Week 15 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that stood out to me the most was the concept of microfinance.  I think its awesome that people can help invest in lower income people's opportunities and help them out as well as make a profit.  It just seems like an overall good thing for everyone involved.
2. One part that was confusing for me was the company in the article being able to grow so quickly.  I just don't understand why so many would choose to help finance it if the repayments could be so low.
3. Some questions I have for the author are:
1. How were you able to sell your idea to so many people and get them to invest?
• This could be helpful for people that are interested in trying to get people to microfinance their opportunity.
2. What type of industry do you think could benefit the most off of microfinancing?
• This could be useful so potential entrepreneur could know what industries benefit the most off of microfinancing and maybe see if their opportunity fits into that industry.
4. I did not disagree with anything.  I agreed with everything the author said.

Final Reflection

1. Looking through all of my blog posts, its crazy to see all thats happened throughout this semester.  The high was working on my opportunity throughout the different assignments.  I think it's awesome to see how it has transformed over the weeks.  The low was having to do so many video interviews.  I think that doing just regular text or audio interviews would be just as good as video interviews.  A fun moment was also with getting to work on your opportunity throughout the weeks, refining it to what it is now.  I didn't have any moments of drudgery or dread, luckily so that made this class fun.  In all, I have had a fantastic time with this class and all of the learning assignments have been very useful for learning the entrepreneurial mindset.
2. My most formative experience is also my most joyous.  I am very proud of being able to come up with an opportunity that, throughout the weeks of refinement and updating, I could potentially produce.  Being able to say that you were able to have an excellent idea and a plan for how to implement it and allow consumers to use it is awesome.
3. I do see myself as an entrepreneur.  I think that I have moved closer to an entrepreneurial mindset.  This class has taught me many different things throughout it and I feel that they have contributed to me gaining an entrepreneurial mindset.
4. The major key to succeeding in this class is being on top of when your assignments are due and "buying into" the class. If you believe in the assignment's goals, then you have a better time doing them and an overall better outlook on the class.  Also, if you make sure you are aware of when your assignments are due, then you can prevent missing an assignment and ensure your grade is good.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

The overall feedback for my previous elevator pitch was positive, which really stood out to me.  People liked the pitch and what I was offering.  The only thing I received that I could improve on is the opening line, which stood out to me since I don't usually receive constructive criticism on my assignments.  I didn't think any of the comments were silly or wrong.

I edited the opening line of my pitch.  I removed calling out Uber and Lyft.  Everything else remained the same.

Venture Concept No. 2

I feel that my opportunity is one that people in society can greatly benefit from.  I would be offering a way for customers to use a cab service for an amount of times, whether that be unlimited or a set number, by having them prepay in monthly or yearly increments.  The cost would be based off of what the average ride costs throughout the day times what the average frequency of one user uses the service.  Since it is a bulk purchase, the user would be getting the rides at a fraction of what they would go for individually, and I, the seller, would profit by being able to guarantee the cabs/Ubers a bulk purchase of their services which they would sell to me at an even lower price of what I would sell to the customer.  The type of potential customer that I would be attracting with this service is everybody that uses cab services.  With how often people on college campuses and in cities use cabs, I think that they would be the most common users of this service.

There is only one force in the environment that is creating this opportunity.  Nobody is offering this type of service in the marketplace, so I feel that now would be the best time to launch my service.  This would give me a leg up over any potential completion because I would have been around the longest with the service, whereas everyone else would have to play catch up with me.  Given the uniqueness of my service I am offering, it is not defined geographically or demographically.  Instead, it is something that nearly everyone could use and would benefit from. Because nobody else offers this type of service, potential customers are stuck paying fees per ride.  This adds up to a lot more in the long run than if they were to use my service.  With that, I do not think that any of the current customers would be loyal to the cab services and paying fees per ride, instead of saving money.  I think that they would happily switch to my service, which they could still use their favorite type of cab service with, but instead pay less per ride, through my bulk purchase offering.  This opportunity is very big, given that nobody else is offering this type of service.  While nobody else is offering this service, it is unclear how long the window of opportunity would be open.  Since my offering would be the first of its kind, it could take a while for others to catch up to me and offer similar, competitive services.

I have already explained what my opportunity is and how it works above, so I wont bore you with repeating the same stuff.  This service would allow for them to prepay in monthly or yearly increments for the service.  When compared to if the customer were to just pay per ride, they would be saving a lot of money with my service because of the bulk purchase in the increments specified above.

My concept will address the opportunity I have identified above.  Since no one else offers this service, I will be bringing on a completely new and never before seen idea.  With the abilities of being able to save potentially a great deal of money, many people will be attracted to this service that I am offering.  With how much money that customers could save through my bulk purchase method of cab rides, this will attract a lot of people to it.  With how many people on college campuses and in large cities use cabs, I feel that they will benefit the most from this. Since almost nobody feels attached to a certain cab service, I do not think that it will be difficult to get customers to switch to my service.  Also, since my service just adds on to what the existing services are, they might be more inclined to switch since they already know and are comfortable with the cab services already offered.  Given that I am the first person to produce this service, I have no competitors as of right now.  Maybe after others see the success my service has, they will try to replicate my service. I think that pricing and customer experience will play the biggest roles in customers choosing my service.  The price has to be low enough to attract people and show that they can save money through choosing my service rather than paying by each ride. Also, customer experience is going to affect them, but that is not something I can control beyond the computer and mobile app.  Since the rides are performed through existing cab services, those companies are liable to the customer experience.  With how my service is performed through online services, I do not think it would be that difficult to maintain the service for ongoing production.  I do not think I would need a large team to oversee it.  I would mostly just need a marketing team to promote it and a technology team to oversee that everything is working for the online services.

My most important resource will be great performance through the mobile and computer applications.  With these, the ability to perform just as they should will be the most important to the people first using my service and continuing to use it.

            The next thing for my service would be to work to continue the same great service as when I start as well as working to add new cab companies that may become popular to my existing available cab options.
            For me, I would like to see myself in five years as still overseeing my company and watching it continue to succeed.  After ten years I would like to see myself as potentially having another person oversee the day-to-day operations and I only work on major projects and improvements.

The feedback that I received was overwhelmingly positive.  People loved the opportunity that I had.  The only thing that I received other than positive feedback was one question on making sure I didn't charge too high for the service and that be why people did not use it.  That is an interesting question, but it is something I cannot answer until I get actual estimates from the cab companies I would use.  Until then I can only speculate as to what the price would be and be hopeful that it would be low enough to entice people to utilize my service.

