Week 8 Reading Reflection

For each reading reflection post, I ask you to address the following areas:

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I enjoyed reading the global perspective article titled Fighting Terrorism with Financial Opportunity.  Although, I wish more people like Ronald Bruder lived in FLorida to help our youth

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

One part of this chapter that does not really identify well with me is all the text regarding the financial loans and borrowing.  There are literally millions of combinations a person can take to start a business.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

I would have asked the author to find a real world example or pretend a scenario for someone to follow.  Kinda like a how to guide for this section with every definition he threw at us.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

Nope, I thought the author was on point.  Although, if I was a VC and I received a ROI of 15% I would be pretty happy.  This general rule fo 35-50% is dumb in my opinion.  

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Half-way Reflection

Well this course is only halfway over and I think I have completed something like 22 assignments, maybe even more!  If you want to succeed in this class staying on top of assignments is very important. The nice thing about this class is that the material is educational and practical. In a math class practicing the same problem over and over again is how to succeed. Math classes can be frustrating and really do not teach business student the essentials to succeed in life. Although, in this class we really focus on a different set of skills. We take a topic and think about it in depth and write about what we want an dhow we feel. We are graded on our effort, and that is what I think is important!

1) Tenaciousness is a skill. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

To keep up with the requirements of this course I spend a few hours 2-3 days a week doing what I need to do.   One day I watch all of the lectures. Day two I make sure I cam caught up on any assignments do within the next few days. Day three I make sure to finish my weekly assignments and reflect on what I learned through the week.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

There was a week where I was just busy at work, trying to make a regional fitness event and had a whole bunch of SHH+*T going on. I missed two assignments and really wanted to drop the class. FORTUNATELY I came to my senses and realized two assignments only counted for  3-4% of my grade. Even though I had missed the whole week I could still earn an A in the class.  So, I stayed in the class and I currently have a 91%.   If I stay on top of myself for the next 8 weeks and only miss one more assignment I can still get an A!

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

Tips I would offer next semester students

1.) read the textbook there are some cool REAL WORLD studies that are interesting. Companies like IBM McDonald, Target are all included in the book. It was real world stories and is so valuable to read!  Especially the story about KFC founded Kernal Saunders  such a  good read.

2.)  Set some scheduled time every week to get what you need done.   Seriously this class is not hard, but there are close to 50 assignments and you need to stay on top of all of them. Once you start to miss a few assignments make sure to get back on schedule and finish what you started

3.) Have fun with the Blog.  Setting the blog up takes about 2ish hours if you're not good with a computer, but seriosuly the assignments can be made fun. I gave away free money to children. That was an assignment and I got a 100% on it. Have fun with the assignments be creative and do not be boring. There is no way to be wrong as long as you follow the directions!   Seriously, other people have to grade your assingments and if hey are boring you make their day boring. Make the assignments fun for you so they are fun for the grader!!! Be creative, have a drive, stay focused, and have fun!

I chose this picture because this is how I will feel once this class is over and I am one step closer to graduating!   ACCOMPLISHED .

Week 7 Reading Reflection

Nothing really stood out to me in this article. Everything made sense and I understood the material that was presented.  The only part of this article that confused me was the type of language the article used.  The Harvard Journal enjoyed keeping information dry and boring, and honestly I do not like reading their material.

Questions to the authors.
Why do you not use material with real examples, using an internation airline handbag example for 3 sentences does not satisfy the reader.

Why do all journal entries from Harvard have to be so dull.  Go down the street and leave Harvard for a few hours and have some fun in Boston and learn some real world experiences that you can use to relate to your readers more.

Free Money

• What kind of people will you approach?
• What will you say to get the conversation started?
• What is your plan for the conversation?
• Out of five attempts, how many dollar bills do you think you will be able to give away. 

So I went to the mall in the city that I live in. When I was a little kid I remember I did some 

survey and got a dollar and I thought it was really cool, again I was probably 5 years old.    My 

Plan is to go to the children's room and just talk to the kids that are on their tablets or playing a 

game.  ( I will ask a few parents around the room to make sure I do not come off as a creeper,

But the kids will have no idea what I am doing).

