Celebrating Failure

Throughout this semester, I have wondered why taking 5 classes was a good idea to begin with, but as I shortly came to realize, it was definitely a much worser idea than I had thought. Being that I only take a few classes over fall, I made a much harder schedule than needed for Spring. With that being said, one weekend, I had way too much homework and accidentally missed one of my biggest assignments in a class. Having no time to hand it in, I emailed the teacher begging for a second chance due to my overload of work, but sadly my teacher didn't have as much pity for myself as I did. 

I learned this failure was a lack of organization on my part and that that was a major quality I needed to work on. If I had a list of all the assignments that needed to be done that day and over that weekend, just not by looking at them over the computer, I probably would have remembered it sooner, and remembered how big the assignment meant for a part of my grade.

As I reflect on my failure now, I see that it was 100 percent my fault, and I needed to be more aware of the situation I put myself in, when I signed up for classes. I cannot let my workload take control of my grades, I just need to manage my time better next time. 

Week 13 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.

What's Next

I decided to go with a much more broader view on who I am as a person and what I would like to achieve. My name is Alexa Bernstein and I am offering a jewelry line for kids in which they design what they want on paper and I make it. My target audience is of course kids, but mostly parents with kids. This cool, new, millennial idea will have kids going wild! My customers will spend their product on my company because what better why to make your kids happy than doing what they want/love? No other way! My core competencies are other jewelry businesses that specify in jewelry for kids. The feedback memo for me includes locations of each store, gender differences in jewelry, customer service, owner feedback, and employee needs

Week 12 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. 

Venture Concept No. 1

oncept for the class include customer retention, customer acquisition, product innovations, new merchandising strategies, pricing and promotional strategies, new sales channels and distribution strategies, changing consumer/customer dynamics, technological advancements, entering into new markets, and lastly, mergers and acquisitions. These are the different ways this company makes its money. 

The kind of product offering I believe should be next will be a surf bard with an installed waterproof radio. This is the next biggest thing that I know my customers want because they are always asking about waterproof headphones and cell phone cases so that they can listen to music while they surf. 

After going on Amazon I found a product called a SoundBot and it is a waterproof speaker that lasted over 6 hours and connects via Bluetooth to any device! It also is equipped with radio and other cool things like audiobooks.

Amazon Whisperer

The revenue drivers I currently include in my business concept for the class include customer retention, customer acquisition, product innovations, new merchandising strategies, pricing and promotional strategies, new sales channels and distribution strategies, changing consumer/customer dynamics, technological advancements, entering into new markets, and lastly, mergers and acquisitions. These are the different ways this company makes its money.

The kind of product offering I believe should be next will be a surf bard with an installed waterproof radio. This is the next biggest thing that I know my customers want because they are always asking about waterproof headphones and cell phone cases so that they can listen to music while they surf.

After going on Amazon I found a product called a SoundBot and it is a waterproof speaker that lasted over 6 hours and connects via Bluetooth to any device! It also is equipped with radio and other cool things like audiobooks.

This is a picture of the SoundBot.

The customer reviews for the product gives it a 3.8/5 stars, but is highly liked because of its waterproof abilities, loud speakers, endured multiple natural disasters, portability, and great size. The customers although, do not like the unclear radios, not easily accessible radio stations, temperature resetting to Celsius, and how you have to manually turn off the speakers.

I would change this speaker so that it has a built in microphone and one can speak when they want to turn it off. As well as providing it with a clip on so that one can put it on anything.

I think this product would make a great edition to my surfboard if it was built in to the side of and could be easily clipped on or off for adjustments. This product and my product would work hand in hand with each other, tremendously helping one another out.

Week 11 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 the mythes about being an entrepreneur and the legalities that come with being one. There are many things 'legally' one has to do and conquer before becoming an entrepreneur. I found that very crazy to believe and now understand why there are shows like Shark Tank, that help people with certain things like that.

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

Nothing specifically was confusing to me, just surprising in other words. I found some of the topics to be a little hard to understand, but I overcame that, and definitely was not confused.

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

If I were bale to ask two questions to the author it would be, "do you think these shows like shark tank help a person?" and "which type of entrepreneur do you think deserves most credit for their work?".

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

I do not think there was anything specific the author was wrong about, nor disagree on, I was just surprised during some of the readings and topics he spoke about.