The 80-20 Rule: "The Twenty Percent"

1) Find a business owner and talk to them about their customers. Who do they think their target customers are? What are their customers' unmet needs?Where do they find their customers? What are their customer's demographics? What kinds of media do their customers consume?

http://www.goodvibesjuiceco.com/

     I went to a local business called Good Vibes Juice Co. I had an acai bowl I asked the owner/entrepreneur if I could ask him a few questions for an entrepreneurship class. He accepted but did not want to be video recorded so I asked him who he thought his target customers were and where he finds his customers and what the demographics of his customers are and what kind of media he uses to get in contact with his customers. He claimed that his target market was high-end customers of all ages - capturing the youth and the elderly - who are willing to pay a higher price for a higher quality product. His idea of his target market seemed to match up with the ideas that the customers thought the target market was. After interviewing the owner of the small business, I interviewed three customers that were at the store. 

2) Next, go and talk to 3 'target customers' -- using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described. Ask these 'target customers' the questions in the paragraph directly above.

     The three girls I interviewed seemed to have the same answers that the owner had - the target market is generally youthful, healthy, and higher-end clientele who are willing to pay a premium for a fresh, healthy, acai bowl or juice. The customers seemed to neglect the elderly market that the owner wishes to capture. The target customers were all young, lively, healthy. The main concerns that the target customers had about the product was its high price, location of the store, and they also wished that there was a larger food variety. Although these seemed to be issues for the customers, it is not stopping them from still frequenting the store.

3) Reflect. Does the entrepreneur adequately understand their customers' problems? Where are the differences? Why might these differences exist.     

     I believe that the entrepreneur does adequately understand his customer's problems. The issue of price is something that is built into his business model because his product is like no other. The ingredients are fresh, healthy, and therefore must cost more than the McDonald's next door. His customers understand this and are willing to pay more. After trying the acai bowl for the first time I think that the "higher price" is justified - the ingredients are organic, fresh, and the fruit is delicious. The entrepreneur also targets his customers by doing trade shows, pop-up shops, and utilizes social media to gain a following. This is definitely geared toward his more youthful target market that is on Instagram, Twitter, and goes to trade shows.

Below you can find the videos of me interviewing: 1. the entrepreneur/owner 2. customer interview #1 3. customer interview #2 4. customer interview #3 5. a video of the inside of the Good Vibes Co. store

Week 9 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The biggest surprise for me in the reading was the concept of the guerrilla marketing plan. This is a technique that forces the entrepreneur to choose the seven most important marketing issues that face their company. The key is to address each issue in no more than one sentence, though, which is an interesting technique I had not heard about. 

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

The one part of the reading that was somewhat confusing was the part about the comparison table of major survey research techniques. The table is cluttered, confusing, and does not do a good job of describing each criteria in detail.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why? 

I would ask the author if he could explain direct/cold mailing in regards to the survey research techniques. The other question that I would ask the author would be if internet marketing is more important than tv marketing. As we enter the golden age of the internet and the decline of tv, I wonder what the trend will be in relation to marketing techniques by companies. 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How? 

I did not find anything that the author was wrong about. Marketing concepts and challenges for entrepreneurial ventures is a topic that I want to learn more about so I do not yet have the knowledge to specifically disagree with the author about anything. 

Idea Napkin No. 2

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?

As I stated in my first idea napkin, I think it is important to state in this idea napkin that my morals and values are strongly rooted in my faith which direct my work ethic as a businessperson, in school, and in life. My idea pertains to me because I live in a dorm and also frequent the gym and think that a product like the one I have come up with would be a huge help to me in my life and would make living in the dorm a little more enjoyable. It is something that I am passionate about so I know I would work hard to make this product an actual business.

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

I am offering a product that replaces shower shoes. The customers that I have identified definitely have an unmet need and I think my product will solve this issue. The product is a spray that comes out of a can and it will be a polymer-based solution that will seal the surface of the customer’s foot in order to protect it from the dirty floor. 

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? 

The people that I am offering this product to are mainly college students, specifically students who are living on-campus in dorms and students who frequent the fitness centers on campus or around campus. The other demographic is the elderly who go to the YMCA on a daily basis who use the sauna, steamer, and showers. The thing that all of my customers have in common is that they use public showers. 

