Posts

30A- Final Reflection

Image
I feel the most formative experience for me throughout ENT3003 was the first assignment where we had to conduct interviews. I believe this experience to be the most formative because it allowed me to understand that completing my venture was going to take commitment, energy, courage, and passion. The first time I went out and tried to find people who would take part in an interview I felt intimidated. I felt that not many people wanted to participate. From that point forward, I realized that producing a solution to an unmet need was going to come with ample obstacles and connecting with people was just one of them. Being forced to create connections and a network became simpler throughout the semester and now I have a great group of people interested in my product. I do believe that I have moved closer to an entrepreneurial mindset. I find myself being able to identify more unmet needs than ever. It is like this class has made problems more visible to me. I also feel like the...
5 comments
Read more

29A- Venture Concept No. 2

Image
Opportunity Approximately 90% of American customers will share their customer service experiences with others. Of those American customers, those who are angry will share their negative experience with and give anti referrals to about 15 people. In other words, negative experiences within a store can be easily spread and cause a stores attendance rate and sales rate to decrease. In addition, 60% of American will not desire to connect with a sales associate until they have browsed, completed extensive research, and made up their mind about the product or products they would like to purchase. It is also important to note that 30% of American customers leave a store empty-handed because of poor customer service.  Now, picture that you have a grueling week at work. Each day dragged on and you felt it was never going to end. As a form of therapy, you decide that when your work week is over you are going to go shopping. You walk into stores and you are approached by pushy emp...
5 comments
Read more

28A- Your Exit Strategy

1.        At the moment I am not quite sure which exit strategy I would choose. I believe this is mostly because I am currently focused on completing my bachelor’s degree and a business is not my priority. If I had to choose one though, I would probably choose to continue my business until retirement. 2.        I have selected this strategy because I feel it could be a a good side job to have. It will bring in extra money and provide me cushion for when I am older. Also, I am not sure how much this business can grow and am not sure if it will be worth enough to sell off to someone else. 3.        I think my exit strategy has influenced the way I went about my business throughout the class in that I was not completely dedicated to it. Like I mentioned above I am a college student and I am balancing my workload, with a job, and extracurriculars. Knowing that I was only going to use this ext...
3 comments
Read more

27A- Reading Reflection No. 3

Shoe Dog , Phil Knight 1.        I was most surprised by the fact that Nike only made 8000 dollars in sales in the first year. This was so surprising to me because it is now one of the most popular athletic brands out there. Being a sales associate at Orangetheory Fitness, I am surrounded by gym clothes all the time and Nike is by far the most popular brand I see on members. I most admired that Phil created the product based on his own needs. I think it is really nice to see an entrepreneur bringing a passion of theirs into the product. In his case, he was a runner and wanted supportive shoes. I least admired that he started out by hiring just people he knew. I think it is more beneficial to hire people outside of your inner circle because they will have differing mindsets and views than you. Phil did encounter adversity, especially in the beginning of Nike. 2.        I noticed that Phil was a very strong delegator....
4 comments
Read more

26A- Celebrating Failure

1.        I failed in the beginning of the semester when I identified the wrong customer for my unmet need. I was so focused on the fact that pushy employees affect shoppers, that I choose the incorrect customer for the product. I had initially said that the shoppers would be my customer, but that made no sense because the system I want to implement is for stores and stores would have to purchase it therefore, stores are my customer. 2.        I learned that even though I am meeting an unmet need of someone else, I can still sell to the people that serve the customer who is experiencing the unmet need. I also realized that my system not only helps the shopper, but it helps the stores. My system well allows for more sales in the long run and it will cause less shoppers to walk out of a store “empty-handed.” 3.        I believe that failure is necessary for an individual to grow. Without fa...
4 comments
Read more

25A- What's Next?

Existing Market I believe the next steps for my venture is to identify which stores I can implement my system in, that I have not already. My focus has been personal care stores, apparel stores, shoe stores, and grocery stores. There is an array of store types and I am sure there is some that are suffering from a drop in sales because of customers walking out empty handed due to pushy service. The customers that I focused on throughout my venture was managers at stores like Bath and Body Works. I interviewed these types of people because this is a store that I find pushiness can be very present. If I were to ask them what I should be doing that I am not currently with my venture, I feel it would be to make my product the style of their store. For instance, my venture just consists of providing different colored bags to stores like Bath and Body Works, but maybe I need to make them certain colors that match the stores theme or have them decorated in a way that they blend in with...
4 comments
Read more

24A- Venture Concept No. 1

Image
Opportunity Approximately 90% of American customers will share their customer service experiences with others. Of those American customers, those who are angry will share their negative experience with and give anti referrals to about 15 people. In other words, negative experiences within a store can be easily spread and cause a stores attendance rate and sales rate to decrease. In addition, 60% of American will not desire to connect with a sales associate until they have browsed, completed extensive research, and made up their mind about the product or products they would like to purchase. Now, picture that you have a grueling week at work. Each day dragged on and you felt it was never going to end. As a form of therapy, you decide that when your work week is over you are going to go shopping. You walk into stores and you are approached by pushy employees that just want you to buy something. Instead of this being a relaxing time, you end up getting frustrated and give up on ...
4 comments
Read more