Final Reflection

As soon as I saw the description of this post, I knew I was going to enjoy writing it.  This class truly has been an adventure, or more of a roller-coaster.

1) The first few assignments in this class were strange.  We had no idea what our venture concept would be, I actually had no idea that we WOULD have one.  We were still doing opportunity searches and I remember coming across some really funny ones in the news.  Some guy regularly stole plants from a pizza parlor north of University Ave.  On the other hand, I remember absolutely hating how tedious some of the early work was.  We had to do interview after interview and numerous trial-and-error experiences eventually led me to an interesting venture concept.  The way I used to write up my interview posts was horrendous.  I think the weirdest assignment we had was the one where people had to say nice things about me.  I had 4 friends who had genuine answers, even though we couldn't stop laughing while recording them.  And then I also had one guy reading off of a script because it was late at night and I couldn't call anyone else to do it.

2) This kind of goes along with my previous one.  I think the lectures will stand out to me for the longest.  Dr. Pryor is a very interesting character and I'll remember many more of the tips he's given than what I've written.  My most joyous experience was doing the voice recordings.  It started out as a roast session, so it was really fun.  I'm most proud of myself for finishing this class and not purposefully tanking all of the assignments.  I'm in a difficult situation right now where I couldn't really prioritize this class, so I've been worried that my grade in it might take a huge hit.

3) I don't see myself as an entrepreneur just yet.  However, the idea is extremely intriguing to me and I think about it every day.  The mindset has definitely been ingrained in my head and I don't see it leaving anytime soon.

4) My biggest recommendation is to pick an opportunity that you can actually work with for a long time.  I was worried about mine because the opportunity doesn't actually exist yet.  However, I was able to work through and find good answers to all of the questions that were asked.  To perform best in this course, attend lecture and take notes.  The lectures will help you with everything:cupcakes AND the assignments.  To be honest, the class seems like a b.s. elective that you can just worry about later.  However, it requires real work and tenacity to push through.  Come into the class understanding that it is a real class and will be beneficial to you in the future.

Venture Concept 2

Opportunity-
Marijuana is a huge deal in the United States of America right now.  Individual states across the country are legalizing it left and right.  Canada in its entirety just legalized it.  Currently, the state of Florida is making progressions towards its legalization.  It’s already legal for medical use as long as someone has a medical card and the possession of marijuana has already been decriminalized.  Soon, the recreational use of it will be legal and the market will open.  I’m defining my main market as any college-aged Florida resident.  Marijuana is already very popular amongst college students and it isn’t even legal yet.  Imagine the business it’ll bring in when it’s legal!  Currently, customers are satisfying this need illegally.  I won’t name any names, of course.  However, customers are likely going through the process of contacting a dealer, setting up meetings with said dealer, and going to that dealer to purchase marijuana from them whenever they are in need.  They won’t have to be loyal to this method once marijuana is legalized.  This is mainly because there will be legal options while unlicensed dealers will still be illegal.  This opportunity is massive!  It has seen huge success in other states that have already legalized it.  Once it’s legal in Florida, the result won’t be any different.  The window of opportunity is tiny, though.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one with this idea.  I just have to be the first to act. 

Innovation-
This isn’t exactly a new idea, but it is one that will greatly benefit this market.  Delivery services are definitely the new wave.  If you have been watching my elevator pitches, you know that they have the potential to be a huge success.  My business would take advantage of this opportunity and a major trend in the tech world.  I would set up individual, licensed stores that serve as physical points of sale.  At these stores, customers can browse a carefully-chosen selection of strains and purchase them for roughly ten-to-fifteen dollars per gram.  On top of that, I would have a delivery service under the same brand that will deliver the marijuana to the customers for roughly $5 (not including a tip), depending on where the customer lives and current events in the area.  This will not only benefit a customer who is too lazy, likes doing everything through a mobile device, or is too high to make it to the store, but it will benefit my business.  This will allow my business to attract more customers and add value for customers who already shop at my store.  To give a more concise description, I will utilize a mobile app and a website where customers can place their orders.  I want a very large selection, so it will almost be like reading a take-out menu for weed.  With a sleek enough design, good photos, and a user-friendly interface, I think that this modernization will greatly benefit my business.

