Final reflection

one of the experiences that i will never forget in this class would be the elevator pitch. It really allowed me to step outside my comfort zone in. Moreover, it allowed me to incorporate all the other skills that i learned. One of the assignments i enjoyed the most would be the reading reflections.  i for one haven't read a book in a minute and this allowed me to read 2 great books and an okay one. One of the experiences that i am most proud of would be the venture concept.  It allowed me to fully think through my plan and realize the changes that needed to be made. Moreover, it allowed me to network with those in my circle.

I for one, feel as if, i've always had an entrepreneurial mindset since the beginning but it only became enhanced. Through the various exercises and activities, i was able to think thoroughly with my ideas as well as it enabled me to realize the shortcomings in my mindset.  The biggest thing i would say i cahnged with my mindset, would be the preparation and prior planning that i was missing.

One reccommendation that i would suggest is to actually follow through with the assignments as they are very helpful if you have the slightest idea or business proposal in mind. Also, if you do the assignments, you'll be surprised how they may actually apply to other aspects in your life as well as studies. Also, it really helps to spread out the assignments to allow yourself to fully complete the assignments. Lastly, i would say to really use this as a networking opportunity, you'll be surprised how many people want to help you from the other students in the class to those you interview.

Venture concept 2

The opportunity that I am chasing and attempting to accomplish is that which brings a more well rounded approach to. It attempts to combine the conceptualization of a tutoring service and that of a college readiness program. The need would be the greatest for high school male students especially juniors and seniors who are interested in pursuing a post secondary education. The program’s first priority would be to to help with college prep along with other life readiness skills in the Miami-Dade County Public High School zone. It would focus on approaching basic concept skills in a different manner influenced by various cultural identities. The second focus of the program would be that of life readiness skills. I grew up in Miami so I am well familiar with the areas that I am going to focus and an attest to the fact that this service is needed. A lot of the students in the areas I am focusing on are that of low socio-economic makes status as well as below average reading levels and test scores. This thus in return creates the need and opportunity for this opportunity.  The areas I am referring to specifically are going to be the “Little Haïti” area. This neighborhood comprises mostly of Haitian and Haitian Americans. Currently, the needs are being met by a local community center and programs at the library. However, these programs tend to focus more on learning English and comprehensively understanding the language. They do their best in preparing for college readiness like information on scholarships but not to the extent where they should be operating. I believe this is a very huge opportunity because of the magnitude of the opportunity in how many folks it can affect. I believe this opportunity will continue to be around as long as college continues to be a big part of potential success in society. 

One of the reasons that I think people will switch to this product is a variety of reasons. One of the first being my credibility in the community. I am well known amongst the community center as so is my mother. As a result I have credibility that folks can trust and appeal to. Not only that, I have connections within Miami that will be able to help me run this program.  I used to be apart of a few programs that are heavily based on volunteering also at my disposal. Moreover, another major impact is the price, which would be free due to my connections with past programs and involvements. As a result, this program would me limited in the amount of seats that were able to start off with and then expand as resources and help becomes available. As previously stated, the competitors aren’t many. The fact that their focus is more on ESOL classes and comprehensively understand English gives me the upper hand. The other “competitors”but more so alternative options would include guidance counselors or other material prep. A lot of folks would focus on buying books and paying for test preps when it comes to standardized tests. One of the local options, was an SAT prep class which was priced quite expensively. The basis of my program would run in a local community so I wouldn’t have to worry about materials too much. Moreover, I would have offers and donations from local program,s and organizations that are being funded publicly with corporate sponsors. Lastly, I would have the library as another resource during regular business hours. 

My most unfair advantage would be my connections within the neighborhood. As it can be noticed throughout my proposal, I am very connected with different organizations and people that would not only help keep my costs to a minimal but also aid me in what I’m trying to do for no cost at all. Eventually, I would love to expand my proposal so that it grows to be able to continue to help more people. I would love to partner with local programs such as the 5000 Role models of excellence program and a few others to be able to spread my program to other cities like Overtown, North Miami, Liberty City and others.  As an entrepreneur, I would love to see this come into fruition. The sheer joy would be rewarding for me enough. I would love to especially see some of my students attend Ivy League schools to become engineers, physicians, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and etc. 

