30A – Final Reflection

The most formative experience I had was the Bug List assignment we had to do in the beginning of the semester.  I remember having hated this assignment because it was difficult to come up with 20 things that bug me.  However, I think this is a great assignment to get ones mind working in an entrepreneurship type of way.  This is what makes someone think outside the box and try to identify the needs of yourself, which in many cases are the needs of others as well.  I was joyous with having thought of an idea and building on it week after week.  I never thought to get feedback from people outside of my circle and knowing that I have support from random people as well as people within my community is a great feeling. 

Although I don't see myself as an entrepreneur yet, I do know that I have developed a perspective different than when I started the class.  I see things in different point of views and seek to find better ways in which people of all ages,cultures, and classes would like to benefit from a service.  I've learned that one idea may lead to another and changes are willing to happen.  Adaptation to change is key to staying on track and change is not always a bad thing.  I am a very competitive person so I've also learned how to use this as an advantage and fuel for overcoming obstacles and failure. 

For this class, I recommend students to stay on top of their assignments and dedicate time on a weekly basis to watch the lectures.  Each assignment is worth a small point but at the end of the semester, these points add up and can be hard to get back up if one falls behind.  I would also encourage the students to really do the assignments as they are set up because it forces one to go outside their comfort zones and actually into the real world situations.  By doing the assignments we must actually do real life scenarios of what small business owners had to do when they first started.  Many people want to start their own business and don't know how to go about it, and these assignments are really the early development and steps that will help a students mindset. 

In entrepreneurship, one will be faced with many obstacles before finally reaching the finish line.  Stay focused, stay driven!

29! - Venture Concept No. 2

 CAR WASH TO-GO

Opportunity
The opportunity exists in the fact that many people in the state of Florida own or lease their own vehicles.  Although many people do use public transportation, Uber, or use their bicycles, I think for the most part many people have their own cars.  For example, there are 3 adults living in my house and there are 4 vehicles (one is used for work only).  If you are like us, you like to drive in a somewhat clean car.  Three (possibly 4) cars need to be washed on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, and this is just one household.  If I count up all the cars on just my street, we are talking about 60 cars on my street alone.  There is big opportunity for a mobile / auto detailing company to profit from all these cars.  Some people do like to clean their own cars but for a service that can be done anywhere, I think many people would love to take advantage of such a service at their disposal.  Unlike metropolitan cities where much of public transportation is used, here in Florida there are many cars that can utilize such a service.  I think a big customer base would be the elderly population as some cannot work outside and physically may be unable to wash their own cars.  The elderly population is big here in Florida as well since many of them like the warm weather and some come down to retire.  There is even an influx of people who come spend the winter days (snowbirds) down here in the warmer weather compared to being in the snow.  It is great because it doesn't snow in Florida so there really are no days off unless we get some rain which in some cases, services can still be done under garages.  Another prospective customer would be business people.  Many people just don't have the time to clean it themselves but they have the money, and don't mind spending money for someone to wash their cars.  I personally don't like waiting and know many other people who don't like waiting, so even a mother of 4 children might want to get her minivan cleaned her daughters gymnastics class.  There are a wide variety of people who would be extremely happy by this service and I believe there is great potential for it.  I would have to look into downtown areas where they have parking garages for several companies.  There are hundreds of cars here that people park daily to go to work.  As a classmate mentioned, this would be a great help in washing and drying vehicles since I would not have to be out in the scorching Florida sun.

