Halfway Reflection

Tenaciousness is a competency 

The behaviors that I have used to keep up with the requirements of this course are time management and organization. There are a number of assignments do each week for this course, and I tend to look at them at the beginning of the week to gauge how long each one is going to take, which is where time management is extremely important because without it I would not finish the assignments by the due date or at all. Also, I think a behavior I am starting to develop  is getting out of my comfort zone and talking to strangers when I need to conduct interviews for certain assignments. I believe this is building more self-confidence in myself to approach individuals regardless of the situation.

Tenaciousness is about about attitude 

There was a moment when about a month into this course to where I thought my idea was not going to work out, and I hit a road block in trying to narrow down aspects of it, while being able to focus on how to solve the customers' needs. This is definitely a point where I thought about giving up for various reasons including not being able to find my target audience and making this idea a reality. Therefore, through these last two months I believe I have definitely developed a tenacious attitude, and I believe going through the different assignments each week have contributed greatly to this attitude. I think after getting a few interviews under my belt and hearing people's responses definitely helps when going through a rough patch, which then is able to motivate you to finish strong.

Three Tips 

1. I would definitely recommend starting the assignments early each week, and organize a schedule early on in the semester that you are able to make a habit throughout the semester to manage the stress and anxiety you may have if you are unorganized and procrastinate on the assignments each week. 
2. I definitely recommend to pick an idea that you have a passion for or that you can see needs an improvement with because it will help you get through the tough times and adversity when finishing the assignments associated with it. By having a passion for the idea it will give you more motivation to find a solution to the problem, and not put half-effort work into it. 
3. Lastly, I would stress that it is okay to miss an assignment or two during the course of the semester, since there are extra credit quizzes offered each week. Also, don't be afraid to talk to the professor or TAs when working through struggles with your idea or assignment because they can definitely add some positive feedback and confidence to power through each week. 

DaFeez

1.) This word is slang for, "For Real" or "What was that". It basically shortens those terms for this one word catchy phrase.

2.) There is really no definition for this word. It is more of an expression with something surprises or shocks you, and this word helps with the reaction.

3.) I have actually used this word for awhile now, therefore, I thought it would be good to continue using it for this assignment.

4.) When I first started using this word people would look at me crazy, and ask what I was saying. I would mainly use this word around my friends and co-workers in joking matters, and I thought my family would scorn me for using it, since it is more of a slang word. However, it caught on with my friends mostly, and I have heard them use it on a few occasions, but it is starting to phrase out and not  become something that is useful anymore.

Reading Reflection No. 1

For this reading assignment, I read Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk titled, "Elon Musk: Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future."

1.  Elon Musk

• What surprised you the most? 

The thing that surprised me the most about Elon Musk was the journey he took from South Africa through Canada and eventually to the United States to get to where he wanted to be in regards to getting involved in businesses. Also, he was very interested in making it in Silicon Valley, which he has done and is continuously doing so, which was another factor that surprised me.

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I think the thing that I admire the most about Elon Musk is his relentless work ethic where he does not want to stop working on something until it is complete. For example, one of his employees would work on a project with him, and Musk would say it would take a day to complete it, but they knew that meant it was going to take a week or two complete the task. Also, his ability to take NO as an answer and work until he would be able to make it a YES.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? 

The thing that I least admire about Elon Musk was how he treated his employees and potential investors early on in his career as a business owner. He would treat them with no respect and thought his way was the only way, and why everyone didn't answer why it wasn't that way when he would interact with them.

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes, Elon Musk encounter a lot of adversity and failure throughout his life, and I don't think he would be who he is today without all of those experiences. I believe any entrepreneur faces some type of adversity and failure. Also, Musk would find an alternative way to fix the issue that was causing his adversity or failure, which would lead to him finding a solution regardless of what effects it had on him.  

 2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

I noticed a variety of competencies that Elon Musk exhibits in his duties as an entrepreneur from creativity and innovation, to persistence, problem solving, persuasion, and finally quality performance.






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

A part that was confusing to me, while I was reading this book was section it was describing his college experience, particularly when he graduated from Penn, and was potentially going to Stanford for graduate studies. It just did not make sense.


4. If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?


First Question: How do you continuously come up with innovative ways that are ahead of the times, such as Paypal, and Tesla. I would ask this because I wonder what motivates him to continually want to solve problems when he is already consumed in other ventures.

Second Question: You are doing so much for environmentally sound factors with your companies Tesla and Solar City, and to some extent SpaceX. What do you see as being a major influence in the world that would make you interested into solving that problem as well? I would ask this question because he is ahead of the times when it comes to his ideas and making them into concepts.


