Week 15 Reading Reflection

Harvard Business Review:
Business Basics at the Base of the Pyramid

1) The part of this article that stuck out the most to me was the fact that the company only supplied loans to poor women. It is interesting that they do this because women are more likely to reinvest their profits into building their portfolio.

2) One part of the reading that was confusing to me was how they turned over a profit. I wasn't sure how low or how high the interest rate was on the loans, especially for those who are poor.

3) First question for the author: Do you find that supplying Nokia phones to your borrowers causes an increase in repayment rates? I want to know if this a good strategy to ensure that borrowers pay their loans back on time.
Second Question: How quickly do your borrowers invest their money and see an increase in their daily income? I want to know if Saryamma was an outlier or a good example of borrowers making their income increase.

4) I disagree with the way the author initially started the business. Starting as a non-profit and collecting donations to get started is a good strategy, but I believe it is the wrong thing to do. If you know you are going to be for-profit, then start out that way.

Final Reflection

My Blog Recap:

I started this blog in January, and over the course of four months, I have had some good times, and some not so good. I like to end on a high note, so I will start out on a low note. I will say that the weekly reading was my enemy. Although I did learn some ideas from it, most of it was just common sense put onto paper. I dreaded Sundays for this reason. I also did struggle with My Unfair Advantage. On a high note, I really enjoyed the Venture Concept; it made be more enthusiastic about my business. On an even higher note, I loved Amazon Whisperer. It was my favorite activity this semester and it made me realize how much fun I have when trying to improve products.

My Experiences:

My most formative experience was from Celebrating Failure; I have problems with time management and putting my struggle into words will help me overcome it in the future.
The experience that I will remember the most is Venture Concept No. 2; I had a great time planning out the future and ten years down the line, I will remember the business plan I set up.
As I mentioned earlier, my most joyous experience was Amazon Whisperer; I never knew I loved to solve product problems until I did this assignment.
My experience that I am most proud of is Google Gold. I made it to the first page of Google and was excited and very proud of myself for making it there.

Entrepreneurial Mindset:

At the beginning of the semester, I recorded The Entrepreneur Mantra. When I recorded it, entrepreneurship was just an idea floating in my mind. Now, I consider myself a potential entrepreneur. After Amazon Whisperer, I know that I have the entrepreneurial mindset and am excited about it too.

Recommendation to Future Students:

I recommend to students that passion is everything. If you're not passionate about your product/service, you will not enjoy this semester. I've seen this on other blogs and their lack of care for their idea really shows. I am very passionate about my product and I enjoyed this class because of it. Also, in order to foster the entrepreneur mindset, don't be afraid of failure, embrace it. It means you are trying and always learning.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

1) Elevator Pitch No. 4 Purrfect Litter Box

2) The feedback that I got was to explain how my product is different from an enclosed litter box. I was told that they liked how I fluctuated my voice at the appropriate moments.

3) I incorporated my feedback by mentioning how solving this particular problem would not include enclosed litter boxes. They do a good job, but they do not serve the same purpose that my product will.

Venture Concept No. 2

My Venture Concept:

Opportunity:

• What is the need?
• The need is for a better litter box.

• Who has the need?
• My potential customers are cat owners.

• What is the nature of the need?
• The cat owners need an easier way to manage cat litter boxes.

 This opportunity has always been around, but forces that cause it to grow in size for two major reasons:

• The Baby Boomers are at or reaching retirement age.
• As they age, their capabilities of certain tasks decline.
•  The Millennials are reaching the time in their lives where they typically are starting a family.
• They possibly have young children running around and/or more than one type of pet living in their homes.

 My Market: 

• Demographically
• Baby Boomers - specifically the elderly who are cat owners.
• Millennials - parents of children under the age of 4; cat owners that also own a dog.

• Geographically
• Florida/Arizona - elderly retirees tend to reside here; a dog is typically too much work, but cats are just right for them.
• Suburbs - families with multiple pets and young children are typical finds in these regions.
• Cities - newly established families with infants and toddlers start out by living in these regions.

 My potential customers are currently satisfying their needs by:

• suffering through back pain while their litter box is on the floor
• placing the litter box on the counter

My potential customers are not loyal to what they use now; as a cat owner, I have no idea what brand the litter box I use now is. Cat owners are loyal to food and the brand of litter, not the box.

• How big is this opportunity?
• This opportunity is large because the market includes two major portions of the population, Baby Boomers and Millennials.

• How long will the "window of opportunity" be open?
• This "window" will be open for an infinite amount of time, or until another company takes on this opportunity. Cats have nine lives, they will be around for a long time.

Innovation: 

My innovation is The Purrfect Litter Box.

• What is it?
• It is an elevated litter box, standing approximately three feet above the ground. 

• What does it do?
• It provides a place for cats to defecate. 

