14A- Halfway Reflection

1. In order to keep up with this course I have used and developed many traits. Organization is key in order to keep on top of assignments and as an entrepreneur as a whole. One has to be focused on the tasks at hand and get the job done on a deadline. Another trait one must have is comfort around others and good communicative skills whether it’s with others or being able to convey ones ideas effectively. If you are able to communicate an idea, product, or service we’ll enough, you can profit from it. 

2. There have been several times where I just wanted to give up in one of my other classes and sometimes when it was difficult to get certain people to interview for this course alone. I believe I’ve always had a tenacious attitude and don’t go down and stay down easily. As a kid, when my friends would be better at me in a certain sport or competition, I would keep coming back and playing again, even if kept losing. I think that’s important as an entrepreneur as there are several times you are going to hear no, but only need one yes to be a success. I’ve developed this throughout my childhood and as someone who has heard a lot of no’s in internships and have gotten 3. 

3.

 1) Be persistent in the face of criticism and utilize it to make your idea better. 

2) Preplan your interviews ahead of time and have a set of questions. This saves time, helps mold your idea more effectively, and makes you seem more professional. This tenacious approach keeps you pushing through even the most mundane and tedious tasks that you simply do not want to do. 

3) Do all the assignments the way they should be done, the course is a unique experience and you would only be cheating yourself if you do not fully immerse yourself in it. Being tenacious here, even when you have been worn down by all the work required for the course, gives you a very rewarding sense of achievement and experience in the end. 

13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

1. What surprised me the most about Elon Musk is how he was so adventurous at such a young age. As he moved away from his home in South Africa to Canada by himself, and practically lived by himself. I admire Elon's fantastically undeterred ambition, as he claims the object of his life is to make the human race an interplanetary species. What I least admire is how cold and distant he is from people, as he has no attachment to many including his family, saying he would like to go and die in Mars alone. Elon encountered great adversity throughout his career as he ran out of money several times and lost control of some of his companies. He worked very hard through these hardships, took many risks, and got very very lucky and won big. 

2) Elon shows to have an incredible mind. He is a genius. He is very creative, extremely hard working, is constantly learning, inspiring to others, and incredibly focused and persistent. He is obsessed with his job and prioritizes it above all else. 

3) There were several parts of the reading that confused me as it talked about a wide area of people and the names of those people typically got all jumbled together as I forgot who they were. Also, I was confused by which vehicle models were being referenced at a given time when the early days of Tesla and SpaceX were being discussed. I lost track easily and was not sure what was what and the chronological order of them. 

4) Question #1: Other than the hyperloop, Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity, global internet, and neuralink, what other ideas, completely thought out or not, have you come up with?

Why: I am sure that Elon is the type of person to constantly be thinking of solutions, however he himself has said he likes to work on what he believes is most important for the human race first, though the other ideas are fun. I would like to know what other things he has pondered or come up with.

Question #2: I would also ask Elon if he was happy and if he needed a friend?

Why: I would ask this because I would want to know if passion for one's work is everything and if one can reach happiness while being rich and successful with no social life. I would also ask because I would love nothing more than being a friend to Elon Musk, not to gain any benefit from being around him, but just to listen to his thoughts and engage in stimulating conversation with him. 

5) Elon Musk expects the hardest work out of all his employees. He expects people to meet almost impossible deadlines and to come up with solutions to problems on their own. If they say a deadline is impossible, Elon will fire them and meet the deadline himself. I share that opinion to an extent, as I believe that Elon is a bit extreme to a sense and should not expect his employees to set aside their personal lives like does, to help his obsession. However, I am not as successful as Elon. 

Sketching out the Beginning of the Buyer Behavior Process

Interviewee #1 (A male, local, bakery owner): The baker has felt the need of a service like this since mid March, when the media started to cover the affects of the virus in the United States. There were less people coming into his bakery than what he was used to. He does not have ubereats so his sales dwindled down. He has now felt it for the last few months. He notices it at his bakery's physical location, and mostly during Sunday morning, when it was the most busy, now one or two people show up. The interviewee tried putting signs up saying that they have reopened but that has not worked for. He asks his younger son and friends for advice. His son has searched google and they ask how to bring customers back. So far all they have come up with are the signs, having employees wear masks, and keeping things clean.