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 have already talked to at least 30 potential customers who claimed that they would pay money for this product. It is a cleaner, more convenient, cooler, and safer option to the traditional shower shoe. 

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

This is a proprietary product that was created from an unmet need that the creator specifically had. This is a versatile idea that could be applied to other ventures such as the sealing of surfaces temporarily.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

     The elements of my business flow in that I have talked to multiple customers and have had reassuring feedback, but have also had helpful criticism. People have had concerns about the stickiness of the product. This is something that I am working on and is a concept that is weaker than the others. My response is that the stickiness of the polymer will be enough to stick to the foot without leaving a residue and will be easy to peel off without coming off on its own. Other than that concern, I think that the rest of the business flows together and makes sense. 

Feedback Memo

1. I talked about the “you” aspect more. I also listed why this idea pertains to me and why I want to create this product.
2. I incorporated my target market to include the “college kid” demographic that I am really going after. 
3. I am going to create a polymer-based solution as the spray.
4. This solution could be used for many other applications for sealing surfaces temporarily.
5. I will expand my customer base and look more into the YMCA elderly people demographic.

     I incorporated this feedback into this idea napkin by talking more about myself in the “you” section of the idea napkin. I talked about why I want to create this product and why it means something to me. I also added a demographic in the customer section and think that expanding my customer base would only benefit my company. I also thought about potentially using this polymer-based solution in other aspects such as temporarily sealing certain surfaces or using it for gloves, socks, or bandages.

Week 8 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The biggest surprise for me in the reading was that in equity financing, the money invested in the venture has no legal obligation for entrepreneurs to repay the principal amount or pay interest on it.

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

The one part of the reading that was somewhat confusing was the part about collateral in regard to commercial banks. Through context clues and research, though, I infer that it is something that the borrower is liable for in order to pay back the loan to the lender. Another part of the reading that was confusing was the part about factoring.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why? 

The first question that I would ask: what do you mean by factoring? You say that it is the sale of accounts receivable, but what does that mean? What do you mean by the factor is the client’s receivables?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How? 

I do not think that there was anything the author was wrong about; however, there were parts of the reading that require some more clarification, such as factoring, public offerings, and venture capitalists’ screening criteria.

Half-Way Reflection

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

I have learned to develop a set schedule that incorporates time management. Keeping myself accountable for assignments has taught me to work ahead and to not procrastinate.

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? 

I was on my way home back to Gainesville and I held off doing interviewing customers no. 1 because I was spending time with my family and neglected to work on the assignment until the very last minute. I did the interviews Sunday morning and then I drove back to Gainesville at around 6pm and got to my dorm at 8:30pm and tried uploading the videos to my blog. To my frustration, the videos would not upload and I was out of luck and the 9pm deadline rolled around and I could not share/declare the exercise even though I had done the assignment and had the videos on my phone. So I would say the key is to never give up even though it feels like the world is turning against you.

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’ ?

1. Set a schedule for yourself and actually stick to it.
2. Do the weekly readings - many people neglect this aspect of the course but there is so much knowledge to be gained by doing the readings.
3. Enjoy the assignments and put effort into them - you get out what you put in! 

$ Free Money $

• Where will you go? I went to two places: the lobby of my dorm and Turlington Plaza. I went to these two places because I wanted to reach two different demographics. There are mainly freshman in the dorm and there are all ages of people at Turlington so I wanted to see if freshman vs. other grades would accept the dollar more eagerly.
• What kind of people will you approach? I approached people that were on the phone or people that looked like they were in a hurry to get to/from Marston Library.
• What will you say to get the conversation started? I asked how they were doing and told them my plan for the dollar bill to get the conversation started.
• What is your plan for the conversation? For conversation, I told the five people I gave dollar bills to that I was doing a daily acts of kindness movement. It is not random, but rather systematic acts of kindness that happen on a daily basis.
• Out of five attempts, how many dollar bills do you think you will be able to give away? Out of the five attempts I thought that I would get all five to take the dollar; however, to my surprise I was wrong. I only had three people out of five actually take the dollar bill. The two that did not take the dollar bill said they "did not feel right taking my money" and to "donate it or give it to someone in need."