I did not change my venture concept.  I did not receive an feedback that I could use to make improvements to my venture concept.  With that, I did not change anything because according to the feedback I received, my venture concept is already great as it is.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that surprised me was the list of all the characteristics of an entrepreneur.  I had never known that that many characteristics can be attributed to an entrepreneur.
2. One thing that confused me was the charts and graphs.  I sometimes struggle with comprehending what information is trying be displayed, and this was a case where didn't fully understand it.
3. Two questions I have for the author are:
1. Could there be other characteristics that could define an entrepreneur that aren't listed in the table?
• This could help possible entrepreneurs from getting discouraged if they don't think they have many of the characteristics of an entrepreneur according to the chart.
2. Do certain areas of business require a stricter ethics code than others?
• This is just an interesting question that could bring about a discussion on ethics in the business world and where they should be strictly applied.
4. I don't disagree with anything.  I agree with everything the author wrote.

Google Gold

1. I tried to keep my style of writing similar so that the words that I use throughout blog posts are relatively similar with the words.  I used the label "week X" to describe what week each post was and that could help link posts to each other.  I would put a link to my blog post for an assignment when I would comment on other students' blog posts.
2. I think that ENT3003MT (my blog name) is a keyword since it is the beginning part of the link to my blog.  Also, I think that the different "Week" labels are keywords.  I chose the "Week" ones because I was required and the ENT3003MT because I felt it worked for what the blog's purpose was.  The keywords didn't really change throughout the semester except to reflect a different week.
3. I didn't really use social media to enhance my SEO efforts.  I did not want to share blog posts to my Facebook or Twitter because that's just not something I do.  My Google+ is linked to my blog so I would think that that might have come into play a little bit for SEO.  Also, I did post the videos I have done throughout the class for the assignments to my YouTube account so I would think that that might also helped my search engine optimization.  I do think though that social media was usually ignored though for these blog posts.
4. My most viral post was "My Entrepreneurship Story".  I think that it was the most viral post because it is the most relatable.  People like to learn about what made others who they are and this post is close to that.  It's fun to learn about people's "X Story" that demonstrates something that they are proud of or led them to who they are now.
5. Yes, I made it to the first page of Google with the keyword "ent3003mt".  I was the top four links on Google for that keyword search.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

I think now at the end of the semester looking at my original interview, I have a better understanding on what it means to be an entrepreneur.  I think it is cool to look back to what I thought of in the class back then and compare it to now.  The questions and what I thought were not that descriptive, but that's ok, I had not learned everything at that point.  From where I began in the semester I can definitely say I've learned a lot throughout this class.

Three questions I had for the same experienced entrepreneur and his answers:

1. Do you think being an entrepreneur has changed the way you see things?
• I think it has allowed me to realize when there is an unmet need.  While I may not be able to create a solution to every need, it is a fun thing to be able to pick out what could be an opportunity in everyday life.
2. How has failing played an impact in your entrepreneurial mindset?
• Failing is ok.  It's what you do after you fail that's important.  If you can learn from it and work to prevent the same mistake from happening again, then you have succeeded.  That is what I believe in and use it to help influence my decisions and help me try new things.
3. What is one last tip you have for an aspiring entrepreneur?
• Don't have a fear of the unknown.  Try new things, regardless if you are afraid.  Being adventurous and taking a chance can help create some of the best decisions of your life.

I would say that I definitely feel more comfortable interviewing an entrepreneur now than when I did three months ago.  Even though it is just a close family friend that I interviewed, it still is a lot easier than three months ago.  I think that he conveyed a sense that they had thought that I had progressed in my entrepreneurial journey.  I think with the knowledge that I have learned it was easier to have a conversation and that would have led to him thinking that I have progressed in my entrepreneurial journey.  I think that with these two interviews, I am able to say that I have progressed entrepreneurially throughout the semester.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that surprised me was all that should be analyzed about a business when potentially buying it.  I never realized how many different things need to be taken into account before you make the decision on purchasing it.
2. One thing that confused me was all the different methods for a venture valuation.  Again, I just didn't know that there were so many ways to place value on tangible items and even intangible items.  It's just something where I have to keep looking into or getting more information on to fully understand.
3. Two questions I have for the author are:
1. Could there be anther method for venture valuation other than the ones listed?
• This is just something that is interesting to think about because maybe there is another way to place value on companies that we just haven't realized yet.
2. Are there certain valuation methods that are more beneficial for certain types of companies?
• This could be important since certain companies could utilize this if they are in need of applying value to another company they are interested in purchasing.
4. I don't disagree with anything, I agreed with everything the author said.

Celebrating Failure

1. My freshman year, I was doing horrible in Chemistry and on the verge of failing the class.  I could not understand it, no matter how hard I tried.  It seemed to just be something that I was unable to grasp.  It wasn't until near the end of the semester, when I started getting outside help and a tutor to help me one on one that it started to make sense.  I was even able to still earn a respectable grade in the class.
2. I learned that semester that it's ok to get help from others.  Just because you are unable to do it alone, doesn't mean that you should accept it.  Use your abilities to the fullest, but also acknowledge what you struggle with and have a plan to overcome those struggles.
3. Failure can be very difficult, but it should not limit you.  I handle with failure with recognizing where I messed up, and learning from it so that I don't make the same mistake again.  This class has helped me realize even more that failing is okay.  You grow from failure.  With that, I do think that I am more willing to take risks now than I was four months ago.

My Exit Strategy

1. I plan to exit my business after maybe a decade or two and leave it to someone I trust can take care of it, unless if I get a fantastic offer to be bought out earlier.
2. My main goal is to provide excellent service to my customers.  And I would want to be there for a great deal of time so that I can continue to make sure that people are getting the service they ask for.  While I eventually want to exit my business, I would have to make sure I would be leaving it with a person that I fully trust to be able to oversee it.  I don't know if that would be a family member or just a worker that demonstrates leadership abilities.  The only other way I would exit my business is if I received a great offer to be bough out.  This is very unlikely, but if the money is right and I know my customers would still be in good hands, then this is something to consider.
3. I think my exit strategy has influenced what my biggest goal is for my service offering.  I want to make sure that my customers receive fantastic customer service and that they are very happy when using my service.  If I can make sure that whoever is in charge after me can deliver that, then I will feel comfortable leaving the company in their hands.

