28A - Your Exit Strategy

1. For my own exit strategy, I plan to sell my business in 5 years, hopefully to the university itself, for a large return.
2. I selected this strategy because I do not think this is the business I would want to be in forever and I think the stress would ultimately take a toll on my happiness and well-being. I would rather have the money so that I can invest in other ideas (mine or other peoples) and keep taking advantage of opportunities in the market. I think there are so many different opportunities that have not been taking advantage of and I want to be a part of more than just one thing.
3. I do not believe that my exit strategy has influenced the decisions that I have made regarding the creation of my business. If anything, I believe that it has driven me to be more successful and profitable because I would want the company to look good on paper in order for investors to want to come in and purchase it. 

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

I read "Miracles Happen" by Mary Kay Ash

1. The thing that surprised me the most was how hard it was for a woman to be taken seriously in a professional setting. The amount of time and effort that a woman had to put into her look to be garnered as respectable and approachable in a position was very overwhelming for me since I do not wear makeup and basically live in nike shorts and t-shirts right now. The thing I admired most about Mary Kay Ash was that she put her faith above everything else. I loved her philosophy of "God first, family second, and career third." I really didn't have anything that I don't admire about her. She was a very reputable person in her profession and I admire her as a role model for never giving up on her dream and working hard each and everyday. Mary Kay faced adversity daily in the workplace simply for being a woman. This was seen as a disadvantage in the business world and was something that she had to fight to disprove everyday. She also faced much failure before starting her company, but she was a firm believer in failing forward. This was a philosophy that meant that the failure you encounter will only bring you closer to your goal.
   
   
2. Mary Kay was a very competitive woman. She never let anyone tell her that she couldn't do something and she strived each and everyday to be better. Not better than the people around her, but better than she was the day before. She was her own best competition. She was also a very hard worker. She used to get up at 5am each day because those 3 extra hours she had before her family woke up times 6 days a week amounted to an extra 18 hours a week, which was about 2 extra work days. And when she woke up this early, she would create a list of the top 6 things she needed to get done each day. By doing this, it allowed her to focus on the most necessary things and not stray too far from the course of action that she needed to take to be successful. 
   
   
3. I thought that the set up of the book was quite confusing since it was not written chronologically. The book was written more like specific things that she wanted to teach the audience and while doing so she told stories about her personal encounters. So, it was kind of hard to figure out where she was talking about in the timeline of her life when she told specific stories. Other than that, it was a very entertaining and enjoyable book with a lot of great advice.
   
   
4. I would ask Mary Kay:
1. What is one thing you wish that your husband could have been alive to see in the growth of the company?
2. Do you regret any of the early decisions that you made for the company?
   
   
5. Mary Kay's opinion of hard work is that it is absolutely necessary and will allow you to compete with yourself on a daily basis. She was a single mother of three children and she also had to work. She was constantly working hard at her job and in her home. I agree that hard work is extremely important. I think you need to apply yourself each day to reach the goals that you have set for yourself.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1. During this past semester, I feel as though I failed at giving 100% in the things that I was doing. Since I am taking classes this summer, working 20-25 hours a week, and trying to get ready to move into my new apartment, I feel as though I did not give any of these my full attention. In doing so, did not perform to the best of my abilities.  
2. As a perfectionist, I know I am really hard on myself to do the best I can do in every circumstance that presents itself to me. Whenever I got a grade that was not an A, I felt defeated and like I failed because I knew I could have done better.  I learned that I can't stretch myself too thin and that there needs to be a time where I say "no." Another good lesson I learned is that even if I don't do as well as I hoped, there is another assignment coming up which means another opportunity to prove myself.
3. Failure is extremely crushing for me. I am the oldest of four kids in my family and failure is not an option because all of my siblings look up to me as a role model. I do not like when others see me fail because I see it as a sign of weakness and I like to be viewed as strong at all times. I shut down and separate myself from everything that is going on. However, I am working hard to be better at accepting and learning from my failure to make me stronger in the future. This class has taught me that failure is just another step in the creative process and can ultimately lead to greater success.

25A - What's Next?

Existing Market

Step 1: With the plan that I have currently, the next step would be building my streaming service and marketing it to the students on campus. If it is as successful as I hope it will be, I am hoping to expand it to other schools in Florida and hopefully throughout the country later on.