•  How does it work?
• The cat will jump onto a shelf on the side and then to the top, in which is where the litter box is located.

The elevated part of The Purrfect Litter Box is one of the features, along with: 

• Mobility - the litter box is built into the top of a cart and is on wheels.
• Storage - the cart has two shelves that can be used as storage.
• Safety - all four wheels have locks.
• Easy Access - there is a carpeted and removable shelf on the side of the top shelf for the cat to jump on before jumping to the top of the cart.

  The Purrfect Litter Box

 The price, based upon materials and labor, will approximately be:

$59.99

Venture Concept:

 My innovation, The Purrfect Litter Box, will solve the opportunity that I have identified by:

• making it easier for the elderly to clean the litter box - no bending.
• preventing infants and toddlers from getting into the litter box.
• preventing dogs from getting into the litter box. 

• Why will customers buy my product?
• Elderly cat owners will want to prevent any further back pain that regular litter boxes cause.
• New parents want to make sure that their children are safe; including the prevention of exposure to cat litter and its contents.
• Cat owners that also own dogs are willing to buy new products to ensure that their dog will not get into the litter

Customers are willing to switch to my product because of the features it offers that their current litter box does not.

With great advertising, getting customers to switch will be easy; 

cat owners  do not have emotional connections or brand loyalty to their litter boxes.

 My Competitors:

• Brands include:
• Martha Stewart Pets
• Nature's Miracle
• etc.

•  Their possible weaknesses include:
• lack of significant innovation
• insignificant advertising

  

My Business Concept:

• The concept of my business is to distribute by selling online and in stores.
• I will form a contract with a pet store chain, such as Petsmart.
• The regular price will be $59.99, but I will offer promotions occasionally, such as 2 for $99.99. 
• The packaging will be vibrant and the product will need some minor assembly.
• My product will have online customer support, not face-to-face interactions.
• Headquarters (at first) : Gainesville, FL.

Organization of my Business: 

• My company, The Donnelly Clan Co., will be producing products, starting with The Purrfect Litter Box. 

• In the beginning, my business will produce the product in Astatula, FL.
• My brother will be head of production and has room to store the products.

 

Astatula, FL

• I will manage my own website in the beginning from my apartment in Gainesville, FL.

• My business will have only two employees at first - my brother and I.

• Once profits are coming in, I will expand. I will partner with a production company and they will create the product in bulk. 

• The product in bulk will ship to an office that I will rent in Gainesville, FL.

•   This office is for preparation for distribution and customer support. I will have 12 employees
• 6 - distribution to stores
• 2 - customer support
• 1 - website up-keep
• 3 - processing and handling

Additional Information:

My Unfair Advantage:

• I am majoring in advertising; my knowledge of marketing and advertising is how I can make my product different from competitors - better advertising and visual appeal.

My Next Venture:

• The next product I have in line is closely related to The Purrfect Litter Box. It is a litter box that has a hood over it. It will be easy access and comfortable for cats, as well. It can be stand alone, but it will also be able to fit perfectly in place of the litter box of my current product.

 What's Next for me?

• In five years, I see myself as an assistant creative executive for a major advertising agency in Boston, MA.
•  I plan to still be with my company, The Donnelly Clan Co., but not full-time.
• Producing new products from time to time.
• Headquarters: Gainesville, FL.

•  In ten years, I see myself as a creative executive - same company.
• I will continue to be a part of my company on the side.
• Consistently producing new products.
• Headquarters: Boston, MA.

 

Boston, MA

 

 

 

I will be honest and say that I did not receive any negative feedback, only positive. The only part that could maybe be considered as almost negative was that the price might be a bit high ($69.99), but would work with great advertising. Other than that, my feedback included how my venture concept was well-organized and easy on the eyes. Also, my organization skills that I put into this can come into good use when it comes to a business. 

 

I changed my venture concept in a few minor ways. Even though it is till temporary until I get legitimate estimates, I lowered the price of the product from $69.99 to $59.99. Also, I changed my headquarters from Orlando, FL to Boston, MA in the 10-year scenario; I plan to live in Massachusetts and would prefer my business to be more local. I changed the number of employees during the startup. It was initially 6 and now it will be 12. If I want my business to be a success, I have to think of it as a quickly growing business; after the ball starts rolling, my company will have 12 employees. In addition, I did add a couple more photographs to add more visual appeal. Otherwise, I liked how I set up my venture concept in the first version and saw no need to change anything else. 

 

And what kind of company would I be if I did not show you the star of our first product? 

Our Spokescat - Maia

 

Google Gold

My business plan includes the company name, The Donnelly Clan Co., and it's initial product, The Purrfect Litter Box. It is a cat litter box that is elevated off the ground for the convenience of both Baby Boomers and Millenials.

