Final Reflection (Assignment 30A)

1, This semester has been a very interesting one, as far as entrepreneurship goes. Some of the highs were creating my venture concepts and my exit strategy. I enjoyed these assignments because I could finally see all of my hard work coming together. The lows of this class were all of the interviews that we had to do. The moments of dread were definitely the books that we had to read for a few of the assignments.

2. The experience that I will remember years later was the building a social network assignment. I will remember that relationships that I created while doing that assignment. Some of those relationships can actually help me down the line if I decide to pursue my business idea. The most joyous experience was the assignment where we had to interview people we knew about our personality traits. I liked what my interviewees had to say about me. The experience I am most proud of myself for accomplishing is the venture concepts. I was proud of the way my business idea came out. I thought that it was very well rounded, and could actually work. 

3. I do see myself as an entrepreneur now. Although, I thought of myself as an entrepreneur before I took this class. Even as a young child, I have been doing entrepreneurial things, and trying to find ways to make money on the side. I believe that I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset. Like said before, I have always done things on the side in order to make some pocket money. I have even had an e-commerce business before this class.

4. One recommendation I would give to a student that is going to go down this path in the future would be to set reminders of assignment due dates. I think that it helps with staying on top of things within the class. I would recommend that they do this as well in order to perform best in this course. In order to foster that mindset, I would recommend that they think about how much you can get out of this class if you really put some time and effort into it. I believe that this class is a class that is great for real world knowledge.

Venture Concept No. 2 (Assignment 29A)

1. Opportunity: The opportunity I discovered is the need for stores that supply recreational marijuana in states that have legalized its use. The need are people that are considered regular cannabis users, typically from 21-35. The force creating this opportunity is the country's legislation. More states are legalizing the use of recreational marijuana, creating a larger market every year. This market is defined geographically in states that have legalized recreational cannabis use. Most of these states happen to be on the western half of the country. Demographically speaking, the market is made up of younger people, typically from ages 21-35. Customers are currently satisfying this need by acquiring marijuana illegally from drug dealers on street corners and parking lots. These customers are buying cannabis in states that has not yet legalized its recreational use. I believe that once their states legalize the recreational use of cannabis, they will not be loyal to drug dealers and will purchase product from a store. This method is safer and legal, unlike purchasing from a drug dealer. This opportunity is a very big one. More and more states are legalizing the use of marijuana every year. Over half of the country has now legalized marijuana use is some form. In addition, the market has increased exponentially over the years. It is expected to more than double in size withing the next 10 years. I believe the true window of opportunity will be open for the next 10 years. I want to be one of the first stores in a state that has recently legalized recreational cannabis use. In order to do that, I have to move quickly, and since many states are legalizing its use now, the time to open a store is now.

Innovation: My innovation is to sell only high quality cannabis products in a "one stop shop" style of smoke shop. The only marijuana products I will sell in my store will be high quality, organic, and lab tested products. My mission is to serve the people exactly what they want, which is a fully natural and safe cannabis product. A lot of times, cannabis from drug dealers is laced with other substances, making it unsafe and dangerous to use. In addition to selling only high quality product, I also want my store to be a "one stop shop" for smoke related products. I believe that this will change the way smoke shops are looked at. Customers will not have to go to multiple places to buy all of the products they need. Since cannabis will be legalized in the state where my store will be located, I am going to sell the cannabis, and the products that go hand in hand with it. For example, my store will sell glassware, vaporizers, and other products that are related to cannabis use. This model will help the business to up sell other products to the customer, and can also provide "bulk deals" as well. I believe that this type of store will set mine apart from the others. I feel like people that have marijuana stores stick to only the plant. I would put less of an emphasis on herb and more of an overall selection of cannabis and accessories. 

Venture Concept: The reasons customers will switch to this store is because cannabis use will become legalized in the state that the shop will be located in. This store will make customers switch because they will no longer have to buy cannabis illegally through drug dealers. I do not believe it will be hard for them to switch because my store will be legal, and it will sell only high quality product. This will get rid of the risk of buying laced product that is not safe for consumption. The competitors to my business are other stores selling recreational cannabis. The possible weaknesses of these competitors is that they may not sell high quality or organic product. In addition, they may not model their stores to be one stop shops. Most stores nowadays are either strictly cannabis shops or the accessory shops. My plan is to blend the two, and make one place where the customers can purchase everything they need.  Packaging, distribution, and customer support do not play a large role in defining my business concept. On the other hand, price points, customer experience, and business location play a huge role in defining my business concept. I believe my price points need to be affordable in order to make my store a desirable location to purchase cannabis. Also, I believe the customers need to have enjoyable experiences while in the store in order to make them feel comfortable enough to come back. Lastly, business location is the most important aspect. My target audience is younger people, so I need to place my store in an area where there is a large concentration of young people, like a college town or large city. I would organize my business to support the ongoing production of my service by hiring a team of employees to work at the store. I think 3 employees is enough people to keep the store running smoothly. The roles will be to stock/ organize product in the back, and two employees to serve customers.

