Assignment 29A Venture Concept No. 2

• Opportunity:
• Shortage of parking spots available to college students in college towns is a growing need that increases every year with the incoming of many more students attending college than previous years. This is not only an inconvenience issue but a safety issue as well. 
• The protocol customer that has the unmet need in which my opportunity aims at satisfying is the college student, ages 18-22 both males and females. These people are my target customer because they have the unmet need out of all the people at Universities (out of professors, employees of the University, etc.) 
• The lack of parking spots available for college students at off campus apartments possess a huge safety threat for the individuals. Universities typically schedule large lectures, labs, and other classes in the evenings which means that students will find a mode of transportation other than walking to attend these late night classes. When students do not have parking close by their apartment complexes or place of living this means that they often have to walk alone in the dark back to their homes, this puts students in an involuntary threat just because they do not have parking available to them outside of their apartments. 
• This market of parking garages is defined geographically by college towns where there is typically a lack of parking available for students living off campus. The market is defined demographically by college students, as i mentioned earlier ages 18-22 both males and females. 
• This "window of opportunity" will be open as long as people attend universities and live in off campus apartments or even dormitories as more and more colleges are beginning to make some on-campus housing technically be located off-campus. This "window of opportunity" will most likely be open indefinitely until towns in which universities are located begin to see the growing need for more parking availability in their towns and take care of the issues within their towns government. 
• Customers are currently satisfying this need by either making sacrifices, in which they would just have to not have a car with them while they are in college or if they are lucky enough to be living in an off campus apartment that has a very few parking spots available to residents than they would be paying an absurd amount monthly to rent the spot, according to my interviews that I conducted throughout past assignments, some renters pay $200 monthly to their landlords for a parking spot.

• Innovation:
• My company works to provide parking garages for all college students living in off campus apartments where they are not currently provided parking close to their apartments and houses in which they live. Once decided where the central location of the parking garages will be, I will bring in my team of producers and employees and the work will begin.
• My parking garages will be affordable, more than less than half of the price of going rates for individual parking spots from apartment complexes in the area. My parking garages will also be extremely safe, as I know that safety is a high priority for my customers, the parking garages will have only one entrance and one exit that will be guarded by a live security officer 24/7 as well as surveillance cameras on every corner of every floor of the garage to help fight any crime that could occur, especially such as theft. 
• My rate that I am looking to first implement for a reserved parking spot for a 12 month contract would be $60 monthly, costing the customer $720 for the whole year. I will also be offering a 6 month contract for a reserved parking spot and that will be $75 a month, costing the customer $450 for the entire year. I also will offer a per-semester package that will be a flat fee of $500 for the entire semester. 

• Venture Concept:
• Why my innovation will solve customers unmet needs: 
• My service of building parking garages for college students living an off campus housing will solve the college students unmet need because I will be providing them with parking spots that are located close to their off campus housing and I will also be satisfying their unmet need by offering an extremely hard to beat price when it comes to parking spots in college towns. 
• Customers will switch to my product:
• Because I will be one of the only companies offering parking garages with parking spots in the area for a price as good as mine.
• Who are my competitors?
• My competitors will be any other parking services, their weaknesses are going to be matching my price point.
• Roles my business plays in my business concept:
• The location of my business plays a huge role because of how mobile it is, I am able to travel all over the country to colleges in every state.
• Organizing my business:
• I would organize my business as one main office as my business started to spread throughout different regions and having employees and suppliers at individual locations. 

• Unfair advantage:
• My most important resource aka "secret sauce" is going to be that I have had my own personal experience with this unmet need being a college student myself so I am going to be able to cater and provide exactly the kind of service that college kids are in need for.
• What's next for the venture?
• My next opportunity in my business is to find other types of ways to cater to college students parking needs, this includes scooter, motorcycle, bicycle, etc parking being provided for students living off and possibly on campus in the future.
• What's next for me?
• I would love to have reached as many college students that I have been able to in the next 15-20 years. My goal is to provide parking garages for cities where space is limited but offices buildings are not.

Feedback:

• Need to have more details
• Make sentences shorter
• Condense paragraphs
• Make sure I include more plan details

How I'll Adapt:

• To make it have more details I just went back and read through where I had written paragraphs about certain aspects of my opportunity and where I felt that it was vague.
• I was better about condensing my paragraphs and went back to review.

Assignment 30A Final Reflection

• What sticks out to me as the most formative experience throughout this entire semester has got to be deciding whether I wanted to come up with my opportunity to be a service or a product. After I decided that I wanted my opportunity to be a service it was then even more difficult to decide on what that service was going to be. 
• My most joyous experience was being able to interview people for some of the assignments that we had to have interviews for, it was super cool to be able to get out and do interviews for something that I was passionate for. When other classes have made me go out and interview people for assignments it has usually been seen as a chore and something I had to do not wanted to, but for this class the interviews were enjoyable and I had a lot of fun as well as gained experience. 
• The experience that I am most proud of myself for accomplishing was definitely just coming up with a final draft for this service opportunity. In the beginning of the semester I thought that it would be really hard to come up with a service and to stick with it to make it better but in the end I realized that I did a pretty good job and I have created a service that can actually be useful in people's lives and not just as an assignment. 
• Now that we are at the end of the semester I do feel that I see myself as more of an entrepreneur than in the beginning of the semester. I do not know that this is necessarily a career path that I would like to pursue but this class has been one of my most enjoyable throughout my college life so far just because I found all of the material so interesting and fun and I truly looked forward to the lectures every week because I enjoyed learning about the entrepreneur mindset!
• One recommendation that I have for future ENT3003 students is to take this class seriously and really put in an effort to listen and pay attention to the material that is taught throughout this course, even if you think you have no interest in the entrepreneurship material just have an open mind!!!
• 

Assignment 27A Reading Reflection No. 3

The Art of Social Media by Guy Kawasaki

1.) The general theme of this book was how to treat your social media accounts as if it were anything else in your life, one of the examples that Kawasaki provided was that if your softball team keeps losing games because it is a hobby to the team, not a commitment, then that is okay but you can not complain when you do not win any games. This is true for social media as well, if you do not set your social media accounts to be professional and geared towards the people and other accounts that you wish to interact and connect with, then you can not be upset when this does not happen.

2.) In my opinion, this book, The Art of Social Media, relates to what we have learned this past semester in ENT3003 by how it had an emphasis on how your social media is set up and how you are presenting yourself to current and future potential customers. Throughout this course we have had lectures on how to make sure that the way we are presenting ourselves to the world and how we will have our name remembered as will have a huge effect on the customers and business that we have. Not only has Mr. Pryor mentioned this before but so have numerous of the guest speakers that we have had in this course emphasising how important it is to treat your social media accounts very professionally.

3.) If I had to design an exercise for the class relating towards this book it would be a very personal one. I would assign every student to take out their phones and pull up their social media. This book talked about how you should narrow down and limit your social media presence to just two accounts (Ex. Twitter and Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, etc.) so I feel that a good exercise would be to make each student look at their own social media accounts and decide which two accounts they could narrow down to.

Once the students had picked their two accounts of social media, I would ask them to just take a look at the content that they have posted on those accounts and decide if this was material that future employers and other people would consider "professional" or if the content they were posting on social media would potentially hurt them or cost them a job opportunity in the future.


I would ask the students to have one major takeaway from the activity, if they saw the importance of having their social media platforms be set up in a professional manner, that from now on they would work to filter the content that they were posting.

