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.