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.