4.) My biggest 'aha' and surprising moment of the book was that I initially thought from the title that this book would be about bashing social media and talking about how it is destroying society, so to say the least I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the exact opposite. Instead this book just highlighted on the fact that we need to represent ourselves professionally on social media to become the greatest version of ourselves and entrepreneurs that we can be.

Assignment 28A Your Exit Strategy

1. My Exit Strategy:
• I do plan to stay with my company service of parking garages as long as my finances and income are well enough for me to do so. My biggest hope would be to turn this business into a family owned business and be able to pass the ownership from myself to my kids, their kids, and so on. If this was not a possibility, I would try to sell my company and try to get enough money out of selling the company to be set for retirement, but this would not be my first choice. 
2. Why did I select this Exit Strategy:
• I selected this exit strategy partly because I have always wished that someone in my family had a family business that was and could have been passed down from generation to generation. This longing that I always wished for in my own family would be something that I would have the opportunity to start and have it for my children and grandchildren to carry on. 
3. How do I think my Exit Strategy has influenced other decisions I have made in my concept?
• I think that knowing that I want my business to become a family business and be able to be passed down for as many generations in my family to come defenitly paid some influence for my decision that I made in this company so far. 
• I would have to say that it made an influence on how I structured finding suppliers for my company, by using local companies that I already had a relationship with that just so happened to be family owned business as well ( Ex. Hooks Construction ) I was already on my way to set up my company to be surrounded by other family owned businesses. 

Assignment 26A Celebrating Failure

1. My failure this past semester:
• I would without a doubt have to say that my failure this past semester has been in my Management class. I studied extremely hard and had a good knowledge of the material going into the first exam (or so I thought I did) but then when I got my grade back.... which was a D, I was pretty confused and wondered what I did wrong so I decided that maybe I just didn't study hard enough. 
• When it came time for my second exam I decided I would study the same material and things that I did for the last exam (I'm still not sure why I thought this was a good idea since I got a D on the last exam butttttt.) I studied for a lot more hours and did more practice exams for this past exam and when I received my grade I had only improved by 1 point.... 1 freakin point after I had studied twice as hard. 
• Flash forward to right now, I am studying currently for my final exam in Management even though it is not until December 5th, I have to get an outstanding grade to just get a B in the course, and hoping to get a better grade, at this point I would honestly be happy with getting a C on this exam.
2. What I learned from it:
• The biggest thing that I learned from earning these two D's in this course this semester is two things.
• First, not to be so hard on myself. I have always put a ton of emphasis on my grades and I have never gotten a C in a class and so having a C currently in this course has given me major stress but I just decided to look at this and realize that this is just one course and that it doesn't determine me or who I am as a person.
• The second thing I learned from this was to study different material. It may have taken me 2 exams to realize that I need to study different material, how I study, and to begin studying further in advance. This time around for my final coming up I am hoping that these changes that I learned will give me a different grade and result in the end. 
3. Reflection about failure:
• There is no doubt that failure can be a really embarrassing thing, my dad was definitely upset to learn that I currently have a C in management and my mother was not too thrilled either. But, I think that failure is definitely something that everyone of us need in our lives, if we don't fail then we will never learn how to grow and how to learn better ways to achieve things throughout our lives. Failure also helps us find those people that we surround ourselves with that we can depend on for when things do fail and we learn to ask for the help and support from others. 
• This class has helped me change my perspective on failure because I have learned that entrepreneurs will and DO fail, a lot usually, until they get the product or service or business that they have created to be perfect in their eyes. This class has changed my perspective on taking risks because I feel that I know it is okay to fail sometimes and that it will happen throughout my life, it is what I do with those failures that matters the most. 

Assignment 24A Venture Concept No. 1

• Opportunity:
• Shortage of parking spots available to college students in college towns is a growing need that increases every year with the incoming of many more students attending college than previous years. This is not only an inconvenience issue but a safety issue as well. 
• The protocol customer that has the unmet need in which my opportunity aims at satisfying is the college student, ages 18-22 both males and females. These people are my target customer because they have the unmet need out of all the people at Universities (out of professors, employees of the University, etc.) 
• The lack of parking spots available for college students at off campus apartments possess a huge safety threat for the individuals. Universities typically schedule large lectures, labs, and other classes in the evenings which means that students will find a mode of transportation other than walking to attend these late night classes. When students do not have parking close by their apartment complexes or place of living this means that they often have to walk alone in the dark back to their homes, this puts students in an involuntary threat just because they do not have parking available to them outside of their apartments. 
• This market of parking garages is defined geographically by college towns where there is typically a lack of parking available for students living off campus. The market is defined demographically by college students, as i mentioned earlier ages 18-22 both males and females. 
• This "window of opportunity" will be open as long as people attend universities and live in off campus apartments or even dormitories as more and more colleges are beginning to make some on-campus housing technically be located off-campus. This "window of opportunity" will most likely be open indefinitely until towns in which universities are located begin to see the growing need for more parking availability in their towns and take care of the issues within their towns government. 
• Customers are currently satisfying this need by either making sacrifices, in which they would just have to not have a car with them while they are in college or if they are lucky enough to be living in an off campus apartment that has a very few parking spots available to residents than they would be paying an absurd amount monthly to rent the spot, according to my interviews that I conducted throughout past assignments, some renters pay $200 monthly to their landlords for a parking spot.

• Innovation:
• My company works to provide parking garages for all college students living in off campus apartments where they are not currently provided parking close to their apartments and houses in which they live. Once decided where the central location of the parking garages will be, I will bring in my team of producers and employees and the work will begin.
• My parking garages will be affordable, more than less than half of the price of going rates for individual parking spots from apartment complexes in the area. My parking garages will also be extremely safe, as I know that safety is a high priority for my customers, the parking garages will have only one entrance and one exit that will be guarded by a live security officer 24/7 as well as surveillance cameras on every corner of every floor of the garage to help fight any crime that could occur, especially such as theft. 
• My rate that I am looking to first implement for a reserved parking spot for a 12 month contract would be $60 monthly, costing the customer $720 for the whole year. I will also be offering a 6 month contract for a reserved parking spot and that will be $75 a month, costing the customer $450 for the entire year. I also will offer a per-semester package that will be a flat fee of $500 for the entire semester. 

• Venture Concept:
• Why my innovation will solve customers unmet needs: 
• My service of building parking garages for college students living an off campus housing will solve the college students unmet need because I will be providing them with parking spots that are located close to their off campus housing and I will also be satisfying their unmet need by offering an extremely hard to beat price when it comes to parking spots in college towns. 
• Customers will switch to my product:
• Because I will be one of the only companies offering parking garages with parking spots in the area for a price as good as mine.
• Who are my competitors?
• My competitors will be any other parking services, their weaknesses are going to be matching my price point.
• Roles my business plays in my business concept:
• The location of my business plays a huge role because of how mobile it is, I am able to travel all over the country to colleges in every state.
• Organizing my business:
• I would organize my business as one main office as my business started to spread throughout different regions and having employees and suppliers at individual locations. 

• Unfair advantage:
• My most important resource aka "secret sauce" is going to be that I have had my own personal experience with this unmet need being a college student myself so I am going to be able to cater and provide exactly the kind of service that college kids are in need for.
• What's next for the venture?
• My next opportunity in my business is to find other types of ways to cater to college students parking needs, this includes scooter, motorcycle, bicycle, etc parking being provided for students living off and possibly on campus in the future.
• What's next for me?
• I would love to have reached as many college students that I have been able to in the next 15-20 years. My goal is to provide parking garages for cities where space is limited but offices buildings are not.

