Gump (Portmanwho?)

1.) Gump

2.) Gump- combination of "gas pump"

3.) People would mostly think I was messing around when I used it around them, in the limited times "gas pump" was appropriate in context.  I think gas pump is a phrase that is so engrained in people's minds that it is awkward to think of that object and refer to it as anything else.  I also think "gump" is a cool way to say it though if it did catch on over time.

Halfway Reflection

1.)  A vital behavior that I have developed to keep up with the requirements is time management and organization.  Before this class, I never kept a planet and tried to keep up with what assignments were due based on memory alone.  With the nature of the class being assignment based, without any exams, making sure to know when each one is do and not miss any is very important.  I struggled with this the first couple weeks of class, but I soon learned my lesson. Now I use a planner to make sure I know when each assignment is due and stay on top of everything I have to do.  Another competency is creativity.  It takes creativity to view life in the lens of what people need, what problems exist that entrepreneurs can solve.

2.) I thought about giving up after the first assignment where we as to conduct interviews.  At first I thought I would feel uncomfortable asking random people questions, and it was a level of discomfort I wasn't sure I was willing to endure for one point on an assignment.  What pulled me through was the end goal.  I realized that finishing each assignment brought with it a sense of accomplishment, and I felt like what I was doing was actually meaningful.  I wasn't working to get a certain score on a test, but was doing something of tangible value.  This course has definitely made me more tenacious.

3.) The three tips I would provide students in this class for next semester would be to not look at the assignments as somethings you have to get through, but rather a part of a learning process.  When developing the 'tenacious mindset' it is important to see the end goal.  Use this vision of your end goal to motivate you through the tough parts of the class.  Lastly, stay organized and picture yourself as the next Mark Cuban or Elon Musk.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1.)  I am Pablo, and I aspire to own my own business today and be responsible for my own income.  These are my aspirations.  I am someone who people would generally described as kind, trustworthy, and sometimes spacey.  I am bilingual and good with numbers.  I am somewhat of a perfectionist, so if I were to start this business, it would probably take over most of my life.

2.) I am providing a service for customers to help them find their lost pets.

3.)  This service will be used by pet owners, specifically those who have lost their pets.

4.)  They care because people's pets become part of their family.  They love it like it was their own child, and they would do anything to get it back.

5.)  What sets my idea apart from everyone else is that there is no comprehensive resource for finding a lost animal right now.  There are chips and dog tags, but no service that contacts animal shelters and matches up lost dogs with found ones.

Something about my business concept that could hinder it is that for it to be maximally effective, it would have to be something that many many many people know about, so that there is a good probability that someone who finds a dog will post it to the site, and that someone who loses their pet will think to check it.

Need Awareness and Information Search

1.) Out of the various possible segments for my market venture, I segment of the housewife/mom.

2.) Interviews: soundcloud.co/

The need was most salient for housewives who actually had pets, and even more so if they had actually lost a pet.  Even if they hadn't though, it was easy for them to empathize with those that had and recognized the need.
Their first step to finding a solution was either googling, calling their friends/neighbors, and calling their moms.

Conclusions:  This segment might be the most appropriate for my product, because they are technologically savvy, recognize the need, and generally have authority over purchasing decisions for their homes.

Reading Reflection No. 1 / Week 7 Reading Reflection

Week 7

For my reading reflection, I chose to read "Carnegie" by David Nasaw.  I remember enjoying listening to my high school history teacher tell his story and wanted to learn more, so this seemed like the natural choice.   Something that stood out while I was reading was that Andrew Carnegie was only five feet tall.  That was so surprising, and also somewhat encouraging because I am not so tall myself.  Taller than five feet, but only by about 8 inches.  While obviously not integral to the story of Carnegie and his achievements, I found that but of trivia to be very interesting.

