There's Customer Interviews No. 1

I have an entrepreneurial idea that I would love to start after my college. My mom and I have always dreamed of opening a boutique together in our Orlando suburb of Windermere. We find that there is an empty spot in the market for affordable yet stylish clothing for women and teens. The store would have clothing, as well as candles, jewelry, and gift giving accessories. I chose to interview young girls who enjoy shopping, as well as one who knew the town of Windermere.
While doing this activity, I learned that there really is a need in the market. The activity was out of my comfort zone, but I got a lot of good feedback.
Enjoy the video interviews!

There's a Week 4 Reading Reflection

In the Chapter 5, the author talks a lot about innovation and new inventions. He mentions on page 166 that innovation is a result of a purposeful search for new opportunities. I tend to disagree with that umbrella statement. I think that at times that is true, and that some inventors work long and hard to make new things, but I think other times people happen upon a great new thing. For example the creator of Dip n Dots froze his ice cream too long at a very low temperature and happened upon his idea. I think often times new ideas are spurred by things going wrong.

I was also confused by the idea of a good climate for creativity. I think that ideally that is good, but things don’t always happen when the time is right. I think that if you wait for the perfect time, it will never happen. I was surprised that the book recommended an innovator to wait until the perfect climate and time was right. Sometimes you don’t have everything you need and life is crazy, but it could be the start of something great.

I would love to ask the author what the climate in his life was like when he started his innovations. I wonder if it was a hectic time, or if his climate was calm and creative. I would also ask if he wished that he started it at another time or if the time he began ended up being just right.

There's the World's Top Five Problems

Five Biggest Problems
1. Abortions
2. Orphan Care
3. Terrorism
4. Cancer
5. Clean Water Access

Five Greatest Solutions
1. More financially secure and loving households adopt children out of the orphan and foster care system
2. Dig more wells so that third world countries have access to clean water
3. Find the cure for cancer
4. Pass laws to restrict the amount of abortions, to ultimately make it illegal
5. Take down ISIS

I chose to rank the biggest probelems in this order, due to how many people are affected by each problem. Over one million unborn babies are aborted in the US alone every year. More babies have died from abortions than all of the wars combined. Next I chose orphan care because millions of innocent children are not given the care they need. Terrorism (especially in the 21st century) effects millions of innocent lives. It causes physical harm, as well as fear in innocent lives. Cancer also effects almost 40% of all Americans, and we badly need to find a cure. Clean water access does not effect many Americans, but it effects millions of people around the world.

I then chose the solutions that would be easiest to implement. If one family from every church adopted a child from the US, we would not have any more domestic orphans. This seems like a very reasonable solution. It also seems relatively basic to dig wells so that people can have water to drink. This takes money, but if people gave more to this, it is a one time expense. The third solution is to find the cure for cancer, which is obviously very difficult, but with all of the brilliant minds we have, I'm sure we will find the cure in the near future. Unfortunately, trying to change/pass a law is one of the most difficult things to do. But if we could pass more laws and restrictions on abortion, then more babies will have the right to life. The most difficult thing to do would be to stop terrorism. We can take down ISIS, but there will always be another group. This is because the world will never fully experience peace.

There's an Identifying Local Opportunities Post

Pizza Hut's answer to Lebron James and all the pizzeria upstarts
Recently, Pizza Hut has been down in sales. Pizza Hut has been trying out a new system in a small Texas town. Pizza Hut blames the lower speed on the slow sales, so in order to fix that, they are trying out new ovens that are hotter and should shorten the cooking time. I think that they should follow Domino's lead on Tweeting a pizza emoji (or something of the like) to help decrease time. This way, customers don't have to take time calling and placing an order, or ordering online.
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A93BD82CBFC3C8?p=AWNB

Robert Knight: Law preserves status quo for polluters
Gainesville's water systems have become increasingly dirty. We once had very clean water (especially due to being surrounded by so much water) and now our water is becoming more and more polluted. This is a problem for all residents of Gainesville. The pollution is due to less regulation of environmental laws. These need to be more enforced, so that the people of Gainesville can have cleaner water. 
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A9388BE6DE2E18?p=AWNB

Weather warning: Severe storms, tornadoes possible today
Severe weather can be very dangerous, especially in towns who are not prepared for extreme low temperatures and tornados. Severe weather effects all residents. The cause of the severe weather is due to a low pressure system near the Gulf.
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A8E38F9D48FE78?p=AWNB

Gainesville man, 29, arrested on rape charge
A man was charged with rape and sexual battery recently. This makes women of Gainesville feel very unsafe. The woman was supposedly attacked in her own house. The problem of rape has been on the forefront of women of Gainesville's mind, especially due to the many UF alerts in the Fall semester. 
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A8E38F94635858?p=AWNB

