Week 15 Reading Reflection

Vikram Akula: Business Basics at the Base of the Pyramid

Harvard Business Review

1. The part that was most surprising to me in this article was the way that SKS Microfinance was able to earn customers. Akula states, "Many companies say they protect the interests of their customers. Very few actually sit in the dirt with them, using stones, flowers, sticks, and chalk powder to figure out if they’ll be able to repay a $20 loan at $1 a month. With this approach, we’ve created our own loyal “gang” of over 2 million customers." Average customers don't see this type of company outreach very often, and I myself as a reader, was very impressed.
2. The confusing thing about this text was the initial topic of it. Microfinance is a subject that I'm not well aware about and the matter of how it can be an answer or solution to povery for people that operate on a very small-scale is still very not understandable for me.
3. I would want to ask the author these two questions:
• What was the initial experience or memory that was the biggest inspiration for microfinance?
• How were you able to get a good team of employees that would stay in touch with your customer-first philosophy?
• I would want to ask the author these questions as his personal stories and anecdotes would provide a lot of insight and personal touches. His perspective on the customer-first philopsophy and his approaches are unique and I would want his responses on them.
4. I do not think the author was wwrong about anything in this text.

Final Reflection

1. The highs of this blog experience would definitely be my venture concept. Health Bite (read more about it on my blog!), is something that I am truly passionate about and it was a pleasure writing about the app and coming up with ideas for it. The lows would definitely be the video interviews. Not many people wanted to be recorded and declined me, and I definitely didn't have fun going up to strangers requesting to interview them. The fun moments would definitely be interviewing the people closest to me, as they had an insightful take on what they thought I was like as a person and it was interesting to hear their comments.
2. The most formative experience was definitely my interviews with actual entreprenuers. They had very insightful and wise advice they provided me with, not only in terms of an entrepreneurial mindset, but just for success in life. I would also count this as an experience that I will remember years from now, just because the interviews and their answers really resonated with me. My most joyous experiene would definitely be seeing the postive feedback that was provided for my venture concept and various elevator pitches. It's good to have that level of support and constructive criticism. The experience that I'm most proud of accomplishing is my venture concept and coming up with the ideas behind Health Bite, because I truly am passionate about it.
3. To be completely honest, I still don't fully see myself as an entrepreneur. In order to be one, I think it's important to have a more hands-on experience with rigorous day-to-day tasks that only entrepreneurs would face. How I would react in those situations would definitely give me a much more knowledgeable perspective. Nonetheless, I do believe that I have moved closer in developing an entrepreneurial mindset.
4. My one recommendation to students who are going down this path in the future is to stay organized. Entrepreneurs, much like this class, have various tasks they need to fulfill, and it's the best to stay on top of things by having good organizational skills. In order to perform their best in this course, I would highly recommend a planner and to keep an open mind. In order to foster that mindset, just be understanding of everyone's blog posts.
   

Venture Concept 2

1. Venture Concept
Opportunity

Health Bite is an app that will not only provide healthy and clean-eating recipes for college students, but they can upload photos or videos of their creations to earn points. After reaching a certain number of points, students can redeem it at certain restaurants or cafes in Gainesville that mirror with the app’s values of healthy and well-balanced eating. The app will partner with these local eateries, such as Cymplify, The Daily Green, Karma Cream, Zoe’s Kitchen etc.

I am offering to students in college (University of Florida) to eat a more healthy and well-balanced diet for their day to day meals by creating an app that offers quick and easy food and snack recipes. They are healthy and power-packed for a more balanced diet for college students.

They care because due to the different levels of stress that incoming freshmen are placed into, such as being away from home and new, scary experiences of college classes and exams, students find it easy to stuff our faces by stress-eating. It doesn’t help that the dining hall is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. Students can find themselves eating badly because it’s convenient to cook up something that’s fast or just simply eat out. A lot of college students become unhealthy eaters, consuming meals that are high in calories and sodium, and also a diet that consist of mostly carbs. My app, called Health Bite, will be a resolve to change eating habits and diet by encouraging students to cook meals, snacks, smoothies, desserts, that are balanced and made of up good ingredients. They are quite easy to make, does not create a lot of dishes, and satisfying to eat. My goal is that other students will replicate my recipes and eat healthily as well. Then they will become accustomed to cooking good, nutritious and yummy meals at home.

I think this is a big window of opportunity because as students become more aware of the "healthy movement" and the many discoveries behind the bad products that the dining hall offers, students also want to make a conscious effort and decision into eating healthier and making better choices.

Innovation

For the app, Health Bite, the revenue drivers would most primarily be the advertising that local Gainesville eateries would do on the app. We would make sure the ads solicited would be restaurants and eateries that shared the same values as the app, in providing healthy and nutritional meals for students. These places would include, for example, the Daily Green, Zoe's Kitchen, Cymplify Cafe, Civilization, and more.

The next product offering that my customers would want from the app, would be to include promotions and discount codes to these local Gainesville eateries, that aligned with the app's healthy values. With the promotion and discount codes, college students can take a break from creating the healthy recipes and cooking, but they can still be incentivized to go to a place offering healthy dishes when eating out.

It will improve the user experience of being on the app because they can still eat healthy and delicious meals while eating out, so that they don't feel obligated to cook all the time from the recipes provided on the app. It also fosters customer loyalty, because who doesn't like discount codes to some of the best restaurants?

Venture Concept

I will utilize my core competencies would be my personality traits that can connect to the target market for this app. As an outgoing and extroverted person, it's easy for me to meet new people, talk to them, get a sense of what they want and need, and have effective communication to obtain information. Another is that I thrive in challenging, fast-paced environments as it motivates to pursue a project and see to its end. It also ensures that I have strong time management and organizational skills.In evaluation of these elements, I definitely believe that all of these factors effectively fit together. I do not think that there are any critical weaknesses in my business model, as my communication skills will effectively enable me to gage what my target market may need and want from my app. In addition, I truly am passionate and enthusiastic behind the core ideas for my app.

My target market, which are college students, will definitely want to get on board with the revolutionary idea of providing simple and easy meals that are healthy and nutritious. The app's partnership with the various local, healthy eateries will also help and incentivize students to use the app for discount and promo codes, but also pick better locations for eating.

I would create the app to be aesthetically pleasing. It would have to provide comfortability in user experience as well as offering high-resolution pictures. I will take inspiration from many popular food accounts on Instagram for visual cues, as well as Buzzfeed's Tasty videos.

2. Feedback

The feedback that I received was very positive. One comment described how much he liked the idea as he and his family try to eat as healthy as possible, and that it would be a great lesson for his kids to start getting hands-on experience with cooking and using fresh ingredients. That way, you're more aware and conscious of what you are putting into your body. Another feedback described the love for the idea and she left a comment on how she actually needs an app like this to motivate herself.

3. Changes

I did not make any changes to the idea because the feedback that I received were generally very positive and good.

