Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

There are many unmet needs that people have around the world. In fact, I would be willing to say that everyone has at least one unmet need in there day to day life. One unmet need that I have recognized is a need to save money on clothes while still getting clothes that you like. Most people have experienced the feeling of finding a clothing item that they really like but then looking at the price tag and realizing that you can not afford it. This is where I see an unmet need. I think that the need is a fast, easy way to find clothes that you like for a lot cheaper. I think the people that would benefit the most from this would be college students, but realistically this is a need that a lot of other people need fulfilled. I think that this need is much easier to solve in todays world because of all of the technology that we have. With all of the phone applications out today, I think that it would be easiest to fill this opportunity that way. Geographically speaking, people have this need not only throughout our country, but also throughout the world. I think that there are tons of people that have this need. If there was a way to fill this need, I think that the business could be very profitable solely based on how many people could use it. Right now, customers are satisfying this need by doing countless hours of Google searching. There has to be a better way to do it. I think that the window of opportunity will be open until someone comes up with a product that fills this need.

Innovation:

The innovation that I have come up with is a smartphone application that allows you to take pictures of clothing items and then see other clothing that looks similar and is cheaper. These results will show as pictures of the clothing on the screen. With the pictures there will also be a price and a link of where to purchase the clothing. Another option that the app will have is the ability to specify a price range. When specified, you will only see the clothes that are in the selected price range. This will make it even easier for people to find clothes within their budget. This app, however, has other uses than just to find cheaper clothing. It can also be used to replace clothes that no longer get the job done. Say you got a stain or a rip in your favorite shirt. You could simply take a picture of that shirt and find another one instantly. It can also be used to just find clothing items that are similar to ones you like. The app will show all clothes, not just cheap ones. This will broaden the demographic quite a bit.

You may be asking how will this business make money with it just being a middleman between consumers and suppliers. The first way that we will make money is by charging a small fee to purchase the application. It will be about one or two dollars. However, the main source of income will be advertisements within the app. Advertisements are how most apps make money, so why would this one be any different. If the app gets popular enough, I think that it could generate some real revenue from the ads.

Venture Concept:

I think that customers will buy this phone app because it is something that a lot of people could really use. I do not think that it will be hard at all to get customers to switch to my phone app simply because there is nothing like it on the market. My main competitor would probably be Amazon. Amazon does not have an app that lets you take pictures, but they do have a section of “things you may like” which is pretty similar to what we are offering, but I believe that ours will be much more in depth and easier to operate. Since we are not really selling an actual object, our packaging does not really matter, but the look of our app matters immensely. The better it looks, the more serious people will take it, which in turn will grow its popularity faster. Our price point is amazing. With how much money people can save using this app, spending a dollar or two to get it will be an excellent deal. The customer experience is also very important which is why our app must work quickly and seamlessly. The better it operates, the happier our customers will be. I think that another benefit of this business is that it does not take a massive amount of employees to run. Obviously, it would take a lot of people during the start up because you would need to take pictures of all of the clothes and create the database. Once the app is up and running, however, it would not take a ton of people to operate. There would be people to keep the app running well and then there would be people to continually update our database.

Minor Elements:

I think that the most important resource will be the database that has all of the clothing items on it. Without this, our business cannot operate. Second on the list would be the app itself. It will be good looking and very user friendly.

I think the next venture with this business would be to create a sister application that lets you take pictures of more things and see things like them. This could be used for home decorations or for cars or for anything you can think of. This will be a lot harder because it will require a much greater amount of information in order for it to work properly.

This first venture is not something that I would really want to be doing my whole life. I honestly feel like running a phone app would get a little boring after a while. Down the road I see myself finding and taking hold of another opportunity. This venture, however, is the most important because it will be the one that sets the tone for the rest of my career.

Feedback:

There was one piece of feedback that really made me think. That feedback was that it would take more people than I thought to run the company. I previously thought that it would only take a couple of people to run the app, but I didn’t think about how many people it would take to create the startup database. Once I thought about this, I realized that it would take a lot more people during the startup, but that it would take many less once the app is up and running. Another piece of information that I got is that I should think bigger. This included possibly talking to bigger clothing stores that might want to sell through the app. This is a great idea that didn’t quite work its way into my venture concept but will definitely be a part of the actual business.