Step 2: I interviewed three potential customers that I have already talked to earlier in the summer and they had the same idea that I had. They believe that creating the streaming service is definitely the next step because without it, the company is nothing and that advertising in the beginning will be very very important to get the word out. They also all agreed that it could be expanded way further than just UF and Gainesville.

Step 3: Based on my own expectations and the feedback I received from customers, this opportunity seems to be much larger than just the University of Florida and it's students. I see my venture to be one that will continue to grow and expand as time goes on and more people hear about it. By this, I mean that it could expand from Gainesville to the entire country and potentially even further. 

My interviewees all talked about how important advertising would be and the many different ways I could do so. One of the customers talked about setting up social media pages on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even TikTok. With these, the customer base would be able to see the new service from the very beginning and would be able to direct message questions to us that we can answer and hopefully convince them to switch to the new service.

New Market

Step 1: A radically different market that I could target is the professors at the University of Florida. This would be a whole different segment of people and would have to be advertised to in a completely different manner.

Step 2: Professors are usually older and have more life experience than students do, so they would be more financially smart. Part of being financially smart is choosing things that are cheaper in order to stretch the value of a dollar. I think that because of this, the professors would get use out of my product as well.

Step 3: I interviewed two people from this new market. One was an older professor around the age of 60 who said that there would have to be classic movies and tv shows as well as documentaries. The other was a newer professor who said that it would have to be ad-free because they do not have time to waste on watching advertisements.

Step 4: From interviewing people in this new market, I learned that if I made a few modifications to the original platform, it could be applied to another market. I think it would be beneficial and would allow there to be different levels of this platform that could encapsulate different markets.

After interviewing this new market, I still believe that my original market of college students is more attractive and that my service would be more attractive to them as well. The need for college students to save money is higher on their priority list than that of professors because they have a steady income.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

My idea is tailored to fit the needs of UF students and could later be adopted by other universities for their students as well. The market is defined demographically as students ages 17-24 and who pay tuition. Gender, ethnicity, and marital status are not determining factors in the demographics of my target market.

The nature of the need has to do with convenience, entertainment, and money. The forces in the environment that are creating this opportunity are the high tuition costs, high living expenses, food expenses, and accumulation of monthly subscription prices to other streaming services. Currently, customers are satisfying their need of entertainment with Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, and many more. I believe that customers are very loyal to Netflix but the other platforms are easier to sway people away from. 

I believe there is a big opportunity for this. I have never heard of a streaming service like this that the university itself would be in charge of, and I think it would be extremely successful and bring in extra money for the school. I believe the window of opportunity will be open for a long time because new students come in each year to subscribe which will offset the seniors that have graduated and unsubscribe. It would be a cyclic flow of money.

Innovation

My idea is to create a streaming platform that is offered directly through the University of Florida for their students. This platform would includes movies and tv shows as well as Gator sports. This new platform would allow students to save money on entertainment by combining all of their subscriptions into just one monthly subscription. The ultimate goal is that students will change their current subscriptions to my new platform and will save money that they can turn around and use for other things they need as a college student. 

So, what I am selling is subscriptions to a new streaming service. Right now, I am thinking that the subscription fee could be around $12 a month. If customers cancelled their other services and switched to this one only, this should save them at least $5 a month. I do not know how much my fixed or variable costs will be yet, so this is only an estimate of what the price could be.

Venture Concept

The reasons I think customers will switch to this new service is money savings, variety, and UF sports. The price of just one streaming service compared to the 4 that the average American has, will greatly reduce the monthly cost that customers are paying each month for television entertainment. This new service will also provide a great variety of tv shows and movies and will have monthly surveys to see what movies people want added and which ones they do not need on the service. And lastly, UF sports will be a large influencer because no other service provides access to all of the Gator sports for this low of a price. I think it might be a little hard for customers to switch in the beginning, but if the service is successful its reputation should speak for it and convince people to switch over.

The competitors would be other streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Showtime, etc. Their possible weaknesses would be their high prices and inability to satisfy the need for variety of tv shows and movies for their customers. 

Customer experience and price points play a large role in this business concept because customers need to be satisfied to tell other people about the service and if the price point is too high, they will not give the service a chance in the first place. Packaging, distribution, and customer support do not need to be defined at this point.

