Halfway Reflection

 What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?

·      Being confident when doing tasks.

·      Analyzing the things that I have to do, in order to develop a plan.

·      Pull through, even when I might be a little uncertain, because I think you can always figure out things along the way.

·      I have learned that not everything has to be perfect in the first shot. Sometimes what’s important is just to get out there in the market and then develop your product.

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

As one of my life dreams is to successfully create a company and become an entrepreneur, sometimes I would think that it might be too hard, and maybe I will never accomplish it. However, when that happens, I just relax, take a deep breath, and regain positivity, as I feel that there is no point in being negative. I can definitely say that after the things I have learned in this course, I have realized that being successful in the entrepreneurship world is feasible, and you just need a good plan and a bunch of hard work.

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

·      Be confident in yourself: know that you are capable of doing things, and if you want, you will be successful.

·      Don’t worry about failing: most people do, and the difference between succeeding and failing is in not giving up.

·      Plan ahead: the more you plan, the more chances your idea has of materializing. Ask questions when needed, and if you can, find a mentor.

Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk:

1.     What surprised you the most?

It surprised me a lot that although he is a very intelligent person, and ended up doing so many incredible things, he was actually bullied during school, and did not have a large group of friends.

2.     What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

The dedication that he puts into the things he does, the vision that he possesses about the future and the things that humanity can accomplish, and the number of hours he spends working on his projects.

3.     What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

That some people argue that sometimes he can be careless on others, and even a little arrogant.

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

Yes, he did find a lot of obstacles with his first companies, like x.com, and he was even kicked out as CEO. However, his response was to keep innovating and creating new things, learning from the mistakes along the way.

5.     What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

Innovation, hard work, creativity, resilience, leadership.

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

When the book talks about the issues with PayPal, as there were so many things happening.

7.     If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

·      If he ever dreamed about being as successful as he is now, because I want to know if that is a mindset.

·      If he would ever diverge from the business world to focus more on his family or personal goals, because I want to know until what point is business and innovation the motor of his life.

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

I do think that the only way of accomplishing things as remarkable as the ones he has done, taking risks and working hard for them is the only way of succeeding. To that matter, although I know one has to sacrifice many things, I do agree with his vision.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Pick a segment: In this case, my segment will be college students, who drive and have a car, are UF students (a place with limited parking), live off-campus, and have the desire to drive to campus.

Need awareness in the interviews: After interviewing four people, I found three that were aware of the problem. They expressed that they become aware of the need whenever they struggle to find parking in a collapsed place. One example that they all cited was college campuses, not only in UF but also in other places.

Information search: When the people I interviewed are in this situation, especially outside of campus is to look for other parking lots nearby. This holds true especially for parking in the downtown of different cities. They also look for places that charge more for parking but might have more availability. They might also ask friends who have been in those places before to see if they know anywhere to park or have any recommendations.

Summary and Conclusions: After the interview, I got to the conclusion that college students are definitely among the groups that would benefit the most out of parking solutions. They expressed the need both for parking on campus, as well as in downtowns or places that tend to get very crowded. They would appreciate a solution to this matter.

Idea Napkin No. 1

You:

I am a motivated and hard-working individual, who likes to have challenges and take risks as a part of my life. If I were to start my business, I would aspire to get it growing as early as I can, and it would become a fundamental part of my everyday life. I would be happy to work for that challenge.

What are you offering to customers?

I will be offering a system of cameras that track open parking spaces, and a mobile application that tells the public where they are, and whose turn is it to get that spot.

Who are you offering it to?

I would be focusing on people older than 16, who drive and have a car, live in cities or commute to places with limited parking, and have smartphones and the willingness to use mobile applications. About their psychographics, they should be at least a little bit impatient, it can help if they are usually late to places, or they just do not have a lot of time to waste on finding parking.

Why do they care?

People and businesses would like to pay money to me because alleviating parking struggles would boost their quality of service, and ultimately, customer satisfaction. A place with more customer satisfaction is a place where most people want to go, and therefore, there is more potential revenue for those businesses.

What are your core competencies?

My main competency is the fact that my idea has not been developed by any other company so far. Therefore, I would be the very first person to venture in this type of business, so that at least for the first couple of years, I would have a freeway to develop my company and get as many clients as a possibly can.

I believe so far all of the elements fit each other, and the success would mostly be a matter of asking big companies if they are also interested in offering this kind of service to their customers. If this ends up happening, then this could potentially be a successful business idea, and a game-changer for parking issues.