Katia Schwinghammer Blogs

Thursday, July 26, 2018

30A Final Reflection

As much as I loved the my secret sauce assignment and hearing everything people had to say about me, I would say the most formative experience for me was the bug list. It helped me to see that it takes just a change in perspective and the way we think to start taking notice of all the amazing product ideas that are out there. The elevator pitch is something I'll remember for years because it taught me how to perfect a brief presentation. I have had lots of practice with 15 minute presentations and have a vlog so I was comfortable in front of the camera, but I have not had practice in being so concise with my words so that is definitely a skill I can say I have now. My most joyous and most proud are the same assignment, growing my social capital. I really enjoyed reaching out and speaking with so many different people and am proud of myself for getting past the fear of rejection when reaching out to those individuals.
I definitely think I have moved closer in becoming an entrepreneur. I do not think I can officially call myself that until my business is up and running, but the entrepreneurial mindset has definitely been formed. By doing these assignments I have learned how to do market research on a new market and have had my perspective changed by the bug list. 
To students who are going to go down this path in the future, I would recommend planning ahead. Do not wait until the last minute because it takes a lot of organization to get interviews in order and set before the deadline. Also, do not skip assignments because they all help in the next assignment and in developing the overall venture concept for your project. All of the assignments put together are how you will leave with a much better understanding of entrepreneurship. Students who want to actually create their businesses should especially listen to the comments of their peers and seek feedback from the professor so that you can leave being as successful as possible.
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Labels: assignment 30

Monday, July 23, 2018

27A Reading Reflection Part 3

The book I read was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. This book was about how to take failing in stride and how to fail until you succeed. It was about learning how to handle these failures in a manner that simply brings you closer to your end purpose in life, your success. 
In this class we are taught that many entrepreneurs start with little capital and no investors, and often times new businesses fail. Well, in this book, the author discusses many failed ventures he endured until he ultimately found his winning talent. The author tells readers to look for the opportunities in which they have a natural advantage, something no one else can do. This ties in with what we have learned about our human capital and the resources that we bring to our venture. Each individual has strengths that no one else has and it is using these talents that will lead to success, not just inventing the next great idea but utilizing human capital and resources that are not easily replicated since individuals are all unique in their skills.
If I had to design an exercise for this class based on this book, I would have students design not their goals for their ventures, but strategies. One of the points the author makes in the book is to have a system in place instead of a goal. This is seen in the author's strategy of failing upward where he continued to get promoted as a result of not fitting in the lower level positions. So it would be interesting to see what strategies and systems students have both personally and professionally. This could be seen in some kind of SMART goal exercise where students are encouraged to plan steps and strategies, not just list goals.
My biggest surprise in reading this book was when the author began discussing personal energy levels. At first I was surprised to read about healthy living styles, but it made a lot of sense. The book is all about how to fail into success, both personally and professionally. Sometimes a simple dietary or exercise fix can make an individual feel like an entirely different person. It is also proven that exercise releases endorphins, so when we exercise we naturally feel happier and healthier, which can make handling failure much easier and helps individuals not spiral into a depression over a failure. It is about succeeding from the inside out, in every area.
Posted by Unknown at 6:17 PM 2 comments:
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Labels: assignment 27

28A My Exit Strategy

I would want to build my business up and make it profitable for the first ten years in order to gain the attention of bigger companies and investors. After the ten years I would sell my company at a peak time and use the money from the sale to begin a new venture or retire, depending on the amount I sell it for. 
I have selected this exit strategy because I believe for ten years I will be able to manage the business and build up the size of the company. I will also have the creativity to continue expanding my revenue drivers and expand my business out in that way. However, I believe that after ten years there may be other businesses better specialized in sleep and better equipped to diversify my product in order to keep the business around for a while. These are resources I simply would not have so a bigger corporation owning my business would be best for the business in the long run.
My exit strategy has made my overall concept more short-term focused with the overall opportunity and concept made to be able to withstand the long-term. I want my business to last and believe there is opportunity for it to do so for a ways into the future; however, I know my limits and therefore have kept my personal vision short-term because I do not have the resources or vision to keep the business running as long-term as the opportunity itself would enable.
I would be expanding quickly in the beginning and innovating quickly to expand my revenue drivers and therefore make my business appealing to investors and buyers. This would, however, use up my resources and make room for a more equipped corporation to step in and keep the business at a stable and productive level long-term.
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26A Celebrating Failure