Newberry Road lanes to close tonight for repair work
Roads are closing due to repair work on Newberry Rd. This poses a problem for all people traveling to and from campus, work, or errands that use Newberry Road. This will make their travel time and commute much longer, and they will need to allocate more time.
http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/15A88EA7CE2C3068?p=AWNB

There's a Week Three Reading Reflection

I was surprised to read about the "dark side of entrepreneurship". Its definition is 'a destructive side that exists within the energetic drive of successful entrepreneurs'. When reading this for the first time, it sounded really negative. But after further reading, the book explained how there is a positive twist on it. Every entrepreneur needs to have a competitive side and a passion to succeed. It's when that passion turns to greed and unethical decisions does it turn to the dark side. But having a drive and commitment to your project is what makes an entrepreneur great.
I found the different types of "roles" to be a bit confusing. There are "non roles", "role failure", "role distortion", and "role assertion". All of these titles have to do with a certain unethical act, and they all depend on who they effect. This would take a lot of time and more research for me to confidently know each one and what makes them different.
If I could ask the author two questions, my first would be, "What is you experience being an entrepreneur?". I think it is really important to know who you are getting advice from and where that advice is coming from. I'm sure the author explains a little bit of his past in his intro, but I would love to know more. My follow-up question would be, "What experience has been the biggest impact on your entrepreneur career?". This would also help to know where he is coming from, especially when he goes in to detail about specific ethical issues. I wonder if he has ever faced any that have shaped his career.
The only thing that I slightly disagree on was the author's attitude about an entrepreneur's goal to be to maximize profit. He pushed this goal to be a very negative one and I don't think that it's wrong to want to make a large amount of money. I understand that if that is your only reason, then you will never be satisfied and you will probably run out of steam very quickly.

There's a Very Short Interview No. 1

I chose to interview a close friend who started his own law firm fifteen years ago. He has done very well in his career and has since added three partners to his firm and this has greatly increased the size of his business.
Q: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
A: I think that an entrepreneur is someone who is self reliant and willing to accept risks.

Q: Did you plan on being an entrepreneur or did it just happen as your career played out?
A: I just sort of happened to become and entrepreneur. It was never the main goal of mine, but the opportunity presented itself and I'm really glad I took it.

Q: What do you wish you knew before you started your own firm?
A: I wish that I had more of a background in accounting before starting my own firm.

I learned that not everyone starts out wanting to start their own business, but that sometimes that just happens. My friend started out working for a large firm and realized that he wouldn't get to move up too much more and that he would always work under someone. Starting his own firm was a mid career decision, but now allows him flexibility with hours, so that he never misses anything with his family. This is the most attractive quality of being an entrepreneur. The ability to set your own hours and do things they way you want them done is a very attractive quality to me, as it was to my friend.

There's the World's Biggest Problems

1.     Legalized abortions kill 1.06 million unborn babies in the US in a year.

These are innocent babies who never got to experience life. Abortions are painful for the mother and child and often do not reach codes. Texas has taken strides to make legalized abortions more difficult. The rest of the country needs to follow their lead, and make more regulations on abortions and abortion clinics.

2.     The aging of America puts a lot of stress on the social security system as the Baby Boomers Generation reaches retirement age. To solve this problem, we should privatize social security.

3.     Clean water access is another problem that the world is facing. Over 783 million people do not have access to clean water. We need to dig more wells and educate local people on how to access and transport clean water.

4.     We need to change the cycle in third world countries by teaching women skills. Most women are not educated and become dependent on men for food and support for their many children. If we could teach these women skills like, tree planting or sewing, they would be able to support their families.

5.     Orphan care is another massive problem the world is facing. Many families are willing to adopt, but the paperwork and the price of adoption makes it almost impossible for families to adopt. We need to make the process faster, so that children can be placed in families sooner. We also need to make the cost of adoption cheaper, or have more outside parties willing to give support to families willing to adopt.

6.     Terrorism is by far one of the biggest problems the world is facing today. We need to be firmer in stopping terrorists and actually address the problem. America needs to take down ISIS.

7.     America’s national debt is growing more each day. We need a flat tax for all citizens, not just high taxes on the wealthy. We also need to do away with Obamacare, and that will help release some healthcare debts.

8.     America is more obese than ever before. In order to reverse this, we need to serve healthy options in schools. We also need to sell local produce because it is cheaper for the consumer, and therefore more likely to be bought.

9.     Cancer affects 39.6 people throughout a lifetime. Scientists are developing new technologies and cures to fight cancer, but without unlimited funds, they can only make so much progress. We need to develop cures faster to save more lives.

10. Over 15.3 million children go hungry in the US every year, while 2.3 billion tons of food is wasted every year. By diverting access food to those in need, we can solve hunger in America without even producing more food.