Nathan's Blog

30A- Final Reflection 1) Reading through all my previous posts from this semester really made me think that you can accomplish so much for a start-up business in such a short amount of time. By doing a little bit for my concept each week, I've seen it grow week by week and with the structure of the course making us go and talk to people and reading material that will not only help us get ideas for our business but the mindset and attitudes we need to have helped me develop a better and more concise idea that I could have on my own. My highs were when I got to read interesting material on business and my favorite was my book on psychology because it really interests me how the consumer mind works and how people make their decisions and my lows would be my elevator pitches because the idea of presenting to investors that could possibly just hate my idea and think I'm stupid is nerve wrecking.  2) My most formative experience would be networking and connecting with ...

29A- Venture Concept No.2               I’ve lived most of my life on the water so the beach is a second home to me and we know in this increasing population that means more trash and sadly our beaches and bodies of water suffer from the pollution and debris that all of us humans make. That is why it is my company and product’s goal is to help preserve our beaches for our own benefit. I want this company to do more than just sell products, I want to make a difference in my own community and others dealing with the same sort of problem. In order to fully achieve and facilitate my idea of the sea sweeper into a reality that would help millions of people, I must create an opportunity for myself and have something innovative that someone has never created before or at least to the same efficiency as my product.               The opportunity that lies up...

28-A Exit Strategy 1) My exit strategy really does come down to if my business is successful or not and how successful it really is. If my business is raking in a lot of money and growing, I think I would keep it and continue to grow it to become a bigger business but if my company is doing okay and I feel as if I cannot make a big difference in the remaining life of my business, I would try and sell it to someone who can grow the business. If I did decide to keep my business, I would keep it to provide for my family until one of my children is old enough to own it, that is, if they wanted to inherit the business. If not, I would sell it and use the money to retire. 2) My strategy relies on what my kids want and how successful I am. I want this strategy because I don't want my children to be born rich and spoiled, I want them to learn on their own, fail on their own so that they can go through the process I went through instead of just being handed money.  3) This stra...

27-A Reading Reflection No. 3 1) I read "The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users" by Guy Kawasaki because in today's day and age, everything from marketing to socializing revolves around social media and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about what I already know about the different kinds of social media. This books main summary is that it is just a compilation of tips and tricks that the author wanted to share with the reader about different strategies of social media and how to use them. The book essentially teaches you how to use the information given to you in order to form social media in your  favor including how to create good content and how to edit and enhance what you post on the internet. One important aspect from the book I remembered was the idea that you can over do it and it was extremely important that you do not post too much because once you do, you lose respect and you just look like you're trying to spam and be annoyi...

26-A Celebrating Failure 1) This past semester I have failed a decent amount of times that I 100% percent could've done better in. The first failure began with my first Accounting exam where I did not study as much as I should have because I thought I would be okay for it when in reality I should've learned the material better. I did learn my lesson though and got substantially higher on my next exam. Another time I failed was recently while I played in the Regional tournament for the University of Florida's Men's Club Soccer Team. I didn't completely fail but I did not play as well as I would have liked in some of the games and I take that as a failure.  2) I learned from these two failures that I need to prepare ahead of time and be ready for essentially a big performance. I can't just half-ass everything and then kind of know what I'm doing, instead I have to get in repetitions from either problems or practice. 3) Failure is hard; it's em...

25A - What's Next? 1) The first customer I identified and interviewed was my old neighbor who has two boats and goes fishing about every weekend. I called him and explained my product along with some diagrams explaining my product and he was interested, especially if it was only $10 because that's not much money to help take care of the place where he fishes literally every weekend. I told him about my business plan and he had some ideas that would help my future such as offering me different ideas for products that I could build off of and ideas of innovation for my current product that may increase price but will increase efficiency and longevity. He also proposed a new idea to put it on mobile vehicles or come up with something for cars or lawnmowers that pick up trash instead of shredding them. Same idea as the boats but for land vehicles to take care of pollution there. 2) My second customer was my high school stats teacher who was interested because his family co...

24A- Venture Concept No. 1               I’ve lived most of my life on the water so the beach is a second home to me and we know in this increasing population that means more trash and sadly our beaches and bodies of water suffer from the pollution and debris that all of us humans make. That is why it is my company and product’s goal is to help preserve our beaches for our own benefit. I want this company to do more than just sell products, I want to make a difference in my own community and others dealing with the same sort of problem. In order to fully achieve and facilitate my idea of the sea sweeper into a reality that would help millions of people, I must create an opportunity for myself and have something innovative that someone has never created before or at least to the same efficiency as my product.               The opportunity that lies...