5. For fun: what do you think the entrepreneurs's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
I believe his idea of hard work is to work on the project and task until it is able to function, and then continuously update until it is prefect, which it is never going to be. I agree with this opinion.  

Need Awareness and Information Search

SEGMENT

-Individuals who are interested or own an electric car

INTERVIEW RECORDINGS

Interview one  Interview two  Interview three

NEED AWARENESS

- The need arises when individuals are spending to much money on gas for their current cars.
   
- Also, when people are looking to upgrade to another car that is eco-friendly, and they are able to get more benefits/incentives out of having an electric car.

INFORMATION SEARCH

- When someone recognizes their need for an electric car the majority of the time they are going to do their initial search online followed by getting information from family and friends, and finally by going to a dealership.

FINDINGS

 I learned that once a situation effects an individual personally rather that is financially or emotionally that they are going to realize that they need to have an alternative to the current situation, therefore, creating a need for something new that can provide a solution. Also, if a person is personally aware of a better alternative then they are more likely to do some further research to see how they have benefit from it. 

CONCLUSIONS

In sum, I believe that once people become aware of a need, such as having an electric car over a traditional gasoline car that they are going to figure out the pros and cons of obtaining an electric car for their personal situation. Once, this happens they are move to researching as much information about this product that they can from a variety of sources to see if this is the direction they should continue to move in. 

Idea Napkin No. 1

     1.  I am a sport management major. My talents are mostly sports knowledge and geography based. My skills and experience are customer service, management, analytics, and international travel. I believe my aspirations for this business concept would definitely start out as a side job, and weekend project type of deal because I know I would not be able to support myself financial in the beginning.

     2. The product I am offering is car charging stations for electric vehicles think Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and Spark, BMW i3, Fiat, etc.. These stations would be around the Gainesville area to start out with, and I would like to expand to other cities that do not have this type of market yet, and are looking to invest in environmentally-friendly alternatives to gasoline. 

     3. I would like to target two audiences. First, I would like to target individuals who own electric cars and are in need of charging stations outside of their home. The second audience would be businesses around the Gainesville area who are looking to add means to attract and maintain their customer base.  I believe these two audiences are similar because they have related interests and values regarding issues connected to the environment and a better way of living. 

     4. I believe customers would pay me money for this product because this market is growing rapidly as individuals are becoming more environmentally conscience, while finding alternative ways to commute around towns and cities. There is definitely  going to be a stronger audience for electric cars in the coming future as technology advances for this industry and as the general population of the United States becomes more aware of the benefits associated with electric cars. Also, I believe businesses will be interested in having charging stations on their property for multiple reasons. First, would be the incentives they would receive from local and potentially state governments for adding environmentally friendly services. Next, it would draw more customers to the businesses that have these stations for people who have electric cars as well as have a positive impact/perception on the business from the customers word of mouth for adding these services.

     5. My core competencies To be honest, I just want to make a difference by trying to be more environmentally friendly and cut down on the carbon footprint. I think being able to educate individuals more about the electric car industry, and making them more aware of how they can make a difference is my key interest in doing this concept. Also, I have not heard of anything going on in Gainesville to add more charging stations in the near future so that would only benefit me.

For the most part I believe these elements fit together. The tough part about this business would be getting business to add multiple stations to their property. I believe there is a market gap where certain businesses here in Gainesville would be add to capitalize on this idea and further promote their mission. The aspect of my business concept that is somewhat weak would be my core competencies because anyway with monetary goods would be able to exploit this idea its only a matter if they want too.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Here is my Elevator Pitch No. 1. I hope to hear some feedback!

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Opportunity:  My opportunity consists of installing more electric car charging stations around the Gainesville area because right now they are only a few around the city. My plan would be to install some in the high traffic areas, such as the Oaks mall, and Haile plantation areas that don't already have these charging stations. Therefore, individuals who are in need of a charger do not have to rely on going to a certain area or place by having to plan their trips in the Gainesville around charging stations. 

Who: 

There are currently individuals who have a need for this service, but fall outside of the certain boundary because they have vehicles that can run on either an electric charge or gasoline, which most of the time are hybrid vehicles. Therefore, they don't necessarily have the need all of the time for car charging stations.

What:

The need I have identified about having more car-charging stations is different from the need of gasoline for cars because the need for gasoline is more attainable in the Gainesville area, and around the U.S. in general. 

Why: 

The need is different for individuals outside the boundary because it is something that does not directly affect them, so it is not a top priority for he or she to have more car charging stations in the Gainesville area.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Individuals who own electric cars	Individuals who own gasoline cars. (Diesel, Regular, Premium, etc.)
Car-Charging Stations	No need for Car-Charging Stations
Need more in certain areas of Gainesville	Hybrid cars that can use both gasoline and charging stations