Assignment 25A What's Next?

Existing Market

What I Think Is Next:

I think the next step for my service of providing parking garages to college towns that are in need of parking spots is to expand to not only car parking spots, but to offer scooter and motorcycle spots for college students. Currently, in many college towns especially those with large and spread out campuses more and more students are beginning to have motorcycle or scooters to help them get around campus more efficiently and quickly. As of now at my current college campus, there are no designated parking spots on the street parking available for motorcycles or scooters. This creates an unsafe and unaccessible environment for the people who use these as their form of transportation. Creating parking spots available for scooter and motorcycles would allow my service to expand and be able to offer more than just car parking spots. 

Existing Market Interview:

1. The first interviewee that I conducted mentioned to me that I should have bike spots as well on the street so that people do not have to worry about a place to park their bikes as well as their bikes being stolen. I thought this was a really good idea since a lot of people are starting to lean more towards automobiles and forgetting that a lot of people use biking as their form of transportation.
2. The second interviewee that I talked to told me that I should implement more scooter parking and to her surprise I told her that was the exact new idea that I was looking to implement in my business. This leads me to believe that this really is an unmet need as well.
3. The third interviewee that I interviewed told me that going along with my new scooter parking introduction, I should try to make it to where everyone can have their own assigned parking spot so that way it is not a "free for all" when it comes to finding a spot.

Reflection: 

     After listening to what each of the three people that I interviewed had to say about what is next for my service and what new services I should look at implementing into my company. All three of the people were surprisingly very similar with the new idea that I had come up with, which gives me a great sense of reassurance that I am implementing a new service to my company that will be able to benefit a bunch of customers. 

     My first interview provided me with a new insight and a new form of transportation to cater parking spots toward, bicycles. I had not thought about the issue of the lack of bike parking until this interviewee really made me think about it, and the more I thought I realized I do not see any or hardly any bicycle parking available on campus and especially off campus.

     My second interviewee surprised me when she told me that my new ideas for my company should be more scooter parking spots because that was exactly my idea that I was planning on implementing so this helped me confirm that I was coming up with good ideas and moving my company in the right direction.

     My final interviewee helped to provide an efficient idea that I should make each parking spot for the scooters have an assigned spot so that they would not have to worry about finding a parking spot or having their spot that they pay for be taken by someone. 

     In the conclusion after all of these interviews I really gained informative insight on my new product to introduce in my company. 

New Market:

A new market that I had previously not thought about was for college students that live on campus. I do not have control over how many parking spots or garages that the University's would provide for their students on campus but, my service and my company could be able to come in and talk to the right people at the University's and propose plans and ideas on how to make expansions for on-campus parking. I know first hand that this is a HUGE issue, the lack of parking is not the University's fault but rather just a space fault. The University has hardly any control over how many parking spots to put into their campus so if I was able to form a contract and a plan to help the University's expand their number of parking spots on campus so that way I would be able to help expand and meet the unmet needs of college students on campus that drive and park on campus. 

New Market Interviews: 

1. My first interviewee was with a student who is currently living on campus at his university and he has a car at school that he parks on campus. When I asked him if he could find any benefit from having more parking spots built on campus he was very quick to say YES and he informed me how hard and how time consuming it can become to find a parking spot on campus. 
2. My second interviewee was a student who also lives on campus, she told me that she as well parks her car on campus and says that there are often nights when she can not find any parking spots located near her dorm and she has to drive further away to find a parking spot or in a parking garage which also makes her feel unsafe when this happens at night.

Reflection:

     When I was first reflecting on the new market that I could appeal and market towards I could not think of any one group of people until I thought of college students living on campus. After I conducted these interviews I felt so much more confident in my decision to have on campus college student as the new market that I am going to appeal to. 

     My first interview gave me a little bit more of a perspective of just how busy the parking lot can become and how crowded they can become. As well as my second interview, it let me know that these students on campus also have safety issues when they have to find parking spots that are far from their dorms.

     In conclusion, these two interviews helped me gain insight on my new market and the potential customers that maybe one day I could work with my company to expand on.

Assignment 23A Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1- Philanthropy experience: I have had the chance to work with various philanthropies through my participation in Greek Life philanthropies and other organizations throughout my life.

• Valuable: This is valuable because I will need to know how to incorporate various organizations for the success of my service.
• Rare: This is not rare as many people have had experience with philanthropies throughout their lives.
• Inimitable: This capability can only be imitable if you have had experience with philanthropies.
• Non-substitutable: No, the contact and participation to have experience with philanthropies would need to come from me.

2- Unique leadership style: I possess a unique leadership style where I base a high value on the cooperation and cohesiveness of everyone working around me rather than just simply doing the job asked to complete.

• Valuable: I believe this to be valuable because there are a lot of companies that exist today that the sole focus is on the tasks of the job.
• Rare: I do believe that this is rare going along with what I stated previously.
• Inimitable: This is imitable BUT only if you possess a higher emphasis on the relationship leadership style.
• Non-substitutable: This can not very easily be substituted. 

3- Strong presence on social media: I believe that I would be able to have a strong presence on social media when it came to advertising for my service

• Valuable: This is valuable now but it becoming more and more of a norm.
• Rare: This is semi rare, some companies advertise their products on social media but not in an effective way.
• Inimitable: This is inimitable because many companies work already to promote themselves on social media.
• Non-substitutable: This can be substituted by hiring someone to do the job of promoting the company on social media.

4- Lack of competitors: My service of parking garages in college towns is a stand alone in the market since there are not many other companies like this that exist.

• Valuable: This is valuable because it means I will have a strong control over the customers in this market since there are not many others to choose from.
• Rare: This is rare because there is not a large pool of competitors in this particular market.
• Inimitable: This could be imitable if other competitors started to enter the market.
• Non-substitutable: At the moment, the lack of competitors is non-substitutable but if more competitors started to enter the market, my service would become more substitutable than it is currently. 

5- Relationship with providers: I already have current relationships with some of my providers that I would need to have relationships with for my service.

• Valuable: This is valuable because some entrepreneur's have to start from ground zero when it comes to establishing relationships with providers.
• Rare: This is rare because as I said it can be difficult to establish relationships with providers.
• Inimitable: This can only be imitable if another owner already had relationships with suppliers. 
• Non-substitutable: This is could be substitutable but not in a bad way, such as, if an employee had a relationship with a supplier and gained his access to work for my company. 

6- Fundraising experience: I have participated in the fundraising of numerous events, organizations, philanthropies, and charities so I know how to effectively fundraise.

• Valuable: This is valuable because as a company we might need to do fundraising ourselves or we might participate in fundraising events in the community. 
• Rare: This is rare because it is hard to know an effective way to fundraise unless you have had experience.
• Inimitable: This can be imitable if the owner or employees of another company have experience in successful fundraising.
• Non-substitutable: This is not necessarily substitutable since it would be you, the owner, and other people in your company that would have these skills and prior knowledge. 

7- Social Capital: College aged people: Since I am a college student myself I would have a wide variety of customers that I know of to market towards. 