I was applying to many different jobs recently. Some would call back and set up an interview, and others would just never say anything at all. I did not get a single job out of the twenty part time jobs I applied for. It was crushing to fail at finding a job that many times in a row, and I felt like I was wasting my time by going to interviews given how often the interview would lead to no where.

Through this experience, however, I learned how to truly persevere and push myself to find creative solutions and use the failures as fuel to push me forward instead of letting them drag me down. In the end, I ended up establishing my own job running social media accounts for various companies. I am able to make my own hours and this is work that applies much more directly to my long term goals for when I graduate. This experience helped me to learn to handle rejection in a positive and productive way.

I use failure as a way to fuel me forward and use it as motivation to prove to people that I can and will do better. I use it as motivation to push myself to be the best I can be and my failures help me to see where I went wrong in the beginning and how to better myself for the next time. I now no longer see failure as something to be ashamed of or as something to be upset about, I see it as a way of providing constructive criticism and fixing it for the future.

I have faced a few people rejecting me for interviews or providing reasons why they cannot answer my questions throughout this class, but because I view this failure as an indication to look in a different direction or to re-evalute my strategy, it has actually helped me to better my overall plan. Therefore this class has helped me to face, embrace, and move forward from failure and I likely will not shy away from the risk of failure in the future as a result.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2018

25A What's Next?

Existing Market

I think the next thing is to make a ceiling fan version of the solar powered noise machine so that I can begin to offer installation as another revenue driver and consumers can save space in their rooms.

After talking with three individuals about what I should be thinking about, I got some really good suggestions. It was recommended that I expand my business even further into other sleep related products to make sure my business is offering all the best ways to ensure a customer is going to sleep. One individual even recommended a cooling pillow so individuals don't have to wake up and flip their pillow over to the cool side since both sides would stay cool throughout the night.

I was told however that they liked my ideas for expansion with the fan being offered as a ceiling fan and it was recommended that I even make a floor fan that could fit in the corner of a room so that it is just filling dead space.

My ideas for how to continue were well received so I definitely think that is an area I would want to go with my business in the future. Expanding into different models of fans such as ceilings and floor fans will give my consumers the options they need to fit my product into their lives so that they don't have to fit their lives into my product. These new models would also open up new revenue drivers for my business as well so that my business can continue to expand.

However, my consumers seemed to want me to expand my business into multiple aspects of sleep in order to ensure my customers the overall best sleep experience in all areas. I thought this was a really good idea and would love to make the cooling pillow into a feasible design. I also think it would be interesting to see an alarm clock design that doesn't disturb the sleep cycle and doesn't make consumers feel drowsy when they wake up as a result of being woken up from deep sleep so abruptly. I may be able to build a floor fan design that has built in lights that slowly power on as it approaches one's set wake up time so that consumers wake up naturally feeling refreshed, and not drowsy.

New Market

My existing plan is B2C, but I was thinking about how my business may also be B2B and I was thinking instead of selling directly to parents and households, I may be able to sell my product to hospitals for their baby wing.

Many nurses have to take care of a large number of sleeping babies so my product would help to relax these babies and simulate the sounds of the womb, which has been proven to help babies sleep better. This would help to overall simplify the job of the nurses if the babies are more relaxed.

After talking with one doctor and one nurse, I got a lot of good feedback on my product. They thought the idea of having something to relax the babies would be a good thing to have because many of the babies get riled up by babies nearby crying. The one concern they had was that having too many of these products may create too much noise that would make it harder for nurses to hear the babies crying. They recommended having a low volume crib side version of the product that could be heard only by the baby so as not to disrupt the work of the nurses.

