complex algorithms to help younger, more tech-savvy individuals enter the realm of financial management. 

• Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?

-It will lure many new clients into the realm of financial advising and show them the true benefit that a real adviser(myself) could do for them in tandem with the robo-adviser.

• Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.

-Amazon does not offer a variation of this product. On the other hand, Charles Schwab, Betterment.com and other sites like these are in the forefront of offering robo-advisers to their customers with ease.

• What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it?

-The reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Most people make a little money due to low risk tolerance but steady growth. This is the mindset in which most younger, new to the investment world users take upon the start of their investing career.

• Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. -

-I would make the product simpler and stress the benefits it could have in tandem with a real adviser looking over everything the robo-adviser does. 

• Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering.

-I think this would make a good addition due to the synergy of the two types of advisers, and how, combined, can make financial goals more reachable in shorter amounts of time. 

Week 11 Reading Reflection

Gary Pisano: You Need an Innovation Strategy (Harvard Business Review, June 2015)

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

- The biggest surprise to me in thus reading was that of the criteria of what truly makes a company innovative. The part where it talks about complementary assets and how the synergy can give a company a real competitive advantage and allow it to enhance its market share. 

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

-One part of the reading that was confusing to me was that of disruptive innovation. I didn't understand exactly what they meant when they were referring to the android phones. Perhaps I will do more research into this topic upon the creation of my own business strategy in the future. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

-I would ask the author "Do you think a company could not innovate whatsoever and still be successful?" and "Do you think a company could try to be too innovative and ruin its market share?" I ask these because these are the two ends of the spectrum and most companies fall in between but I would be curious to see what he would weigh in here. 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

-I don't believe the author was wrong about anything in this except besides maybe over simplifying some of the topics. That would be the only thing I would have changed personally. 

My Unfair Advantage

My Venture's Top 10 Resources:

(VRIN analysis= valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable)

1. Work Ethic

V- Very much so
R- Surprisingly, it is rare these days
I- Can be done but not many are willing to do the work
N- There is no substitute besides maybe luck

2. Father in Business

V- Invaluable
R- Opportunity and mentors like this are rare
I- Not applicable/ no one is my father
N- Maybe a mentor in the business could be a less valuable substitute

3. High EQ(social intelligence)

V- Highly
R- Yes not many have this
I- Its pretty hard to copy this. you have it or you dont.
N- Work Ethic and luck could lead you to success without this skill

4. Knowledge of Finance

V- Necessary for business
R- no, most advisers are knowledgeable
I- Yes
N- no substitutes

5. Large network

V- Yes, for this business your network and client base are everything
R- No, plenty of applicants have large networks coming out of college
I- No
N- There is no substitute

6. Degree from UF

V- Yes, shows i care about my education
R- No, most applicants have good degrees
I- Yes with any other respected degree
N- No substitutes

7. CFP designation

V- Yes shows I am knowledgeable and respected within my field.
R- Yes, most do not have this designation
I- Yes, others could imitate and get this if they desired.
N- No substitutes

8. Respect from Peers

V- Yes, gives me a large target market to begin my business with
R- No, others have respect often.
I- Not imitable
N- No substitutes

9. Leadership Skills

V- Yes, gives me the vision and strength I need to lead a team to success.
R- Yes few have these skills i believe
I- Yes it can be imitated
N- No substitutes

10. Respect for Authority

V- Yes, allows those more senior than I to respect me more due to mutuality.
R- Moderately, most of my friends have such a respect.
I- Yes it can be imitated
N- No substitutes.

Top Resource: Work Ethic
-I stand by my earlier blog posts when I say my work ethic is my biggest resource. I have always been willing to do whatever is necessary to succeed and i will always hold such a mindset. I feel as if this is more important because, if one is willing to work hard no matter where, then they will always find success in all that they do. Not in one of my life's lessons have i ever truly thought "I shouldnt have worked that hard." I have only thought the opposite.

-Mitch

Week 10 Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
-I was most surprised about how much this chapter reminded me of the accounting classes I had taken thus far at UF. I saw a fair amount of overlap in the subject matter and this was interesting to me seeing as this is an entrepreneurship class.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
-No part of the reading was surprising to me honestly as I had read most of the subject matter in my previous classwork here at UF.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
-I would ask the author "Why did you include the quote 'just 2 percent of patents ever turn a profit'?" as this, in the context of an entrepreneurship book is counter-productive to get people to want to go out on a limb and be an entrepreneur. I would also ask the author "did you ever have a patent that did not turn a profit that would lead you to write such a statement?"