What I most admired after reading this monstrously long book was how positive and happy Carnegie was as a person.  His personality was not that of a ruthless business baron, but that of a loving friend to all that knew him.   "Carnegie’s sunny personality radiated warmth and light,” was one description of the man.  This sounds like someone who I would have wanted to be friends with and would have admired even without the success and wealth.  What I least admired about him was that at times his "friend of the working man" persona seemed less than genuine, like when he had the union at the Homestead Wheel Works broken up by Henry Clay Frick.  Andrew Carnegie most definitely encountered adversity.  He began as a penniless immigrant from Scotland, and became the richest man in the world.  To overcome this, it would take his wonderful personality, which he used to befriend the right people on his way to the top, as well as his brilliant business acumen, like adopting new technologies as quickly as he could to always be the producer with the lowest costs and undercut competitors prices.  I noticed that Carnegie had the competencies of creativity and innovation, persuasion and influencing abilities, and risk taking and risk management.

One part of the reading that confused me was why Nasaw's tone was so critical of Carnegie while simultaneously describing the many great things that he accomplished.

I would ask him if there was ever one specific event that caused him to believe so strongly in philanthropy, and also what the best advice he could give to live a happy and not just wealthy life.  I believe that his view on hard work was that it was vital and beneficial and necessary for success, but that it must also be tempered with kindness, positivity and happiness, and that when it results in material wealth then that wealth should be given back in meaningful ways.  For me, it is hard to think of a better approach to hard work.

Tweaking the Innovation

Where's Max? is a website platform that helps owners reunite with their lost pets.  Our service matches profiles of lost dogs posted by owners with proflies of spotted or found dogs posted by other people.  Also, we automatically send the profiles of the lost animals to all local shelters, where lost animals often end up.

Core:

Tangible:

Augmented:  Where's Max sends out the profile of the lost pet to animal shelters within whatever range the customer wants.

The innovation of our service is that there is no other "one stop shop" where every spotted pet will be uploaded and where every lost pet can be viewed.  On top of this, it matches owners with animal shelters.  Where's Max? maximizes the possibility of owners and pets finding each other in a way that is not available at the moment.

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Through these interviews, I found that certain people who share a lot in common with the others in my opportunity but fall outside of the boundary.  This was mainly elderly people. While they had the same unmet need of needing a way to find their lost pets, some may fall outside the boundary because they struggle with technology and websites.  It would be difficult for them to upload pictures and navigate a computer.

What: The need I identified is a resource for finding lost pets.  Interviews cemented that this is a pretty distinct need, but it could be mixed with the need for a pet sitter to appease their employers.  It could also be mixed with a need for kids to avoid reprimand from their parents. 

Why:  The underlying cause of the outsiders need is not different than the people inside the boundary.  The problem is accessibility and ease of use.

Inside the Boundary

People who have lost their pets

Their need is a resource to find their lost pets

The need exists because pet owners who have lost their pets are terrified and often do not know what additional steps they can take to find their pets

Outside the boundary

People who do not own pets, elderly pet owners, kids that are too young to know how to use computers

Not everyone is fluent with technology and would struggle with using a website.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

                                                                      Where's Max?

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

The opportunity I have identified is that people who lose their pets or have their pets run away often run out of resources to locate them, which can be devastating.  The "who" in this scenario is any pet owner.  The "what" is that when the unthinkable happens and they do not know where their pets are, they may be willing to move mountains in order to find them but not have any thing they are actually able to do to locate them after exhausting the traditional resources. These traditional resources include putting up posters, canvassing the neighborhood and posting on sites like Facebook and craigslist.  The "why" is that traditional methods may not reach enough people or the right people that would need to see it in order to help (i.e a stranger who may have seen your lost dog but is not friends with you on Facebook.)

The who is pretty much limited to people who have lost their pets.  The what would primarily involve cats and dogs, because those are the most common pets and the most likely ones to run away or get lost accidentally.  However, this opportunity would be just as easy to exploit for other less common animals such as snakes, rabbits, hamsters and pretty much anything else.  The "why" holds for most pet owners because most seemed to have developed the type of bond with their animal where they would do anything to get them back.  It could be limited to those that have not yet gotten their animals chipped and those who own animals that do not usually get chipped.