Final Reflection

1. I think for me the most formative experience this semester was the exercises early on that had us look for and identify opportunity. Since doing those I find that during the day I find myself looking for different opportunities. I think the experience that I’ll remember years from now is the formation of my venture concept. The most joyous experience that I had was finishing the first Reading Reflection. I am not great at reading so it was a big deal for me to finish the book and right an article about it in such a short period of time. This would also be the experience that I am most proud of myself for accomplishing. 
2. I don’t quite see myself as a full on entrepreneur yet. Although I have come up with a Venture Concept, I have not taken any steps to make it a reality. I think once those steps are taken, then I will consider myself an entrepreneur. I do, however, think that I have developed and entrepreneurial mindset. Like I stated earlier, I often find myself looking for opportunities throughout the day.
3. One recommendation I would make to future students would be to keep up with the work and push through and do the assignments that you don’t feel like doing. Early on in this class, I took some zeros because I knew there was a lot of points and I was sure that I could get the grade I wanted. When it got later in the semester I realized that I could not get the grade I wanted and from then on out I was stressed about not missing an assignment. I would recommend that they work hard early in the semester so that they can relax and maybe skip some assignments later in the semester.

Make it Real

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sBxiY8zgkAiJrT8A__HPYfBrfjkQm0WRdgYQWaEKPk0/edit

My Exit Strategy

1. My business is really not something that I want to be doing my whole life. I see myself selling the business once it starts turning enough profit. I would use the money that I make in the sale to start a new business in a field that I am more interested in.
2. I have selected this exit strategy because I think that it will help me the most. I think that having the extra money to start something that I am really interested in would be great. 
3. My exit strategy has influenced other decisions within my concept a little bit. Because I plan on leaving, I did not give myself too important of a role. I am more focused on hiring the right people that can do the job better in the long run than I could. It has influenced my want for growth with this company because the bigger the business the more it will sell for in the end. 

Celebrating Failure

1. One thing that I have failed at a few times in this class is getting the interviews that I need. There have been multiple times when I had done the assignment but could not submit it because I had not completed the interviews.
2. I learned that I just need to persevere and do it. It’s really a simple thing to do. I just have to have the will to do it.
3. I really hate to fail. Weather it be in school, in a sport, or in my everyday life, I absolutely hate failure. When I fail I get in a pretty bad mood and I try to distance myself from everyone and just be alone. This class has changed my perspective on failure a little bit. I have learned now that it is okay to fail sometimes and that sometimes failure is actually a good thing. If I had known this sooner, I may have been more fine with failing at some things. 

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:

There are many unmet needs that people have around the world. In fact, I would be willing to say that everyone has at least one unmet need in there day to day life. One unmet need that I have recognized is a need to save money on clothes while still getting clothes that you like. Most people have experienced the feeling of finding a clothing item that they really like but then looking at the price tag and realizing that you can not afford it. This is where I see an unmet need. I think that the need is a fast, easy way to find clothes that you like for a lot cheaper. I think the people that would benefit the most from this would be college students, but realistically this is a need that a lot of other people need fulfilled. I think that this need is much easier to solve in todays world because of all of the technology that we have. With all of the phone applications out today, I think that it would be easiest to fill this opportunity that way. Geographically speaking, people have this need not only throughout our country, but also throughout the world. I think that there are tons of people that have this need. If there was a way to fill this need, I think that the business could be very profitable solely based on how many people could use it. Right now, customers are satisfying this need by doing countless hours of Google searching. There has to be a better way to do it. I think that the window of opportunity will be open until someone comes up with a product that fills this need.

Innovation:

The innovation that I have come up with is a smartphone application that allows you to take pictures of clothing items and then see other clothing that looks similar and is cheaper. These results will show as pictures of the clothing on the screen. With the pictures there will also be a price and a link of where to purchase the clothing. Another option that the app will have is the ability to specify a price range. When specified, you will only see the clothes that are in the selected price range. This will make it even easier for people to find clothes within their budget. This app, however, has other uses than just to find cheaper clothing. It can also be used to replace clothes that no longer get the job done. Say you got a stain or a rip in your favorite shirt. You could simply take a picture of that shirt and find another one instantly. It can also be used to just find clothing items that are similar to ones you like. The app will show all clothes, not just cheap ones. This will broaden the demographic quite a bit.

You may be asking how will this business make money with it just being a middleman between consumers and suppliers. The first way that we will make money is by charging a small fee to purchase the application. It will be about one or two dollars. However, the main source of income will be advertisements within the app. Advertisements are how most apps make money, so why would this one be any different. If the app gets popular enough, I think that it could generate some real revenue from the ads.

