30A - Final Reflection

This course was a learning experience and I had my ups and down throughout the semester. The most formative aspect that this course provided me was understanding the process it takes to develop a service or product and how to handle the successes and failures of exploiting an opportunity. Something that I will always take with me is that whenever you think you're done with something, you're not and that there is always room for improvement as the environment of entrepreneurship is ever changing. The most joyous moment for me was watching a loose business idea transform into an opportunity that I could take advantage of one day and actually make a living doing it. I thought my idea was doomed from the start, but by sticking to the steps, I was able to develop something with promise. My ability to take what I've learn from this course and utilize it in future endeavors is what I'm most proud of. Before this course, I had no idea what it meant to be an entrepreneur, but now I think I have a solid foundation and I'm excited for what my future holds.

I find myself thinking more like an entrepreneur no matter what I'm working on. The entrepreneur mind set has helped me with my problem solving ability and ability to take something and look for ways to improve it to make it easier or more exploitable. I've always wanted to start my own business, but never really knew how until now. I view myself as more of an entrepreneur now, but I realize I still have a ways to go.

To get the most out of this course and entrepreneurship in general, I would say you have to be open minded. There's always a better way to do something and being closed minded could cut you off from the ability to improve yourself or a business. It's a lot more than just going through the motions, and actually applying yourself and future ambitions to this course could be one of the best and most lucrative things you do.

Photo From: https://ied.eu/project-updates/developing-business-models/

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

With death being one of the only guarantees in this world, there's a lot of opportunities within the aging population. Those around the age of 55-75 (eventually much younger) that are getting close to retirement or currently struggling through it are the ones with an un-met need that I'm in the process of addressing. Retirement can be terrifying if one doesn't have the necessary funds needed to sustain themselves and their loved ones. The nature of the need is reducing current and future expenses while creating an extra source of income for those who need it most to live comfortably. This hasn't been as big of an issue until now as 1/3 of baby boomers report they have nothing saved up for retirement. The demographic focuses dominantly on the United States, but could expand to other countries when the time is right. 401K's and IRA's are not as common as they used to be and has been failing to satisfy the needs of those looking to retire. There is a disconnect of loyalty there, but those who do have a plan in place seemingly remain loyal for the most part. This is a fairly big opportunity, and one that I'd expect to keep growing in the coming decades. Until the economy and government spending is restructured this opportunity will remain open and possibly continue to widen.

Innovation

My innovation is an easy-to-use platform acting as a financial firm that focuses on reducing current and future expenses while create another source of income through a wide range of assets. In retirement, the biggest expenses one will face is most likely to be medical bills. With one of our main focuses being to reduce future expenses, we'll look to create a network of medical minded gyms that target people in poor health and heavily reliant on prescription drugs. Through expert training, rehabilitating clients for better health can reduce the amount of drugs they need to take and reduce avoidable health issues in hopes to free up extra cash for retirement. By reducing some of the biggest bills one might face, they'll have more free money to invest in a specialized hedge funds with expected returns from anywhere between 5% and 15%. In order to make this a profitable business for me, I would profit off a percentage of the returns my clients pull in. There isn't a set number for income for my opportunity, but as the business grows, so will my profits.

Venture Concept

As more people near the age of retirement and realize they don't have the funds necessary to live out the rest of their lives comfortably, the greater the demand will be for my service. As 401K's and IRA's become less popular, alternative methods will be on the rise, and my service is positioned to help out my clients in an array of aspects and not just finically. My clients probably never had a retirement saving plan, so getting my clients to switch wouldn't be a huge concern. My clients would most likely be looking for a last ditch effort to make some supplemental income and would be willing to give it a test run. My competitors would be sparse in the exact same market, although I would receive some competition from outside industries, like banks and their mutual funds. In addition to the foundation I have identified above, I would take on a new target market, so my service has a longer life cycle to benefit my business and clients. The investments would be less risky as there would be more time to grow and develop. With that being said, implementing my business within the current market still makes the most sense, but growth is right around the corner. My business would be organized based off simplicity and the ability to be used easily and seamlessly with someones existing life. The idea seems feasible on paper, but the implication of the whole thing will be easier said than done. The start up will be the biggest obstacle to overcome and could expose some weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The overarching culture my business looks to inspire is thoughtfulness and caring for others. The whole goal of the opportunity is to create a positive experience for all.

Summary of Feedback

Majority of the feedback that I received was reinforcement to what I had already come up with. From the feedback, I received some guidance on how I should approach my current target market and how I can go about expanding into a new target market as well. I've come to realize that there is a lot of opportunity outside of my current market, and failing to tap into it, could be lost profit for both sides. Although the advantage that my outside target markets would have would take a while to see, the end results could be much more beneficial to them than my current market.

Changes Made

Although I didn't received any direct feedback on things to change, the feedback helped me realize that my target market could be bigger than I think. To take advantage of this recent finding, I changed my venture concept to reflect the possible opportunity and what it could mean for my business and them as clients. 

