final reflection

when I first started this class this semester, I didn't really know what to expect going into the class. I thought it would be a normal class with a bunch of reading and small assignments, but it turned out to be the total opposite. This class has been one of the best experiences that I have had throughout college because it gave me actual life lessons.  There have been some really good moments throughout the semester. I have had some hard laughs and some major bloopers with all the different assignments. The best times have been posting on this blog on a weekly basis. These blogs have turned out to be the best part of the class because I have got attached to posting on the blogs. The tough moments came in the beginning of the semester when we were asked to record ourselves and post on the blogs. I really had a tough time doing that because I am a shy person.


The experience that I will remember is the first assignment where we interviewed an entrepreneur. This will be the most memorable because I actually got to interview my grandfather who is a business owner. I really enjoy picking the brain of my grandfather because he has been so successful in his life. I am most proud about the fact that I have lasted the whole semester. This class is tougher than one would think and you have to be strong minded. I really am proud of the accomplishments that I have made.


I don't see myself as an entrepreneur yet, but I do see myself as one that is on the right track to be successful. It takes time to be labeled an entrepreneur but this class has put me in the position to be a great one. I do think I have the mindset of an entrepreneur though. Now when I am working, I always make decisions like I am the owner of the company. My mind is there but I have some things I need to work before I can be labeled an entrepreneur.


One recommendation I would give is to stay true to your self and take every opportunity this course gives you with open arms and take it seriously. Do the best you can in this course, I would say you need to be aware of what the assignments consist of and stay ahead of the work, Procrastinating in this course will cause for a bad grade.

venture concept 2

  The construction business in this day in age is booming across the entire state of Florida and even all over the country. Buildings and houses are being built left and right, and this type of business is never going anywhere unless something major happens. General contractors across the country are begging for sub contractors to do the work, and that is where my opportunity will come into play. My business will be a masonry contractor company that will complete jobs that require block and brick work on high rises across the state of Florida. With the upcoming amount of work across the state, I truly expect my company to have great success.

               The opportunity comes from the owners of these buildings to the general contractors that are going to hire me to do the work. These two groups of people are always in desperate needs of sub-contractors to do the work they are providing. From the geographic standpoint, the market is wide open because you can do any type of work you want across the whole country. My business is strictly going to do work in Florida because that is where the most amount of work is. Once I start to expand the business, my company will move into states such as Texas and Georgia to get more work. The opportunity is pretty big since the construction industry is booming the way it is. The more amount of work there is, the better it is for me because I can get that many more projects at one time. The window of opportunity is pretty wide open in my opinion. The amount of work isn’t going to shrink, so there is plenty of time to set a plan into place with my company.

I didn't really get any feed back on this section of the assignment. I do still believe that the geographic standpoint is wide open because their are so many jobs in my field of work. keeping so many jobs will be hard for a company like mines but i know I can handle it. moving into other states is a good idea still too. expanding my company to different states will get my name brand out there so my company can proceed for many years. 

               My innovation is to provide a company that can build these buildings as fast as I can, but with great quality of work. The quality of work is the key ingredient because it is what will bring me back to work for projects in the near future. I will meet the needs of the opportunity that is set into place. My company will be one of the best masonry corporation around the state of Florida and it won’t settle for anything less. There isn’t a set price that each project will cost, but projects will usually cost around 10 to 12 dollars per block that is being put into the building. I will have to hire an estimator to estimate the amount of work that each building has, and that is how my company will come up with the price for the work. There will be major competitors that have already established relationships within my market so I will have to be on top of my game when it comes to getting my companies name out to different contractors. These customers are going to have to try out new players when it comes to construction because of the amount of work. Right now is the right time to build the business because these contractors need people to complete the work. After I get on with a couple of general contractors, it will be hard for other competitors to do the type of work that I will do. The main component will be the fact that my company will demand to complete the job on time and per the schedule in the contract. Most of these jobs aren’t completed on time due to the company not doing the work fast enough or right the first time. MY company will demand excellence from all employees and will be completed on time. Another component will be the quality of work that will be produced on my jobs. There will absolutely be no tolerance for inefficient work done on any of the jobs. With good quality of work, contractors will either recommend or have my company back on future jobs.

My feed back was basically all in the innovation section of this assignment. One classmate told me that it will be hard to get qualified people to work inside my business. So along with the innovative section, i will make a plan to hire the most qualified person out there. To get the best of the best, i will require future employees to have a 4 year degree in this field of study. Now this doesn't have anything to do with the laborers on the jobs itself. This is required for higher up positions such as estimators and foreman. Also, each higher up employee must have experience inside the field of work. I need people who have expierenced jobs like these before so they no what it takes to keep my business running. Finally, i will conduct multiple interviews with different candidates to see which one will fit my company the most.  

               The next thing I would add to my company is a labor crew to provide to the general contractors for site maintenance and cleaning. A key aspect to a construction site is keeping the area clean so there are no safety hazards across the job. My labor crew would be provided to the contractor to keep up with the site and take care of all safety hazards that come up on the job. My company would profit money on a weekly basis while helping the contractor out on a daily basis. This new innovation would be added maybe a year or two after my company gets started because I couldn’t afford to pay all the employees from the start.

I do still like the fact of keeping a labor crew on jobs for the general contractor to use. The only thing i would change though is when i want to start this up. I previously wanted to start this after the 2nd year but i think it would be better for the company to start it up after the 4th year. I need time to settle my business in before I start to make changes. changes come with multiple risk. Sometimes, change isn't always for the better when it comes to business. 

               Five years after my company starts, I want to be sufficient and have multiple jobs across the state of Florida. I also want to have built multiple relationships with different contractors that are worldwide so when I expand, I have the contacts from different companies. 