One of the biggest feedback that i received was in pertinence to the the tutoring aspect. A lot of people questioned the effectiveness of the tutors and the knowledge. It did have me thinking and reanalyzing the proposal of obtaining qualified tutors and having to pay them. As a result I changed my concept to focus on college Prep and that way have it related to the Greek community and have them be peer mentors. Moreover, I switched the focus group to target males because I feel as if that I can accomplish more if it is a focus on males. Moreover, it would allow me to use my fraternity as mentors and perpetuate more against the learning I am trying to do. 

Exit strategy

Ultimately my exit strategy would be to have the company be a subsection of the 5000 role models of excellence program.

The reason is because this is a business venture that is more focused on education that it is profit. There would be a fee but it would help offset some of the costs that he organization would accrue. Moreover, it would qualify for public funding if it were one of the special projects that they have under their branch. Moreover, there would be resources there to assist in helping the business thrive.

I do think think that my exit strategy has influenced my take on the approach of my business. I could've simply taken a different route and done it like a smokin notes or for profit but it would not work for the target audience I am chasing and goal I am trying to do.

Reflection 3 "Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter Drucker"

The overall premise of the book was focusing on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It firsts begin by defining what those two are exactly. It goes on to say that the practice of innovation is purposeful and a discipline as well as the practice of entrepreneurship is the institution that is the carrier of innovation. It firsts begin by defining what those two are exactly. It goes on to say that the practice of innovation is purposeful and a discipline as well as the practice of entrepreneurship is the institution that is the carrier of innovation. Entrepreneurship and Innovation are two concepts that are amongst the basis of our United States economic growth. This can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution which served as the transition over from rural agricultural communities to that of industries. This lead to the use of several items such as iron, steel, coal, petroleum and etc.  It goes on to further distinguish the two and talk about the seven sources for innovative opportunity. One of the first things it talks about is the unexpected success and gives examples of various companies and individuals that have benefited from this such as the discovery of Nylon being from somebody leaving the burners on too long.  Lastly, it goes on talk about the strategies that go with entrepreneurship as well as the practices of both. All in all, the general theme is describing the two concepts and what they consist of.

First of foremost, the class is called principles of entrepreneurship and the book talks of innovation and entrepreneurship. I feel as if they align directly with the course. It goes into defining entrepreneurship and then analyzing the various aspects of it.  In this class though, we go a step further and apply the skills we are learning about with the various activities. Then we look at our classmates to see how they interpreted the assignment and applied it to their business venture. It also goes over practices and steps to take in order to in order to for it to apply under the umbrella term.

If I had to design an exercise for this class, it would be incorporating one of the sources of innovative opportunity. The source is the “Innovation based on process need.” The activity would require students to find the “weak link” within competitors in the industry they are trying to join/launch the product in. this would allow them to align and see if their current proposal satisfies that weak link the competitors currently have. If not, then that gives an added dimension to incorporate in their proposal.  Moreover, the assignment would require them to look at their current proposal and see if they can spot their weakest link. This would form them to think of means to combat this weak link and minimize it.

One of my biggest “aha” moments in this book was the various examples of how several companies became what they are today.  One of them aligns with the changes in industry or structure that it talked about.  One of the examples it gave was pertaining to cars.  It talked about how Rolls Royce took on the identity of being a luxury cars amongst the others while Porsche personified being a sports car.  It was pretty cool to see how despite the era they found a way to exploit a change in the market.  It also shows that despite how you may think the market is, there is a possibility to for opportunity if marketed correctly.

Failures

One time I would say that I failed this semester would be my goal of going to the gym consistently. I tried multiple times to get it into a consistent basis. I used to go the local apartment gym at cabana beach 3x a week. However, as the semester picked up, that started to slowly fade away. One of the primary reasons is because I am a huge procrastinator which takes away from my gym time because I’m up doing assignments last minute. I tried to change that by going with my brothers to be able to keep me accountable. It worked for about two weeks but then as they became busy, they altered their schedules to go in the middle of the day, when I was busy. As a result, I stopped having that accountability and started making excuses. Then I found another person to go with. However, after the first day of working out, I had muscle tenderness and soreness and needed to take a few days off to recover because I overworked myself. As a result, it’s been about a month and a half since I been to the gym.