What's Next

Existing Market:

1. I think that my next step is to move forward with my next product that I talked about in the "Amazon Whisperer" blog post.  I think this would help me greatly in getting my service out there for the general public.  It would allow people to access all the different cab services all in one app.
2. Here are the videos:
3. I got the answers I mostly expected to get.  I figured that I would get responses that agreed that my future plan for this existing market was good.  I was very glad that people were so onboard with that idea.  I think this could definitely help me out for the future.

         With how much support I have received over the weeks of working on my business plan, I feel very confident with my service.  I think that this could be a great service that people in this market could definitely benefit from.  With moving forward with an app, this would be a big hit for my existing market.  I think that this is something to definitely consider for the future of my business venture.

New Market:

1. My next target market would be affluent society.  This would help me to gain a different segment of the market and potentially help increase profits.
2. I could offer higher end vehicles in the cab service to match the needs of wealthier clients.  While this cab service package would be more expensive than the normal one, it could help to satisfy the needs of those who want to ride in nicer vehicles to and from places.
3. Here are the videos:
4. Nothing really surprised me during this interview.  People mostly reacted the same with the questions I asked.  They agreed that a premium service would be good and having a nicer set of cars available for customers would be good.  I think that this could be an idea to maybe move forward with in the future.

         I think that this market could maybe be a god idea to move forward with.  It is going to be more expensive because I would have to have extra features available to this new market which could become costly.  On the other hand,  these extra features could cause me to make less profits profits.  With all this to think about, I think I would have to look into getting  more detailed information on how this could potentially work with my current business venture.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

1. The thing that stood out the most to me was all the graphs and charts that they used to describe the various things in this chapter.  I especially liked "The Strategic Management Process" chart because it helped make a confusing concept easier to understand.
2. One thing that I found to be sort of confusing was Strategic Planning.  I understood the overall idea, but struggled with some of the more detailed ideas.
3. Two questions I have for the author are:
1. What are some ways to prolong venture growth?
• This could be very helpful for businesses just starting up and wanting to make sure their product grows and continues to produce profits for as long as possible.
2. Do you think a computer or mobile technology, such as an app, would have a different venture cycle than what is shown in the textbook?
• This is good to know because many entrepreneurs make apps nowadays and this could help them have a general idea of the timeline of their apps life.
4. I don't disagree with anything, I agreed with everything the author said.

Venture Concept No. 1

I feel that my opportunity is one that people in society can greatly benefit from.  I would be offering a way for customers to use a cab service for an amount of times, whether that be unlimited or a set number, by having them prepay in monthly or yearly increments.  The cost would be based off of what the average ride costs throughout the day times what the average frequency of one user uses the service.  Since it is a bulk purchase, the user would be getting the rides at a fraction of what they would go for individually, and I, the seller, would profit by being able to guarantee the cabs/Ubers a bulk purchase of their services which they would sell to me at an even lower price of what I would sell to the customer.  The type of potential customer that I would be attracting with this service is everybody that uses cab services.  With how often people on college campuses and in cities use cabs, I think that they would be the most common users of this service.

There is only one force in the environment that is creating this opportunity.  Nobody is offering this type of service in the marketplace, so I feel that now would be the best time to launch my service.  This would give me a leg up over any potential completion because I would have been around the longest with the service, whereas everyone else would have to play catch up with me.  Given the uniqueness of my service I am offering, it is not defined geographically or demographically.  Instead, it is something that nearly everyone could use and would benefit from.  Because nobody else offers this type of service, potential customers are stuck paying fees per ride.  This adds up to a lot more in the long run than if they were to use my service.  With that, I do not think that any of the current customers would be loyal to the cab services and paying fees per ride, instead of saving money.  I think that they would happily switch to my service, which they could still use their favorite type of cab service with, but instead pay less per ride, through my bulk purchase offering.  This opportunity is very big, given that nobody else is offering this type of service.  While nobody else is offering this service, it is unclear how long the window of opportunity would be open.  Since my offering would be the first of its kind, it could take a while for others to catch up to me and offer similar, competitive services.

I have already explained what my opportunity is and how it works above, so I wont bore you with repeating the same stuff.  This service would allow for them to prepay in monthly or yearly increments for the service.  When compared to if the customer were to just pay per ride, they would be saving a lot of money with my service because of the bulk purchase in the increments specified above.

My concept will address the opportunity I have identified above.  Since no one else offers this service, I will be bringing on a completely new and never before seen idea.  With the abilities of being able to save potentially a great deal of money, many people will be attracted to this service that I am offering.  With how much money that customers could save through my bulk purchase method of cab rides, this will attract a lot of people to it.  With how many people on college campuses and in large cities use cabs, I feel that they will benefit the most from this.  Since almost nobody feels attached to a certain cab service, I do not think that it will be difficult to get customers to switch to my service.  Also, since my service just adds on to what the existing services are, they might be more inclined to switch since they already know and are comfortable with the cab services already offered.  Given that I am the first person to produce this service, I have no competitors as of right now.  Maybe after others see the success my service has, they will try to replicate my service. I think that pricing and customer experience will play the biggest roles in customers choosing my service.  The price has to be low enough to attract people and show that they can save money through choosing my service rather than paying by each ride.  Also, customer experience is going to affect them, but that is not something I can control beyond the computer and mobile app.  Since the rides are performed through existing cab services, those companies are liable to the customer experience.  With how my service is performed through online services, I do not think it would be that difficult to maintain the service for ongoing production.  I do not think I would need a large team to oversee it.  I would mostly just need a marketing team to promote it and a technology team to oversee that everything is working for the online services.

My most important resource will be great performance through the mobile and computer applications.  With these, the ability to perform just as they should will be the most important to the people first using my service and continuing to use it.

            The next thing for my service would be to work to continue the same great service as when I start as well as working to add new cab companies that may become popular to my existing available cab options.
            For me, I would like to see myself in five years as still overseeing my company and watching it continue to succeed.  After ten years I would like to see myself as potentially having another person oversee the day-to-day operations and I only work on major projects and improvements.

Week 11 Reading Reflection

1. The thing that stood out the most for me was the concept of continuous innovation.  Continuous innovation is where you make gradual modifications to an existing product or service.  I have learned about the idea in my marketing class, but liked the way they described it and found it more interesting to read in this article.
2. One thing that was confusing for me was all of the business terms used in the article.  Since it is a business article it makes sense to use that style of language, but it can be confusing for someone that is not completely knowledgable in that language.
3. Two questions I have for the author are:
1. Is crowdsourcing the way of the future with creating new products, especially given our increasing technological use?
• This would be good to know because it allows a potential company to know which method of innovation could work the best for them.
2. How many innovations does the average entrepreneur make before he creates one that the market really likes?
• This would be good to know so that an entrepreneur understands how long it can take before people start to like and adopt his service or product.
4. I don't disagree with anything, I agreed with everything in the chapter.

