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27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3 Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc 1) You read about an entrepreneur: A) What surprised you the most? I was surprised how old Mr. Kroc was when he began his McDonald’s career. Over half his life was over; he was 52! It provides hope for me moving forward because I will be 40 soon and feel that I have left my career on hold to follow my military hubby around the world. B) What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? What I most admired about Mr. Kroc was he never took no for an answer. He always stuck by his beliefs. For instance when they finally went public, he would not budge on the stock offering of $22.50. He knew that McDonald’s was worth it. He faced a lot of push back, however he was right. The stock soared, making them rich. C) What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? What I least admired about the Mr. Kroc was probably his wives. He had 3 wives and it seemed that although he did provide for each of them, he kind of...
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30A – Final Reflection

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30A – Final Reflection               http://www.theequitykicker.com/2015/11/06/startup-ups-and-downs-friday-fun/ The most formative experience for me in ENT3003 were the lectures. I took detailed notes so I could “hopefully” score a full point on the cupcakes. I thought Dr. Pryor did an awesome job teaching. It was interesting to see how what I’ve learned in other classes came together. The experience that I’ll remember years later is the repetitive pitches. I realized that practice really does help with a pitch and I even used those skills I developed to nail a job interview! I got the job! J  My most joyous moment was conducting the research for my business venture and discovering potential weaknesses of my competitor. I became so invested in my venture plan, that I truly got excited lol.  The experience I am most proud of myself for accomplishing would be taking the steps to interview people that actually “played” in my business ...
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29A – Venture Concept No. 2

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29A – Venture Concept No. 2 1) Opportunity: “An estimated 22 million Americans suffer from Sleep Apnea.” [1] The majority of patients that treat their Sleep Apnea use a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) device.                                                                       Figure 1 [2] My target customer would be males aged 49+ as statistics show that males at that age have a large increase in diagnosis. Figure 2 [3] This market is defined geographically and demographically: Within the male population, I would specifically focus on military retirees. They receive Tricare benefits which authorizes pay for CPAP resupplies (2 masks and hoses) every 6 months. This would ensure constant need and customer acquisition. Geographically, I would target areas that were close to where Veter...
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28A - Your Exit Strategy

28A – Your Exit Strategy 1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children? I plan on staying with CPAP Hygiene for several decades and then retire. It would be nice to hire one of my children to eventually be the CEO and I could sit on the board and chime in when needed. However, if by some strange reason in 5 years my business was worth billions… PEACE I’m out lol. 2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy? I want to feel like I accomplished something in my life. Having a successful business for several decades and being able to have your child take it over is awesome! I would feel like I was leaving my baby with my baby lol. Isn’t owning your own business an American dream? I’d love to check that off my bucket list. 3) How do you thin...
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26A - Celebrating Failure

26A – Celebrating Failure 1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. I have failed at telling people no. I have a hard time telling people no when they ask for favors. I am overwhelmed as it is with school, work and life, yet I still take on extra stuff because I like to help people and I feel bad if I don’t. This has happened many times this semester. It has been from little things like someone asking help with their Firestick, to buying something for them while I’m trying to travel Europe and forget worries. 2) Tell us what you learned from it. I have learned that the couple times that I did put my foot down and said no, I really didn’t feel too bad. I actually felt kind of proud of myself for finally saying no to someone. I also learned that helping people all the time hinders them...
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25A - What's Next?

25A – What’s Next? What I Think Is Next: After successfully launching my service oriented business, my next step is to begin developing my product innovation. I will use the service business to pay for the product innovation. The product will be a CPAP cleaning device that customers can put in their washing machine or dishwasher. It will sanitize and also remove dirt, oils and makeup. Existing Market Interviews: 1) Mr. White – CPAP User 2) Mrs. Ostrander – Wife of CPAP User 3) Mr. Lopez – CPAP User Reflection: My interviewees were very intrigued about my current service idea, and were very curious about my product that I am going to be tinkering with. They all had a different thought about moving forward with my product after having a service business in place. Mr. White thinks that the CPAP cleaning service is a unique idea. When I brought up working on a product that customers would be able to purchase and use themselves, he smiled. He thought that was a great idea. He had not ...
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22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3 https://youtu.be/ksnfdL2pQ6A Reflection from No. 2: I think what stood out to me as important was that everyone mentioned that they liked my energy in this pitch. What surprised me the most was no one mentioned the dirty mask that seemed to be such a high request from my first pitch. The feedback that surprised me the most was that they seemed to think this pitch was better than my first one. I still like my first one better; guess we shall see how this one fares. I think it was insightful to get feedback on how I incorporated my work. One peer said that it established credibility, which made me feel successful in my goal. What I changed: I felt more comfortable with this pitch. I was able to jump right into it and my nerves weren’t all over the place. I tried to keep my energy up and incorporate various tones. I focused on my opening hook and ensured that I nailed it without any stutter. I wore a lab coat from my Sleep clinic to incorporate...
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