17- Elevator Pitch 2

Elevator Pitch No. 2

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, what feedback you thought was most useful and insightful. 

I had feedback from my peers outside of this class and it was important to know that I can strengthen this pitch if I added more statistics. I didn't feel that I had any silly feedback, I think it is always important to listen and try to implement the feedback that you are given. If you try to implement and it does not feel comfortable to you then you don't have to do it.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

I definitely made sure that I was more fluent and comfortable with the information that I was displaying to my viewers. I think I also used the facts that were given to me to be able to give something for the readers to grasp.

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

What kind of hobbies does your customer have? What kind of car do they tend to drive? (What color is it?) What TV shows do they watch? Do they have children? Are any of them adopted? What are their favorite books, and who are their favorite politicians? How old are they? How old do they feel? And so on. The richer the detail, the better.
My customers love to just be around each other and appreciate one another’s company. They play video games like any other typical teenager, but they also love sports as well. They tend to drive all types of cars but the people that I see in my neighborhood tend to have more used cars than new cars. Some of the teenagers do have children but most of them are not adopted. Some live with a grandparent but still see their mother or father every now and then. These individuals age between the ages of 13-18 years old. They tend to try to have a slick mouth and act older than the age that they actually are. After you have created this customer avatar, I'd like you to answer this final set of questions: What do you have in common with the customer avatar? If you have anything in common with the avatar, do you think that is a coincidence? Why?

After you have created this customer avatar, I'd like you to answer this final set of questions: What do you have in common with the customer avatar? If you have anything in common with the avatar, do you think that is a coincidence? Why?
My customer and I both share the same minority group and image. We both have gone through many struggles and are not expected by society to succeed. This Is not a coincidence that my avatar has the same skin color as me. The opportunity that I saw was because of things that I experienced in life. I was able to overcome these obstacles because I am one of few who did have parents that graduated from college while others are not.

16A

16A - 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.

1. The ability to have others depend on me. If it comes a time that someone needs me to talk to, I am always that open ear that will hear what they have to say but also give them critical feedback on what they don’t want to hear. While knowing I have others that depend on me, I always keep my end of the stick when it comes to anything in the classroom or workplace that needs to be completed. 
2. I have the drive and determination to succeed at everything that I do. I don’t allow challenges to deter me and prevent me from completing the goal that I want to accomplish. If I have set my mind on something, I almost always put my head down and just keep pushing until I get a result that I want. 
3. I keep my emotions inside and do not wear any emotions on my sleeve. When I need to show others my positive attitude then I can do that, but when I am competing, or I am struggling, I am able to keep my emotions within myself. 
4. I am extremely intelligent and gifted in my academics, so I have the ability to be extremely successful on my own while also being able to help others. 
5. I do not leave anyone who is struggling behind. I push them to their potential and help them to reach a level they never knew or believed that they could achieve.

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 post, please post each interview, as well as a two-three sentence summary of each interview, explaining what your key takeaways are. There is no time limit on these recordings. As long as you cover the information asked for above, that's all you need to do. 

Interview 1

Interview 2

Interview 3

Interview 4

Interview 5

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?

Others see me as an extremey hard worker who is passionate about everything that I do. One of my interviewers said that I have the determination to succeed at everything that I do. Another person said that I keep my emotions inside and I only bring them out when I have to. The differences that I had was the ability to others to depend on me. Everything else was extremely spot on. I think that the interviewees are defintely correct about me and I would not change this list. 

15A Buying Behavior No. 2

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

I interviewed three different people for this assignment. Out of the three people, one of the individuals was an adult, one is a student who graduated high school last year, and one student is in high school now. I think it is interesting to see all of the perspectives of the way that people of different ages but that come from similar background think.

The first person that I interviewed was a student who just graduated from high school. This individual lived in a mid-income area in a single parent home and his name was Tim. Tim felt that the price of a facility for high school student mattered to him as a kid but also felt that it would matter to his family as a whole. Tim felt that the people that the facility attracted and generated would also determine whether he went to the facility or not.

The second person I interviewed was still in high school and could see himself using this facility. The first question that was asked when given the background of the service, was “is it free?”. The kid that It talked to felt that if it was not free or if it was not affordable then he rather stays in his neighborhood and find things to play outside. The facility will be evaluated on its effectiveness when you are trying to evaluate how many families actually felt and observed their kids staying out of trouble due to the openness of a facility like this. The high school student brought up a good point in understanding different territories and neighborhoods in the Tampa Bay area to realize that all students would not get along at the same facility. You may have potential for some fights if you leave it open to the entire area.