23A- My Venture's Unfair Advantage 1. Human Capital- My dad owns a business where all the employees are pretty well rounded and can do work dealing with physical labor to sitting in an office and doing paperwork and all these people I have worked with before so I believe that they would be willing to do work for my product/company. Rare, very valuable, hard to copy, decently hard to substitute. 2. Financial Capital- I have a decent amount of money saved up from all my birthday and gifts. Enough to get a business started but I'm not sure how much to keep it going. Valuable, not rare, easy to copy, easy to substitute.  3. Social Capital- Going to such a big school and being involved in sports, I get to know a lot of people from all sorts of backgrounds and with different skill sets so I believe I have a very diverse social network. Not rare, valuable, able to copy, not easy to sub. 4. Electronic Resources- All you need nowadays to start something is any electroni...

22A- Elavator Pitch 3 2) What stood out to me that I needed to work on is be more informational, like including the cost but I don't really have an idea of what it would cost but I do know it would be somewhat cheap. I don't want to mislead the reader just in case production prices are a little higher than expected. I'd rather reel them in with my idea. I also did this pitch with less nerves and spoke more clearly which I think helps my pitch tremendously.  3) I feel like my idea was presented clearly with a great diagram to show how my product works and a change from last time was I included both a little history of how my product started and a diagram of how it works and talked about a brief rewards program and explained how it would work so my customer gets a good grip to what my product and idea is all about. 

21-A Reading Reflection No. 2 1) After reading " Mindset " by Carol Dweck this past week, I can easily say that the main argument and point of the book was to stress the importance of the correct mindset, hence the title, when conducting business and starting your own company. Carol believes that psychology can lead to success and only with the right mindset, in combination with an idea and work ethic, but mindset is not something that can be lacking. Dweck makes it a reoccurring point that in order to be successful in business, you must allow your mind to grow and become more psychologically intelligent to progress.  2) The book enhanced what I'm learning in ENT3003 by showing me there is more to business than just having a good idea and a good work ethic, it's also about where you are mentally and your mentality when problems come along, because they will, and this affects how you deal with them and progress.  3) Honestly, as silly as it sounds, I would...

20A - Growing Your Social Capital 1) My first person who I would select is someone I used to volunteer for in beach cleanups, Mrs. Nardozzi. She was in charge of a beach cleanup crew back home in St. Petersburg where we went around the beaches in Pinellas County such as Redington beach, St. Pete beach, and Madeira beach. I believe she's a great domain expert because she has first hand account with cleaning pollution and debris from our waters and I know her well enough to know she is fully invested into this mission. I found her while doing my National Honor Society hours and signed up for beach clean ups. I believe her knowledge of what trash they usually find and where they find it along with things that would help pick up trash most efficiently would help me better come up with ideas for my product.  2) My second person I would select is the owner of the bait and tackle shop by my old house, Skip. Skip's owned his own bait and tackle shop for I don't even know h...

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2 1) Who I am has not changed since the first Idea Napkin so I will explain myself the same way as I did before. The story and history of my life and my parents origins are the same as before so you can check those out in my first Idea Napkin blog. But to further explain myself about who I am, I feel as if I am a very laid back person and am always trying to find ways to simplify things to save time, I'm very persistent with finding things to make life easier and more efficient.  2) My product also has not changed. I am still offering a cheap, easy way to help clean the environment while you are going about your leisure day on the water or a day out fishing on the boat. 3) My target market it mainly people who live near water and along the coast of Florida because these are the people directly affected by this environmental pollution.  4) They care because we are helping to fix the environment they so strongly care about if they want to...

18-A Create a Customer Avatar I find it really easy to describe my pro typical customer but I found it much harder to create an online avatar that did my customer justice. These are just three pictures that I find that describe my customer best with the first picture looking like a young male which in addition to the net two photos of a fisherman and a boat indicating that my pro typical customer is a younger guy who likes to fish or boat a lot. This is something I do have in common with my customer because I am from a beach area and being on the water was always a part of my week and I believe this is a coincidence because the product I want to create is for not only people around the world but obviously I would like to use my own product. Many of my customers will be more family people so not only young guys will be my customer but any guy that spends a lot of time in the water and usually people that do this either work for fishing companies or are on the boat with th...

17-A Elevator Pitch 2 2) The feedback from my last pitch was very important to the forming of my new pitch because a lot of the comments were saying about how I was struggling to get my point across and I was nervous and I feel like I fixed some of it by condensing the information so that it is easier for me to explain. I also included a drawing to help the person watching be more engaged and understand my idea more clearly.  3) Based on the feedback I added a live drawing that helped me help the person watching picture my product and idea and to further add to the value of my product and the effect it has on the person watching. 