My feedback from my classmates was all pretty positive actually. I had one negative comment on how I would get qualified employees to be apart of my business. I came back with some great ideas on how to do so by the three steps I will take in order to get hired in my company. Most people commented that they didn't know too much about construction so they couldn't really input on my post. I would like some feedback on this one to see what i need to do to make my business better. I did change my venture with the hiring process. I changed it by adding qualifications in order to get the best employees that actually suit my company the best. 

Google gold

I used different ideas for each blog post to actually see what strategy would work better and which ones were not so effective. My strategies to maximize my blogs on the internet were very simple but effective at the same time. Google has key words that are used most of the time and that's what I tried to do. Every post, I used key words or phrases that is popular on google. I also tried to share my post as much as I could so there would be as many views as possible on my blogs. The more views that you get, the more popular your post are. Getting people to view your post is the hardest part of the whole semester. I even went as far as posting my blogs on social media to get people other than classmates to view my post.

My key words were basically phrases that people use on google the most. When customers of google search the web, they usually ask questions or simple phrases to get what they need. I used phrases that are popular on the google search engine so that my blogs would come up when they search certain things. The most popular search engines on google involve social media so it is important to work with the media in the blog post. I used things such as facebook, celebrities, hotels, and sports to maximize my views. 

I used social media by posting my blogs on my facebook and twitter accounts to get outsiders to come view my post. Social media can maximize your blogs because so many people use social media in this day in age. The key to using social media is to get people on your blog post. Users only look at things that catch their eyes so it is important to catch the eye of your audience. Most of my post got ignored because I didn't catch the eye of my audience.  

The most viral post was my very first post of the semester when I interviewed my first entrepreneur. This was most likely the most viral post because I used a key company and a big time owner of a company. When people looked up the company, they more than likely saw my post and went to see what my blog was all about. 

I didnt make it to the first page of the google results page. I made it to the third page. It is really hard to make it to the first page of the google search engine. Google being so popular, it is very challenging to get on the top. 

celebrating failure

In life, there is going to be times when you fail and have to find a way to get past the curtain situation you were put in. During this semester, there was a couple times that I failed in something's that I was doing. The one situation that comes to mind, Was when I was at work trying to complete a task that I was given to complete. I was given the task of reading a set of plans for the building we are in the process of building and chalking a line so the masons can lay the block to build the wall. Well, the first time I attempted to chalk the line I realized this was going to be a difficult task because the plans didn't give me dimensions to measure from. I chalked the line off of some demensions that I previously knew about and it came out wrong. I went to my boss and asked him what I should do and he showed me how to do it. So when I went back up to chalk the line, I followed the instructions that he gave me and chalked the line again. Well, come to find out I didn't read the numbers right and messed the line up again. On the third try I finally chalked the line at the right place. I learned that failing is going to happen in life and it is about what you do after you fail. You have two options when you fail. You can either fix the situation and not let it happen again or you can feel sorry for yourself and fail again.

Failure is something that is apart of life and something that will happen to everyone at one point or another. Failure can actually turn out to be a positive situation for people who take advantage and keep an open mind when they fail. You handle failure by keeping an open mind and learning from the situation. If you are har headed about failing, you will never learn how to turn failure into success. A lot of times, failure needs to something way better in the future. This class has really helped me with failure in my life. There have been some difficult assignments this semester that I messed up on and didn't know how to fix it. This class has taught me to keep an open mind when it comes to failing.  Am going to fail, but it is about how I respond to failing and this class has taught me how to respond to it.

Exit strategy

Everything at some point has to come to an end, and that is what this assignment is about. When it comes to a business, there are different strategies that you can take to either keep it running or sell it and start something new. When it comes to my business I want to keep it as long as I can to pass it down to my kids one day. It has been my dream to start a business that can support my family for centuries. Passing down my business won't come easy because I will have to train them on how to successfully run the company.

I have chose this strategy because I believe this is a positive and more successful way to keep a business going. If you pass down the reigns to a family member, the company will stay in tact the way you planned for years and years. For example, if a company is successful enough to stay a float for years to pass down through the family, then the company had to be ran right. If you all it and let somebody else take over, then they might run the company into the ground because they don't know how to successfully run this type of company. With the experience inside the family, the company has a better opportunity to be successful.

The exit strategy has influenced other decision in a couple of different ways because it has always been my dream to pass my company down throughout the family. One way it has influenced it is by the decision I made earlier in the semester to interview my grandpa which is a successful business owner. I interviewed him because he is a successful business man no has passed his business down throughout the family. He told me successful ways to do so and good strategies that would help my business. Another decision my exit strategy has influenced is the decision I made to expand my business throughout the whole state of Florida then even expand to states such as Texas and Georgia. I made this decision so a family member can run the company from those states at a later time. The expansion of my business is what will keep my business growing so I have available spots to train my family to run the company.

venture concept 1

               The construction business in this day in age is booming across the entire state of Florida and even all over the country. Buildings and houses are being built left and right, and this type of business is never going anywhere unless something major happens. General contractors across the country are begging for sub contractors to do the work, and that is where my opportunity will come into play. My business will be a masonry contractor company that will complete jobs that require block and brick work on high rises across the state of Florida. With the upcoming amount of work across the state, I truly expect my company to have great success.

               The opportunity comes from the owners of these buildings to the general contractors that are going to hire me to do the work. These two groups of people are always in desperate needs of sub-contractors to do the work they are providing. From the geographic standpoint, the market is wide open because you can do any type of work you want across the whole country. My business is strictly going to do work in Florida because that is where the most amount of work is. Once I start to expand the business, my company will move into states such as Texas and Georgia to get more work. The opportunity is pretty big since the construction industry is booming the way it is. The more amount of work there is, the better it is for me because I can get that many more projects at one time. The window of opportunity is pretty wide open in my opinion. The amount of work isn’t going to shrink, so there is plenty of time to set a plan into place with my company.