4.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

Kuratko: Chapter 3 and 4

1. In this week's reading, I was surprised by the statement in Chapter 4 where it said, "First, codes of conduct are becoming more prevalent in this industry." I had always thought that there was an established code of conduct and guidelines to follow and that they had always been written up.
2. There were no parts of this reading that I was confused about as the chapters were very straight-forward and thorough in explanation.
3. I would want to ask the author these two questions:
• What is the most important ethical responsibility?
• What are the ethical considerations in a corporate entrepreneurship?
• I would want to ask the author these questions in order to gage his insight and perspective on the subject matter.
4. I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this chapter of the text.

Going for Google Gold

1. For each blog post, I made sure to follow our professor's directions to label as what week's assignments were being posted. Other than that, I don't think I've done much for search engine optimization.
2. My key words were just what the professor told us to label for titles and put in as labels in the assignments. I did not change or refine any keywords.
3. I did not use social media to enhance my SEO efforts. 
4. My most viral post would be the video post that I made, regarding my venture concept. I think it obtained the most traffic because there was a YouTube video attached to it.
5. I did not make it to the front page of Google for my key words, since I don't think I made too good of a use for them. I made it to page 3.

Very Short Interview Part 2 (Week 14)

Here is the link to my first interview:
http://jaryprinent.blogspot.com/2016/01/very-short-interview-number-1.html

• In review of my initial interview with Joseph Palermo, owner of a very successful farmer's market in Delray Beach, Florida, I would say that everything he said was correct and I would agree with his words. His answers to the inital three questions provided a lot of insight in maintaining good relations with the people you encounter in business, having the ability to recognize opportunity, and calculating risks. It's also important to remain confident and have heart. 
• I was not able to record the interview with Mr. Palermo, as he is very busy running his business in Delray Beach, while I am currently working on this assignment in Gainesville. I was however, able to reach him by email, and these were his responses to the three questions that I asked him next.  
• "Were there any big life-changing events that happened where you had to let go of an opportunity?"
• "You see, people often have this misconception that once you lose an opportunity or you let that opportunity go, it's gone for good and you'll have this huge regret and you'll always wonder, what if? Maybe that's true for other things in life, but not in business. You can't think that way in business about opportunities because that's too black and white. Thinking like that will definitely cause you to miss out on other opportunities. Opportunities are endless, and it's definitely a cycle. When you miss it once, you have to keep going and it's what you make of it, so that you're better prepared or it's better timing because they do come around again, even if it's not in the same form. Timing is everything."
• "What has been the most rewarding thus far?"
• "Having my entire family, my "boys" become a part of it and seeing them grow a passion for business too. It's a good environment, and it's rewarding to see my sons become adept businessmen too, but it's great to support family in that sense."
• "Would you have done anything differently?"
• "(Chuckles) Yea I would have actually! I would have built this farmer's market a whole lot bigger. Too much produce and fruits and way too many damn customers. There's no space!"
• (The Boy's Farmer's Market is hugely successful and crowded almost everyday. It's impossible to not have to wait in a huge line to check out and be unable to move within the farmer market because of the huge throngs of people is to be expected."
• I definitely became a lot more comfortable with discussing the concept of entrepreneurship. In this week's assignment, I wanted to gain a more personal perspective on the business of entrepreneurship, which can be seen as reflected in my questions.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

Kuratko Chapter 14: Valuation of Entrepreneurial Ventures

1. In this week's reading, I was surprised by the importance of valuation and due diligence. It did not occur to me that every entrepreneur should be able to calculate the value of his or her business and also should be able to determine the value of a competitor's operation. Some aspects that I thought were interesting in certain situations are: determining inheritance tax liability (potential estate tax liability); and raising growth capital through stock warrants or convertible loans. 
2. There were no parts of this reading that I was confused about, as it was an excellent and detailed coverage in determining the valuation of entrepreneurial ventures.
3. I would want to ask the author these two questions:
• As an entrepreneur, how would you steer clear of emotional bias, especially when it is challenging to stay objective about your own enterprise?
• What would be the best out of the three principal methods currently used in business valuations?
• I would want to ask the author these two questions as he may provide valuable insight and perspective.
4. I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this chapter of the text.

Celebrating Failure

1. I failed the first time this past semester, outside of this class. I wouldn't call it exactly a failure, but rather just incompletion, which felt like failure at the time. I had a deadline to meet for an internship and with time constraints and stress, I couldn't make that final deadline. It was a marketing brochure project that I was in charge of, but due to several computer crashes regarding photoshop, I was unable to meet the deadline. It felt like failure because it did not reflect well on me professionally and I felt like I had messed up in the "real-world", where mistakes are not as easily forgiven.
2. I learned that everyone makes mistakes and they can be used as great learning experiences. I was also thankful for the sincere and forgiving learning environment of my internship, where they understood my situation and helped me through it. Although I was mortified at the poor professional reflection, I was reminded that internships are positions where you learn from your mistakes to better prepare for future full-time employment, where hopefully these mistakes will not be repeated twice.
3. In general, I think failure is a very stressful and anxiety-inducing situation. Failure is hard, but it's only challenging to our minds because of the constant worry and gloomy state our minds are in, as we think over and over about the past mistakes. Emotionally, I try to keep is together, but I tend to overanalyze and think too hard about these situations for a couple of days. Behaviorally, I tend to act very listlessly and gloomily. I don't know how this class has changed my perspective on failure just yet, but I know myself well-enough that, I don't take big leaps when there are great risks involved. If I'm passionate enough about it, maybe. But I am also a very rational person who behaved where only the minimal or no risks will be involved in the future. 
   

My Exit Strategy (Week 13)

1. I intend to sell my business in the next 5 years, if it is successful enough, for a large profit. Since my business is an app, I would sell the technology side to more successful tech companies (i.e. YouTube sold to Google). However, I would retain a share within the company and a large degree of control on creative matters.
2. I selected this particular exit strategy mostly because I would want to move on to something else within my life. If my app is successful enough, it would make sense for me to exit, as I have described above, because more capable tech-teams would code the app to be better and ensure its long-run success. I definitely have professional and personal goals, besides this app, that I would want to be able to fulfill in life.
3. I don't think my exit strategy influenced the opportunities that I have been able to see in the business. In the stages of developing, creating, and introducing an app, you have to focus on the present and make sure that things are going well in the present, before you attempt to think about the future. That's why after you've established some level of success, you can plan for the future. How I acquire and use certain resources would all have to be focused on the current track they are in.
   

What's Next (Week 12)

Existing Market

• The next product offering that my customers would want from the app, would be to include promotions and discount codes to these local Gainesville eateries, that aligned with the app's healthy values. With the promotion and discount codes, college students can take a break from creating the healthy recipes and cooking, but they can still be incentivized to go to a place offering healthy dishes when eating out.
• Interviews
• I used the index card technique and did audio interviews on UF students.
• In terms of growing my existing market, I think that my future goals would be to quickly reach out to these local eateries to obtain partnership deals with them. Everyone that I interviewed seemed to be on board with the idea to get promos and discount codes to their favorite local healthy eateries in Gainesville.
  It's attractive to students because of the fact that they can save money by getting points to get discount codes. It also incentivizes them to go eat out at a place that serves healthier options, rather than going to a fast-food joint.
  It's attractive to these restaurants because it promotes and advertises their place.