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
-I do not believe the author was wrong about any of the subject matter in the chapter but I do still disagree with the subject matter which I talked about in question 3 above. The language just seemed unnecessary and very negative in general which is not very wise of the author of a book meant to encourage people to make new patents, ideas, etc.

-Mitch

Growing Your Social Capital

Three New People I Connected With:

1.) Domain expert in your industry- Keith Moure
2.) Market Expert- Frank Laglio
3.) Industry Supplier- David Anderson

1) Who they are and what their background is and 2.) how the person fills the spot.
-Keith-
He is an expert on financial services and office disputes. He handles HR at a firm I interviewed for in Orlando for a summer internship and I could stand to learn a lot about the office and how it functions through him. I hope to learn some more interpersonal skills through further correspondence with him.
-Frank-
He is a market expert in the Orlando financial services market at a company I previously interned with but did not make a significant connection until I emailed him last week. He is a seasoned veteran in the field and has had experience in many markets and not just the Orlando one. He is a good connection to have as he has so many after so many year of experience.
-David-
David works at a financial product provider to the firm in which I interned at. I sat in on a meeting where I got his card last summer but never contacted him until recently to inquire about his company and their dealings within the Orlando market.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
-For all 3 people, I reached out via email then scheduled a phone call for further, and more personal correspondence so I could truly network with each individual beyond email. I kept it professional and acted as if I was doing research to gain knowledge on the job market within the financial sector itself.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
-The nature of the exchange I had with all 3 was very similar; almost inquisitive. I probed the 3 for information about the industry while acting generally interested in what they were saying. I think this practice will bode a long way with the salesman tactics I will need to utilize later when I have to do 'cold calls'.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
-Including any of the 3 in my network will increase the credibility of my network by diversifying the type of people I have in my network as a whole. In general, my network consists of my peers who are just now starting to enter the business world. I need to start finding more and more people who are in the real world and can give me real world endorsements and opportunities.

Reflection:

1. How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events?
-This experience will shape the way I participate in future networking events as it will make me think about who I truly need to know and give me a guideline on how to approach such a situation. It took me a little bit to realize that being personal and acting interested in the individual is the best way to earn their trust and truly form a network connection.

2. Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?
-This experience differed by, in the past, I generally didn't research anyone I connected with but, this time, I went out of my way to see why and how I was going to connect with them and then acted upon this strategy.

Elevator Pitch no. 3

1) The pitch.

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. 
-All the feedback I received was pretty valid. As my idea is an investment firm and does not actually exist yet, I really can not go into much detail further than what I have done and what my competitive edge will be. I will attempt to make it more detailed but at the same time maintain the same confident attitude that I have had in my previous videos.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?
-Based on the feedback I received, I made my pitch longer, more full of definitive substance in regard to competition and also made sure my connection to the audience was more personal in my gestures. I think this will help make my pitch connect with the target market more than my previous attempts did.

What's your secret sauce?

1) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. What is it about you, exactly, that makes you different? Write this up in a detailed list. 

-Work Ethic
-Social Intelligence and understanding of my peers
-Leadership skills
-Ability to listen intently and not interrupt others when talking
-Efficiency and effectiveness of work

2) Interview the five people who know you the best. Ask them what they think makes you different -- remember, focus on your knowledge, skills, abilities, emotions -- in other words, your human capital. Try to stay away from discussing your other types of capital (such as who you know). Record each interview. In your blog post, please post each interview, as well as a two-three sentence summary of each interview, explaining what your key takeaways are.

Interviews: my 3 roommates, and phone interview with both my parents.

Roommates interviews video:

-My roommates'/friends' responses were about 1. my work ethic 2. me being a good guy and 3. my public speaking. I was not surprised as I thought these things at least related to something in my original 5. My parents interviews are to be discussed below.

Parents interviews:

1.) Dad- In this interview, my fathers response to the question was "You are and have always been a leader in school and on sport's teams throughout your life. I think this will bode well into being an effective entrepreneur." This was not surprising as my dad was at all my sports games growing up and knows me as well as I do so it was no surprise his answer was one of my 5.

2.) Mom- In this interview, my mothers response to the question was "You are a very convincing person, in general, and this could really help you along the lines as a businessman." This was kind of surprising as that this was her answer. I figured it would be one of the 5 above.

I understand I was supposed to do a video but seeing as they are in a different city, I figured just the text of the answer to the question would suffice in addition to the 3 roommates videos.

3) Reflect on the differences. How do you see yourself, and how do others see you? Are there differences in how you assess yourself compared to others? What do you think causes these differences? Do you think your interviewees are correct about you? Finally, going back to your list from part 1, would you make any corrections to the list? How? 