I was originally thinking a hospital would need multiple products given how large the baby wing of many hospitals is and how many babies they have sleeping at once. However, I did not consider that the multiple products put together may make too much noise so a hospital would not be able to buy these products at the level I expected. This market would have a chain effect since hospitals are likely to copy the formats of other hospitals, so if my product gets in one, it gets in the rest, but it would be a lot of redesign and a much more higher difficulty level to get my product in even just one than anticipated.

This new market is not as attractive as my current market. It would take a lot of work and redesign to figure out how to make a crib side product that produces such a low volume. The hospitals would also only be purchasing a few products more than a household would do to the concern that many in the same room may get too loud so the profit increase would not be worth the cost of redesign.

Posted by Unknown at 11:31 AM 2 comments:
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Labels: assignment 25

Monday, July 16, 2018

24A Venture Concept Part 1

Business name: Solar Sleep

Opportunity

The potential consumers for my product are pretty expansive. People of all ages would be able to use my product and it would be for people who are looking for a sleep aid. Many of these consumers will include individuals who need to play white noise to sleep at night, including babies who often need womb simulation sounds to sleep at night.

This opportunity is quite large due to the fact that there is no limited demographic market, the users of this product are of all ages and types of people. In America alone, 5% of the population needs some form of noise at night in order to sleep, which makes the potential market for my product rather large especially when you consider what this would look like globally. Currently these customers in need of this sleep aid are using a number of different products to satisfy this need including iPhones to play timed rain noises and a combination of iPod/speaker to play white noise throughout the night. However, many consumers would not be attached to these methods as they can be expensive to purchase, and even more expensive to keep running throughout the night, especially for those who need non-stop white noise.

There is also no end to the "window of opportunity" because babies are always being born and people are always looking for new ways to help themselves sleep at night so my product would not be a trend with an end in sight, it could feasibly last as long as people always need help sleeping.

Innovation

My product would be a solar powered fan that has hollow beads in the transparent blade of the fan. As the fan moves, not only is cold wind produced that helps with sleep, but the hollow beads will produce white noise sounds that help with sleep as well. This product would have adjustable levels of beads for the blades so that consumers are able to control the volume level of the sound the fan produces. This fan would cost $60 which would quickly pay for itself in comparison to paying for an iPod or even the electricity it takes to power noises long enough to go to sleep nightly.

The first revenue driver of my business would be a model of the fan that is made to fit on a nightstand that will be offered in many patterns and colors as will the beads inside of it.

Aside from the fans themselves being sold, my business would also be selling extra bead sets so that individuals can switch out their fan blade beads for different colors and patterns to revamp their fans whenever they desire. This will help to make the fans a statement piece that can blend into a room and keep consumers engaged even after they have made an initial purchase of the fan itself.

There will also be a customization service where, for an extra fee, consumers can design their fans online with special patterns and bead patterns as well. They will be able to upload their own images or mix and match the patterns and colors we offer ourselves.

Venture Concept


A lack of sleep often leads individuals to rack up high electricity bills when they play white noise to help them go back to sleep, so my product helps them to get this sleep by providing these sounds without the high electricity cost that often goes with it because the sounds are produced by the solar powered motion of the fan.

It will not be hard to get consumers to switch to my product because the product pays for itself very quickly by saving the electricity costs and many consumers do not have a loyalty to anything yet because some families out there have not needed a white noise machine for their babies yet and have yet to decide the product they wish to buy.

The competitors for this product would be the phones or iPods people currently may be using to play these noises, but the biggest weakness besides a high price for the product itself is the electricity bill it leads to at the end of the month after playing these sounds every night. My packaging would get consumers actively involved in the product because they can design the product themselves and switch out the bead designs to get a fresh look for it. My product price point is also below the other options and requires no additional electricity cost which is a defining point of my venture.

This business structure would differ depending on the number of orders, but would most likely be largely automated in production and require a manager and a few employees to check how products are looking on the assembly line.

