Interviewing Customers No. 1

SURFSUP INTERVIEWS

Top 5 World Problems

Most serious problems to least serious problems:

1. Poverty, hunger, and lack of clean drinking water

2. Terrorism

3. Pollution

4. Global Warming

5. Armed warfare

Most possible solutions to implement to least possible solutions to implement:

1. To help and create a solution for poverty, hunger, and a lack of clean drinking water, an increased amount of water supply, food supply, and shelter facilities need to be implemented in third world countries, in which are suffering most from the three. 

2. Ensuring that every terrorist is either put away or banned from America can only solve the problem for terrorism. The worldwide solution would be to execute every terrorist group. Religion doesn’t help this cause either.

3. We cannot keep living a polluted lifestyle and breathing in dirty air, so the only solution is to eliminate all waste put into the atmosphere/environment and to make that/recycling a law to abide all around the world.

4. A practical implementable solution in which could save our planet earth and decrease global warming could be to eliminate some of the warm toxins and gases in the air, in which are affecting the climate.

5. This problem behind armed warfare is that it is killing the lives of thousands and can be solved by treaties and putting things like religion behind, to work together into making this world thrive. If soldiers and other armed officials put down their weapons, no countries would be at war anymore.

I feel that I chose my top solution as poverty, hunger, and lack of clean drinking water because at the end of the day, those are the problems that matter most and will save lives the most. Putting behind polluted air, warfare, terrorism, it’s the people that matter most. Humans were brought up on this planet to survive and without shelter, food, clean drinking water, humanity itself will fail as a whole and we will go down before we know it. That’s why it is so important to help poor and third world countries thrive, giving them a better life. The saddest thing and the reason why it is so important is because those people cannot help nor get out of their situation, only us as humans living better lifestyles can do that for them.

Week 3 Reading Reflection

While reading this week’s reading of Theory, Process, and Practice by Donald Kuratko, I came across many confusing, intelligent, and serious statements that I found to not only be enlightening, but also questioning. What stood out the most was the global entrepreneurial mindset that Kuratko spoke very seriously about, it was different than most because I felt and still do feel it is the most important entrepreneurial mindset of them, as well as the most vigorous. A part I found confusing was how he spoke about that mindset in terms, because it is a difficult area to cover since it is the hardest midst to have. I would ask the author what does he prefer, an external or internal environment? And why does he feel that is the better or worse environment to be in? I don’t think he was wrong about anything he said, but he could have emphasized why his reasoning was the way it was to help my confusion on the topic/mindset he set upon for me to read. 

Identifying Local Opportunities

For this assignment I used the New York Times

Problem #1

Egyptian Museum Officials Face Tribunal for Damaging King Tutankhamen’s Mask

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/world/middleeast/egypt-museum-king-tutankhamen-mask.html

In this article, eight Egyptian museum workers are being suspended and possibly facing permanent dismissal from their jobs, after they accidently knocked the beard off of the famous golden burial mask of King Tutankhamen, later gluing it back, making it look worse than before. The mask of King Tut is one of the world’s most prized artifacts.

Problem #2

Feds to End Ultralight-Led Whooping Crane Migration

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/01/24/us/ap-us-whooping-cranes-wisconsin.html

Spoken about in this article, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a claim that they will stop supporting the use of Ultralight aircrafts to help whooping cranes migrate from Wisconsin to Florida every fall, due to the birds’ failure of reproducing them in the wild. This has been going on for 15 years and officials say that after spending 20 million dollars in establishing his migration, these birds are better off migrating somewhere else. These birds may have an easier time reproducing elsewhere, where they have been seen to be more successful breeding in areas differing from Wisconsin and Florida.

Problem #3

Italy Divided Over Effort to Legalize Civil Unions for Gays

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/world/europe/italy-divided-over-effort-to-legalize-civil-unions-for-gays.html

After two couples try for years to have the same rights as opposite-sex couples to marry in Italy, the civil unions split in effort to make same-sex marriage legal. The issue seems to have weakened the support from the public in the recent year because polls show that support for same-sex civil unions has dropped to 46 percent in January, compared with 67 percent last May. Some official’s day this needs to come to an end after the European Court of Human Rights found that Italy’s failure to recognize same-sex unions represented a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Problem #4

Three Killed in Bombing Claimed by Islamic State in Northeast Syria

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/24reuters-mideast-crisis-syria-hasaka.html

This problem aroused when a bomb threatened the lives of many Christian people, leaving seven people wounded and three dead. The bomb attack has been led by an Islamic group ISIS based, is threatening the lives, but the U.S.-led coalition to end this in Syria has been fighting ISIS in order to do so.

Problem #5

Republicans Risk Repeating Mistake on Hispanic Vote

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/us/politics/republicans-risk-repeating-mistake-on-hispanic-vote.html

In this article, it states “Hispanics are the fastest-growing slice of the electorate”. Thus, meaning that Republicans spoke out after they have lost the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections. The party has decided they need to increase their efforts on trying to appeal more to Latinos to win the White House. Another huge problem the party faced during this was immigration policies and laws.

Very Short Interview No. 1

The entrepreneur I have interviewed provides a cheaper and easier service than helicopters to take images that provide aerial photographs for real estate developers. This photography business is called AMOILSR Photography, in which Ryan Amoils himself owns and has started himself. 

The questions and answers conversed with Ryan were: 

1. 

Me: What are some things I should expect to learn about in my entrepreneur course?

His response: Some things you should expect to learn about are what your passions are, what you thrive for some day in a business, if you want to run your own business or not, and whether you are a risk taker or not. You should also expect to learn about different kinds of entrepreneurs and what they entail when they are running their own businesses.