Venture Concept:

I think that customers will buy this phone app because it is something that a lot of people could really use. I do not think that it will be hard at all to get customers to switch to my phone app simply because there is nothing like it on the market. My main competitor would probably be Amazon. Amazon does not have an app that lets you take pictures, but they do have a section of “things you may like” which is pretty similar to what we are offering, but I believe that ours will be much more in depth and easier to operate. Since we are not really selling an actual object, our packaging does not really matter, but the look of our app matters immensely. The better it looks, the more serious people will take it, which in turn will grow its popularity faster. Our price point is amazing. With how much money people can save using this app, spending a dollar or two to get it will be an excellent deal. The customer experience is also very important which is why our app must work quickly and seamlessly. The better it operates, the happier our customers will be. I think another benefit of a business like this is that you need a very few number of employees. You would just need a few people to be in charge of creating the app and making sure it runs correctly, and then you would need people to create and maintain the database of the clothing items that we show.

Minor Elements:

I think that the most important resource will be the database that has all of the clothing items on it. Without this, our business cannot operate. Second on the list would be the app itself. It will be good looking and very user friendly.

I think the next venture with this business would be to create a sister application that lets you take pictures of more things and see things like them. This could be used for home decorations or for cars or for anything you can think of. This will be a lot harder because it will require a much greater amount of information in order for it to work properly.

This first venture is not something that I would really want to be doing my whole life. I honestly feel like running a phone app would get a little boring after a while. Down the road I see myself finding and taking hold of another opportunity. This venture, however, is the most important because it will be the one that sets the tone for the rest of my career.

My Unfair Advantage

1. Myself
2. I am good with technology
3. Overwhelming emphasis on customer service/satisfaction
4. My brother who is much better with technology
5. Google
6. My father, who has owned his own businesses and has always taught me that the customer comes first.
7. The people that we will hire. I only want to hire people that are loyal and a genuinely good people.
8. Low start-up costs
9. Not much experience with designing apps.
10. Being able to admit I can’t do something and being able to hire someone that can do the job the best.

I think that my top resource will be customer service/satisfaction. Even though there are plenty of businesses that pride themselves on customer service, we are going to go above and beyond to make sure that we are the absolute best. This will create a customer base that is loyal and will encourage them to go tell others about our great service. 

Amazon Whisperer

• My idea is a smartphone app that allows users to take pictures of clothes they like and the app will present them with clothes that are similar to the ones pictured. I think that there are two major revenue drivers in this business concept. The first is having a one time payment for the app. The app will cost just a dollar or two, but if enough people get it, the number can get big. The second revenue driver would be ads within the app. Once the app gets big, advertisements will be the main source of revenue. 
• I think something that should come next would be an app that lets you take pictures of anything and shows you things like it. This can span from cars to house decorations.
• This “next” thing will enhance our existing service offering because it will allow customers to find anything that they want. It would definitely be very hard to accomplish and being such a much broader app, we would probably increase the initial payment price. It will however be free for already existing customers to update to the new app. I think this will definitely increase customer loyalty.
• I am not able to find anything on Amazon because I am offering a service, not an actual product.
• I think that this service would fit right in with the already existing service because the new one is really just a broader version of the already existing one. I think that adding this new service will make all of our customers happier.

Idea Napkin No. 2

Idea Napkin:

1. My name is AJ Mendola and I am a Food and Resource Economics major entering my final year. One skill that I have is that I am very good with people. I have worked for my father at his business and the one thing that they focus on is customer service. I learned quickly how to deal with people in a respectful way. My aspiration is to own my own business of some sort. The idea that I came up with could one day be a real business.
2. The product that I put out would be a phone application. This app would allow customers to take pictures of clothing items in stores and would show them clothing items that are similar to the one in their picture. This would help people looking to save money. If they saw a shirt that they liked but it was a little too expensive, they could look on our app and see things similar for less money. It could also help people who have a favorite style of clothing to find others just like their favorite.
3. I think that this app could really help all people. However, I do think that our key demographic would be college students. Most college students are on a very strict budget. Being able to save money on clothes opens up that money to be used elsewhere.
4. I think that the customer would buy the app because the money that they spend on it would quickly be made up in savings that they would get from buying cheaper clothing. Although customers will pay a small fee to download the app I think the real money will come from advertising within the app.
5. I think one thing that sets me apart is that I am really driven and willing to learn. This will be helpful because I don’t know much about how phone apps work. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to figure it out though.