New Market

• A radically different market that I would target would be high school students.
• They would start to learn how to cook and prepare meals ahead of college, so that they're more aware once they enter the college. It would be similar to practice for them, as well as a good learning experience.
• Interviews
• I once again used the index card technique and interviewed at the Oaks Mall. They were reluctant to be interviewed, so I used the audio method.
For some reason, my sixth interview is heaving difficulty uploading onto YouTube. It does not finish processinig and will not finish the uploading. I am contacting customer service, but feel free to message me and I can send the footage over to you through iMessage or Facebook. Hopefully the interviews I have so far gives a good enough background though,

Reflection

In the new market, I was nicely surprised by how well the idea went with these high school students. I expected that high school students would be less accepting of the idea to learn how to cook and prepare these healthy meals, as most of them are still in an environment where a parental figure cooks their meals. However, a lot of them seemed to be excited for this prospect and equally enjoyed the idea of the partnerships with local cafes and healthy eateries in Gainesville. They are not as attractive as my existing market, just because they don't have the same background incentive, but they would be strong contenders for growing my target audience once the app starts to grow and expand

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

Health Bite is an app that will not only provide healthy and clean-eating recipes for college students, but they can upload photos or videos of their creations to earn points. After reaching a certain number of points, students can redeem it at certain restaurants or cafes in Gainesville that mirror with the app’s values of healthy and well-balanced eating. The app will partner with these local eateries, such as Cymplify, The Daily Green, Karma Cream, Zoe’s Kitchen etc.

I am offering to students in college (University of Florida) to eat a more healthy and well-balanced diet for their day to day meals by creating an app that offers quick and easy food and snack recipes. They are healthy and power-packed for a more balanced diet for college students.

They care because due to the different levels of stress that incoming freshmen are placed into, such as being away from home and new, scary experiences of college classes and exams, students find it easy to stuff our faces by stress-eating. It doesn’t help that the dining hall is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. Students can find themselves eating badly because it’s convenient to cook up something that’s fast or just simply eat out. A lot of college students become unhealthy eaters, consuming meals that are high in calories and sodium, and also a diet that consist of mostly carbs. My app, called Health Bite, will be a resolve to change eating habits and diet by encouraging students to cook meals, snacks, smoothies, desserts, that are balanced and made of up good ingredients. They are quite easy to make, does not create a lot of dishes, and satisfying to eat. My goal is that other students will replicate my recipes and eat healthily as well. Then they will become accustomed to cooking good, nutritious and yummy meals at home.

I think this is a big window of opportunity because as students become more aware of the "healthy movement" and the many discoveries behind the bad products that the dining hall offers, students also want to make a conscious effort and decision into eating healthier and making better choices.

Innovation

For the app, Health Bite, the revenue drivers would most primarily be the advertising that local Gainesville eateries would do on the app. We would make sure the ads solicited would be restaurants and eateries that shared the same values as the app, in providing healthy and nutritional meals for students. These places would include, for example, the Daily Green, Zoe's Kitchen, Cymplify Cafe, Civilization, and more.

The next product offering that my customers would want from the app, would be to include promotions and discount codes to these local Gainesville eateries, that aligned with the app's healthy values. With the promotion and discount codes, college students can take a break from creating the healthy recipes and cooking, but they can still be incentivized to go to a place offering healthy dishes when eating out.

It will improve the user experience of being on the app because they can still eat healthy and delicious meals while eating out, so that they don't feel obligated to cook all the time from the recipes provided on the app. It also fosters customer loyalty, because who doesn't like discount codes to some of the best restaurants?

Venture Concept

I will utilize my core competencies would be my personality traits that can connect to the target market for this app. As an outgoing and extroverted person, it's easy for me to meet new people, talk to them, get a sense of what they want and need, and have effective communication to obtain information. Another is that I thrive in challenging, fast-paced environments as it motivates to pursue a project and see to its end. It also ensures that I have strong time management and organizational skills.In evaluation of these elements, I definitely believe that all of these factors effectively fit together. I do not think that there are any critical weaknesses in my business model, as my communication skills will effectively enable me to gage what my target market may need and want from my app. In addition, I truly am passionate and enthusiastic behind the core ideas for my app.

My target market, which are college students, will definitely want to get on board with the revolutionary idea of providing simple and easy meals that are healthy and nutritious. The app's partnership with the various local, healthy eateries will also help and incentivize students to use the app for discount and promo codes, but also pick better locations for eating.

I would create the app to be aesthetically pleasing. It would have to provide comfortability in user experience as well as offering high-resolution pictures. I will take inspiration from many popular food accounts on Instagram for visual cues, as well as Buzzfeed's Tasty videos.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

Gary Pisano: You Need an Innovation Strategy

Harvard Business Review

1. In this week's reading, I would not say that I was surprised by the article, but enjoyed Pisano's coverage of the reminding facts that I had forgotten, so "surprised by reminders"? It's true that innovation is hard, which is a well-known fact, but I simply had not thought of it in the way that the author described when he said sustaining innovative performance can be more complex and difficult - such as in the case of Nokia, Polaroid, and etc.
2. There was a part of the reading that I was definitely confused about when the author said: "Without an innovation strategy, innovation improvement efforts can easily become a grab bag of much-touted best practices: dividing R&D into decentralized autonomous teams, spawning internal entrepreneurial ventures, setting up corporate venture-capital arms, pursuing external alliances, embracing open innovation and crowdsourcing, collaborating with customers, and implementing rapid prototyping, to name just a few." - What does all this mean?
3. I would want to ask the author:
• The question above, say it more simply. This is for the purpose to understand.
• The second question that I would ask the author is what is another great example of innovation strategy, which may be invaluable in the short-life cycle present at Silicon Valley?
4. I did not think the author was wrong about anything in this article.

The Amazon Whisperer

• For my app called Health Bite (which provides healthy and nutririous but fast meal recipes for college students - check out my previous blog post on it), the revenue drivers would most primarily be the advertising that local Gainesville eateries would do on the app. We would make sure the ads solicited would be restaurants and eateries that shared the same values as the app, in providing healthy and nutritional meals for students. These places would include, for example, the Daily Green, Zoe's Kitchen, Cymplify Cafe, Civilization, and more.
• The next product offering that my customers would want from the app, would be to include promotions and discount codes to these local Gainesville eateries, that aligned with the app's healthy values. With the promotion and discount codes, college students can take a break from creating the healthy recipes and cooking, but they can still be incentivized to go to a place offering healthy dishes when eating out.
• It will improve the user experience of being on the app because they can still eat healthy and delicious meals while eating out, so that they don't feel obligated to cook all the time from the recipes provided on the app. It also fosters customer loyalty, because who doesn't like discount codes to some of the best restaurants?
• Since my idea was an app that provided recipes to healthy and nutritious meals to college students, there was no product on Amazon that was similar to my services other than some cookbooks. I looked for healthy cooking and this was a recipe book.
  
