Final Reflection

The most formative experience for me was interviewing complete strangers. Once I did it once it started to become much easier to do so the next time. It gave me the confidence to do almost anything that should come my way now. Very thankful for the exercise as it has completely changed my life for the better.

Fortunately, for me, I have already had experience as an entrepreneur. This class has taught me a lot of business practices that I did not use prior to taking this class. I especially enjoyed the different worksheets and list of things to look for and do prior to starting a business.

Future students need to be tenacious and keep up with the assignments that are due each week. Read ahead to make sure they have adequate time to complete each assignment. I would suggest that they keep the end in mind. If you want a good grade all you have to do is the assignments.

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

My opportunity would be for service employees in the Central Florida area. From there I would like to start the opportunity in all the major cities in Florida, with plans to work into the entire state of Florida if the opportunity is a success. That would include employees that work for a restaurant, hotel, resort, bar, nightclub, lounge or any business that requires an employee to provide service to a customer. Yes, it would be open to all service employees, though some employees might not find the need for the opportunity that I am providing. The opportunity is for those potential employees to have a voice when it comes to wages and fair employment acts. Such as being wrongfully disciplined or discharged from a position without merit. Also, the opportunity will provide benefits to the clients, such as health and life insurance as well as vacation and sick time off paid.  The changes in the work environment for this opportunity is that the employees will be more at ease working because of the backing they will receive if they make a small mistake at work and find themselves unduly disciplined and/or discharged for such a minor offense. There is not a service of this caliber currently in the state of Florida. I believe if this opportunity were a success that the clients would be very faithful to it and stay with the opportunity for the length of their working career. (in the service industry) This opportunity would be very large as there are thousands of service employees within the state of Florida, being that Florida is one of the largest states for tourism and catering to others. The window for this opportunity will always be open as there is always a need for helping others.

Innovation

My business will be a great benefit to service employees. It is to Unionize the service industry. It will give them some backing when it comes to disputes with an employer as well as making sure that the employees are treated fairly with fair compensation and benefits for the position they are in. This will ensure the clients that they have a voice and do not need to walk on pins and needles (so to speak) while working which in turn will help them to concentrate on the job at hand. They will know that if for any reason they are disciplined or discharged for a minor offense that they will have someone to turn to for help and that help can go to the employer and come to an understanding that could possibly turn the events around and benefit both the employer and the employee. The cost of the Union would be fair and even across the board. No one person would have to pay more than any other. To start with there would be an initial fee to join the Union of $100. Then each client would pay a maintenance fee each month of $35.

Venture Concept

They would care because the state of Florida is a “Right-to-work” state. Which means that one can be fired or released for any reason what so ever. As a Union employee one would have protection from such actions. The service would provide leverage for the employee to stand up to the employer and demand a valid reason or force the employer to reinstate the employee. Employees want fair wages and benefits. I believe many of the service employees would want this type of service to themselves. Getting them to sign up might be a little difficult at first because of the fear of retaliation from the employers. The employers are not going to like the idea that they can no longer have the right to discipline an employee any way they see fit. They will lose some of their control over employees and will not like the change. Change is always scary to people, especially corporations that see it as a direct blow to their working culture and business. No one like others to tell them how to operate their business. The roles in this type of opportunity would change with the business itself. As the business grew so would the roles such as new management for new areas.

The overall response to my Venture was very positive. People liked the idea of unionizing the service industry. A few people question the validity of the venture, they thought that as Florida is a right - to – work state and that I would need to go to the government level to get that changed. I do not feel as that would need to be done as long as the union is valid and ethical. It would be great if that were to happen, though. On second thought maybe I would lobby the government to get that law changed as a side project.

My venture did not change from the feedback, just added to what I would want to do further down the road.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

Week 14 Reading Reflection

 The biggest surprise for me came in chapter 4, “Ecopreneurship”. I was not aware of the great lengths entrepreneurs were taking to help combat global issues. In particular, global warming. I feel as I am being short sided to this issue as it is one of the major concerns in the world today. I am glad to see that some are taking this concern and incorporating it into their business practices and also into what they are offering others through their businesses.

The most confusing part of the reading came in chapter 3, “Preparing for Failure”. I can understand having an exit strategy in place, but to prepare for failure, indicates (to me) that you have failed before you have even begun.

I would ask the author to write another book and expand on each section. It seems to me that there is a lot of information missing throughout the book that could be expanded on. I do however like the charts and tables that are provided in the book. I usually resell my text books at the end of a semester, but I am going to keep this one for future references, because of all the charts and tables it provides.

I have no authority to disagree with anything the author has written about in this book. Maybe later on in my studies as I pursue my doctorate degree in business I might have some insight into something that is not quite correct. Like I said prior I am going to keep this book for all it great information.