Interviews:

1 & 2: https://soundcloud.com/user-999579942/ent3003-interviews-1-and-2
3 & 4: https://soundcloud.com/user-999579942/ent3003-interviews-3-4

My Solution

In the preceding exercises I have identified the opportunity that arises from the problem of losing a pet and not knowing what you can do to try to find it.  You've put up posters, posted on Facebook and maybe even Craigslist, all to no avail.  You are devastated and all you wish for was something more you could do to be reunited with your beloved animal.  My solution to this problem is a gathering place, a network.  People will come to this central destination (in the form of a website) and post their lost animal.  Conversely, anyone who finds or spots a lost animal will also turn to this site and post. The website will be able to match them up based on descriptions and geographic location. Revenue will come from advertisements and donations and will be supplemented by a store that sells dog tags and GPS chips for animals.  The goal from this opportunity is to reunite lost pets with their owners and prevent them from getting lost in the future with the merchandise that owners will then buy from our store, and also to prevent pets that haven't gone missing to ever do so.  If you have ever lost a pet you know how agonizing the experience is, I am creating a solution that will hopefully help many people escape from this ordeal.

Looking for Opportunity

Opportunities Resulting from Economic Trends

·        

1       1.) Dramatic swings recently in the price of oil:

o   http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-oil-traders-moms-and-millennials-1464277188

o   This leads me to believe that an opportunity to exist because it illustrates that the price of crude oil is subject to change drastically in relatively short amounts of time.  Whenever you can a product whose market value is susceptible to rapid change, you have an opportunity to reap high rewards in short amounts of time by trading in that product.  You should keep in mind that this also carries higher amounts of risk, however.

o   According to this article, moms and millennials are currently hopping on the train of this opportunity.  However, the prototypical person that will benefit from the rise and fall of oil will be those who keep themselves updated with market conditions and have the resources to invest and risk their money.  This will most likely be people who are employed and have low amounts of debt.

o   This opportunity is relatively easy to exploit, because you can now invest and trade exchange traded funds from apps on your phone such as Robinhood, and many of these apps have low minimum balances and do not even charge fees or commissions.  This opens up the field to people with much lower net worth’s than what was previously imagined to be necessary to participate in investing.

o   I saw this opportunity because I enjoy reading and learning about the market.  I enjoy this for its own sake because I think finance is interesting, and also to look for investment opportunities I could exploit myself. 

·           2.) There is an unmet demand for entry-level housing:

o   http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2015/06/25/economists-home-builders-neglecting-entry-level-market/

o   This article leads me to believe that an opportunity exists because we learned that an opportunity “constitutes the formation of a belief that a group of customers have an unmet need.”  There is a growing demand for entry-level housing, yet builders are focusing on the safer bet of developing higher end real estate for people with larger credit.  This has left a lot of people who are willing to pay money for a home without any options.

o   The customer for this opportunity would largely consist of young, first-time homebuyers with less income and credit than older or more affluent people.

o   It is a relatively easy opportunity to exploit if you have the resources to develop houses. That is, it is not uncharted territory, and there are many organizations that have the capability to do it.  It is a difficult opportunity to exploit if you do not have the resources and money to develop real estate.

o   I saw the opportunity because I like to stay updated on the housing market because I plan on either entering the real estate industry myself or at least buy real estate at some point in my life as an investment.

Opportunities Resulting from Regulatory Changes

·         3.) Uncertainty over interest rates has put the dollar in a vulnerable position, with the                       possibility of a rapid rise or fall in the near future:

o   http://www.wsj.com/articles/dollar-falls-as-investors-focus-on-yellen-mixed-data-1464274513

o   There is opportunity here because the dollar is in a fragile place, highly sensitive to regulatory forces on the interest rate.  If the Federal Reserve raises the interest rate or if investors think they will raise it, then the dollar rises as it “becomes more attractive to yield-seeking investors.  The dollar has been falling recently because of some mixed economic data.  There is opportunity here because if an expert in the field of foreign exchange or someone willing to do thorough research put their mind to it, there could be a lot of money to be made in trading of the dollar.

o   Investors with experience and comfort in foreign currency exchange are the most likely customers of this opportunity.  Also likely customers are people from foreign countries who have easy access and comfort in trading for their home currencies.

o   This opportunity is easy to exploit because it is not difficult to trade in foreign currencies, but it could be risky because it could be difficult to ascertain what will happen next with interest rates.

o   I saw this opportunity and would take advantage of it because I enjoy taking a good risk, and doing everything I can to beat that risk, in order to achieve high rewards.  Someone who is more risk-averse may not see this as an opportunity or may see it to be too risky to be a viable opportunity.

