What's Your Secret Sauce?

1) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique. What is it about you, exactly, that makes you different? Write this up in a detailed list. 

1. I am considered a junior with credits while only being in my second year in college.

2. I am getting my masters in international business and bachelor's in business administration with a marketing major and a double minor in entrepreneurship and retailing.

3. I am an extremely motivated student that does everything to go the extra step and make myself unique.

4. I was accepted into two elite programs at the university of florida, one for business leadership in the heavener school of business and another for retailing within the retail center.

5. I utilize all of my resources and take advantage of the people I have around me. I got a mentor through one of the programs and have been meeting up with her and utilizing her help to help me interview for internships. 

2) Interview the five people who know you the best. 

                                                   Interview 1:

Interview 2 

Interview 3

Interview 4

                                                  Interview 5

3) Reflect on the differences. 

I see myself as a hardworking and dedicated student that cares about my future and what I am doing to better myself for the future. I think others see myself the same way because I try really hard to make myself embody that personality.I think there are some differences and what causes these differences is perception. Each person perceives everything differently. I think my interviewees are correct about me and understand me really well. 

Week 9 Reading Reflection

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 thought it was really interest and surprising to see how in depth the marketing research questions specify so differently to each subject from sales, markets, advertising to products. 

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

The comparison of major survey research techniques chart was in a way confusing in the way that it was laid out on the page. 

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

I would like to know how the author came up with the common elements in the marketing skills of great entrepreneurs and why there aren't more because I am sure there a ton of more elements. How did he choose these 10? I am also curious as to why he put gathering secondary data first then gathering primary data. It was an interesting choice of placement on the page. 

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

I don't disagree with anything the author said but I just wish that he explained the quote in the front of the chapter 10 page that was by Peter Dickson. 

Week 8 Reading Reflection

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 thought it was interesting to see five of the most common questions that follow securing a bank loan. I just wish there was more information about that because many people taking this class will be most likely be needing to take out a bank loan if they were in fact to open their own business.

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

I wish that the author explained the quote more that is on the front of the chapter 8 page by William Somerset Maugham because I thought it was really interesting. 

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

I would ask them to add more actually stories throughout the chapter to understand specific examples because we all are going to be going through specific situations within our lives. 

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

I don't think there was anything that the author said that was wrong. I really like that there were a lot of numbers and quantitative examples. 

Free Money

• Where will you go?

I went outside of my house and of the gym and approached people as well as in a dorm 

building and in a hallway.

• What kind of people will you approach?

I approached any random person that was walking past or I didn't feel intimidated to 

approach.

• What will you say to get the conversation started?

I said "Hi, excuse me" to get their attention and sound nice and friendly.

• What is your plan for the conversation?

My plan consisted of saying I believe in karma so they can feel good and happy.

• Out of five attempts, how many dollar bills do you think you will be able to give away. 

3 out of the 5 people took the dollar. I believe the people that didn't felt uncomfortable that 

it was from a random person.

                                                          INTERVIEW 1:

                                                                INTERVIEW 2

INTERVIEW 3

INTERVIEW 4

INTERVIEW 5

Idea Napkin No. 2

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 Alyssa Freeberg, a sophomore marketing major and retail and entrepreneurship minor. I am also getting my Masters in International Business within the 4 years I am undergrad. My aspirations are fashion and business behind the fashion industry. This business concept has everything to do with my aspirations because it has to do with fashion industry.

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

I am offering a fashion algorithm that helps consumers buy clothing and apparel based on their own body types and needs to flatter themselves.  

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 am offering it to everyone because every consumer has body type issues and needs clothing and apparel to flatter themselves and wear clothing that is specifically for their body type.

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. 

Consumers care because it is to help them embody their best attributes on their body and help them buy clothing that is perfect for their body.

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

What sets me apart from everybody else is the fact that this program caters to each consumer specifically. It makes consumers feel like the program is tailored to them and their needs but it is actually appealing to every consumer with all different types of bodies.

I truly believe these elements fit together and since fashion is my aspiration, it makes sense that I care so much about this product. I really think it would be great for all consumers. 

I didn't gain that much feedback so it was hard to use the comments to change my idea napkin but I criticized myself and thought about ways to improve myself. The only actually feedback I got was checking my grammar so I made sure to do that. 

The 80-20 Rule

1) Find a business owner and talk to them about their customers. Who do they think their target customers are? Where do they find their customers? What are their customer's demographics? What kinds of media do their customers consume? Etc.

I spoke to my mother who is an entrepreneur in New York City that opened her own business for interior design. She targets customers that just bought a home that are looking to decorate or customers that are redoing their homes and just finished with contractors that also are looking to decorate. She finds a lot of her customers through contractors, fabric or furniture stores, real estate agents and a lot of referrals. The customer demographic is mostly early 30s to 50s newly purchased homes that can spend money. The customers read through a lot of design magazines that she has ads in as well as websites like Houz.com that she has ads on as well. The customers main problems is the issue of wives deciding things without their husbands or vice versa. She is currently trying to fix their problems by ensuring communication through phones or emails before.

Also, be sure to ask: What are their customers' problems? What are customers currently doing to fix their problems? How big, on a scale of 1-10, is this problem in their customers' lives? What are some of the bigger problems their customers are dealing with? Do their customers have a budget allocated to fix this problem?