2. 

Me: What special skills does it take to be/become an entrepreneur?

His response: To be an entrepreneur means to be someone who operates a business, to take risks, and to have a passion to create something. It takes no special skills, just a passion in what you are doing and a drive to never stop.

3. 

Me: What does it mean to be a successful entrepreneur?

His response: To be a successful entrepreneur is to never give up at what you want to succeed and strive for the best, have things organized, plan for the future, and know the market you are getting involved in.

During this short interview, I learned about an entrepreneur who started his own business and craved for success. It gave me a lot of motivation in wanting to become my own business owner, and I learned about the expectations I will have to over come. I found it very inspiring to listen to someone who is so successful just because he thrives to succeed in what his passion is.

World's Biggest Problems

1.     Global Warming: The climate change has drastically affected our world with an increase in higher temperatures. These changes mostly affect northern areas, in which rely on the low temperatures and are now suffering due to the global climate change. A practical implementable solution could be to eliminate some of the warm toxins and gases in the air, in which are affecting the climate.

2.     Poverty, hunger, and lack of clean drinking water: There has been an increasing lack of food and water supply in different areas of the world. Places in the southern hemisphere, like Africa, are dying from lack of clean water and dehydration. These third world countries are also suffering of hunger and lack of shelter. To help and create a solution for this, an increased amount of water supply, food supply, and shelter facilities need to be implemented in third world countries, in which are suffering most from the three. 

3.    The economy: With the economy at a decent point right now, it is always struggling at some points in time with either a recession or depression. Thankfully the economy isn’t at its worst right now, but there has been an increase in lack of jobs, lower wages, lay offs, and cut backs. A practical solution would be to create more jobs in the world and stop having mechanical machines doing our jobs for us.

4.    Terrorism: One of the scariest problems around the world is the people who think they’re better than others and kill off of that thought. Terrorism is not only a leading problem is Middle Eastern countries, but now cities in America too have terrorist killing Americans just because. Ensuring that every terrorist is either put away or banned from America can only solve the problem. The worldwide solution would be to execute every terrorist group. Religion doesn’t help this cause either.

5.     Pollution: Pollution causes illness, global warming, and death amongst the species of our nation. It is turning this world into a death/danger zone. With the increase of pollution, animals are dying and the air we breathe is becoming more dirty and unsafe to live in. We cannot keep living this way, so the only solution is to eliminate all waste put into the atmosphere/environment and to make that/recycling a law to abide all around the world. 

6.    Excessive growth of populations: Overcrowded populations like China are suffering from lack of resources/jobs because there are too many people. With this, the poverty levels are up the roof and people are living in unhealthy conditions because there are too many people to control in one country. To help solve this problem, countries need control on people of the country to ensure that the families producing more than two children are able to afford their living costs. 

7.     Spread of infectious disease: In third world countries this is the most common form of death. With diseases spreading very fast in countries that don’t have the right resources to help them, are dropping like flies. The best solution for this would to keep helping/help even more than the more fortunate does, and bring those countries more resources so they can live.

8.     Armed wars: This being the most dangerous one, it is also the one in which can be solved with big help. Countries are at war with each other for reasons not even know because they are so ridiculous. This problem is killing the lives of thousands and can be solved by treaties and putting things like religion behind, to work together into making this world thrive. If soldiers and other armed officials put down their weapons, no countries would be at war anymore.

9.    Nuclear weapons: The biggest and most threatening form of death is nuclear weapons. This is the greatest radioactive problem amongst our nations because it can wipe an area out almost instantly. These nuclear weapons need to be banned and extinct from this world in order for the problem to be solved. Just like gun control except nuclear weapon control as soon as possible.

10.  Species extinction: With an increase in population and lack of money, people are killing animals more than ever and selling them off the market for food, resources, jewelry, clothing, etc. Species are coming to an end because we are treating them as if they are lesser than us and killing them. This problem has a huge solution and that is to have animal control nationwide amongst the killings in our oceans, forests, and rivers. 

Week 2 Reading Reflection

Chapter 1 of Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice by Donald F. Kuratko

1.     The biggest surprise for me in the reading that stood out more than anything was that every myth written in the chapter, was ones I had either previously believed or ones that I couldn’t believe were myths in the first place. I expected the texts in this chapter to say starting a business will be very hectic due to a lot coming with it, but I was proven wrong. In recent years, there have been more start-up companies than ever before, and that proves every myth in the chapter wrong. I say this because not everyone has money, a structured life, lucky, or even fits the profile, because most entrepreneurs start with one little step and take it slowly to create bigger steps.

2.     One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the Strategic Formulation School of Thought. I don’t understand how this approach to an entrepreneurial theory emphasizes the developmental success of an entrepreneur. The elements are more understandable, but the mountain gap strategy, great chef strategy, better widget strategy, and water well strategy, all confused me.

3.     If I were able to ask two questions to the author, I would ask, “Futuristically, do you think entrepreneurs will run the business industry, or will corporate companies?” I would also ask, “Is right now the biggest time for entrepreneurs in the market industry or will they still be succeeding in the future?

4.     I don’t feel the author was wrong about anything he spoke about because every fact or statement made sense and had an example to follow. Donald F. Kuratko stated main points on what the how the success of an entrepreneur comes about and the strategies that come along with it. I agreed with most of his myths, but did not agree on Myth 5: Entrepreneurs Must Fit the Profile because I feel there is not a profile amongst all entrepreneurs, but a common goal and that is to succeed while starting your own business. Of course motivation follows that, but there isn’t and will never be one specific profile.