Questions: My most important resource will be my high quality product. I believe that this will help me to stand out from my competitors.

The next opportunity I want to tackle would be to grow my own product. This would lower my cost of supply tremendously, and would increase my margins greatly. Overall, I would want to vertically integrate my business, and take over different parts of my supply chain. This would help to lower my production cost greatly, leading to higher profits.

In the next five years in want to have multiple locations selling products across multiple states. I would like to do this with franchising or growing the business with my own capital. I think that franchising would allow me to expand my customer base rapidly, as others would be willing to use my name on their stores.  In the next decade, I want to have multiple businesses as an entrepreneur, and have multiple streams of income. This first venture would help teach me how to run a business, and would really help me fund other ventures if all goes well.

2. On the previous venture concept, all of the feedback was positive. All of the comments told me how my idea was very good, and that I did a good job of talking about my idea. They said that I thought about all aspects, and thought that I had done a great job making my original post well rounded. Also, one comment said I should focus on making my product stick more to make me seem different than my competitors. 

3. I changed my venture concept by adding what will make my idea different  from others. One comment said I should talk more about how I can make my business seem more appealing and different from my competitors. I talked about how I wanted my store to be a one stop shop for marijuana related products. I think that having more than just cannabis in my store will make it stick out. People will come to my store because they can get everything they need in order to use cannabis. 

4. 

Your Exit Strategy (Assignment 28A)

1. The exit strategy that I plan to pursue with my venture would be to grow the business as much as I can. This would probably take a couple of decades. Then, if the business has reached the level of success that I am satisfied with, I will sell the business to another person or company that wishes to carry on the name and brand that I created.

2. I have selected this particular exit strategy because I believe that this way can make me the most successful, and can make my brand the biggest it ever can be. I wanted to take the time to grow and create a true brand identity for this company.

3. I think that my exit strategy has influenced the other decisions I have made in my concept. For example, I stated in a past assignment that I plan to expand my business across multiple states and make it a household name, whether it be through franchising or internally expanding with my own resources. I plan to make a well known brand, and that takes time. That is why I wanted my exit strategy to be one that goes through the process of building the business over a couple decades, and then selling it afterwards.

Reading Reflection No. 3 (Assignment 27A)

The book I read was called "Makers: The New Industrial Revolution" by Chris Anderson.

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

Chris Anderson believes that we are all born to be makers. For example, we make food and gardens within our lives. Anderson explains that it is human nature to to create and make stuff. He also talks about technology and its importance in this modern age of computers and the internet.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
The book talks a lot about Anderson's personal experiences with entrepreneurship. In the book, it talks about his grandfather, and his invention of an automated sprinkler system. The book also talks about Anderson's gift for inventing. This is technically part of the entrepreneurship process because inventing things usually satisfy unmet needs. Inventions make things better that already exist, or do not exist.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
I would create an exercise where people who have to plan what they would want to do with a specific invention. This would take people, and assign them to a future invention. Then, they would be asked to write a short step by step plan of how they would make the invention assigned to them successful. This exercise would combine the invention side of things from the book, and the entrepreneurship side of things from this class.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
I was really surprised when they talked about 3D printing. I thought it was very surprising that they have the capabilities that they do. It is crazy to think that you can "print" almost anything you want. Also, in the near future everyone might have access to a 3D printer. 