               My innovation is to provide a company that can build these buildings as fast as I can, but with great quality of work. The quality of work is the key ingredient because it is what will bring me back to work for projects in the near future. I will meet the needs of the opportunity that is set into place. My company will be one of the best masonry corporation around the state of Florida and it won’t settle for anything less. There isn’t a set price that each project will cost, but projects will usually cost around 10 to 12 dollars per block that is being put into the building. I will have to hire an estimator to estimate the amount of work that each building has, and that is how my company will come up with the price for the work. There will be major competitors that have already established relationships within my market so I will have to be on top of my game when it comes to getting my companies name out to different contractors. These customers are going to have to try out new players when it comes to construction because of the amount of work. Right now is the right time to build the business because these contractors need people to complete the work. After I get on with a couple of general contractors, it will be hard for other competitors to do the type of work that I will do. The main component will be the fact that my company will demand to complete the job on time and per the schedule in the contract. Most of these jobs aren’t completed on time due to the company not doing the work fast enough or right the first time. MY company will demand excellence from all employees and will be completed on time. Another component will be the quality of work that will be produced on my jobs. There will absolutely be no tolerance for inefficient work done on any of the jobs. With good quality of work, contractors will either recommend or have my company back on future jobs.

               The next thing I would add to my company is a labor crew to provide to the general contractors for site maintenance and cleaning. A key aspect to a construction site is keeping the area clean so there are no safety hazards across the job. My labor crew would be provided to the contractor to keep up with the site and take care of all safety hazards that come up on the job. My company would profit money on a weekly basis while helping the contractor out on a daily basis. This new innovation would be added maybe a year or two after my company gets started because I couldn’t afford to pay all the employees from the start.

               Five years after my company starts, I want to be sufficient and have multiple jobs across the state of Florida. I also want to have built multiple relationships with different contractors that are worldwide so when I expand, I have the contacts from different companies. 

The Amazon whisperer

At this point in the class, we are on our way to starting up our own business and it seems like we are pretty close to doing so. Just as the Amazon whisperer, it is very important that you keep your business moving forward and come up with new products or ideas to keep your business running. The revenue drivers I have already came up with include a couple ideas. First, I will build revenue by billing contractors every month for the work that I have completed. All the work in my field will be build monthly by the percentage of work done that month. Since I am opening a masonry company, I will be billing the General contractor for the completed work. Secondly, I will build revenue by signing sub contractors to help do some of the work. Since the construction industry is so heavy and busy, it is important that you have enough people to do the work. Higher interest a sub contractor will allow me to make money without my specific employees being there to complete the job.

The next thing I am going to offer inside my business is a labor crew for the general contractors to clean up the job site every day. Since my company will be building big buildings such as hotels and stadiums, the job site will be very dirty. I will offer a crew of around 10 people to help keep the job clean and up to date so that no safety hazards will be in play. This will bring in revenue by billing the general contractors by the hour. It is basically free money for my company because we would bring in revenue without doing any type of masonry work and it will benefit my company and the general contractor at the same time.

This next thing or opportunity will complement my business because it will bring in revenue monthly without doing any work in my field. What happens is you take one labor and pay them 12 dollars an hour. Then for each labor the general contractor needs, you charge the general contractor 16 dollars an hour per laborer. If I get ten laborers out on the job site, I would be making 40 dollars an hour and not doing any work in my field. As I currently work for a masonry company, I see companies doing this on every job I have been on. It is a good idea to keep some type of revenue coming to the business at all times. This idea will enhance my business because inside everyone's contract, each sub contractor is responsible for cleaning up the job every day. By hiring this crew, I can have my block masons laying block without stopping to clean up. My labor crew will be in charge of cleaning the whole job but I still can control what they clean up the most. It does increase the user experience because on every job I have been on, the biggest complain that general contractors have is how dirty the job is and how it needs to be cleaned. My labor crew would keep the job clean the whole time and it would make general contractors want me on their future jobs.

Since my business is serviced based, there isn't anything really on Amazon to compliment my next service.

My unfair advantage

I listed my resources that I already possess and then ranked them from lowest to highest on how valuable, rare, inimitable, and non substituble each resource is. Then totaled each one and the one that came out the highest was my top resource.

1) communication skills

- How valuable? 3

- How rare? 1

- Inimitable? 2

- non-Substituble? 3

Total= 9

2) financial budgeting

How valuable? 4

- How rare? 3

- Inimitable? 2

- non-substituble? 3

Total = 12

3) customer service skills

How valuable? 4

- How rare? 3

- Inimitable? 3

- non-Substituble? 3

Total = 13

4) personal experience

How valuable? 5

- How rare? 4

- Inimitable? 3

- non-Substituble? 3

Total= 15

5) connections in the field

How valuable? 4

- How rare? 4

- Inimitable? 3

- non-Substituble? 2

Total= 13

6) strong work ethic

How valuable? 5

- How rare? 3

- Inimitable? 3

- non-Substituble? 3

Total = 14

7) my vision of the business

How valuable? 3

- How rare? 3

- Inimitable? 2

- non-substituble? 2

Total = 10

8) likely hood to succeed

How valuable? 3 

- How rare? 4

- Inimitable? 3

- non-substituble? 2

 Total = 12

9) experience in marketing

- how valuable? 4

- How rare? 3

- Inimitable? 3

- non-substituble? 2

Total = 12

10) value of ethics wishing the company

How valuable? 3

- How rare? 3 

- Inimitable? 2 

- non-substituble? 3

Total = 11 

My top resource was the personal experience inside the field I want to start my business is in. With experience, you can't go wrong in opening up a business. It is very valuable to have personal experience because it gives you a balance knowledge of what goes on inside the business. It is also pretty rare for business owners to have personal experience inside a field before they actually decide to open the business. Person experience can put me over the edge in opening my business and actually make it succeed more than I can hope for. 