Reflection

• When I first read the directions for this exercise I thought it was absurd! I did not want to give away my own money to random people. After doing the actual exercise, I can say that it was fun and felt good to give to others and see the smile on someone's face. Giving away a dollar seemed really hard in the first place because the idea of giving away money is not something I like, but after following through with the exercise it was not as bad as I thought. I am glad that not all five people took the dollar, though! I planned to talk to people that were either on the phone or people that looked rushed or busy because I wanted to see if they would actually stop for me. I did stop a person who was on his way to work and was also on the phone and he surprisingly took the dollar bill with only a couple questions. It felt nice knowing that I could make his day better. Overall, this exercise might scare some folks because not many people enjoy giving away their own hard-earned money but for the sake of learning I think giving away less than $5 is a bargain. 

Giving Away Free $$$

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The biggest surprise to me in the reading was how important branding and how to position the brand. It is true that people will pay a higher premium for a brand they can trust and a brand they are loyal to. 

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

One part of the reading that was confusing was the part about which attitudes matter to the buying decision. I was confused about the concept of immutable personality traits that rarely bears much fruit.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why? 

The first question that I would ask the author would be: why do you think that tastes and preferences outweigh the traditional demographic knowledge of a given population if tastes and preferences are always changing? My second follow-up question would be: Wouldn’t it be hard to gauge customer tastes and preferences and very expensive?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How? 

There was one thing that stood out to me that seemed somewhat incorrect. Traditional demographic traits such as age, sex, education levels, and income seem to be a good basis for marketing strategy, which Daniel Yankelovich claims they are not. He rather says that values, tastes, and preferences override the traditional demographic traits.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

2) Reflection on the feedback from Elevator Pitch No. 1: The feedback that I got was in my opinion positive, although one person said that my product is similar to the idea in "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" but I never saw that movie so I am not sure of that similarity. I think that people liked the Shark Tank approach and thought that if this product could be produced at a reasonable price point then customers would definitely be willing to buy it.

3) What did you change based on the feedback? As you can see in the video, I am very sick while recording this and did not have the same passion as in my first video. I was also going to be more enthusiastic in the second elevator pitch, but since I have had the flue for the past 10 days it was tough to muster the enthusiasm.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

1) I plan on reading my customers the "idea napkin" that I created, which is a rough draft of the business concept. I then asked them their thoughts on the business layout and asked them the price they would be willing to pay for the product. 

2) See below for 5 interviews.

3) I learned to not be shy during the interviews and to ask random kids who live on my dorm because they are the target market for our product. I also did more than 5 interviews and talked to one lady at the YMCA who wanted to use this product for water aerobics which would add a whole other dynamic and target market to the product. What surprised me the most was how much people were willing to pay for this product. What I expect to change as an outcome of these interviews is a more defined target market, because now I am actually interviewing people who are within the target market, not just random people on the streets. 

INTERVIEWS: 

Week 6 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

As I was reading through Porter’s article, I was surprised to realize that there were five forces that shape industry competition. I hadn’t realized that competition sparks from five various forces. The threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products or services, and bargaining power of suppliers are the five different forces that shape competition, which stood out to me in that if an existing entrepreneur can pinpoint these five points, he or she will better maximize profits.

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

The return on invested capital (ROIC) is something that was somewhat confusing to me. The ROIC is the appropriate measure of profitability for strategy formulation, not to mention for equity investors. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