• Valuable: This is valuable because other companies that come in and try to produce the same service as me might not have the experience of being a current college student and knowing the need.  
• Rare: This is rare because most companies do not have a personal impact on the mission of their service or product.
• Inimitable: This imitable if the competitors have the same personal experience.
• Non-substitutable: This is non-substitutable because you can not pay someone to have a personal or first hand experience. 

8- Social Capital: I know of and have friends that are college students at different universities all over the country.

• Valuable: This is valuable because this allows me to have a wide range of contacts and potential customers to market towards.
• Rare: This is rare because it allows me to expand my company to more than just one school or even one state.
• Inimitable: This is not imitable because other companies and owners can not have the SAME relationships that I personally have.
• Non-substitutable: This is non-substitutable because you can not duplicate or pay someone to have the same personal relationships. 

9- Financial support for start up: I have family and close family friends that would be willing to support and donate for the start up funds needed for my company.

• Valuable: This is valuable because it can be the difference between my company getting started and not.
• Rare: This is not rare as many entrepreneurs have a source of financial support to be able to start up their businesses. 
• Inimitable: This is imitable because other companies can possess this advantage.
• Non-substitutable: This is not substitutable because nobody else can have the same connection to my personal family and personal friends to be loaned the money for starting up the company. 

10- Management skills: My dad is a store manager and has been for many years so I have been able to see first hand the kind of skills needed for an effective and well respected manager.

• Valuable: This is valuable because it will help me to be able to have good communication between myself and my employees.
• Rare: This is quite rare because some managers do not know how to be an effective manager and do not have any prior experience or learned traits.
• Inimitable: This is imitable if another manager would have this same experience as me.
• Non-substitutable: This is non-substitutable because these are my own personal learned skills. 

After completing the VRIN analysis, it is hard to determine which of my advantages is my top competitive advantage since all of these will work together to determine the kind of strategic unfair advantage that my company will possess.

But, I would have to say that I think my top advantage is the social capital that I possess when it comes to knowing college students and having relationships with them located all over the country that will help me gain my social capacity and reach many more consumers who have this unmet need. 

Assignment 21A Reading Reflection No. 2

The book that I chose to read for this second reading reflection was Mindset: How we can learn to fulfill our potential by Carol Dweck

1.) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

• The general argument throughout the entire book is that every person has a mindset, and that this mindset is what is a guide throughout our lives and determines our limits, abilities, and everything in between. There are two mindsets, fixed meaning that your abilities and capabilities are set in stone and can not be changed; and there is a growth mindset, this means that there is room for change and that everyone is transforming and growing throughout their lives. 

2.) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

• In my opinion, this book connected with this ENT 3003 class because the main focus of the book was about the two mindsets that everybody has and how those affect every action we take throughout our lives. This reminds me of the content that we have learned in a bunch of different lectures about the "entrepreneur mindset" so learning about the growth mindset in this book really connected these two together since in the growth mindset you are focused on where you are going to, how you're going to succeed, and so on which is similar to the entrepreneur mindset because you are always evolving and being innovative as an entrepreneur. 

3.) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

• I would design a survey with different forms so that way every student who took the survey would have some variation in the types of questions and answers that they selected. On this survey I would include questions that would focus on what kind of personality the students each had to try to determine if they have a growth or a fixed mindset. 
• At the end of the survey, each student would add up their total number of A's, B's, C's, and D's from their answers. This would then determine what kind of mindset each student had. 
• After the students had tallied up all of their points and determined what kind of mindset they possessed, I would include an information packet at the end of the entire survey so every student could read and become more informed about what their particular mindset style encased. 

4.) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

• My biggest 'aha' moment was realizing that all of the information that Carol Dweck was saying about how big of an impact that the two types of mindsets can have on a person was actually insanely true. In the beginning I thought it might just be a bunch of bologna but now after reading the book I realize that it is true, the type of mindset that you have can have a huge impact on your life. If you have a fixed mindset you might not be able to realize your full potential and lose out on some great opportunities, but if you have a growth mindset you will be more prepared for whatever kinds of situations come your way and be able to take the trials and experiences that you go through in your life to use them as a leverage for you to grow as a person. I was overall, impressed with how relatable this book was not only for my personal life but for the entrepreneurship lifestyle as well. 

Assignment 22A- Elevator Pitch No. 3

1. ) Elevator Pitch link:
https://youtu.be/l3e_Ft3LNIc

2.) Reflection on the feedback I received from last pitch:

• With what seems to be a recurring event, I did not receive any feedback on my last elevator pitch. I took it upon myself to ask my peers around me to watch my last elevator pitch and relay their feedback for me. I first asked them to watch my first elevator pitch and then compare it to the second elevator pitch to see if I had made the improvements that I claimed to have made. I was surprised to know that they all agreed I had made an improvement with my eye contact, voice fluctuation and posture. 

3.) What I changed:

• In this third elevator pitch, I worked to improve my eye contact and voice fluctuation even more than I had for the first two elevator pitches. While I did receive feedback confirming that I had made the improvements that were suggested to me, I worked to continue to keep my progress in the first two elevator pitches, in this third one as well, which hopefully I have!

Assignment 20A Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1. Who are they and what their background is:
• Shawn, Landlord of an off-campus apartment in Gainesville, FL
2. How is this person is a "domain expert":
• He owns an apartment complex off campus at the University of Florida and owns a parking lot located across the apartment complex in which residents can purchase a parking spot.
3. How I found & contacted the person:
• I found him because some of my friends have a parking spot in his lot that he owns so I got his contact information from them.
4. Nature of the exchange:
• I explained to him my service idea and he told me that he had not heard of any companies around this area at least that were offering the same service that I was working on. It was a good interaction and I felt that he offered some helpful feedback.
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
• He told me that it would be difficult to start from the ground up as far as gathering suppliers and consumers in the beginning and that obviously there are some kinks that need to be worked on as the service becomes more advanced. I think that including Shawn in my opportunity would allow me to gain some of his respectable reputation that he has among his customers. 

Market Expert:

1. Who are they and what their background is:
• UF Parking and Transportation Services
2. How this person is a "market expert":
• Since this market for providing the service of parking garages that I am offering was limited in the Gainesville and college area I decided to find a company that I know is an expert when it comes to knowing just how large the supply and demand chain is for parking, especially at the University of Florida. 
3. How I found & contacted the person:
• I looked up on Google "UF Parking and Transportation Services" and then clicked on their website, found their business hours, and then dropped by for a visit. 
4. Nature of Exchange:
• It was informative and they helped me understand just how large the parking demand is at this school. The front desk people that provided me with insight told me that they could see my service being very beneficial to the people of this town.
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
• Including them might not have a tremendous impact on my opportunity but it does help me gain insight as to how many students would be living off campus next year and to get a more statistical look at just how many students there are at UF specifically compared to the amount of parking available. 

Industry Supplier:

1. Who are they and what their background is:
• Steve Hooks
2. How this person is a "industry supplier":
• He owns a family owned construction company. Steve serves as the manager and owner of Hooks Construction Co. He often works on larger industrial projects such as buildings, restaurants, commercial buildings and other miscellaneous projects. 
3. How I found & contacted this person:
• He is one of my friend from high school's father
4. Nature of Exchange:
• I explained my idea to him and he said that this would be a large investment to offer to companies and suppliers but that he knows of some people who would be willing to take on this project due to the return that it would have. He was very willing to give me those peoples contact information and answer any of my other questions as far as construction supplying. 
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
• Including Hooks Construction Co. in my opportunity will help me by learning how to reach out to suppliers and establish relationships with them so that I will be able to begin finding companies that will work for me when I would need parking garages built. 

