Week 15 Reading reflection

Finally the last article or textbook chapter I will have to read for this class. But I have to say this is by far the most interesting one I read and it’s obvious why this was the last article assignment. Before I read this I had never heard of a think called micro finance and after ire ad it I thought to myself “why didn’t I think of this!” this is such an entrepreneurial idea, so much risk and possibility of failure involved, who would just wake up and think to do this. But this idea is just so amazing and it actually makes a difference. This article tells the story of an Indian women and how she was given a small loan of $200 with that she got a buffalo, solve its milk paid back the loan and made a small profit. She then reinvested her money got another loan and kept doing little things like buying chicken for eggs to sell. She eventually highbred her families daily income from $1-$10. That’s just amazing. The other thing about this venture concept is customer loyalty. When I say this idea has risk involved I don’t mean just customers not paying back your loans i also mean its surroundings. While this company was doing great in villages and helping poor families there where those villagers that robed the company and sues them, eventually kicking them out. But the company stayed ethical. They didn’t give in to threat and didn’t give the bullies any money they just simply left, this gained them customer loyalty from the rest of the village allowing their company to grow substantially in other areas. This is just another point in how much a customer really means to a company and how they are the backbone of the companies over all existence.

Elevator Pitch No.4

Most of the feedback I received was to talk louder and to practice my speech a little more so it comes out clearer. I tried that out for this take. I think that after doing this for so many times you just get better at it.  Mostly everyone liked my other pitches, they likes the short but simple but also informative so I tried not to change a lot of it. 

Final Reflection

Looking back through my blog the ones that stick out to me the most are the assignments that needed to include anytime of video recording. I dreaded these assignments and if it wasn’t for that I would have given this class 100% in the great scale. I have to say this I did very much enjoy this class. I loved that this teacher decided to so something really different by not having exams and my having us do these blogs. We were in charge of our own grades and I think that was also a nice twist because it separates the responsible from the not so responsible. But that leads to my other concern. The fact that we are in charge of our own grades means that it might separate the responsible students but it doesn’t mean it separates the hard working ones. In order for you to get the fullest amount of knowledge from this course you have to take the assignments seriously and you have to be willing to put in the work. There where so many blogs I read that where boring and did the minimum just for the grade, and they probably have the dame grade as me. This problem leads to lack of motivation in my opinion because it doesn’t allow much room for competitiveness. Other than that, I have to give this teacher props. I like his approach of the entrepreneurial concept and I honestly think I have a better understanding of opportunities and how to approach them because of this class. I do not think I’m an entrepreneur but I think this class has laid the foundation to a future entrepreneur.  My best advice for this class is one to stay ahead of the game. This class has a lot of assignments and at some points it can get over whelming but at the same time if you stay on top of it can be an easy yet very interesting effective class. My next piece of advice is to actually take it seriously. If you want to get the most of the 800 or so dollars you paid for this course try and put in the effort and learn a bit. This class has a lot of potential and you can see that it has actually fostered for future entrepreneurs. 

Venture Concept No. 2

Here in Gainesville towing companies make a fortune charging individuals for parking were they are not “suppose to”. Student who live off campus must take the bus to get to class. The bus ride can take up to 40minutes and take into consideration that campus is only about 10-15 minutes away from almost all apartment complexes. Here scoters are more popular because of their size, but not everyone can afford one. Many students have cars but they just sit on the apartment complexes parking spot, not being use because there’s just nowhere to park. My company, Advanced Construction, would build the most efficient, ecofriendly, underground parking garages, eliminating the parking issue in this city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62.4 square miles, of which 61.3 square miles is land. The population of Gainesville in the 2013 US Census estimates was 127,488, a 2.4% growth from 2010. Gainesville is the largest city in the region of North Central Florida. But to understand how my opportunity came about we might need a brief history lesson. In the fall of 1906 the University of Florida opened as a university for white men. Over time the university kept growing and so did the city. But the city of Gainesville was one of the many cities that was drastically affected after WWII. After the war The University of Florida had a dramatic increase in enrollment from U.S veterans coming home with their G.I Bills. This resulted in a 95.3% increase in the 1950s population in comparison to the 1940s. Growth staged in the 1960s but as a result of some of the universities expansion efforts, Gainesville saw a major population growth in the 1970s of 117.2%. Here, The University of Florida is a major financial boost to the community, in all the University of Florida contributes nearly $9 billion annually to Florida's economy and is responsible for more than 100,000 jobs. As you can see no one in the early 1900s thought this school will grow as it did. Gainesville was not build to hold such a big population. This has led to many problems, in the 1990s for example, the city went through a huge redevelopment effort to organize the population. Also we have one of the worse homeless problems in the United Sates.  Gainesville was ranked as the "5th meanest city" in the United States by the National Coalition for the Homeless twice, first in 2004 and the again in 2009. We also face another big problem parking. And although in my eyes parking problem is not as important as other issues the city might be facing, this is the issue where I saw an opportunity.

As you have read, parking is a huge opportunity for the city of Gainesville, but my company would have to act fast. But before we move forward let me clear your thoughts and worries about underground construction in Florida. It is possible. If you actually look how Disney was build you will come across a lot of underground tunnels and bunkers and this is all possible through a lot of maintenance. Everyone seems to have this idea that Florida is this huge sponge, well it is, but don’t underestimate the power of technology. We live in a period of inflation, meaning prices are always increasing. Over time equipment, labor and material cost could increase. Right now constructing such a project would be very costly and over time it is expected to get even more expensive. But my company would have a big and productive research and development team, meaning that over time my company could find cheaper but still of good quality materials to build the garages we could also perfect the way we construct the garages to be as efficient as possible. But cost is not the only reason why my company would have to start soon. My vision was build the garages underneath the buildings. So whatever building you had to go to, there would be parking available. Sadly most building at U.F are already built, making it impossible to build something underneath then. But if we start building the garages for all future building we should be able to alleviate the parking burden.