·         4.) The regulatory body FDA has approved a new arm implant called Probuphine to treat                opioid dependence:

o   http://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-approves-new-arm-implant-to-treat-opioid-dependence-1464296490

o   This is an opportunity to heal many people in America and is a step towards reversing the growing opioid endemic in our country.  It is an opportunity to help our friends and loved ones and the families we know that have suffered as a result of the opiate addiction of a loved one. 

o   This opportunity is one that will indirectly benefit everyone because many people are hurt by opiate addiction even if they are not addicts themselves.  The primary prototypical customer will be those people who have opiate addictions such as prescription drugs and heroine and can use this implant to lessen withdrawal symptoms and ease cravings for opioids.

o   The opportunity is limited in easiness by its cost, which is expected to be less than $6,000 dollars for six months.  This is either a cost that someone could or could not afford.  For some people it will be an easy choice, for others it will be something that will be difficult to attain.  It is a small price to pay, however, when you think about it in terms of someone getting their life back.

o   I saw this opportunity because I see myself as sympathetic to anyone going through such a tough time in their lives and sympathetic to their families and friends who are affected by it, even though I have never witnessed an opiate addiction.  I believe everyone deserves hope for a better life, and this is an opportunity which will give many people that hope.

Identifying Local Opportunities

1.)  FSCJ sports face wave of uncertainty

    http://jacksonville.com/sports/college/2016-05-     21/story/fscj-sports-face-wave-uncertainty

 Budget cuts, a financial aid scandal and questionable decisions on behalf of Florida State College at Jacksonville's administration is causing turmoil in the athletic department over there.  Coaches and players are scrambling elsewhere after the administration failed to let them know where the athletic programs stand after financial troubles.  This state of limbo was exacerbated by the non-renewal of widely beloved Athletic Director George Sanders contract.  On top of the existing uncertainty, this caused coached and players to doubt the administration's judgement.  For example, only one to two players remain on FSCJ's roster.

The problem in this story is lack of transparency and indecision within FSCJ's administration concerning their entire athletic department.  

This problem mainly affects the coaches and staff of the teams, whose livelihood and careers depend on these decisions.  Budget cuts are sometimes a reality in the world, but the fact that the administration didn't at least let them know what was going is greatly unfair, robbing them of the opportunity to plan or make an informed decision.  In the same way, this is also a problem for the athletes, whose athletic careers and school they decide to attend depend on these decisions.

There is an opportunity here for someone to step up and figure out the best way to keep the sports if possible, and begin an open discussion with those involved so they can make the best decision for themselves and their families.

2.)  BRIEF: Man bitten by what appears to be a black tip shark identified

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sort=DA-SORT&docType=Brief+article&tabID=T004&prodId=GPS&searchId=R4&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&contentSegment=&currentPosition=19&searchResultsType=SingleTab&inPS=true&userGroupName=gain40375&docId=GALE%7CA452745729&contentSet=GALE%7CA452745729

A man was bitten by a black tip shark off of South Ponte Vedra beach.He was body surfing when he saw flopping in the water, followed by the bite.  He was treated and seems to be alright.

The problem here is that a man was bit by a shark at a very popular beach, and it could have happened to any of the thousands of people who go to this beach over the summer and throughout the year for enjoyment and relaxation. 

This is a problem for the man who got bit by the shark and had to endure the pain and frightening experience, but it is also a problem for the many people who will now be afraid to enjoy the beach, or who will go but will not have peace of mind as they swim.  This is also a problem for the local businesses in the area who depend on tourist and beachgoer businesses that the beach attracts. If people are too scared to go to the beach, then their sales will suffer.

3.) Sen. Marco Rubio offers amendments that change HUD oversight for apartments like Eureka Garden

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sort=DA-SORT&docType=Article&tabID=T004&prodId=GPS&searchId=R5&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&contentSegment=&currentPosition=5&searchResultsType=SingleTab&inPS=true&userGroupName=gain40375&docId=GALE%7CA452552909&contentSet=GALE%7CA452552909

This article highlights the problems that exist with federally assisted housing projects.  Marco Rubio is filing amendments that he claims will help with these problems.  They will provide vouchers for people who live in these communities to temporary move while landlords respond to failing inspections, among other measures.