Innovation
There are many ideas my business would implement that I haven't seen done yet.  First, I would create an app that works for both iPhone and Androids that will enable a customer to choose the services they want and choose a date and time for when they want it to be done.  The will also be able to pay by the app in a variety of different ways including credit card, pay pal, cash app, venmo, bit coin and debit card or gift cards.  This way, a customer will never have to pick up the phone and make an appointment but they can directly do it from wherever they are in about 2 minutes time.  My price point will start out at $50 for a standard wash of exterior and interior, and while this may seem above average price, I will assure my customers of great quality and also inform them that the soaps I use are also environmentally friendly.  They will not have to worry about their family breathing in any toxins as the interior cleaners will ALL be harmless.  Neither will they have to worry about any chemicals being spilled into the streets and into our drains because the products I use will be harmless to our environment as well.  As customers request different services such as polish or wax, the prices will go up accordingly to the size of their vehicle and the difficulty of the service.  The other additional charge will be to charge for gas expenses if they prefer that we travel to them and do the service and this will be done by the mileage to their location.  This price will vary as so do the costs of gasoline.

Venture Concept
Many people today are very conscious about our environment.  We are starting to be aware of what's in our food, what is wrong with our crops, animal cruelty, and environmental problems like global warming.  By combining the customer base with my innovation of using Eco-friendly products, I believe to reach out and connect to many people who want to see a better world.  This is a big trend that I've seen growing over the years and wish to connect with these type of people.  Everything is now done through apps as well.  Kids as early as age 5 are already owning smart phones so it's nothing new that within a few years apps and technology will be pretty much everywhere.  By taking advantage of this boom it will only allow more people to find what they need in less time and less stress and easily do it within the palm of their hands.  I've actually seen more elderly people also using more and more of their smart phones.  Of course a 10 year old will grasp the concept much easier, than someone older with less knowledge of technology but in some years I think we will all be caught up and able to use apps such as these.  I received feedback about using the environmental products to clean cars that are more eco-friendly and seemed to have a great response to it.   I think the people who are more aware of our environment would enjoy this service. 

I think the application will be a differentiator in this business.  Not only will it give an edge to competitors but it will also make it much more convenient for the customers.  Making things easier and less stressful is always the goal in mind.  My first step will be to talk to some computer programmers and application builders to see how much work will need to be put in to develop such an application and how soon it can be ready for use by the public.  I will want to utilize it myself to make sure all the bugs are fixed and to make it as user friendly as possible.  I wouldn't want people to get it and delete the app because it wouldn't work as intended so it will take a lot of trial and error and beta testing before actually launching.  However, in the long run I believe many people will take advantage of it and find it useful.  Based on some feedback I received in class, one of my classmates stated that if the app is very user friendly then it would still be a good idea for elderly people.  She says she would definitely use the app because she hardly has any time on the weekends or after work because the ones near her are usually too packed.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

Grinding it out: The Making of McDonald's. Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc is an amazing man with an incredible journey.  When you read this book you will be amazed at how he started off in the industry.  What surprised me the most is that he began as a door to dopr salesman.  He wasnt the person you would think has all this fortune in the name of McDonalds.  I admire him for the fact that he noticed something great and he was able to broaden its horizons.  When he saw the McDonalds brothers selling hamburgers out of their storefront, he immediately saw the quickness and the satisfaction of their customers.  By seeing this, he knew it could be much more than what the business was currently at.  

An aha moment for me was the fact that Ray Kroc pretty much took credit for all of what the McDonald brothers had established.  Although, he did offer to try new things, he kind of took advantage of the fact that he knew other people with a better idea to make this a worldwide phenomenon.

A good exercise for this class relating to the book would be to try and find a small business in the United States and think of ideas of how this can be expanded and possibly blown up to a greater proportion.  This can be done as a group activity where each participant would be finding ideas while the other classmates find ways on how to make it bigger.


This book connects to the class in the way of learning needs/wants of the customer.  Seeing opportunities that others may not see and taking advantage of those opportunities is also something that we have done exercises to try and figure out so far in class.  Expanding your social network is something Ray Kroc did to learn about the idea of expandong McDonalds.  He found the idea about buying the land of where the restaurants were built on by networking with someone in the real estate business before he even knew anything about how that indistty worked.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

My exit strategy for this business venture would be to keep the business.  If everything is going well and I am making profit, I wouldn't want to sell it but instead hire more people to do the rounds and buy more trucks and equipment so I wouldn't have to do much of the labor anymore.  I do have a son and would want him to have a job in the future.  Having him start at the bottom from a young age and then teaching him about the business and other side of it would be a great learning experience for him as well.  I think I would always be aware of the competition though, and make sure I am keeping competitive prices along with great quality but always trying new products new technology and new marketing strategies will have to be implemented for the future. 

