Halfway Reflection

The past two month have been interesting, fun and a class I will probably be looking back on in the near future for reference and reflection. I look forward to the second half of this course, and the many insights I will gain for the different assignments.

Another main thing that has gotten me through this class so successfully is the support of my adorable puppy. He cheers me on.




1. Tenaciousness is competency.

To keep up with the course, you have to stay on track and really learn to manage your time accordingly. One of the tactics I use is looking ahead at the beginning of each week and seeing what assignments I have due and what resources I am going to need to complete each assignment. I also have written down every assignment on my calendar so that I don't forget one or miss a simple due date.

2. Tenaciousness is also about attitude. 

Some of the assignments (like the ones where you have to interview multiple people) are difficult and tiresome. I have wanted to just skip an assignment and take the hit for the missed points. However, I remind myself that each assignment has a purpose and that I will learn from each person I talk to. I can proudly say that I have not missed an assignment for the last two months, so I think this classifies me as quite tenacious.

3. Three tips.

A couple tips I would give to support the fostering of tenacious skills and a tenacious mindset is to dedicate yourself to the class since it has something you have decided to take. You should also 100% be sure to not miss an assignment, because although the assignments can be time consuming, they are easy and all about yourself so it's not worth missing the points. Lastly, I would say you need to time manage, shoot for nothing less than an A and make the most out of the opportunity that this class has to offer.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1 - Need Awareness and Information Search

1. My segment will be students that need a more specific class offering for their major. 

2. My three people really game me some great insight into their need and want for an improvement in my opportunity. Below I have my interviews with them explaining their difficulties with classes offered for their majors. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/james-bailey?in=user-329268085/sets/need-awareness-and-information-search

https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/maggie-mckinley?in=user-329268085/sets/need-awareness-and-information-search

https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/sameer-patel?in=user-329268085/sets/need-awareness-and-information-search

3. The need awareness occurs when students hear about other schools that offer programs of more specific subject. It also arrises when students start looking for internships and realize that they aren't sure what they want to focus on or aren't prepared for the job at hand because of the broad classes offered. 

4. The first thing they do to find a solution to their problem is look for other resources to gain the some information that they are missing out on. They also start to ask a lot of questions and wonder what is stopping their current situation from fulfilling this need. Their search terms in google would specifically relate to their line of work or major classes. They would talk to friends and family to see how they have overcome similar problems in similar situations.

5. In my interviews I learned that there is an unmet need and that finding a solution is difficult and definitely depends on the student that is looking for a solution. I think this opportunity is unique because it differs depending on each student that has this unmet need. It also makes it that much more difficult to solve the problem. 

6. I would describe this segment intern of need awareness and information search as apparent and definitely an opportunity for many people, but that the information is sometimes hard to find and hard to define since each case is unique. 

Reading Reflection No. 1

1. Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s, by Ray Kroc

• I think what surprise me most was the amount of effort and uniqueness that went into the creation of his business. For example, the specific recipe’s for the food served at McDonalds and the way he came about it all.

• The thing I admired most about this entrepreneur was his hard work and persistence to be the best and make the largest food chain restaurant in his time. He really did work his way up the ladder to learn from his mistakes before becoming successful.

• I least admired was his process of going about certain situations. And honestly, i think that this fast food industry is destroying America so I’m not to fond of his part in that. It would’ve been nice if he would have used his entrepreneurship skills and success for something that could affect heath in a more positive way. 

• I think he encounter lots of adversity and failure. For example when he needed to find more funds, or perfect the recipe’s being used and cherished for his future customers. He overcame these obstacles with his passion, drive and relentlessness to achieve greatness.  

2. Some competencies that I noticed he exhibited included a tough work ethic and an attitude to never give up and to not stop until you reach perfection and success.

3. Some of the reading was confusing because I'm not well rehearsed in law or the processes that take place when trying to develop and sell a franchise. I wish I would have understood all of the more technical phrases and terms that detailed his processes in the business world a bit better. 

4. The first question I would ask him is "what did you learn most about this entrepreneurship adventure." I think he learned a lot of things about him self and about the business, but I would like to know what impacted him the most. The second question I would ask him is "If you could do it all over again, would you change anything?" This is because we all look about on different challenges we go through and in hindsight say we would have done something differently or changed something. Maybe if he know that fast food would've had such a negative impact on the world he would have chosen a different industry.

