Assignment 14A - Halfway Reflection

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

• One of the many things I have done when trying my best to keep up with course requirements is to lay out a schedule plan of execution. Working a full time job and trying to balance a full time online school schedule can be challenging at times, but as long as I have those specific times where I dedicate myself to school work, i am able to keep up with (most) of the materials and assignments in this class.

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

• There have been many times where I come across assignment, sometimes when it is on the day of the due date, I have the thought of just not doing the assignment and not stressing myself out to beat a timeline. There are other times when your just not in the mood to look at your computer or schoolwork and decide to give up. For me, being able to get something started is the bet way to get through that though of giving up and not wanting to complete the assignment. I am able to tell myself that once I have something on paper, I am then more persuaded to finish the assignment rather than leave it unfinished.

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' ?

 

• Three tips for students needing to be able to develop the skills that support tenacity would be to be more confident in yourself when taking on an assigned task.  Having a negative mindset about an assignment before even starting it is a great way to dig yourself into a deeper mindset of not wanting to complete a task. Another skill I would offer up is learn how to plan your time
  according to your schedule. make sure you give yourself more than enough time to complete assignments, that way your not rushing to finish an assignment and risk messing something up. Last tip I would give to future students would to be interactive and vocal with your classmates. You never know if someone in the same course as you is going through the same problems or has the same questions as you and is willing to want to work with you to discover the problem.

Assignment 13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

1) You read about an entrepreneur: Elon Musk

• What surprised you the most? 
• I was suprised the most at how early Elon fell in love and developed his own passion for computers. At a very young age, his mind started flooding with ideas and inventions that he would want to develop. This surprised my because as such a young boy, he was already having this incredible forward thinking ability about inventing things and his passion for computers and technologies.
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? 
• I admire his passion for computers and being able to be so dedicated to something that he taught himself how to write code, selling his own created software at just the age of 12.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• The part I least liked about Elon is the fact he was bullied in his earlier years of grade school before he had hit a growth spurt. He then learned karate to be able to defend himself.
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• Elon faced a time in his life where he had to move from south Africa to Canada in order to avoid mandatory service in the south African military services. This then granted Elon Canadian citizenship, which he imagined would make it easier to then gain citizenship in America.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? `
-  He was able to build, code, and sell his own software at just the age of 12. The program was a video game named Blastar. When Musk got out of college, he decided to try for a PhD at Stanford University. He dropped out after just two days of being enrolled to join the internet boom that was just starting up around 1995.
3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
 - The only thing that was confusing to me when they were describing the way he was raised after his grade school age to his college age. I feel they lacked on informatioin on his life during this time and could have used some information since this is a crucial time in any young developing entrepreneur's life. 
4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
- I would want to know what inspires his idea to develop these new companies and technologies and how he actually executes them. i would love to know how many people he has involved in his development team, or if everything he makes truly is based off of his own ideas and he executes them mainly himself. 
5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
- I think Elon's opinion of fun is being able to create something that other people can seek pleasure with. After reading this bibliography, I would imagine he would rather invent something useful for people around the globe than take a unneeded vacation for himself. Having that sense of creating something successful, I think, gives Elon the most pleasure.

Assignment 12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

1) Pick a segment. I am going to mainly focus my interviews to those who are constantly shopping for new clothes to wear in public, or to wear to work. 

2) Find three people who would fit that segment and arrange to interview them. 

• Need awareness: When shopping or searching for clothes online, her thought process starts with if the outfit or article of clothing looking to be purchased is her style. If it is something that she can see herself in, she will then try it on to see if it will work for her. After this she then determines her decision off of the price of the item, making or braking the sale. 
• Information Search: Having the choice of being able to pick items in a store and determine if it is something the buyer really wants makes me want to know more about how she discovers these items, stores, brands. Knowing which brands and items she was more into would help companies be able to identify different customer needs and desires, which could ultimately be incorporated into their future business models. 

• Need awareness: My co-worker believes in being comfortable while on the clock. He has a much different approach when going through the thought process of shopping for clothes for casual wear, work, etc. His process begins with the thought of needing something new when it comes to his usual attire. When deciding what kind of shirt to buy, he says he checks which of his current shirts looks beat u, and could use a replacement. He then decides which articles of clothing to search for then purchase if the price is right. He also said luckily his wife does a lot of the shopping for him.
• Information search: One thing that separates my first interview from this one is the thought process where my first interviewee goes out to shop for enjoyment and will possibly purchase something if it is something that sparks her interest. Whereas my co-worker goes out shopping mainly if he needs something new, or if he gets lucky and his wife brings him home something new.