Feedback Memo:

I only received one comment on my first idea napkin so I was not able to get much input. One thing that was said is that I should make it more clear how we would make money. In number four I made it a little more clear.

My Secret Sauce

1. Five ways that I think I am unique:
1. I am very hard working
2. I am willing to do anything that is needed of me.
3. I am willing to step outside of my comfort zone to get tasks finished.
4. I am a great learner and believe I can learn to do almost anything. I think this is a great skill to have because it makes me very diverse in what I can do with a job.
5. I am extremely loyal and have great character. I see these as two of the most important qualities that a person can have. One thing that I have always told myself is that when I have a business of my own, I will hire good people that will remain loyal to my company.
2. Interview:
1. I was only able to do one interview because no other people that really know me were in Gainesville. My family live in a different town and most of my close friends are home for the summer. The interview that I did record is with my girlfriend, Robyn. She knows me better than anyone so I think that her opinion will be better than anyones.
2. https://soundcloud.com/user-859880791/robyns-interview
3. Summary: Robyn’s main points were that I am a very hard working person. Another one of her main points is that I don’t quit things that I start. She also said that I am an influential person.
3. One thing that both me and the interviewee said is that I am a hard working person. I am glad that the person I interviewed said this because it reaffirms what I think of myself. One thing that I did not put that she mentioned was that I am influential. I never really saw myself as an influential person, but now that I think about it I might actually be. 

Elevator Pitch No. 2

I was not able to upload my first elevator pitch because I got the date that it was due messed up, therefore I did not have any feedback to reflect upon.

My Customer Avatar

My prototypical customer is a going to be a college student or a person that is college student age. Although this is my ideal customer, I think that this could be used by a lot more people. I also think that this would be more helpful to women than it would be to men because women tend to shop more then men.

Customer Avatar:

The customer that I have pictured is a 21 year old female college student. She does not have any children and lives with one roommate in a house in her college town. In her free time she enjoys painting and doing other crafty things. She sells these crafts online to make money for college.  One thing that she really likes is shopping, but she is very conscious of not spending too much money. 

Final Questions:

• The things that I have in common with my customer avatar are that I am 21 years old and that I do not have any children.
• I think that our ages being the same is not a coincidence. I think that when I was searching for a problem to solve I was thinking of problems that would help me. So us being the same age is not a coincidence.

Splashtastic

Splashtastic: An adjective used to describe a very

I decided to pick this word because the NBA playoffs are on and I knew that I would be able to use it quite a lot. I watched a lot of basketball in the past week, both with my roommates and with my family. With both groups of people I tried to use the word whenever I could. When I used it around my family, my parents just thought it was a new word that people my age were using. When I used it with my friends, they thought that it was a little weird that I had made up a word. I did, however, get one of my friends to say it, but I think that he said it just to make fun of me. Overall, I think that people didn’t take to it too well, but hopefully it can become a word that more people use.

Halfway Reflection

1. At the beginning of this class, I had a little trouble keeping up with all of the work. However, over time I have gotten a lot better at keeping up with the work. One thing that I have done is set aside times throughout the week that I work on this class. It is sometimes hard to keep this schedule because there are so many things to do during the summer, but I am getting better at working during my scheduled times.
2. Early in the semester, I had moments where I felt like giving up, and sometimes I did. There was one assignment where we had to interview five people and I got overwhelmed and decided that I would just take the zero. On another interview assignment I got stressed out about it again, but rather than just take a zero, I decided that I was going to do it. I ended up finishing it  and I felt great about myself.
3. Tips:
1. Look ahead in the semester for projects that require more time and effort to finish. I know if I had seen some assignments earlier, they would have been much easier.
2. Set aside time to focus on just this class. It’s sometimes hard to have that kind of self-discipline, especially during the summer, but scheduling time or this class really helps out.
3. Watch the lectures. I did not watch the lectures for the first couple of weeks of this class. Now that I’ve started watching them, some of the assignments are much clearer.

Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

1. There were a few things that really surprised me about Elon Musk. The first was that he created his first video game, Blaster, when he was only 12 years old. The fact that he had the capability to do that at that age is really amazing. Another thing that was surprising is that he dropped out of college. He was in school for his Phd in Nuclear Physics at Stanford for only two days before he decided to drop out. He thought that staying in school was a waste of time when he could go and start working on his ideas immediately. The thing that I most admire about Elon Musk is his work ethic. He has been known to work 100 hours a week. He has to work this much to keep both companies, SpaceX and Tesla, operational. It is amazing that anyone can work this much and still do a good job. There is really nothing that I did not admire about Elon Musk. He seems to be an all around incredible man. Musk encountered a lot of adversity and failure. One of the first adversities that he faced was when he was bullied as a child. Another adversity he faces was creating a successful business out of only producing electric cars. People said that it couldn't be done, but in 2012 Tesla’s Model S was named “Car of the Year” by Motor Trend Magazine. One of my favorite quotes from Musk is “My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail.” I think that this pretty much sums up his idea of failure.
2. Elon Musk shows an incredible competency to look towards the future, hence the name of the book. The technology that he is creating is like stuff we see in sci-fi books and movies. Most people could not have imagined a rocket landing vertically and being reused, but Musk is actually doing it with the Falcon 9.
3. One thing that I found slightly confusing was his idea of regenerative breaking. After a little research I now better understand the concept. Regenerative breaking is when the kinetic energy, or friction, caused by the breaks is used to charge the battery that is powering the car. This allows Tesla cars to drive farther than they normally could on a full charge.
4. Two questions I would ask 1.) Why are you so driven to put sustainable life on another planet, and 2.) Do you think that electric cars will ever fully replace combustion engines.
5. I think that Elon Musk loves hard work. It is almost crazy how much he likes working. He is quoted in the book as saying “If there was a way that I could not eat, so I could work more, I would not eat. I wish there was a way to get nutrients without sitting down for a meal.” Most people love eating, but Musk would rather work than eat. He also expects every one of his employees to work incredibly hard. 

Idea Napkin No. 1

1. My name is A.J. Mendola and I am a third year Food and Resource Economics major. I have been interested in phone apps since the boom of smart phones. I always thought that I could think of an app that could possible make money. I do, however, have no experience creating phone apps. I think that if I were to get the right people on board that this could be a very profitable venture.
2. My product is a phone app that allows you to take pictures of clothing items and see clothes that look similar. You will be able to buy the items right from the app. The goal here is to help consumers save money while allowing them to buy things that they want.
3. The demographic for this is relatively large. Really anyone that has a cell phone can use it. However, I do think that this will be most well suited for college students. Most college students don’t have a ton of money and really have to be smart with their money. An app that lets them get what they want for cheaper would be very appealing to them.
4. The goal of this app is to give people what they want for cheaper. The way we will make money is by marking up the price just slightly so that the items still remain cheap. Advertisements through the app will be the other way to generate income.
5. What will set us apart is the ability to get people what they want for less money. Most companies’ goal is to try to sell things for the highest price possible. Our goal will be to save the consumer money. Our customer satisfaction will hopefully bring us the business we need.

I think that these elements fit together quite nicely. Given that our goal is to save people money and that college students are looking to save money wherever they can, I think that this could potentially be a successful business. The only problem I can see is being able to create a database of some sort that holds all of the information of things that we sell.

My Solution

Do you ever see anything at a store that you really love but it is too expensive to get? Plenty of people have this same feeling. Overpriced items in stores are a real problem. A lot of stores charge more money because they know that they are the only store around that supplies the item. I think the solution to this problem would be a mobile app. This app would allow you to take a photo of any item that you want and in return it would show you things that look like said item but that are less costly. With a picture of similar items would also be links to where you can buy the items that the app shows. This could also help when you have a favorite shirt that you just love. I have a favorite shirt but it got a stain and now I can’t find one like it anywhere. With this app you could quickly take a picture of the shirt and it would give you pictures and links to buy one just like it. 

Looking For Opportunity

1. Because people want minimum wage to be $15, I think that there is an opportunity for a business that makes self-serve machines for fast food restaurants.

a. I had this idea a few months ago when the minimum wage issue was a major topic.

b. I think that there is an opportunity because doing this will save fast food franchises more money than if they were to pay employees $15 per hour.

c.  I think that the prototypical customer would be fast food restaurants and other businesses that can’t afford to pay employees $15 an hour.

d. I think that this is an opportunity that would be relatively difficult to exploit because you would need not only the technology, but the connections to get into big fast food chains. 

