Assignment 18- Create a Customer Avatar

So my customers are young, college aged kids who probably follow vegetarian or vegan diets. You could call them hipsters for sure. They're fond of wearing hats and beanies as well as glasses (probably fake glasses tbh). Flannel is a lifestyle to them and you'd be hard pressed to find one of them without flannel shirts in their closet. The guys love facial hair and arm sleeve tattoos and the girls love their coffee. Let's be honest, they probably drive a Prius because it's more economical and they are obsessed with The Office and Parks and Recreation. These are your hard core liberals and they definitely voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. These healthy eating youngsters love to shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Target. They're always looking for a way to save money.

Me and my avatars have very little in common. I would not consider myself a hipster, but I do wear glasses and can often be seen in a dad cap. I really like The Office and enjoy saving money, but that's about where the similarities end. I think this is my target person because I know a lot of people like this and know what they want. The "hipster millennial" demographic is growing more and more over time.

Assignment 16- What's your Secret Sauce?

I am from Panama City, Florida and my town was recently devastated by Hurricane Michael. Much of my home town no longer remains. All of my close friends and family live in PC and there is no cell service there because of the hurricane, I was however able to contact a few of them via text message when they got some spotty service. There wasn't enough for me to actually call and record an interview. I hope that this doesn't cost me points. I was only able to conduct three interviews with people who know me well enough to speak on my human capital, but I put exactly what they texted me below verbatim.

Five ways in which I have unique human capital:

1. Leadership- Specifically, leadership when no one else is willing to lead. I enjoy taking command and helping people pursue a common goal. I am always the first one to volunteer as a leader when no one else will.
2. I don't care what other people think of me- If someone dislikes me or has a problem with me, I don't care. I want people to like me, but I'm not going to let someone's dislike of me affect my life. It's not narcissism, but more along the lines of if someone doesn't like me for who I am, I won't change who I am to please them. I guess I'm stubborn.
3. Creative- I'm an out of the box thinker and a textbook overthinker. If I can't figure out a solution I work on it till I find a solution or create one myself.
4. Solid moral compass- I am not easily swayed in the wrong direction and I can easily know what is the right thing to do.
5. Don't easily give up- Right now specifically I am unable to return home to help with the hurricane recovery, but that didn't stop me from doing what I can to help. I made shirts and have been selling them online to raise money. So far I've generated over $800 in sales and over $400 in profits that I can give back to the community.

Interview 1:

• "Your faith, your willingness to serve and help others, your tender heart, your life experience having moved so much and adjusting to new situations, your willingness to work hard and consistent hard work. Your witty sense of humor, ability to learn new things quickly, and your creativity."

Interview 2:

• "You are always up for a discussion. When you love (someone or something) you are 100% invested. You have great self-taught computer skills, you have high morals and religious knowledge that you aren't afraid to show others."

Interview 3:

• "Moral compass, character, work ethic, faith, life experience from moving around."

Reflection:

• What I think of myself and what others think of me seem to be mostly aligned. One thing that I hadn't considered as a part of my human capital was my faith, yet everyone I talked to mentioned that. I think that what my interviewees mentioned are true (specifically my witty sense of humor, I'm absolutely hilarious) and if I could go back to my list I would add my faith and golden comedic talent.

Assignment 15- Figuring out Buyer Behavior 2

I presented each interviewee with 3 alternatives, two shopping list apps (one free and one premium) and the option of calling a store to find out produce prices. There is no single app that does everything mine would do, so none of the options are complete substitutes.

The interviews:

• All three interviewees chose the free app because it started free and then they had the option to upgrade for more functionality if they liked it. None of them wanted to call the stores, but they all wished there was a way to check without calling. Two of the interviewees stated that when they look back on purchases of this nature the most important thing is if they got value for their original money (ie if they save more than they spent), the other thinks that the most important thing is if they saved time because of the purchase, not money.

Conclusions:

• The segment does now want to put forth the effort to save money and would rather spend a little money to save a lot, however they need proof that the concept works before they'll invest money in the app. This leads me to believe that a free trial is the best way to draw people to purchasing the app. If people have saved time, money, or both after the trial, they will more than likely purchase the app.