Venture Concept-
Customers would switch to this new product in a heartbeat.  It’s legal marijuana!  We don’t even have it here yet!  As soon as it’s legalized, if I am able to get into the market quickly enough, it will be extremely easy to get customers to switch from dealers to my business.  There are likely thousands of potential competitors, but very few will be real competitors.  These competitors include dealers and other entrepreneurs in the field.  Their weaknesses will be a lack of innovative ideas and being too slow to capitalize on the legalization.  Packaging and my price points will likely be up to the market and what the norm is for these things.  Marijuana is heavily regulated in states that it is legal, so I’m expecting similar regulations.  However, distribution, customer experience, and business location are going to be crucial to my differentiation from the competition.  Because I will have a delivery service, my customers’ experiences, the distribution process, and the location of the business will have to be taken into account when making every single sale.  I would hire two or three main teams of employees.  There would be a regular sales staff that works in the store, a delivery staff, and an optional third staff that actually produces my product.  Of course, I would need managers at the head of each of those teams.

3 Minor Elements-
1) My most important resource is my social capital.  I have connections with very successful businesspeople that can assist me as mentors and potentially connect me with strong clients
2) I’m not too sure what the next opportunity in the venture would be other than expanding across the country
3) I definitely want to be extremely successful in whatever I do.  So, my goal would be to become one of the top, if not the top, marijuana brands in the country.

I didn't really get any suggestions on anything I should change.  My comments were mostly just supporting my answers for what my advantages are and could be.  However, one commenter gave me an idea on how to keep up with the quickly modernizing world.  He mentioned that I should use apps, which I was already planning on using, but didn't mention it.

Based on this feedback, I gave a better description of the technology side of my innovation.

Reading Reflection No. 3

The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawasaki

1) The main theme and purpose of this book is to give tips and tricks for treating your social media like it's a business to help it grow and gain attention from the masses.  A few of the main tips involve grabbing your fans' attention and keeping that attention through different tactics and approaches to posting.

2) In ENT3003, we are constantly hearing about the importance of the social aspect of business.  This entire book is about growing your social presence through social media.  If you're successful enough at this, you will have great connections laid out for you.

3) The exercise I'd design for this class would be a simple one: go on any of your social media accounts and make a post catered to your audience, not just a post that you want to make.  It doesn't matter what the results are, just so long as you're able to understand the difference in impact that offering something that the public is looking for can have.

4) My biggest surprise was seeing how serious Guy Kawasaki was about getting serious on social media.  He said to treat it as if you're really trying to go pro.  You need to act like it's a full-time job in order to be successful.  I never thought that you really needed to take social media that seriously, but it worked for him.

Your Exit Strategy

1) My exit strategy would likely be to sell the business.  Of course, that can change.

2) I don't want to work for my entire life.  It'll be nice to build it up to be a successful company, then sell it and live off of the profits.

3) My exit strategy would likely have been the same for any of the opportunities I was considering, so I guess you could say it influenced my decision a little.  Any resources acquired for the business would stay with the business.  Even though it will be my own business, I still want to be able to eventually part ways with it.

Celebrating Failure

1) Just tonight, I think that I tanked an exam that I really needed to do well on.  I worked hard to study for it, felt extremely confident while doing practice problems (got A's on both practice exams), but I'm not feeling confident at all about the results.

2) From this experience, I can only learn to practice more and to not dwell on the past.  I need to move forward and do my best in the rest of the course.

3) From an optimist's point of view, failure is a learning experience.  It is an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and try again.  This is a good mindset to have, but some failures can't be made up for.  Regardless, I think that you should always strive to create the best future for yourself and others around you.  So, you can't worry about things that have already happened.  Always move on and push forward.  I'm not sure if I'm more likely to take a risk than I was before.  I feel like I've always been pretty brave.  However, this class does give a good perspective on failure - I did a post about a book on failure. 

What's Next?

Existing Market

After interviewing three customers from my existing market, I learned a few things.  First, I learned that because marijuana isn’t actually legal yet, no one is really worried about what’s next after opening legal dispensaries.  The main concern is when it’s going to be legalized.  After that, I tried to dig to see if my interviewees could come up with any potential next steps after opening up the business.  The answers I got were mainly based on differentiating myself from the competition.  I could take my business the luxury route and differentiate myself that way or I could further innovate on the customer service side of things.