Celebrating Failure (Assignment 26A)

This past semester, I began to pursue a drop shipping venture. Drop shipping is an e-commerce business model that sells products from China across the world using social media advertisement. The seller creates an online store through a company like Shopify, and finds a supplier in China to fulfill orders for you. The seller never sees the products that he or she is selling in person, if he or she does not want to. To begin, I started this venture by designing a website, purchasing my domain name, and finding products to sell. Once that was complete, I set up a Facebook ads account in order to begin advertising. Facebook ads is a very complex and tricky software, but has the potential to make the sellers very successful. I began to create my ad copies, pick my target audience, and the interests that I believed would sell my products. I set my daily budget for Facebook to use, and began to watch the advertisements roll out. After three days of waiting, my ads had not delivered any sales, and I began to become disappointed. I believed that I had hit my target audience exactly right, but I still was not converting any sales. The next day, I stopped my original ads, and began to re-target my audience and its interest groups. These ads delivered a few more sales, but I was still earning a negative profit. Finally, I decided to switch my interest groups once more, and began to finally see results. In two weeks, I had generated over $1500 in revenue, and began to turn a profit.  Overall, I learned that persistence is key in business, and that you cannot give up. I did not receive the results I wanted at first, but kept trying to convert sales. After a couple of failed attempts, I finally began to see the revenue that I was looking for.

I think that failure is one of the hardest things in business. I believe that it is the biggest deterrent for people that want to start a business. Failure is the one of the biggest things that closes businesses, and even prevents some from ever starting. I believe that I handle failure pretty hard, but I do not give up. I always begin to analyze why I think I failed, and look around to see what others are doing that works for them. This class has not really changed my perspective on failure to be honest. I have failed many times before in previous things within my life, and I think I have just learned how to overcome it as I have grown up.

What’s Next? (Assignment 25A)

Existing Market: 
1. I think selling recreational cannabis in stores is a great new industry with the increasing legalization of its use. I believe that franchising my store is what is next for my venture. This is what will propel my business to the next level, and will help drive my revenue way up.

2. I interviewed three young people that fit my target audience and asked them what they thought is next for my venture. All three of them said that I should bring my business to the online world. They all thought that I should start to sell products on my own website as long as I could work out the legal side of things. When I told them my plans of franchising they thought that it was also a good idea. They thought that it would also help to expand my reach, but not as much as going digital with my business.

3.  After talking to these three people,  I believe the path for the future of the business is in fact online. I believe that selling online will help expand my reach more than franchising ever would have. By going online, I can practically advertise to anyone that is of legal age, and is in a legal state. This will help to expand the potential for growth of my business, especially with the market growing exponentially as well.
 
   I believe that franchising would not be as good of an idea because it limits my potential to grow. It would also be hard to reach as many people as going online would reach. Third, franchising would limit how many states I get into. My overall goal is to spread across as much of the country as I can, and franchising would not be the best option.

New Market:
1. I am currently targeting a more affluent portion of society due to the fact that I am selling only high quality product. Because the product is only lab tested, quality product, the price gets driven up. I am going to target a more poor side of society for the new market.

2. I think I may be able to create value for these people in my venture by selling much smaller quantities. By selling smaller amounts, the price will go down so less affluent people can afford my product.

3. I interviewed two college students in Gainesville who are on loans and do not have much spare money to spend on leisure. They said that they believe I should have a section of my store that does not source the absolute best quality product. They both suggested that I should have a section that does not include organic product, that way the price is a less for that specific cannabis.

4. I learned that not all people want the absolute product. I was surprised that they do not care if the product is top notch if they cannot afford it. People in this new market just want cannabis that they can afford, they do not care about the quality of it as much.

   None of my assumptions were correct. I expected these people just to want smaller quantities of high quality product, but in reality they actually cared more about the volume rather than the quality. This new market does not seem as attractive as my existing market. I believe more people fall under the existing market, and that I will have more success catering to the more affluent crowd with higher quality products.

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Venture Concept No. 1 (Assignment 24A)

Opportunity: The opportunity I discovered is the need for stores that supply recreational marijuana in states that have legalized its use. The need are people that are considered regular cannabis users, typical from 21-35. The forces creating this opportunity is the country's legislation. More states are legalizing the use of recreational marijuana, creating a larger market every year. This market is defined geographically in states that have legalized recreational cannabis use. Most of these states happen to be on the western half of the country. Demographically speaking, the market is made up of younger people, typically from ages 21-35. Customers are currently satisfying this need by acquiring marijuana illegally from drug dealers on street corners and parking lots. These customers are buying cannabis in states that has not yet legalized its recreational use. I believe that once their states legalize the recreational use of cannabis, they will not be loyal to drug dealers and will purchase product from a store. This method is safer and legal, unlike purchasing from a drug dealer. This opportunity is a very big one. More and more states are legalizing the use of marijuana every year. Over half of the country has now legalized marijuana use is some form. In addition, the market has increased exponentially over the years. It is expected to more than double in size withing the next 10 years. I believe the true window of opportunity will be open for the next 10 years. I want to be one of the first stores in a state that has recently legalized recreational cannabis use. In order to do that, I have to move quickly, and since many states are legalizing its use now, the time to open a store is now.