The last person was an adult who has had kids grow up in the after-school care system or the YMCA location in the Central City area. This adult felt that a facility to keep kids off the street would be a great idea but without any actual pricing for how much it will cost, you cannot make a decision on whether it would be worth it or not. This parent also made a point for me to understand and realize what you are going to do if you have multiple kids in the same household and how that will affect the pricing. Parents will need to see and hear about the benefits of this facility until they invest and just start sending their kids here.

Throughout my interviews, I realized that a big component in starting this facility is money. I need to be able to not only be able to fund this awesome facility, but I also need to make sure that I am targeting the correct audience to be able to make sure customers can afford the benefits of this facility. I think this is where I get to a point where I get in trouble with determining how grants and the government can come in to play for this. Grant can only take you so far and they usually are only a part of the startup costs for a building or facility. You will be able to purchase this membership in the facility only but also have some ability for government-aid based on the income of your home to allow your children to be able to attend.

14A Halfway Reflection

Halfway Reflection

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

I have found that you have to come with a positive and open mindset when trying to keep up with the requirements. You have to work ahead of the class to make sure you can account for when you miss due dates or are sick. I think the best thing to do is to realize that you are human, and you do make mistakes by missing assignments or forgetting to declare assignments, but it cannot become a habit.

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

When discussing the reason that I wanted to be an entrepreneur I felt like I hit a roadblock. I felt that I wanted to give up because I did not know where to go to receive guidance on the situation. I did not know how to create an app to even make the service that I was offering become available to others. This class has truly allowed me to deeply understand that this idea of being an entrepreneur is not easy. You will go through a lot of rejection, but you only need one to keep pushing and moving forward. The reading reflection really opened my eyes to rejection and the ways to deal with it.



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



1. I would tell everybody to be extremely intentional in every assignment they are given. This class allows you to be as successful as you put effort into.

2. Grasp a deep understanding of the assignment at hand and if you do not understand then ask somebody.

3. You have to come in with an aggressive mindset and with ideas that you have the potential to implement, or you won’t get the most out of this class.

13A

Reading Reflection No.1

1) You read about an entrepreneur: Phil Knight

What surprised you the most?

The idea of how he started to join the industry of shoes. How he looked for any way that he could get into this industry and ultimately was way off from the company that he produced. The fact that he would tear down shoes and rebuild them was extremely surprising to me.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

Phil Knight's drive and ability to go broke as a young individual. He told people that his mindset at an early age is to go broke and try to start something crazy and you might actually have some success. I have a business idea for a sports facility in the future and helping less fortunate teenagers/high school students get to college. I also want to push these students to know their worth in our world and community. The ability for Phil Knight to have this determination and have no idea what he was doing but instead try to push at different people and different ideas was something that extremely inspired me.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I felt like Phil Knight ran over the person who gave him his first opportunity to be a part of the shoe business. He hid a lot of information from Onitsuka, and that is what caused the relationship to become sour. I feel that he needed to have active, effective communication and this was something that he lacked. Obviously, however his cards played out, this company would have felt like he infringed on the rights of the company but the idea of a lawsuit at least would not have been so sloppy. 

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Phil Knight came into many adverse situations that he had to deal with during his time to the top of the shoe industry. Phil Knight had to deal with the lawsuit of Onitsuka, which was the old Japanese shoe company that he worked for. Phil Knight experienced some turmoil and friction with this company, so this is what caused him to leave and push towards creating his own company. He ends up motivating his team and motivating them that this is the time that they finally break through and succeed. Phil Knight also had to deal with a lot of financial issues. During those times, banks were not giving out huge loans besides a little bit of cash for the company to start. Nike was expanding and completing their sales, but they used a lot of the money they made to put right back into the production of shoes.


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

The entrepreneur never backed down and never took "no" for an answer. Phil Knight had a vision in mind and would not let anyone get in his way or stop him. He experienced a sense of determination that allowed him to lead/guide a team to a common goal within the newly established company.

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

I just do not understand how it all turmoiled down into a lawsuit from the company that he first worked for. I got extremely confused on that piece of information but ultimately understood why he hid Nike.