To support the ongoing production of this new service, I would have multiple employees who can be reachable 24/7 for customers to show how much we care about each individual. These employees would be able to answer any and all questions that are asked about the platform and would be able to recommend things to watch to indecisive customers.

The Three Minor Elements

The most important resource will be our monthly surveys that take each of our customer's opinions into account. By conducting these surveys, our customers are given a voice and they can help us choose which new movies and tv shows will be added to the platform each month.

Next for the venture would be expanding into other universities in Florida and ultimately throughout the country.

Next for me would be to become financially stable from this venture and be able to invest money into other opportunities that I believe will be successful in the future.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Innovative thinking
• V - This is extremely valuable because it keeps the company going and constantly up to date with the changing market and their changing needs.
• R - This is rare because it can be easy to come up with ideas, but not ideas that can change the product as we know it for the betterment of the market.
• I - This is pretty easy to imitate if you have the right people in the room.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit.
2. Understanding the significance of a social media presence
• V - This is very valuable because it allows the company to communicate with their target market in a fast and efficient way that is also short and concise.
• R - This is not rare.
• I - This skill is not a hard one to copy.
• N - There are some things that could provide the same benefit such as networking in person and over the phone, but neither of these are as fast or cover a wide variety of people at the same time.
3. Strategic planning
• V - This is very valuable because you are planning for the future and not just to get through the day. By planning for the future, I am able to set goals for each day/week/month in order to get to the overall goal.
• R - This is not rare, because everyone is capable of doing it. But, some people do not like to plan too far in advance.
• I - This can definitely be imitated and can be learned as well.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit.
4. Taking classes that expand my knowledge of business
• V - This is extremely valuable because it has enabled me to learn many of the things that go into creating and maintaining a successful business including the management, marketing, and accounting sides of the operation.
• R - This is not rare.
• I - This skill can not be imitated.
• N - The only other thing that could give you the same benefits is job experience.
5. Being a part of the target segment
• V - This is valuable because I have insight into what the target market needs and wants because I am a part of that segment.
• R - This is not rare for entrepreneurs.
• I - This skill is not a hard one to copy.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit.
6. My attention to detail
• V - This is valuable because it allows me to focus on the little things and see the small thing that go into creating the big picture.
• R - This is not rare.
• I - This skill is a hard one to copy because it comes naturally.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit.
7. Experience as an accounting assistant
• V - This is valuable because it has given me experience on the money-side of an operation and has taught me many skills that I can bring into the work place such as filing and scanning checks.
• R - This is not rare.
• I - Yes, this can be imitated with education and work experience.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit as being in the work field.
8. My determination
• V - This is valuable because I will not give up until the job is done that we set out to do. I do not take no for an answer and I do not rest until the completed project is perfect.
• R - This is not rare because there are other hard working and ambitious people in the work place as well.
• I - Yes this can be imitated with effort.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit.
9. Time management skills
• V - This is valuable because it allows me to get more things done in the same amount of time than other people around me. In doing so, I am more efficient than other people around me.
• R - This is not rare.
• I - This skill is a hard one to copy because it is usually just how the person thinks.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit.
10. My willingness to learn new things
• V - This is valuable because it shows how flexible I am and that I a utility player. I will do anything and everything to ensure the success of my business and will learn new things to get the job done to the best of my ability.
• R - This is not rare.
• I - Yes, this can be imitated with effort and an open mind.
• N - No, there is not another resource that can provide the same benefit.

Reflection: I would say that my most valuable resource is being a part of the target market. I think by being in the segment, I am able to see the product through the eyes of the customer and can make necessary changes to the product as well as the business plan to better suit the needs of the customer.

22A - Elevator Pitch No. 3

1.  
2. Overall, the feedback I received was very positive. The three things that stood out to me the most were to move my statistic to the front of my pitch, to change the wording of the statistic to be more clear, and to add a call to action at the end of my pitch. I had multiple comments that said that they liked my energy and enthusiasm for my product which I found very surprising because I tried to be energetic but I am very glad that it came through on the screen. Overall, all of the feedback I received was extremely helpful and posed great suggestions that I had not thought of before.
3. Based on the feedback, I did move the statistic to the front of my speech so that it caught the attention of my audience right from the beginning. I also did change the wording of my statistic from "the average American spends $8 on 4 different streaming services a month" to "the average American spends around $32 a month for their streaming services. I also did add a call to action at the end of my speech by adding a phone number they could call to receive more information or subscribe to the service. In this pitch, I did have it all memorized, felt much more comfortable in front of the camera, and have a much stronger pitch than the one I started with.

