Half-way Reflection

1) Behaviors that I would say I gained from this course is routine and patience. There are multiple assignments due during different times of the week and I think I've developed a routine mentally to know to not only check my calendar but to check canvas as well for this class. It gets confusing when you have a lot going on. Patience is something I don't have much of a characteristic for until joining this class. I personally do not like posting on a blog or approaching people but this class has taught me patience in order to endure the task and develop skills to approach strangers (which could be potential customers).

2) Moments, when I felt like giving up, is when there are video assignments due the day of and I was not prepared for it. Although I was not prepared entirely, I still followed through with the assignments to the best of my ability, even if I couldn't declare all the points. I believe this is just to show that I did put some effort into trying to complete my assignments despite my circumstances. I think this has helped me develop a tenacious attitude.

3) In order to foster skills for tenacity and having a tenacious mindset, here are three tips:

• Be patient
• Develop time-management/routine
• Never give up
  

It's spring break! Live it up :-)

Week 8 Reading Reflection

1) What surprised me about this week's reading is the potential investors for angel investing. I've heard of angel investing before, however, I wasn't very familiar with it. Now I see that potential investors of angel investing are those who are willing to take risks and can afford risk - if I'm understanding the reading correctly.

2) Nothing, in particular, confused me this week.

3) Why is the term "angel" used? What is private placement? (elaborated)

4) Nothing I didn't agree with, I just need a little more explanation and depth to grasp the concepts fully.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

1) It was interesting how he explained the use of segmentation for other aspects of business. I always knew demographics influenced more than just trying to market the product/service to people. I'm sure that it affects aspects like price, which is important when it comes to demographics because we have to consider people's ability to afford it as well their ability to spend for our product that appeals to them.

2) The other was very vague and didn't explain things thoroughly enough for the reader to understand. One example is the section where you could reach your target market but still have no increase in sales. This part is confusing for me.

3) How much does the media influence consumers? Are consumers usually influenced by their own beliefs/morals/attitude or subconsciously the media?

4) I did not find anything I disagreed with. I really enjoyed this section but I wish it was explained more thoroughly, as if I didn't have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Interviewing Customer's No. 3

Unfortunately, on time constraint and no one I asked giving consent for video interview, I am unable to provide videos this week.

This time around a wrote a pitch on a piece of paper and asked for the interviewee's reaction. This gave me raw feedback. Instead of doing my research and asking the "right people" I decided to approach randoms so that I could get the most out of my responses.

What I learned the most is that the people I approached (all a part of the institution) seemed very open to the idea of my business and seemed to value wellness. Everyone was like-minded and no one seemed to hate the idea or be opposed to spreading awareness for wellness and mindfulness.

What surprised me this time around is that no one wanted to be on video and hated the idea of it.

Week 6 Reading Reflection

1) My biggest surprise about this section was reading about how knocking out competitors may actually decrease the industry. I never before have seen it in this light, however I do completely agree. Competitors indirectly bring revenue into your business because of the publicity and other factors that bring awareness to your business and its competitors.

2) I did not find anything that was actually confusing.

3) Does our influence as consumers as a whole shape the industry? Or is there more to it?

4) I do not disagree with the author in this section.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

My name is Tina Thach. I'm a 2nd year student at the University of Florida and an aspiring entrepreneur. Compassion is my talent. I call this my talent because it is a strong characteristic of mine and it drives who I am today. My skills include: StrengthsQuest Top 5 - Intellection, Connectedness, Restorative, Strategic, Responsibility as well as the ability to work with others, motivation, stimulation, and ethics. I am also experienced in being a mentor (as well as a mentee) to several different individuals and believe I have the qualities it takes to be a leader/influential person. I see my business as the fulfillment of my life goals.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

Through the experiences life has given me, I've come to address a universal social issue: wellness. Wellness along the lines of the mindfulness, mental clarity, and personalized truth. In my belief, people are heavily influenced by the media and societal norms. With this influence, they aren't aware of how their thoughts, beliefs, perspective, awareness, and understanding is tainted. It's a subconscious influence that is on the surface yet at the same time deep-rooted. We are born into this world in an environment where each day perception is tainted with experience, which can be lethal to one's state of awareness. I want to help people become their best-self. My goal is to "save a life", as well as save as many lives that I am able to. In order to do so, I want to create a brand for my business/organization that brings people wellness. Awareness of self, open-mindedness, mindfulness, the world, and truth. I want and need to help people on a personal level; where one can seek and find their personalized truth. My business seeks to bring all it's partners together as a union and provide services such as seminars, workshops, classes, and counseling that promote wellness physically and emotionally. 