Reflection:

• Participating in this targeted marketing was a little bit tasking because I had never performed in an activity like this before. Though it was intimidating at first to have to establish contact with and reach out to these people and companies, it ultimately paid off because now I feel more confident in my ability to do targeted marketing and to perform interviews. Not to mention, this gave me more confidence on my service opportunity and presenting it towards other people. All of the feedback that I received from each person that I interviewed was very helpful because it made me realize that this could actually become a reality, my parking garage service. 

Assignment 19A Idea Napkin No. 2

1. You:

• My name is Brooklyn Nave and i'm a sophomore at the University of Florida. I am majoring in General Business Administration with a specialization in Sports Management and a minor in Economics. The skills that I possess are being able to communicate with people in any type of setting and resolve conflicts between people in group settings. I am also a driven leader, when I am given a task or a challenge to complete I do not stop or give up until I have completed the task. 
• If I were to start my own business these qualities that I possess would help me with making connections between different suppliers and in the recruiting process of my employees. My communication skills would also help my business when it came to making sales and promoting my service to the public. 

2. What are you offering to customers? 

• I have not changed the service that I am providing. I am providing the service of parking garages in crowded college towns. I am solving a ton of students unmet needs by providing parking since there is a lack of parking in college towns, for example, in Gainesville. I will consult with various apartment complexes that do not already provide parking for their residents or have a limited number of parking spots to offer to their residents. The parking garages will be located in a central location so that it is applicable to the majority of off campus residents that are in need of the parking. Parking spots will be available for a reasonable rate and have 24/7 security so that all the parking residents feel safe and secure in the garages. 
• I did not receive any feedback on my first Idea Napkin so I took it upon myself to show my Idea Napkin to friends to get some feedback. That is where the new idea of having 24/7 security came into play. My friends told me that having security would not only make the parking garages safer for every resident but it would boost the reputation associated with my company's name for making my costumer's safety my top priority. 

3. Who are you offering it to?

• This part has remained unchanged as well, I am still offering my service to college students ages ranging from 18-22. Not specifically towards any gender but I do presume that a majority of my customers will be females, due to the fact that where that parking garages will be located is near sorority rows and houses in the college towns, so most of the surrounding apartment complexes are occupied by females. 
• The need for parking is what all of my customers will have in common no matter if they are female or males. Apartment complexes have the tendency to take advantage of their residents when it comes to parking rates because they know that for the most part they are able to charge any fee that they want to and that their residents will buy the parking spots. 

4. Why do they care?

• Overall, this has stayed the same since my first Idea Napkin, the only part that has changed is since I am now providing 24/7 security in my parking garages, parents and students will not have a sense of safety when they choose to buy a parking spot from my company. My service will sell because I have found a way to accommodate and provide the solutions to the college students parking needs. The students will be satisfied that they will be able to have a parking spot that is their own and they will not have to drive around aimlessly searching for a parking spot. The parents of the students will be satisfied with my service because I will be providing the parking spots for a reasonable price and they will know that their sons and daughters will have safe and secure parking spots to park their cars in. 

5. What are your core competencies?

• The core competency that sets me apart from every other provider in the market is that I am one of the few company's like this that exist that are specifically targeting the college town market. This factor alone already gives me an advantage, but to go along with this I am providing the parking spots for a low, affordable rate so I am confident that this will help me surpass my competitors because I will be able to meet consumers unmet needs while not breaking the bank.  

Do these 5 elements fit together?

• Yes, I do believe that these 5 elements work together to make my company a success. The only doubt I have out of these elements is the aspect of what I have to offer that is different than any of my competitors. The only reason that I have a doubt about this is that the market may increase and more companies will pose a threat to the market I am entering. 

Feedback memo:

• I provided more of my strengths: For example, how I feel confident in my ability to communicate with others and how this would help me when it came to forming contracts and when it came to making sales. 
• I added more to what I am offering: I now am including 24/7 security in my parking garages so that my residents will feel safe and secure when they are parking and entering the garage at night and all the time every single day.

Assignment 17A- Elevator Pitch No. 2

Link to my second elevator pitch!

https://youtu.be/nY5XIn01Gtc

Reflection of feedback:

• After reading the feedback that I received I gained a new perspective on how to go about this second elevator pitch. Some things that I had never thought about were how my pitch never really changed, and how I did not make a lot of eye contact. These are all things that in the moment of recording my first elevator speech I thought I was focusing on but looking from other people's perspectives I was not. 

What I changed based on my feedback:

• I focused a lot on this elevator speech my pitch when I am talking, I tried to focus on making it fluctuate with my emotions and my words that I was saying throughout my elevator speech. I also tried to engage in more eye contact while recording. I decided it might also help me improve this elevator speech if I stopped fidgeting and swaying in my video as I tend to do when public speaking. I believe that using my feedback to help me with this elevator speech helped me improve tremendously. 

Assignment 18A- Create a Customer Avatar

      Though my opportunity is a service that can be provided to apartment complexes and businesses, it is beneficial to the consumers using my service whom I will describe in my customer avatar.

      My prototype customer is a sophomore in college at a big, well-known college in a small college town city. She is around 20 years of age and has medium length brown hair and is tall. She is in a sorority at her university and she wears the sorority t-shirts and pins on her North Face backpack. She is very passionate about her academics and takes pride in the countless hours that she puts into studying and getting good grades. She is also extremely involved in clubs and organizations all over campus. She has grown up in Tampa, FL her entire life so she was used to the big city feel with a lot of people so when she made the move and transition into college life it was not that big of a difference for her since she had been used to over crowded cities for the better half of her life.
   
      She drives a 2016 White Volkswagen Jetta with a silver Florida Gator logo on the back of it and her sorority letters on the back windshield. Even though she has a fairly small sized car she still has a hard time finding parking around her apartment complex that is located near the University. This problem causes her often to miss out on opportunities and fun social aspects because she knows that if she moves her car from the parking spot she luckily found, that she will most likely not have a parking spot to return home to. She has always been very safety conscious so when she moved into an off-campus apartment she started to feel uneasy with the fact that she would have to park far away from her apartment at night and sometimes felt unsafe.

What do I have in common with her? 
      I think that the most significant thing that I have in common with my prototype customer is that she had a car with her in college and found that she had to start parking far away from her apartment complex because the parking was so terrible and this made her feel unsafe --- for me personally, I had this same issue where at night it was either impossible to find a parking spot or when I found one it was far away and I had to walk alone in the dark, it did make me feel very unsafe and gave me a feeling that my apartment complex did not care that I was not in the safest environment. I do not think that this is a coincidence because when I was coming up with the idea for this opportunity I knew that this was a very large unmet need and problem for many students like myself. Parking spots should be the last thing that college students have on their minds!

Assignment 16A What's Your Secret Sauce?

•  Five ways I think that I have human capital that is truly unique:
1. Sympathetic: I have always considered myself to be a sympathetic person. In almost all situations whether they involve me directly or not I always tend to put my heart into it, this can either be a really good quality (which most of the time it is) or it can be a bad quality, depending on the situation. 
2. Passion: I have always considered myself to be extremely passionate about everything in life, whether it be job, school, sports, and pretty much everything life throws at me, I always strive to give my all no matter what.
3. Drive: This is something I have always taken pride in about myself, I am an extremely driven person and I work towards my goals no matter how extreme or small.
4. Trustworthy: I have always been a person that others can confide in and come to when they need advice or just a neutral source to talk about anything with, knowing that I will keep their secrets and information safe.
5. Leader: I have always worked towards improving my leadership skills throughout every opportunity in my life and I think that is the reason I credit myself with being such a driven leader.

