Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/ZET29KVNwLo

From the feedback I received from my last elevator pitch, I was told to try to be more comfortable while giving the pitch. They said I seemed stiff and did not really feel comfortable. While I was not nervous like the first time, it seemed like I was just trying to get it over with and did not want to do it. I also had a few lapses in my thoughts. This made me look unprepared and I was told to try to fix that. I believe all of this feedback was helpful. I did not think I seemed stiff when I made the second pitch, but after watching it, I realized it was accurate.

Based on the video, I tried to get more into my elevator pitch. I did not want it to seem like I was just forced to be there and wanted to make it seem like I am passionate about what I am doing. I tried to make sure I only included the absolutely important details so I do not lose my train of thought. After making an elevator pitch for the third time, I did realize that I had the pitch basically memorized, I was more comfortable in front of the camera, and the pitches got better as I went.

Reading Reflection No. 2

1. Scott Adam’s biggest argument of the book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big was that systems are more important than goals. He believes that if you are able to create amazing systems, and do them over and over again, you are going to end up getting lucky and being very successful. In order to be successful, you should study those that have found success in the past. While not everything they do will translate to exactly the business you are trying to start, bits and pieces of it can be. He claims goals are for losers.

2. Scott Adams emphasizes that he failed at many of the ventures he tried to start. For our assignments, we had to find an opportunity in the world that can use a solution. We had to come up with a product or service to be this solution. Through our many assignments, I found out that my service would most likely not be successful. If I actually started it, it would probably never amount to anything. When Adams failed, he did not give up though. We looked for different opportunities in the world that he could capitalize on and did not give up until he was able to reach success. This tells me I should continue looking for opportunities and to do the same.

3. While one can argue that all the assignments we do in this class together can be a system, for an assignment, I would have students try to develop their own system in the beginning of the course. After they decide what opportunity they want to exploit, I would have the students make their own system for getting there. If they do it too late, they may not have the opportunity of trying to come up with one on their own. If they make their own and they go through the one for this class, they will realize what they missed and how they could better their own.

4. The biggest surprise I had when reading this book was that it is bad to be goal-oriented. All my life I was told to make goals. People always tell you how much more likely you are to do something if you make goals and write them down. The author does not support this. While he most likely does not think goals are stupid, he does not find it to be an important piece to achieve success.

Growing Your Social Capital

Domain expert – For this position, I was able to contact with an IT person who developed a website with a similar layout to the one I would make for this service. They work for a clothing store with an online selling service. One of my cousins works for the store and helped me make contact with this person. This person was able to show me how to build a website like the one I would make for this service. There is a lot of work to it, but they made it like really easy since they have a lot of experience. My cousin vowed to work harder to make it up to them. Now I will be able to set up the design for this service or do something similar if my plans change.

Market expert – For this position, I was able to contact somebody working at a pet store. They have been there over three years and have a lot of experience helping customers finding the right pet products for their needs. I was able to make contact with this person by simply going to the local pet store. I asked them if they had time to listen to my pitch and they did. They did not expect anything in return, but found my product interesting. They know there are people that go to the store and are too shy to ask for help. They think this type of people may be interested in my product, since those more outgoing simply ask people at the store for help. This may make me change my target market.

Supplier – For this position, I was able to contact somebody that works at a manufacturer of pet food. They have worked there for a total of 12 years, but would like to find something new since they have grown tired of their career. I contacted this person through the “contact us” link on the pet food supplier’s website. I sent them a description of my idea and asked if they think it would be a good idea and if it needed any changes. They did not expect anything in return, except to buy their products in the future, since I do not even own a pet. Through this interaction, I found it may be beneficial to contact different suppliers. They may promote my service in exchange for promoting theirs on my website.

This assignment has really taught me a lot about networking. Being generally are willing to help. If you go out there and do work to initiate contact, they are usually more than happy to help you with whatever you are trying to do. In future networking events, I will make sure to try to put myself out there. I will try to initiate contact and try to make myself memorable in a positive manner. If they did not have a positive experience with you, they would probably not want to help you when you come looking for help. In previous networking events, I usually tried letting people come to me, but I learned you can be a lot more successful if you take action yourself.

Idea Napkin No. 2

My name is Joseph Malinowski. I just transferred to the University of Florida. I have lived in Illinois my whole life. I went to a community college there to get my associates degree. I am a really hard worker and always do whatever I need to in order to get the outcome I want. I am also a very easy person to get along with, so people feel comfortable around me quickly. I am a very smart person and can find solutions to difficult problems. If I do not know something, it does not take much effort for me to learn it and have it down. I have had many jobs even though I am only 20-years-old. I had as many as 4 at a given time. Because of all these jobs, I have experience in a variety of fields. In the future, I want to start my business, but I am unsure as to what that will entail. If I were to start this specific business, I would see it as a big role in my life. I would do whatever I could to make it successful. This specifically would not be a business I would want to go into. I want to do something I am passionate about, such as football or music.

