Assignment 30A - Final Reflection

1.) Looking back through all of my assignments, I would have to say that the most formative experience I've had in the class by far would be the elevator pitches. I remember seeing it three times in the list of upcoming assignments and I remember really dreading it and really not looking forward to it. It taught me how to be more open on camera and how to communicate my ideas more coherently. The experience I think I'd still remember year's later, believe it or not, is the bug list. The serial-position effect makes it easier to remember items at the beginning and end of a list, and I surely don't think I'll be remembering this reflection. The most joyous experience I've had in this class was live-interviewing my ex-girlfriend, that was pretty fun. The experience I am most proud of myself for accomplishing would be my venture concept since it was very comprehensive and well thought out and I really believe that I included a lot of conclusive details in that post.

2.) Now, at the end of this course, I would definitely see myself as an entrepreneur. With the way the class was structured, I think it would be really difficult not to have further developed an entrepreneurial mindset. All the assignments and lectures were very relevant to the class itself and I really believe that it helped shape the way I think and view the immediate world around me.

3.) One recommendation to students going down this path in the future is to definitely take your bug list seriously and to take some serious time reflecting before you chose the one opportunity working on all semester. I feel that if your initial idea isn't as wholesome or complete, it would be very difficult to think of more things and advance with your idea further down the line. In order to best perform on this course, I would suggest that these students don't get caught behind and also not to get too comfortable since the class is structured very consistently with no upcoming exams! The most vital recommendation I have pertaining to this consistency is to set alarms every Thursday and Sunday night! I would recommend they stop procrastinating now to start fostering and developing this mindset.

4.)

Assignment 29A- Venture Concept No. 2 - Handy Man Sam's Parking Garages

Part 1:

Regardless of whether you guys have a car or not, I'm sure that the unfavorable parking conditions in the city of Gainesville have been realized to some extent (maybe not currently, of course). Since I drive lot in my day-to-day life, this is the opportunity I have chosen to take advantage of and improve. From year to year, the city of Gainesville is becoming a lot more populated as the University of Florida accepts more and more students. Naturally, the issue of parking is only going to get worse from here. On top of that, even as it currently stands, the city struggles a lot as it is trying to squeeze everyone into the smallest radius for football games. There are hundreds of thousands of people within a 3 mile radius which is actually ridiculous, especially considering how it's only going down from here. As such, my plan's core objective is to create parking while maximizing the most amount of space. Entailed in my operations plan are three major steps needed in order to create a solution in the city. Each of these are equally important, except the first two are standard for every construction operation in the field and the third step is a distinctive one that serves to set my idea apart from others.
         The first part of the plan is to scout out single-leveled parking lots in high-traffic areas that could use a more efficient and abundant parking system. The main component of the plan is to maximize the given space by simply building the single-leveled parking lot upwards, thereby converting a parking lot to a parking garage. This way, even in crowded areas where there isn't much space like midtown and on campus, a lot of spots can still be made available without actually taking up more street space.
          The second part of my plan would be to create partnerships with the city of Gainesville and the University of Florida to get permission for the construction of these parking garages as well as attain property rights to these single-leveled parking lots. Once this is done, then the immediate construction of the parking lot can begin. Obviously, this would be a very expensive endeavor, so I would of course have many serious investors lined up in exchange for a small amount of equity in my company.
         The third part of my plan is what will make my idea very different from the rest: parking sensors will be installed into each and every spot of my garage and with that technology in place, the number of available spots will be displayed on the outside of the parking building to avoid wasting people's time. This will be very convenient especially for those who commute to campus by car and have experience the nightmare of not being able to find a parking spot during a time crunch.
Furthermore, this data will be also be linked to this app that I will have created for use on cellular devices. This app will have the relative location of all of my parking garages and will pinpoint the closest parking garage available and will also allow you to see the amount of currently available spots in each of the garages. This will add a whole other level of convenience that will change the parking game in the city of Gainesville for good.
         At the moment, the only competitor I have would be the school (UF), neighborhood parking company's, as well as a few parking garage owners in the downtown area of the city. The reason my product/service would better serve the community and provide more opportunity for customers is due to the much higher level of convenience offered by my garages. With a much higher level of technology implemented in these garages, it would make much better use of the space. Furthermore, UF decals and neighborhood parking are extremely expensive so my rates would also be much better than theirs.
         With many of these parking garages around the city, people will never have to loop around the same block 20 times to find a spot. All garages will be interconnected and there will definitely be an attempt to spread out these projects throughout the city evenly. I personally I feel like an idea like this is very necessary considering the growing traffic in Gainesville by the year. The situation as it is now is currently so bad and I have personally never seen anywhere with parking as bad as in Gainesville. With a plan like this one that maximizes space and prioritizes convenience, I find it to be a big step forward in making Gainesville a parking-friendly place.