If I were to innovate in terms of customer service, I could do a couple of things.  For example, I could create a more service-based method of shopping for the customer.  Instead of the customer browsing our shelves, I could have a worker take them through an “experience” of the shop, suggesting specific strains and giving interesting information on each one.  If I went the luxury route, I believe my market might change a bit.  However, luxury items done right usually have a very strong appeal to those who can afford it.  That may be a solid option.

New Market

The new market I chose was a higher-income market.  The people I interviewed were fans of the business idea, but they did not believe it would fit a new market that is just generally higher-income.  The new market would need to specifically be young, higher-income customers.  This is because the older generations, even though there are some members that would support my business, tend to frown upon the use of marijuana or just wouldn’t use it themselves.

I was most surprised by their interest in my base business.  It didn’t seem like they thought I should change much to fit their market.  I went into it believing that I would need to make drastic changes to an already strict business, but that may not be necessary.  I did have some correct assumptions, though.  I was expecting the idea to be more attractive to a younger generation, so tightening my focus on younger, higher-income customers would be important.  I don’t think this new market is more attractive than my existing market.  It may even be slightly less attractive because I’d be restricting my view when it's not actually necessary.

Venture Concept 1

Opportunity-

Marijuana is a huge deal in the United States of America right now.  Individual states across the country are legalizing it left and right.  Canada in its entirety just legalized it.  Currently, the state of Florida is making progressions towards its legalization.  It’s already legal for medical use as long as someone has a medical card and the possession of marijuana has already been decriminalized.  Soon, the recreational use of it will be legal and the market will open.  I’m defining my main market as any college-aged Florida resident.  Marijuana is already very popular amongst college students and it isn’t even legal yet.  Imagine the business it’ll bring in when it’s legal!  Currently, customers are satisfying this need illegally.  I won’t name any names, of course.  However, customers are likely going through the process of contacting a dealer, setting up meetings with said dealer, and going to that dealer to purchase marijuana from them whenever they are in need.  They won’t have to be loyal to this method once marijuana is legalized.  This is mainly because there will be legal options while unlicensed dealers will still be illegal.  This opportunity is massive!  It has seen huge success in other states that have already legalized it.  Once it’s legal in Florida, the result won’t be any different.  The window of opportunity is tiny, though.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one with this idea.  I just have to be the first to act.  

Innovation-

This isn’t exactly a new idea, but it is one that will greatly benefit this market.  Delivery services are definitely the new wave.  If you have been watching my elevator pitches, you know that they have the potential to be a huge success.  My business would take advantage of this opportunity and a major trend in the tech world.  I would set up individual, licensed stores that serve as physical points of sale.  At these stores, customers can browse a carefully-chosen selection of strains and purchase them for roughly ten-to-fifteen dollars per gram.  On top of that, I would have a delivery service under the same brand that will deliver the marijuana to the customers for roughly $5 (not including a tip), depending on where the customer lives and current events in the area.  This will not only benefit a customer who is too lazy, likes doing everything through a mobile device, or is too high to make it to the store, but it will benefit my business.  This will allow my business to attract more customers and add value for customers who already shop at my store. 

Venture Concept-

Customers would switch to this new product in a heartbeat.  It’s legal marijuana!  We don’t even have it here yet!  As soon as it’s legalized, if I am able to get into the market quickly enough, it will be extremely easy to get customers to switch from dealers to my business.  There are likely thousands of potential competitors, but very few will be real competitors.  These competitors include dealers and other entrepreneurs in the field.  Their weaknesses will be a lack of innovative ideas and being too slow to capitalize on the legalization.  Packaging and my price points will likely be up to the market and what the norm is for these things.  Marijuana is heavily regulated in states that it is legal, so I’m expecting similar regulations.  However, distribution, customer experience, and business location are going to be crucial to my differentiation from the competition.  Because I will have a delivery service, my customers’ experiences, the distribution process, and the location of the business will have to be taken into account when making every single sale.  I would hire two or three main teams of employees.  There would be a regular sales staff that works in the store, a delivery staff, and an optional third staff that actually produces my product.  Of course, I would need managers at the head of each of those teams.

3 minor elements-

1) My most important resource is my social capital.  I have connections with very successful businesspeople that can assist me as mentors and potentially connect me with strong clients

2) I’m not too sure what the next opportunity in the venture would be other than expanding across the country

3) I definitely want to be extremely successful in whatever I do.  So, my goal would be to become one of the top, if not the top, marijuana brands in the country.