Growing my social capital

Jeff Turner
- Jeff is a future business owner of B&m masonry and he is an estimator on jobs for the company to build. He is in charge of pricing the jobs out so the company can make the maximum amount of money but keep it in a good price range to win the job against other masonry groups.
- Jeff will be in the domain expert slot of this assignment because he actually works in the field that I am pursuing. He fills this slot because he has been working in this trait since he was 19 years old and has a lot of experience inside the masonry field.
- I found this person because he works for the company I worked for and I talked to him over the phone. During our conversations I asked how to actually get a business like this started and where the best place to start. I also asked him what challenges this type of business brings to the table and if it is worth going through the challenges.
- the favor he did for me was to actually give me real responses so I can be able to one day open up my own masonry group. He doesn't really expect me to do anything for him since he is already my boss.
- He will be able to exploit my business plan because he will always be there to help me even after I decide to start my own business. Anytime he needs to give me advice or I need help I know I can rely on him to help me out. He will be a huge asset to my business because he will be a reliable resource for me to go to anytime I need.

Kevin Micale
- Kevin is a foreman on a masonry site and was a previous owner of a masonry business in Miami.
He has been in this trait for 35 years so he is considered a professional in the masonry association.
He has seen a lot during his time so I can consider him my expert in my business plan.
- kevin will be the expert in my market because of his experience in the field. He has all the knowledge needed to be a huge asset to helping me and by future business career.
- I found Kevin in the Florida masonry association meeting that attended about two months ago. When I was at the meeting, I met him and got his contact information for my benefit. For this assignment, I contacted him about some questions I had for my future business. I asked him things such as where and how I can find potential employees for my company and what are the pros and cons of opening up a business like this.
- just like Jeff did, Kevin gave me some reasonable responses that will help me better grow my business plan. He did me a real good favor by giving me some valuable contact information to some other contractors that could help me out later down the road. He didn't really ask me for anything but I did buy him dinner for meeting up with me.
- Inclusing him in my business will be very beneficial because he will be a great aspect in making my business run. The information he gave me will be information that will ultimately be a positive influence in the start up of my company.

Heather Blaisdale

- heather is a supplier for the company I work for right now. She supplies us with all the supplies we need to complete the jobs we are awarded. Heather also is a supplier for other construction groups across the state of Florida.
- I found heather because she supplies my company with the supplies we need throughout the week. I am in charge of getting our supplies so I have a good relationship with Heather because I am in touch with her on a daily basis.
- heather will fall under the supplier of my future business. She will be able to supply my company with all the supply's I need to complete multiple jobs that I will be awarded.
- Heather gave me some good information about how I can get in touch with multiple suppliers across the state. Even though she works for one company, she gave me some good information on how to deal with other suppliers like her. She also gave me some good numbers on how much products cost because I am going to need all new material to start up my business.
- she will be a huge contribution to my business because I would actually use her and her company as suppliers. The way she deals with me and my present company is very professional and treats me like royalty. She did me this favor out of respect and knows I will always use her company when I start up my own business

This assignment helped me out because it gave me some great experiences for my future business. I got to talk with some real professionals inside the trait and it will be a positive experience for me later on. It didn't really differ from previous networking in the past because they all have been positive experiences for me but it did give me some valuable information that I hadn't got in other exercises.

Reading reflection

When reading the chapter, I really focused in on the consumer behaviors when it comes to running a business. One day when I want to run a business, consumer behaviors are going to be very important to run a successful behaviors. The author talked about the five consumer behaviors that entrepreneurs should be aware of. ( convienence goods, shopping goods, specialty goods, unsought goods, and new products) the one that stood out to me was the unsought goods which are products that consumers don't need at the time. Unsought goods are important in a business because it requires a consumer to have an explanation or demonstration of the product. A part of the reading was the small section about sales forecasting. When I was a manager for a pizza joint, we did a lot of sales forecasting to try to make schedules and get the right amount of employees in for work at the peak hours. The sales forecasting was usually very useless in the business because it is very unpredictable when a restaurant like that will get busy. So it's confusing to understand why business rely on sales forecasting when it is so unpredictable.
What is another option to use than sales forecasting?
What are the pros and cons of consumer behavior?
How can a company flourish the sells of new products?
I would ask these questions to help me in my entrepreneur career.
The author wasn't wrong about anything in the reading.

Idea napkin #2

1) my name is Zach Turner and I am going to start up a masonry company that builds high rises and bigger buildings across the state of Florida. I am very good at communicating with people, numbers and formulas, planning, and running a team. My business will play a huge role in my life because I already have experience inside the field.
- Based on the feed back I received, nothing really changes in what kind of person I am. All my feed back was on the competition that is related to my business. 2) I am offering a lot of different products to a lot of different customers. My first customers are the owners of the buildings that will hire me to do the project. Since I am specializing in concrete and block work, I will only be in charge of that type of work. I have to make sure I do my work in a presentable fashion and stay on schedule so the general contractor will hire me again. Other customers could include company's that I sub my work out to or people that buy products from me.
- When it comes to offering products, I would make a few changes when it comes to my first answer. My products aren't really in affect until the job is actually complete. So something that goes along with the product line is the relationship I make with other general contractors. I need to have business cards ready at all times and attend meetings across the state to meet all the different contractors. 3) I am offering work that is sellable to the owner and work that will be completed on time according to a contract that is given out by the general contractor. All my customers will have a lot in common because they are all related to my field of work. My customers will come from all over the state of Florida and will change from job to job. Starting off, I will try to win one job and hire people to complete the projects. So at first, I will only have one customer then down the road, my customers will expand to many different people.
- when it comes to the customer aspect of the business, this quality is what is going to keep this business going. The relationships I can make with different general contractors will be key in making my company profitable. Winning a job will be irrelevant unless the relationship is there before hand. So I need to be every where these general contractors are to get my foot in the water. 4) my customers will actually pay me money because I will do my work so that the general contractors can sell my work to the owner of the buildings. In keeping good relationships with different general contractors, I can expand my business at a high rate. So it is crucial for me to do my work so it is presentable to all my customers.
- payment is something that is very key in the business I want to get into. Sometimes these general contractors wait till the last minute to actually pay you for the amount of work you complete. It is vital that I keep the payments in line. This will require me to hire an accountant or booker to keep records of payments that I will be receiving. 
5) what sets me apart from other companies in my field is first the advantage I have in building relationships with 
different people. In my business, it is very crucial that you create relationships so you can get business down the road. Another thing that puts me past other companies is that type of work I preform and doing it on time. It is also essential in this type of business to stay on schedule. By my company being known for completing the job right and on time will bring me business for a long time.
- this is where all my feedback came into play. All the feedback I got was stating that the only thing I should be worried about is the amount of competition that is in the trait. With any business that you open, there is going to be some type of competition with in the line of work. As a business owner, it is your Jon to set your business apart from the others. I plan to set my business apart from the rest by building strong relationships and doing the work as the contract states. If I do both of these things, I will eventually rise above the competition. 
I think all these ideas do fit together in some sort. Starting up a business takes a lot of thought and effort and these aspects are all things you need to need to think about before starting up your business. In any field that you in, the customers have to come first and that is what I got from doing this napkin exercise. Another I got from this exercise is be confident in the business you are starting up and know customers will buy your product.