Three Minor Elements

My connections with influencers and other individuals in various industries that overlap with my own would be my greatest advantage over my competitors. I have many connections that could help me in the branding of my business and in the promotion of my product.

The next step for this venture would be to design a solar powered ceiling fan version of the nightstand fan and make this just as much a statement piece and as interchangeable as the nightstand fan so that consumers can have fun with it and make it aesthetically pleasing for their rooms as well. It would also allow for the additional service of installation to give my business another revenue driver.

I would want this business to keep expanding. I would begin the business locally to test the market response and would hope that within the first five years I could begin expanding the business globally and increase production to meet the increased global demand. As an entrepreneur, in the next ten years, I hope to be able to be a proactive manager and not a reactive one and predict the needs of my business before the needs turn into problems.
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23A My Venture’s Unfair Advantage

The resources I currently possess:

1. Marketing expertise

Valuable: A product is only as good as the marketing done for it so without a solid marketing/promotion plan behind the product, the business will not be a success.

Rare: While this may not seem rare, no one has had the exact experiences I have had. I have been studying marketing for 6 years and have competed internationally with my marketing plans. I have also had many marketing internships to give me real world experience that I could apply to my own business.

Inimitable: While anyone can study marketing, not everyone can follow the exact path as I did and not everyone can garner the education and real world experience that I did.

Non-substitutable: There is no substitute for good marketing, you either can or cannot market and it will show in how successful the business is. The only option would be to hire someone who has a lot of marketing experience if you cannot do it yourself.

2. Connections with influencers

Valuable: I have many connections to online influencers, specifically many YouTubers. These individuals have platforms with anywhere from 400,000 to 5 million subscribers so it is extremely valuable because they have the ability to influence the purchases of a large number of people.

Rare: Having these connections is fairly rare because influencers are often hard to contact so starting out with connections like this could really help a business.

Inimitable: Someone could contact these individuals and request that they promote their product or business, but often these individuals are so busy that the emails go unread so it helps to have a personal connection.

Non-substitutable: There really is no substitute for having connections to influencers. The only thing that comes close is an advertisement placed on TV that would reach a large number of consumers, but influencers have a more direct effect on their audience and are more influential than a generic television ad that often gets muted or skipped.

3. Funding

Valuable: Having funding to make my product is crucial in the development of my business so it is very valuable. I have many connections that would be able to provide funding for this business and support me in the making of my product.

Rare: Having the ability to receive funding is not rare, but I would be able to get funding without expectation of return and without having to trade a percentage of my business ownership which is rare.

Inimitable: This is not completely inimitable, but it does again come down to who I know that others wouldn't so it gives me an advantage others may not have.

Non-substitutable: The only substitute would be loans or investors who would request interest or a percentage of the business, which I would not have so it is not an equivalent substitute.

4. Business branding connection

Valuable: As a result of doing past favors, I would be able to get free business cards and other promotional materials developed for me for free, which is very valuable because proper branding is crucial for a business.

Rare: Getting it for free is the rare part, having proper branding as a whole is not. But getting these materials for free would help me to reduce start-up costs that would not be done for competitors.

Inimitable: The branding could be replicated, but not the pricing unless someone else knew their own graphic design firm and could get the same favor as me.

Non-substitutable: The only substitute would be to pay a high price to have a brand developed and materials printed.

5. Technologically savvy connections

Valuable: Knowing people who are very good with technology is crucial for a business, which makes it very valuable.

Rare: I have connections with the CEO, COO, and CTO of a top of the line development company, which puts me at an advantage above competitors. Having connections like these and access to a very good team of technologically savvy individuals is very rare and very helpful.

Inimitable: Having these kind of connections to a tech firm is not necessarily inimitable, but it is also not something easily replicated by others so it would definitely give me an advantage over competitors.

Non-substitutable: The only substitute would be to hire developers and other technologically savvy individuals, but having a friendship with these individuals is much better because it gets someone faster turnaround on projects and better pricing deals that simply hiring someone would not get you.