I wouldn't want to sell it unless I had another business venture already in the works with possibly better profits and benefits involved.  I have seen many small business owners sell their business and customers and then end up regretting it a few years down the road, so I definitely wouldn't want to make that same mistake.  My exit strategy has helped me make some decision in purchasing high quality equipment because it is something I plan to keep in the long term.  I don't want to buy used products and then sell it within a few years but at the same time I want to make sure I am getting the best for my money and equipment that will last me a good amount of time.

26A – Celebrating Failure

I play soccer in an adult league in my city in South Florida.  My friend and I are on two separate teams to keep it competitive.  I play on the field and he plays goalkeeper, so one day he makes a friendly bet that I won't score on him on an upcoming tournament.  With my competitive nature of course I accept the bet and the trash talking begins.  In out first two games against his team, I am focusing so hard on trying to score on him.  I hit the post twice in one game and he blocks all of my other shots.  My other teammates are able to score but of course, I'm not.  After two games and not being able to score a goal, I begin to get anxious and upset.  I was playing the forwards position which should be the one who scores most of the goals and still unable.  For the third an final game, I move back into the defender position and I tell myself it's alright.  In my mind I think, don't let this little friendly bet get to you and I really stop stressing it and just have fun.  By the end of the first half I still have no goal but I notice I'm not as focused on trying to score and more about just having fun and playing good in defense.  My goalkeeper friend of course comes up and continues to trash talk in a friendly way, rubbing it in my face that I still need a goal to win.  As the game continues into the second half, my team earns a free kick and I decide to try my chance.  At this point, I want to score but I've accepted that even if I don't it's OK and don't let myself get anxious again as in previous games.  I kick the ball perfectly and it lands in the back of the net just how I visioned it in my mind.  I scored the goal and won the bet and also have the game winning goal. 

Once I decided not to focus on something so much it became evident that I was more relaxed and felt better.  Sometimes you can get so caught up in doing something that you just need to take a step back to move forward.  I accept failure as a good thing, and try more to learn from my mistakes or try to see what I'm doing wrong, even if it is all mental.  Failure can be a good thing so long as one realizes why they are failing and correct those issues.  I will definitely take a risk because like the saying goes, "we learn from our mistakes."

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market

Upon interviewing 3 people in my existing market, they all thought the environmentally friendly / Eco-friendly products was an awesome idea.  One of the people told me to start a whole different business which would help propel this business into a better idea but do less of the manual labor, which I thought was a great idea since he is a business owner himself and knows the ins and outs of one.  In terms of growing for the market, I given an idea to also put flyers on peoples doors.  These flyers aren't too hard or expensive to make and she actually knows someone who owns a print shop that could possibly do it for a discounted price.  The flyers would be the ones that would get put in peoples mailboxes or put on the door handles of apartments and town homes. My last piece of advice was to also create free ads on Craigslist.  Many people go on Craigslist to look for services and why not advertise here as well?  I will take all of these into account and definitely move forward with these as I think they are all phenomenal pieces of advice and good strategies.

