What's Your Secret Sauce - Assignment 16A

Link to soundcloud with interviews: 

https://soundcloud.com/matt-schwarz-151419759

1) Five areas of human capital

- Passion for my product. This is something I know will succeed and will have demand.

-Experience. My service is not something I just thought of, I have thought about it for a while.

-Tenacity. If I put my mind to something, I know I am capable of doing it, so failure does not deter me.

-Marketable. I know I would be able to sell my product to others and convince others of their need because I am pretty personable and friendly to others.

-Invested. I am not easily distracted and when I have a focus on something, I do not let things or others get in my way of reaching my end goal.

2) Interviews

Lezhou Interview – Lezhou’s words about my knowledge in a specialized area is very encouraging. Knowing that I can apply something I know well to my future areas of interest should give me a head start.

Spencer Interview – His words go well with my business idea as it is about helping others. I agree with his words as I like to see others do well when I give them my advice.

Logan Interview – I think focus is critical to achieving a goal, especially an entrepreneurial one. Thus, I think I need to remember that if I chose to continue down an entrepreneurial path, I must fully commit.

Paul Interview – My interview with Paul gave me confidence in my ability to handle the monumental responsibility of being an entrepreneur. I know that if I fail, it wont be because I couldn’t handle the work.

Hugh Interview – My interview with Hugh reminded me that the war is won before the first battle if fought. Should I get too excited to start my product and business, I may miss critical areas of strategic planning.

3) Reflection

I think my responses in part 1 and the responses I received in part 2 are similar. I attribute this similarity to me possessing these attributes for some time now. I do not think I have changed much over the past three years of college, so those that have known me have always known who I am. 

One thing I might add to my original list is specialized knowledge of my service. I think my first interview summed it up well when he mentioned that my specialized interest can give me a head start.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.2 - Assignment 15A

Throughout my three interviews, I learned that my target segment values credibility and services on demand and convenience. I interviewed 3 people who I identified to be in my segment based on what I know about their daily lifestyles and activity levels. All three people primarily find themselves in the gym for at least 5 hours per week.
I first asked how they decided to continue to use the same resources as they usually do for finding workout advice. All three responded by saying that they know the person they source information from is credible based on that person's years of experience or academic prestige. Moreover, I asked them what medium they use to source this information, and the majority of them said they will look stuff up online when they have time in between study breaks or when they are really bored. One interviewee said that he finds himself looking up this information most of the time when he is in line for something long and only has his phone with him. Finally I asked them if they pay for the service and if they do not currently, would they in the future. All three said they currently do not pay for their research, but know that those same sources of information of subscription models and have thought about paying for them in the past, but the value proposition was not great enough.

To summarize: I leaned that my segment preferences credibility and convenience more than anything. Since none of them source information from those without some source of experience, I would need ti make sure my products credibility is well displayed. Moreover, my segments also preferences convenience. I think this was well described when one of my interviewees said he does most of his consumption randomly on his phone. Making sure my product is easily accessible through most mediums will be crucial in maintaining user engagement. Lastly, my segment believes the proof is found in the end result; they will determine the worthiness of the product based on the end result. This reminds me that I can not get by with simply producing quantity, I must make sure my services are of good enough quality to gain repeat customers.

Halfway Reflection - Assignment 14

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1)    I made sure to stay focused and set a time to do the assignments every week. I would clear my schedule for that time period and get all my work for the week done in that time frame.

2)    Not in this course but while doing work for a student organization, I was working non-stop for three days on an assignment because I knew that doing a good job on it would allow the organization to succeed. At time I didn’t feel like giving up, but I thought that I could speed up the process by putting in a little less effort but enough to get the job done. I decided that after all this is said and done, I would have to live with the results on my work whether I did well or not. Doing poorly might create a headache later on, so I decided to give it my all.

I feel like I have developed a tenacious attitude because I have decided what my goals are and decided again to not let being tired stand in the way of that.

3) 

 1) Set your goal and tell yourself that accomplishing your goal is the right thing to do and what you should be doing.

2) be confident in your decisions. Sometimes you will feel discouraged and think you made a bad choice. Be confident that you are on the right track and results will manifest themselves soon enough

3) You simply need to want it. You can’t tell yourself to do something you don’t want to do and expect to do a good job, you have to choose a goal that will incubate your tenacity

Reading Reflection 1 - Assignment 13

1)

·       - Phil Knight’s luck of creating Blue Ribbon. He essentially cold called the CEO of a popular shoe brand in Japan.