I believe my opportunity is huge. Imagine if we could figure out a way to build these garages here in Gainesville. We would be able to build them in even more populated areas. Especially populated areas which are still under infustructural development. Places like India or China, where there population is abnormally huge, we could find a way to fit all these people but underground. This might be far- fetched, but over time our population will continue to grow, maybe to the point where there is not enough space to hold such a big population. If we could figure out how to build something like garages under the ground we could eventually do even more, maybe homes or other building to give us more space. 

  

Many people seem confused about certain aspect within my idea and I think it’s important to address them here. For starters Gainesville is above sea levels, many seem to ask that question, although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). The second and third points go hand in hand. Another point which I briefly hit on was my revenue base. My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. And lastly something I care deeply about is our environment. Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactors go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages if building are not going to be there. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well.  

A lot of the feedback I got was positive. Mostly everyone liked my idea and where ready to support it if it were possible, that where I run into some trouble. Although I have extensively done my research and have found that Gainesville is well about sea level and that building  underground is possible to some extent (obviously not 20 stories underground), people tend to still question its possibility. This leads me to believe that my words are just not convincing. Other than that I was given some advice on my word usage and to put the history lesson a little after I explain my opportunity so I don’t put my readers to sleep, and I have applied all of these suggestion onto this post. The key difference in this post is the order and the extra information about elevation and underground construction in Florida. 

Underground Disney 

Week 14 Reading reflection

First let’s start off with chapter 3. This chapter talks about the entrepreneurship mind set. I would have thought that we would have been assigned this chapter at the begging in of the school year but it makes sense that we are doing this now. This whole class is about the mindset so this is a really important chapter for this class. I personally think this chapter is really relevant, even if you aren’t getting ready to open a business it’s so important to have a positive outlook on life. My favorite part about the chapter is the chart on page 58. This list common obstacles that you might face in a new venture and solutions. I think this could be really helpful because personally I think it’s better to be aware of the possibilities instead of finding things out on your own. This would save you time money and headaches. There’s nothing really in this chapter that I don’t agree with. Like I said before I think this chapter is really relevant and important. And it’s funny because a couple months ago I would have thought differently. If I could ask the author a question it would be when did he start getting into the mindset and how did things change for him afterwards. Chapter 4 goes hand in hand with chapter 3 and it’s probably why we were assigned to read them at the same time. This chapter talks about ethics and ethical challenges. If you think about it how you go about your morals really affects your mindset in your business and this is why I think this is an important topic to discuss. Also ethics is something really recent too. Before ethics wasn’t something you were taught in school, if anything ethics and morals derived from your atmosphere at home or your religion. But, I believe at least, after social media took off and the internet it is now a lot easier to see when someone does something wrong or controversial this allows us to form opinions and punishment. And in effort to try and prevent further ethical problems, our society has imbedded ethics into schools at an early age. Environmental awareness is one of my favorite sections. We really need a green revolution in this day in age but not enough people are taking it seriously or doing something about it. Even something as simple as recycling can make such a difference. If I could ask the author one questions it would be what were some of the hardest ethical challenges he has faced in his life time?

Going for Google Gold

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimization (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

My strategy wasn’t really anything special. I just wrote my blog post like how I susually write. Then if anything I would go back and make sure I was using descriptive words like “Gainesville” “Florida” “University of Florida” etc.

2) What were your keywords? How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

My idea was really broad. It was building underground parking garages in Gainesville to minimize the universities parking problem. So I would use general key words like “parking” “parking garages” “construction” “underground construction”, but then I would also use more specific words like “University of Florida” and “Gainesville”.

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

Other than my blog and YouTube I really didn’t market it on any other social media platforms. If I was really going to pursue my venture sharing my blog on Facebook and etc. Would have been something I would have done. But I did add key words about my project on the bottom of all my customer interviews. This helps when users are searching for videos on YouTube.

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

My most popular post was a more recent one, it was the “What’s Next” assignment. On that blog post I have 8 comments and 22 views. To be honest I am not sure if this has anything to do with the key words I used on the assignment. What I’m thinking is that this was one of the longer assignments we’ve had this year and not a lot of people did it so a lot of people got assigned to review mine. And my other thought is that most of those views could have been me constantly clicking on it and changing spelling errors.

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

I Googled “Underground Parking Garage Gainesville Florida” and I was not the first or the second or the third lick to come up. Actually I wasn’t even on the first page. But my first result was the downtown parking garage website for downtown Gainesville. I looked to see if I could find my page on google but after passing the 7^th page I gave up. 

Very Short Interview Part 2

Bellow in Grey is my old post and interview for convenience. 