Interviewee #2 (A female, local, Cuban restaurant owner): She also noticed that her business has dwindled since the beginning of the virus' hysteria in the US. She has also continued to notice it over the last few months. She claims that it is most noticed on Friday and Saturday nights when the restaurant was typically at 75%-80% capacity, filled with people. The crowds have become much smaller since then. She has also put out signs saying they are open, provided employees with masks and have scattered bottles of sanitizers everywhere. Still, maybe one or two families a day come and eat in at the location. She has come to rely on call in orders. She asks her usual customers for advice and has done everything they have suggested. She still blames most of the business on the governments 50% capacity, temporary regulation. She wants to know how she can have customers come back and feel comfortable coming back. 

Interviewee #3 (A female, local, botique owner): She first noticed her business was dwindling at the same time that the other interviewees noticed there's were dwindling, in late March. However, her business has completely stopped as the government does not deem boutiques as essential. She had to close her shop for several weeks with no income. She is now open, however no one is coming in like they used to. Typically, she would receive the most visitors in her boutique during the weekend afternoons, with about 40 visitors each day. She has asked her employees and searched the internet on how to bring people back to clothing stores during the virus. She has had her employees wear masks, and has had all the clothes dry cleaned, and has put up people modeling the clothes on her website, as many no longer try on the clothes themselves. 

Conclusion: This segment is pretty much in the dark about how they should handle their need. Each has their peak days of and times of the most business (which are all during the weekend) and notice their need the most during the weekends and their hours of operations. They typically do not go very far when searching for help, as they contact family and friends mostly or even their own employees for ideas and solutions. Only one of them did any real research on the internet, however it did not surpass more than a few internet searches. 

Conclusions:  

Idea Napkin NO. 1

1) I am someone who is very detailed oriented, very ambitious, and very creative. I am very good at communicating and empathizing with people. I have had many experiences in both business settings, throughout my many internships, as well as in the field installing and repairing different household appliances with my grandfather's plumbing business. I know the charm and hard work it takes to build a clientele and maintain it. I hope to build several businesses of my own one day. I believe that if I were to start my business now, it would play a very heavy roe in my life for a couple of months, maybe a year and a half tops. People's fear of the corona virus are quickly dissipating, even if they shouldn't be and they are returning to their normal lives. 

2)  We are offering customers both a product and a service. Spotless Services provides a service where we provide stores with their own supplies of PPE and cleaning supplies, while also providing them with a set of policies and training sessions on how to deal with customers during this time and keeping everyone, including customers and employees safe and healthy. We also provide the customers with peace of mind. 

3) We are offering this product to small, local, non franchised businesses in the Broward county area whose business has been severely affected by the virus and have not yet had policies put in place to combat the fear and anxiety that customers feel while entering a physical location now. 

4) The businesses care because they need their customers to return, if the their business is to survive these trying times. This service is mainly for the customers' sake, which in turn, helps the business and its employees. Many customers have built up anxiety and fear of contracting the virus themselves or infecting their loved ones due to what they hear in every media source they encounter. Many have yet to go outside, and even fewer would like to go to shop at a location that has not taken any precautions to prevent employees or customers from getting sick. This service is meant to attract customers and help them feel safe and willing to enter into the physical location of the business and spend their money, feeling and knowing they are safe. 

5) I believe I am driven and creative with approach to problem solving and that is what sets me apart from most people with an idea. I am a person of action as well as thought. I also have a network of trade workers who specialize in the repair and instillation of appliances. This includes carpenters, electricians, plumbers, painters, and cleaners.

I believe that all the aspects of this business concept go hand in hand with one another. My only fear is that the true window of opportunity to make money with this business maybe small. People's fear of the virus has quickly dissipated in a matter of a few short weeks. There will not be many businesses left that see this as a need anymore and maybe less willing to pay for such a service. Our only hope, which sounds bad and I would not wish this upon the world but see that it may become a reality, is that after the second larger wave of corona virus infections, businesses demand for such a service will surge.  