• Interviews: 
• My first interview that I conducted was with one of my friends Madison. 
• She told me that I had a sixth sense when it came to knowing what peoples needs were and how to interpret when others are having problems. This could align very well with having an entrepreneurship mindset and being able to know what needs people have.

• My next interview was with my friend Adela
• Adela told me that I was able to be considerate and caring when someone was talking to me. This helps me when it comes to be an entrepreneur because I am able to listen to the needs that people have in the world and care.

• My next interview was with my friend Rebecca 
• Rebecca's response was similar to Adela's in the sense that I am able to be there for others when they have problems or needs. This reiterates the fact to me that I am easy to talk to and that I am always open to listen when anyone has a problem or a need. 

• My next interview was with my friend Caroline 
• Caroline's response was very helpful to give me insight about how I am willing to listen to people and give them advice whenever they need it. Being able to listen to people's problems and interpret their needs and feelings would give me an advantage in the entrepreneur world. 

In conclusion, after interviewing each of the people who know me the best I feel that my assumptions of myself were pretty accurate about what values I possess. There are not that many differences in how I see myself versus how others see me, this assignment allowed me to get more of an outside perspective of how a consumer would see myself.

Assignment 15A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

• Report findings and draw conclusions:
• After conducting my interviews with new interviewees I gained several new insights that gave me a new perspective of ways that I can expand my service and make it more desirable to every type of consumer. My first interviewee who asked to remain anonymous, suggested that for the apartment complexes that were not going to be located close to the parking garage, I try to reach out to apartment complexes who have a need for parking and consult with them to provide a parking lot, rather than a garage, close to their apartments. 
• The next interviewee that I spoke with told me that some people might not be comfortable with the idea of a parking garage since parking garages can be seen as unsafe especially at night when parking alone. He suggested that I invest in a security guard or two to be stationed at the entrance of the parking garage that would monitor the cars that come in and out of the garage and monitor on security cameras for each level of the garage to make people parking their cars there feel more safe and secure. 
• After the second interview that I conducted, I was feeling very encouraged and happy about the suggestion that I had received from that interviewee. With that being said, for my third and final interview I chose to ask the interviewee if she had any suggestions to add onto the security guard proposal that could make it more efficient and the most productive. My third interviewee told me that with the parking decals that would be given to each resident that would be parking in the garage should come with a barcode, this barcode could be scanned by a scanning system by the security guard. This would ultimately get rid of the risk of anyone entering the parking garage who does not have a reserved spot. 
• My service could be purchased online or through the residents personal apartment complex leasing office or at my service's personal office. 
• In conclusion, these set of interviews gave me a much more specific focus on how I can work to improve my service of providing parking garages for college towns, and how I can make this service more accessible and desirable for every customer in this market. Each of my interviewees all agreed that the best alternative for my parking garage service 

Assignment 13A Reading Reflection No. 1

Reading Reflection: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

1.) You read about the entrepreneur:

• What surprised me the most about Steve Jobs was that I was not aware that he did not make the majority of his fortune (and eventually a becoming a billionaire) from Apple but instead, made his money from Pixar. After purchasing Pixar, he transformed it from what the company currently was, which surprisingly I learned that Pixar was not always a movies and entertainment industry. 
• What I admired most about Steve Jobs is how he was able to become not only a successful entrepreneur but a successful businessman without obtaining a college level of education (unless you want to count the two years of college Jobs attended at Reed College.) This really stuck out to me because in this day and age there is a lot of emphasis and pressure put upon young adults that they will not be able to be successful and have a career if they do not attend college, Steve Jobs is a perfect example of being able to make something for yourself when college does not seem like the path you are wanting to take. 
• What I least admired about Steve Jobs was when the book talked about how he had gotten his former high-school girlfriend pregnant and then was not present in his daughter or girlfriends life after the pregnancy and his daughters life. In addition to this, he also was not present in Lisa, his daughters life for many years. This to me came off as irresponsible and turned me off from Steve Jobs and his work. 
• Steve Jobs most definitely encountered adversity and failure in his life through numerous ways. In his early life he faced adversity from being put up for adoption and having to become adjusted to a new family. All the way to facing difficult with the Apple I and his other early prototypes that were failures. 

2.) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited:

• Steve Jobs exhibited perseverance. No matter what problems he faced throughout his life such as the examples that I mentioned in the earlier question, he never gave up. When the Apple I or other such items failed or had setbacks he did not call it quits or give up, he just took his mistakes and he learned from them. This can also be displayed through the troubles that he went through with his daughter, as he tried to establish a relationship with her and paid back child support dues, he was consistent with every trial and tribulation throughout his life. 

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

• I feel that this book could have gone into more detail about the people that really impacted Steve Jobs' life and his successes. Walter Isaacson does a good job about describing and mentioning all of the faults and arguments that he had with people as he was older but he does not ever go into a great detail about who really pushed him and kept him motivated.  

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

• If I could ask Jobs' two questions my first one would be "If you could see your Apple company now, would you be proud of what it has become?" This would be to see how he feels that the people who run his company now if they are following any orders he left for the company and other information along those lines. The second question that I would ask Steve Jobs' is "What your biggest regret in your personal life?" I would ask this question so that I could dig a little deeper into his more intimate life and learn more about the relationships that he had throughout his life because the book did not reveal a lot about his personal side. 

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

• I personally think that Steve Jobs' opinion of hard work was never giving up when he felt like he had failed, he was a very determined and self motivated worker and I feel that this is what helped him to achieve all of the technological advances that he made in his lifetime. I feel that I share that same opinion to a certain extent because I do not give up after I fail something or when something gets tough. 

Assignment 14A Halfway Reflection

1.) Tenaciousness is a competency:

• During the course of this class for the past couple of months I have learned that time management is a crucial skill that has to be expressed in this course. There are assignments that sometimes require numerous interviews of up to 20 minutes from people in the neighborhood and real world that would have my need. There are also assignment such as reading requirements and elevator pitches that all require a good amount of time throughout the week not just the day before or of when an assignment is due. 

2.) Tenaciousness is also about attitude:

• A time when I felt like giving up in this class is definitely more recently with the assignment where I had to find and interview people that did not have a need for my opportunity. I found that it was difficult to find people in the first place that did not have my need but then it was also a discouraging feeling when people did not need my opportunity as I have put a lot of thought and effort into developing an idea for this opportunity.

3.) Three tips:

• Three tips that I would offer future students that would enroll in this course would be the following:
1. Spend time on these assignments!!! The assignments in this course are not ones that can be done an hour before the deadline for them as they require a lot of effort and time especially when you have to conduct interviews and other requirements such as videos for elevator pitches!
2. Even if you think that you are not an entrepreneur you need to learn how to develop a "temporary" entrepreneurship/tenacious mindset! This class requires a lot of out-of-the box thinking and it is crucial to think like this to do well on these assignments!
3. Put thought into developing your opportunity for an unmet need!!! This is important because these opportunities that you develop could be the start of you wanting to pursue a career as an entrepreneurships or if anything else could help you provide business ideas for other people in this class!