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

I read "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution" by Chris Anderson.

1. The general theme or argument of the book was that we are all makers. With the technology that we have available to us at the touch of a button now, we are able to do so much more ourselves which has transformed the way new ideas are turned into reality. This technology is what has changed the inventor into the entrepreneur.
2. This book connected with what we are learning in class because it harped on how it is unnecessary to get a patent before creating a product and that when people copy you, it is a form of competition not piracy. These are two things that we have talked about in class and I found it very interesting to read about them and hear the same things from someone else as well.
3. I think based on this book, a good exercise for the class would be to go onto a crowdsourcing website such as Kickstarter, and have the students find ideas like theirs and see how much money they have raised as well as the comments that are posted about the product. Then they could do a write-up to talk about how closely related this product is to their own product and how seeing the other products and the amount of money that it raised helped them to modify their idea or if it solidified their idea more.
4. The biggest thing that surprised me was when it said that the best price for a new product is "2.3 times its cost to allow for at least one 50 percent margin for them and another 50 percent margin for their retailers." (106) This concept totally caught me off guard because I though most companies would try and price low to cover their costs. It seems as though this strategy would make the products cost astronomical amounts and would make it much harder for the companies to make money to cover their costs. However, the many companies that it talked about later had adopted this strategy and were doing very well. I think as the consumer, we are sometimes unaware of how cheap it is to manufacture a product so when it says 2.3x that amount, it is not that much because it started out way lower than we thought.

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

While I was thinking about doing this assignment, I realized that my new endeavor had a lot in common with the movie portion of GatorNights that UF holds on Friday nights. Both are catered to students, have to obtain the movies that they show, and have to find unique ways to advertise to reach the young audience. This being said, I used contacts from the GatorNights for each of the experts. 

Domain Expert: When I called UF to speak to someone about who puts on the movies during GatorNights, they put me on the phone with one of the people on the Reitz Union Audio Visual Team. I believe he would be the domain expert because he is trying to put on movies for college age students that will keep them engaged as I will be trying to find an array of movies and tv shows to add to my platform that will make students want to pay for it. I found this person by going to the GatorNights website and contacting them at the number provided. I asked if they thought my idea would be beneficial to the students and he said it would be with the right advertising and the right content, he thought it would be a big hit around campus. He did not expect anything in return from me. Hearing the opinion of someone else in a similar field to the one I hoped to be in, helped to validate my thought process about turning this idea into a reality. 

Market Expert: I talked to someone from the GatorNights Planning Committee, because they plan events and advertise these events to the students. I believe she would be the Market Expert because she has advertised many other events around campus and knows a lot about the college community and how to market to the student audience. I also found this person by going to the GatorNights website and using the number that was on the page and calling to speak to someone who advertises the event. I asked how successful she thought that the advertising was in bringing people to the event versus word of mouth from students who went to previous events and told their friends about it, and she stands by her advertising. She also said that the fun and colorful signs they use stick in the student's head and when Friday comes around with no plans, the students remember seeing the sign. She did not expect anything in return from me. After speaking with her, I now know more about how I should be advertising to my target audience.

Supplier Expert: Since my entrepreneurship venture is an app/streaming service, I could not complete this part because there is no supply.

Reflection: Talking to these people was a little out of my comfort zone, but overall very helpful in the process of fleshing out my idea and seeing what I needed to work on if I was going to make it a reality. I have never networked like this before, so I have nothing to compare it to.

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

You - This one does not need to change much from my last post. My name is Ashley Andrews and I am a second year Business Administration major and Event Management minor. Throughout my time at UF, I have acquired many new assets to bring to the table in a business. By taking Principles of Marketing, Financial Accounting, and Information Systems, I now have a foundation for each of these areas of study and have acquired my Excel certification. Marketing and accounting have taught me the basics of the financial structure of a business and marketing has enabled me to learn how to segment the market and target the audience that is right for me. This business would be extremely strenuous and would require much of my time, so having these skills will greatly help me to start this business and give it a fighting chance at succeeding.