Assignment 14- Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?

• I have had to learn self-discipline. It is so easy to just not do the assignments or not try hard on them because this is an online class, but I've had to learn to just grind it out and do the work because it will help me more to actually try and complete the assignments.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

• I kinda feel like giving up every week, but honestly I just keep in mind that I have to complete the assignments or I won't get the grade I want in this class. I don't feel like I've developed a "tenacious attitude" but I think that's mostly because I'm more concerned with passing the class than excelling at what I do in the class.

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

• 1. Work ahead. I still have a tough time getting the motivation to work ahead and do the assignments so I just end up doing them at the last minute.
• 2. Get invested in the subject and coursework.
• 3. Actually try on all the assignments. Don't just do the bare minimum.

Assignment 13- Reading Reflection

The entrepreneur I chose was Ray Kroc, the "founder" of McDonald's.

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?
• Ray Kroc wasn't the actual founder of McDonald's, but he is the reason that the restaurant is now nationwide.  
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• I admire his drive to be successful. Kroc was 52 when he met the McDonald brothers, but his whole life he never gave up. He definitely had an undeniable drive to become successful.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• Kroc cheated the McDonald brothers and ran them out of their own business. He was determined, but kind of a jerk.
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• His whole life Kroc encountered adversity and failure, but he kept trying until he was 52 and saw an opportunity with McDonald's. Kroc never succeeded in anything until he found McDonald's, but he never gave up.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

• Ray Kroc had determination above all else. He was committed to making McDonald's a nationwide experience. He took out loans and was dedicated to making it big.

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

• I was confused as to why Kroc wanted to push the McDonald brothers out of the business. He shouldn't have done that to them and it just wasn't nice. Made me not really like some of his decisions and choices.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

• I would firstly ask if he ever saw McDonald's being as big as it is now. I'm curious if it exceeded his vision. Secondly, I want to ask about his cutting the McDonald brothers out of the business. I want to know if it was intentional or if it just kinda happened.

Assignment 12- Sketching out the Beginning of the Buyer Behavior Process

The Segment: college students at UF (geographic segment)

Research Findings: I found through my three interviews that people in the target segment take to the internet to find a solution to their problems. Throughout the interviews people told me that if they were to look for a way to compare prices of food that they would see if they could find them online. When I revealed to them that the local food and produce prices are not posted online they bacem stumped. They suggested calling the stores or just giving up altogether because there isn't an easy way to compare all the local stores.

Conclusions: I found that college age students immediately turn to the internet to find solutions, so if I were to pursue this venture I would need to have a very visible website that appears when people are looking for the best deals. This website would send them to my app. I found that this segment was aware of the problem, but unwilling to try and solve it on their own (calling the local stores). This segment resorted to looking online for solutions.

Assignment 11- Napkin No. 1

1. I am a graphic design major and I own and operate a small graphic design company that does graphic design work and branding for small businesses. My five years of graphic design and coding experience will be helpful in the development of the app. I know that I can create a visually beautiful app with a good and easy to use interface. I could see my app being something that could be a long term business venture that I would ultimately sell to the highest bidder once it's successful. 
2. I am offering to customers an easier way to shop for produce, butcher items, and baked goods at local supermarkets. The app will analyze where the customer should shop in their local area to get the best deals on food relative to the cost of getting to the store.
3. The target demographic of this product is shoppers who want good deals so young people (millenials), couponers, and parents would probably be the ones to focus on first. These people in the Alachua county are who I would focus of first before expanding state or nationwide.
4. Customers will pay money for this app because it will save them more money in the long haul. If the app is $5 and they can save anywhere from $5 to $10 every week, it is worth them purchasing the app.
5. The feature that sets my app apart from the crowd is the algorithm that will run a cost-benefit analysis on your shopping list. It will determine the cheapest places to buy your food items and then determine the cost in gas to get to each store. It will determine if it is worth going to certain stores to save money and then will show how much money you can save by shopping at certain stores for certain items.

I think all five of these elements work well with each other. I think that if I was able to develop this app it would sell itself. The app would be incredibly useful to the customers and would be worth them purchasing it.