2. When looking back at the comments I've received on my first venture concept and on my "what's next" assignment, I got the general consensus from my peers that the opportunity I had envisioned was fairly well thought out and that all the details I had thought of went well together and would do a good job of serving the community. I also got some feedback from one of my peers that I should add a section mentioning my competitors and the benefits I have over them.

3. Based on the feedback I have received, my venture concept seems to be fairly coherent and well thought-out. As such, I've kept the foundation the same. Moreover, based on one of the peer reviews I have gotten, I decided it would be best to add in a section talking about the potential competitors I

will have in my industry. I have added a section within my concept addressing this.

Assignment 28A - My Exit Strategy

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

I plan to use this business as a source of passive income so that my investment can eventually pay off. That being said, I plan to stay in the business for at least 2 decades since I don't think there can be anything that can serve as tough competition for my parking garages. After at least 2 decades, I plan to sell my parking garages.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

The reason I selected this particular exit strategy is because I want to make a passive income for my investment since a parking garage is only something that will pay off over many years. Thus, after two decades, I am sure to make a sizable amount of profit to the point where I can then sell my garages and earn a lot of money from it. After two decades, I will be in my 40s so I feel as if that is a good time to cash out and start living my life to the fullest with all the money I have acquired.

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

Since I plan to keep my garages for at least 2 decades, it has influenced my decision to invest a lot into them and to equip them with the most advanced technology possible for a parking garage. The reason for this is because I want my investment to be as good as possible if I'm going to have it around for 20 years or so. It would likely make it an even more profitable source of passive income since I could charge a small extra premium for every person that parks for the convenience. 

Assignment 27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

In this exercise, I'd like you to select a book from the second half of the Official ENT 3003 Reading List and report on it. This part of the list focuses on books that cover, generally, entrepreneurship, business, and learning. I'd like you to address the following in your post:

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

The primary general theme of this book is that humanity has indulged in watching an increasing amount of television on their free time for the first decade of the 20th century. This trend, however, has changed as for the first time since the release of television there is now a decreasing amount of people who watch television yearly. This major change is described as a positive one by the author as more time is diverted into interactive media and online activities. In this day and age, this is seen as a much more productive use of time compared to simply watching television for leisure.  

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

This book is connected with the class in quite a few ways actually. Having made the switch to using less television in exchange for interactive media, we are improving our productivity through online activities. Entrepreneurship opportunities exist a lot more online than on television, such as the creation of Wikipedia and other online sights.

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

If I were to design an exercise for the class based on the book, I would have all student reflect on what interactive media sources they use or online activities that they engage in. Then, I would have them think of a list of ten benefits of this interactive media or ten ways in which it connects to entrepreneurship.

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?

The biggest 'aha' moment for me was when they brought up the fact that there is a general trend of decreasing television consumption in the world in exchange for a higher indulgence in interactive media. This is definitely something I learned that differed from my expection since I expected television consumption to be rather increasing over the years with all these new shows coming out.

Assignment 26A - Celebrating Failure

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

Something I have tried several times this semester and have failed each time is learning to improve my juggling skills. I have tried to learn how to juggle 4 balls for the longest time but I just can't get the hang of it. I have been juggling 3 balls for a couple months now so I feel as if I'm ready to move on to the next move. I have been trying for around 3 weeks now to learn but have continuously failed. Yesterday, however, I was able to hit a 4 ball flash, which means I was able to juggle all four balls for one complete rotation. I still can't get it down again nor can I do it consistently in the least, but I will continue trying.

2) Tell us what you learned from it.  

I learned that even though I continued to fail for a very long period of time, I still eventually made progress by hitting a four ball flash. As cliche as it may sound, I learned to never give up.

