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? 

The biggest surprise for me in the reading was definitely the talk about international business and the corporate world within it. I am surprised that the author has talked about it this early and find it to stand out from anything else. I find it also very interesting to learn about this topic.

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

One part of the reading that was confusing to me were the paragraphs about business owners and how they set their meetings and other social situations up. I didn't understand most of it, but found some of it to be interesting.

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

If I were able to ask two questions to the author I would ask, "If you were to own a business and had to travel internationally, where would you set up your business meetings? Along with "Why would you set up these business meetings specifically in that place, for business or for personal reasons?"

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

There was nothing specifically I thought the author was wrong about, and did not disagree with anything he said. I found his comments and statements to be interesting. 

Half-way Reflection

The behaviors in which I have developed over these past two months while in ENT3003 are skills that I will have for my lifetime. In order to keep up with the requirements for this course I have to be very tenacious about when I am needed to submit something and if I am going to have enough time before it hits 9:00 that evening. I have developed a skill in which is actually setting a reminder for myself when everything is due and making sure I meet that deadline no matter what.

When I felt like giving up, there was a moment when I looked back at all the previous work I had done and said to myself “I can keep going if I’ve already gone this far”. I have definitely developed a very tenacious attitude during these past two months and know I will keep that attitude with me. The experience most contributed to this is getting feedback from other students on my work and knowing what I have done is being shared with lots of other people.

Three tips I would offer next semester’s students about fostering the skills that support tenacity and developing the ‘tenacious mindset’ would be 1) Make sure to set reminders on when things are due. 2) Do your work ahead of time incase anything comes up. 3) Be positive about your work, and know that other’s are seeing it. Your work means a lot to not only the teacher and other student’s, but also you. It will help you in the long run.

The Twenty Percent

The business owner I chose was completely at random and his name was Ryan Amoils. Ryan Amoils is an entrepreneur who has created his own business in the drone world. His target customers are primarily people looking for video recordings and photography in an aerial view. His target audience is mainly directed to people who are having parties such as bas mitzvahs, weddings, quinceañeras, etc. The customers unmet needs are non applicable because their needs are filled by this company. They find their customers by publicizing it all around Miami and local other areas in South Florida. Their customers’ demographics range from Hispanic to white to African American, and all age groups. Their customers consume media in which Ryan provides for them with his drone providing them pictures and videos are their event. Ryan does not want a video recording of himself.

After talking to the customers the entrepreneur described, it came to be that his business is very successful because it has one main goal, to take aerial viewed pictures and videos. They came up with many different comments on how well his business does.

The entrepreneur definitely adequately understands his customers’ problems and meets them as well as he can. Since his business has one main goal, not much can go wrong besides his drone not working, or not taking clear enough photos. The differences are as stated above, very limited because of the one thing that his business does. The only differences existing are because of bad quality photos and what not, which Ryan Amoils always takes charge of and fixes right away.

Free Money

For these encounters, I will go to my local apartment complex where people are always either walking their dogs or just hanging outside walking and talking on their cell phones or with friends by their sides. I will also go to the library where people are always either studying or talking on their phones with friends (depending on the floor). These kinds of people are people who are more relax and definitely students whom attend the University of Florida. To get the conversation started I will say, “Hey, I found this dollar, but I don’t have any pockets or a wallet to hold it, do you mind taking it from me please?” My plan for the conversation is to be very approachable. Out of five attempts I think I will be able to give away 3$.

My results overall were very different than expected because as I reflected from before it is very difficult to interfere with someone else’s business and someone taking a dollar from you is not “moral” in the eyes of someone. It was probably harder than expected and the results were quite as I expected!

One for the videos did not work, but still trying to put them in the comments. The first contestant as you see responded well, and the second in the library said "sure" so I took the money and walked away. 

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?

-The biggest surprise for me in the reading was the topic on bankruptcy. I found it to be entertaining and very useful when reading about it.

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

- One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the partnerships involved in bankruptcy and the crime that comes behind it.

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

- If I were able to ask two questions to the author I’d ask, “Why is this topic you spoke of so important to you?” And “Do you know anyone who has personally been affected by bankruptcy?”

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

- There was nothing very important that the author was wrong about and I agreed with most things he said because he had lots of reliable sources and valuable information to back up his claims.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

From re stating my elevator pitch I changed up some things because I spoke about the different alterations I made to the company as well as the new locations. What really stood out to me was making sure my customers were 100 percent happy and that the customer service was outstanding. I only want the best for the customers so I changed up some new apparel and I hope they like it!!

Interviewing Customers No. 3

The questions I intend on asking come from the last interviewees and their advice/comments. I intend on asking more interviewee experience questions that offer useful information on my products and the interviewees’ experiences. I also intend on asking more questions that really make the interviewee think about why the product is useful towards them and only them. What makes this service so different and reliable than others?

First interviewee: Since last time you stated that my product was good and you would definitely recommend it to a friend, has anything changed since we changed our products?

-       Yes, I found that the more products you had, the more I found this shop to be useful because I know I can rely on SurfsUp in the future for all products surfing and watersport related.

Second: How do you benefit from the shops we have opened up on the west coast?

-       I benefit greatly from the new shops because I don’t have to order online, I can go straight to the store to view the products I want.

Third: Do our services meet up to your standards? If so, how?

-       Yes, your services seem to be up and running more than they ever have, with that being said I feel it is due to the target audience you have changed. I say this because you have started to make this product more male-friendly rather then for both genders because men and women fit very differently when it comes to apparel.

Fourth: Since the last interview, you stated that we need to fix some things, so, we took it upon SurfsUp to take that advice and open up more shops, as well as having more services providing to our customers. Have you seen this change?

-       Yes, I actually saw a change in customer service and feel that I would now recommend it to anyone who asks where he or she should buy his or her water sport equipment or surf gear/apparel.

Fifth: How would you say we are changing our products and services? In a good way or bad way?

- I’d say your services are definitely changing for the better, but as a woman I also feel like the woman’s apparel needs to be different than the men’s. I know SurfsUp tried to make it so anyone can wear any of the apparel or use any of the equipment, but its better to differ the two between genders’ because it fits better that way.

Since YouTube on my phone wasn’t working to upload these, I conducted the interview on the same people and had each of them speak again, but with different questions. The questions included:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ael2qFMH_L0

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQZZK-O17NI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA0_RFphEtU

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

What I have learned from the interviews is that each interviewee had a different aspect on what my company SurfsUp is all about and what services we are providing for them. I saw that it really depended on the persons’ tastes, likes, and dislikes. Those are the things that a business owner has to look for when selling a specific product.