Amazon Whisperer

• The current way I make money is through bulk purchases.  In these bulk purchases, I collet a lot of money at one time, and it covers for a certain time period of services.
• The next product offering I should make would be to have my services very own app.  Originally I thought it would be convenient to just "piggyback" off of Uber, Lyft, or other cab service apps, but having my own app would allow the user to access all of those cab services all in one app.  This would allow time saving from going through all of those different apps and instead just have them all available in one app.
• This will improve the user experience.  It make things easier for the user by allowing them to see all those cab services that are available through my service offering.
• The closest thing I could find is the Uber app.  It only allows users to receive cab services through Uber.
  
• The people really like how easy the app is to use and how easy it is to get a ride very quickly.  They don't like how the app sometimes does not work, thus not allowing them to use the service.
• I would allow more than just one cab service to be available on my app.  This would allow people to have access to Lyft, Uber, or any other cab service.
• This would be good to add to my existing service offering because it would then perfectly connect people from the app to my service if they choose to get a ride.  This would mainly speed up the time it takes from deciding you need to use my service to actually using my service.

My Unfair Advantage

• List of all the resources in my venture:
1. Online service
• V - It is very valuable in an growing technological society
• R - It is common for online services
• I - It is very imitable
• N - It is only substitutable by mobile and computers
2. Available on both phones and computers
• V - It is very valuable in an growing technological society
• R - It is somewhat common for multi-platform services
• I - It is very imitable
• N - It is only substitutable by online service
3. Customer Service
• V - It is very valuable
• R - It is extremely common 
• I - It is extremely easy to imitate
• N - It is un-substitutable
4. Excellent prices
• V - It is extremely valuable in a post-recession economy
• R - It is relatively common
• I - It is easy to imitate
• N - It can be substituted by a service that a customer values more
5. Leadership to keep the service running
• V - It is extremely valuable
• R - It is sort of common
• I - It is relatively easy to imitate
• N - It is not substitutable
6. Drive to ensure highest quality
• V - It is extremely valuable
• R - It is sort of common
• I - It is hard to imitate
• N - It is not substitutable
7. Extensive list of employees that can perform service
• V - It is extremely valuable
• R - It is realtively hard to come by
• I - It is very difficult to imitate
• N - It is not substitutable
8. Add on service to existing successful services
• V - It is very valuable to add on to a wildly successful service
• R - It is relatively hard to come by
• I - It is hard to imitate
• N - It could be substituted by a new successful service
9. 24/7 availability of service
• V - It is extremely valuable
• R - It is very uncommon
• I - It is very hard to imitate becasue of how typical business work weeks go
• N - It is not substitutable
10. Doesn't take long for service to begin
• V - It is very valuable
• R - It is somewhat hard to come by
• I - It is difficult to imitate
• N - It is not substitutable

• I think the 24/7 availability of my service is my top resource.  Being able to allow people to take cab/Uber rides whenever they want to wherever they want is an invaluable resource, especially when they have already prepaid in a bulk purchase.  It allows for me to have a superior advantage over any company that would decide to compete with me.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

1. The most surprising thing for me was how much information needs to go on each chart and even budgets.  Being in financial accounting here, I have some previous experience with this, but it still surprises me so much with how detailed they need to be.
2. One thing that confused me was fixed costs vs variable costs.  I have heard about that on TV as well as read about in the textbook, but it still confuses me.  I guess I just don't understand the reason behind using one or the other that well.
3. Two questions I have for the author are:
1. Is there any specific industry that can benefit the most from capital budgeting?
• This would be good information for a company to have so if they are in that industry then they can make sure to capital budget.
2. How do you gather the information for the expected returns equation?
• This is important to know for a company that would have to use this equation.
4. I don't disagree with anything, I agreed with everything in the chapter.

Growing My Social Capital

Domain Expert in my Industry:

1. My uncle who worked in California is the person I chose for this.  He worked in the technology industry for decades and made deals in linking two companies up to work together.
2. He is filling the domain expert spot.
3. He is my uncle so I was able to just send him an email.  
4. He gave me information on how he has made deals in the past for companies he has worked for and did not ask me for anything in return because I am his nephew.
5. He has many contacts in the technology industry that I could use as well as his prior experience in situations I could face would be very helpful to have.

Expert on my Market:

1. My cousin who lives in California is the person I chose for this.  He works for Google and is in their customer experience sector.
2. He is filling the market expert spot.
3. He is my cousin so I was able to just send him a text.
4. He works in customer experience with Google services so he knows how to market their services to everybody.  While this is not a specific market, it still contains my target market.  His knowledge would be helpful in the future for my service and he did not ask me for anything in return because I am his cousin.
5. His knowledge in knowing target markets and having real world experience with it is valuable information, especially since it is a technology area.

Important Supplier to my Industry:

1. My other cousin who works in Chicago is the person I chose for this.  He has sold insurance to major transportation companies.
2. He is filling the supplier spot.
3. He is my cousin so I just sent him a text.
4. He gave me information on how he works with transportation companies as well as who some of his clients are in that area of work.  Sine we are cousins he did not ask for anything in return and was just happy to help.
5. His knowledge will help me in that I now have an idea on how it is to work with transportation companies, even if it is just from an insurance standpoint.

I learned that family connections can really help, especially when it comes to networking.  I am very lucky in that most of the people in my family are in business or technology related fields, so it was not too difficult when trying to find people that fit each part of the assignment.  Moving forward, I plan on continuing to use family connections as they are a great tool if you have them.  No, I have only ever used family connections in the past, so this was no different.  I will say that I need to start working on getting connections outside of my family for the future, but for the time being family networking connection is fine.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

One of the feedback comments that std out to me was how I would still earn revenue if people started to try to abuse the rides.  My response was to include how I charge per person's service package in the elevator pitch.  This would allow people to rest assured that I would not get shorted money if people try to abuse the system.  One thing that surprised me was still the overwhelming support for the service.  I am really happy that I continuously get great support for my idea!  Some feedback that I thought was silly was that some people just don't like Uber and felt to share that, but not include any tips for improvement.