Five points that I came up with from the feed back I received was:
- make my business be a step higher than the competition 
- make sure the customer always comes first 
- make sure I hire an accountant to keep track of payments 
- be aware of competition when I first start up the business
- complete all work on time as scheduled to rise above other competitors 

I put the feed back in this napkin by being aware that the competition is very tough in this business and that I really need to be aware of what I am stepping into. The masonry business is filled with different competitiors and I need to find a way to rise above the competition. So I found ways to make my business stand out from other business owners. 

week 8 Reading reflection

The biggest surprise for me during the reading of chapter 8 was the topic of public stock offering and the advantages and disadvantages that it has on investors and companies It was a surprise because some of the disadvantages were something I would have never thought of. Entrepreneurs must sacrifice a lot of control and ownership. But on the flip side, they can raise a lot of money in a short period of time. The part of the reading that was confusing was the part about private placements because it was confusing to paint the picture on how it is an alternative means of raising equity. I don't think the author was wrong about anything because everything seemed to be reasonable during the reading.

1) what are your thoughts of investing in brand new stocks?
2) Why has the venture capital market grown so dramatically?
3) What stocks are the best to invest in?

I would ask these questions for my personal benefit for my future entrepreneurial jobs. The answers would help me be able to become the best employee I can and help me make the most money on my future investments.

half-way reflection

With the semester being half-way done, this course has been a little bit of a challenge when it comes to the work that has been asked to complete. Without a tenacious mindset or attitude, this course wouldn't be possible to complete. There are many type of behaviors that are required to complete this course and keep up with a good grade. First, you need to be able to manage your time wisely. I learned that you have to look ahead at all the assignments so you know what the assignment consist of. Secondly, you have to have an entrepreneur mindset at all times. You need this type of behavior because that is what most the assignments have asked of me. With the amount of times you have to go out and talk to people, it is important to always think as an entrepreneur. Finally, you need to be strong minded and confident when it comes to the work. Most the assignments ask you to interview random people and post it on the blog. Being confident when talking to people is very important because it makes your work that much better on your blogs. I felt like giving up when the elevator pitch cam into the picture. I couldn't figure out a product that I could come up with that would sell to customers. What pulled me through was my positive attitude and strong mind. I do think I have developed a tenacious attitude over the semester. My attitude toward the course has changed to tenacious because I actually want to make myself be an entrepreneur by the end of this course. The experiences that contributed to this was one of the very first assignments. The assignment where we had to actually talk to an entrepreneur that we knew, made me realize I can be an entrepreneur.

Tips for fostering the skills that support tenacity:
1) look ahead throughout the course
2) participate in all assignments
3) actually read and listen to multiple students post

Developing the tenacious mindset
1) have a positive attitude
2) Don't procrastinate
3) do the best you can on all the assignments (Don't cheat yourself)

reading reflection week 7

"Market segmentation has become narrowly focused on the needs of advertising, which it serves mainly by populating commercials with characters that viewers can identify with – the marketing equivalent of central casting…The idea was to broaden the use of segmentation so that it could inform not just advertising but also product innovation, pricing, choice of distribution channels, and the like."

- I start by quoting this line from the article because it is the central point on what the article is meant to be about. This quote gives us the marketers great insight to figure out and decide types of products and services to consumers or audiences. The most interesting thing that I read on the article was the different segmentation's for different purposes. This part of the reading included a chart that helped to describe the authors meaning on the topic. It talked about how business could improve its market segmentation. The authors described that if meaningful segmentation's rely in finding patterns in your customers behavior, then it is important to gather relevant data. The confusing part of the article was the part about the gravity of decision spectrum. It confused me because it was trying to describe the difference between what consumers buy and the significance of the items. The authors were saying that buying items such as snack and toilet paper don't have the same significance as purchasing a car or home. This confused me because as a buyer, I treat all items I purchase with the same significance know matter what the price is. Two questions I would ask the authors are what was the audiences responses to your article and what should business mainly focus on to have the best market segmentation? I would ask these questions because it would help me understand the article a little better and it would give me feedback from the audience that read it as well. I don't think the author was wrong about anything, but I do think the authors should make there points more clear for the reader. 

week 6 reading reflection

This weeks reading reflection was over Porters five forces that shape the competitive strategy. This article was a very good read in my opinion and had some interesting aspects to the article that is going to help me navigate through the course. The five strategies that were introduced in the article were threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of customers, bargaining power of suppliers and intensity of competitive rivalry. The biggest surprise to me was the actual information that was throughout the whole article. The explanations that went into each force was very helpful. The biggest force to me was the threat of new entrances because it prevents business's from making the most profit possible. The only way that business's can get around this is becoming an incumbent which means becoming the largest company in a certain business. If i had to ask two questions they would be what is the most important force in your eyes and what force is the most detrimental toward a business? I would ask these two questions because the would be most helpful to me for this course and for my entrepreneurial career. I think the author was spot on with all the information and didn't really have any mistakes.  