16A- What's Your Secret Sauce? 1) Five ways in which I deem myself different in terms of human capital is that first of all I am Asian so that automatically makes me different and as much as it shouldn't matter, I am going to appeal to many more minorities in my market and many of them want to see a fellow minority succeed in an American market. The next unique quality is my persistence, many people would give up on their first fail of a product but I can't just give up after spending such a long time on something so I am determined to see my idea out. The third attribute I believe that is unique is my morals and ideals. I am a very family-oriented person being the oldest out of 5 children and spending so much time with my siblings taught me to really value the people close to you and the people that care for you and I translate that to my business which in today's day and age of money hungry CEO's and sharks, people will be more incline to affiliate with my co...

15-A Figuring out Buyer Behavior 2 1) This week I found 3 different people to interview as a part of my segment which were a classmate, my old teacher from high school, and the owner of a bait shop in St. Pete.  2) What I noticed in all 3 interviews was that each person had a set of alternatives that were much more simple and smaller scale than my idea of having a trash picker-upper on the sides of boats. All these people took more preventive measures to solve their problem by using less plastic such as buying reusable bags or metal straws but for their alternative that would directly compete with my idea, they did not have much of an alternative because I don't believe there is anything on the market that is directly picking up trash from our oceans. When asking my teacher about how he chose alternatives when making decisions he first stated that cost was a big factor because he wasn't making too much being a high school teacher and then next would be its usefulness. ...

14A- Halfway Reflection 1) Behaviors I have developed and used in this course are different from other courses I've taken. This class takes more real world action and developing skills "in the field" if you will because many of our assignments make us go out and do things such as conducting interviews and doing elevator pitches to learn instead of reading a textbook or watching videos to simply learn. 2) I don't believe my attitude has changed much because I never really have felt like giving up on this class because it has been interesting and fairly easy but for my other classes I have definitely felt like giving up once or twice and I've developed a resilient attitude and tell myself that I will get through it and I will do well. 3) My three tips for a student next semester is (1) Plan your day out as soon as you wake up, write everything you need to get done down and you will never miss anything. (2) Even when you feel like giving up, don't, t...

13A- Reading Reflection No. 1 1) I read Seth Godin's " This is Marketing"  and what surprised me most about this read was that Godin made it a strong point that social media is not the answer to marketing nor is it super effective and my thoughts were that in today's society, social media would be the biggest influence on society and your targets since virtually everyone has some sort of social media. What I most liked about Godin was his emphasis on getting a real connection with your customer and having stories that were true that people would empathize with rather than just advertisement spam and lies that would entice people to buy your product. What I least admired about him was that he didn't care about the money and for him that may be great because he is already a millionaire but for the most normal people reading his book, they want to learn about marketing for their product because it is their livelihood. Godin's biggest problem that he mentions...

12A- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior 1) A segment I would really like to target is the fisherman, oudoorsy-water type that usually spend their weekends with days on the boat or out fishing with friends.  2)  a. My old neighbor       b. My brother       c. My cousin (Fisherman)  3) What I found in common with all three is that their need becomes most salient when they are on the beach or on the boat. Obviously this is because this is when they see most of the trash that should not be there.Their needs are always there but become more of a problem when they are on the water or the beach and this is due to people littering and throwing trash into the oceans. 4) The first thing my interviews said they do when they see the problem is try to pick up the trash and dispose of it properly but there's just so much trash that they see that it is virtually impossible to accomplish their goal by picking up one piece of trash every time th...

11A- Idea Napkin No. 1 1) A little about me is that my parents are immigrants from Vietnam and they came to America with nothing more than what they could carry on hand and they had to start new. My father always had dreams of owning his own business and that's what he did. Along the way he taught me important things in business including laws you have to follow, the type of people you want to work with, and most importantly, you just have to put your idea into action. I believe that my surface knowledge of business and seeing how my dad's business was started and how it is still running to this day can help me start one of my own.  2) What I'll be offering to customers is a cheap and easy way to help out their environment while doing what they would usually do and I will include rewards to give back to the community that is working hard to keep the environment clean.  3) I'm offering it to a certain market at first which is to people living on the water, w...

10-A Elevator Pitch 1

9A - Testing the Hypothesis Part 2 After conducting 5 more interviews, this time on different types of people, I have come to a couple conclusions as to who would be a strong market to target and who would fall outside of this boundary. I found that most college kids that interviewed in part 1 were all for saving the planet and would go the extra mile to help preserve our environment but in my second set of interviews, I talked to mainly older people like parents and grandparents rather than kids my age and I found that the older the person is, the less invested they are into saving the environment.  Who: I think the strongest market to target would be the people who would most benefit from saving the environment which is the younger generation which could range from the 40s and below. I believe that the older generation falls outside of this boundary because they will most likely not live and suffer through the age where our environment is in such a condition that it need...