• Need awareness: The third person I interviewed is very into the hobby of buying, trading and reselling name-brand, designer clothes to others who are into that type of hobby. His thought process of buying clothes "on-drop" is completely different than my past two interviewee. His thought process of buying clothes is tat he could always sell it for what he payed, potentially even more. He doesn't necessarily need to like an item to buy it and for it to hold a value. Due to the fact that there is very likely someone out there who will pay the same price for this piece.
• Information search: This thought process could be dangerous in the sense that someday there might not be a re-sell market available and you are then stuck with all these items you purchased just to resell. Unlike the other stores my past interviewee shop from, these online stores have no refund policies, so you either have to buy it to either keep, to resell, or not buy and save the money for the next drop.

5) Report the findings of your research. I learned that thought process is different in everyone when it comes to buying these types of clothes, for work or for pleasure. I think that being able to depict these thought process for those I interviewed will really help them be able to step back and think about their purchasing habits. Being able to actually think about your thoughts in the process of your spending habits helped myself be more weary when spending on things that could go unused, or stuff that is not necessary to my success.

6) Draw conclusions. One of the many things I took away from this experience was being able to acknowledge the steps tat occur when deciding on buying something. Having this knowledge of what you thinking about in your head while its all happening will definitely help me to be able to make smarter spending choices. 

Assignment 11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

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

•  My name is Rhett Gonzalez. I am a passionate creator of a variety of things. I work full time as a market operator creating social media posts for the company I am employed by. When I am off the clock, I tend to find myself at home developing my own designs that I always think would potentially end up on some clothing or could represent a brand or label of some sort. My aspiration for the design company I want to develop would be something that many people could benefit from and eventually become their own bosses and run their own operations. I would want this to be more of a job where you learn the basics of how to create professional designs and how to market yourself properly. Another thing I would want this company to help with would be how to expand customer reach, and get your business or your designs noticed by potential customers wherever the creator desires.

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

• The service I am wanting to offer to customers is the chance to be able to learn how to develop professional logos, digital animations, 3D graphics, etc. and market themselves as creators to people needing these types of services. I want to be able to have a person with minimal experience in the graphic design genre and teach them how to professionally create something that could be used by a customer for a feature in a video, a new company logo, clothing designs, or whatever they desire to pursue with their creations. That way, I am turning a customer into a business man/woman and also supplying them with skills to be able to operate on their own as an independent business.

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

•  One thing I would want to be able to ensure that this service is accessible from anywhere. meaning that if your not sitting in your office working on a project, you will easily be able to work on your task on the go wherever you may be. One thing I think that could benefit the most amount of people who are seeking this service would be the viable information they have access to whenever they need it. being able to log online and research or work on a project would be the most convenient thing for a customer to be able to do.

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

•  I think this service could be a huge help to those who are wanting to become serious about their online presence as a graphic designer, graphic editor, online marketer, etc. due to the services my company would provide. Wanting to be able to advance as a creator and see other people needing your services will drive those who choose to part take with my company want to be able to understand everything there is to know about my business to be able to effectively help customers.

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

• One thing I think that sets my company aside from other design companies would be my experience within the fields I will be providing services for.  Being able to give someone the best insight for being able to take an image and mass produce products with that image, or being able to design a professional logo for a company across the nation to use for their official logo will give them the motivation to do more and go beyond just simple designs. I personally know from experience, having the confidence of knowing a company like your work and wants them to develop their professional logo gave me the courage to go beyond a logo and start designing clothing with custom designs I develop from ideas I have in my head.

I believe these elements to my company would make it fit well and easy to understand whats being offered to those who are interested in my services. I think that being able to depict these different concepts helps give me a better understanding of what to focus on more than what is not so needed in this process. I think anyone seeking any sort of aid in digital design would benefit greatly from the services my company would provide and I would love nothing more than to see others benefit off of the information and services I was able to provide for them.

Assignment 10A - Elevator Pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n72D1npKjGY&t=13s

Assignment 8A - Solving The Problem

I believe a solution to the problem of trying to develop a digital graphics company would have to be all of the new and already existing companies. Although these companies could be good to learn from, I believe the hardest part would be to try and compete with a company who is already in full function, rather than a company just being developed and starting from square one. One thing I would want to integrate early on is a settle and planned out form of electronic marketing to be able to get out brand and products across the web in the most effective way by activating search filters. These filters could help direct consumers in our direction for their desired services, which then could produce customers and loyalties from people who have done business with my company before. I think the solution for wanting to effectively market my brand across various forms of media would be to implement traditional and electronic marketing strategies, that way we get the maximum amount of exposure possible through everything from print advertisements, to banner advertisements across the top of websites. I would use these theories to develop a advertisement that supplies information on all for all of the services my company can provide. I would want to make known our screen printing abilities, our web development abilities, logo development, clothing and different kinds of apparel are available also, the list goes on. Having this effective form of marketing would surely give my company the exposure needed to be able to gain some sort of consumer trust and loyalty.

Assignment 7A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1. An opportunity that I would like to pursue would be to develop my own design company. In this company I would want to be able to develop all different types of things that people need help designing and bringing to life.

2. I would develop this company for the large majority of people needing help designing random things such as logos, websites, clothing, etc. The who for this opportunity would be mainly directed at people around my age also to who share some similar interest with me. This would be important for my company to be able to make sure it does well when it makes certain product releases due to making sure your customer reach is for the right crowd. The why would have to be to ensure the products are catering to a specific crowd and can at least potentially make growth and expand to a larger group of clients.

3. I feel there are currently other companies out there that are pushing this similar idea to what I am thinking of. The difference with my idea is I wouldnt be strictly making design to go on shirts, or hoodies. I would want to have everything from clothing, to housing materials, tools, automobiles, etc be relating to my design company. Some potential boundaries would be how comapnies would like having my design or my commpany integrated within their product.

4. After interviewing my roommate who currently runs his own graphic design company, I wanted to pick his brain on how he started to branch out and grow his company. He was big on his emphasis at how hard he pushed his electronic media marketing and how that helped him reach customers all the way in south America. The way he was describing his success after he started to implement more time into online marketing and expanding his search demographics, it helped him start making business with people all across the nation and even other countries.

Assignment 6A - Identifying Opporunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

1. There are many potential opportunities for both economic trends and those relating to regulatory changes too. One opportunity relating to economic trends within businesses and media is the radius or demographics of how they're trying to expand to new customers within a certain area. This could be beneficial for businesses in congested areas to be able to maximize potential reach and also be able to analyze consumer interaction rates within the desired demographic. Another opportunity for companies would also be the idea of using big data, provided by other corporations based on consumer data, to determine the most effective form of marketing to the specific crowd. Trends changing in the media are making regulatory changes also more common. Most companies are turning their products into smart products for the purpose of being able to effortlessly control devices from all over a certain area. This is almost the same as having little robots or automated devices doing chores for you, like the little iRobot vacuum.

2. - Expanding demographics for marketing and data analysis. I discovered an article on US Economic Trends describing a few different trends that relay from company to company when marketing specific data. I believe this is best looked at by how companies begin their attempt at trying to gain a larger customer base by expanding their marketing demographics and ensuring themselves that their advertisements will be put in front of more faces. I believe this tsk is super easy and extremely effective for companies that are serious about upgrading their marketing to become a more efficient tool for advertising and gaining customer outreach.
- Using big data to target crowds. I found this in the same article as the one I had mentioned above. I believe that this is somewhat wrong due to the fact the companies are sort of spying on their potential customers in order to discover a way to advertise to them. I think for companies to do this, they should be at least marketing something the customer would benefit from or find convenient. I think this opportunity may be a little more difficult to achieve because you have to discover this information from a bigger organization who holds the informatino for the consumers your trying to get information on.
-Smart products. I discovered this opportunity a few years ago when my friend had first got his Smarthome system installed in his house. He is able to change the temperature to his A/C, turn the front porch lights on, and even turn on his shower all through an application on his phone. I believe the customer at opportunity for smart products are the people who want to be involved with the newest trends and the latest gadgets.
-AI and robotic devices. This opportunity idea came to me as soon as I discovered an advertisement for the iRobot vacuum cleaner. This little thing portrayed the idea that you will never have to sweep your floor again. This will clean up your floor, detects where it needs to go and what needs to be cleaned, and at the same time not run into anything! I believe this idea would come easy to those who have background in engineering and programming to be able to pull off the abilities that go into making a robot vacuum detect things that needed cleaning all while avoiding running into anything.

3. I believe when it comes to looking at each one of these opportunities and assuming that there is no one in the entire world who could have the same exact idea for an opportunity as you. One thing I learned is that everyone may not have the same opinion or thoughts towards something, which causes people to think differently. The idea of creating larger search demographics for world would have been thought of already if the first person had'nt thought of it. I believe this because the idea is too beneficial for companies large and small to not think of and realize how great of a tool it would be to their business. I imagine the idea behind using big data to target specific customers would have been thought of by another person also. I think this because a larger corporation with consumer information I feel knows the importance of knowing what the consumer is wanting in a product or service. Also tying in with the smart products and the AI and smart devices. I think knowing that the customer wants the easiest way to be able to monitor multiple things at the same time would be the idea that brings this service to life and into thousands of homes around the world.

Assignment 5a - Identifying Local Opportunities

• Title: 7 sewage spills in 7 weeks: Fort Lauderdale rushing to stop latest sewage explosion
• Link: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-ne-fort-lauderdale-january-sewage-day-2-20200131-nj3kzdggojayzgdsbkegruc2yi-story.html
• Description of Story: This story gives people an idea of how often there are sewage breaks in Fort Lauderdale and how this is a normal reoccurring problem that needs to be fixed. This sewage break marks number seven on the list of sewage breaks since the beginning of December of last year.
• Description of Problem Presented: The problem being presented in this article are the countless sewage breaks in Fort Lauderdale. The total amount of breaks in the month of December totaled out to be the largest sewage spill in the state of Florida to date, over 126.9 million gallons. The number will only increase if there isnt a solution to these sewage leaks soon.
• Description of Who has the Problem:The problem is mostly dealt with by different contracting companies that are relatively close to the site of such break. The city congress is in charge of making the decision of who will work on the damaged pipes.

• Title: More e-scooters on the roads, and more riders sent to hospitals with head injuries
• Link: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/health/fl-ne-scooter-injuries-20200201-dsyh33jftzevflcxdnw4g66voa-story.html
• Description of Story: The story is based off of how many more people are being taken to the hospital for emergencies regarding injuries from falling or crashing electric scooters that are found on the strets of Fort lauderdale and all over South Florida. More than 100 people have appeared in a hospital and about a third of those with head injuries, resulting from a scooter accident.
• Description of Problem Presented: The problem posed is that many people are hurting themselves on these scooters and facing the painful results. The problem that needs to be resolved is the riders need to be more cautious and safe when operating these vehicles.
• Description of Who has the Problem: The riders of these scooters and the people facing the problem. Living in an area that is notorious for its bad drivers, these riders are risking hurting themselves and others when operating these scooters without caution.

• Title: Shots fired near Trump's Mar-a-Lago, two in sustody, PBSO reports
• Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200131/shots-fired-near-trumprsquos-mar-a-lago-two-in-custody-pbso-reports/1
• Description of Story: This story is a report on a car chase that stopped near President Trump's Mar-a-Lago which ended with police opening fire. This security breach happened about 2 hours before Trump was expected to arrive at his estate in Palm Beach County.
• Description of Problem Presented: The problem presented was how oficials are trying to investigate this SUV that breached a security protocol and resulted in shots being fired at the SUV by Palm Beach officials.
• Description of Who has the Problem: I would say the officials in Plam Beach have this problem on their hands trying to investigate why this SUV breached protocol just a few hours before the president was expected to arrive.

• Title: Orphaned Florida panther kittens thriving at Nassau County wildlife refuge
• Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200131/orphaned-florida-panther-kittens-thriving-at-nassau-county-wildlife-refuge
• Description of Story: A pair of Florida panthers named Cypress and Pepper, are thriving in captivity located at a sanctuary in Nassau Country wildlife refuge. A mysterious neurological disorder left their mother unable to care for them in the wild, so they were brought in by the employees of the Nassau County wildlife refuge to help them grow.
• Description of Problem Presented: The problem presented in this article was the small fact that the mother of these panthers was not able to raise them properly due to the mysterious neurological disorder. The problem was resolved by bringing these kitten into the wildlife refugee to have them raised properly and in a safe environment until they are able to be on their own.
• Description of Who has the Problem: The problem is tied to the employees of the refuge for being in charge of making sure they are being properly cared for. Another problem is making sure these animals are able to be released on their own, that they will survive and thrive on their own.

• Title: This is Miami's first Instagram Super Bowl. One Sign: the Dude with Sign is here.
• Link: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/super-bowl/article239844298.html
• Description of Story: This is the 11th time the super bowl has been held in Miami, Fl. This is in-fact the first time the super bowl has been held in Miami while the application Instagram has been developed. The social media era drastically effects how the online world sees the super bowl as an event.
• Description of Problem Presented: The problem presented here with the millions of Instagram posts that will be happening is the mass influx of advertisements being pushed throughout posts relating to the super bowl. Companies are presented the opportunity to be able to gain the customer reach from people all across the country and over the world who travel to each city for this historic football game.
• Description of Who has the Problem: The Instagram celebrities or people who are well known through the application will be hounded by companies big and small to try and promote their product throughout the weekend revolving around this giant event known as the super bowl