I do not think that I am the only one that saw this as an opportunity. In fact, some McDonald’s locations are already using self-serve machines to take orders. I only see that there is an opportunity to do this on a larger scale. I think that I see this because I believe that the minimum wage should not be $15 dollars per hour.  I think that if minimum wage is raised there should be a way for businesses to operate without having that much employee salary to pay. 

2.   Too much food is grown in America every year, therefore the government buys and destroys millions of pounds of food every year. I think that there is an opportunity to do something better with this food.

a. We learned about this problem in one of my classes and I thought that there had to be something better to do with all of this food. 

b. Being that it is just thrown away, it would be easy to repurpose the food for something else.

c. I think the customer would be people that don’t have enough money for food all around the world.

d. I think that this would be difficult because you would need quite a bit of money to purchase all of this food and you would get very little money in return because you would be selling it for very cheap to people that need the food. 

I think that if more people knew about this problem then I wouldn’t be the only one thinking that there needs to be a solution. I know that it would be hard, but I think that some real good could come from using this food to feed the hungry.

3.   A new regulation for the summer at UF is that parking lots requiring green decals now accept any decal. This is a good change because it gives people with park-n-ride permits more places to park, like the garage by the stadium. I think there is an opportunity to make parking permits on campus work in more parking lots. 

a. I thought of this idea because I imagine that it is annoying only being able to park in one spot, but this new change makes it much better. 

b. I think that an opportunity exists because there are plenty of lots on campus that could be converted into garages. 

c. The ideal customer is a college student that lives off campus that wants to drive to school.

d. I think that the opportunity would be hard because you would have to build more parking garages and you would have to reconfigure all of the parking lot colors.

I think that a lot of people would want this change to happen, and I think that everyone that has ever wanted to park on campus would agree that there could be more parking garages built to create more parking spaces on campus. 

4.   Publix has excellent subs, but I believe that there is an opportunity for them to sell more by creating a business of stand alone sub shops. 

a. I actually heard this idea from my father. He thought that they could sell many more subs if they made a sub shop rather than having to go into the store to buy them. 

b. I thought about this and it really seems true. I have asked a few people and they too think that they would go more often if they didn’t have to go into the grocery store.

c. I think the ideal customer is anyone that enjoys a delicious sub sandwich.

d. I think that the idea would be relatively easy. They already have the subs figured out. All they would have to do is get the locations and set up shop.

I think that I saw this as an opportunity because I eat a lot of Publix subs and I would love to be able to go sit down and eat one. It would be much better than having to go in the store to get one and take it home to eat. 

Forming An Opportunity Belief

1. I believe that the parking restrictions at Southwest Recreation Center should be changed or abolished completely.
2. Parking at Southwest Rec is not allowed between the times of 7:30am and 3:30pm. During those hours, you must have a parking permit in order to park in the lot. I think that parking there should be changed in order to allow students without permits to park and workout during those eight hours. Most college students enjoy working out. Weather it be to get in better shape, to stay in shape, or just to give them something to do, many college students like to go to the gym. I am one of these people. I have, many times, wanted to go workout between these hours, but I was unable to do so because there was no way to park there. I think that getting rid of the parking restrictions would not only encourage more people to get in shape, but would also take some pressure off of the 3:30pm-11:00pm hours when the gym is most full.
3. The prototypical customer is a University of Florida student that goes to Southwest Recreation Center a few times a week. This customer would be the person that most likely knows about the problem and has an opinion about it. 
4. Interviews:
1. The first person I talked to was a man named Evan. He is a recent University of Florida grad you used Southwest Rec about two times a week while he was a student here. When I asked him what he thought of the parking he said that he wished the parking restrictions were a little less strict. He said that he would have been much more inclined to go to the gym earlier in the day. He told me that his favorite thing to do was to play pick-up basketball. His complaint was that around 4:30 the basketball courts get very full and it is almost impossible to get in a game. According to Evan, this level of fulness normally lasts till about 11:30. He said that had he been able to go around noon there would have been much less people there and he would have been able to shoot and play more.
2. My second interview was with a girl named Rachel. Rachel just finished her junior year here at UF. She said that she uses the gym about once a week, however, she uses the parking lot everyday. Rachel purchased a park and ride permit at the beginning of the year. This permit allows her to park in the lot at Southwest Rec any time of the day. When I asked her what she thought of the parking, she thought the parking was great the way it is. I then asked what she would think if the parking changed so that there was no permit necessary. She said that she would be against that. She said that she is fine paying the $160 to get the permit. She continued by saying that if there were no parking restrictions, the parking lot would be completely full all the time. She thought that the price of the permit is worth knowing that there is always a parking spot for you. She said it would be awful to get there and find that there are no parking spots. 
3. The final person I interviewed was Rachel’s friend Lauren. Lauren is also going into her senior year at the University of Florida. She uses the facilities at Southwest Rec about three times a week. Lauren had mixed feelings about the parking restrictions. When I asked her what she thought about the possibility of unrestricted parking she said that she could see how it would benefit some people but that it would not increase the amount of times that she goes to the gym. She said that she could see the benefits of having unrestricted parking, mainly the idea that it would keep the gym less busy at night. On the other hand she said that it would not make her go to the gym more. She said that the main reason she goes to the gym is to go to group classes such as Total Body and Hip-Hop Fitness. Most of these classes are scheduled at night so that as many people as possible can have the opportunity to go. She said that she only goes to these group classes, so parking restrictions do not really effect the amount of times she goes. 
5. Through interviewing Evan, Rachel, and Lauren, I realized that there might not be as much of an opportunity as I originally thought. I was most surprised by Rachel’s interview because I honestly did not think that there would be someone that liked the parking restrictions. 
6. Summarize: After interviewing all three people I learned that this may not be as much of a problem as I originally thought. I did not think about how full the parking lot would be all the time if there were no restrictions. Maybe selling permits is the only way to keep the lot from being overrun with cars. It was very helpful to get out and here what the customers had to say as their feedback really changed my views. I think that customer feedback is very helpful, especially for entrepreneurs. The most important thing with a new business is customer service. Going out and talking to actual customers is the best way to learn about the customers desires and to make sure they are completely satisfied with your service. 