New Market

I interviewed two people who also aren't in my market.  One of whom washes his car every single weekend like clockwork at 7am.  He has 4 cars in total and barely ever lets anyone drive his cars beside him.  To be honest he has been married for about 7 years and I've only seen his wife drive his car once to get food.  I didn't get much positive feedback but to go knock door to door and ask if people would like a car wash.  I don't really want to do this but imagine if it comes down to it, I will have to. However, he did then state that it could be a possibility to enter the market of B2B since people sometimes are difficult to get as customers, I could go to a car dealership and ask to wash their cars on the lot on a regular basis for a fixed price.  Many of these cars aren't driven unless by test drives so they really don't get too dirty.  This would mean the cars could be easier and quicker to wash.  The next person I spoke to also didn't believe in paying 50 dollars for such service and she is happy with just spraying the car with water to take any dirt off of it.  She did have a good idea of going to businesses and offering some sort of package deal to businesses and maybe even at a discounted price and have all employees of a company at the same location get car washes for lower prices, so long as their is a minimum quantity scheduled for that date.  Think of it as when ordering things in bulk.  If you order one calculator for example, it may cost $20 each.  If you order 50 calculators though, you can get wholesale prices and have them come out to $10 each.  The same idea applies and I think both of the above are great ideas to think about.  This market would also be B2B as I would work with a company to get a contract per month and they would supply it for their employees.  Even though it would be tough to convince a company to do this, I think it would have to be a company that offers company cars to it's employees and therefor would want the cars to be clean on the road.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

 CAR WASH TO-GO

Opportunity
The opportunity exists in the fact that many people in the state of Florida own or lease their own vehicles.  Although many people do use public transportation, Uber, or use their bicycles, I think for the most part many people have their own cars.  For example, there are 3 adults living in my house and there are 4 vehicles (one is used for work only).  If you are like us, you like to drive in a somewhat clean car.  Three (possibly 4) cars need to be washed on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, and this is just one household.  If I count up all the cars on just my street, we are talking about 60 cars on my street alone.  There is big opportunity for a mobile / auto detailing company to profit from all these cars.  Some people do like to clean their own cars but for a service that can be done anywhere, I think many people would love to take advantage of such a service at their disposal.  Unlike metropolitan cities where much of public transportation is used, here in Florida there are many cars that can utilize such a service.  I think a big customer base would be the elderly population as some cannot work outside and physically may be unable to wash their own cars.  The elderly population is big here in Florida as well since many of them like the warm weather and some come down to retire.  There is even an influx of people who come spend the winter days (snowbirds) down here in the warmer weather compared to being in the snow.  It is great because it doesn't snow in Florida so there really are no days off unless we get some rain which in some cases, services can still be done under garages.  Another prospective customer would be business people.  Many people just don't have the time to clean it themselves but they have the money, and don't mind spending money for someone to wash their cars.  I personally don't like waiting and know many other people who don't like waiting, so even a mother of 4 children might want to get her minivan cleaned her daughters gymnastics class.  There are a wide variety of people who would be extremely happy by this service and I believe there is great potential for it.

Innovation
There are many ideas my business would implement that I haven't seen done yet.  First, I would create an app that works for both iPhone and Androids that will enable a customer to choose the services they want and choose a date and time for when they want it to be done.  The will also be able to pay by the app in a variety of different ways including credit card, pay pal, cash app, venmo, bit coin and debit card or gift cards.  This way, a customer will never have to pick up the phone and make an appointment but they can directly do it from wherever they are in about 2 minutes time.  My price point will start out at $50 for a standard wash of exterior and interior, and while this may seem above average price, I will assure my customers of great quality and also inform them that the soaps I use are also environmentally friendly.  They will not have to worry about their family breathing in any toxins as the interior cleaners will ALL be harmless.  Neither will they have to worry about any chemicals being spilled into the streets and into our drains because the products I use will be harmless to our environment as well.  As customers request different services such as polish or wax, the prices will go up accordingly to the size of their vehicle and the difficulty of the service.  The other additional charge will be to charge for gas expenses if they prefer that we travel to them and do the service and this will be done by the mileage to their location.  This price will vary as so do the costs of gasoline.