Who I interviewed was Eduardo Cortez, he is a tested business entrepreneur and a clergyman. He first came to this country from Ecuador at the age of 30 with his family, with only one goal, to establish a Hispanic church. Eventually he found a work opportunity with the United Methodist Church. He started with a congregation of 5 members and is now the biggest and growing Hispanic Methodist congregation in Central Florida. Before that, Eduardo was very much involved in the business world. In Ecuador, Eduardo learned at an early age the tactics and strategies it would take to become a successful entrepreneur. By the age of 25 he was managing several male boutiques in 3 central malls in the capital. Finally here in the United States, he decided to dedicate his time to his ministry. A few years later, he would make a bad business decision and invest a large amount of his savings into a business called “The Natural Home” which would eventually go under. But business is trial and error. With this failing business venture came lessons, tactics, and strategies, which he put into practice with his church and his current successful day care business.

I started off by letting him know about my assignment and I just had a couple general questions for him to answer. After he agreed I started the interview.

My first question was, what does it mean to be an entrepreneur? And he responded as follows…

“It means to be persistent and consistent, and you need to shows dedication towards your projects at all times. It’s a challenge in someone’s life, but it’s definitely a reachable goal. Entrepreneurship isn’t always about money, but money is something that’s critical in a starting business. You have to realize that when you are an entrepreneur, you are helping other people, not just yourself, you’re a part of what’s helping your community and this country prosper.”

I went on to ask him my second question, which was, what should I learn from this course? And he said…

“You have to have a vison, and entrepreneurship vision, with a goal. This class should teach you how to focus on that goal and how to identify it. It should help you take those beginning steps in becoming an entrepreneur. It should help you have a general idea of those first steps, so when you do start your own business you have a solid foundation that will sustain you.

Another thing that I usually notice is that people usually start off with an emotional plan, an emotional business. When you first start off you need to start with a profit point of view. A lot of people don’t like to hear that. But in order to be successful you have to be organized and start off on the right foot or you could potentially lose a lot of money.”

Lastly I asked him if there was anything in school they wished they would have taught him, or if there was anything he wished he would have known before starting on this entrepreneurial path. Which he responded as follows.

“I always had a vision of what I wanted to do, but I never had a vision with a strategic plan. These two things go hand in hand. Something I wish they would have taught me in school is how to manage people. Also I wish I would have known, but also accepted that failure is inevitable. Lastly, it’s important to save money, to have something to always fall back on just in case, because business is not always good.”

Revisiting this interview, my thoughts haven’t changes. I think Mr. Cortez answered the questions really well, and I think his advice was good also. This time around I got to ask him my own questions. I contacted Mr. Cortez but due to both of our busy schedules I had to interview him on the phone.

My question where as follows:

What do you regret the most about pursuing your entrepreneurship dream and why?

“What I regret the most is the strain it had on my family. I moved here from Ecuador not knowing English and not with a lot of money as you know. And there were times where I found myself questioning if it was all worth it, leaving my family behind, putting my kids in such a new environment, and having to struggle just to provide for them. If I regret anything is what they went through for me and I am very grateful for my family.”

If you could go back in time would you change what happened?

“If I could, at the end I wouldn’t do it. Everything that happen to me, the failures, the bankruptcies, the division of my church, all of these things collectively are what have brought me where I am today. All my kids have gotten or are in collage right now, they all have good jobs, they got a better education that I could have ever offered them in Ecuador, my business is doing great, and the church is stronger than ever. Everything just happens for a reason.”

What the one main advice/ or tip that you could give me?

“Never give up, it might sound and seem simple but that has to be one of the hardest things about all of this. I had my wife and my kids to always keep me motivated, but some don’t have that. I was lucky enough that I did, but there have been plenty of tie where I’ve just wanted to give up or just retire and move on. But I’m still here, and I am glad that I am.”

I feel like the interview I did 3 months ago was sort of an ice breaker, this time around I felt more comfortable asking more personal questions. I could definably see that he was more comfortable talking to me too. It didn’t feel like much of an interview but more like a conversation. This could have also been in part to the fact that I did it over the phone. Either way this class has really drilled in us to talk about entrepreneurship and keep our minds open to possibilities. 

Week 13 Reading Reflection

This chapter mostly talks about how to value your business. This chapter was an interesting read because I’ve never really studied this topic in debt in any class. This chapter is mostly math but it does talk about an emotional side to this process which is what I found most interesting. People value a business strictly for informational purposes other times for is to sell the operation. The emotional side to this comes in when you start a venture. Its almost like a child, you have to nurture it through early growth and help with others perception of its value. But there’s a number of ways in which you can value your business. But all these different ways share some underline steps. First you have to analyze your business. And there are many different ways you can do this threw rations and stock analyzing. What I didn’t like much about this chapter is that if focuses a lot on companies that have sufficient resources to value their ventures at this scale. A lot of companies make their own accounting statement, because they are small companies that can’t afford to hire a CPA firms. These business are prone to financial error and thus prone to errors in valuation. And some business don’t even do financial at all, because that’s just how small their business are. Hence, I wish the author would have focus on other way to valuing the ventures, simple way in which small firms could use and afford.

Celebrating My Failure

I had graduated with my AA from high school, so I was only supposed to be at U.F for two year. Meaning I would graduate at 19 years old. Well that didn’t happen. When you do dual enrollment in high school you have the choice of just getting rid of general classes like english and algebra, or concentrating your AA in your field and getting rid of some of your pre-recs as well. Well I was an optimistic little senior and I got my AA in business administration. I don’t regret getting my AA but I regret doing my pre-recs. While in high school I took financial and managerial accounting and calculus, to mention a few. I got practically perfect 100 in these classes. But I have failed at a lot of things in recent year. I was not much to take failure lightly because it rarely used to happen to me, but ever since I’ve started collage that’s not the case anymore. My freshman year here I was very optimistic and motivated, my adviser put me in 3 semi-easy classes. I took management and marketing and I had a solid B in these classes and then my grandma passed away on the same week I had both those finals. While my family all left to go arrange the funeral in Puerto Rico I was stuck here in Gainesville taking finals. I did awful on them and ended up with C+s on both classes and I was so mad about that. Other than that all was good that fall. But my dual enrollment days where about to catch up to me.