6. Knowledge of industry and consumer needs

Valuable: Knowing the customer is extremely valuable in a business because without this knowledge the business will fail.

Rare: In my industry, it would not be rare to know individuals in the market and therefore know the consumer needs, but being able to really empathize with and understand consumers is a relatively rare ability that I possess.

Inimitable: It would be imitable to an extent, but every individual has different observational abilities and people skills so it is not a fully replicable resource.

Non-substitutable: The only substitute would be to hire consultants and people who really know the market instead of being able to study the behavior of the consumer directly for free like I have been able to do.

7. Entrepreneurial mentors

Valuable: Having a mentor, as many successful individuals will tell you, is absolutely crucial for any venture which makes having access to one very valuable.

Rare: Finding a mentor is not rare, but having access to successful entrepreneurs like I do is the rare part.

Inimitable: Being able to be the mentee of the individuals I know is not imitable because these individuals do not typically mentor people.

Non-substitutable: The only substitute would be to find a different mentor, which every mentor-mentee relationship is different so it would not be the same experience for everyone.

8. Managerial expertise

Valuable: knowing how to manage a business is absolutely necessary for the survival of the business. I have had the good fortune to have internships in project management so I understand what it takes to run a business effectively and efficiently.

Rare: As I said before, individuals may have management internships themselves, but no one will follow the exact path I did so my individual experience is rare.

Inimitable: It can only be imitated in a sense that one could go get a management internship and study management, but they will not experience exactly what I did.

Non-substitutable: The only substitute would be to hire a manager for your business, which is just another added expense for competitors who do not have management experience.

9. Business knowledge

Valuable: having an education in business is absolutely needed in order to fully understand how to run the business, especially when it comes to managing the businesses finances and various business components. Having gone to UF has provided me a well rounded education in business that enables me to know all areas of business.

Rare: Having this education is not rare, but each person who goes through the major takes different classes and pays attention at different levels. So really each individual experience is different.

Inimitable: Anyone can go to college and get a degree in business, but going to UF and really paying attention and joining business related organizations is what makes the experience unique and harder to replicate.

Non-substitutable: The only substitute for an education is to hire those who got the education or to learn from mistakes made while experiencing the business world, both of which would cost individuals in their business ventures.

10. Type A/ENTJ personality

Valuable: These personality traits allow me to be a great manager and organizer and give me the personality it takes to make a business successful which is extremely valuable. I put hard work and drive into everything I do, which is a valuable asset to a business.

Rare: Only 1% of the population are ENTJ personalities, which makes people like me fairly rare. Also a strong type a personality is less rare, but still not entirely common.

Inimitable: Within each category, people are at different extremes on the scale. I am personally 100% J (judging) which means I am very organized and like to plan, which is a major asset of my personality. So while one may be the same personality traits as me, they may not act the same way I do.

Non-substitutable: There is no substitute for personality, you either are or are not that type of person. If you are more type b, you may need a type a person to organize your business and stay on top of things which would require hiring additional people to work for them.

My top resource

I would say my top resource is my connections to influencers. It is not only the strongest in the VRIN analysis, but it is also one of the most helpful of my resources that others would not be able to provide in a business. It isn't what you know, it is who you know and the people I know could seriously help in promoting my product, which would directly correlate with sales and the success of my overall business. Without strong promotions and connections, the business would not work which is why I consider this to be my most valuable resource.
Posted by Unknown at 3:45 PM 2 comments:
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Blog Archive

  • ▼  2018 (29)
    • ▼  July (13)
      • 30A Final Reflection
      • 27A Reading Reflection Part 3
      • 28A My Exit Strategy
      • 26A Celebrating Failure
      • 25A What's Next?
      • 24A Venture Concept Part 1
      • 23A My Venture’s Unfair Advantage
      • 22A Final Elevator Pitch
      • 21A Reading Reflection Part 2
      • 20A Growing My Social Capital
      • 17A Elevator Pitch 2
      • 19A Idea Napkin Part 2
      • 18A My Customer Avatar
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (7)
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