-The difference to me was rather minimal and it didn't surprise me to see most of the things they said in my own lust because my roommates and family know me very well as I have known all of them for a long time. The differences came from mostly perspective issues mainly. Going back to my list, I would not make any changes.

-Mitch

Week 9 Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection- Chapter 8 of Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
-I was most surprised about how black and white they present the product life cycle to be. They describe it very systematically and almost made it seem as if it were the same for each different product. I believe this is an over-simplification of the cycles themselves and maybe needs to be changed depending on the product type.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
-No part of the reading was surprising to me as the majority of the info in it was about social media and other web-related items and I consider myself to be rather competent in this area due to my previous work and educational experiences.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
-I would ask the author "Do you not agree the product life cycle is different for each individual product type?" and "Do you think in a further edition of this textbook the definition of the PLC will change due to the ever-changing landscape of today's markets?" because this was the one thing I did not agree with in the chapter itself.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
-Yes, as I discussed above, I do not agree with the steps and over-simplification of the PLC. This is truly the only part of the reading I do not agree with as the rest is rather juvenile in nature.

-Mitch

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. Who I am -I am a very driven individual who is willing to work hard for what he wants. I am an individual who figures out what he wants and doesn't let a challenge stand in his way from attaining his goals. I often use challenge as a motivator to be the best I can be and I think this will bode well into becoming an entrepreneur.

2. What I am offering to customers

-The service I will offer to customers at Allen financial would be that of a quality financial planning service that would go above and beyond to tailor to the financial goals/needs and risk tolerance of the individual customer.

3. Who my customers are

-My customers are personable people who trust and are comfortable with a licensed professional handling their money to the extent that every market fluctuation will not cause a mental breakdown of sorts. Trust is the biggest component in this industry and I will use my hard work and social skills to prove to the customer that I am the right person to be handling their money.

4. Why my customers will spend money to use my product/service

-Because, simply, I will put in the work to help others grow their money and the small fee they pay for my services will be overshadowed by the financial gain I bring their financial portfolio. This is the goal of all financial advising firms but I will make it abundantly clear that my firm truly cares about the customer and their portfolio.

5. What my core competencies are.

-My core competencies are my ambition, social skills, networking, and intellectual ability relating to my industry. I hope that these things will bode well into my efforts as an entrepreneur. I also have had great success managing my own money in both the real world and numerous simulations throughout my educational career so I am confident in my financial analysis abilities.

Overall, I think these things all fit together very well in being a successful entrepreneur and financial advisor. Knowing all these things about yourself, and about your customers puts you in a good position to know what is necessary to succeed and to succeed on a grand scale. Additionally, if one knew the same info about one's competitors then it could be a very good competitive advantage and help focus on ones own shortcomings and work on them to help beat out the competition.

Feedback Memo:

-The main points in which I received mainly were centered upon questions about me as I was rather thorough on my first time through. I made some changes above based on the feedback I received and if I were to summarize them it would be truly the question "How are you better than other financial service providers?" My answer is in theory intangible as I simply respond to the claim with financial competence and a deep understanding of people and interpersonal skills. I think the feedback will actually help more hone in more in depth on these thing themselves.

-Mitch

Free Money

Free Money Exercise

• Where will you go?

-I will go on with my day regularly as I would any normal sunday.

• What kind of people will you approach?

-I will approach people who I see that are involved on campus and are promoting a organization or philanthropy event.

• What will you say to get the conversation started?

-I will tell them that they earned a dollar and that it was because they give up their time to raise money for others so that I wanted to give them a dollar to help out with whatever they need.

• What is your plan for the conversation?

-Be very casual and tell them thank you essentially for being involved and helping all those people.

• Out of five attempts, how many dollar bills do you think you will be able to give away.

-I think I will be able to give away all 5 but I only recorded 2 seeing as it was rather awkward.

Video:

Reflection:

What are your reflections on this exercise?

-That it was interesting and liked how it made me stop and think about others in the world and who deserved the dollar most.

Was giving away a dollar easier or harder than you imagined?

-Way easier as I was able to give away all 5 but the video recordings were the most interesting part and awkward almost.

Were your predictions correct or incorrect? If they were incorrect, why?

-They were correct as I was able to give away all of them to the service people from DM and at a philanthropy event at Flavet field.

What assumptions did you make about the people you planned to talk to, which were wrong?

-I assumed that saying thank you was enough and that they would take the dollar and they, in fact, did.

-Mitch

Elevator Pitch No. 2

Here is my elevator pitch practice for week 7 for ENT3003.

The video can be seen below:

1) The pitch.