I’m an accounting major so when I came to U.F with all these credits my adviser stuck me into junior level accounting classes. So my first spring semester I was taking FAR1, BP, CAL2, and International business writing. Well I didn’t remember anything from Financial and Managerial, and these classes I was taking now where 10x harder than what I took in my dual enrollment days. It was awful to say the least. At the end of that semester I dropped FAR1 and got a W and I did alright on the other 3 classes. At this point in my life I thought things could not get worse, I would just retake FAR1 in the fall if I anything I would be graduating a semester late, well I was wrong again.

After finals my doctor saw that my spine was twisting on me, to bare you the details this is really bad and I was scheduled for emergency surgery June of that summer. I was in the hospital for a really long time, I lost a lot weight, and now I have two bars and 23 screws holding my spine in place. My doctor told me not to go to school in the fall because my recovery was looking at about 4-5months. Well I didn’t listen, I said I would be ok and I started fall classes like everyone else. That semester was one of the hardest times I’ve ever been through, with school and medical complications (ill save you the details again) I failed Far1 for a second time, so that didn’t help and my graduation year has been pushed back for about a year. I did take FAR1 for a 3^rd time, and if you were wondering I did pass. Weirdly enough being an accountant is my dream and I haven’t given up on it.

Right now this is all in the past for me, and I have honestly learned a lot from this and all my failures. I’m a strong believer that things happen for a reason, but I have God and my family and friends to thank for everything I have accomplished since then. Failure is hard and I would honestly try to avoid it at all cost, but sometimes it’s just unavoidable. But it’s important to embrace your failures and learned from them. Cause I could have switched majors easy when I failed my class for a second time, and it honestly took a lot for me to sit through the same class for a third time. If anything I’m glad this class is encouraging us to share our failure story, because you are honestly not alone. 

My Exit Strategy

Background: My entrepreneurial concept was building underground parking garages. My vision was constructing these garages for interested parties. Hence my company would just be a contractor/builder so our revenue stream will come from business entities hiring us to build them an underground garage. My main goal was to fix the parking problem here at U.F but eventually my company could expand to even more populated areas. Especially populated areas which are still under infrastructural development. Places like India or China, where there population is abnormally huge, we could find a way to fit all these people but underground.

 I think my exit strategy will definitely be staying in the business until I retire. Throughout all the assignments that was just my underline thought. I never once thought of selling it of or giving it to my future children.

2.     I picked this strategy just because it has been installed in my culture and the way I was raised in general. It might not always be a good thing, but I was thought to always stick to my main goal and never doubt myself, especially in hard times. I could see this by the way my parents have handled there 27 year marriage, my dad’s 25 years of service ect. Also my parents have kind of installed in me this idea of when you start something also ways finish it, and finish strong.

3.     My exit strategy has definitely influence the other decisions I have made. Back to my first point, throughout the assignments, especially the ones requiring me to look into the future and into possible markets, all my plans where long term plans. I even talked about expanding my venture into foreign markets, like India who have very high populations and poor infrastructure. Such expansion would take time and a lot of money.  

Reading reflection

This chapter is all about preference in my opinion. It has some really good advice but not everyone is the same. Strategic planning is something that I would personally recommend but not everyone good that happens, has to be planned. A lot of people who run into new venture ideas just run into them and take the opportunity they aren’t necessarily looking for it. like the chapter mentioned and I really agree with is the fact that everything here has one common element, its that it’s an extension of the entrepreneurship vision. Research suggest that small business that use strategic planning are better off, but honestly strategic planning in my opinion is not a by the book thing. Someone out of the business college here has a lot of knowledge and there are going to apply it in the real world, doesn’t have to be labeled a plan. What I don’t agree with is the fact that they say entrepreneurs have to concentrate on 3 things. Increasing perception, institutionalizing the venture goals, and desire to be innovative. Yes all these things are important but almost all start us won’t have the capital to fund this and other things take more importance at times. All in all this chapter has a lot of great advice and if I could ask the author anything is about personal experience. he write all this stuff and all these things you should know, well I want to know if he has implemented any of it in real life. 

Whats Next

Existing market:

Step1:

My entrepreneurial concept was building underground parking garages. My vision was constructing these garages for interested parties. Hence my company would just be a contractor/builder so our revenue stream will come from business entities hiring us to build them an underground garage. The next thing I believe my customers are going to want is cheaper prices. Right now constructing such a product would be very costly. I think the next ting will just be finding ways to minimize cost and be more efficient in order to cut cost. I also think that our nest thing is expansion. Originally my idea was just a means of fixing the parking problem at U.F but there are many places in the U.S that suffer from dense populations and in turn horrible parking.

Step2:

After describing my idea with potential customers I asked them the following questions.

I asked customers what should we be doing that we aren’t doing?

Do you think customers in other populated locations might what more parking garages as well?

Step3:

I think our future path looks as follows. We would run a lot of test and gather a lot of data and finally build one garage. After that garage we would see how it goes, how it’s holding up and see if it’s as popular as I expect it to be. Then over time my company could find cheaper but still good quality materials, maybe over time we could have perfected the way we construct the garages to be as efficient as possible and things of that sort.