Photo from: https://www.benzinga.com/general/education/18/07/11952323/a-2018-midyear-update-the-10-best-performing-s-p-500-stocks

28A - Your Exit Strategy

1. For this opportunity, I would plan on selling it about 10 years down the road once I was able to run my course with it and build up a fund to carry me into the next phase of my life. I'm not totally sure what I want to do with my life yet, but I'm not ready to spend to doing the same thing until I retire.

2. I chose this exit strategy because I love making investments. This opportunity is an investment for me, and at the end of it, I will be looking for a return to take with me into my next investment. I also don't like being stuck in the same place for too long and I think by the end of the 10 years or so, I would be ready for my next opportunity.

3. My exit strategy has influenced how I set my opportunity up. Within 5 years from now, I want to be in the supervisor/ quality control position, while I have execs below me running the overall business. I set it up this way, so when I do decide to move on in about 10 years, I have people capable and willing to take over the company and will be able to bring in more success and pay me what I'm looking for.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

1. Nike has been the dominate shoe brand for me my whole life, so I was surprised when I learned that it wasn't always named Nike. Blue Ribbon Shoes definitely isn't as catchy as Nike, but that's why all companies go through changes during their evolution process.

I admired Phil Knight's determination. As we saw in this class, failures are inevitable in entrepreneurship but Phil found his way around those obstacles to find success. Without an immense amount of determination, achieving what he did would not be possible.

All great entrepreneurs have some downfall's and I understand why Phil used sweatshop style labor to reduce his costs, but I do not support those actions. His use of foreign labor is what I admire least about him and his brand.

Like all entrepreneurs, Phil encountered his fair share of failures, but he was also able to overcome them by learning from them rather than giving up on his dreams. The biggest companies in the world are products of many failures.

2. A competency that I noticed Phil had was that he was open minded which helped spark the innovation within his company. He knew that the people he was surrounded by were the most important capital he had and he knew how to leverage them.

3. The reading was pretty straight forward, but an area of confusion was learning that it was once called Blue Ribbon Shoes. I had to go back and read that a second time, because in our minds, it has always been Nike.

4. I would ask Phil why he still uses sweatshop style labor, because I understand using it to start off to reduce cost when money is tight, but now that it's a billion dollar, international company I feel like he could do better. I would also ask him how he has combated his competitors over the years like Under Armor and Adidas and how he plans to fend off growing clothing brands like Lululemon and others in that realm. Active wear brands are on the rise and these could present new obstacles to his company.

5. I think Phil's idea of hard work is being patient and consistent in everything you do. He understands that great things take time and that rushing into things could spell disaster. I would say that I'm a little less patient than Phil, but other than that, we might have to same outlook on hard work.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1. I encountered a few failures during this class. One of the main failures was that I knew what market I wanted to target and I knew the opportunity that I wanted to exploit, but I had a hard time coming up with a service or product to sell, which is a major concern. It was weird at first going through these assignments with an opportunity in mind but struggling to have a solid service even though I had some working ideas. I was able to pitch a few ideas through the various assignments we did until I was able to come up with a solution to my problem.

2. I came to realize that failure isn't the worst thing in the world and that it often leads to change in some way. As the assignments progressed, I was able to receive feedback, advice and ideas that helped me develop my service to exploit my chosen opportunity. Failure isn't the most comfortable thing to experience, but in some cases, it's the only way to grow.

3. I think I handled failure pretty well in this case as I was reassured failure is just another part of the process. I knew I had to be patient and stay the course to persevere my previous failures. This class changed my mind on failure, because that's the name of the game in entrepreneurship. The most important aspect that I learned was that it's all about how you respond to the failures and how you use the past experiences to move yourself forward. I would be willing to take greater risk now than I was at the start of this course with my new outlook on failure.

25A - What's Next?

Existing Market

As the world shifts more and more into technology, the concepts that I'm employing in my business can be made easier to access and use with the help of technological advancements. Technology can add more value to my business by seamlessly bringing each component of my business together.

The first person that I spoke to suggested that the individual components of my business are good, but when combining them together, things get complicated. They suggested that the possibility of starting two separate businesses might be more beneficial in the long run, because I could tap into two markets instead of one. They said by creating two separate businesses, I would be able to help more people as well. They have a good point, but without the integration of the two concepts, my opportunity loses its edge.

The second person liked the foundation of my idea, but said that my target market is the wrong market to focus in on. They suggested that rather than focusing on 55-75 year olds, that I should focus on the younger generations because they could provide a longer customer life span and could reap more rewards from my business than the elderly.

The third person felt that combining the two business components together with technology wasn't the right move since the elderly aren't as technologically inclined as the younger generations. They suggested that I use a more traditional platform to bring everything together, but as the world advances I would be afraid that a tradition approach would leave me behind in the dust.

The feedback I received gives me mixed feelings as I look to the future. Our viewpoints differed for some obvious reasons and the technological aspects were a turn off for my existing target market, but going forward I have to keep in mind that my future clients will most likely be more comfortable with technology. Despite the feedback that I received, I feel that it would be best to continue on with my original path and use technology to integrate each aspect of my business.


