13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

1)

To Be Loved by Berry Gordy was a great read, and I really enjoyed learning more about him.  The way the book was written really captured my attention and I think he painted the picture very well of his childhood to developing Motown Records.  I think the reason why he was a hard worker was through watching his father provide for the family growing up in the Great Depression era. From reflecting, there were definitely people that admired him and he contained great leadership. Gordy did face failure on his road to success.  An example of this is when him and his brother lost the first store they owned.  Even though he went through hard times, he came out on top with developing a well-known record company.  

2)

Reading about Berry’s childhood and his experience struggling in school I think helped him to become better. He really showed what being determined looked like. 

3)

After finishing the book, I feel like I would have wanted to see him be more involved in creating music himself and wonder why he wasn’t?  One thing I remember from the beginning of the book was when he would sit at the piano with his uncle and play.

4)

I would ask:

#1: Do you regret any decisions, and if you do and could go back and change one, what would that be?  

#2: What is your favorite memory during your childhood and after creating Motown Records?

5)

I think his opinion of hard work was striving to in all circumstances, keep moving forward and give your best. 

14A - Halfway Reflection

1)    Keeping up with this course has required me to maintain my time management skills.  Being sure to watch the lectures before Thursday so that I can devote enough time to study for the cupcake and complete the assignments is very important.  Another behavior that I have tried to keep up with is patience in truly understanding what each assignment is asking me to do, and taking the time to complete them to the best of my abilities.

2)    When I read that we were supposed to go out and interview people, I was a little hesitant at first.  But after doing it a few times, I became more comfortable with how to accomplish the interviews.  I also feel like I grew in knowing how to ask the right questions.

3)    Three tips that I would recommend are:

#1: Keeping a very strict schedule and not letting yourself fall behind in lecture videos for the week.

#2: Be willing and excited to test your creativity! This class allows you to do that through the assignments.

#3: Start the course with the end in mind of how much you will learn and grow from taking a course in entrepreneurship.  Even if you don’t want to be an entrepreneur, having these foundational skills will help in the long run!

11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

1)    I think this business of providing alternative options other than paper straws would not only benefit the community as a whole in Gainesville, but encourage surrounding counties to come up with alternative options too. 

2)    We will be solving the unmet need through using eco-friendly straws instead of only paper.

3)    The main “who” in this question involves not only the customer, but the owners of restaurants in Gainesville area. Everyone who owns a restaurant in this city is not allowed to sell regular, so comping up with a solution for another sustainable option will help them.

4)    I think that restaurant owners would pay for these straws, because the satisfaction of the customer would be greater.

5)    Using these products would set apart people from a lot of other business.  Using an eco-friendly only straw, and it not be paper and still help save plastic would be very successful.

I believe that this business concept of providing eco-friendly straws that are not paper would really benefit the community as a whole. Through this, customers would be more satisfied as well as the restaurant owners knowing they are making an impact for the greater good of the community’s sustainability.

10A - Elevator Pitch

 Elevator Pitch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA0M9qSSQ2M&feature=youtu.be

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

 

Who:  From my interviews, the most interesting one that I talked to was a friend who works at a different Chick-fil-a location in Tampa.  In my previous post, I interviewed someone who worked at the local Chick-fil-a across from campus and his perspective on it was that there was most certainly an unmet need. After asking my friend a couple questions about the plastic/paper straw issue, she was shocked to hear that it was mandatory that the Gainesville Chick-fil-a is only allowed to use paper straws.  In my second interview, I talked about how he doesn’t even see a need for straws in general.  He said that he has always been a firm believer in not using straws whether they are plastic, paper or metal.  My third interview was a girl who has previously worked in a restaurant here in Gainesville before the initiative of banning plastic straws went into demand.  She said she can see, from working in the industry the unmet need, but does not have any opinion on whether to use plastic or paper straws.  Gathering information from my last two interviews were very similar in that they see where the advantage of using paper straws comes from, but do not see the need to do anything about petitioning or offering a different option.

What:  While using a paper straw can be frustrating, people who do not specifically live in Gainesville will not be affected by it unless they live in a city where it is banned too.

Why:  People tend to not care about the need too from what I gathered.

Inside the boundary:	Outside the boundary:
Who is in: People who are upset with the new ban.	Who is not: People who do not care or live in Gainesville.
What the need is: To create a product that people will use and still be environmentally friendly, or petition to have the ban removed.	What the need is not:  To continue not offering both as an option.
Why the need exists: From the multiple complaints of customers at restaurants in Gainesville.	Alternate explanations:  Being environmentally friendly is important.

8A - Solving the Problem

The opportunity that I have selected is: Gainesville has banned all plastic straw use in restaurants because using them is unhealthy for the environment, but having paper straws as the alternative become very soggy and hard to use. 

I think that there should be an alternative solution to also providing another option rather than paper straws.  What if a company designed an eco-friendly straw that wasn’t made out of plastic and also wasn’t made out of paper?  A straw that is still environmentally sustainable and also functional to satisfy the customer’s needs in Gainesville.  

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Opportunity: Gainesville has banned all plastic straw use in restaurants because using them is unhealthy for the environment, but having paper straws as the alternative become very soggy and hard to use. 

The who: Gainesville restaurants

That what:  They are only able to give out paper straws due to the recent banning of all plastic straws.

They why:  Because using plastic straws in unhealthy for the environment, but paper straws become soggy too quickly.

Hypothesis:

Testing the who:  The main “who” in this situation is the restaurants and the customers.  “Who” it is affecting is the unsatisfied customer whom doesn’t like when paper straws are the only option.

Testing the what:  The “what” involves the paper straw.  Do all paper straws become flimsy after a little bit?  Do all restaurants in Gainesville have to participate in this?  What can be done as an alternative?