Venture Concept
Many people today are very conscious about our environment.  We are starting to be aware of what's in our food, what is wrong with our crops, animal cruelty, and environmental problems like global warming.  By combining the customer base with my innovation of using Eco-friendly products, I believe to reach out and connect to many people who want to see a better world.  This is a big trend that I've seen growing over the years and wish to connect with these type of people.  Everything is now done through apps as well.  Kids as early as age 5 are already owning smart phones so it's nothing new that within a few years apps and technology will be pretty much everywhere.  By taking advantage of this boom it will only allow more people to find what they need in less time and less stress and easily do it within the palm of their hands.  I've actually seen more elderly people also using more and more of their smart phones.  Of course a 10 year old will grasp the concept much easier, than someone older with less knowledge of technology but in some years I think we will all be caught up and able to use apps such as these.

I think the application will be a differentiator in this business.  Not only will it give an edge to competitors but it will also make it much more convenient for the customers.  Making things easier and less stressful is always the goal in mind.  My first step will be to talk to some computer programmers and application builders to see how much work will need to be put in to develop such an application and how soon it can be ready for use by the public.  I will want to utilize it myself to make sure all the bugs are fixed and to make it as user friendly as possible.  I wouldn't want people to get it and delete the app because it wouldn't work as intended so it will take a lot of trial and error and beta testing before actually launching.  However, in the long run I believe many people will take advantage of it and find it useful.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

• A large group of people who are into the car scene. - For me this is valuable because if I am able to wash and detail some of their cars for shows, the word of mouth will spread around to many other people.  It's rare because it is a niche that only select people are in but are very loyal when it comes to their cars.  

• Support of friends and family- This is valuable because I have a good support group willing to help me out in any way I need.  They can also help tell more people if they believe in the quality of my services.  It's not something that everyone can say they have support from.
• A car that I keep in good condition, for self marketing. - Valuable because it promotes when I drive.  Some people ask how I keep my car so shiny or so clean and then I can offer with some product or service.  It's rare because many people do not wash their cars or don't take the time to apply wax or shine not knowing that others may see this and want their car like this as well.
• A large number of followers on social media.- This is valuable because I can put some pictures and videos on social media and show off before and after pictures of services done.  Rare because not many people use social media so it gets ahead of the competition.  Not everyone likes to post on social media either but it can be helpful for a business.
• Friends in the business who also can offer tips and advice. - Rare because in starting a business it can be difficult to know which steps to take.  I know people who can offer me certain strategies and techniques to improve.  Not all business owners have this advantage and sometimes have to learn mostly by mistakes.
• Large supply of videos to use for helpful ideas. - Rare because not every business has videos and tutorials on how to do certain things.  With detailing, many people record their techniques and products for others to imitate and use.  Invaluable because this is like having free lessons just by watching videos.  It helps a lot for things like this.
• Investors willing to help if they like the idea. - Rare because I have the chance to pitch ideas to people who would be willing to invest once the business grows.  Invaluable because its a big help for a business especially one in need of money but doesn't want to take out loans.  Could help business grow and improve.
• Good environment to work in. - Rare because in Florida there is no snow which can cause slower seasons.  Working conditions can be year round and this is invaluable because one cannot afford to lose weeks or months of work due to the weather.  Here in Florida in can never be too cold and the heat can always be covered by a tent of some sort or garage.
• Stable plan in mind for when business gets steady. - People going into business sometimes do not have plans or strategies so it helps to be ahead of the game.  It is valuable because its good to have a back up plan in case things go wrong and also necessary to stay organized. 
• Great customer service skills and dealing with people.  - Rare because many people aren't good at interacting with customers.  They feel like this is the worst part of a job but in reality it is where people can earn your trust and where you can gain their loyalty.  Valuable because loyal customers are the best customers especially if they can refer more work to you.  

I think the large amount of videos and tips I can find online is the best resource for me.  There are many things I still do not know how to do but the best part is that I can watch a video and then try it out on my own car or someone else's car for little to no cost.  This is a great way to learn which products work better and which techniques are the best to get the best quality to give to my customers.