·       - His risk-on attitude. Not afraid of failing and losing everything

·       - How he tells young people they should “go for broke” with their ideas. It is really risky and probably a lot of luck that it worked for Phil.

·       - Yes. The first sample of his shoes took over a year to be delivered. In this time period he had to work extremely hard.

2) A strong knowledge of the industry he was entering into. Phil Knight always loved shoes before he even started his own business.

3) The part that talked about having people do things their own way and simply telling them what you want the end result to be. The theory here is that people will surprise you when they are able to be themselves. I don’t always find this to be the case and somewhat disagree with this point.

4) How much of your success do you contribute to being at the right place at the right time? What regrets do you have now after spending so much time on one thing and having it turn out to be a success? I would ask these questions because I feel they are most applicable to me right now in this stage of my life.

5) I think his opinion of hard work was doing whatever it takes to accomplish your goal. If you know your end goal and know what the best approach is to reaching it, he would say to take that road regardless of the effort it will take and the potential risk you are taking. Yes I share that opinion. Often times we fail to believe in ourselves and listen too much to what others have to say.

Sketching out the Beginning of the Buyer Behavior Process - Assignment 12A

1) Segment and interviewees

o   The segment I chose is the demographic of people who are already pretty healthy but live a proactive lifestyle and trying to make improvements. I chose this segment since I think I best fall under this category and would be able to identify prospective interviewee’s easily. I chose 3 students who all happened to come from the Health and Human Performance college at UF. My second two interviewees are in the process of applying and interviewing for medical schools, so they are well versed in the area and would provide a good perspective of the information search portion.

2) What I learned from interviews

o   Regarding need awareness, I focused primarily on a need that develops when they notice something negative happening to their lifestyles. This basically means that if they notice something abnormal with their bodies (getting sick, constantly tired, achy body) how do they go about diagnosing and solving the problem. Furthermore, I asked them if and why they will research new information that isn’t prompted by an immediate need. They mentioned that sometimes they are curious about certain bodily processes that may not be causing a problem, but are interested in. For example, one of my interviewees is an avid weightlifter, thus he enjoys researching new exercises to implement into his workout. He mentioned he has a couple websites he uses and YouTube pages that he follows, along with several social media accounts he will check once in a while or see on his timeline.

o   Regarding information search, all three of the interviewees stated that they first try to think if they have experienced the problem before and if they were able to resolve it in the past. Secondly, they will look it up online and try to diagnose themselves and figure out a cure. Should they think their research is appropriate, they will begin treating themselves. After this response, I was curious if they ever referenced their formal studies for a diagnosis. Surprisingly they said that they either remember the information they learned or forget, so sometimes their formal studies plays a part.

3) Summary

o   This segment can be described as both reactive and proactive. Like anybody else, it is when a problem starts to bother them that they realize a need. However, they also are proactive and search out new information regularly simply because they are interested in it.

Furthermore, once they recognize the need they usually will refer to what they know the best and are most familiar with. If they are able to use previous knowledge to diagnose their problem, they will not need to refer to an external source. However most of the time they will refer to the third party they know the best and is most convenient. This is where social media and the internet becomes an important role since it is usually accessed daily. This is good for my business idea since it will almost exclusively use social media and the internet.

Idea Napkin 1 - Assignment 11A

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?

o   I am a third year student at the University of Florida enrolled in the Masters of Science of Finance program where I will complete my bachelors and masters in finance in four years (graduating May 2020). Some of my skills are analytical thinking, writing, and leadership, all of which allow me to excel in my student organization that I have a leadership position in. Outside of academia, my main interest is health and fitness and well-being. I love experimenting with my body – trying different diets and different exercises to see how my body reacts. With regards to my business, this fits well into my endeavors outside of a career in finance. Since I am currently extremely interested in health and wellness, my business plan fits well with that. If I found my business to be a success, it would be the main part of my life, otherwise it would be a side job.

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

o   I am offering a service to college student primarily at UF that allows them to learn more about their bodies and how to live healthier lifestyles. My main goal is to provide an outlet for interested students to learn how to optimize their health to allow them to reach their collegiate goals. The problem is that most students are unaware how much their body wants to help them succeed, however they often treat their bodies incorrectly and must fight against themselves just to get through the day.