For my kind of business I have two possible ideas the “next” thing could be as a mentioned before. For started is we find a way to build underground parking garages here in Gainesville, we could move out of state and start constructing underground ground garages in other parts of the country. In order to do that we would have to research other potential candidate cities, study  their local laws and regulations, test their land and just over all have a lot of hard evidence that this will be beneficial before even building anything.

New Market:

Step1:

My radically different market that eventually I would plan on targeting would be some international countries. We would be able to build them in even more populated areas. Especially populated areas which are still under infrastructural development. Places like India or China, where there population is abnormally huge, we could find a way to fit all these people but underground. These undeveloped nations will eventually catch up with the rest of the wealthy nations but something that these wealthy nations don’t have any experience on is how to govern and manage so many people. China and India together hold about half of the world’s population. And although the U.S is big land wise, out population can just not compare. Infrastructure is a major key in order to be and to reach developed nation “status”. But how are these so populated countries going to do that? Well I think my underground parking garage idea can help not just in that regard but it could foster other ideas on how to spread different kinds of infrastructure underground.

Step2:

Let’s take India for example. My idea can create value for their society in many different ways. For starters it can help them be and keep organized. India has really bad traffic/traffic rules. There has crazy of number of cars and about 4 lanes drawn on the ground but the people make about 6 lanes because they don’t follow the lines on the grounds. Not to mention pedestrians cross the street and cars don’t stop, cars just move around them. And rarely do individuals actually pay attention and listen to traffic lights. My underground parking garages can help with bringing some discipline to Indian streets. Although it wouldn’t fix the problem it would be a start.

Step3:

I found some potential customers and I asked them the following questions.

What do you think about my idea?

What kinds of adaptations to the product/service mix do they think you should make to be successful in this new market, like India or China?

Step4:

I definitely still think this market is as, or I would even say, more attractive than my existing market. India is still very underdeveloped and it’s going to see massive growth in the next couple of years. There whole country is massively populated they are my perfect targeted customer. My assumptions where correct I expected them to question whether it was ok with the government, if it was expensive and stuff like that.

Venture Concept No. 1

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62.4 square miles, of which 61.3 square miles is land. The population of Gainesville in the 2013 US Census estimates was 127,488, a 2.4% growth from 2010. Gainesville is the largest city in the region of North Central Florida. But to understand how my opportunity came about we might need a brief history lesson. In the fall of 1906 the University of Florida opened as a university for white men. Over time the university kept growing and so did the city. But the city of Gainesville was one of the many cities that was drastically affected after WWII. After the war The University of Florida had a dramatic increase in enrollment from U.S veterans coming home with their G.I Bills. This resulted in a 95.3% increase in the 1950s population in comparison to the 1940s. Growth staged in the 1960s but as a result of some of the universities expansion efforts, Gainesville saw a major population growth in the 1970s of 117.2%. Here, The University of Florida is a major financial boost to the community, in all the University of Florida contributes nearly $9 billion annually to Florida's economy and is responsible for more than 100,000 jobs. As you can see no one in the early 1900s thought this school will grow as it did. Gainesville was not build to hold such a big population. This has led to many problems, in the 1990s for example, the city went through a huge redevelopment effort to organize the population. Also we have one of the worse homeless problems in the United Sates.  Gainesville was ranked as the "5th meanest city" in the United States by the National Coalition for the Homeless twice, first in 2004 and the again in 2009. We also face another big problem parking. And although in my eyes parking problem is not as important as other issues the city might be facing, this is the issue where I saw an opportunity.

Here in Gainesville towing companies make a fortune charging individuals for parking were they are not “suppose to”. Student who live off campus must take the bus to get to class. The bus ride can take up to 40minutes and take into consideration that campus is only about 10-15 minutes away from almost all apartment complexes. Here scoters are more popular because of their size, but not everyone can afford one. Many students have cars but they just sit on the apartment complexes parking spot, not being use because there’s just nowhere to park. My company, Advanced Construction, would build the most efficient, ecofriendly, underground parking garages, eliminating the parking issue in this city.

This is a huge opportunity for the city of Gainesville, but my company would have to act fast. We live in a period of inflation, meaning prices are always increasing. Over time equipment, labor and material cost could increase. Right now constructing such a project would be very costly and over time it is expected to get even more expensive. But my company would have a big and productive research and development team, meaning that over time my company could find cheaper but still of good quality materials to build the garages we could also perfect the way we construct the garages to be as efficient as possible. But cost is not the only reason why my company would have to start soon. My vision was build the garages underneath the buildings. So whatever building you had to go to, there would be parking available. Sadly most building at U.F are already built, making it impossible to build something underneath then. But if we start building the garages for all future building we should be able to alleviate the parking burden.

I believe my opportunity is huge. Imagine if we could figure out a way to build these garages here in Gainesville. We would be able to build them in even more populated areas. Especially populated areas which are still under infustructural development. Places like India or China, where there population is abnormally huge, we could find a way to fit all these people but underground. This might be far- fetched, but over time our population will continue to grow, maybe to the point where there is not enough space to hold such a big population. If we could figure out how to build something like garages under the ground we could eventually do even more, maybe homes or other building to give us more space. 

  

Many people seem confused about certain aspect within my idea and I think it’s important to address them here. For starters Gainesville is above sea levels, many seem to ask that question, although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). The second and third points go hand in hand. Another point which I briefly hit on was my revenue base. My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. And lastly something I care deeply about is our environment. Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactors go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages if building are not going to be there. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well.  