• Most of the customer reviews were very positive with the reviewers gushing their love for the healthy, delicious, and clean eating that this recipe book provided. One of the negative reviews said that the cooking was definitely not within the 15-minute range and showcased the reviewers distate for the fancy ingredients that were needed, where you had to shop specifically to cook the recipes provided and you could not throw things together from the ingredients leftover in the fridge.
• The design/usability changes that I would make to the product would be to include simple recipes that did not included fancy ingredients and to include "Leftover Ingredients" recipes as well.
• I don't think the product would make a good addition to my current product/service offering.

My Unfair Advantage (Week 11)

1. Creativity
• Valuable
• An entrepreneaur needs creativity to sustain his business in the long-run, by producing new ideas.
• Rare
• No one else will have the same exact ideas or concept as me, as it relates to my original idea.
• Inimitable
• It is inimitable because as the entrepreneur, I will be carrying out the establishment of my concepts.
• Non-substitutional
• Non-substitutional because no one can do them in my place, nor have the final word on the idea to be carried out.
2. Emotional intelligence
• Valuable
• An entrepreneur must have the ability to remain level-headed and calm during times of crisis or chaos
• Rare
• Not a lot of people have the abiliity to keeps their emotions in check
• Inimitable
• No one will have the same method or ability of emotional intelligence
• Non-subtititional
• You can't substitute emotional intelligence with anything else, you either have it or you don't.
3. Organizational structure
• Valuable
• An entrepreneur's business must be organized and well-kept of details
• Rare
• It's easy to get caught up in your "organized mess" as many business people simply don't have time to keep up with everything but if details aren't meticulous, than small but important things will start falling through the cracks
• Inimitable
• No one has the same method of keeping organized, everyone has their own system
• Non-substitutional
• Organization can't be substituted with anything else because when you're not organized, you're just messy... which you don't want to be
4. Supportive friends
• Valuable
• During stressful times of launching a business, it's important to have a core group of people to turn for stability and emotional comfort
• Rare
• It's hard to find a core group of friends who will support you and trust you no matter what
• Inimitable
• No one has the same core group of friends with the same dynamics and conversations
• Non-substitutional
• You just can't substitute the emotional comfort and stablity that your friends provide you with anything else
5. Social media skills
• Valuable
• It's important to be adept at social media, especially at this current time period, where social media is the top most effective tool at generating positive buzz and feedback
• Rare
• Not many people are certified at using social media organization platforms, such as Buffer, or content measurements, such as Klout. Students my age don't even know they exist.
• Inimitable
• My idea, methods, experiences, and efforts at social media can't be imitated because I do them in a certain way.
• Non-substitutional
• Social media is a critical marketing and advertising component that cannot be replaced with TV or magazine marketing.
6. Network on campus
• Valuable
• Involvement on campus and connections to networks in a variety of organizations are important, as they establish connections to the target market of my venture
• Rare
• Usually, a person is involved heavily in one organization but I have involvement in many
• Inimitable
• No one will have the same connections to networks that I do
• Non-substitutional
• Networks and connections are critical to have as a social capital
7. Education
• Valuable
• It's important for entrepreneurs to take classes and learn the basics of business, such as financial accounting, marketing, management, and more classes in the business school
• Rare
• It's not that rare for an entrepreneur to be well-educated, to be honest.
• Inimitable
• What you get, what you understand, and how you employ the education received into skills is only something that you can do
• Non-substitutional
• Cannot subtitute certain classes or education with anything else
8. Financial support
• Valuable
• A business needs money to launch
• Rare
• Not a lot of entrepreneurs start off with a stable financial backing and cash flow
• Inimitable
• How you use the money and budget is up to your discretion
• Non-subtitutional
• Money as a resource and financial capital cannot be substituted for anything else when something requires money
9. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
• Valuable
• When a venture involved creativity, such as an app, it's valuable to get a patent to protect your ideas
• Rare
• It is not rare in our country to have protection for your ideas
• Inimitable
• You can't imitate a patent or trademark received
• Non-subtitutional
• Can't substitute this form of protection, legally bound
10. International relations
• Valuable
• An international network is valuable when a venture has the potential to go global
• Rare
• Not a lot of businesses or ventures start off with international backing/approval/advice of people in business in finance in countries abroad
• Inimitable
• No one can imitate or have the same network that I have established
• Nonsubstitutional
• Cannot substitute a network

It's clear that my top resource is having a stable financial capital. It's hard to launch a new business or venture without financial stability and resources. You need money to utilize for different aspects of your business launch, such as marketing promotions, and paying a few people to work for you.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

Kuratko Chapter 11: Financial Preparation for Entrepreneurial Ventures

1. In this week's reading, I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage of basic financial accounting. It was like reading over a general overview of the first chapter of Introduction to Financial Accounting, that I took in my freshman year at UF with Professor Goslinga. I was surprised by the coverage of this material in this chapter but then realized this is a critical component that an entrepreneur must be familiar with when setting up his business.
2. There were no parts of this reading that I was confused by, as it was a general overview of material that I had covered before in a financial accounting class.
3. I would want to ask the author these two questions:
• Should an entrepreneur know financial accounting well or should he have an expert in charge of his financials?
• What are the benefits of credible financials and how can an entrepreneur bounce back after not that credible financials?
4. I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this text. The material he covered were very scientific and mathematical.

Growing My Social Capital (Week 10)

Katie Song

1. Katie has a position as a talent acquisitions director at Amore Pacific Global Corporation. She recruits talent, or young business professionals, to join the corporation as a hiring director.
2. She is a domain expert in the industry that I would like to join, as a hiring director in the ideal company that I would like to work for in the beauty industry. Amore Pacific is a leading skincare and cosmetic company, based in Korea, with many subsidiary brands. They have been a leading product innovator in the global beauty industry in the sense that they are way ahead of the game compared to the luxury high-end and well-known European and American brands. The BB cream, CC cream were all introduced in Korea 10 years before European and American brands such as Dior, L'oreal, Maybelline started to introduce it. 
3. I found the person utilizing the professional networking website, LinkedIn. I sent her an InMail message detailing my assignment and asked if I could establish contact with her if she could provide the time.
4. The favor that they did for me was to set aside their busy time to talk to me, so that I may become more familiarized and aware of the inner and outer-workings of the company, as well as exciting projects. There was no return expection other than for me to do well on this assignment.
5. Including this person in my network will enhance my ability for future career opportunities. As a talent acquisitions director, she is well-aware of my extreme interest in the company, as well as my passion for it. By staying in touch with her, I establish a communication relationship in the hopes of future employment.

Holly Crowell

1. Holly has a position in the Marketing Development team at Amore Pacific Global Corporations. 
2. She is the market expert for this assignment, as her role in the Marketing Development Team is to analyze the target market, create and pitch ideas for certain product marketing, and work with a team to carry out specific marketing plans.
3. Like Katie above, I found this person by using LinkedIn and also sent her an InMail message. 
4. The favor that she did for me was to answer my questions about the specific marketing projects she has worked on and her specific job duties and responsibilities. 
5. Including this person in my network will also enhance my ability for future career opportunities.