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?

o   College aged students primarily at UF. After several interviews conducted for previous assignments, I realize that my main demographic are students who have the need and are interested in living healthier lives. My targeted audience would be those who will want to engage with a service that they trust and think will help them. This demographic probably has a proactive viewpoint and are willing to make changes and take advice from others.

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. 

o   Like I mentioned above, not as many students will think my service is as valuable as I originally thought. This would create significant issues as it would be hard for students to want to pay for something they are unsure of. My solution to this is by providing the first leg of the service for free, then any additional features will cost money. Essentially students have a free trial vis social media, and should they find that “trial” helpful, hopefully they will be able to be converted to paying customers. Customers will want to pay for the service because they will actually be able to see tangible results from using the “free trial”.

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

o   I am actually part of the demographic I am targeting. I have a keen interest in improving my well-being, a college student at UF, and believe your health is worth a high price tag. Other services online that offer fitness help seem very informal and are very broad based. By focusing on a single or a few college Universities, I will be able to offer more tailored and catered advice to the demographic. I would be able to offer solutions to problems that may be unique to a certain college campus or something those students have in common. In short, targeting a smaller demographic allows me better cater to my customers and provide them a differentiated service.

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 think these elements work well together. However, I think my main issue in developing my service will be building the business as reputable and trustworthy. Since I am not a health major and those who I employ may not be either, it may be hard to convince prospective customers that what we have to say is valuable. One thing that allows me to get around this is that the “free trial” aspect of the service is a good starting point to build reputability. Should users of the trial see tangible results in their lives, this will build credibility.

Assignment 10 - Elevator Pitch 1

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

See attachment for my Elevator Pitch 1 for Your Body Loves You

Testing the Hypothesis - Assignment 9

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is in? Students who use social media and have desire	Who is not? Those not interested in improving their healthy habits or can not access my services thru social ml media
What the need is? Become aware of how mindful living can change their daily energy levels/lives	What the Need Is Not? Increasing awareness, rather its increasing desire
Why the Need Exists? Society underestimates how important it is to treat your body right. When you treat your body right it loves you back.	Alternative Explanations? Society is aware, but just does not care

Interview 1: I decided to interview someone I know who is very energetic and hard-working, but never noticed taking an interest in his well-being. After asking several questions asking how he is able to maintain high energy levels and work throughout, he explained how he never felt lethargic in his life. Of course, he would get tired throughout the day especially after a night of less sleep, but he said he never felt a constant inability to focus or a sustained energy of low feeling. While he admits he could improve some of his habits, he does not need t incorporate healthy habits to improve his energy and sustained high levels of output.

Interview 2: Since my original need was centered solely on people who needed to adjust their dietary habits, I figured someone who needs a change might not want a change. In this interview I spoke to a close friend who never cared about his diet habits, but still worked out and tried to live healthy. After asking if he would be inclined to participate in a service like the one I was offering, he said he would be interested to hear about it, but ultimately would not see the need to spend his time learning about it if he does not feel like it will help him.

Interview 3: I interviewed a friend who is a nutrition major and whose family are registered dietitians. She said that her family never really allowed her to eat sweets growing up, so she naturally does not have a craving for them now. Moreover, her family always incorporated healthy foods in their diets, so she still maintains a similar diet even in college. While she is busy most of the time and still feels tired, she does not think that her dietary habits are her problem, and I would agree. Although my service would aim to help people who feel tired, my service might not work for people like her.

Interview 4: Since my business model utilizes social media for brand awareness and displaying my service on a free level, my target audience would be college students who actively use social media enough to engage with my profile. I interviewed a friend who’s average daily screen time on their phone is only 2 hours a day, with Instagram averaging only 3 minutes a day per week, with most of it coming on the weekends. This person is only on Instagram for a few minutes, so he does not fully catch up on his feed. People like this would be hard to bring my service to since I would probably never even show up on the top of their feed. People like this would have to have such a high desire for my service that they would break their daily routines and actively choose to interact with my account.

Interview 5: Lastly, I interviewed another individual who is very health conscious. I decided to ask her why she became so aware of her health and how she obtains new information. She told me she gets a lot of information from podcasts of people with PhDs and reads books from esteemed scientists in the field. Thus, she would not be interested in learning more from someone who might not be as qualified. She simply would not think the service is of high enough quality, even if she could benefit.