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

I feel like I handle failure very well. Recently I have adopted a new framework in which I believe that failure can only be a good thing and that it is inherently necessary in order to develop yourself as a person and build experiences. I have realized that the only way to get better at something, is in fact to fail at it, a lot. I further believe that this applies to many things in life, one of them being relationships. There's a reason why most people have multiple spouses in life; that is, they can learn from their past failed relationships that didn't work out in order to give them a better idea of what they truly want for future relationships. Everything is a learning experience so I have recently (the past year or so) been handling failure differently. I always try to reflect and learn something from all my fails, and even if I can't, I have learned to laugh it off and not to let it get to me. Sometimes things are more serious, of course, such as failing an exam or something of the sort. In this case, I have learned to simply learn from my mistakes and move on. Failure is part of being human. This class has taught me a lot about failure, primarily from my last reading reflection on How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, in which it taught me that in winning at something is just being happy of the outcome, regardless of whether you win or lose. It has taught me a very healthy mindset that you can and should still be happy regardless of how you perform at something. I would also definitely say that I am more likely to take a risk now than I was just a few months ago.

Assignment 25A - What's Next?

Existing Market:

Step 1: In all honesty, I have already thought of pretty much everything possible for a high-tech parking garage. If I were really working on differentiating my product and had to make a modification for the better, I might create a decal system that automatically charges car for their time spent in one of the parking garages to avoid wasting more time.

Step 2:
Interview 1: My first person interviewing said that they feel like we should add speed bumps around the corners of the parking garages to promote safety, especially on campus.
Interview 2: The second interviewee said that I would also need to add an elevator to my parking garages, which is a detail that I had not thought of since it would not improve parking itself but rather the convenience of parking. She also suggested that I promote this idea with fliers around campus and at apartment complexes.
Interview 3: My third person interviewing said that we might want to add cameras to the facilities. They also said that customers are probably gonna be looking for rates that are cheaper than the UF and neighborhood decals.

Step 3: In all honesty, there really isn't much that I could do to improve upon the opportunity itself. My interviews gave me some sort of feedback on things that I could add if I really wanted to make my garages advanced. In terms of the future, I plan to add the three things that my interviewees have suggested. These things would be mostly for safety, with the exception of the first idea that would also improve convenience.
         The main thing that I would do to grow my venture would be to add the automatic payment system in which people would attach a decal to their car that would automatically be scanned upon entering my garages. This system would auto-charge the card after every time someone comes in to park. This would be mainly in an effort to improve convenience since there are a lot of people going to school on a time crunch.

New Market

Step 1: If I were to pick a different market aside from college students, I would pick businesses in the downtown and midtown area who also have trouble finding reliable parking.

Step 2: I think that this venture concept would bring utility to this new market segment since it would provide them with a consistent and reliable way of finding parking that would be located near a lot of major businesses for added convenience.

Step 3:
Interview 1: This individual suggested I offer cheaper rates for employers buying parking for their company over a longer period of time.
Interview 2: My second interviewee suggested I advertise to all the nearby business in the downtown and midtown area that would be close by the hypothetical garage.

Step 4: What I learned from this new market is that I would be dealing with a completely different type of market in which my really advanced parking garage would not have much use for. These people would be coming in and leaving their cars in there for the majority of the day, which is not the idea I had in mind for my garage. Furthermore, people who are going to work would probably also be willing to pay less for parking so I would also not be able to charge as much.
         To be quite frank, I feel like this new market would not cut it and would likely not be successful in the long-run. I believe that the most profitable market segment by far in the city would be college students who commute to and off campus and popular areas via car. My parking garages are intended for high traffic areas in which people are coming in and out during all times of the day, which is exactly why college students are perfect: they're always busy.