Week 11 Reading Reflection

This article was very interesting and I think very helpful if you are someone always trying to think outside of your box. I loves how the author had a running story throughout the article on the evolution of glass. It pretty amazing how it went from being used by Thomas Edison for light bulbs all the way to gorilla glass. Either way, one of the main points I wanted to hit from this article is how companies can just trap them self’s in a viscous unproductive innovation cycle. The author mentioned he worked for a contact lance company who decided to innovate and re-amp what there company focus was. After some time senior management review the R&D files and came to the conclusion that they have gotten nowhere and just wasted money. What’s important to realize is that innovation has to be value creating and value adding to customers. But how do you do that? Well the author also went into some details on the topic. He goes on to say that a product is creating value is is does something for the social wellbeing or it if saves the customer money and I thought that was clever. What I though the biggest take away here was “Choosing what kind of value your innovation will create and then sticking to that is critical, because the capabilities required for each are quite different and take time to accumulate.” Its just like going into the stock market. Sometimes you just got to stick with it till it becomes profitable, even if times get bad. I feel like a lot of companies could and would be up to some innovating revolutionary products but they give up them to quickly. 

The Amazon Whisperer

My entrepreneurial concept was building underground parking garages. My vision was constructing these garages for interested parties. Hence my company would just be a contractor/builder so our revenue stream will come from business entities hiring us to build them an underground garage. The next thing I believe my customers are going to want is cheaper prices. Right now constructing such a product would be very costly. Over time my company could find cheaper but still good quality materials, maybe over time we could have perfected the way we construct the garages to be as efficient as possible and things of that sort. For my kind of business I have two possible ideas the “next” thing could be. For started is we find a way to build underground parking garages here in Gainesville, we could go international and start constructing underground ground garages in other parts of the country, and even the world where parking is a problem. My other idea might be far-fetched, but over time our population will continue to grow, maybe to the point where there is not enough space to hold such a big population. If we could figure out how to build something like garages under the ground we could eventually do even more, maybe homes or other building to give us more space. Sadly amazon does not sell parking garages, let alone underground parking garages, so I do not have any reviews and input on the reviews to share. But if we do expand to let’s say building homes underground our current plans will undergo a lot of change, from the structure of the building to the people working on it. Eventually if we find a way to build bigger buildings underground without harming the environment, I think building other structures underground will all make good concepts to add to my current offering. 

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

My 10 resources

1.     Social need

a.     VRIN Analysis: Most student move away from home and bring their cars with them, and a large portion of them just keep them parked somewhere and barely to rarely use them because you just can’t find parking here. Most students take a 30-40 minute bus ride just to get to class, and take into consideration campus is only 10-15 minutes away from most apartment complexes here in Gainesville. Another major issue it towing.  Towing is Gainesville way of fixing it’s over population. If you park somewhere you’re not “suppose” to park, your car will get towed and they will hit you for a $100 fine.

2.     Financial capital

a.     VRIN Analysis: This will take a lot of money but like I will mention in another one of my points, we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages, and they will be paying a lot of money.

3.     Local availability

a.     VRIN Analysis: Here in Gainesville we do have a lot of space, but my overall my idea was to build the parking you need under the building you are trying to get too. This is going to be hard, maybe even impossible to build underneath already built buildings. This could become a problem in other populated places around the world, but in Gainesville we still have a lot of space. But if you think of potential markets, think of India for example. They have weak infrastructure, lots of potential economic growth and a big population. When they are building their future universities, hospitals and government building they should consider my idea.

4.     Environmentally friendly

a.     VRIN Analysis: Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactor go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well. 

5.     Human capital

a.     VRIN Analysis: This is something I don’t have quite figure out yet. In order to build I will not just need materials I will also need people. I’m going to need a very knowledgeable contractor, architect maybe a team of subcontractors, and all of this has to be done in a reasonable time frame.

6.     Space efficient

a.     VRIN Analysis: my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically) and the whole point is that they will be underground, so its space efficient and other things can be built on top of them.

7.     Cheap for the consumer

a.     VRIN Analysis: My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. And I think it’s very unlikely that will charge a lot of money.

8.     A lot of potential customers

a.     VRIN Analysis: If you live in Gainesville then you know parking is a problem. If you have a car chances are you can’t use it to go to school because on campus parking is so limited, so you have to leave your apartment of house sometimes up to 30-40min before you class even starts to make it to school on time. the city of Gainesville was not built to hold such a big population and there are many other city’s with the same problem.

9.     Easy access

a.     VRIN Analysis: My garages would be built as close as they can possibly be to your destination, right under them.

10.   Potential future needs                       

a.     VRIN Analysis: If my company happens to find a safe and efficient way of building underground somewhere in the near future we might need to expand underneath the earth to help accommodate our growing population.

What I think are my best qualities would be a mixture of 8, 7 and 4. A lot of people need parking so there is a vast amount of potential customers. My company is a private corporation, is not a government project or entity that’s going to cost tax payers any money. Individuals will contract us and pay us to build them and they will decide how to regulate the parking spaces. But something that I think is different is that I would try to make this as least environmentally hazardous as possible. And I would try to give back to the environment my planting trees or even a garden on top of the garages. 