Idea napkin number 1

1) my name is Zach Turner and I am going to start up a masonry company that builds high rises and bigger buildings across the state of Florida. I am very good at communicating with people, numbers and formulas, planning, and running a team. My business will play a huge role in my life because I already have experience inside the field.
2) I am offering a lot of different products to a lot of different customers. My first customers are the owners of the buildings that will hire me to do the project. Since I am specializing in concrete and block work, I will only be in charge of that type of work. I have to make sure I do my work in a presentable fashion and stay on schedule so the general contractor will hire me again. Other customers could include company's that I sub my work out to or people that buy products from me.
3) I am offering work that is sellable to the owner and work that will be completed on time according to a contract that is given out by the general contractor. All my customers will have a lot in common because they are all related to my field of work. My customers will come from all over the state of Florida and will change from job to job. Starting off, I will try to win one job and hire people to complete the projects. So at first, I will only have one customer then down the road, my customers will expand to many different people.
4) my customers will actually pay me money because I will do my work so that the general contractors can sell my work to the owner of the buildings. In keeping good relationships with different general contractors, I can expand my business at a high rate. So it is crucial for me to do my work so it is presentable to all my customers.
5) what sets me apart from other companies in my field is first the advantage I have in building relationships with different people. In my business, it is very crucial that you create relationships so you can get business down the road. Another thing that puts me past other companies is that type of work I preform and doing it on time. It is also essential in this type of business to stay on schedule. By my company being known for completing the job right and on time will bring me business for a long time.

I think all these ideas do fit together in some sort. Starting up a business takes a lot of thought and effort and these aspects are all things you need to need to think about before starting up your business. In any field that you in, the customers have to come first and that is what I got from doing this napkin exercise. Another I got from this exercise is be confident in the business you are starting up and know customers will buy your product.

Elevator pitch 1

I plan on creating a business with the extendo charge. The extendo charge will allow you to take battery life from your friends phone and add it on your phone when your battery gets low. Each person will have to download our app that I created which will allow you to choose exactly how much percentage you want to transfer over. My business will create revenue from the cords we sell and the purchase of the app. I will also create revenue by allowing different types of advertisements on the app I created.

week 4 reading reflection

The sources of innovative bias was a real surprise to me because there were some interesting topics that entrepreneurs can spot but no one else can. There were 8 sources of innovative ideas that were mentioned in the chapter ( trends, unexpected occurrences, incongruities, process needs, industry and market changes demographic changes, perceptual changes, and knowledge-based concepts) The two biggest surprises from that list were demographic changes and perceptual changes. When changes in demographics occur, it often boost entrepreneur opportunities. It surprised me because I always thought that changes in demographics would decrease the opportunities for entrepreneurs. Industry and market changes surprised me because I also thought that it would decrease the opportunities of entrepreneurs. To me, the increase in technology is something that could be for the good or the better for certain business's. The one thing that confused me the most was the nature of the creative process. Creativity is not a trait that all people can have. Also in my eyes, creativity can't be taught to a human being. You either have the trait or you don't, and that is what confused me the most. I dont think the author was wrong about anything particular, but if their were two questions I could ask they would be:
1) How can one be taught to be creative, and apply that lesson to be a better entrepreneur?
2) Could you become an entrepreneur without recognizing all the sources of innovation, and if so, what traits would you need to fill in the spot of recognizing the sources of innovative ideas.  

top 5 world problems

1) global warming
2) the pollution of water
3) war
4) ISIS are the globe
5) obesity

1)  things that could help global warming is activities such as driving less or car pooling, recycle, use more solar energy, reduce waste , and use less hot water.
2)A way to eliminate this issue is countries come together and get rid of ISIS. This might involve fighting, but it would be worth it to get theses people away from everyone.
3)One way to improve this situation is implement stricter laws on the pollution that is causing this issue and try to get people to help save water and stop wasting it.
4) A way to make this issue feasible is to use more technology than soldiers itself. With the amount of inventions that we have, we need to use way more of it to protect our soldiers from dying.
5)A way to solve this issue is to eat less fast food and eat more home cooked meals. Also, people need to find more time to exercise on a daily basis.

Global warming is one of the worlds most major problem that exist today and that is why I put that as my number one problem. Green house gases continue to get overused and it is really ruining our earth. we as a country need to find a way to decrease the rise in global warming. 

With global warming being my top problem with the world, I think my solution is very feasible as well. If people would do things such as recycling, carpooling, reducing waste, and using less hot water, the world can decrease the rise in global warming. 

Identifying local opportunities

1)
- Manhunt under way for 3 armed inmates who escaped from California jail
- http://www.tampabay.com/news/nation/3-inmates-who-escaped-from-california-jail-considered-armed/2262605
- The article is about three inmates that escaped a jail in California with tools that are unknown. This is the first time in 20 years that three inmates have escaped from a 900 inmate facility. The inmates are still on the loose and there is a reward of 20000 dollars for information on where they are located. They were last seen with their orange jump suites on. They escaped by cutting through metal bars and repelling down the roof.
-The problem presented in this story is that 3 inmates are on the loose after escaping from jail without being caught. the other problem is that they actually escaped without the guards knowing. That is a huge risk to the rest of the society because one of the inmates was on trial for murder.
- The community and the local authorities have the problem. The community has a problem because there are inmates roaming the streets and their safety is unknown. The authorities have the same problem because they still haven't found the inmates.