New Market

The new market that I'm looking into is college kids, which is quite different than 55-75 year olds worrying about retirement funding.

Once my business's platform is up and operating, the college kid market could actually be very promising. Many college kids are clueless when it comes to making solid investments for their future, and I would be able to bring value to them by educating them and setting them on the right path to be financially stable well before they reach the point of retirement.

The first person said they would find great value in a such a business as mine. They said that they and their peers have interest in investing, but not a clue where to start. They suggested that just simple education would bring value to them and that an easy to use platform to bring everything together would be the ideal fit for this target market.

The second person said that they would rather start investing sooner rather than later so they would find great value in my business if I were to focus on them. We agreed that moving forward my business could bring value to everybody if the approach was right. Additionally, they said that shifting to a technology based platform is likely the only solution moving forward as a traditional platform would be dated.

I was most surprised by the interest that this market on the complete other side of my target market has in my business. I assumed correctly that they would like the technology aspects of the business more than my current market. This exercise could open up some doors for expansion moving forward. With minor tweaks, my business could be created to help everybody and not just a select age demographic. This new market helped show what kind of opportunity is out there.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity: With death being one of the only guarantees in this world, there's a lot of opportunities within the aging population. Those around the age of 55-75 that are getting close to retirement or currently struggling through it are the ones with an un-met need that I'm in the process of addressing. Retirement can be terrifying if one doesn't have the necessary funds needed to sustain themselves and their loved ones. The nature of the need is reducing current and future expenses while creating an extra source of income for those who need it most to live comfortably. This hasn't been as big of an issue until now as 1/3 of baby boomers report they have nothing saved up for retirement. The demographic focuses dominantly on the United States, but could expand to other countries when the time is right. 401K's and IRA's are not as common as they used to be and has been failing to satisfy the needs of those looking to retire. There is a disconnect of loyalty there, but those who do have a plan in place seemingly remain loyal for the most part. This is a fairly big opportunity, and one that I'd expect to keep growing in the coming decades. Until the economy and government spending is restructured this opportunity will remain open and possibly continue to widen.


Innovation: My innovation is a financial firm that focuses on reducing current and future expenses while create another source of income through a wide range of assets. In retirement, the biggest expenses one will face is most likely to be medical bills. With one of our main focuses being to reduce future expenses, we'll look to create a network of medical minded gyms that target people in poor health and heavily reliant on prescription drugs. Through expert training, rehabilitating clients for better health can reduce the amount of drugs they need to take and reduce avoidable health issues in hopes to free up extra cash for retirement. By reducing some of the biggest bills one might face, they'll have more free money to invest in a specialized hedge funds with expected returns from anywhere between 5% and 15%. In order to make this a profitable business for me, I would profit off a percentage of the returns my clients pull in. There isn't a set number for income for my opportunity, but as the business grows, so will my profits.


Venture Concept: As more people near the age of retirement and realize they don't have the funds necessary to live out the rest of their lives comfortably, the greater the demand will be for my service. As 401K's and IRA's become less popular, alternative methods will be on the rise, and my service is positioned to help out my clients in an array of aspects and not just finically. My clients probably never had a retirement saving plan, so getting my clients to switch wouldn't be a huge concern. My clients would most likely be looking for a last ditch effort to make some supplemental income and would be willing to give it a test run. My competitors would be sparse in the exact same market, although I would receive some competition from outside industries, like banks and their mutual funds. My business would be organized based off simplicity and the ability to be used easily and seamlessly with someones existing life. The idea seems feasible on paper, but the implication of the whole thing will be easier said than done. The start up will be the biggest obstacle to overcome and could expose some weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The overarching culture my business looks to inspire is thoughtfulness and caring for others. The whole goal of the opportunity is to create a positive experience for all.


The human capital that I have will carry me far and position my business above the others. Having connections in the medical field, investing field and real estate field will give me a leg up on my competitors as the start up process will be more streamline. My opportunity basically mixes the world of health and wellness with investing and having experts in both fields gives me an advantage. Since the fields are so different from one another, my competitors probably won't have the best of both worlds and will struggle on one end or the other as they begin their opportunity.


Eventually, I would look to expand to service everybody and shift from a retirement plan to an investment plan that helps people at all stages of life and situations. Once this opportunity is solidified within the realms I have outlined above, expanding my clientele will increase my reach and that would lead to increased profits. Starting with people aged 55-75, I would look to service people aged 18-to 25 next, then eventually moving into a service for all ages. I chose 18 to 25 year olds for my next reach because they don't receive enough education on the matter and could benefit greatly from investments made early on.


Within five years of launching this opportunity, I want to be at the quality control level assuring the service I have developed and implemented is operating smoothly. There's nothing worse than signing up for a service and see it start to reduce its values and perks, so I would make sure the service stays the same and provides the same value to my clients on day 100 as day 1. Maintaining and providing a consistent service to my clients is a huge priority for me. while maintaining a consistent service, I don't ever want to be satisfied with how far I've come. Additionally, within fives years of launching, I would like to have expanded my clientele and service people of all ages, but for the time being, I think focusing on retirees is my best entry point for a business like mine.