Reading Reflection No. 1

1. I read Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
1. I was most surprised by the shyness and awkwardness Elon Musk seemed to present when meeting people for the first time. Sometimes, when we only see rich entrepreneurs in the headlines, we forget that they are just people. There is nothing supernatural about them. It was nice to be reminded of that fact. 
2. I most admire Musk's dream. While I do think his dream is fantastical and perhaps not entirely realistic, I admire that he continues to pursue it despite the naysayers.
3. I least admire his inability to focus on his personal life (i.e. family and loved ones). Admittedly, Musk is a busy man and he does try to carve out time for them, however, family has always been incredibly important to me and would be my top priority and that does not seem to be the case with Musk. 
4. Musk has definitely dealt with adversity and failure throughout his career. In fact, he currently faces both with Tesla and SpaceX. Many people believe he will not succeed, and currently, both of his projects are not very prosperous or successful. 
   
2. As an entrepreneur, Musk is very persistent and tenacious. He is constantly striving to improve and challenge himself, his company, and his employees. Musk puts a lot of work in company with the belief that he will not only succeed, but thrive. Despite the challenges he faces in these industries, Musk has yet to give up. 
   
3.  I am slightly confused on how exactly Elon Musk managed to make it from South Africa to America. It is hard to tell from the book whether or not Musk grew up wealthy. If he did, then it makes sense how he got to America. However, if he did not grow up wealthy, then how was he able to make it here?
   
4. I would ask Musk how he was able to educate himself in an industry in which he had no experience in. I would also ask him how he overcomes all the people who don't believe in his dream and his ideas.
   
5. After reading this novel, I would assume that Musk believes in hard work. He would most believe that without hard work, nothing would get done, and I completely agree with that. 

Halfway Reflection

1. In order to keep up in this course, I have had to focus on and develop my organizational skills. When keeping up with the various assignments and cupcakes, it is important to ensure that each part of the assignment is submitted, otherwise you can easily lose precious points. I have also had to work on my problem-solving and critical thinking skills through the various assignments that require such skills. Communication is also very important in this class. It is important to be able to communicate your ideas both written and oral.
   
2. A few weeks ago, I had 3 exams within the span of a few days. I toggled between studying for those exams and completing assignments for my classes. At that point, I became incredibly stressed, unsure which of my classes to focus on. I also fell behind on a couple of my lectures which made it difficult to complete my assignments. It was a very trying week, but instead of giving up, I just worked twice as hard to study and finish my assignments. I do think I have developed a more tenacious attitude in the past couple months.
   
3. The first suggestion I would make to a student for next semester is to stay organized. I recommend using a calendar to keep track of assignments and due dates as well as lectures. For me, organization has been key to keeping up in this course. My second suggestion is to look at the assignments ahead of time because many of them require forethought. For example, the assignments that require interview, reading, or video pitches. Oftentimes, you can not wait till the last minute to complete an assignment. My third and final suggestion is to just keep working no matter how stressed you become, because in the long run, you will be better for it.
   

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment: Business Owners 30-50

Interview 1: 45 year old female business owner
She is very aware of this need in both her personal life and in her business. On her personal phone, she receives 1 to 2 robocalls a day. Her business receives around 5 robocalls a day. She does not receive these calls early in the morning or late at night. However, other than that, the calls are spread throughout the day with no discernible pattern. Because she receives these calls on her cell phone, they occur no matter where she is. When she became aware of this need, she looked for solutions online. She searched "ways to keep robocallers from calling you" and "do no-call lists work". She just wanted to find any way to prevent these calls. She also talked to family and friends to see what they did.

Interview 2: 50 year old male business owner
He is aware of this need in his life. He receives multiple robocalls everyday. He estimates that it occurs between 4 to 6 times a day. He receives these calls throughout the day. The calls do not occur at any certain time. When he became aware of this problem, he initially asked friends and family how they handled it. When their solution did not work, he searched online. He searched "how to stop robocalls", "government no-call lists", and "can you block robocallers".

Interview 3: 37 year old male business owner
He is also aware of this need, especially since he uses his phone for business related work. He has received an upwards of 9 calls a day, but it typically averages out to around 5 to 6 calls a day. He similarly receives robocalls throughout the day. Once he reached his limit of robocallers, he researched online about how to stop their calls. He researched no-call lists and blocking telemarketers. He did not ask any family or friends about it.

Conclusion: After conducting these interviews, I have determined that this segment has a very high need awareness. For the most part, the information search is done online with the occasional conversation with family and friends about the need.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. You
   My name is Veronica Rosenbaum, and I am a business major at the University of Florida. My parents are entrepreneurs and have owned several businesses throughout the years. Because of this, I have grown up working with my family and learning a lot about the elements of business and customer service. As a result of my experience, I am adept at solving problems quickly and efficiently.
     
2. What are you offering to customers?
   I am offering customers the chance to block unwanted and bothersome calls from telemarketers and robocallers. My program gives my customers the ability to stop relentless callers that use up precious time, especially for businesses. 
3. Who are you offering it to?
   I am offering this program to individuals and businesses. Anyone who uses a phone that receives robocalls or telemarketer calls is a potential customer. If an individual uses this program, they can download it in the form of an app onto their smartphone. However, if a business uses this program, they can use it through their service provider.
4. Why do they care?
   My potential customers care because, depending on how many of these calls they receive, the calls can quickly become irksome and inconvenient. This particularly occurs when it is a business who receives these calls. If they receive too many, it can begin to impede their ability to answer the calls of their customers.
5. What are your core competencies?
   One of my core competencies is my ability to problem solve. After watching my parents over the years solve problems on the fly, I have learned how to do the same. I am also flexible and can adapt easily to any situation. 