One thing that I learned from this was that I tend to make a lot of excuses.  Moreover, procrastination can affect me in more than one ways.  As a result of procrastination, I wasn’t able to work out, attend a few socials, and lose out on time.  Not only that, I highly do recommend setting a schedule and having a partner to hold you accountable if you are not as disciplined as myself. It does really help as well as, allows you to learn something new.

I can honestly say that failure is a learning mechanism and is one of the biggest teachers in life. If you allow it, and go back and reflect on your failures, you can learn so much about yourself in general and not only pertaining to the situation.  Moreover, everything is about timing, so the reason you may have failed is simply because it wasn’t your time or the timing is off. After my failings, I realized that for me going to the gym is harder for me to work out than playing sports and working outside. As a result, I was able to sign up and attend the boot camp classes that are offered here which has a time as well as meet new people to help me maintain that accountability. I would say that this class has prepared me to take better calculated risks so that my “failures” don’t seem like failures at all but rather learning opportunities.

What’s next

What I would say is next for my venture would be to actually reach out to my connections and the leaders of those groups. I would speak to them extensively about my proposal from the idea to its feasibility. From there, I would have a better idea of next steps in terms of timeline for when I could potentially start or set things up. One of the biggest keys for me is going to be to do research beforehand to present to them. The research is going to consist of looking at their hours into out their prime hours as well as feasibility of using their facilities and if possible to do a joint venture. From there would be contacting the past organizations I was involved in to see about partnership and sponsoring. After speaking to the three customers who are apart of three different after school program, I was able to get a more comprehensive viewpoint of my proposal as well as next steps. One of the things they said I should be focusing on is my craft In terms of the actual tutoring. So how do I plan on implementing diverse methods and reaching out to those others as well. Also talked to me about obtaining sponsors for the materials for the test preps, because although I have resources available like the library, they are outdated. What makes the most sense for me to grow within my market is honestly cultivating my craft and staying within my own lane. Ultimately, this means not getting to involved in what others are doing  but more so in the statistical analysis of whether my students are performing better. I am not really too worried about growing because it is a product that is very needed and useful. It is dealing with the topic of education and helping below average students. It is going to to continue to be a necessity and need as long as the United States department of education and the state of Florida continues to value standardized tests like the EOC over actual learning. Moreover, the manpower to sustain the growth will always be there as the potential partners continues to grow and sustain. Moreover, volunteering opportunities are generally needed also. 

A virtually different market would be students that are well off financially and in private schools and who’s parents are wealthy. This would be completely different in my approach because it would require more certifications and licensing I feel like. Those of wealthy parents have the financial capital to pay for he best so they would require more documentation as well as more advanced setting with new technology that would be conducive to the highest quality of education.  Moreover, they tend to require one on one or small group teachings that I wouldn’t be able to offer through my program. After talking to two of those customers In that market, it was clear that my suspicions were true. They were ,ore focused on the technicalities and evaluating the financial setting as well as my competency credentials. Upon speaking to them, they were questioning and comparing my credentials such as GPA, test scores, grades and etc to either themselves or other top folks. They were also concerned with the materials they were using from technology like the books and etc. it is very different than that of my original market because it is not so,etching they are used to getting so their main concern was when and where it starts and how much more so than the credentials. Not to say that they didn’t ask or mention credentials but more so didn’t ask for extensive details. No this new market would not be right for me due to my capabilities and what I’m trying to accomplish.