Testing the why:  Most of the “whys” come from a point of view that using paper straws is better for the environment, but they are not very functional.  Why can restaurants not offer both options in Gainesville?  

Interviews:

Interview #1: A female junior health sciences major at UF.

While she does think the ban has great intention she strongly dislikes paper straws.  After bringing up the topic, she immediately said that she had a paper straw from Starbucks today and was extremely disappointed because after sipping on her iced coffee the paper straw had become very flimsy and didn’t drink the rest of her coffee.  Even though she understands the ban, she would prefer for Gainesville to use plastic straws still.

Interview #2: A freshman who works at the Standard Chick-fil-a.

He has worked at the Chick-fil-a under the Standard apartments for a few months now and has seen the process of changing over to paper straws from plastic ones.  He also agrees with the environmental sustainability of the new straws, but also understands and hears a lot about the other side of people not liking them since he works at a place that no longer offers plastic ones anymore.  Chick-fil-a is one of the biggest locations for students to grab a bite to eat at and he said that he wants the customers to be satisfied with their experience, but has truly noticed the difference from people complaining about the paper straw.

Interview #3: A junior studying Agricultural Education and Communication at UF.

When bringing up this topic and asking questions on whether he agrees with the new rule about banning plastic straws was very interesting. He said that he is in full support and that if people want to use a non-paper one that they could purchase a reusable straw.  Through the research and his personal beliefs, he believes that using paper straws is a great alternative and encourages those around him to use them. 

Interview #4:  A senior studying history in hope to attend law school.

After interviewing my friend, his opinions were very strong about the issue and believes that the city should not take the individual rights of business owners to make a decision that is best financially sounds for them and their business. He believes restaurants should be able to choose whether or not they serve plastic or paper straws and also thinks that there could be a change made about this new initiative. 

Interview #5: A junior biology major at UF hoping to go to med school.

After my fifth interview, she said that this new ban is a great way in taking a proactive step in helping the environment.  She also added that being environmentally friendly everywhere should be on the top priority of everyone’s list and this new initiative is a step in the right direction.

Summary:

After asking 5 different people their personal opinions about the topic at matter I was not surprised to hear both points of view.  Yes, I agree that it is environmentally more sustainable, but I also agree that nobody wants to drink out of a soggy straw and one ends up wasting their drink.  I think that there should be an action taken into place because this alternate option isn’t satisfying to customers from talking with interviewee number #2.  He sees a lot of people disappointed with using a paper straw more than satisfied.

Identifying Opportunities Ecconomic & Regulatory Trends

Economic Trend #1: Millennials are stashing money away earlier than Gen Xers and Baby Boomer

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/30/millennials-1-4-have-100-000-stashed-away/4609015002/

Opportunity:  I believe that here is an opportunity for other millennial's to realize that they can start saving early on with the resources in today’s world.  In the article it talks about how more than three-quarters of millennial's carry debt including auto loans, credit card, mortgages, student loans and others.  Being able to take a hold of this now and act upon this is important.

Prototypical Customer: The prototypical customer is the millennial in this situation.

Opportunity relatively easy or difficult to exploit:  I think that is relatively easy for this opportunity to be reached. With classes and programs out there on how handle money for millennial's, ways to save money can be learned.

-       I saw this opportunity for myself as a reminder to start saving money now for my future. 

Economic Trend #2: Coronavirus

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/01/28/coronavirus-outbreak-apple-facebook-restricting-travel-china/4603225002/

Opportunity: With the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus, companies have stopped flying into China for the safety of not having anyone possibly infected.  With these big companies like Apple, Disney, Facebook, Google, General Motors, McDonald’s and Starbucks as stated in the article, I believe that this is an opportunity to push the medical world into helping solve this issue. 

Prototypical Customer: The customer in this case would be these large well-known companies that have stopped transportation to Chine. 

Opportunity relatively easy or difficult to exploit:  I think that the opportunity to have medical professionals working to solve this outbreak will be relatively difficult, however with improving technology, I think that eventually there will be something that helps stop this spread of disease.

I saw this as an opportunity for the medical field to help research more and through hearing about how serious companies are about it, I believe that people are continuously working on it to resolve the issue.

Regulatory Change #1: Facebook security

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/02/05/privacy-personal-information-online-location-settings-facebook-instagram/2856652001/

Opportunity:  This article offers many ways that one can take steps to helping with online privacy. 

Prototypical Customer: This would be everyone that uses Facebook or other online social media sites.

Opportunity relatively easy or difficult to exploit: I believe that this opportunity to reduce one’s online footprint is easier said than done. Yes, through using these tips from the article, one can help themselves in maintaining privacy, but there are still other ways that the web can get one’s information.

I saw this as an opportunity for myself included. So many stories about people having their identity stolen and hacks happening in today’s world that taking precautionary steps is important.

Regulatory Change #2: Plastic pollution

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/super-bowl/2020/01/30/gilbert-arizona-company-footprint-fights-plastic-pollution-at-super-bowl-liv/4611124002/

Opportunity:  At the Super Bowl this past weekend, a company in Arizona called Footprint aimed to help fight using plastic through using eco-friendly alternatives.  These alternatives were fiber-based food containers that helped reduce the carbon footprint at such a large event. 

Prototypical Customer:  the customer would be large events like the super bowl, but also someone in everyday life could use these products.

Opportunity relatively easy or difficult to exploit:  I think that through using this resource, we could help continue to reduce our carbon footprint and that it would be very easy if people knew about this available option. 

I saw this as an opportunity for this company to continue to get their name out about their eco-friendly products.  Through using an event like the Super Bowl is a great way to start.