Assignment 24A - Venture Concept No. 1: Handy Sam's Parking

         Regardless of whether you guys have a car or not, I'm sure that the unfavorable parking conditions in the city of Gainesville have been realized to some extent (maybe not currently, of course). Since I drive lot in my day-to-day life, this is the opportunity I have chosen to take advantage of and improve. From year to year, the city of Gainesville is becoming a lot more populated as the University of Florida accepts more and more students. Naturally, the issue of parking is only going to get worse from here. On top of that, even as it currently stands, the city struggles a lot as it is trying to squeeze everyone into the smallest radius for football games. There are hundreds of thousands of people within a 3 mile radius which is actually ridiculous, especially considering how it's only going down from here. As such, my plan's core objective is to create parking while maximizing the most amount of space. Entailed in my operations plan are three major steps needed in order to create a solution in the city. Each of these are equally important, except the first two are standard for every construction operation in the field and the third step is a distinctive one that serves to set my idea apart from others.
         The first part of the plan is to scout out single-leveled parking lots in high-traffic areas that could use a more efficient and abundant parking system. The main component of the plan is to maximize the given space by simply building the single-leveled parking lot upwards, thereby converting a parking lot to a parking garage. This way, even in crowded areas where there isn't much space like midtown and on campus, a lot of spots can still be made available without actually taking up more street space.
          The second part of my plan would be to create partnerships with the city of Gainesville and the University of Florida to get permission for the construction of these parking garages as well as attain property rights to these single-leveled parking lots. Once this is done, then the immediate construction of the parking lot can begin. Obviously, this would be a very expensive endeavor, so I would of course have many serious investors lined up in exchange for a small amount of equity in my company.
         The third part of my plan is what will make my idea very different from the rest: parking sensors will be installed into each and every spot of my garage and with that technology in place, the number of available spots will be displayed on the outside of the parking building to avoid wasting people's time. This will be very convenient especially for those who commute to campus by car and have experience the nightmare of not being able to find a parking spot during a time crunch.
Furthermore, this data will be also be linked to this app that I will have created for use on cellular devices. This app will have the relative location of all of my parking garages and will pinpoint the closest parking garage available and will also allow you to see the amount of currently available spots in each of the garages. This will add a whole other level of convenience that will change the parking game in the city of Gainsville for good.
         With many of these parking garages around the city, people will never have to loop around the same block 20 times to find a spot. All garages will be interconnected and there will definitely be an attempt to spread out these projects throughout the city evenly. I personally I feel like an idea like this is very necessary considering the growing traffic in Gainesville by the year. The situation as it is now is currently so bad and I have personally never seen anywhere with parking as bad as in Gainesville. With a plan like this one that maximizes space and prioritizes convenience, I find it to be a big step forward in making Gainesville a parking-friendly place.

Assignment 23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

List of resources for my venture:

1: Suppliers

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it is necessary for the construction of parking garages

b.) Rare: quite rare in Gainesville as there are not many construction companies

c.) Inimitable: not very inimitable as there are high entry costs to being a supplier

d.) Non-substitutable: no, suppliers for building materials are essential and irreplacable

2: Employees

a.) Valuable: very valuable, work could not be done without them

b.) Rare: not very rare, there are a lot of potential employees everywhere

c.) Inimitable: moderately inimitable since you can't always find qualified and efficient employees

d.) Non-substitutable: no, employees are necessary to run a business

3: Market Expert

a.) Valuable: very valuable as he would have a lot of influence on the operations

b.) Rare: not rare at all, there are many market experts all over the place

c.) Inimitable: not very inimitable since it takes a lot of time to get valuable experience

d.) Non-substitutable: no, market experts have undergone a very specific field

4: Phone Application

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it differentiates my idea from other similar parking ideas

b.) Rare: yes, it is gonna be custom-made and tailored specifically to my city

c.) Inimitable: very difficult to copy, there is a lot of labor and technology that goes into making an app as such

d.) Non-substitutable: no, an app is the only way to provide a level up in convenience in regards to parking

5: Insurance

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it would keep me from racking up some potentially financially-ruining liabilities

b.) Rare: not at all, there are plenty of insurances

c.) Inimitable: not very inimitable, it's difficult to copy the concept of insurance

d.) Non-substitutable: no, insurance is the only way to protect yourself against certain things

6: Property managers

a.) Valuable: very valuable as they would provide me a basis where I conduct my operations

b.) Rare: decently rare as there aren't too many big property managers for parking garages in Gainesville

c.) Inimitable: not inimitable, it is very difficult to copy property managers and acquire expensive property.

d.) Non-substitutable: no, property managers are a very specific group of people that cannot be substituted for anything else.

