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.

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

The List
1. Mike C.
2. Steve B.
3. Speaking skills
4. My bank account
5. Drive for success
6. Dealer (Unnamed)
7. Backup dealer (No name, obviously)
8. Financial backing from my parents because I still rely on them
9. Time
10. Work Ethic

V
1. Mike is valuable because of his connections, extremely high business skill level, and his resume
2. Steve is valuable for similar reasons to Mike
3. I think that I’m a pretty good public speaker, so making deals and conducting business seem like good ideas
4. This resource isn’t valuable at all.  I have about $20 to my name
5. In contrast with my bank account, my drive for success is full.  I am striving to do my best in my classes in order to set myself up for good opportunities later in life
6. Dealer (unnamed) knows what the customers want
7. Same thing with this guy
8. I don’t know how much I could get out of my parents to open up a weed dispensary, but this could be a valuable resource if they’re willing
9. If I devote myself to anything, I will commit all of my time to it
10. I work very hard for things I wish to succeed in.  I also work hard for things my mom tells me to do

R
1. Mike is one-of-a-kind
2. Steve is also one-of-a-kind
3. Most great businesspeople are good speakers, so this skill isn’t TOO rare.  However, I think that I’m definitely in the top range of speakers
4. You could pick $20 off of the ground and have the same amount of money as me
5. My drive is that of someone who wants to be successful and is willing to put in the work for it.  So, it isn’t very common
6. Dealers are usually common
7. Same thing
8. I’m not sure how many college students have financial backing from their parents.  A lot probably do
9. Everyone has the same amount of time
10. My work ethic is higher than most people’s

I
1. I’m sure there are plenty of good businesspeople, but not one of them has the exact capital that Mike does
2. Same reasoning for Steve
3. If someone practiced enough, they could speak as well as me
4. This one is easy to imitate
5. You can’t imitate drive.  It’s innate
6. You can imitate this
7. You can imitate this
8. This one’s probably not too hard to imitate
9. You can imitate the amount of time I spend on my work.  It’d be hard though
10. Work ethic is the imitable version of drive, but my work ethic is hard to imitate

N
1. Like the previous explanation, There are plenty of good businesspeople, but no one has the exact same capital as Mike
2. Same reasoning
3. You can’t really replace speaking skills.  They’re pretty important
4. You can’t replace financial capital
5. You can’t replace someone’s drive
6. You can replace a dealer
7. You can replace a dealer
8. I could replace my parents’ financial support with another family member, but it wouldn’t be as much
9. You could replace time spent on work with better resources to do the work faster
10. You could possibly replace work ethic with more workers

From this, I’ve found that my social capital in Mike and Steve are likely my most valuable resources.  They are valuable, can’t be replaced, are difficult to imitate, and are each one-of-a-kind.

Elevator Pitch 3

Reading Reflection 2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

1) The general theme of the book is to be persistent and to not restrain yourself.  The author brings up a few major points based on this idea.  He said that goals suck and systems are the way to go.  This is because goals are flawed in that they are very specific and you don't know when you'll be rewarded.  This will likely cause you to become disappointed if you have any outcome other than your expected outcome.  Another major point is his advice to find your energy instead of your passion.  You could have many "passions".  If you follow the ideology of finding only your passion, you may be locked into that opportunity even if you don't have the energy to commit to it.  Finding your energy is more important because as long as you stay energetic, you can fail countless times and still persevere.

2) I can't really connect any specifics from the book to this class.  However, the theme of passion vs energy is apparent in our choice of opportunities.  A friend of mine certainly is following his passion in his opportunity (not that it's a bad thing), while others that I've seen are working through trial and error from post to post - almost like it's the energy that keeps them going.

3) If I were to design an exercise for this class, It would be based on potentially changing our opportunities.  I think that many of our opportunities have a lot of constrained goals involved.  If Adams is correct about systems vs goals, then it would be crucial for the class to learn how to develop systems to increase productivity.  A major step would be turning their goals into systems.

4) It wasn't really an "aha" moment, but reading about the useless patents that Adams had was pretty funny.  Had Dr. Pryor not explained the potential uselessness of patents in class, I would not have understood this part of the book one bit.

Idea Napkin No. 2

Hey everyone!  Most of  this is the same as my previous idea napkin.  My plan hasn't changed too much, mainly because it's a very straightforward idea with very strict methods of carrying it out.  As I learn the business more, I will potentially find areas to innovate.  However, I haven't come across any major areas to be flexible that expert business people haven't.

I’m Jacob Cavan, or Jake for short.  I believe that I’m a very quick learner, I’m great at speaking in front of an audience, I love meeting new people and creating relationships with them, and I’m a very good problem-solver.  Currently, I want to go into business and do something like what my dad does.  He is the leader of a team in charge of organizing sales, setting up deals, and sealing those deals with other companies in the market for his company’s product.  I’m not sure if it would be the best for me, as I'm still figuring out what I want to do, but my business concept for this class would be a very quick way to start a successful venture into the real world - if I’m quick enough to act.

The product/service combo I am offering is a chain or marijuana dispensaries in newly legal states paired with a delivery service for my brand.

There is a seemingly wide demographic that I think would want my business, but the psychographics aren't very straightforward.  Anyone who uses a form of marijuana (THC vapes, traditional smoke, edible) or could see it as an option for them.  These people are usually college students, stressed parents and workers, and people with injuries or disabilities.  Even though these groups all have some members who use marijuana, not everyone in each group uses.  Some college students don’t want to use it because they don’t like smoke or are worried about getting in trouble, many parents look down upon marijuana smoke, and many people with injuries or disabilities prefer alternative methods of healing or easing their pain.  So, I am offering my product to people in these groups who prefer marijuana as their method of relieving their stress or pain.  After following this target consumer with some other blog posts, it may be problematic to find users that don't have their medical cards and difficult to find users that do. 

They care because the recreational use of marijuana is illegal in most states, so many people don’t have this option-legally.  The legalization of marijuana in these states will cause the already large market for marijuana to grow.  Even those with medical cards can benefit from a recreational dispensary.  Medical marijuana dispensaries aren’t very common.  There is only 1 in northeast Florida and also only 1 in west Florida.  Imagine having to travel anywhere from 45 minutes to multiple hours just to pick up a prescription!

Because I don’t know the business very well, my main advantage would be acting as quickly as possible on the legalization process.  As soon as it looks like a real possibility for the legalization, I would begin the process of setting up locations, finding suppliers, etc.  Although the delivery service has been done before, it’s extremely convenient and has been shown to be a massive success.  With my own delivery service, I could greatly increase my own sales and, with that, revenue.  On top of this, I can use the skills I've developed over the years to make a lot of sales.

How this all fits together:
Overall, the success of this business depends on how effective I am at marketing, finding high quality marijuana, networking, and racing into the market as quickly as possible. 

FEEDBACK!!
One of the major points I took from the feedback was confirmation of one of my statements.  I said that the biggest advantage in an industry like this is capitalizing on timing, and a few of the comments agreed. 
Second, my comments agreed with my choice of target consumer, but for a reason I wasn't expecting. 
I didn't tweak very much in this post because I felt like the feedback was mostly just agreeing with me and my progress on the topic has only really confirmed things I've considered.  However, I mostly plan to tweak my target consumer for this class, even though I will have multiple.