2) - uber drivers plan another work stoppage at midnight Saturday to protest uber 's low rates
- http://www.tampabay.com/news/transportation/uber-drivers-plan-another-work-stoppage-at-midnight-saturday-to-protest/2262480
- This article is about the Uber app service and one of the changes they made that has effected the drivers. Uber implemented the ride share that allows people to ride with people that they don't fare. This has ultimately cost employees of uber to lose money cause they have to drive more but are getting paid less. So Saturday, the drivers opted not to work because they were losing so much money with ride share.
- the problem in the story is that drivers don't want to drive with the ride share because they are losing so much money. The other problem is that the company loses money because customers can't get rides on the busiest day.
- the drivers have the problem with the ride share. They are losing money so uber is ultimately losing employees to work for them.

3) - Teen arrested for having a knife at Azalea Middle School
- http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/teen-arrested-for-having-a-knife-at-azalea-middle-school/2262470
- this story is about a teen in the 7th grade being arrested at school for bringing a knife on campus. He told another student that he planned on using the knife on another student and was caught with a list of names that could have been related to the knife as well. The teen was charged and taken into custody for the knife.
- the problem with this story is the child bringing the knife to the school and planning on using on another student. Another problem is the child actually having s knife to bring. That means that the child's parents don't supervise the child enough and don't know what their child is doing. A like of parenting is a huge problem in the story.
- the school and parents of other children at the school have the problems. The school has a problem because safety at the school is a huge thing because parents rely on the school to keep the childr n safe. Parents have a problem because they now have to worry about the safety of their children

4) - After a long wait, hills borough teachers will get pay raises
- http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/after-a-long-wait-hillsborough-teachers-will-get-pay-raises/2261839
- this article is about teacher's getting a pay raise after a long battle with the county. Not all teachers will actually get a physical raise though. Some of them will get a credit of one years work and the others will get an actual wage. Now that they are getting raises, they will lose the opportunity to get a bonus on this fiscal year.
- the problem with this story is that teachers actually have to beg for raises when they have huge responsibility for the job they do. Teachers are the back bone to students having a successful career because it's their responsibility to teach the children.
- the teachers have the problem because they want more money and actually deserve more money than they are receiving.

5)

Child seriously injured after being struck by car in Pinellas Park

- 
- this article is about a child that was walking across the street and getting hit by a car and seriously injured. this child was walking with his friend and the driver only saw one of the children. The child was air lifted to the hospital and is projected to live. 
- the problem is the driver not seeing both children and hitting them. the other problem is the children crossing the street with know supervision by their parents. 
- the only person that has a problem in this story is the deputies because a child was seriously injured but can't really convict anyone because it wasn't the drivers fault. 

Very short interview number 1

      For my interview, I chose to interview my grandfather who has been an entrepreneur for over 40 years of his life. When he hit the age of 25, he started up his own business with his brother. They both took a huge risk of starting a business after having nothing. The business they started is a masonry company that now has offices stationed in Tampa and Atlanta Georgia. Now, this is a multi-million dollar company that is very successful on a yearly basis. I chose to interview him because after 40 years, he could give be the best insight on what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur.

      I started off my interview by describing to him what I thought it took to become a successful entrepreneur. I first asked him What should I focus on to become a successful entrepreneur? he answered " When starting your own company there are always high risk but not always a high reward. Anyone who starts their own business is taking a huge risk of losing a lot of money. If you actually have a business plan in take and at a reasonable cost, then go for it. The main thing you need to focus on is the planning aspect of starting a business. Planning doesn't take a day or a week, it takes months or even years worth of planning. You need to take your plan to a professional as well and get input from them. Planning out your business is one of the key points to focus on to becoming a successful entrepreneur. I then asked him, if anything from this course, what is one thing I need to learn to become a successful entrepreneur? His response was " Don't focus on one specific thing while taking your course. Keep an open mind and learn everything you possibly can because everything you learn will help you become successful. Becoming an entrepreneur takes time and learning everything you can will make you become way more successful." My final question was what is one thing that you wish you would have learned or been told before starting up your own business? He responded " when you have aspirations of starting up your own business, taking different information from different entrepreneurs is crucial to becoming an entrepreneur. The one thing I wished I learned was the aspect of listening to other people. When I started my business, I always thought it was my way and I didn't take advice from other people."

      I learned that to become a successful entrepreneur, it takes time and a lot of help from different people. Becoming an entrepreneur is something that needs to be thoroughly planned out and thought about before actually putting it into action. I also learned that an entrepreneur needs to keep an open mind and listen to other peoples advice. There are a lot of other people that have been successful in the past and it is crucial to take advice from people that have done it before.

Worlds biggest problems

1) One major problem is the worlds major water problem. As we see in Michigan, the water is polluted and will only get worse. Withe the human population drastically increasing, pollution is on the rise but the amount of water is decreasing. The two simply aren't going together.
- One way to improve this situation is implement stricter laws on the pollution that is causing this issue and try to get people to help save water and stop wasting it.

2) The extinction of major species that we rely on is also becoming a major problem in our country. Animals that we rely on are going extinct and that might even lead to humans becoming extinct as well.
- A way to improve this situation is to hire more officers to stop the illegal poaching of extinct animals. Also just as the water issues, make stricter laws on illegal poaching on extinct species.

3) With the current war we are in as a country, war has become a big issue in the United States. Yes, we should stand up for ourselves but the amount of families that are suffering due to the amount of soldiers dying needs to decrease.
- A way to make this issue feasible is to use more technology than soldiers itself. With the amount of inventions that we have, we need to use way more of it to protect our soldiers from dying.