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. Describe what stood out to you as important, what feedback surprised you the most, what feedback you think was outright wrong or silly. 
-The feedback I found most important was the most honest ones. These helped me by providing an outlet to improve upon my fluidity of speech and overall level of comfort with the camera itself and also with my pitch.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?
-Like I said, I didn't change much substantively but I did change my delivery and fine tuned it to be a more effective pitch to the listener themselves. I think I was more comfortable with my pitch so I was able to project more confidence in my pitch itself.

-Mitch

Week 7 Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection:

Yankelovich & Meer: Rediscovering Market Segmentation

(Harvard Business Review, February 2006)

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
-The biggest surprise for me during this reading would be the section about the post World War 2 buying patterns and how they changed in regards to consumption and price preferences. In my opinion, I thought that consumers with expensive tastes would more align so with less price conscious consumer decisions, but, in reality, the opposite occurred,

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
-One part that was confusing to me was that of that you could reach a target market with better success but still have no increase in sales or consumption just like Miller Lite did with its mud-wrestling campaign to reach younger males.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
-I would ask the author: 1) Do you believe that demographic attitudes toward consumer preferences are the most influential in the consumer's mind? and 2) Do you think attitudinal preferences are aligned with more the consumers family's interests or are they more influenced by outside sources such as TV or computer advertising?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
-I do not believe the author was wrong about anything in this article but I might argue that the characteristics he states for consumer preferences might be a bit narrow in scope and he needs to further refine them to better fit the changing population.

-Mitch

Customer Interviews No. 3

Customer Interviews No. 3- Canned Water

1) Describe your interviewing strategy. 

         -What questions do you intend on asking?
   The question I plan on asking is: What is your reaction to this product idea? I will request just a very concise, 1 sentence impression of the card itself from each of the 5 interviews. I will them hand them a card with the product idea Canned water on it and gauge their individual reactions to the product itself.

         -Who are you going to ask?
I am going to ask these questions to shopper at a local CVS in Gainesville, FL and the
interviews will be conducted on February 13th. 2016.

2) Conduct the interviews. Video below:

3) Reflect on what you learned. 

        -What did you learn from the interviews?
I learned that there is a niche marketing opportunity for my product; easily-disposable, canned water as a environmentally sustainable alternative for the plastic water bottle.

        -What surprised you the most?
I was surprised at some people's blatant unwillingness to help a college student with a 1 minute interview that consists of 1 question. Many people were rude and off putting
when I asked them in CVS rather than at Publix. What does this say about the
shoppers of these establishments?

        -What do you expect to change as an outcome of these interviews?
I expect to go back to Publix where people are friendlier and more willing to participate as

it will translate to a more efficient and pleasant experience along with more data to use.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection- "Michael Porter: The Five Forces that Shape Competitive Strategy" :

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
-I was surprised to see that the lecturer was able to confine their ideas into five main points. With such a large amount of things to consider, boiling it down to five points seemed very difficult in my mind.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
-I was not confused at any point during this reading but found the section about competitive advantage rather interesting in general.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
-I would definitely ask him: 1. What characteristics make an industry leader a leader? and also, 2. What is the best way to focus on being successful by using the five points?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
-I don't believe the author was wrong with anything that was in the reading but I do disagree with the way they discuss with how he said that buyers have no bargaining power because I believe that they have a fair amount of it.

Idea Napkin No.1

In this post I will be creating an "idea napkin" of sorts in which I will be describing the following things:

1. Who I am
-I am a very driven individual who is willing to work hard for what he wants. I am an individual who figures out what he wants and doesn't let a challenge stand in his way from attaining his goals. I often use challenge as a motivator to be the best I can be and I think this will bode well into becoming an entrepreneur.

2. What I am offering to customers

-The service I will offer to customers at Allen financial would be that of a quality financial planning service that would go above and beyond to tailor to the financial goals/needs and risk tolerance of the individual customer.

3. Who my customers are

-My customers are personable people who trust and are comfortable with a licensed professional handling their money to the extent that every market fluctuation will not cause a mental breakdown of sorts. Trust is the biggest component in this industry and I will use my hard work and social skills to prove to the customer that I am the right person to be handling their money.

4. Why my customers will spend money to use my product/service

-Because, simply, I will put in the work to help others grow their money and the small fee they pay for my services will be overshadowed by the financial gain I bring their financial portfolio.

5. What my core competencies are.

-My core competencies are my ambition, social skills, networking, and intellectual ability relating to my industry. I hope that these things will bode well into my efforts as an entrepreneur.

Overall, I think these things all tie together very well in being a successful entrepreneur. Knowing all these things about yourself and about your customers puts you in a good position to know what is necessary to succeed. If one does not know this info, then how could one truly be successful?

-Mitch