Based on the feedback, I only changed one thing.  I included how I would charge per person's service package.  This I felt was the biggest concern of people based off of their feedback, given their worries of people trying to abuse the rides and me not being able to earn enough revenue.  With this addition, I feel that I have addressed the most pertinent concerns from my feedback.

Week 9 Reading Reflection

I found this weeks reading to be very interesting.  What stood out the most to me was all the different parts that go into creating an effective marketing strategy for a product or service.  As being someone that is taking Marketing currently, I have been somewhat exposed to all of the different factors, but seeing them again makes it still very surprising to me.  One thing I found confusing was how they categorize the priorities and major purchases for each type of person based on their age.  I am not completely sure if they have taken enough samples of people from each age group or if it is still that way since the samples were taken to make those interpretations fro each group.  I agreed with everything the author said. Overall, I thought this was a good chapter to read for this week.

Some questions I have for the author:

• In your opinion, what is the best research technique for a company to use, regardless of cost?
• This would be good information to know since you could have the authors insights in what is the best technique and that way the company is not wasting time doing a lesser technique.
• Which research technique have you found to be the least effective?
• This would be good for the company to know so that they don't waste money on techniques that aren't as good.

My Secret Sauce

1. I am very hard working.  I always put my biggest effort into things and try to make sure that I did all I can to complete a task.
2. I have good communication.  I always try to make sure that my thoughts are clearly understood by others.  Also, I work to make sure everyone is on the same page with things.
3. I am a positive person.  I try to always look on the bright side of things regardless of the situation.  This is good because I can help to keep the mood light.
4. I am adventurous.  I don't just always do the same old things over and over again.  I try to do different things and experience everything around me.
5. I am independent.  I do not need to rely on everybody else to do a task.  I am a go getter and like being able to accomplish tasks on my own.

Note: Because of the requirements of talking to five people who know you best for the second part, I had to phone call my friends and record their audio since some of them were out of state.  I just continued with the audio to make the second part look uniform.

Here is what they thought of me:

This is Shawn.  He says I have a drive to succeed at all costs.  I think this goes in part with my hard working mentality.

This is my mom.  She said that I have an optimistic attitude.  In addition, she says I have the drive to get things done no matter what.

This is Megan.  She says I am a creative person and that I have very unique ideas.  I agree with her statement on me.

This is my dad.  He says that I am very mature for my age.  He says that he has seen it for a while now and that I still am very mature.

This is Alex.  He says that I am a very hard working person.  He goes on to say that I work my hardest to always get the job done.

I think the way I see myself and the way others see me is very similar.  A lot of the traits I listed above were also ones that people said about me.  I did not think there were any differences between what I thought of myself versus what people said about me.  I think that my interviewees were correct about me.  If I had to correct anything, maybe I would add that I am mature for my age.  I do not know what I would take out, but I would definitely add that one in.

Idea Napkin No. 2

1. I feel that I am an outgoing person that likes to take the initiative on things. I like taking leadership roles as well as being there to see things transform from just an idea all the way to actual implementation. I aspire one day to eventually run my own firm and be there to ensure that it operates as intended. If I were to start a business from my opportunity I would think that it would take up a major part in my life. I think this because it would be essentially my "baby" and I would want to see it grow from just an idea I had for a class into something that people everywhere could use and appreciate.
2. I would be offering a way for customers to use a cab service for an amount of times, whether that be unlimited or a set number, by having them prepay in monthly or yearly increments.  The cost would be based off of what the average ride costs throughout the day times what the average frequency of one user uses the service.  Since it is a bulk purchase, the user would be getting the rides at a fraction of what they would go for individually, and I, the seller, would profit by being able to guarantee the cabs/Ubers a bulk purchase of their services which they would sell to me at an even lower price of what I would sell to the customer.
3. The demographic I would specifically target would be the 18 to 30 range of young adults.  This group is known to be the most common users of cab services, especially when they are on college campuses.
4. This service would allow for them to prepay in monthly or yearly increments for the service.  When compared to if the customer were to just pay per ride, they would be saving a lot of money with my service because of the bulk purchase in the increments specified above.
5. This would set me apart from the rest because I would be the only company offering this service to customers.  This would allow for me to be the sole company in this area of the economy.

I feel that these elements fit together really well. They all connect to each other to cohesively create a service that has not been seen before. This would allow for great profits for the company and greater customer happiness. I feel that if I were to continue with this idea and see it all the way through to implementation, I would be amazed at how fantastic it would turn out as well as make a positive impact on the economy and society as a whole.

Feedback Memo:

1. How will I charge people?  I included this in the section involving what I am offering to my customers.  It is in the bolded section.
2. Will I profit from this bulk purchase?  I included this in the section involving what I am offering to my customers.  It is in the bolded section.
3. Whats the right price for this product?  The right price depends on the location the person is in, as stated in the bolded part on the idea napkin, I go over it there.
4. What are the logistics?  Since this is only an online system, there wouldn't be too much logistics to worry about other than connecting the cab services to the customers through my product.
5. They liked the idea of the service I was offering!  This wasn't something I could incorporate, but since this is a recurring thing I saw in every comment, I thought it was still noteworthy enough to put in the feedback memo.

The Twenty Percent

1. Interview with an business owner:
• Who do they think their target customers are?
• "I think that they are everybody.  We don't have a specific target in range because we are a painting company.  With that we typically specialize in painting for businesses or major companies."
• Where do they find their customers?
• "Everywhere.  Most of the time it is through recommendations, but it can also be from bidding lists from contractors or even Angie's List."
• What are their customer's demographics?
• "Typically they are people in their 20's to 40's.  But since most of the time we deal with major companies, we don't typically know the exact age."
• What kinds of media do their customers consume?
• "I do not really know.  Based on their age group I would say the common social media apps and television and internet."
2. Interview with three "target customers":

3.  Reflection:

• I found that the entrepreneur I interviewed does accurately understand the customer.  With the typical people he deals with (companies) it was difficult to talk to them about their issues, so I just targeted people within that age group that he told me about.  I was not able to find any differences between what the entrepreneur thought and what the target customers thought.  I think that the entrepreneur I interviewed did a great job at marketing his service to the correct audience and accurately satisfies their needs.

Week 8 Reading Reflection

I found this weeks reading to be very enlightening.  What surprised me the most was how almost twenty five percent of all small ventures start with less than $500.  I'm just amazed that companies are even able to start with that little.  One thing that I found confusing was raising capital through private placements.  I think its because of the different rules that apply to it and how you have to follow them.  I agreed with everything the author said.  Overall, I thought this was a good chapter to read for this week.