I plan on just approaching each kid and giving them a dollar.  I wont have much of a 

conversation with them because the kids wont know how to react.

I was able to give away two dollars at the same time!   Turns out theses kids are brothers.

For some reason the video will not attach to this post, so here is the link!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbeZKqHeME

I was surprised the older brother was a little hesitant to accept the free money. Although, I think 

If I asked adults they would have been more skeptical about the whole thing.  Giving away free

money was much easier when the kids were younger than 7-8 years old.  After that the kids

seemed more skeptical.   But at least none of the kids asked why!

My personal reflection of this exercise. Why on Earth am I giving away my money teacher? 

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get $5 as a college student. Yeah it was cool to give

some kids some money, but that was my money. Next time have people give away high fives 

to strangers   high fives are free  unlike free money.   Exercise lost me $5 dude, not cool.

elevator pitch no 2

Okay,  so I took some advice from everyone last time I did this.  I am standing in this video and not sitting down. The camera is way back so its not as close.   I have a prop for this presentation. I dont think everyone understood the concept last time.  This tool can be used by individuals or companies as a whole.   Dont think ace hardware  and Home Depot. Although they might be customers I want you to think companies such as lockeed Martin and Northrup Grunman. Big companies that need close tolerance hardware for specific needs!    So that is what I adjusted from the precious week.  Thanks for the good feedback.

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?


I am Steve CLegg. I have lots of cool talents. I can do ring muscle ups  snatch in the 200s lb range, squat 300lb for 10 reps, make a killer protein shake, and I manage to make people laugh.  I have nearly 8 years of food service experience and now 7 months of procurement service experience.  One day I want to make it to The Crossfit Games and receive world recognition for my dedication and commitment to the sport. This could also meaning leading a gym and running one.

What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 
Basically I will help people get in shape day by day and make them better functioning citizens.   Their unmet needs are vast and if you talked to anyone at a planet fitness you would learn the unmet needs in about 6 minutes.

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?



ALl of the customers have a drive to better themselves physically and that can lead to a better mental drive as well.  Most of these individuals are in their careers and have jobs and they do this activity to be social and to stay in shape.

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. 
Would a customer pay money to have a heart attack, or would they rather workout to some great music and have a great time racing their friend in a workout. Most people who stick with Crossfit for a whole month are hooked and never go back to the old boring way again.

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

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

Well I have deep roots in this community,  and I have several years of experience in the field of sports. I also have a great sense of humor that I think most people like!

I think this type of business is really in line with what I should be doing entrepreneur wise. At the moment I do not have enough experience to just open up a gym and go with it, nor do I have the capital. I think it would be a smarter idea to get more experience and just learn for a few years, and then maybe go out and try to run a gym by myself. I will just see where life takes me and plan accordingly!

Well

Week 5 Reading Reflection

1.)  I was really surprised reading this chapter to learn that the author went into such detail on how to purchase a business. Really this was great to read and I enjoyed the topic very much.

2.)  One part of the reading that was confusing to me was when the text was concerning Franchising Law and the FTC.  Did not really understand this section well at all.

3.)  I would ask the author which franchise would he consider purchasing if he would?
I would also ask if writing under a national wide publisher can be considered franchising.

4.)   I think the author was spot on about everything presented and I will not argue with any of the information presented.


Steve Clegg

Interviewing customer No. 2 or really No. 1"

This is my first round of interviews and it did not go as well as I thought it would, but I did have agood time interviewing people I did not know.

I probably should have asked my customers more questions rather tan just stopping at my first one, maybe I will do that next time around.

I learned that some people are rude, and interviewing people using your cellphone is very tricky. Especially when you interview homeless people. The only way I could get someone to agree to an interview was to give them my shirt.  Weird situation.

Elevator Pitch

Find that thing.com  will have an app that will identify hardware for customers.  People who do not know what type of hardware they are using will be able to take a picture of their item and the app will be able to identify several characteristics.
Length
Width
Thread
Pitch
Diameter
Material
Grade


This will save people tons of time at the hardware store and make building, or repairs more fun and faster.