4) The amount debt this country is in is terrible and is a huge issue for us going forward, We continue to spend spend spend but don't think about the amount of money we actually owe. We are trillions of dollars in debt and need to find a way to fix it.
- we could either raise taxes or cut back on the amount of imports the we are bringing in. That would cause us to make products ourselves that would cut back on the spending a little bit.

5) With oil being a must need across the world, oil has hit its peak in production. This is a major issue because most of the world rely on oil production to get through every day life.
- A way to improve this situation is for different countries to start making its own oil. This would maximize the oil production across the world.

6) The population across the world increases every day with the amount of people in every country. As rewarding as he and are to the world, it actually could become a huge issue to the world. As we bring in more people to the world, more items are needed for them to survive on.
- A way to help this issue is to stop poaching the extinct species so they will hopefully become unextinct. Also countries could implement the amount of kids each family has. This might not be a good idea but the amount of people could actually become a problem.

7) Isis has become a huge problem not only for our own country, but for the world. Isis is out to get every country and is a huge problem to everyone's safety.
- A way to eliminate this issue is countries come together and get rid of ISIS. This might involve fighting, but it would be worth it to get theses people away from everyone.

8)  Global warming has been a huge issue for a long time across the world. This is a cause of people over using the green house gases. Ocean temperatures continue to rise to higher temperatures and the rise in sea levels.
- things that could help global warming is activities such as driving less or car pooling, recycle, use more solar energy, reduce waste , and use less hot water.

9) With the continue rise in global warming, climate change has become a huge issue as well. Global warming is causing the burning of fossils and the increase in temperature. climate change is causing the melting of polar ice and a change of seasons.
- A way to help this issue is to decrease global warming. Global warming is the main reason why climate change is occurring across the world.

10) Obesity is another huge problem that continues to increase across the world. people are becoming more obese every day and is making or world very unhealthy.
- A way to solve this issue is to eat less fast food and eat more home cooked meals. Also, people need to find more time to exercise on a daily basis.

bug list

1) When I am at a restaurant and the waiter/waitress is more worried about looking at their phone rather than serving the customers that are eating.
- this bugs me because it makes me feel as us the customers aren't important enough and the customers should always be put first.

2)  when I am driving on the highway and a tractor trailer is in the far left lane or a car is driving under the speed limit in the left lane.
- this bugs me because for one tractor trailers shouldn't be driving the the left lane and secondly, the left lane is for passing other cars.

3) When I am in the middle of a conversation and someone cuts me off mid sentence to say something else.
- this bugs me because it is extremely rude and disrespectful to cut someone off from talking in the middle of a sentence.

4) When I am in the middle of watching football games and people ask me to go do something or change the channel.
- As a big sports fan, I hate being messed with while watching sports. With the amount of hours I work, Sunday's are my day to relax and do what I want to do.

5) When I am going through a drive thru and you specifically order what you want and they mess up the order over and over.
- this bothers me because usually when I am going through a drive thru I am in a rush and it irritates me that they can't get my order right.

6) when employees continuously lie on a weekly basis and miss work constantly for no reason at all.
- being a supervisor, it really bugs me when someone misses work for a minor reason and it happens all the time.

7) when telemarketers continue to call your phone after you have asked them multiple times to take your name off the list.
- this bugs me because I don't want them to call me everyday. It annoys me everytime they do and i constantly tell them to take my number off the list.

8) When I am driving and the person behind me is way to close to me and is rode raging.
- This bugs me because there is no reason to be driving so close to me because they aren't going to get to their destination any faster by being that close.

9) when you are in class or in a group and there is one person trying to be better than everyone else.
- this bugs me because I hate when someone tries to act like they are better than everyone else. Everyone needs to be treated the same way.

10) when I order something online and it doesn't show up or shows up later than the date it was guaranteed at.
- this bugs me because when I order something, I expect it to be delivered on time. I ordered a christmas present recently and it showed up 3 days after christmas. That is bad business in my eyes.

11) When I spend time planning something out and it doesn't go through as I planned it.
- this bugs me because I like to work on a schedule and always complete projects as i plan them. It really bugs me when it doesn't go as I planned.

12) when I ask someone a question and they either completely ignore me or don't answer the question that was asked.
- this bugs me because it is extremely disrespectful in my eyes for someone to blatantly ignore another person. So it bugs me when someone does it to me.

13) When I am at work and I have to complete other peoples job because they don't do what they are told to do.
- this bugs me because people at work need to work as a team and complete their duties so others don't have more work on their plates. Laziness really irritates me.

14) The amount of updates that pop up on my Iphone that I have to download.
-this bugs me because of the amount of time each update takes to complete. While updating, your whole phone shuts down for at least 10 minutes and usually it makes your phone run slower after each update.

15) When I am at the movie theatre and people talk so loud that you can't enjoy the movie you are trying to watch.
- This bugs me because I paid to go watch the movie and people in the background are ruining it because they don't know how to be quiet.

16) When someone tells me that they are going to do something and never do it.
- responsibility is a key element to me, and it bugs me when someone doesn't do what they say they are going to do.

17) When I am in the middle of doing my homework and the internet goes out or my work doesn't get saved.
-this bugs me because it is so frustrating when you complete an assignment then have to do it all over again.

18) when I go into a store or restaurant and the employees are rude and disrespectful because they are having a bad day.
-This bugs me because I used to work at a hard ware store. The customer should always come first and the employee shouldn't punish a paying customer for the day they are having.

19) when I take my truck to get an oil change and the shop tries to tell me multiple things that are wrong with the truck to try and get me to buy the products.
- this bugs me because I hate when people try to up sale me on things that are not an necessity.

20) When there is a wreck on one side of the highway and rubberneckers on the other side cause there to be traffic.
- this bugs me because there is know reason for the other side of the high way to slow down and cause traffic. traffic in general bugs me.

This assignment was actually very difficult for me to complete. Not a lot of things actually bug me so it was hard for me to come up with 20 things that actually do.