Carrie Dubsky

1. Carrie has a position as the retail manager at Sephora. She manages the product sales and distributions at Sephora to the customers.
2. She is the important supplier in this industry.
3. I found this person by walking into the Sephora at the Boca Raton Town Center Mall. I asked for the manager, asked if I could talk to her, and set aside a quick 20 minute appointment for an interview.
4. The favor that she did for me was to answer my questions and also conversate with me about the major changes and shifts she has seen in product innovations and marketing trends. 
5. I don't think including this person will necessarily enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity in the career sense, but I can establish a communicating relationship with her in case I have further questions.

I honestly enjoyed this assignment as it gave me a chance to professionally network. I was already building a network by reaching out to HR directors and talent acquisitions directors of many companies that I was interested in through LinkedIn. Therefore, this assignment was very relevant to what I was currently doing in profeessional terms.

Elevator Pitch No. 3 (Week 10)

1. The video (posted above)
2. People generally liked my idea according to the feedback from last time. They liked how I was clear in planning out the app's goals as well as having a detailed explanation and a specific target market. The general feedback was that it was well-thought out and creative, for which I am grateful for.
3. This time around, the idea and pitch is different, for a creation of a different app, explained in the video above. I tried to stay consistent with the feedback and my goals were to have a clear outline of the app's goals, detailed reasoning of why it would work, incentivizing methods, and a speficic target method.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

Kuratko Chapter 10: Marketing Challenges for Entrepreneurial Ventures

1. In this week's reading, I was surprised pleasantly by the coverage of social media marketing. Digital marketing, which encompasses social media marketing, is something that I am currently doing an internship in. I was surprised that the traditional marketing approach, encompassing the 4 P's, was now starting to become outdated, and in social media marketing, more of an emphasis was placed on audience contribution.
2. One part of the reading that was confusing to me were the views of pricing in the pricing strategies section, when pricing is considered virtual. It is the easiest and quickest to change, when I always thought the concept worked the other way.
3. I would want to ask the authors these questions:
• What do you think is the best option for pricing in the social media age?
• What is your personal marketing philosophy?
4. I do not think the author was wrong about anything in this text.

What's My Secret Sauce? (Week 9)

1. Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. 
• Cross-Cultural Understanding
• Growing up in very different cultures has made me more aware of the cultural and societal differences that exist. I'm conscious of it when I travel and make an effort to adapt to that culture, rather than go against it, as it respects the travel place more. It also enables me to understand people's ways of thinking who are from different parts of the world.
• Being able to play an instrument
• I have been classically trained in piano for more than 10 years. Playing an instrument and learning a musical skill teaches and fosters dedication, endurance, perseverance, and hard-work.
• Staying in touch with my native-tongue language
• I moved to the United States when I was 7 years old, and picked up on english very fast. It's easy to forget the language that I was born into, which is Korean, but to the credit of my parents, they made me speak Korean at home. I additionally made a conscious effort by reading Korean books, watching Korean TV, and talking to relatives in Korea. In many ways, retaining the Korean language as helped me understand Korean culture more because the language embodies many cultural and societal aspects.
• Being able to contain my emotions and stay level-headed
• I have the skill to remain calm, cool, and collected in anxiety-driven situations. I do not let my emotions get the best of me and staying level-headed helps me think much more clearly to figure out a solution or get out of a tricky situation.
• Thinking about what matters everyday
• I have a deep appreciation and gratitude for little things everyday. This definitely uplifts my mood and motivated me to work harder as I enjoy the passage of life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
2. For most of the interviews, I used the index card method for interviewing, where I wrote down the specifics and details of this assignments than the questions on the index card. The interviews were carried on with audio recording, since my friends were more comfortable not being video-recorded. Not being video-recorded also made them more laidback and their answers came more freely.
   
   The first interview was with my roommate. She mentioned organization and life-skill preparation.The second interview was with a friend that I met through study abroad and we stayed very close through skype and other messaging apps, so I interviewed her through skype.

I had independence through traveling and was able to organize well, and was interested in being able to communicate with people.

I had a worldly background knowledge. I was better able to communicate with people.

I had very good emotional intelligence. I did not rely on anyone while traveling and was prepared.

3. I see myself eager to learn more and gain wider perspectives on life through means of travel. Others see me similarly in this attitude but also say that I have gained good interpersonal communication skills as a result. I think generally, my interviewees are correct about me but I'm still only 21 and have much more human capital to gain. I would not change anything from the list.

Idea Napkin No. 2 (Week 9)

1. My name is Jary Kim and I am a student at the University of Florida. I have professional skills and experience in interpersonal communication, social media, digital marketing, creativity, and time management. My non-professional interests are in cooking, exercising, and traveling. I aspire to work in a global marketing team of an international corporation or digital marketing in a smaller firm that caters to those corporations. I hope to relocate to New York City, Seoul, or London for work after I graduate.
2. Budget Buzz is an app that will help college students budget their spending. A lot of the customers (students) need help in managing their personal finances responsibly when they get to college. Whether it be allowance that is received from parents or personal money, with Budget Buzz, college students can organize their money into different spending categories, such as for Groceries, Dining Out, Leisurely Shopping, Going Out, Drinks, Savings. It will track their spending and their budget as well as how much they save. The app will pair up with local businesses in the collegetown so that when the students are successful in staying within their set budget, as well as saving, they can redeem coupons to spend at though local businesses. In Gainesville, we would want to target Lucky's, Karma Cream, 3 Natives, and etc.
3. I am offering this app to students in college, first and foremost, would be my school at the University of Florida. I would offer this app mostly towards incoming freshmen but it would also be a target for all years as well. Demographically, I would target this app towards students who had the comfort of their parents providing them with a set monthly allowance for their spending. It's usually those students who end up spending their money quickly through random purchases and frequent dining out, as well as blowing a big chunk of their money on a night out (buying drinks, food, etc.). I've found that these students often have to ask more money from their parents because of spending too quickly within the money. Students who have part-job jobs and pay for their own things through their own money they earned usually keep better track of their finances, which would not be the target market for this app.
4. For college students, especially incoming freshmen who are not accustomed to being own their own and dealing with a monthly allowance to budget, this app would be extremely beneficial in helping them manage their personal finances. With the app's logs, it's good to keep track of how much money you spend and what you spend it on, as seeing the transactions listed will help show if the student has been recklessly spending. It'll make students more thoughtful and tactful in spending their money, as well as teaching them the value of saving. These are life lessons and skills that students can't get inside a classroom.
5. My core competencies would be my personality traits that can connect to the target market for this app. As an outgoing and extroverted person, it's easy for me to meet new people, talk to them, get a sense of what they want and need, and have effective communication to obtain information. Another is that I thrive in challenging, fast-paced environments as it motivates to pursue a project and see to its end. It also ensures that I have strong time management and organizational skills.

From the feedback that I received on my previous idea napkin, which was a different app idea of Health Bite (healthy eating and reciped for college students - check out that blog post!) these are the main five points that I took away.

• I planned well.
• Beneficial to all the students targeted
• Good job at expressing my skills and interests to connect them with my ideas.
• App will encourage motivation
• Thinking it through

I incorporated those feedbacks into my idea napkin this time around because it helped me figure out how to create this Idea Napkin successfully, as the positive feedbacks encouraged me to have the same work ethic in providing this assignment.