7: Parking sensing technology

a.) Valuable: very valuable as it serves as a backbone to my phone application

b.) Rare: not very rare, there are a lot of different ones on the market

c.) Inimitable: very inimitable, it is a very easily copied piece of equipment

d.) Non-substitutable: no, a parking sensor would be the only way to make my app work

8: Partnerships

a.) Valuable: very valuable as I would need these partnerships to build my garages in the city and school

b.) Rare: they are neither rare nor common since it really depends how many partnerships are created

c.) Inimitable: it is not inimitable at all since it's very hard to copy the terms of a contract and acquire the same deal

d.) Non-substitutable: no, partnerships are necessary for my garage to go up

9: Property rights

a.) Valuable: very valuable as they are necessary in order to own my garage

b.) Rare: yes they are not very easy to come across these days

c.) Inimitable: not inimitable since it's very hard to copy property rights

d.) Non-substitutable: no property rights are a thing of it's kind

10: Investors

a.) Valuable: very valuable as parking construction operations would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

b.) Rare: not rare at all, investors are everywhere

c.) Inimitable: not inimitable since it's hard to copy investors without being one

d.) Non-substitutable: no, there are no other ways to fund this project without investors

Out of all of my resources, I would have to say that my phone application would probably be my top resource for a couple of different reasons. First off, it's the main thing that set's me a part from all other competitors. I feel like a business would not be very successful if it isn't differentiated by at least one big factor, and this is mine. Further, this would add an unbeatable level of convenience for anyone who has struggled with parking in the past. I feel like the idea of building parking garages wouldn't be complete without an app to go along with it. 

Assignment 22A - Elevator Pitch No. 3

Here's a link to my third elevator pitch! Hope you guys enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShfNH0_4mKs

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. 

I didn't get much feedback on my second elevator pitch, but maybe that's a good thing. The one little thing that did catch my eye is getting straight to the point and being more specific in describing my concept.

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

In order to improve my third elevator pitch, I focused on getting right into the topic instead of beating around the bush somewhat towards the beginning. I also tried to expand a bit more on my concept. We'll see how I did based on this week's feedback!

Assignment 21A - Reading Reflection #2

For this second reading reflection, I actually picked up the book called How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams. The reason I chose this book was simply due to the fact that I resonate with the title so I figured it'd be interesting to see my thoughts put out into words. I'm not good at many things but yet I still feel like a champ in most of the things I do, which is what I was reminded of upon reading the title of the book.

 1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
I found that the general theme of the book was that in reality, you really don't need to be good at something to enjoy it. From what I understood, enjoying something is considered winning because the same type of satisfaction can be derived whether or not you perform well on something. "Winning is only about feeling good and confident in yourself regardless of what happens to you. The book basically teaches you that if you take care of yourself, mindset, and well being, nothing can come in the way between an individual and their self-happiness.

 2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
I actually think that this book connected to this class extremely well since entrepreneurship is all about making it through failure and preserving despite not achieving a desired outcome right away. This book is all about being content and looking at the bright side of all your mistakes and shortcomings which really helps you learn about yourself, keep a positive mindset, and thus improve on yourself in the future. As such, I think this book really helps develop confidence and positivity within one's life, which is vital for building a business and entrepreneurship mindset.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
If I had to design one exercise based on this novel, I would instruct students to record themselves indulging in an activity that they're not very proficient in after they have read the novel. Then, after they attempt to do the activity and likely fail, I'd have them sit down and talk about how it made them felt. The underlying reason behind doing this would be to show people the there really isn't any harm in failing at things.  If they see themselves getting upset after failing and take the time to reflect on camera afterwards, I really believe a sense of self-reflection can teach them something important about themselves.

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?
Something that really surprised me from the novel was when the author talks about the positive sides to being selfish. I had always viewed it in a bad way, and of course pure selfishness can never be a good thing, but taking care of yourself and putting your well-being, mental health, and fitness above other things in your life is a big step towards self-love and being content under any circumstance. At the same time, once this balance is maintained, it is encouraged to still spend quality time with family and friends since you can't be giving to others if you yourself are not in a good place in life.

Overall I really liked this book a lot and connected with it on a different level. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to work on and improve themselves mentally while also learning to develop a positive mindset about life!