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.