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

I would like it to be for everyone and everyone but from a marketing standpoint this would be what applies -

Demographics: all ages, all incomes, communities with bigger populations and diversity (thinking to start as for-profit then eventually non-profit.. as a service to the community as a whole)

Psychographics: artistic, vegan, vegetarian, eco-friendly, spiritualists, "hipster", health advocates, intellects

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.

If they care about their well-being and the wellness of human nature itself and seek this then they will utilize the resources I provide to bring that. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

I'm not doing this to fulfill my financial needs, I'm doing this to fulfill my heart and hopefully affect at least one person's life enough for them to be in advocate for what I believe in and the future of human-kind before it is dissolved and immersed in all the other aspects in life that taint the nature of our people, the sense of self (individualism), and values.

I do believe all the elements that I have presented go well with the idea of my business. I want to keep it to where people of all beliefs and walks of life can benefit from my services, but also provide services that get into the nitty-gritty of my beliefs (promoting spiritualism) if there is a demand for it. However, to keep it universal and respect all types of cultures/beliefs/customs, I will keep it to promoting wellness.

Interviewing Customers No. 2

For this week's interviewing, I decided to use the same questions but tweaked them to be more understanding to my potential customer's. I also asked questions to see the personality of my potential customer's and see if what I am venturing out to do fits their needs and interests.

1) What does wellness mean to you? 

2) Are you interested in a series of seminars and workshops that could help relieve stress and bring mental clarity?

3) Are you a more internal person or external? Do you like to clear your thoughts by just having time alone or do you like to relieve stress physically?

4) Do you believe wellness is something people in our generation - and millennials in general take for granted? 

5) I would like to offer you the opportunity to grow with me and my venture by helping you find mental clarity, and in turn help others once my venture grows. Are you interested? http://youtu.be/i2lr7fB2dgU

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1) What is surprising to me in this section is the number of emergent firms each year. It's crazy to me that new products and ideas are endless, and that people pursue these products and ideas to form profit from it.

2) I am a little confused with the trademarking section. I just don't understand how brands that are named so specific to a product we call them by their brand names and how that brand name is used for a variety of products.

3) How do you claim your rights to an idea that you thought was original and unique to you, but someone thought of something similar and is in the same process as you in claiming those rights? What main components cause these emergent business to fail and how should be be different?

4) I don't necessarily disagree with anything, I would just like more elaboration on what to do when claiming rights to an idea and how to avoid being one of the firms that have similar products/ideas.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Everyday each and every one of us faces an internal conflict. The conflict may differ case-by-case, however the universal similarity with internal conflicts is that the fight is within you. 

Through the experiences life has given me, I've come to address a universal social issue: wellness. Wellness along the lines of the mindfulness, mental clarity, and personalized truth. In my belief, people are heavily influenced by the media and societal norms. With this influence, they aren't aware of how their thoughts, beliefs, perspective, awareness, and understanding is tainted. It's a subconscious influence that is on the surface yet at the same time deep-rooted. We are born into this world in an environment where each day perception is tainted with experience, which can be lethal to one's state of awareness. I want to help people become their best-self.

My goal is to "save a life", as well as save as many lives that I am able to. In order to do so, I want to create a brand for my prospective business/organization that brings people wellness. Awareness of self, open-mindedness, mindfulness, the world, and truth. I want and need to help people on a personal level; where one can seek and find their personalized truth.

Without wellness, an individual can't fulfill their endeavors to the best of their ability, in the best state that they are capable of being in.

My “save a life” seeks to start on a variety of social media platforms as advocates for what we believe in. With this, we hope to gain recognition of who we are in our target community/market: those seeking truth. With this, we hope to at least give an intangible solution. We then want to expand into a tangible business with products, seminars, workshops, and classes that help promote awareness and wellness among those who seek it. 

As the prospective business/organization is still in the premature stages of development, I hope to grow with this project. I belief the growth of oneself can be aided by helping the growth of another. 

As much as I want to help everyone, I can only help those that seek it. However, you can't seek something you aren't aware of.

Will you help me fulfill my dream in spreading awareness and saving the world? It only takes one life at a time.