I do think these elements fit together nicely. It is important to be able to problem-solve and be flexible and adaptable when creating a business.

Elevator Pitch 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWsKP9JiZVw&feature=youtu.be

I appreciate any and all feedback.

Testing the Hypothesis Part 2

Interviews:

1. 20 year old female Undergraduate student
   -She very rarely receives robocalls or calls from telemarketers.
   -She has received only one or two of these calls.
   -She is not on her phone often and rarely uses her phone number on subscriptions.
   -She does not have a problem with robocalls, so she would not need this product.
   
2. 45 year old male business owner
   -He is on his phone very often to conduct business calls.
   -He only only receives a call from a telemarketer once every few months.
   -These calls do not bother him because he receives very few.
   -He doesn't have a need for this product because he isn't overly bothered by the calls.
   
3. 30 year old mother of two
   - She uses her phone daily, but doesn't spend a lot of time on it.
   -She has received only a hand-full of robocalls.
   -She doesn't use her number to sign up for any newsletters or subscriptions.
   -While getting these calls do irritate her, she doesn't receive enough calls to warrant getting this product.
   
4. 24 year old male Graduate student
   -He is on his phone a lot for both school and work.
   -He only receives robocalls once every 4 to 5 months.
   -He is not irritated by these calls because they do not occur very often.
   -He most likely would not use this product.
   
5. 50 year old female business owner
   -She uses her phone very often for both business and personal use.
   -She receives a call from a telemarketer once every couple of months.
   -She gets mildly irritated by these calls.
   -She most likely wouldn't use this product unless she started getting more robocalls.

Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
People who receive calls from telemarketers and robocalls.	By looking solely at my interviews, people outside of the boundary seem to mostly be made up of people who do not use their phone number on subscriptions.
They have a need for a program that blocks calls from telemarketers.	They do not have a need for this program because they don't receive many robocalls.
This need exists because of the constant bombardment of telemarketers.	This need does not exist because these people rarely receive calls from telemarketers.

Solving the Problem

     My opportunity is blocking calls received from telemarketers and robots. These calls are a nuisance, and when someone receives too many, can also use up precious time. In regards to businesses, it can hinder a business's ability to answer their customers in a timely manner because they are too busy dealing with telemarketers.

     The solution I am offering is to create a program that blocks calls from fake numbers. For smartphones, this could be in the form of an app that uses an algorithm to block these calls. For business phone lines, it could be provided through the service carrier. They could have a program in their system that blocks your phone number from being called. Another option is to have both personal smartphones and business lines use the program through their carrier. This would make it much simpler for the customer to use/have the product because there is no work on their part.

Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

Thesis:
People who own a cell phone can be bombarded by phone calls from telemarketers and robots day and night because there is not a program to block these calls,

Testing the who:
My who is anyone who owns a cell phone. Although, it isn't limited to just individuals. Businesses can also receive these calls. However, not everyone in this who may share this need for a blocking program. There may be some people who don't receive these calls, or receive too few for it to matter to them.

Testing the what:
Each phone call received is useless and uses time out of one's day. The more phone calls someone receives from a telemarketer, the more time they have wasted.

Testing the why:
Is it because they run a business and phone calls from telemarketers keep them from answering the phone for a client? Is it because they receive a ridiculous amount of calls in one day?

Interview Summary:
After interviewing 5 different people, I came to the conclusion that they all shared this need for a program to block calls from telemarketers. They each had their own cell phone and one had a business phone. However, the why varied between each of them. Two had businesses that received call from telemarketers. They were each frustrated by the number of calls they receiver, but it sometimes stops them from answering an actual customer's call. The other three each received multiple calls a week and were frustrated with being bothered by the calls. These interviews did not bring forward anything new that I did not already know.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

1. According to The Balance, one economic trend is that health care occupations account for 18 of the 30 fastest growing occupations. One reason for this is because of America's aging population. This information suggests that there is an opportunity in the health care field, whether its developing new medical treatments or even developing new/better medical insurance policies. The prototypical customer for this opportunity is anyone who needs health care services, however, that is primarily made up of older people. This opportunity could be both difficult and simple to take advantage of. First, it means there is a higher demand for medical personnel and it isn't overly difficult to become an RN. However, if one were to take advantage of this opportunity by developing a new medical treatment, it would be far more difficult and require extensive medical knowledge. 
   
2. Another economic trend, according to The Balance, is that Baby Boomers are not retiring. This means, Baby Boomers are not leaving the job market so Millennials are forced use technology to create new jobs or working several part-time jobs. This results in the opportunity to develop a service that helps the younger generation develop skills to make them more attraction in the job market. The prototypical customer would most likely be people in or recently out of college. It could also include anyone looking to build their skills for a new career. This opportunity seems simple on the surface but would require quite a bit of work.
   
3.  One recent regulatory change includes the recent trade deal with China, in which China agreed to increase their purchases from American farmers. In the deal, Trump also agree to cut tariffs on products imported from China. This creates an opportunity for farmers to bounce back and sell their goods.
   
4. Another regulatory change is the ban on plastic straws. Bans on these straws are becoming more widespread, as we see here in Gainesville. However, this results in the use of paper straws which are often disliked. This creates an opportunity for people to create and sell reusable straws. 

I saw these opportunities because I always try to stay up to date on news and be aware of what is going on around me.