Some questions I have for the author:

• In your opinion, what is the best method for raising capital for your company to start up?
• I think this could help future entrepreneurs with the best way to raise capital so that they can start their business successfully.
• How much capital do you think would be needed for your average company to successfully start up?
• I think this could be useful for future entrepreneurs to get a ballpark range of how much capital they need to successfully start up.

Half-way Reflection

1. Some of the behaviors that I have used to keep up with the requirements of this class are being able to reflect on my assignments, take as well as give constructive criticism, and being timely in doing my assignments.
2. One time when I thought about giving up was with my Chemistry 1 class freshman year.  I was not doing well in it and I was just not enjoying the class.  I was able to pull through by spending even more time studying and preparing as well as getting help from tutors and by the end of the semester I was able to pass it with a good grade.  I do feel like I have developed a tenacious attitude during these past two months.  I think just learning what it takes to be an entrepreneur and doing the assignments for this class have helped me develop the tenacious attitude.
3. Three tips I have for next semester's students regarding tenacity are:
1. Keep up to date with your assignments and look at the calendar on Canvas because that's where you can find all the assignments.
2. Don't get discouraged if you get constructive criticism.  It's meant to help you and allow you to learn from and do better next time.
3. Try to take time to reflect on your assignments rather than just going straight into them.  It might be helpful to think about it for a little and you might think of something that you might not have if you didn't take the time out.

Free Money

For this assignment, I am going to walk around my apartment complex and talk to people that are there.  I will approach whoever I see there.  I will say something along the lines of "Hey you look like you could use a dollar".  I plan on just saying my opening line, hopefully handing them the dollar, and then seeing what their response is.  Out of five attempts I expect to get three out of five people to take the dollar.

I found this assignment to be pretty easy.  After having to do three rounds of interviews with random people in the previous weeks, I did not find this to be difficult to do.  Giving the dollar away was not too difficult.  I was able to give it away to four of the five people I went up to.  Some assumptions I made about the people I planned on talking to were that they would be weirded out when I walked up to them to give them free money.  This was not a wrong assumption.  People were definitely a little caught off guard when I walked up to them.  Other than that I did not make any other assumptions and kept an open mind about the people I would go up to.  In all , I found this assignment to be a good assignment that did help me practice deliver customer value as well as convey a compelling vision.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

I found this weeks reading to be interesting. What surprised me the most when reading this article was how much information goes into to have market segmentation work effectively for your business. I have been learning about this in my marketing class I am currently taking, but I thought it was cool how they provided examples of how it is used for various companies. Something I found confusing was how you could better reach your target market, yet have no gain in profits. I guess that notion just confuses me when I try to think about it.  I agreed with everything the author said. I thought this was a good article to read for this week.

Some questions I have for the author are:

• What do you think is the best way to get information when deciding how to segment your market?
• I think this could be very useful for business starting up and could help them reach the audience they want for their product.
• How would you go about segmenting your market if you were an entrepreneur creating a tech product?
• I think this could be very helpful, because most companies that start up nowadays are tech companies and they might want people's perspectives on how to market tech products.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

The feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive.  What stood out to me was that the people that gave the feedback thought that my idea would be great and would love to see it implemented.  With that, I didn't find any of the feedback to be wrong because it was so positive.  Something that I thought was important in the feedback that I received was the support I received from those that watched the video and commented on the blog post.  It was a great to see that people were so enthusiastic over my opportunity!

I did not change anything with this elevator pitch.  With the overwhelming support I received with the last one, I felt that nothing needed to be changed.  With that, I hope this elevator pitch blog post continues to receive the same positive feedback that I received with the last one.

Interviewing Customers No. 3

This time around I asked people to read my opportunity on a note card and give me their opinion on it.  I again asked random people for their responses.  I asked them only one question, which was "What is your reaction?"  Here is what they said:

I learned that people like my idea and would like to see it implemented.  Nothing surprised me during these interviews.  The responses that I have gotten throughout these three weeks have been largely positive.  The only thing I expect to change as an outcome is to further refine the idea and work on the specifics of how this could be implemented.  With that I am looking forward to moving forward with this opportunity and seeing it grow.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

I found this weeks reading to be very interesting.  The most surprising thing in this article was his discussion on how competition plays a part on business.  I thought he did a great job with breaking it down and proving that there is much more to it than just businesses competing against each other.  Something that I found confusing was how even when companies merge, they can lose money.  I would have thought that they would only increase profits due to their combined work.  Overall, I thought the article was pretty straightforward and engaging.  I agreed with everything the author said.  I thought this was a good article to read for this week!

Some questions I have for the author are:

• Do you think there could more than just those five competitive forces that you mentioned in your article?
• I think this could open up the discussion on whether these are the only five competitive forces or if there are more that we have just not identified yet.
• Which of the five competitive forces is the most important as well as which one is the least important?
• This is important information that could greatly help a business in figuring out its strategy to compete with other businesses.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. I feel that I am an outgoing person that likes to take the initiative on things.  I like taking leadership roles as well as being there to see things transform from just an idea all the way to actual implementation.  I aspire one day to eventually run my own firm and be there to ensure that it operates as intended.  If I were to start a business from my opportunity I would think that it would take up a major part in my life.  I think this because it would be essentially my "baby" and I would want to see it grow from just an idea I had for a class into something that people everywhere could use and appreciate.
2. I would be offering a way for customers to use a cab service for an amount of times, whether that be unlimited or a set number, by having them prepay in monthly or yearly increments.
3. The demographic I would specifically target would be the 18 to 30 range of young adults.  This group is known to be the most common users of cab services, especially when they are on college campuses.
4. This service would allow for them to prepay in monthly or yearly increments for the service.  When compared to if the customer were to just pay per ride, they would be saving a lot of money with my service because of the bulk purchase in the increments specified above.
5. This would set me apart from the rest because I would be the only company offering this service to customers.  This would allow for me to be the sole company in this area of the economy.

I feel that these elements fit together really well.  They all connect to each other to cohesively create a service that has not been seen before.  This would allow for great profits for the company and greater customer happiness.  I feel that if I were to continue with this idea and see it all the way through to implementation, I would be amazed at how fantastic it would turn out as well as make a positive impact on the economy and society as a whole.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

After last weeks interviews with random students, I found the general opinion to be of people in favor of my opportunity.  With that, this week I interviewed another five people with more specific questions to my opportunity for entrepreneurship.  I changed my questions to cover the areas needed if my opportunity was going to become a reality.  With that, here are the new set of questions:

1. How many rides do you think the average person should use to receive value from this service?
2. Do you think there should be multiple levels of this service?
3. How quickly do you expect them to be there to pick you up with this paid subscription service?
4. Would you like it to be linked to other cab services, such as Uber or Lyft?

