Tenacity and Endurance (Half-way reflection)

I'll be honest: This isn't my favorite class.

True there aren't any tests and Professor Pryor is a fun professor who strives to make the class as exciting as possible. I am truly grateful for that. Admittedly though, I do make a face when I see upcoming assignments and on some days I'll even curse. If its a bad day I'll curse in Spanish.

In this assignment I've been asked what behavior I've used/developed for this class. Well, there's motivation. My motivation is to try to raise my gpa as much as possible this year because I know that there is room for improvement. 

Did develop a particular attitude for this class? Of course not. But I can say this: this class has helped me to improve in tenacity and endurance. I didn't have a moment where I wanted to throw in the towel, drop the class, cry about it, etc. Instead, there were moments that I simply didn't want to do the assignment. At the end of the day, what kept me in check was the fact that these assignments are worth 1-2 points. Experiences in the past are what remind me not to give up and to remain tenacious. Believe me, I've learned the hard way. 

Sure, these assignments are practically worth nothing, but slip up constantly and it starts to add up. In a way, this is what makes this class dangerous because it truly is tempting to skip a couple assignments. To future students, I know that this class can be frustrating and there will be times where you will start skipping assignments. But if you throw in the towel, what comes after may lead to greater consequences than intended. Don't take this advice only for class, but for life as well. If I had to sum up everything in two words, here is advice a person once told me: "Endure always" 
Here are some tips for the class

1) Put effort into the assignment. B.S-sing can only get you so far in life.
2) Stay on track with the assignments. They quickly stack up
3) DON'T FORGET TO DECLARE!
4) Accept that there is no way around the assignment. Might as well have fun with it. That is what helps me get through this class. 

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1. The biggest surprise for me in the reading was how these economists view the market as something "living" instead of something that is purely technical.
2. What I found confusing about this reading was how understanding the personality of customers could be accomplished.
3. When doing marketing research, how do you correctly isolate variables? If you are trying to understand your customers, aren't there other factors to take into consideration as well?
4. I do agree with the authors that trying to truly understand their consumers is the key to success instead of segmenting them into different categories (sex,  race, etc)

Giving free money away

I have to admit that I did believe that this assignment would be difficult to pull off, especially since we are, from childhood, primed to not accept gifts from strangers.  With this in mind, I went to oaks mall with my friend Tyler to give it a shot. How I picked people...well I aimed for people that were alone. Aside from that, I didn't have any other criteria to select my unknowing participants. My approach was simple: I just went up to them and asked "Excuse me would you like a dollar?" The first person said yes without hesitation. The second person was skeptical, but I insisted that I had no hidden agenda and that I was being genuine with my offer. She felt more comfortable and accepted my dollar. The third person refused my dollar because he was in the middle of something extremely important. In short, I got 2 out of three people.

Elevator Pitch 2

Warning: This is just an idea. All the kinks have not been worked out that. Remember this now.
Hey guys
In previous posts I talked about how I participated in Shark Tank style competition last summer (took place on my birthday actually). Anyways the idea is this sturdy yet lightweight bottle that can filter water plagued with microbes and provide bright lights for people who lack these essentials. Ideally, I would like to add more utilities to the bottle and yes I recognize that there are other viables solutions (installing a generator, water pump etc) but know that these projects can be expensive and take time to do. These bottles are meant to be used immediately and act as a remedy until a more permanent solution could be found/implemented. I would really appreciate your feedback. Thanks! 

Interviewing Customers No.3

EDIT: I had some technical difficulties with the videos so I will be uploading it ASAP. For the meantime, here is my post. 

In my first customer interview assignment, I mentioned that the service I was offering was "fun" In other words, for a very small donation, one could participate in exciting activities, namely recess games. For example, for an entrance fee of $5, you could participate in a Four Square or Knockout tournament. It would be ideal to offer prizes to the games` winners. Just like last time, it did feel uncomfortable to go up and ask people, but for the most part once I started asking, it got easy from there. I kept the first two questions: 1) Have you every donated to charity and 2) Did enjoy recess games as a child? My original question was "Would you pay to participate in games to raise MS awareness?" My new question is "For a small fee of $5, would you participate in recess based games to raise money to fund MS research?" This question lets people know of much they are paying and also lets them know that it won't be a monthly commitment, as most charities are. 

Porter's Five Forces (Reading Reflection, Week 6)

1. The biggest surprise for me was that there are five, not three as I originally presumed. Porter outlines that there are five forces (existing rivals, new entrants, suppliers, substitutes, can customers). I considered rivals, entrants and substitutes to be the same. 

2. I did not find the article confusing. 

3. Are there variables to be considered? Wouldn't government be a force as well? 

4. Mr. Porter, would innovation be considered as a factor? 

Here's a napkin...with an idea on it (Phase 1)

Hey guys! My name is Gus (but I'm sure you already knew that). What I want in life? Well I would like to: get a job, study abroad and intern in Jordan, learn Arabic and/or French, master Kendo, learn how to do a one arm handstand, join Peace Corp, go to grad school, visit Angkor Wat, have a road trip on the West Coast, move to NYC or San Francisco, work at a think tank. Now what does this have to do with the business concept? 

Absolutely nothing.

I just wanted to share this with you guys. If I had to start a business though, I would probably use Aquanyte. Last summer I participated in an invention showcase and my team came up with a survival cup. You could find the details of how that turned out in an older post. Anyways, I'd modify the cup to tailor humanitarian needs. Instead of marketing it to survival enthusiasts, why not sale it humanitarian organizations. If I learned anything from that competition, it is working with others, how to compromise, and how to use Autocad (sorta). I am also a fluent in Spanish and I have experience in customer service, as I used to work as a face to face fundraiser for a charity. 

The Plan

My target audience would be the people in need of light and water. Now that cup itself would have a built in water filter as well as a miniature light (solar powered). The idea is that this bottle would be beneficial for people living in villages and slums. Moreover, these places typically lack electricity and safe drinking water. The Aquanyte bottle could provide both. Sure, the more viable solution would be to have a functioning water system and electric generator, but these bottles would be inexpensive and easier to implement. Plus, you can take it on the go. Like I said, I speak Spanish fluently, so it would make sense to start in Central and South America. What I would do is provide a prototype to humanitarian organizations working in these impoverished areas and ask for their feedback. I would start off with small organizations and eventually work my way towards supplying major humanitarian organizations. People would pay for this products because it can literally improve their lifestyle. This is, of course, a very rough outline and there are plenty of variables I haven't worked out yet, so I would greatly appreciate any feedback. 

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1.      What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I knew that there were risks involved in starting a business, but I did not realize that there were that much challenges involved.  

2.      Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

This didn’t necessarily confuse me, but what intrigued me was that there are startups out there that don not have a clear objective on what they want to provide.

3.      If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

How long does the poststart-up phase last? When it does conclude, does the entrepreneur stay with the company or move on to another project?

4.      Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

In my opinion, I believe that the author failed to mention that capital could also be an external problem instead of only an internal problem.