One of the questions I would ask the author is: what do you mean when you say that faced with pressures to gain market share, managers can spark new kinds of competition that no incumbent can win? The other question I would ask is: how do you define the relevant industry? It seems difficult to define the industry in which competition takes place because there can be so many competing firms and similar products.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I do not think that there was anything the author was wrong about. The five forces that shape strategy were unique and helped me realize how to better identify competition and how to gain market share.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You. I like to think that my morals and values are a big part of my talents as a human and also as a businessperson. I believe that fair and trustworthy business is the only way to conduct sales in my mind. I have skills and experience with leadership, team building, and motivating others. I aspire to some day own a business and who knows, maybe the opportunity I identified in this class will eventually turn into a business later down the road. I see this business playing a large role in my life if I were to start it. I am not someone to just start a business for fun or for a short period of time, I would put all of my efforts into the business and would spend all of my time and energy on scaling it into something very large and profitable. I see myself quitting any other job I have to work on my business idea. 
2. What are you offering to customers? The product is basically a replacement for shower shoes, especially solving college students and gym-goers unmet needs. The idea is an “aerosol-like” can that is filled with a proprietary formula that creates a film that sticks to the person’s foot and covers the entire bottom of the foot. Then, after used, it can be somewhat-easily taken off just by peeling it. 
3. Who are you offering it to? I am offering this product specifically to college kids who live in dorms because this would solve a huge problem of wet, slippery, and dirty shower shoes that become nasty over time. Also, the gym market and people who shower at local fitness centers is definitely a demographic we are going after. 
4. Why do they care? Customers will actually buy this product because it is simply more convenient, cleaner, cooler, and a safer option to shower shoes. According to my interviews with customers, I found that people will pay for this product. 
5. What are your core competencies? We have a product that nobody else has and we have the creator of the product who fits the exact target market which is beneficial to marketing schemes to get other college kids to buy the product. 

     Most of the five elements of my business concept flow together and make a lot of sense. The only out-of-joint aspect is the actual creating of the product which would take a lot of money to experiment with. The marketing part of the business concept would be the easiest considering there is such an outlet for sales with people here at UF that have already said they would purchase the good if it were available. Overall, I believe that will more research and development, this business concept will turn into something great and could potentially be a scalable company. 

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

The most surprising part of the reading was the fact that eBay has more than 247 registered users who do business on eBay. 

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

One part of the reading that was confusing was the failure process of a newly founded firm. The most confusing part was the mention of liquidity. I had heard of the term before but the book did not do a great job on expanding on it.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why? 

The two questions I would ask the author would be: What is liquidity and why is it vital to a startups success? I feel like the author skimmed through on this author and more depth into the subject would be helpful. The other question would be: Is the specific activities of feasibility analyses required? Since there are so many activities, do you expect a company to go into the whole checklist or just a few of them?

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How? 

I do not think there was anything that the author was wrong about. I wish he would have gone into more depth on a couple subjects but throughout the reading I did not find anything to be wrong or misrepresented. 

CleanLine Elevator Pitch No. 1

CleanLine has a simple solution: to cure the problem of stinky, wet, or inconvenient shower shoes at the gym or college dorm. The opportunity spurs from cases of gym-goers or college students who contract athlete's foot or spread various fungal diseases or who have nowhere to put their wet shoes after they are on their way to work from the gym. The solution lies in an eco-friendly, biodegradable barrier between the foot and the dirty floor.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

1) Fine tune your opportunity.

The opportunity that I have decided to identify is an eco-friendly, inexpensive alternative to shower shoes. I am beginning to find a niche market for people interested in this product.

2) Fine tune the “who."

The people who frequent the gym and also people who shower at the gym, usually before heading to work.

3) Tweaking your interview questions.

I tweaked my questions just a little bit to be more open-ended so the customer does the talking, not me. How often do you frequent this gym? Of those times, how many would you say you go straight home or go somewhere else? Do you use the shower facility at the fitness center? If yes, do you wear shower shoes? What do you do with those shoes after you are finished showering? Have you ever experienced a problem with moisture in your shoes or a stinky gym bag? Tell me about your last experience at the gym and at the shower specifically.

4) Go talk to customers!

My interviews can be found here: https://youtu.be/fMNxmlB4x9o

5) Tell us what you learned about the opportunity.

I learned that the opportunity has a time and a place. There is a need for some new type of shower shoe that I feel like many people will buy.

6) Tell us what you learned about interviewing customers.

I learned that many different people come to the gym and they all have different preferences. I also learned to get over my anxiety of talking to random customers or people I have never met before. Talking to strangers about a potential business idea is empowering and I learned how friendly people can be if you just be nice to them.

Reflection and tips to future students:

Getting up in front of random people in front of a YMCA is a daunting task at first; however, after doing it multiple times and realizing that there is nothing to lose, I found it easy interviewing customers. The key is to not get scared or anxious because these people are the same as you and me and have valuable input given the time to ask them about their viewpoints and how they see the world. This exercise is not only beneficial in learning more about others and their ideas, but it is certainly a way to learn more about yourself as a person. My advice is to speak up, be you, and do not be nervous and the interviews will feel much more natural and personable.