Week 10 Reading Reflection

This is my chapter, and the one I’ve enjoyed the most. Right of the bat I just hate how little importance everyone (maybe not everyone) gives to accounting. The author only dedicated one chapter to this subject. In the real world if you don’t have intensive accounting knowledge you’re going to run into a lot of problems that otherwise you could have avoided. I hate how the author does not give any attention to controls. Accounting, although some might find hard to believe, is not just about creating taxes and sending them to the IRS. It’s not even about creating reliable financial statement. It’s about the accounting controls. When auditors go into a corporation to audit their finances, you really think they have enough time to go through all those numbers and check if someone is recording them wrong or stealing? That would take about twice the amount of time it takes to just make them. Accountants audit the companies controls, if a company have good controls that means their facial statement are most likely presented fairly. Not vice versa. I personally believe the U.S has the best standards with GAAP. IFRs is slightly simpler but there’s a lot of grey area that I don’t agree with. If a country wants to control corruption, money laundering and wants to expand their internationals trading markets, financials statement and standards are crucial and I would highly suggest adapting GAAP. If you can just imagine how important these documents are to investors, make that triple the importance in your head. Financials are crucial in getting investors trust and money, as an entrepreneur, if you can realize the importance and use it to your advantage you would be not just one, but a good 8-14 steps ahead of the game. How many business go under just in one year that could have been prevented if the business had a management team that understood accounting controls, budgets and financial assessments? All of them. This chapter does not do accounting justice and it intertwines a lot of accounting and finance concepts all in one. Yes it’s important to know the accounting and finance are sisters who work very well together, but it’s also important to know that accounting is the bigger, stronger sister. Well by now you can probably tell I’m an accounting major, if not I’ll leave you with one last note, accounting is not math, it’s and art. 

Growing Your Social Capital

This assignment was very difficult for me. My idea wasn’t really anything normal or ordinary, you could say. The idea I have been pitching from the beginning of the semester has been underground parking garages to minimize the parking problem in large populated areas specifically Gainesville. My overall idea was to build underground parking garages about two levels deep and very wide. For starters Gainesville is above sea level (a lot of people seem to ask) although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. I imagine my idea will be very costly but again, it would be up to whoever wants the garages built decide how they want to make a profit if they want to make a profit. Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactor go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well.  

Domain expert:

Who:

Benmar Construction in Ocala, FL

How:  I called their office because one of my parents neighbors contracted them to remodel his kitchen.

Conversation:  

Q: Can you tell me a quick summary of what your company does and what it stands for?

A: We are a local construction company located here in Ocala.  We are family owned, ran by father and son, the Bennett’s. We have an amazing team that just loves what they do and they are great at it. We care very deeply about our customers and we try to make their dreams a reality. We relly heavily on our customers experience and reviews we are a very hands on team that tries to create relationship of trust and honesty with our customers.

Q: Have you guys ever done parking garages?

A: no we haven’t. We mostly focus on residential and commercial construction but on a smaller scale. You mentioned you heard from us because you neighbor used our services for his kitchen? Well we do projects of that sort but we do, do small to medium commercial building, or renovations or remodels. For example not that long ago we were the ones contracted to remodel the local DSW Shoes here in Ocala but we also do family homes.

Q: How do you go about getting customers?

We have been in the business for over 20 years now, things have changed a lot from the late 90s and early 2000s but we have always relied heavily of just simple word of mouth. We started with small scale renovations and we have grown this big today and I think out work ethic has a lot to do with that. Of course we keep up with social media, we have a website and a Facebook page. We even have a blog where we post articles relating to our business

Market expert:

Who:

McGurn Management Company

How:  I googled them and I called their office

Conversation:

Q: Could you tell me a little bit about the types of projects your company takes on?

A: We do a range of different stuff, from apartment complexes, condominiums, retail spaces, offices parking garages, and parking lots as well. We are well known here in Gainesville because of our redevelopment project on the southeast quadrant here in Gainesville it included 144 apartments, and 85,000 square feet of offices and retail space. In 2000 than we did 140,000-square-foot Union Street Station containing 51 residential condos above 40,000 square feet of offices above 35,000 square feet of street-level retail space.

Q: You mentioned parking garages, could you tell me more about that? My idea for school is underground garages to maximize space in populated areas.

A: That’s an interesting idea, I’ve never heard of that. But yes I can tell you about are parking project, but they have all been above ground. There are many variables to a project of that kinds, the most important one being size. The average garage is 145,000 sq ft. these are expensive projects you know, you need a very knowledgeable contractor, architect maybe a team of subcontractors, and all of this has to be done in a reasonable time frame. It is also going to entail a great deal of site preparation and machinery costs. So a “average” 5 story garage, each floor about 10 ft high is going to cost around 8-9 million dollars.

Supplier:

Who: The internet

It’s really hard to find someone who sells things that parking garage needs. Because a parking garage needs a lot of stuff. Steel framing, concrete block, brick ect. All plumbing, machinery, carpentry, and electrical services as needed. Not to mention labor. All in all it’s a big job that require a lot of money and a lot of knowledge. 

Reflect:

All in all this took a lot of time and effort. My idea is just an idea, there no way I could pull such a project off on my own at this stage in my life, but it’s interesting to note all that goes into just things we see every day. I think this exercise really helps us keep an open mind and allows us to realized was real entrepreneurship takes. 