Assignment 12A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

1.) Pick a segment:
For my segment I chose people that were living in off-campus apartments whether they were close to the University of Florida campus or further away and residents of the city of Gainesville. To find my interviewees, I started with apartments located on the streets that are closest to campus and sorority row. After a little while I found three people who were willing to sit down and have a 15-20 minute interview, in which I informed them that their identities would stay confidential throughout the whole process. They were all females aged 19-21, which I expected being around apartments near sorority row.

2.) Interviews:
1. My first interviewee was a female aged 20 from New york who lived in an apartment complex next to sorority row, she informed me that parking was a huge struggle for her daily, until she started to work extra shifts to be able to rent a parking spot from her apartment complex.
2. My second interviewee was a female aged 19 from Tampa, she lived a few blocks away from the actual UF campus and told me that many people might think the further out you live the easier parking is but that she struggles to find street parking as well.
3. My third interviewee was a female aged 21 who lived on a street closer to the Education Building area of campus, she told me that depending on what day of the week it is and time of day really made the parking either a huge struggle or just a normal level of struggle.

3.) Need Awareness:
My opportunity deals with the unmet need of lack of parking available to students and residents in the city of Gainesville. After conducting my interviews and having time to reflect over them, I realized that all of my interviewees for not only this assignment but for the other assignments as well all expressed the same concern and problem when it came to the lack of parking available in the city of Gainesville. While being most prevalent during the school year (August-May) and worse at night time rather than the day. All three of my interviewees all agreed to having to face a problem with parking almost daily because being that the UF campus is so spread out it is not always reasonable to walk to all their classes as it might be too far.

4.) Information Search: 
Since my problem is very relevant and popular in Gainesville, people are always coming into conflict with this unmet need. With that being said, when asking my interviewees what form of information searching that they turned to when they realized that parking was a problem for them and they needed a solution the consensus was all the same, they all told me they would ask by word of mouth if anyone of their friends or a mutual friends knew of any place to park their cars, or reaching out to their leasing company for parking spot rentals. If these places of information could not help them with what they needed then they did not have any other places to search.

5.) Draw Conclusions/ Interview Summaries:
After conducting these interviews as I stated earlier, I felt as if all of the interviews I have conducted throughout my researching process for my opportunity that they have all had similar interests and opinions when it comes to the lack of parking in Gainesville and around off-campus apartments near the UF campus. The need awareness definitely feels stronger and stronger to me each time that I interview more people or conduct more research for my opportunity. After these interviews I feel that I have conducted a sufficient amount of evidence now to really begin thinking on ways to improve my opportunity.

Assignment 11A Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You: 

• For starters, my name is Brooklyn Nave and I am a sophomore. I just transferred to the University of Florida and I am a General Business Major with a minor in Economics. I'm hoping to either be in the MIB program or graduate and then pursue a MBA after graduation. My skills have always been in communicating with people and being able to contribute strong leadership abilities in groups and situations. I have always had a gift when it comes to talking to people and being able to negotiate and settle disputes. Being able to talk to people and settle disputes would come in handy with my service of parking garages that I am providing. When negotiating items such as price, land, location and other details in a contract with landlords it could potentially turn into an argumentative conversation, this is where my skills of settling disputes would help in a situation like this. This business could give me an opportunity to put my foot in the door when it comes to negotiating business sales. 

2. What are you offering to customers?

• I am offering a service to citizens in Gainesville, FL and students attending University of Florida. My parking garage will meet the unmet needs of citizens whose parking is limited during the school year due to students parking in the spots that are normally empty. My service will also provide a need for the students by creating parking garages for people living off campus so that they will have safe and affordable parking spots. This in return helps the citizens of Gainesville because they will have more parking spots open up as a result of less students parking on the streets. 

3. Who are you offering it to?

• I am offering my service to two main groups: off-campus apartment landlords and city hall with regards to downtown Gainesville. Apartment landlords would include any of the following: L3 Campus Gainesville, Trimark, KLM, etc. This service would most likely primarily be targeted towards this group of people since they would provide the most beneficial outcome for my unmet need that I am looking to solve. This group of people would probably be the most problematic in terms of successful negotiating, since they would have to contribute their time and money into the service as well but in the end would end up making the most profits out of the two groups I would be offering my services too. Gainesville will be my trial city and the first college town I would start with for parking garages before eventually moving to other college towns such as FSU, UCF, USF, and many others!
• My second group that I would be offering my parking garage services to is City Hall. This group of leaders would be offered the opportunity to have a parking garage centered in downtown Gainesville. This parking garage instead of the monthly rates that the garage for the apartments would be offered, would charge parking residents hourly rates to park in the garage.  

4. Why do they care?

• I am confident that people will buy my service because of how large of an unmet need there is for this service in crowded cities and especially college towns. My service of parking garages has numerous attributes to it that make it appealing to consumers in the market, such as, the locations of the garages will be very convenient to all main attractions, off-campus parking garages will be located in a centralized area between all agreeing apartment complexes included in the garage making it safe for the students, and the rates for the parking garage will be fair and reasonable. Consumers will actually pay money for this service because it is relevant and there are not a lot of other competitors in the market that provide this service, at least in Gainesville speaking. 

5. What are your core competencies?

• In my own personal knowledge, I do not know of any other company around here that offers services like these --- without insanely expensive rates. My only other 'competitors' would be the apartment complexes that opt out of signing onto a combined parking garage, and offer residents their own personal spots, but those spots are usually outrageously overpriced and sometimes not in the best locations either so I am assured that my core competency of offering affordable and safe parking spots in a great location will be more than enough to sway the consumers into renting a parking spot from one of my parking garages. 

Do these elements fit together?

• I do believe that all of these elements work together and would be great, however, I do feel that there are some important parts of this opportunity that are weaker than others. First, I am not sure what it would cost me personally to get this business up and running and where to begin looking for a credible and safe contracting and construction crew to hire to work on the parking garages for me. Secondally, I am not sure how to go about getting my name out there and the services that I provide. This is due to a lack of connections and people to spread my business around to people in the community and area. Other than these two details I feel that all of these elements that I have work together to make this a great opportunity!

Elevator speech URL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZm0cyyVZaA&t=3s

Assignment 9A Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

• Who?
• After conducting my interviews with five individuals who I thought might have the need that I have presented in my opportunity for an unmet need, I was surprised to find that there are people whom I thought would need this opportunity that actually did not. These individuals are people who have either not brought their cars down to school with them therefore do not need to worry about finding parking spots and are also people who do not care about finding a good spot that is close to their apartment for not only convenience reasons but for safety reasons as well.
• My first interviewee is a female from a neighborhood over from mine who informed me that she does not have a need for this opportunity because she is an out-of-state student and her parents did not allow her to bring her car down from New York so she does not have a vehicle. However, she thought that having a parking garage would be a great opportunity for her roommates who do have their cars down here at college with them. 
• My second interviewee is a male who surprised me a little bit, seeing that he had a car that is at college with him I assumed he would have an opportunity for this need but he informed me otherwise. He said although he sees how parking could be annoying to some he just simply does not care enough about his parking spot to have an opportunity for this need.
• My third interviewee informed me that although she does have a car with her at college and that sometimes parking can be quite frustrating, she would not purchase a parking spot in a new parking garage because it is "cheaper to pay one price yearly for street parking versus paying monthly."
• My fourth interviewee was a senior in high school who plans on attending the University of Florida in the fall of next year, she told me that she will be staying off campus with her sister. Although, her apartment will be in the area that I felt my opportunity would meet needs, she told me that she would be sharing a car with her sister and that her sister lives at an apartment (one of the few) that have designated parking spots for the residents of their apartment complex. Therefore, she would have no need for the parking garage. However, I decided to interview her sister as my fifth interviewee who told me otherwise, although she does have parking at her apartment complex it is a first come first serve basis when it comes to finding a parking spot. She can see a need in my opportunity but says that "knowing gainesville landlords they would find a way to increase the parking garage prices" and therefore, she would not be purchasing a spot in the parking garage.
• What?
• I learned through talking to the people that i interviewed that although this would solve some people's parking issues in Gainesville, one parking garage would not satisfy the needs of every student and resident in the city of Gainesville.
• Why?
• I do not believe that the need is different rather people are influenced by different factors whether it be money, family or culture. All of those factors contribute to whether they see my opportunity for their as a priority or not.