Here are the students responses:

Now that I have ten interviews under my belt I can say that I feel very confident with my opportunity.  At first I thought this would just be some simple idea, but now I feel that it is something that could generate great feedback and usage.  With how many people like to use taxi services, it seems like a great venture to explore!  Some tips I have for interviewing customers are:

• Be happy when asking the questions about your opportunity!  It makes things awkward if you cant even be excited about your opportunity.
• Be confident asking the questions about your opportunity!  Make sure you know the stuff you're talking about otherwise there's no point in doing these interviews.
• Be and active listener when asking the questions about your opportunity!  Take note of what people say.  They just might have a response that you had not thought of or did not expect.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

I found this weeks reading to be very interesting.  Something that stood out to me in this chapter was how they discussed the common ways entrepreneurial ventures can fail.  I found this to be cool, because it showed that these aren't only problems that happen to one person, but rather happen to many.  One thing that confused me in this chapter wasn't anything with the material covered.  Instead, it was the length of the chapter.  I feel that the author made the chapter longer than it should have been.  I felt as though I'd already things multiple times during the chapter and I think this can make it confusing since it doesn't move on to other ideas.  Other than that, I thought the chapter was pretty straightforward.  Lastly, I agreed with everything the author said.  Altogether, I thought this was a good chapter to read for this week!

Some questions I have for the author are:

• Do you think that there are other common reasons why new ventures can fail?
• I think that there could be other common reasons, and I would like the authors opinion on this.
• Have you ever experienced firsthand one of the common reasons why new ventures fail?
• I think this question would be good because it could show other people that everyone fails at times.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

While many people use these forms of transportation, especially on college campuses, there is a problem with them. Many times people unknowingly use these services so frequently that at the end of the month their credit card bill is insane. This is something that affects us all. We need a new way to provide cab rides from one place to another at a cost that is affordable for all.  My solution to this problem is to create a monthly or yearly subscription service to these modes of transportation. This would allow for the company, Matt's Cab Package, to collect a prepayment for a certain time period and in exchange offer the buyer access to the transportation free of charge as part of the service. This could allow discounts to happen because of bulk time period purchases that would save the buyer money as well as help the company collect payment ahead of time.

Customer Interviews No. 1

A very popular method of transportation is using cabs.  These allow people to not have to worry with all the hassles of driving, such as finding parking.  While these may be great alternatives, they also can put a dent in your wallet.  My opportunity fine tunes this problem.  Creating a monthly or yearly subscription service to these modes of transportation would be a great opportunity that an entrepreneur could make.  This would allow for the seller to collect a prepayment for a certain time period and in exchange offer the buyer access to the transportation free of charge as part of the service.  This could allow discounts to happen because of bulk time period purchases that would save the buyer money as well as help the seller collect payment ahead of time.

Here are the questions I asked students during my interviews with them:

1. What is your name?
2. Do you use a cab service? If so, how often do you use it in a month?
3. Have you ever wished for a service that would allow for monthly subscriptions to cabs?
4. Do you think this would make your cab experience better?

Here's what they responded with:

After interviewing potential customers, I think this would be a great opportunity to implement.  All but one of the five I interviewed were in agreement that this service would be useful and help them out for when they use that form of transportation.  With that I can confirm that this is a great idea for an entrepreneur to implement.

When first reading the details for this assignment I was a bit nervous about having to interview random people.  After interviewing them, I can now say that it was not as hard as I had thought it would be.  People at UF are great and are always willing to help out one another.  I think that is one of the biggest things I took away from this assignment.  In all, I thought this was a great assignment that pushed the student a bit out of their comfort zone, but allowed them to get used to this type of experience.

Week 4 Reading Reflection

I found this weeks reading to be enlightening.  Something that stood out the most to me was how they discussed the process of how an opportunity goes from an idea to actually being implemented.  I had not realized how exactly the process works, other than just the general concept that everybody has.  One thing that I found confusing was when he discussed how different parts of the brain have different skills.  I think this was confusing for me because I'm not that good at psychology, so this could most likely be easier to understand for those that are good at that.  I agreed wth all of what the author said in this chapter.  I think he does a fantastic job at going over what all is and happening during the process of starting with an idea and ending with a reality.  Also, I felt that he also did a good job in discussing the misconceptions as well as "idea killers" that may occur during the process.  In all, this week contained another good chapter read that left me with much to reflect on.

Some questions I have for the author are:

• Do you think that there could be other types of innovation other than the four you mentioned that we could categorize entrepreneurs into?
• I think that this question could open up for a discussion that could determine if we are generalizing a group of entrepreneurs into one type when they should actually be in two different types.
• How big of a role do you think "idea killing" plays a part in affecting an entrepreneurs solution to an opportunity?
• I think this is an important question since those that are just starting the innovation process would want to know this answer so that they can prepare for it in the future.

Top 5 World Problems

Top 5 Problems:

1. Nuclear Threats
2. Terrorism
3. Global Warming
4. Political Correctness
5. Lack of Government Transparency

I feel that these are in the correct order.  I think that nuclear threats are the biggest issue since they can affect the whole world at once in major ways.  Also, global warming and terrorism were pretty close when trying to order this list, but I feel that terrorism is more important as it can cause problems for millions of people at once.  Other than those three, I think the rest are in their correct places for this ranking.

Top 5 Solutions:

1. Increase prevalence of "green" energy options throughout the world and reduce our dependence on oil
2. Pass laws requiring the government to keep its citizens more informed and be more open
3. Work to create legislation with other countries to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons
4. Increase military presence in known areas of these organizations and work with other nations to unite under the need to eradicate this problem
5. Encourage people work towards understanding and respecting other's opinions

I feel that this list is also in the correct order.  I think that increasing the prevalence of green energy options is one of the easiest things to do because we already have so many advertisements for and alternatives available to the general public that continuing to increase the prevalence would not be much more difficult to do.  Through doing this we could work to promote a cleaner world and help the environment around us.  The other items on this list are also relatively easy to implement, but I feel that increasing the prevalence of green energy options is the easiest.