Elevator Pitch No. 3

All the comments on my past elevator pitch where positive. Not one person criticized it. But I have gotten some constructive criticism on other assignments dealing with my idea. I got a lot of  whether my idea was possible due to sea levels, where in my business venture was I going to make money, where am I going to get money to start it and ideas on how to make it more eco-friendly. For starters Gainesville is above sea levels although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). The second and third points go hand in hand. My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

This chapter talks about marking. I don’t think a lot of people realize how important customers are to a business. Customers are what drive and keep your business afloat. Marketing is an essential part of the key to a successful venture. Without marketing how could you reach potential customer? How would you be able to differentiate yourself with the completion? There are many ways to be a successful marketers. For starters you have to do your research. In this day and age technology really helps with that, and has made thing a lot easier for companies in that regard. But you also have to be able to interpret the information you obtain correctly and put it to good use. And then the hard parts comes of the strategic decisions. There is a reason why marking has its own department in big companies, heck there’s a reason there’s a whole major dedicated to it. I really likes the authors take on this chapter, of course it’s just a snippet of everything, and if you would like to know more a marketing class is really where you should go.  

SHARE: What's Your Secret Sauce?

*I’ll be honest, I did not record my interviews. I did this the day it was due, too late to go from apartment to apartment. But I did call these individuals and this is really what they said.

1.     Well for starters in fluent in Spanish. When I think about things that set me apart from others I just feel like in getting interviewed that’s usually my go to difference.

a.     I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, so I am bilingual but I’ve also been exposed and I’m used to a different culture, which makes me competitive.

b.     I’m a hard worker as well, I graduated with my AA while still in in high school and now I’m at the University of Florida.

c.     I’m really independent, I’ve had a job ever since I was allowed to. I don’t like to burden my parents financially or myself, so between scholarships and my paychecks I pay for my tuition, books and rent.

d.     I’m adventurous, I’m not afraid to try new things. In fact I really enjoy taking myself out of my comfort zone.   

2.     Interviews

a.     Aleandra (my sister)

                                               i.     You’re the smartest person I know. If I ever have a question or need help I just call you. You have a really good sense of style? I’m not sure if that helps any. You’re really caring, you always put yourself before others.

b.     Courtney (my best friend)  

                                               i.     You’re funny and cool. You always speak your mind and you sometimes get in trouble because of it, and its funny. You have no filter, and your opinions are always known, you either say them or your face does it for you. You're always here for me, you're nice, hardworking, selfless, and you’re supper good at makeup.

c.     Jose (my boyfriend)

                                               i.     You’re pretty, smart, nice, caring, selfless, hardworking. You’re always there for everyone. You’re good at a lot of things.

d.     Cho (my roommate)

                                               i.     Oh gosh, you are such a hard worker not to mention an amazing cook. You are really smart, charismatic and knowledgeable. Because there’s a difference between being smart and knowledgeable. You’re fun and spontaneous too and supper pretty.
 I think mostly everyone I interviewed was just complementing me. I have a feeling it was just
because I had called them, recording them would have probably resulted in more professional
accurate answers. 

Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. 

I’m just a university student, but I am more than half way done with my degree in accounting. If I were to take on this business concept it would be after graduation. So that puts me in a place where I will be a Certified Public Accountant, with experience in running an efficient and profitable business. I’ve also been working sense I was 16, all my previous jobs have required direct contact with customers, so as of now I have a great work ethic and great customer service.  

2) What are you offering to customers? 

 I’m offering customers the choice to either use their car or use public transportation. I’m offering them about an hour extra of sleep in the morning. I’m offering them a solution to their parking problems. My underground parking garages will not take up space so in turn they won’t make already crowded areas even more crowded and they will provide a cheap parking spot.

3) Who are you offering it to? 

My main focus is to target the University of Florida’s population. All students that live off campus have struggled or a currently struggling with this problem. Through time we could broaden our target customers to the whole city, but for now mostly students and faculty around the universities perimeters. My original intensions where to help the University of Florida parking problem but Gainesville is not the only city that suffers from this issue, so mainly my target is places that lack parking space.

4) Why do they care? 

They care because most student move away from home and bring their cars with them, and a large portion of them just keep them parked somewhere and barely to rarely use them because you just can’t find parking here. Most students take a 30-40 minute bus ride just to get to class, and take into consideration campus is only 10-15 minutes away from most apartment complexes here in Gainesville. Another major issue it towing.  Towing is Gainesville way of fixing its over population. If you park somewhere you’re not “suppose” to park, your car will get towed and they will hit you for a $100 fine.

5) What are your core competencies? 

 What mostly sets me apart is the fact that they are underground. This allows us to build right under the populated areas and will allow customers to be right where they need to be. Yeah we have parking garages here, but they are really far from your destination, sometimes so far that you have to take a bus from the parking garage just to get where you need to be.

I think all the elements of my idea fit together really well. Parking here is a really big problem and I’m offering a solution for it. A solution that would be inexpensive to students but helpful.

The four main issues students brought up in the comments where whether my idea was possible due to sea levels, where in my business venture was I going to make money, where am I going to get money to start it and ideas on how to make it more eco-friendly. For starters Gainesville is above sea levels although there are some areas that are not, so my company would have to run a lot of test just to make sure the areas we are building the garages will have space. Also my garages will only be of 2 floors or less. We would create more space by expanding sideways (horizontally) rather than downwards (vertically). The second and third points go hand in hand. My plan is to make money through the decals but we are a construction company, not a service provider. So businesses, schools or even the government would contract us and pay us to make these garages and it would be up to them to monitor them. Construction period is not environmentally friendly, usually when contactor go out to build something they start by clearing the land. My company will sadly have to do that, but we will also create a natural environment above the garages. This was we will be using a space efficiently and giving back to the environment as well.