Inside the boundary                          Outside the boundary

Who:                       College students that have                     College students who have not brought

                                 brought their cars to college.                 their car to college.

  

                                 College students who do not                  College students that live in an apartment

                                 live in an apartment complex                 that offers parking spots for them.

                                 that offers parking spots.

 

                                 College students who would be              College students that would not pay for a

                                 willing to pay monthly for a parking        parking spot monthly.

                                 spot.

What:                     To help cut down on the lack of parking  To eliminate parking issues in the city

                                for off campus students.                            all together.

            

                               To provide safe and close parking spots    To make it mandatory for all apartment

                               for students living in off campus                complexes to have parking available

                               apartments that do not provide parking        for all their residents.

                               spots.

Why:                     The city of Gainesville does not have enough parking spots for their residents let                                   alone their guests and students that are here. 

                               People can not afford some prices that apartment complexes charge for their                                         parking spots. 

                              

Assignment 8A- Solving the Problem

• My service has to do with the prevalent need for more parking spots in the city of Gainesville, FL

• Some off-campus apartment complexes have tried to implement their own parking lots or spots that are available for the residents of their apartments to rent monthly but for a very expensive rate. The problem with this however, is that there are only limited spots that the apartment complex even has to sell to the residents. I would like to provide a service that can come in and find land in Gainesville as well as other college towns that have parking issues and find ways to put in parking garages for the residents of off campus apartments. 

• There are a few ideas that I have to provide this service:
• Get with landlords and have them form a committee that can bring in companies to provide parking garages so that they can work together to build a parking garage for the residents of their apartment complexes.
• Meet with city and town commissioners to find ways in the city's budget to incorporate money to build a parking garage for students that live off campus.

• Both of these options would provide accessible, close to their home, parking for off-campus students for a reasonable monthly or yearly rate.

• I want to first implement this service in Gainesville and see if it is possible to find a way to work with the landlords or the city to provide this for off-campus living students just like myself. If this was a success and I saw that it was not only pleasing residents of apartment complexes but also generating a revenue for the people involved I would look to expand this service to other college towns across America.

Assignment 7A- Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

Parking Shortage in Gainesville, FL

• Opportunity:
• In the city of Gainesville, FL there is a huge shortage of parking for students living in off-campus apartments. Every day students are faced with the constant struggle finding a parking spot, often the parking spots are far away from their apartments posing a potential threat to students. 
• The Who: Students living off-campus in Gainesville, FL 
• The What: Potential safety threat when students have to park far away from their apartments
• The Why: The shortage of parking spots available off-campus in Gainesville

• Testing the who: University of Florida students are not the only "who" that have this need. This need would expand to all college students in college towns that have a shortage of parking spots for their off-campus students. Although, I have not been to many other college towns to know if this need is as bad as it is in Gainesville, I do believe that there are other students that would have a need for this opportunity.
• Testing the what: Parking is not just an issue around the apartments directly off campus and near sorority row, it is a problem around downtown and places surrounding Archer Rd. This creates a parking problem for not just the students at the University of Florida but for the local residents in the city of Gainesville as they are using those parking spots as well. 
• Testing the why: I believe that the shortage of parking spots in Gainesville is due to the fact that it is a small town and was not very expanded or commercialized before the University came into town. The amount of parking spots that were available for the residents of Gainesville were probably plenty enough before UF came into the town, but after it created a huge shortage of parking for the city.

• Interview #1: 
• This first interview that I conducted was with a student who lives directly off campus by 12th street. He informed me that he has spent "countless hours driving up and down the neighboring streets surrounding his apartment complex looking and hoping to luck up on a parking spot." He agrees that there is a serious problem with the parking for apartment complexes off the University's campus. 

• Interview #2: 
• This next interview that I conducted was with a student who does not live directly close to campus but finds herself commuting to sorority row quite frequently throughout the week. When asking her how she felt about the parking she told me that during the hours she usually is visiting sorority row and the streets surrounding directly off campus she is in "constant competition" with the residents of that area to find parking. She told me that she is typically traveling to this area between 5:00-6:30 pm, she informed me that finding a parking spot is especially bad during this time and she would "most definitely like to see an improvement in the parking." 

• Interview #3:
• My next interview that was conducted was with a student who currently lives in my apartment complex that is located directly off-campus and just a few streets over from sorority row. When asking her, her opinion on the parking shortage in Gainesville she was more than happy to tell me her opinion on the current situation. She told me that not only is finding a parking spot the first issue that she has, but finding a parking spot that is big enough for her car. She owns a jeep and tells me that "often I find open spots when looking for a parking spot but then realize that it is too narrow or there is not enough room for her car." She feels that if they do expand the parking that they need to make spots that accomodate for all types of cars.

• Interview #4:
• The next interview that I conducted was with a friend who lives in an apartment complex down the street from mine. This student is currently renting a parking spot from his apartment complex and pays a monthly fee. When asked his opinion on the current parking situation in Gainesville he told me that he identified the shortage "right away" and quickly contacted his apartment complex to purchase a parking spot from them. He feels that without this parking spot he would not be able to get around as easily and that leaving his apartment to go places would not be very practical. But, he does have concerns with renting parking spots from apartment complexes because of the "extremely overpriced rates" at which they sell the spots for, but, believes these high rates are due to the shortage of parking spots the apartment complex has from the city as well. 

• Interview #5:
• My fifth and final interview that I conducted was with a student who lives at what I believe to be one of the closest apartments located near campus. This student currently has a car at school with her and has a scooter. When I asked her on her opinion about the current parking situation in Gainesville she told me that she has been using only her scooter to get around the town because when she drives her car she is "unable to find any parking close to her apartment complex." She also informed me that after this semester is over she will be leaving her car at her parents home and only using her scooter because of how "difficult" the parking situation has been recently this year.

After conducting these interviews...

• These interviews with every student that I was able to interview helped me gain some insight on my opportunity and was truly made aware of how dire the need for more parking spots and spaces are in Gainesville, especially around the off-campus apartments that are relatively close to campus. 
• Each person that I was able to interview helped me to realize that this is a huge part of the students lives and that the need for more parking spots would help to ease the danger of parking away from their apartment complexes and having to walk alone especially at night which increases the safety threat that students would face.
• Before conducting these interviews I knew that there was a need for more parking spots to become available around the off-campus apartments just from my own experience and the struggles I have faced trying to find parking for my own car. But, after talking to five different students I learned that I am not the only one who would have a huge need for my opportunity I am seeking to supply.