Venture Concept

The opportunity that I am chasing and attempting to accomplish is that which brings a more well rounded approach to. It attempts to combine the conceptualization of a tutoring service and that of a college readiness program. The need would b the greatest for high school students especially juniors and seniors who are interested in pursuing a post secondary education. The program’s first priority would be to to help with SAT/ACT prep along with other standardized tests in the Miami-Dade County Public High School zone. It would focus on approaching basic concept skills in a different manner influenced by various cultural identities. The second focus of the program would be that of college readiness. However,not only academically but also cover other topics that are not generally covered like how to maximize resources as well as other simple things like how to cook basics, and etc. I grew up in Miami so I am well familiar with the areas that I am going to focus and an attest to the fact that this service is needed. A lot of the students in the areas I am focusing on are that of low socio-economic status as well as below average reading levels and test scores. This thus in return creates the need and opportunity for this opportunity.  The areas I am referring to specifically are going to be the “Little Haïti” area. This neighborhood comprises mostly of Haitian and Haitian Americans. Currently, the needs are being met by a local community center and programs at the library. However, these programs tend to focus more on learning English and comprehensively understanding the language. They do their best in preparing for college readiness like information on scholarships but not to the extent where they should be operating. I believe this is a very huge opportunity because of the magnitude of the opportunity in how many folks it can affect. I believe this opportunity will continue to be around as long as college continues to be a big part of potential success in society. 

One of the reasons that I think people will switch to this product is a variety of reasons. One of the first being my credibility in the community. I am well known amongst the community center as so is my mother. As a result I have credibility that folks can trust and appeal to. Not only that, I have connections within Miami that will be able to help me run this program.  I used to be apart of a few programs that are heavily based on volunteering also at my disposal. Moreover, another major impact is the price, which would be free due to my connections with past programs and involvements. As a result, this program would me limited in the amount of seats that were able to start off with and then expand as resources and help becomes available. As previously stated, the competitors aren’t many. The fact that their focus is more on ESOL classes and comprehensively understand English gives me the upper hand. The other “competitors”but more so alternative options would include guidance counselors or other material prep. A lot of folks would focus on buying books and paying for test preps when it comes to standardized tests. One of the local options, was an SAT prep class which was priced quite expensively. The basis of my program would run in a local community so I wouldn’t have to worry about materials too much. Moreover, I would have offers and donations from local program,s and organizations that are being funded publicly with corporate sponsors. Lastly, I would have the library as another resource during regular business hours. 

My most unfair advantage would be my connections within the neighborhood. As it can be noticed throughout my proposal, I am very connected with different organizations and people that would not only help keep my costs to a minimal but also aid me in what I’m trying to do for no cost at all. Eventually, I would love to expand my proposal so that it grows to be able to continue to help more people. I would love to partner with local programs such as the 5000 Role models of excellence program and a few others to be able to spread my program to other cities like Overtown, North Miami, Liberty City and others.  As an entrepreneur, I would love to see this come into fruition. The sheer joy would be rewarding for me enough. I would love to especially see some of my students attend Ivy League schools to become engineers, physicians, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and etc.

Elevator pitch 3

https://youtu.be/KfEy8KHO_oU

The feedback that I received was in relation to the quality. As a result I tried shooting it on something other than my iPhone and the conversion in the quality was still poor I tried three different methods including an iPad and nothing came out of it. Moreover, I didn’t change much other than including the importance and why the need for my program.

Unfair advantage

Fraternity of brothers willing to help

Access to students to mentor

TFA

Volunteers to be assist in the program 

Funds to jump start under a local program

A local building in Miami to operate

My experience within related programs

Statistical analysis

Network of past teachers of various grade levels

Empathy

Network of brothers in various professions and background that can offer feedback

I have students who are more than willing to give back to their community

I have a few individuals who are apart of teach for America which would have them certified

Volunteers from a variety of cultural backgrounds to help diversify the teaching styles

Just like any business, this is going to need money and I have access to it through grants

Again would need a building with the resources to jump start

Personal experience goes a long way since I was one of them.

Statistical analysis  to see the progress as well as compare to other programs

Being that they taught several grade levels, they can best guide me on their perspectives

I’m able to relate with my clientele which would foster trust and sincerity 

One of the most important ones, I would say is network of fraternity brothers. A lot of my other resources revolve around networking opportunities involving them. Moreover, especially within my chapter lineage alone I have access to great resources without much cost to me.