Google Gold

I would say that the single most important item that I did to ensure SEO was to include my URL in each comment I left on other blogs.

My keyword was “Dallin”, it was in every blog post as well as every comment on others blogs. Unfortunately, for me, I never changed my keyword. I guess I miss the part where we were to do so.

I did not use social media to enhance my SEO. I did send a link to several friends to get some feedback. The feedback I did receive from them was good and informative.

Honestly, I cannot get any search for my blog to come up. I might have used a name that is too popular as my title. “DJ’s” It seems to just pull up all the disc jockeys that are on the net, which is a lot.

I cannot even find my blog, other than actually typing in the address. I guess I failed at this part of the class.

Very Short Interview, Part 2

I believe my first interview to be very general in the questions that I asked. They were good questions but very general, especially after a semester in this class.

These answers came via email:

1. Have you ever thought of franchising your business?  No, I don’t think that RE flipping is something that is franchisable.

2. Have you evaluated your business?  Yes, not sure if you mean financially or generally speaking.  We evaluate our business goals, objectives and direction weekly in our business meetings.  We have a one-year goal (purchase 12 houses in 2016) and short term goals.

3. Do you have an exit strategy?  No, well, actually, we have individual exit strategies in general for our property purchases, but we do not believe in having an exit strategy for the business. We do have a retirement strategy which is to purchase multiple rental properties and to live off the rental income.

I was very comfortable with contacting this entrepreneur again, as I felt that with the first contact I built a good repute with them. I did feel that I was more comfortable speaking their language as the terminology was more attuned to the business at hand. I can only guess that they thought that I had progressed. The conversation went very well. 

Week 13 Reading Reflection

My biggest surprise was the length and in-depth look into a business before acquiring it. The amount of questions and items that one needs to get answered for the “Feasibility Study” is staggering.

I was confused by a number of items it takes to evaluate a business. After reading this chapter it all makes a lot of sense to look into all the different aspects of a business so as to not get hit by an undiscovered item that could potentially become a huge financial burden or cause one to lose the business altogether.

I would ask for more information on the feasibility study. How to get into the different questions and find the details. Like knowing what questions to ask. I would also like to know if there is any other questions that need to be addressed before taking over a business.

I liked the entire chapter. I found it to be very informative and would like to continue looking into the subject of evaluating a business. 

Celebrating Failure

That would be one of the other classes I am taking this semester. I would rather not say which class it is because it is not supposed to be a hard class, but I am just not getting it. I have studied hard for both the last two exams and have not done well on either one. The only thing that is saving my grade is that there is a lot of extra credit. I have one remaining exam and I am going to double my study time as well as getting some help from others, to hopefully get the grade I will be happy with.

I have learned that I am not good at grasping all the subjects that are pertinent to my degree. I do feel bad about this being it is something I should know to further myself in the industry I am wanting to get into.

I dislike failure. I do know that it is part of growing, part of getting to know ones’ weaknesses and strengths. I also know that with constant repetition that one can better themselves in any area of ones’ life. Yes, this class has taught me to take risks and to learn from those risks either good or bad. I have learned a lot about entrepreneurship and also about myself while taking this class, and am truly thankful for it.  

My Exit Strategy

I plan to hand down my venture to another executive. I would like to see it thrive for a while and then move on to some other venture.

I have chosen this “Exit Strategy’ so that I would not be tied up in one particular venture. I would like to start several different ventures and hand them down as they succeed. I am always looking to move on to sometimes bigger and better ideas.

As I have mentioned above I am always looking to venture into different areas of business. Whether it be non-profit or for-profit type businesses. I am sure as the process moves along I to different areas it will get easier to look for and gain resources to move along the process. 

Week 12 Reading Reflection

One of the things that surprised me was the section about the “Growth Wall”. Hitting the growth wall and the themes that are said to come along with it seem, to me, to be a good thing in a business. But I can see where this could possibly be of detriment to any business venture. Fundamental changes such as instant size increases, a sense of infallibility, internal turmoil, and extraordinary resource needs are all somewhat detrimental to a new business, but (in a sense) wanted. It means that things are working and changes are needed to keep up with the growth.

One thing that was confusing to me was the section about the “One-Person-Band Syndrome”. I believe that when a new business starts it is up to the founder/owner (assuming it is only one person) to make all the decisions for the success of the company. Once the business is going and things do need to be delegated elsewhere, then it would be ok.

Again I would like to see more information about the subject dynamics. Where they came up with the conclusions that are written about. The studies would provide more information than is presented in the book. I would like to get the site names and IRL’s of such studies.

I would not disagree with anything that is written by another nor call it incorrect. I most definitely might have a different opinion, but never call another’s writings false. This book is very informative and I look forward to reading the next chapters that are assigned.