1) In order to reach search engine optimization (SEO), I had to come up with a strategy. I had keywords already implanted within my blog. I also used social media to increase the number of views that my blog receives.

2) The keywords I use are as follow:

• Kristine
• It's my first name
• The Donnelly Clan Co.
• It is the company name

•  The Purrfect Litter Box
• It is the product name

The product name and my first name were the same from beginning to end; however, the company name was developed towards the end of this semester.

3) I used social media for SEO. I used both Facebook and Blogger network for promoting my blog. my Facebook post was just for family and friends. My Blogger network post was posted on a Cat Page where others can display their posts. I have gotten Likes on both posts and at the time of posting, there was a spike in the number of views on my blog. The picture that I posted is shown below.

4) My most "viral" post was  Idea Napkin No. 2. I believe that this happened because it was my most well-thought out post. I am happy with the writing style I used and how I approached the reason for why customers should care.

5) I made it to the first page of Google! On top of that, the first three links belong to me! The first one is one of my YouTube videos for the class, and the next two are of my blog. I did not have to use all my keywords. I typed: kristine purrfect litter box.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

Chapter 3: The Entrepreneurial Mind-Set in Organizations: Corporate Entrepreneurship

1) The part that stood out the most to me was the list of five important practices for establishing innovation-driven organizations. Other than the basic knowledge of getting feedback and such, my favorite part was about failure. As a kid, I assumed that with failure, came punishment. Fail a class, get grounded. This book tells me that I should not punish failures, but learn from them.

2) One part of the reading that was confusing to me was about the corporate entrepreneurship strategy. The integrative model that is shown for it is over-complicated. The four main boxes are easy, but the others make the model go haywire.

3) Question 1: How do you feel about entrepreneurs using the skunk works organization for those wanting to innovate as a side-job? I want to know because this is potentially how I want to run my business.
Question 2: Other than the examples given on developing its own philosophy of corporate innovation, do you have any extra questions to provide an enterprise? I want to know because any additional questions can serve useful to an enterprise.

4) I disagree when the author talks about time availability. Not all enterprises require a vast amount of time like the author implies. Some can take up a very minimal amount of time in a person's life.


Chapter 4: Social Entrepreneurship and the Ethical Challenges of Entrepreneurship

1) The part that stood out the most to me was ecopreneurship. This concept was quite interesting to learn about and it is exciting that in the midst of entrepreneurship, our ecosystem is still taken into account.

2) The confusing part I found within this chapter was about bottom-line measures of environmental performance. I am confused on how they compare one severity to another within the realm of pollutants and consumption.

3) Question 1:In addition to recycling, how else would you eliminate the concept of waste? I want to know because I am interested in reducing waste.
Question 2: How do you think society is doing when it comes to putting the ecosystem into perspective within entrepreneurship? I want to know because I am curious to whether or not our society cares about the environment.

4) I disagree with the author when saying that it is obvious from the preceding... entrepreneurial thinkers. How is the preceding information "obvious"? That is not a word an author should use in a textbook.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

The first interview of the entrepreneur I have selected can be found at:
Very Short Interview No. 1

David Haslam is an entrepreneur and the owner of Campus Scooters in Gainesville Fla. From where I stand now, the initial interview had some very broad questions; however, I was lucky that Haslam went into depth with his answers. It helped and still helps with getting into the mindset of an entrepreneur.

In addition to the first three questions I asked him in January, I had three more to ask him in the second interview.

Donnelly: How did you know it was the right time to start your business?

Haslam: With my skill set, the job that I was applying for were all good jobs but not what I was looking for in long term. Some would have paid better than when I first started the business. The problem was that the jobs did not have both the pay and the benefits I desired. The economy in Gainesville is very good and very strange too. Between that and other jobs not having what I wanted, I knew it was time to start my business.

Donnelly: How difficult, or if so, how easy was it to come into contact with your suppliers?

Haslam: I still keep in contact with suppliers. With the business I have, there are many suppliers that reach out to me. The one downside is that there will be some sketchy contacts among the ones who reach out – not all of them, though. The internet helped find contacts as well. Overall, it was fairly easy and it is important to be aware of the sketchy suppliers.

Donnelly: How do you find your potential employees?

Haslam: I find that word-of-mouth is the best way for my business to find new employees. For non-skilled working jobs, I’ll ask around the business complex. If I’m looking for skilled workers, I post a listing on our Facebook or on our Website. The one thing I always try to do is cut out the middle-man. Our open positions are heard by word-of-mouth or on one of our pages, not a temp agency, or some other business like that.

Compared to three months ago, I felt a lot more comfortable talking with the entrepreneur. I was more aware of what type of work went into being an entrepreneur and even tied it into my interview. Based on the specific questions I asked him, Haslam had sensed my progress and asked me about what I have in store for the future for entrepreneurship (after the interview).