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interview #1 (20 year old male college students): The interviewee thought the opportunity reaches a lot of businesses, however it does not reach major chains or franchises. Due to the nature of major chains and franchises, they already have policies put in place and implemented by their corporate offices. Also, man large venues such as malls, also probably have the their own policies and safeguards put in place due to the fact that they house so many franchises. The need itself seems to be very psychological more than anything. A lot of it does help in a way but it seems that the need is to bring customers back to do business and restart businesses.  The need exists as a result of all the fear and anxiety that has been brought on by the arrival of Covid-19.

Interview #2 (21 year old female college student): The interviewee thinks that the opportunity is mostly for mostly modest family owned businesses, looking for a solution to their slowed business. The rest are too large or are under the hand of a corporate organization. The opportunity arises with people who own a specific location or store, and can be easily contacted. The need is to be able to create an environment where people are safe to be in an interact with the business and not be under threat of possibly contracting the virus or spreading it to their loved ones. The need exists because people are going out of business, as there is mass panic over going to stores and many are dying by going out in public too early. 

Interview #3 (50 year old mother): The interviewee believes that the opportunity is likely for small business, with a pretty short chain of command, so that communication with the person in charge is pretty simple. The need is to be able to comfort people's worries by providing a healthy and safe environment and keeping them safe. It is not to just get people in the store and help the store itself.  The need exists due to the mind set people have had for the last few months and their fear for themselves and the safety of their loved ones. This not just due to government forcing people to take precautions. 

Interview #4 (65 year old woman): The opportunity can help both profit and non for profit locations, but larger companies will probably not need the service. The need is to be able to tell customers who are uneasy about the prospect of returning to public stores, to feel like it is ok despite what the crazy news stations say, it is not so much about the danger of virus as most of it should be clearing up in the next few months. The need exists because people are being brainwashed into panic and due to government regulations. 

Interview #5 (28 year old male nurse): The interviewee thinks that the opportunity may seem like it reaches a lot of people but that it really does not. Most people that are in desperate need of business have already taken these precautions to reinvigorate their business and those who are not in desperate need will likely not pay for the service or will not reopen until the virus is more controlled. The need is not a way to have people come back into stores and feel ok, but instead evolve an entire different system of shopping altogether because it is not going away. The need exists or does not because of the  existence of the virus, it is not because of government regulations or people's psychology. 

Inside The Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who is in need: Small, family owned businesses or non for profits	Who is not: Large, franchises or chains.
What the need is: To give stores the ability to provide customers and employees with psychological reassurance and biological safety	What the need is not: To fulfill the safety requirements of the government and to just get business back to make money
Why the need exists: The need exists due to the existence of Covid-19 and the general public's reaction of it	Alternative Explanations: It is not because the government has forcefully closed things down.

8A – Solving The Problem

The Problem: This opportunity can potentially help any public place that requires or usually holds face to face interactions of people who have not already put safety precautions in place in their physical locations. The opportunity includes any location that have not put in any safety precautions to keep their workers and customers safe. This is to help business regain some of their customers or frequenters to come back and have face to face interactions with little to no fear or anxiety about the pandemic, as almost all people have avoided going to public places in fear that they may contract and spread the virus. This is also to keep all employees and customers safe

The Solution: A full product and service mix that combines the providing of personal protective equipment, sanitation equipment, and the implementation of necessary health procedures and policies to ensure the health and safety of customers and employees alike, easing the qualms of the general population and reinstating business as usual. The service provides an abundance of face masks, hand sanitizers, and an air filtration unit. Along with this, the service creates a a policy of in-store navigation  with tape marking the distance of 6 feet in increments and creating signs to communicate the certain expectations to customers. It also, trains employees to implement a purchasing system that does not involve the hand to hand contact of money. Also, the training of employees helps them to be able to handle situations regarding unruly customers, unwilling to abide by the rules of the store and not ensuring the safety of others. Along with all this, a sticker is placed at the entrance of the store to notify customers of the store's efforts to keep a healthy and safe environment. This helps to gain the confidence of customers and let them know things are safe.