The 80-20 Rule (Week 8)

1. The business owner that I targeted was Chelsea Lee. She creates hand-made jewelry and sells it through an online business platform of Etsy, as well as going to the local farmer's market and selling it there, every Saturdays. Chelsea said that her target market ranged women from the ages of 16-50 at the farmer's market while the ages ranged from 20-30 on Etsy. She said that various ages of women bought her jewelry at the farmer's market while they shopped for other items, as they bought it form themselves or gifts for other people. The kind of media that her customers consumed was obviously digital as many of her customers saw her jewelry creations on social media, such as her Facebook page and Instagram page, and then visited her Etsy website.
2. Customer interviews
• I decided to use the index card technique with interviews as it was easier for me to approach them and ask if I could interview them and present them with the information so that they could say a quick bit and move on. It felt like I was less intrusive on their time.  In addition, they were hesitant to be filmed but when I conveyed that they could do an audio interview, they were much more willing to do the interview. 
3. I think the entrepreneur Chelsea adequately understood her customer's needs. She provided pretty but inexpensive jewelry that shoppers could pick up. If there was one unmet need or difference, it was the idea of providing gift-wrapping services but she was probably just unaware that it was an unmet need.

Half-Way Reflection

Half-Way Reflection

1. The skills that I have utilized to being successful in this course is time-management, organization, and meticulousness. 
• It's evident that there are many things to complete as assignments for this class, starting with multi-weekly submissions, share and declare posts, and feedback requirements. After figuring out when things were due, I set aside a time in the week where I could finish those assignments and the subsequent comments to follow up on. I still stick to the schedule that I created.
• With organization, I look ahead of the week's scheduled assignments and write them down in my planner so that I do not forget. In addition, if there are video recordings that must be completed, I do so ahead of time using my planner to schedule.
• I strive to be meticulous in this course so that I can meet all of the requirements that are presented for one assignment as well as proof-reading.
2. I felt like giving up in this course when I realized that video recordings are tough. This is one factor that I disagree with most in this class, even to this day. In complete honesty, I begrudgingly still do them but I do not think it's a beneficial factor of this class in completing assignments. Many people do not want to be interrupted on their day-to-day activities to be videotaped and for the footage to be put online. I personally would decline as well. I do not think I've developed a tenacious attitude for this because I still firmly disagree with this method of completing assignments.
3. Three tips I would offer for next semester's students are:

• Be organized
• Be time-efficient
• Complete your assignments and you'll get the points
• 
  

Week 8 Reading Reflection

Kuratko Chapter 8: Sources of Capital for Entrepreneurial Ventures

1. This week's reading was material that I had never seen before. So most aspects of this chapter were very interesting as it covered surprising but interesting text. I was able to finally learn that sources of debt include trade credit, accounts receivables, factoring, and finance companies.
2. One part that was confusing in the reading was the nature of public offerings. Although they sound simple enough, public offerings are NOT used to refer to corporations taking public donations ro raise capital. I was confused about the advantages and disadvantes for a firm to go public. How would they inevitably decide?
3. I would ask the authors:
• What would want to make you, as a CEO, to want to take your company public?
• What is the best method, in your opinion, to raise capital?
• I would want to ask the author these questions as it would be extremely beneficial to get his personal take on matters presented in the text that he wrote.
4. I did not find anything in the article that the author was wrong about.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

Rediscovering Market Segmentation
by Daniel Yankelovich and David Meer

1. Everything was surprising in this week's reading as the information presented was something new and made me think from different perspectives. I saw the broad view of nondemographic segmentation and how it influenced the capabilities of which market to enter and what goods to produce.
2. One part that was confusing in the reading was predicting purchase behavior.
3. I would ask the authors:
• How would you describe yourself?
• What market would you segment into?
• I would ask the authors these questions as I would want to gain understanding on their personal opinions and their unique insight..
4. I did not find anything in the article that the author was weong about.

Free Money

• I filmed this inside the hallways of my apartment complex. I didn't have to go far and I could just wait around or the residents who exited and entered the apartment through the elevators and stairwell. As they were on their way somewhere I caught them off guard.
• I approached college students who lived in the apartment complex.
• In order to get the conversation started, all I did was just to say Hi, and offer them the dollar.
• My plan for the conversation is to be direct and blunt. Since I'm offering money, I don't want to skirt around the conversation and have it be awkward. In addition, since I don't want to take up too much of their time, I am just going to offer it to them straight-forwardly.
• I think I will be able to give all of the dollars away.
  
• Video Recordings

• Reflection
• Personally, I did not like this exercise. I don't understand why I needed to do this exercise. I don't appreciate taking my own money and having to give it away to random strangers for the concept of trying to understand the value of free money. If the class provided the money for us to give away, maybe it would be better for the students who have to do this exercise but $5 is a lot to just give away on an assignment to get nothing in return. I hope that this course has no more further assignments to give away our own money.  Giving away a dollar was easier since all the college students accepted it once they realized it was real money and they were able to assume it was for some experimental assignment since I was filming them. My predictions were correct. 

Elevator Pitch No. 2 (Week 7)

1. The Pitch
   (video above)
   
2. Reflection
• I had very good feedback for my elevator pitch from the first time. People who commented genuinely liked my idea of promoting healthy eating for students. They noticed my passion for this idea, and I'm glad I was able to convey it through the video.
3. What I Changed
• I did not change much to my elevator pitch this time around, except for adding additional places to eat that the app can partner with.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy
By: Michael Porter

1. There wasn't anything too surprising in this week's reading, however, it was a very interesting and informative article presenting new information in intelligent ways that I hadn't thought of before. There was a sentence that stood out to me the most, which was that, "strategy can be viewed as building defenses against the competitive forces or as finding a position in an industry where the forces are weaker". I think it's very interesting to view strategy from a perspective where instead of gearing up to become stronger, it's sometimes used to build a presence in a weakly-dominated niche market.
   
2. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was how according to Porter, eliminating today’s competitors through mergers and acquisitions can reduce an industry’s profit potential. There were some examples that he used that made it more clear later in the article.
   
3. The two questions I would ask the author would be:
• What kind of mergers and acquisitions do you see that is occurring right now, where you can predict its outcome?
• I would ask the author this question because I would want his intelligent opionion on current corporate economic models.
• What are your predictions on the industry profitablity in the future, with the tech industry?
• As there are many start-ups as wells as established corporate figures, I would want the author's opinion on how the market would change with different competitors.
  
4. I did not find anything in the article that I felt the author was wrong about.

Interviewing Customers (No. 3)

1. Describe your interviewing strategy
• My interviewing strategy was to approach students who had unmet needs of finding parking in the Zone 1 area of Gainesville. Zone 1 is the area where it is home to many off-campus apartments across University of Florida campus. It is near sorority row and Norman hall. The problem with Zone 1 street parking is that the city gives out more street parking decals than there are spaces available. Many students who live in that area sometimes have to drive around for up to an hour trying to find a parking space. It is extremely frustrating.
• The questions I intend on asking are:
• How do you feel about Zone 1 street parking?
• Have you ever experienced problems with it before?
• When was most recent problem with parking in Zone 1?
• Do you know certain times that you can be driving vs. when you shouldn't move your car?
• What do you propose the city of Gainesville should do in order to fix this problem?
  