Week 3 Reading Reflection

I found this weeks reading to be very interesting.  Something that really stood out to me was how in depth they went with the entrepreneurial mindset.  I had not thought about the psychological side to the mindset until reading this.  One thing that confused me in the reading was why they consider there to be a "dark side" to entrepreneurship.  I feel that the term "dark side" gives a negative connotation to what they are trying to describe, when rather it is just a normal part of entrepreneurship that most entrepreneurs will not be able to avoid.  One thing that I disagreed with in this weeks reading goes along with what I said in the previous sentence pertaining to the "dark side" of entrepreneurship.  I really don't think that it is a "dark side", and instead just another normal thing that happens.  In all, I thought this weeks readings truly gave a different and more in depth perspective into the minds of entrepreneurs and the thought processes they have.

Some questions I have for the author are:

• Do you think that there are any other characteristics for the entrepreneurial mindset that we may just overlook?
• How do you think ethics should be handled when you have businesses in countries with various ethic codes?

Identifying Local Opportunities

Opportunity 1:

• Support Blood Drives
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15A860A8E206B568?p=AWNB
• Gwendolyn Westlund and LifeSource have partnered during the month of January to promote donating blood in the Chicagoland area.
• There is not enough blood being donated to help the needs of all those who need it.
• People that go through surgery as well as those with life threatening illnesses need this.

Opportunity 2:

• The Antidote to Trial by Netflix
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15A860AADACA0840?p=AWNB
• It discusses how real life trials can inspire TV shows and cause the audience to give a "trial" of their own for it and may not fully see the big picture of what went on during the time of the actual trial.
• People may not look at all the evidence of a real life trial, and instead just watch what's shown on the TV show.
• Everybody is affected by this as it can influence a nation's opinion on certain trials.

Opportunity 3:

• Marvel Comics-Themed Party Canceled
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15A860AA8A361AF0?p=AWNB
• Due to a low enrollment, a Marvel Comics-themed party for special-needs children and families was canceled.
• The party was canceled for the special-needs children and families.
• The special-needs children and families are affected by this.

Opportunity 4:

• What does "Free at Last" Really Mean?
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15A860A2361A1CE8?p=AWNB
• It discusses what "free at last" really means and what that can mean for different aspects of our society such as racially as well as with presidential pardoning.
• Deciphering what exactly "free at last" really means and how we've progressed.
• Everybody in the nation is affected by this as it can demonstrate how far we've come since those words were first said by Martin Luther King Jr.

Opportunity 5:

• Batavia Restauranteur Eyeing Vacant Store for Microbrewery
• http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15A860A6B407CB30?p=AWNB
• It discusses the information regarding the hopeful purchase of a vacant store in Glen Ellyn and turning it into a "farm to table" and microbrew restaurant that could add to the town's great eating and entertainment.
• The city has not approved the purchase yet, so people can only imagine what the restaurant will be like until it is actually open.
• The city of Glen Ellyn and the hopeful restaurant owners.

Very Short Interview No. 1

For my interview with an entrepreneur, I chose to talk to a close family friend.  He has started his own successful financial advising firm and managed it for over 15 years.  He is also one of the main people that is there daily making sure all of his clients receive top quality service.

Q & A with an experienced entrepreneur:

1. What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
• I think it means to not be afraid of going into the unknown.  Having the ability to not be afraid of starting something whether or not it will succeed.  It also means to take the initiative, to think for yourself, and to want to do something that is unique regardless of what others think.  That is what I think it means to be entrepreneur.
2. What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur?
• I wish I had been taught that it's okay to fail.  Throughout school, you're taught that if you don't get an A in class then you're doing bad.  Rather than that teaching style, they need to help the kids understand why they got it wrong and let them learn how to improve.  It just makes sense because it allows you to grow.
3. What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?
• I think you should learn the mindset of an entrepreneur.  It is one that allows you to be open to new things as well.  It also is one that has the courage to be bold and try new things.  If you can accomplish learning that, then you are ahead of most people that try to be an entrepreneur.

I feel that what I learned through my interview is a lot of what we have been told in class and through the exercises we do online.  The part about it being okay to fail really stood out to me.  I remember in the first day of lectures for this class we were told that it's ok to fail, so long as you learn and grow from it.  I feel that this interview has confirmed a lot of what we learn in class as being true to the real world.

World's Biggest Problems

What I believe to be the world's biggest problems:

1. Global Warming
• People are unaware of the affects greenhouse gasses cause.  This allows the polar ice caps to melt and raise the water level.  A solution would be to work to increase prevalence of "green" energy options throughout the world and reduce our dependence on oil.
2. Political Correctness
• People are constantly being offended over opinions of others.  This has caused protests that result in people losing their jobs or hurting others.  A solution to this could be to encourage people work towards understanding and respecting other's opinions.
3. Terrorism
• This is an issue that affects the whole world in the same way.  People are afraid of the threats made and actions caused by terrorist organizations.  A solution to this would be to increase military presence in known areas of these organizations and work with other nations to unite under the need to eradicate this problem.
4. Lack of Government Transparency
• The information that the government doesn't share with the citizens of a country is alarmingly high.  People are not as informed as they should be and this is something that needs to be changed.  A solution would be to pass laws requiring the government to keep its citizens more informed and be more open.
5. Social Media
• Social media consumption throughout the United States is at an all time high.  People are becoming addicted and dependent to it.  A solution to this problem could be to encourage people to limit their use on social media sites daily.
6. Unequal Distribution of Money Throughout the World
• The spread of wealth throughout the word is very extreme between the wealthy and those in poverty.  A solution to this issue would be to work to encourage third world countries to promote capitalism and follow that legislation.
7. World Hunger
• People throughout the world go hungry everyday.  This affects more than just people in certain locations in the world and has to be addressed.  A solution to this would be to increase the budget that the charitable organizations that combat this issue as well as to teach people in those areas how to grow their own food and be self sufficient.
8. Chronic Dieseases
• Chronic diseases plague the people of the world.  These diseases can often be prevented yet the lack of information available to all doesn't allow for it.  A solution would be to increase health education about the prevention of chronic diseases.
9. Nuclear Threats
• With many new countries increasing their prevalence with nuclear weapons, the world is becoming a dangerous place.  This can affect the safety of millions of people with these threats.  A solution could be to work to create legislation with other countries to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons.
10. Drug Warfare
• Drug usage and availability is becoming an alarming issue in the world today.  More an more people are purchasing and using the drugs without even knowing how they will affect them.  A solution could be to increase resources and people dedicated to fighting this issue as well as inform the public of the effects that the different drugs can cause.