I am offering a service that allows pet owners to see what is good for their animals to consume. A lot of food on the market is available, even though there are harmful chemicals and other things in it. This product will help those that are not informed on what is good and bad for their pets find things they can feel confident about giving to their pets. A lot of products made in other countries do not have as high standards as products made in the United States. Because of this, often times pet owners give their pets food that is bad for them. Users will be able to go onto my website and see which products would be good to give their pets. Money may be generated through advertisement revenue since users may not be willing to spend on this product.

I would be offering this product to anybody that is old enough to be in charge of caring for their pets. Children would not have the knowledge or the money to buy pet food. Those that are very old would hopefully already know what is good and bad for their pets, so they would not be targeted as heavily. I would be offering this product mainly to people who do not know too much about pet food. Those that have already done vast amounts of research would find no need for my product. I will also be looking for those that are not trying to just spend the least amount of money possible because the cheapest is usually of low quality.

I believe that generally people care for their pets. They are essentially members of the family and owners would never want to harm their pets. If they knew that some foods out there were harmful to their pets, I imagine they would not keep buying them the same food. With this product, they would be able to make sure they are doing no harm.

I am not aware of any competitors in this field. However, my service would make it easy for customers to see what products are good for their pets. It would be simple to use, having many filters shoppers can use to find a product they specifically need. You would be able to divide the products by animal and then can find a specific product you are looking for.

I believe that all of these elements work together. I believe that personally, I would be the thing most out of place in this business. I do not have too much experience with pets. I have had some when I was younger, but it was never really my responsibility to take care of them. I am unsure as to what foods are good and bad for what pets and so on. Also, there may already be a similar service like this that I have not heard of before.

From my feedback, I was told to talk more about my unique skills. I talked a lot about myself, but did not talk about the talents I possess. To fix this, I added the fact that I am good at problem solving. I have experience in many fields since I had so many jobs, even though I am still at a young age. I also was told to talk a little bit more about my product. I was a little brief and added to my description. It is important to talk about everything when giving your idea because it my convince somebody to purchase your product over another.

Create a Customer Avatar

My customer avatar enjoys the simple things in life. They like waking up early in the morning for a long walk and enjoy watching the sunset in the evenings. They like having a nice homemade meal over going out to a restaurant. They may have just recently had children, but they also have a few pets which are some of the things they love the most. They are in their early thirties and have recently just got a home of their own. They may have a partner. They feel young at heart and are always excited to try new things and take on new adventures.

One of the important things I have in common with the avatar are that we are both extremely caring people. We would never wish harm on anyone and would help anybody in any way we can. We will always put in extra effort if it helps the greater cause. I do not think this is a coincidence. With my product, I am clearly trying to good in the world. I want animals to be safe and pet owners to not have to worry about what they are giving their pets.

Elevator Pitch No. 2

https://youtu.be/QoQQGWWKTws

I was not given too much feedback, but I was encouraged to be more comfortable when giving my pitch. In the first one, I was apparently a bit nervous and tried to just get through the pitch. That is not a good method for success. The most comfortable people seem the most certain of their products or services and will be the people more likely to make the sale. Another person suggested I look around more. While I do agree that making eye contact with multiple people is good, I feel like it is a little strange in a recording to be looking around since it does not look like I am actually making eye contact. It will look more like eye contact if I look directly at the camera.

Based on my feedback, just tried to calm myself down more before doing my presentation. Even though I am not scared to give speeches, my body still shows some signs of nervousness. I really just tried to manage what I could and not feel rushed when making my video. It is okay if you do not get it perfect on the first try. You can always make another video if you do not like your original.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Alternative Evaluation: Through my interviews, I learned that a lot of people would prefer to just find products for their pets themselves. A lot of people would not be willing to pay for a service in order to find healthier food for their pets. Only a small amount of people would. However, people would be willing to use this service for free. I think the only real way this business would be successful would be if enough people use the service and it could generate revenue from advertisements. Money seems to be the biggest factor here. As long as their pets are healthy, they do not see anything they are doing that needs to be changed. 

How/Where They Buy: The people I interviewed generally buy their pet food at the pet store or grocery store. They normally get the same few foods every time, unless their pet gets sick from eating it. Pet food is a cheap product, so they always pay for the transaction immediately. 

Post Purchase Evaluation: The thing that matters the most to the purchasers are that their pets are fed and that they save money. They would feel bad if their pet had health problems, but they are not willing to act beforehand. As long as everything goes the way they thought it would, they would consider the purchase a success. The only way they would consider the purchase to be bad is if their pet gets sick. 

Conclusion: From my interviews, I got a different outcome than from my previous interviews. Earlier, interviewees seemed more interested in my service and there was hope. The three people I interviewed for this assignment told me the opposite. Buying pet food is generally an easy process and consumers usually do not put much thought into the food they purchase. They can get recommendations from workers at pet stores if they are unsure, and they are alright with that. I am felling a lot more pessimistic about my service after this assignment.