5. I think his opinion of hard work is that you have to try and try again, and over come obstacles and learn from mistakes to be successful. I think that he believes hard work is the only way to achieve greatness and the only way to make something of yourself, just as he did. I definitely agree with this outlook on hard work.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You. I am someone that wants to make things in life easier and more efficient for others. I have had experience working with people and hearing about their frustrations with different products and processes and I think I am good at listening and solving problems. I think this business will help make life easier and more successful for myself and for others.

2. What are you offering to customers? I am offering the customers an easier way to clean up puppy messes so that they can spend time with their puppy instead of always cleaning up after them. I think that if people don't have to clean the messes, they will get less mad at their puppies too and then have a better bond with their owners.

3. Who are you offering it to? I am offering this product to younger pet owners that like to find new technology to help make easier but also have a love for animals. This person will probably have a busies social/work life and will need to puppy clean up robot to help raise the puppy.

4. Why do they care? People will pay for my product because it will prevent them from having to touch yucky puppy messes and will save time because the robot will be more efficient in clean up than a human. 

5. What are your core competencies? My product is unique because is new and modern and up and coming and no one has done anything like it before. It's a need that a lot of people have and that hasn't been looked at to solve yet. 

ANALYSIS: I think that these elements fit together perfectly because they hit everyone point that a product needs to have to be successful and sell in a market. I think the only weak aspect will actually be the creation on the product and to make sure it doesn't have too many defects. I also think I will need to figure out a way to make the product useful after a puppy is potty trained and no longer makes messes. 

Tweaking the Innovation

Puppy clean-up robot.

Style - The robots color or look

• Pink
• Blue
• Red
• Silver
• Girl 
• Boy 

Size - Dependent on dog size via mess size

• Small 
• Medium
• Large
• Extra Large

Functions - Different types of cleaning it offers

• Mop
• Sweeping
• Sponge
• Scrub
• Brush
• Cleanse

Scent - The scent of the cleaning materials

• Oak
• Powder Fresh
• Lemon
• Flowers

Surface - Specializing in cleaning surface

• Carpet
• Hardwood
• Tile
• Duel

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interview 1: My conversation with this student was interesting because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his major once he graduated. As a general business student, the general business classes and broad information was good for him since he wasn't sure what specific thing he wants to focus on. https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/alex-baxter?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2 Interview 2: This student was a pre-med student. She isn't sure what specialty she wants to have as a doctor, so the general pre-med classes are enough for her to learn and understand the different roles. Furthermore, if she wants to go into nursing, that is offered for her. https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/rebecca-blake?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2 Interview 3: As a journalism major, you don't need a lot of specification apparently because you just need experience with writing. Furthermore, there are only so many version of journalism you can go into for a career so it's easy to offer a specifying class. https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/john-madison?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2 Interview 4: This interview was interesting because this student was exploratory. Since he doesn't even know what major he wants to focus on...the variety of random general education classes are a good way for him to test out different subjects. https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/max-cassidy?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2 Interview 5: Finally, my last interview was unique because this student saw a need for specification, but also understood that these more specified classes are in grad school or have special programs that you can apply for. For him, the classes he needed to take to feel prepared were offered though so he didn't see a need for the opportunity personally. https://soundcloud.com/user-329268085/seth-collinsworth?in=user-329268085/sets/testing-hypothesis-2 Summary: I liked these second rounds of interviews because it put a new perspective on my opportunity. Although I thought that my opportunity applied to every student, this showed that I was wrong. Some students are getting what they need out of the classes offered at the university. These students are usually planning on going to grad, med, or law school to them specify their classes. Or they aren't sure what they want to focus on within their field of study.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Students with specific fields of study	Students with general majors or that aren't sure what they want to focus on
Diverse classes that can educate and prepare	The general classes offered are good enough for them
Students aren't getting the right preparation for their careers	They aren't sure what they want to do so they don't know what they are missing

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Puppy clean-up robot.

My elevator pitch is based on the idea of creating a robot that cleans up puppy mess. In my pitch, I am relatable, clear, concise and convincing. I express my idea eloquently and I support the ideas that I put forth. I am acting like I am speaking to a room full of people, listening intently to my idea. I am wearing a gator sweat shirt to express my relations to the university, the people I am speaking with, and to provide credibility that I know what I'm talking about because I got a good education.

Enjoy my elevator pitch: