Assignment 30A - Final Reflection

2) I think of ll the assignments throughout this course, the one that I will remember the most is having to develop my own business venture and product. Being able to have the idea of taking something and growing it to its maximum potential through all these different media outlets gives the user the advantage to be able to get their message out in front of as many people as possible in order to try to gain as many customers as possible. Although there were some chllenging parts about this assignment and all the smaller parts that completed the entirity of it, I think having the skillset of being able to think from that perspective within a business is very important and can play a key role in most companies. The accomplishment I am most proud of accomplishing is the venture concept for this course. That was the assignment where I had to put all the pieces of the puzzle together in order to create a viable business plan. 
3) I very much do see that I have grown a much more influential entrepreneurial mindset after taking this course. This course has helped me think of business and the way they operate in ways I could have never thought of before. Being able to interpret data based off a social media outlets settings database and take that to interpret your companies next move is something I had never thought of, but realize how crucial it can be in executing specific moves for companies.  

4) One thing I would recommend for students that are going to take this course is to not fall behind on your class work. I would rarely every have an assignment that I would have to do on the actual due date because i gave myself that ample time ahead to complete it, and give it a proper revision. Staying ahead of your classwork will help alleviate the stress of having an assignment hanging over your head that needs to get done. One thing before fostering the entreprenural mindset is forsure to be open bout the process. There are a lot of things to learn and a lot of moving parts that happen within this attaining this mindset. Once it is all over an you have learned what you have, I guaruntee you will see yourself from a different perspective in the business world and see different ways to present yourself to businesses. 

Assignment 29A - Venture Concept No. 2

1. Opportunity: The opportunity at hand currently in our current state of living. This health pandemic has had a majority of the world in lock down mode, trapped inside their houses looking for something to do. The service I would be providing would be an accessible online teaching / guiding service that would show people how to create graphics, animations, effects, short videos and films, etc. All at the comfort of logging into an app from any mobile or desktop device and start learning. The current state of being trapped inside has people itching to be doing something and some people would even urge to learn something new. I personally know, for example, people who are taking online language courses just to help pass time and so they can gain that advantage of being bilingual during their time of quarantine. Whatever skill it may be the user decides to want to pursue, this would be where my service comes into play and really gives them a viable source of attainable and learnable information on online graphic creating, image editing, animation creation, etc. I believe the current state of change that creates a leveled up opportunity for my company would have to be the state of emergency the world is in currently due tot he COVID-19 virus. I think having people inside, self-isolating away from others is one of the best things we collectively could have done to help prevent spread of this virus. It also gives the amplified opportunity to take advantage of everyone being home, on their mobile devices and computers looking for things to do. This would be where I would take the step of amplifying my online marketing presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. in order to gain as much customer reach as possible. Knowing this would be able to give us a very wide range of potential consumers and customers in this market. Since the service is applicable to people all around the world wanting to learn a specific skill within a industry, there is no need to change settings and edit things due to geographic and demographic differences. The only thing s user would need to be able to access my businesses online services would be a mobile phone/tablet or desktop/laptop, and LTE service or Wifi. Being able to provide all of the instruction and the full service all through being able to access these services through the touch of a button.

Innovation: The innovation or service I would be bringing to the market place would be an application or downloadable online service that aids consumers and users in learning how to create animations and digital graphics, edit videos, make short clips, etc. My service would be accessible to any user that has access to a smartphone, tablet, or laptop with regular service or Wifi. What it would do is give the users detailed instruction on the best methods to learn the ins and outs of editing software and design applications available on the market today. my services would be only the quickest and most effective ways to get things done within these applications to help my users learn how to create and animate on their own. This services will be offered with a 1 month free trial, giving consumers the opportunity to see if the services my application provide are something they would want to pursue. After that I would charge a small monthly fee of $15 a month for users which will give them access to all of the lessons and material provided. Another way I would be able to bring in money would be through the independent lessons and instructions the service provides for customers needing one on one assistance with an employee of mine. They would sit and help complete the task needed via video conference until the job is done. These will be small fees of $5 per 30 minutes of chatting. I believe these prices are fair due to the confidence I have in y employees in not having to take too long to help our customers and not needing to gouge our customers with over priced services.

Venture Concept: I think the accessibility of the services I would be providing to the customers would really be what sets my services apart and really gives the customers the ability to learn virtually anywhere. I think this would be the main reason customers would switch to my product is because they can be on the go anywhere traveling, maybe not during the current state of living, and pick up where they last left off. I think the competitors currently would have to be the software companies themselves and their instructional tutorials they offer in classes alongside their services. Yes those videos do help, but most of the information is unnecessary to actually executing animations and different kinds of edits. My services give customers the best and quickest way to get point A to turn into point B, and so on. If the role of packaging and price points were an issue, this business venture would be very difficult to execute. But since everything is virtual, there is no need for shipping products or distributing materials since everything in online at the click of a button and can be accessed through the application itself. Being an online service I think presents some challenges, but also alleviates a lot of hands on tasks that could be an issue in case things start to get hectic with business. I think being able to monitor user interface and consumer databases as the company owner and coordinator, this would be able to determine the need for backup help, new employees, new service features, etc. On regular depending on the average size of our user base, I would say for every 1,000 to 3,000 users I would have one employee and myself backing their issues and support during their use of the app. The roles of employees in this venture play the part of being there to aid customers if any issues or problems come up during their use of our service.

Three Minor Elements: The most important resource I believe would be the application itself. I do think there are other ways to share my information, but in order to make a business out of it, i think the most effective way to gain customers and exposure would to create a web based app that is applicable to customers virtually anywhere in the world. The thing i think would be hard for competitors to imitate would be the customer service my company provides and the knowledge and information gained in my service only.  I think what is next for the business venture is to find someone to help me develop this app. Although i do know the ins and outs of other services, actually creating an operating application is not in my strong suite. Luckily, I do have multiple friends who are in web development and have created applications before. In 5 years, I see myself still trying to grow this operation or eventually merge it with a larger company in order to attain a larger customer base and compare technology and analytics with a larger organization to help grow our current state of operation.

2. Due to the circumstances that occurred, I was unable to submit my project in on time in order to get some peer feedback regarding my business venture. Although I did not receive any class based feedback, One of the things I noticed while revising my parer was the amount of grammatical errors I found. One other thing I caught myself ding while reading my past business venture concept was that i was speaking in first person during some parts.

3. Not much to change in my business venture based off of class feedback since I did not receive any for this assignment. one thing I did change was the few moments I caught myself speaking in first person, and also the simple grammatical errors found within my post.

Assignment 24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity: The opportunity at hand currently in our current state of living. This health pandemic has had a majority of the world in lock down mode, trapped inside their houses looking for something to do. The service I would be providing would be an accessible online teaching / guiding service that would show people how to create graphics, animations, effects, short videos and films, etc. All at the comfort of logging into an app from any mobile or desktop device and start learning.

The current state of being trapped inside has people itching to be doing something and some people would even urge to learn something new. I personally know, for example, people who are taking online language courses just to help pass time and so they can gain that advantage of being bilingual during their time of quarantine. Whatever skill it may be the user decides to want to pursue, this would be where my service comes into play and really gives them a viable source of attainable and learnable information on online graphic creating, image editing, animation creation, etc.

I believe the current state of change that creates a leveled up opportunity for my company would have to be the state of emergency the world is in currently due tot he COVID-19 virus. I think having people inside, self-isolating away from others is one of the best things we collectively could have done to help prevent spread of this virus. It also gives the amplified opportunity to take advantage of everyone being home, on their mobile devices and computers looking for things to do. This would be where I would take the step of amplifying my online marketing presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. in order to gain as much customer reach as possible.

Knowing this would be able to give us a very wide range of potential consumers and customers in this market. Since the service is applicable to people all around the world wanting to learn a specific skill within a industry, there is no need to change settings and edit things due to geographic and demographic differences. The only thing s user would need to be able to access my businesses online services would be a mobile phone/tablet or desktop/laptop, and LTE service or Wifi. Being able to provide all of the instruction and the full service all through being able to access these services through the touch of a button.

Innovation: The innovation or service I would be bringing to the market place would be an application or downloadable online service that aids consumers and users in learning how to create animations and digital graphics, edit videos, make short clips, etc. My service would be accessible to any user that has access to a smartphone, tablet, or laptop with regular service or Wifi. What it would do is give the users detailed instruction on the best methods to learn the ins and outs of editing softwares and design applications available on the market today. my services would be only the quickest and most effective ways to get things done within these applications to help my users learn how to create and animate on their own. This services will be offered with a 1 month free trial, giving consumers the opportunity to see if the services my application provide are something they would want to pursue. After that I would charge a small monthly fee of $15 a month for users which will give them access to all of the lessons and material provided. Another way I would be able to bring in money would be through the independent lessons and instructions the service provides for customers needing one on one assistance with an employee of mine. They would sit and help complete the task needed via video conference until the job is done. These will be small fees of $5 per 30 minutes of chatting. I believe these prices are fair due to the confidence I have in y employees in not having to take too long to help our customers and not needing to gouge our customers with over priced services.

Venture Concept: I think the accessibility of the services I would be providing to the customers would really be what sets my services apart and really gives the customers the ability to learn virtually anywhere. I think this would be the main reason customers would switch to my product is because they can be on the go anywhere traveling, maybe not during the current state of living, and pick up where they last left off.

I think the competitors currently would have to be the software companies themselves and their instructional tutorials they offer in classes alongside their services. Yes those videos do help, but most of the information is unnecessary to actually executing animations and different kinds of edits. My services give customers the best and quickest way to get point A to turn into point B, and so on.

If the role of packaging and price points were an issue, this business venture would be very difficult to execute. But since everything is virtual, there is no need for shipping products or distributing materials since everything in online at the click of a button and can be accessed through the application itself. Being an online service I think presents some challenges, but also alleviates a lot of hands on tasks that could be an issue in case things start to get hectic with business.

I think being able to monitor user interface and consumer databases as the company owner and coordinator, this would be able to determine the need for backup help, new employees, new service features, etc. On regular depending on the average size of our user base, I would say for every 1,000 to 3,000 users I would have one employee and myself backing their issues and support during their use of the app. The roles of employees in this venture play the part of being there to aid customers if any issues or problems come up during their use of our service.

Three Minor Elements: The most important resource I believe would be the application itself. I do think there are other ways to share my information, but in order to make a business out of it, i think the most effective way to gain customers and exposure would to create a web based app that is applicable to customers virtually anywhere in the world. The thing i think would be hard for competitors to imitate would be the customer service my company provides and the knowledge and information gained in my service only.  I think what is next for the business venture is to find someone to help me develop this app. Although i do know the ins and outs of other services, actually creating an operating application is not in my strong suite. Luckily, I do have multiple friends who are in web development and have created applications before. In 5 years, I see myself still trying to grow this operation or eventually merge it with a larger company in order to attain a larger customer base and compare technology and analytics with a larger organization to help grow our current state of operation.

Assignment 28A - Your 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?
In order for me to be comfortable with selling my business in the next 5 years, I would have had to have a massive producer/teacher approach me about wanting to take over my services. I dont initially plan on selling my business, but in reality everything has a price tag. I would love to be able to watch this thing grow over time and see what all I can expand too and improve upon. Another thing I would really enjoy seeing is all the creative designs and things people have made through my services and with the help of my company. I would like to have the business stay in the family, but I would also not want to pressure my future children to feel obligated to have to take it over. I would want them to be able to chase their dreams and career goals if they were to want.

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?
 I think with this particular selling exit strategy, I would be leaving the company in someones hands who also knows a lot/more about the software being offered and taught through my services. Leaving the business in the hands of someone who shares the same passion as you is  something I would feel comfortable doing if the price is right. i would really enjoy to see the company grow, or even negotiate a partnership deal to be able to keep my foot in the loop. But if I believe the company would have better opportunity with another owner, I feel I should let it grow into what it is supposed to be or what it could be.

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?
I do believe thinking of the exit strategy has changed some of my viewpoints on how I make decisions for my business. The opportunity of selling the business to another large influence in the computer graphics, digital editing market I think is a great call in order to gain the maximum amount exposure the business could get. I do not think this idea effects my growth intentions because i would still like to maximize the output of my business the best to my ability. Through my own output efforts, i predict this would gain the attention of a potential buyer in order to set me up for my planned exit strategy.

Assignment 27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

The bibliography I chose to read was Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s, by Ray Kroc. 

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The overall theme and feel of this bibliography is to give detail of all the hard work it took for Kroc to become a hard working and powerful business man which ultimately resulted him in being an owner for one of the largest fast food chains around the world. The way this bibliography explains the becoming of the McDonald's food chain with the first introduction of the McDonald brother and their small food operation and growing it into the size it stands too today.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
One of the main ways it connects with the course material and everything we have learned thus far is that it shows how Kroc was a diligent enough entrepreneur to get the job done with the McDonald's brothers and create the life and opportunity it has for him today. Having the details of how he grew up and pursued his business ventures helps tie into and give different outlooks on the venture concepts post we create for this course.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
One of the things I would like to examine with a classroom of students would be to interpret their ideal venture to success and what they would do to find success if they were to want to develop a food chain similar to McDonald's. I would then have the classmates compare their answers with one another in order to gain knowledge from one another and get other ideas for execution. I would them have them compare their strategies to the steps taken by Kroc in order to compare their strategies with a professional who has successfully completed this exercise in real life. This would give the students a more professional angle at how to look at their potential business decisions, and make changes if needed.

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?
I think my biggest aha moment in this book was realizing how hard Kroc was working to mainting and try and push one smaller business before buckling down and taking his business venture with McDonald's to a much larger scale. I think the thing I learned that was most valuable to me was if you have the determination, will power, and ability to get your foot in the door for ventures your passionate about, anything is possible. Kroc showed us this by coming from a entrepreneur who was selling blenders, to owning one of the largest fast food chains in the world today. 

Assignment 26A - Celebrating Failure

1) During the time of this semester, at my job I was directed to upload images of the store, products, deliveries, and everything the store would be getting involved in on our Facebook and Instagram page. I would go outside and walk the 22 Acre lot of different plants, shrubs and trees and take what I thought were great pictures to make posts out of. I would do this maybe three to four times a week on top of all of all of the restocking and other things I was doing around the shop. Ultimately I was told by my boss that the months worth of pictures I had of all of the products in his shop were incorrect, and I needed to take new pictures. Another thing I had done wrong was file them incorrectly in the company files, so there were a few pictures of shrubs in the flower section, trees in the shrub section, etc. 
2) What I learned from this was that I did not have the same vision for the companies social media posts as did my boss had envisioned. Another thing is that we do work well together, his hard work and the creativity and knowledge of the social media marketing skills I have developed really helps me deliver something that is useful to him. One thing I like to reflect on over my days of working there is learning that even when my boss may be wrong and you know it for a fact, he is still going to be right.
3) Failure to me is related along the lines, in my eyes, as not giving any effort for something you want. If you are trying to achieve a life goal, failures are the best way to help lead you into the right direction. Failures help you learn from what has happened before that shouldn't have, and wont next time that opportunity comes around.  Emotionally, I react to failure as a sort of constructive criticism teaching me not to do the same thing when it comes time to execute something again or to take a different approach to the way things should be properly done.

Assignment 25A - What's Next?

Existing Market.  Step 1: 
For my business venture, the next step in our process would be to broaden our consumer and user range. I want to be able to grow this from a small local resource provided to student and people around the state, to people using the service around the world.

Step 2:
The first and second person i interviewed both had the same idea for my business venture and that was to expand my consumer range. Similar to my idea for what I had in mind for whats next for my company. The third person I interviewed had recommended I take steps towards trying to focus on how to set myself apart from competition. 
 
Step 3:
I think the first step for my company would be to expand its organic search on social media outlets like Facebook and instagram to get out advertisements out in front of more people online. This would help get the knowledge of my product and service out into the air of the marketing world. After being able to expand the marketing outreach, we would then try to figure out how to effectively market our services better than our competition and how to grow in total consumer interaction.
This would then give us the edge over our competition to where we can start marketing and working efficiently. While at the same time trying to grow our reach of consumers until we have hot that worldwide scale. Once we have hit that worldwide scale, the products and services will be operating at full force in order to execute the needs of these customers all over the world.

New Market.
Step 1:
For the new market targeting, I think my company would want to go for the consumers looking for these services to gain information on. Our goal would be to hunt out those consumers who are engaging with materials that relate to teh services my company would provide, then be able to set them up for a free trial in attempt to gain their membership and trust. 
 
Step 2:
I believe the best way to be able to create value within this specific market because it would tend tot he interest of these people who are already searching related items, but also give them the opportunity to explore our resources and determine if they want to take that extra step with a membership. Being able to have that option of exploring options for something that is very much worth investing if your already interested in this field of work or design.
 
Step 3:
The first person I interviewed to try and gain their knowledge and thoughts on the services being marketed into this consumer base was all positive feedback. He mentioned that he would immediately click and expore what we had to offer in terms of services and informational guides into the materials revolving around these subjects. He also really enjoyed the aspect of the application being able to function and work from anywhere that had regular service or wifi. 
 
Step 4: 
One of the things I learned about this new market was that people and consumers for sure think differently that the businesses that are trying to tend to them. The way a consumer thinks could be very important to a business when deciding what marketing strategies to take and post to consumers in attempt to gain interaction and clicks per post. 
Looking at the marketing strategies from the consumer point of view will give the companies the idea of whether or not this strategy is worth it or not. What we learned was that people within this sub-market would love to see the market strategies provided by my company in order for them to be able to browse through the services we provide.

Assignment 23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Some of the items and skills that make the list for notable resources in my companies venture. Some of them include:

1. My knowledgeable background in the programs I will be offering these informational guides on. 
2. Being able to remotely activate the service and train and use it from anywhere that has connection to wifi / LTE / 5G.
3. The variety of information gained from my service.
4. The user friendly platform that suites all experience levels. 
5. The ability to go back and re-learn material to sharpen up on a specific trait. 
6. The support I would get and attention gained from traveling to as many shows and festivals as I do, the exposure for the program would really help the overall marketing outreach.
7. Being backed by industry professionals that can step in and help whenever needed.
8. By offering the free tutorial version for 90 days, then charging a monthly fee would really give users and potential consumers the opportunity to recognize if it is the right service for the specific person. 
9. Being able to cancel your membership whenever the user feels comfortable enough to take on their creative ventures on their own, or to cancel whenever they feel the need to.
10. The personable staff behind the program that is always there to help users gain the knowledge their looking for. 

VRIN

1. I wouldn't consider my skill set rare, but one thing that makes my services unique is the vast variety of knowledge available to learn and implement into a large number of different applications.
2.  This valueable for people who are always traveling or even those who like to pick different parts of the house to work around.
3. The varity of information make this service valuable to a large variety of users. 
4. I believe the valuable part about having such a user friendly platform is for giving the user the simplest way to get their tasks done. 
5. This feature is a non sustainable asset as this cn be found and features in many other programs.
6. Having that exposure could be very crucial in gaining the attention of those who relate to me in a consumer based relationship.
7. This could be very valuable to users as having multiple viewpoints on a subject could help give alternative ideas to the users.
8. This could be inimitable and also valuable to the company because our consumers would be able to tell from the start whether or not the program suits their needs. 
9. This is very non-sustainable due to the fact that most companies and services that require memberships of some sort allow any-time cancelations. 
10. This is the rarest part of the company because the staff working here at my company is one of a kind and always ready to help you succeed.

 I believe the 10th resource comes out to be one of the most important due to the fact that our staff is one of one who specifically works at trying to help the user gain the knowledge their looking for. Having that mindset when working with the application gives the users the sense of being in good hands and being able to get the information they need.

Assignment 22A - Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/rqzBucxn7CA

Assignment 21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

I decided to read the book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. 

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The general theme of this book tended to revolve around the idea of going against the grain and your natural instincts, and to see success and the good things in life at a different angle to create a different perspective on those things. One thing that Scott highlights in his writing is that there is always a less stressful way to success and how to learn from past mistakes and failure to overcome those adversities.
2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT3003?
 One of the main ways I was able to connect this book to this course is how there are many things to know in order to take those steps as an entrepreneur towards becoming successful. Knowing these things and having the best perspective on how to execute them is a great way to tie in with some theories Scott related to materials being taught in the course. 
3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
I think a great exercise for this course would be to get students to identify their ideal perception of what the word "success" or "being successful" means to them. I would have them answer questions on topics such as where would you live, what you do for work, family or not, business opportunities, etc. For a second part of the assignment, I would ask them for an alternative idea on how to attain all of that "success" they had described in the previous part. Challenge them to think of unusual ways to get to their goals and potentially encourage a different thoughts and perceptions.

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?
One of the big aha moments for me was realizing how many loses Scott had to take before eventually hitting it big. Along the way, he had mentioned some things that helped him grow to the person he was today and the figure he poses to be in the business world. He said being selfish or selfishness is an important character trait in ways that helped you get your ways in order to foresee your goals.