The problem is that landlords abuse the system and fail to maintain their properties in livable conditions for their tenants.

This is a problem for low-income families who live in these projects.  There was an example of a man who slept in a bathtub while the landlord delayed cleaning out mold.

4.)  BRIEF: St. Augustine police ask for help in finding goat's owner

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sort=DA-SORT&docType=Brief+article&tabID=T004&prodId=GPS&searchId=R6&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&contentSegment=&currentPosition=18&searchResultsType=SingleTab&inPS=true&userGroupName=gain40375&docId=GALE%7CA452535798&contentSet=GALE%7CA452535798

In the second sild animal story of this blog post, the St. Augustine Police rounded up a goat wandering the streets.  They are trying to find the owner.

The problem is that the authorities cannot find the owner of the goat in order to return to him.

This is a problem for the goat, who is missing his owner, friend, and home.  It is also a problem for the owner, who is missing his goat and possible source of milk.

While comical, the reality is that people lose pets all the time.  The solution could be a website where people who find lost pets or people who lose their pets can post about the animal.  They could hopefully find their missing half through this medium.

5.)  BRIEF: Traffic alert: I-10 and I-295 ramps shut down Monday and Tuesday for road work

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sort=DA-SORT&docType=Brief+article&tabID=T004&prodId=GPS&searchId=R10&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&contentSegment=&currentPosition=13&searchResultsType=SingleTab&inPS=true&userGroupName=gain40375&docId=GALE%7CA452317744&contentSet=GALE%7CA452317744

Two very vital highways are being shut down for road work at the same time.

The problem is that these highways are both highly traveled, and this could cause traffic for many people.

This is a problem for the citizens of Jacksonville who depend on these roads to get to their destinations.

My Entrepreneurship Story

My first exposure to entrepreneurship came in the form of my dad telling my little brother and I about his grandma, a woman who created a successful business in a time and place where women were not even expected to get a college education.  He told us how Isabel de Mora was a fiercely intelligent woman who would not let society tell her she couldn't do whatever she wanted.  She opened up her own real estate agency which is still operating and growing and carries her name today.

I enrolled in entrepreneurship because I want to learn the skills to be like her and be my own boss one day.  Learning the tools of an entrepreneur will give me the freedom to take my ideas and bring them to the market one day.  Entrepreneurship skills can also help in many other aspects of life, such as your health and relationships.

Bug Post

1. When soda fountain soda is watered down.

2. When you walk into a spider web and you feel it hours later.

3. When someone else borrows your shoes and they step in feces.

4. When someone else spits their gum out and you step on it.

5. When there is an accident off the side of the road, but traffic slows because everyone stops to see what happened.

6. When you put an order in at a fast food place and they add toppings you don’t like and never asked for. (Like mayonnaise)

7. When you drop your phone and it breaks.

8. When you buy tickets from a third party dealer and they turn out to be stolen and invalidated.

9. When you’re waiting for your friends and they get lost and show up many minutes later.

 10. When you’re trying to find your friends at a large event but you get lost and take a long time to find them.

 11. When your car won’t start and you can’t figure out why.

12. When your phone dies and you have no charger.

  13. When you let friends borrow your clothes and never give them back.

 14. When you want to get drunk but also need to be productive.

  15. When you are nostalgic about childhood tv shows but can’t find a place to watch them.

  16. When you run out of toilet paper.

  17. When you pour cereal into a bowl and realize that you have no milk.

18. When you run out of gas and are nowhere near a gas station.

  19. When you’re under age to drink but you question the authority of law over your actions.

  20. When you’re allergic to the food that you love.

Writing this list was difficult because we are conditioned to see the positive things in our lives instead of looking for what annoys us.  Also, it is difficult to remember things that annoy us in the moment but are not significant enough to make us upset for long periods of time.

Hello My Name Is Pablo

This first blog post was written under the influence of guacamole.