2. Conduct the interviews
   
3. Reflect on what you learned
• I learned from this experience that most residents who lived in these apartments that were situated in Zone 1 had similar dissatisfactions and annnoyances with the parking problem. Residents from apartments include Social 28, Solaria, Ashton Lane, Woodbury Row, and etc. Although some of these apartment complexes do provide parking, it is usually limited and the decals are about $125-$150 per month. Although some students may be able to pay those, most cannot, which is why many students buy street parking decals. However, it's a frustrating experience for students and residents to try to find parking spots that seem to be overly crowded.

Idea Napkin No. 1 (Week 6)

1. My name is Jary Kim and I am a student at the University of Florida. I have professional skills and experience in interpersonal communication, social media, digital marketing, creativity, and time management. My non-professional interests are in cooking, exercising, and traveling. I aspire to work in a global marketing team of an international corporation or digital marketing in a smaller firm that caters to those corporations. I hope to relocate to New York City, Seoul, or London for work after I graduate.
2. Health Bite is an app that will ot only provide healthy and clean-eating recipes for college students, but they can upload photos or videos of their creations to earn points. After reaching a certain number of points, students can redeem it at certain restaurants or cafes in Gainesville that mirror with the app’s values of healthy and well-balanced eating. The app will partner with these local eateries, such as Cymplify, The Daily Green, Karma Cream, Zoe’s Kitchen etc.
3. I am offering to students in college (University of Florida) to eat a more healthy and well-balanced diet for their day to day meals by creating an app that offers quick and easy food and snack recipes. They are healthy and power-packed for a more balanced diet for college students.
4. They care because due to the different levels of stress that incoming freshmen are placed into, such as being away from home and new, scary experiences of college classes and exams, students find it easy to stuff our faces by stress-eating. It doesn’t help that the dining hall is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. Students can find themselves eating badly because it’s convenient to cook up something that’s fast or just simply eat out. A lot of college students become unhealthy eaters, consuming meals that are high in calories and sodium, and also a diet that consist of mostly carbs. My app, called Health Bite, will be a resolve to change eating habits and diet by encouraging students to cook meals, snacks, smoothies, desserts, that are balanced and made of up good ingredients. They are quite easy to make, does not create a lot of dishes, and satisfying to eat. My goal is that other students will replicate my recipes and eat healthily as well. Then they will become accustomed to cooking good, nutritious and yummy meals at home.
5. My core competencies would be my personality traits that can connect to the target market for this app. As an outgoing and extroverted person, it's easy for me to meet new people, talk to them, get a sense of what they want and need, and have effective communication to obtain information. Another is that I thrive in challenging, fast-paced environments as it motivates to pursue a project and see to its end. It also ensures that I have strong time management and organizational skills.

In evaluation of these elements, I definitely believe that all of these factors effectively fit together. I do not think that there are any critical weaknesses in my business model, as my communication skills will effectively enable me to gage what my target market may need and want from my app. In addition, I truly am passionate and enthusiastic behind the core ideas for my app.

Interviewing Customers No. 2 (Week 5)

1. Fine tune your opportunity
• Instead of fine-tuning an opportunity like mine, which was to build additional changing room stalls in crowded department stores, I kept it the same. You either need more space or you don't. In the case of popular stores with an abundance of demanding customers, it just makes more sense to have more than one changing room.
2. Fine tune the "who"
• I did fine tune the "who" from last week. I decided to try to interview customers that were more around my age, instead of the older crowd from last week.
3. Tweaking your interview questions
• Were there a lot of people/customers inside Pac Sun?
• Were you satisfied or unsatisfied with a certain aspect of your shopping experience?
• Did you guys have to wait for a long time to have a changing room?
• How long did you guys have to wait?
• Did you have other things to do at the mall that you might not have time for now?
• How many changing rooms were there?
• Would you be in favor of adding more changing rooms?
• I made changes to the store aforementioned by changing locations and asking how it cut into their time.
4. Talking to customers
5. What I learned from the opportunity
• I learned from this opportunity that it's not easy to satisfy all customers. The customers and employees all have different perpectives, wants, and needs that need to be fulfilled. However, in a business, even though it's sometimes hard to always fulfill this aspect, the customer should always come first. From where I started, the opportunity is not that much different as it will always be difficult to satisfy those long line of customers who have been waiting for a long-time for a chance to try on their clothing in one of the only two changing rooms in the entire store meant to serve all customers.
6. What I learned about interviewing customers
• Most people were reluctant to be interviewed, much less filmed. A lot did not want to be interviewed because of the fact that this would be uploaded on YouTube and put onto the Internet. If someone approached me and asked to take a video of me and put it online, I would not say yes. Even though I did try to interview younger people, such as customers, that were around my age, it was very difficult to obtain those five customers, as they still don't want to give up their busy time as well as have footage of them going online.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

Chapter 9: Assessment of Entrepreneurial Opportunities (Kuratko)

1. The most surprising thing for me in this week's reading was one of the pitfalls in selecting new ventures. This would be: Poor Financial Understanding. I would have thought that entrepreneurs, although risk-takers, have an intelligent understanding and awareness of the required finances, their budget, and how the market can affect those two. I would not take them to be ignorant of costs or "victims of inadequate research and planning."
   
2. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was that start-up problems remain with the venture. How can an entrepreneur realize the necessity to change the relative importance of the problem areas in the life-cycle stages when there are so many internal (adequate capital, fash flow, facilities/equipment, inventory control, human resources, etc.) and external (customer contact, market knowledge, marketing planning, location, pricing, etc.) problems that could be located in any of those life-cycle stages?
   
3. The first question that I would ask the author would be, "What do you think is the most important question to ask in the feasiblity criteria approach?"
   The second question that I would ask the author would be, "What do you think was the most recent successful venture in the start-up world?"
• I would ask the author this question because I would want his insight on the most critical factor in the fesibility criteria approach, in terms of selecting which can bring forth the most valuable information for an entrepreneur.
• I would ask the author the second question because it's interesting to get an opinion take from an expert in current events of a good entrepreneurial concept in this time period.
  
4. I did not find anything in this week's reading that the author was wrong about.

Elevator Pitch No. 1 (Week 5)

Opportunity: 

• To incentivize students in college (University of Florida) to eat a more healthy and well-balanced diet for their day to day meals

Solution: 

• To create an app offering quick and easy food and snack recipes to that are healthy and power-packed for a more balanced diet for college students. 

Name:

• Health Bite

Health Bite will not only provide healthy and clean-eating recipes for college students, but they can upload photos or videos of their creations to earn points. After reaching a certain number of points, students can redeem it at certain restaurants or cafes in Gainesville that mirror with the app’s values of healthy and well-balanced eating. The app will partner with these local eateries, such as Cymplify, The Daily Green, Karma Cream, Zoe’s Kitchen etc.