Identifying Local Opportunities

1. District could lose $53 million in federal funding over transgender bathroom issue

http://www.ocala.com/article/20160519/ARTICLES/160519776/1412?Title=District-could-lose-53M-in-federal-funding-over-transgender-bathroom-issue

Marion County Public Schools have made a rule that students must use the bathroom of their birth gender. This keeps transgender students from using the bathroom of their gender identity. Because of this, the school district could possibly lose $53 million of federal funding. The Obama administration said that schools must allow students to use the bathroom of their gender identity or else they would lose federal funding. If Marion County Public Schools do not change, they will lose this funding. They really have no choice but to change, but their fight is that telling them what they have to do is an abuse of the federal governments power.

2. Direct flights to NYC, DC not likely, but Midwest and Texas? Maybe

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CF441D08BB0FC8?p=AWNB

Gainesville Regional Airport is adding new destinations to their list of flights. Two of the more wanted flight paths were to New York City and Washington D.C., but these are not very likely destinations. This is because they are already so full, they would have to get rid of some planes in order to accommodate flights from Gainesville. Instead, they are adding flights to Chicago, Dallas, and Houston. The problem is that most people want the flights to go to NYC. In order to do this, Gainesville Regional Airport would have to convince the New York airports that they would be a profitable investment.

3. ASO: Another skimmer found at gas station near I-75

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CF18D94E685EA8?p=AWNB

A gas pump skimmer was found at the Circle K near Exit 382 in Gainesville. A skimmer is a device designed to steal your credit card information when it is swiped. They are put on the inside of the machines. One way to keep this from happening is to look and see if the pump looks tampered with, however, the best way is to pay for gas inside the store using cash.

4. Lane Ranger: Traffic jams common in once-rural area

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CE71BE5E0A6E00?p=AWNB

The intersection of 39th Avenue and CR 241 has become a real problem. The traffic backs up for over a mile with people waiting to turn south onto CR241. This is because the road was built when that part of the county was still rural. Now, there are two new schools there along with other growth. The fix to this is to conduct a traffic count and find out what needs to be fixed. Weather it be the traffic light, or the road itself. It will be up to the county on what is done.

5. County looks for flexibility on bike lanes in repaving projects

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15CDC7F74EBBA310?p=AWNB

The problem is that Alachua County does not have enough money in the budget to fix all of the roads that need repairing. the county’s policy is that all roads that are resurfaced must have bike lanes added to them. This is a problem because adding bike lanes more than doubles the cost of resurfacing a road. The County Commission is in the process of changing this policy so that they can resurface roads without fixing or adding bike lanes. The fear is that once roads start getting fixed, there will never be enough money again to add more bike lanes.

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