What are you offering to customers? - I am offering a movie/tv show/UF sports streaming service to students. Students will pay a small monthly subscription fee to the university to get access to hundreds of movies and tv shows as well as Gator athletics. This will greatly reduce their monthly costs for streaming platforms and will consolidate all of their previous subscriptions into one subscription. My streaming service is meant to make students entertainment more affordable and entertaining.

Who are you offering it to? - The target market for my new service is UF students between the ages of 17-24 living both on and off-campus. The things that my customers all have in common are that they are all UF students (meaning they would have a student ID number), they pay tuition, and they have some sort of need for a streaming service (whether they are looking for a new one or are unhappy with the ones they are currently paying for). Another thing I expect my customers to have in common is that they all want to save money.

Why do they care? - Customers will actually make the switch to this service because it will save them money in the future and will provide a vast array of tv shows and movies, as well as access to UF sports. It is valuable because the benefit of saving money will outweigh the costs of switching.

What are your core competencies? - What sets me apart from everyone else is my determination. When I want something to be done, I don't rest until it is complete. No university in Florida is in the streaming business yet and I want to make UF the catalyst for this change. Although there are other streaming services worldwide (such as Hulu and Netflix), many students I talked to complained about the costs that accumulated each month and the disappointment they had in the shows and movies that each offers. The things that set this service apart from others is that we would have the UF sports on our streaming service, we would have monthly surveys that record our customers feedback about the movies and tv shows we should add, and that it would be exclusive to the University of Florida. This along with the variety and lower prices would greatly set us apart from the competition and would create a benefit that greatly outweighs the cost of switching.

I believe these five elements listed above fit together to make a strong business plan in theory. This seems to be the same things that many other streaming services have in common and they are doing very well in the market. The only part I am worried about in this business venture is getting the rights to movies that the customers want to see. I feel that it could be a challenge to please everyone and could result in losing some business. However, I will be having monthly surveys of what the subscribers want to see so that they can have input into what movies and tv shows are on the platform at any given time. 

My feedback was positive for the most part, with many people expressing their support of the idea and that it would be a great addition to the campus life of the average UF student. One of the comments left on my original post talked about how I should talk about that the customer has to live on campus, but as stated in previous posts, they can live on or off campus and utilize this service. So, I clarified this in the "who" section above. Another comment talked about how people who share services will not have a need for this new service, so again, I edited my "who" to include only those who are looking for a streaming service or are unhappy with the ones they are currently paying for.

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

My ideal customer is a student going into their first year at the University of Florida. She is only 18 years old and is currently living in a dorm to get the most out of her first year in college. She is pursuing a degree in journalism. One day she hopes to become college baseball commentator/reporter. 

Until she is able to pursue this career, she still has to pay many expenses such as tuition, housing, and her meal plan. She does have the top Bright Futures scholarship, but this is not enough to cover the housing or the food. She got a job working in the UF Athletics department on campus and this is allowing her to begin to save money to pay off her student loans. By working in the athletics department, she is making money and working in a field that she hopes to work in during the future.

After a long day, her favorite thing to do is go home and cuddle up under a nice soft blanket and watch a show on Netflix or Hulu. Although she gets a lot of use out of these accounts, she feels guilty every time she pays the monthly fee because the money could be going towards her loans.

What do I have in common with her? I have a lot in common with my ideal customer. I am also a student at the Univeristy of Florida and lived in a dorm my first year on campus. I also have the Bright Futures Scholarship helping me pay for college and am looking to find a job in the UF Athletics department next semester. And the most important thing we have in common, is watching shows and movies on Netflix/Hulu after a long day of school or work. All in all, I do not think it is a coincidence that I have a lot in common with my ideal customer, because I see myself as a prototypical customer for the product.

17A - Elevator Pitch No. 2

The feedback that I got on my original post was mostly all positive. The only thing that I was encouraged to work on was slowing down my talking. So, I used the exact same elevator pitch, and was able to make it 12 seconds longer just by slowing down my talking.

I also thought it would be more appealing to my cliental if I dressed like them. So, I attempted to dress like the typical UF student on a chill day in leggings, a sweatshirt, and a messy bun.