Interviewing Customers Number 1 (Week 4)

1. Find an opportunity
• This past weekend, I went to Orlando with my friends to go shopping at the premium outlets. I thought this would be the perfect place and opportunity to interview customers as there are shoppers all around. 
2. Figure out who might have an unmet need
• While we were inside the Columbia store, we noticed that there was an influx of unsatisfied customers. The reason? The store was still having a "holiday" sale with markdowns that were still having a great deal. But the only problem was that the massive store had only two changing rooms. A gigantic sports apparel store with only two changing rooms didn't make sense. It was clear that the customers' unmet need was lack of changing rooms.
3. Come up with a list of questions
• Were there a lot of people/customers inside Columbia?
• Were you unsatisfied with a certain aspect of your shopping experience?
• Did you guys have to wait for a long time to have a changing room?
• How long did you guys have to wait?
• How many changing rooms were there?
• Would you be in favor of adding more changing rooms?
4. Video


5. What I learned from the opportunity
• I learned from this opportunity that it's not easy to satisfy all customers. The customers and employees all have different perpectives, wants, and needs that need to be fulfilled. However, in a business, even though it's sometimes hard to always fulfill this aspect, the customer should always come first.
6. What I learned about interviewing customers
• To be honest, I did not particularly enjoy this exercise. Customers do not like being interrupted while they are doing their shopping, as it cuts into their time. Most people were reluctant to be interviewed, much less filmed. A lot did not want to be interviewed because of the fact that this would be uploaded on YouTube and put onto the Internet. If someone approached me and asked to take a video of me and put it online, I would not say yes. In addition, Columbia employees were reluctant to let me interview customers in the first place, but when they realized that the questions that was being asked, was putting the store in an unfavorable light. They then asked me to stop interviews and to delete the footage that I had gotten thus far. The people in my video agreed to interview again outside the store.

Week 4 Reading Reflection

Chapter 5 - Innovation: The Creative Pursuit of Ideas

1. There wasn't really a "big surprise" for me in this reading, but in reflection, I would say that the one statement that stood out for me the most in this chapter was how critical recognizing the relationships is. According to the textbook by Kuratko, it states, "Many inventions and innovations are a result of the inventor's ability to see new and different relationships among objects, processes, materials, technologies, and people." I was unaware that the creative people were intuitively aware of this phenomenon of viewing things and people as existing in an complementary or appositional relationship with other things and people. This becomes a talent for recognizing new and different relationships and thus often lead to visions tat result in new ideas, products, and services.
   
2. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was Phase 2: Incubation of the Creative Process. As creative individuals allow their subconscious to think about the information they gathered from the preparation phase, in my opinion, it seems wishy-washy to include the incubation phase if we can't truly measure or be aware of how that may play a vital role in the creative process.
   
3. The first question I would ask the author would be, "What arena would you include your creativity in?"

• This is a question I would ask him because I want to know where he would channel his creativity in out of the seven arenas dicussed in the text; idea, material, organization, relationship, event, inner, and spontaneous.

The  second question I would ask the author would be: "What kind of habit would you have that is considered a muddling mind-set?"


• This is question I would ask him because I want to know what kind of mental habits that he personally has that would block or impede creative thinking.

4. I don't think there was anything that the author was wrong about except for the part about the incubation phase that I mentioned in Question 2, above. I don't think the author was necessarily wrong in this aspect, but from my perspective, it seems too uncertain of a event to include in the Creative Process.

Week 4: Top 5 World Problems

Problems

1. International Terrorism
• Through current events, people all around the world are aware of ISIS and the dangerous threats they send out. ISIS, a radical Islamic terrorist group, has carried out some of these threats in a surprising, violent, and horrific nature. The most recent has been the Paris bombings, which devastated and stunned people around the globe. In addition, people were horrified to learn the details of the gruesome beheadings of international hostages, such as journalists and aid workers, as well as civilians and soldiers.
2. A majority of Americans do not live a sustainable lifestyle
• In traveling parts of Europe and Asia, I've noticed a drastic difference in the way that the residents of these countries conserve. They definitely are more environmentally conscious with strict recyling laws, and the every day energy conserving habits that they have. Dorms in universities in Korea have key cards that you have to insert in an outlet in the wall for all electricity in the dorm to work. It is also the key to your door, so once you leave the room, everything gets shut down, which saves a lot of energy.
3. Access to healthcare in poor countries
• A problem that poverty-stricken countries face is that many of the population do not have access to proper healthcare. This may especially be a problem for the women and children in the country in terms of getting the proper medical treatment for pre-natal, birth, and post-natal care, as well as virus prevention and vaccine access that could be incredibly beneficial to children.
4. Increasing reliance on technology
• With the rapid technological changes, product innovation, and rise in the usage of technology overall, it's clear that the new generation will grow up accustomed to being constantly surrounded by technology. As part of the generation who is growing up being introduced to all these new technologies, we are constantly aware of how much it has become involved in our lives.
5. Nuclear power in North Korea
• It's unsettling to know that North Korea has nuclear power. This is so because the country is so volatile and unstable. Although they make ridiculous threats all the time, the new leader of the dictatorship, Kim Jong Un, has proved to have an unstable mindset. They have access to nuclear weapons that can cause geat amounts of destruction.

Solutions

1. International terrorism
• ISIS has made numerous threats to the United States and many other countries in the European Union as well. The best thing, as of now, is to have a tireless effort in surveying ISIS through counter-terrorism intelligence efforts, in order to intercept their messages and figure out their members.
2. Increasing reliance on technology
• As a personal goal that everyone should keep for themselves, there should be certain parts of the day and week where there is a technology detox, so that more meaningful time can be spent for interpersonal communication.
3. A majority of Americans do not live a sustainable lifestyle
• It is a social responsibility of everyone inhabiting this Earth to live a ecologically conscious lifestyle. Each little thing can make a difference, such as turning off the water in the shower while you shampoo and use soap and American dorms should develop similar outlets like Korean dorms.
4. Access to healthcare in poor countries
• There are currently many international organizations that tirelessly work to provide healthcare aid to these countires, such as the American Red Cross, as well as other nonprofit organizations. The best solution to these would be to provide donations to these organizations to fund their efforts.
5. Nuclear power in North Korea
• It's important for powerful countries, such as China, to put significant amounts of pressure on North Korea, in order to prevent them from doing harmful things.

I selected my top problem of international terrorism, specifically the devastating actions by ISIS, because of their power, following, and swift movements. Although it's easy to live our daily lives, unaffected by terror, but closely observing from the news, it's easy profound to know that the next attack can come out of nowhere, in the most unexpected of places. Paris, a city associated with beauty, love, glamour, art - a historic city that everyone dreams of visiting, fell victim to bombings and mass casualty. It's scary to think that an attack like that can come to the unexpecting and unsuspecting. Additionally, with ISIS's adept social media skills and presence, they have the ability to make their following greater, which they are doing so right now, curating the minds of radical citizens in every part of the world. This technology, however, is another reason that the solution for ISIS was also ranked at the top. ISIS may have their own tech geniuses, operating on evil notions, but intelligence and tech officials in law enforcements and special intelligence agencies of the United States, Europe, and Asia are more than well-eqipped with counter-intelligence to intercept, decode, and track.