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

1. Why not just outright have a partnership with Onitsuka so that you could sell your brand?

2. How has technology impacted the way that Nike has grown, compared to the first innovation of the company?



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

Hard work is going out and "just doing it." You have to be able to stand directly on the frontline and experience shortcomings but also be able to overcome that adversity as well. Hard work is not talking about a situation but ultimately going out and completing that task yourself. You have to have an extra step and an extra ability to move forward compared to Phil Knight. Phil Knight says "you must forget your doubts, your pain, your past." You have to live in the moment and push towards each step to get to the goal you want. I think that is an extremely strong opinion but I also think that hardwork is about aspiring people to want to compete as hard as you do as well.

Assignment 12

Assignment 12

1) Pick a segment. In class, we have discussed how you might intuit the existence of segments that might exist in your venture's market. For this exercise, you must pick one segment.  

2) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. These interviews, if conducted properly, should take about 10-15 minutes. Any less, and you won't be able to obtain adequate information. 

3) Begin with need awareness. In earlier exercises, you have identified an unmet need and developed a solution. If the person you are talking to does not have the same unmet, then you need to move on. You may not include this as one of your three interviews. If the person you are talking to does have the problem, then you're on the right track! For need awareness, we need to figure out at what times, situations, places, contexts, etc., their need becomes the most salient. The questions you ask should be related to determining exactly when, how, and where their need awareness occurs. 

4) Move to information search. When the person you are interviewing becomes aware of their need, what is the very first thing they do to find a solution to their problem? What sources of information do they look for? When they search in Google, what are their search terms? Do they talk to friends and family.

5) Report the findings of your research. Simply summarize what you learned in the interviews.

6) Draw conclusions. Based on what you know about this segment and what you learned in your interviews, how would you succinctly describe this segment in terms of need awareness and information search? 

I chose the segment of students/teenagers who are between the ages of 14-18yrs old. 

As they start to enter high school is when this need becomes most salient. These teenagers are beginning to hit puberty and coming to the point where there are going to be many outside influences that are going to affect the way that they think. People are going to offer them all types of ideas whether drug-related, gang-related, etc. These students are starting to experience different mindsets and are now beginning to think on their own about different decisions. They are no longer looking for their parents for guidance because they are not there to hold their hands anymore.

When the person becomes aware of the need the first thing that they do is try new things. They either are going to say no because they know the consequences of what they are about to experience or they decide to try it and see where the rest leads. They look for people who are older than them and see what they are doing. They want to fit in and look cool or be accepted by other individuals around them, so they decide to do whatever everyone else is doing. These teenagers do not actively search for guidance from mentors but instead look at family or friends and try to emulate/follow in the same footsteps whether good or bad. 

I learned that many individuals who have grown up in the same social classes have some type of the same mindset and idea. They are all influenced by something whether it be good or bad. They try to follow in the footsteps of someone they look after such as a big brother or sister that they have always been around.

This segment has a lot of ability to grow but they also need to change the way that they receive information. They are guided in the wrong footsteps and this can be prevented had we placed positive and influential people around them.

Assignment 11

11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

My name is Cameron Padgett, I am a Junior Business Management major. I have a talent for identifying people In need and helping to satisfy their need. I am really good at helping your people feel like they have a purpose in life and I love to satisfy that passion. I am very skilled at critical thinking, communication, and teamwork. I see this business as an ability to fulfill my passion of helping others and creating an everyday routine of helping high school students get to college.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).

I am offering leadership, career, personal and professional development classes to allow these teenagers to be ready for life. I want to allow the students to feel like they have a good time by offering an entertainment such as sports, video games, etc. I also want to offer an educational aspect by teaching these individuals things such as coding, public speaking, or any other subject.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

All my customers will be minority individuals who have a need to stay out of trouble or for growth. These individuals can come from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, and social statuses that have identified a need for these services.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its value to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.

These individuals should pay for the service to enjoy an entertaining facility. The individuals who cannot afford to go to these membership type facilities will receive some assistance through the government from grants or scholarships. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others.

I think that have a safe environment for the youth. I have the ability to impact the lives of other teenagers who are at risk. I have implemented a "Stay and Play" method that has allowed me to stay open later than most facilities during breaks and weekends because this is when teenagers seem to get in the most trouble. This company sets me apart from everyone else because not many companies do things for others outside of revenue that they are generating. My company is based on the need to help others and the rest of everything follows.