2) Next, go and talk to 3 'target customers' -- using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described. As these 'target customers' the questions in the paragraph directly above.

1. Woman 30 years old: Main problem is deciding things while her husband is at work and he gets upset that she decides without him. The problem is about a 5 because they are still working together. 

2. Newly married couple: They don't really have a lot of problems besides having a lot to purchase because they just moved into their house together so they are really trying to budget their money wisely but also make it their dream home.

3. Elderly woman: Her main issue is she doesn't know what she wants but she knows she wants to have a new and happy environment in her home.

3) Reflect. Does the entrepreneur adequately understand their customers' problems? Where are the differences? Why might these differences exist. 

I thought it was really interesting hearing the consumer issues from the business owner as well as the consumer. It is cool seeing both perspectives. The differences match and I think that is because the business owner really understands her consumers and tries hard to listen to them and use their responses to benefit her future business with other customers. 

Elevator Pitch No. 2

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch. 

I thought it was hard coming with a new idea that compared to my first idea which I fell in love with. I thought it was important to provide a more happy and dedicated feel from my voice and make consumers more excited about the product. I also talked more about how convenience is key in this idea. 

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

I didn't get that much useful feedback on my presentation skills last time so I used my own criticism to focus on appealing more to consumers and being more excited in the camera. 

Halfway Reflection

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

I have used hard work, dedication, patience and a lot of thought. This class requires a lot of assignments of all different levels, from reading a textbook and responding to the text to coming up with your own entrepreneurial idea. It is really important to think deeply into the assignments.

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?

I really felt like giving up during the "interviewing customers" assignment. It was really hard for me get up the courage to go up to customers that I don't know and recording my encounter. I tried my hardest and did the yellow dig assignments which was one of the most interesting things. It was really cool watching news videos and also reading articles about real life entrepreneurs. 

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' ?

1. Don't give up because these assignments will give you a good skill base.

2. You should definitely think hard into the assignments and think deeply about yourself like the bug list.

3. Go the extra step and really think about ways you can become an entrepreneur with an idea of your own during the elevator pitch assignments.

Week 7 Reading Reflection

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 think it was so interesting to read the differences between what business want to address, what consumers want to address, and what the segmentation information is and what should try to find out.

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

I thought the most confusing part of the article was how companies transformed from using buying patterns as a guide as opposed to consumers' future purchases and what the data presented that it shows this information. 

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

I always like to ask where the author got the data from and what his background is on how he interprets the information.

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

I don't think he was wrong about anything but I was concerned when he was arguing for the case of a broad view. It doesn't seem very credible that he was arguing with another expert about his topic of expertise. 

Week 6 Reading Reflection

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 thought it was extremely surprising to see that five forces help determine the long-run profitability of a specific industry and help shape academic research and business practices!

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

The image with the caption, "Do you have to barge into my office every day and talk about work?" is kinda of confusing to me and the author did not explain why this image is relatable.

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

Why is security brokers and dealers higher than other for the profitability of US industries? How were the categories selected and how the specificity of stuff like malt beverages were chosen? 

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

I feel like there are other forces that shape industry competition than the five he mentioned; which are that of threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers, and rivalry among existing competitors.

Week 5 Reading Reflection

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 thought it was interesting to see the pitfalls in selecting new ventures. From lack of objective evaluation to poor financial understand to lack of venture uniqueness and everything between. It is amazing to see how many areas of analysis there are when selecting a new venture.

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

I thought the elements affecting new-venture performance was kind of confusing to me. The arrows were misleading and created confusion within where the arrows were point and the cause and effect for each. It should have been explained more. 

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

I would ask why entrepreneurs are flocking to eBay as opposed to other sites like eBay. I would also ask the statistics of entrepreneurs that don't ask if it is legal with basic feasibility. 

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

I think the author was right about a lot of the information he wrote about but I just wish there were more statistics and numbers to back up his information to help understand the effect of everything more. 

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Hi, my name is Alyssa Freeberg and I am providing a business venture that is called Filter to Flatter. This is a computer software program that allows consumers to filter on online shopping sites to types of ways to flatter themselves, for example if a woman has large boobs and want to have a shirt that flatters her the best.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. 

My name is Alyssa Freeberg and I am a sophomore marketing major and retailing minor at the University of Florida. I love to dance and play tennis as well as look at the newest fashion trends. I have experience working in retail at a boutique as well as a merchandiser for an online clothing website that I created. My aspirations are to become a buyer for Bloomingdale's. I see this business concept helping out many woman and men that have trouble shopping for their specific body type. 

2) What are you offering to customers? 

I am offering a computer software program that goes into shopping online sites that helps customers shop online through features that help flatter their body type.

3) Who are you offering it to?

I am offering it to women and men clothing and apparel retailers that have online shopping aspects. I want to capture consumers that have a difficult time flattering their specific body types. Specifically to woman with big boobs or tiny waists but large thighs for example.

4) Why do they care? 

They care because it is such a struggle for many consumers to find clothing that is on trend and fits them well and shows their bodies in the best way possible. 

5) What are your core competencies? The fact that consumers can shop for clothing based on their personal choices on how to embody their self issues.

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. 

I believe these elements truly fit together because they help make the business concept more substantial and more thought out. I believe it gives a deeper understanding of the business and where you want to go with it.