8A Solving the Problem I have already had ideas on possible solutions to my opportunity and the biggest one that would do the most would be a trash picking up boat that could clean up as it just passes by on the water. I've seen this type of vessel on one occasion and it was picking up trash in a little lake but it made all the difference and it sparked a social media movement that was talking about picking up debris in the ocean. That is the larger scale product but a smaller product I had in mind was a plastic alternative such as stainless steel cups or something small that can eliminate plastic.

7A Testing the Hypothesis 1) An opportunity I would like to pursue is the one that helps prevent the further litter and take care of the current debris in our water.  2) The government and environmental agencies that are working to solve this problem are moving too slow and not efficient enough to make a difference within the next 50 years. Who: Government and environmental agencies What: They are unable to efficiently remove debris and plastic from our oceans and unable to create a program to prevent further damage Why: It is not on the top of their agenda 3) I think this idea has a great potential to succeed but there is a problem, it takes mass people to help and it takes massive engineering and technology to develop things that could help pick up trash from the ocean. But, I believe smaller technology that could help the prevention of further trash in our oceans.  4) Instead of separately writing a summary of each interview I have instead decided t...

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends 1) Economic Trend #1: My first opportunity I wanted to share is one dealing with climate change. This topic is heavily trending in today's day and age with young people who are looking for a great environmental future where we can save our planet and prosper. I believe there is a huge opportunity in the market for fuel efficient goods ranging from big items such as electric cars to solar powered flashlights. (a) I found this by simply watching the news and all the headlines of climate change becoming a problem and the sustainability of the Earth. (b) I believe this opportunity exists because eventually we will have to do something about climate change and the sustainability of our environment so it will inevitably become an even stronger problem. (c) I think the prototypical customers are millenials and younger because their preservation of the environment will ultimately affect them the most. (d) It is a diffi...

5A - Identifying Local Opportunities Journal Review Crawford, Indiana, USA Tobacco banned at city parks Summary: The article basically explained how Tobacco was bad for not only you but for the people breathing in the second-hand smoke. Then it proceeded to explain why tobacco was being banned in state parks in the area and the types of ways you could get in trouble with tobacco.  Problem: I think it is obvious that the problem is tobacco and the state is trying to get rid of it slowly by introducing laws because it has such a negative affect on the human body and the wildlife around it. Who has the problem: Second hand smokers are really who have the problem addressed in this article because they come to a state park to enjoy nature and their experience is clouded by the smell of smoke and tar going into their lungs. Pioneer Press St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Shooting suspect appears in court Summary: This short article was informing them about the cas...

4A - Forming an Opportunity Belief 1) Beginning Point: I strongly believe there is a need for an alternative to plastic, specifically an alternative for bottles, straws, and bags. 2) Description: It is extremely apparent in today's generation that our environment is heavily polluted with plastic and debris that is either littered or unluckily ended up in our oceans and forests. Animals are dying from run-ins with this debris and the leftover trash causes many problems aesthetically and environmentally. There is a need for plastic alternatives as our oceans become more polluted and our coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate. Environmentalist, fisherman, and in general people who eat or enjoy marine life should be aware of this problem because in the future it will affect fishing, swimming, and marine life. Many people are working on this problem now by introducing paper bags for groceries. I am 100% sure this opportunity exists but I am unsure of how important it is to...

3A- My Entrepreneurship Story My most influential reason for taking this class and wanting to be an entrepreneur myself is largely due to my parents being entrepreneurs who came from Vietnam with absolutely nothing except their family and what they could carry. My parents had nothing growing up and worked 12 hour days while they were in high school and in college. Once they got their education they started business in mortgage and real estate and made themselves into something from nothing. Now my dad owns multiple businesses, one of them including his passion, soccer. We built a soccer complex/gym from a car junkyard and now my dad can do what he loves while providing for his family. I enrolled in ENT3003 because I wanted to learn how to think and act like an entrepreneur would so that I am able to actualize my ideas.  Here is an aerial view of the complex

1) Traffic along Archer is terrible when wanting to go anywhere around dinner time. Why: Many students probably just ended classes and many people go home after a usual workday 2) Apartments make you sign year leases even though you are only in college for 8 months out of the year Why: To make money off of their usually non-busy months because they know it is hard to sign a 4 month lease during summer since there are less students in summer. 3) College professors don't tell you or remind you about due dates often Why: They expect you to be on top of your work and just do it 4) Many fast food chains run out of food due to popularity Why: They didn't expect so many to sell out 5) Certain brands up charge so much for the same item another brand is selling Why: Certain brands have better quality or just have a brand name 6) There are not enough experienced coaches in youth sports Why: Many do not get paid much for the time commitment and therefore do not put i...

First Post!!