Innovation: My innovation is to sell only high quality cannabis products in a "one stop shop" style of smoke shop. The only marijuana products I will sell in my store will be high quality, organic, and lab tested products. My mission is to serve the people exactly what they want, which is a fully natural and safe cannabis product. A lot of times, cannabis from drug dealers is laced with other substances, making it unsafe and dangerous to use. In addition to selling only high quality product, I also want my store to be a "one stop shop" for smoke related products. I believe that this will change the way smoke shops are looked at. Customers will not have to go to multiple places to buy all of the products they need. Since cannabis will be legalized in the state where my store will be located, I am going to sell the cannabis and the products that go hand in hand with it. For example, my store will sell glassware, vaporizers, and other products that are related to cannabis use. This model will help the business to up sell other products to the customer, and can also provide "bulk deals" as well.

Venture Concept: The reasons customers will switch to this store is because cannabis use will become legalized in the state that the shop will be located in. This store will make customers switch because they will no longer have to buy cannabis illegally through drug dealers. I do not believe it will be hard for them to switch because my store will be legal, and it will sell only high quality product. This will get rid of the risk of buying laced product that is not safe for consumption. The competitors to my business are other stores selling recreational cannabis. The possible weaknesses of these competitors is that they may not sell high quality or organic product. In addition, they may not model their stores to be one stop shops. Most stores nowadays are either strictly cannabis shops or the accessory shops. My plan is to blend the two, and make one place where the customers can purchase everything they need.  Packaging, distribution, and customer support do not play a large role in defining my business concept. On the other hand, price points, customer experience, and business location play a huge role in defining my business concept. I believe my price points need to be affordable in order to make my store a desirable location to purchase cannabis. Also, I believe the customers need to have enjoyable experiences while in the store in order to make them feel comfortable enough to come back. Lastly, business location is the most important aspect. My target audience is younger people, so I need to place my store in an area where there is a large concentration of young people, like a college town or large city. I would organize my business to support the ongoing production of my service by hiring a team of employees to work at the store. I think 3 employees is enough people to keep the store running smoothly. The roles will be to stock/ organize product in the back, and two employees to serve customers.

Questions: My most important resource will be my high quality product. I believe that this will help me to stand out from my competitors.

The next opportunity I want to tackle would be to grow my own product. This would lower my cost of supply tremendously, and would increase my margins greatly.

In the next five years in want to have multiple locations selling products across multiple states. In the next decade, I want to have multiple businesses as an entrepreneur, and have multiple streams of income. This first venture would help teach me how to run a business, and would really help me fund other ventures if all goes well.

Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage (Assignment 23A)

1. High Quality Product- This is valuable because it sets me apart from the standard drug dealer. People are getting high quality, lab tested product that they know is not going to be laced with any harmful substances. This is rare and hard to copy because not all cannabis suppliers sell lab tested product. A lot of people just grow cannabis from different strains seeds and sell it. This is non-substitutable because people either but lab tested product or not.

2. Human Capital- This is valuable because I need to have people that are experts within the market that I am operating in. These people know the best things to do when running and operating a recreational cannabis store. This is rare because not everyone knows people that are absolute experts in their field. A lot of people have a decent grasp of the industry that they work in, but they are not experts. This is non-substitutable because people are either experts or not, if they are not absolute experts, then they cannot provide the same level of advice that an expert can.

3. Good Supplier- This is valuable because opening a recreational cannabis store is completely dependent on suppliers. If you do not have a good supplier then there is nothing to fill the store with. The supplier also needs to supply high quality products, and has to be reliable as far as the harvest goes.

4. Good Store Location- This is valuable because I believe that the recreational cannabis model requires a very specialized customer. I believe the target market is overwhelmingly younger so placing stores in areas near major universities is very important. I believe this is hard to copy if I am one of the first stores in a specific area. It would be hard to open another store that is similar in the same exact area.

5. Specific Store Decor- This is valuable because it distinguishes my store from all of the other stores that are similar. If I have a specific "vibe" to my store that can steer some customers away from other stores and into mine.

6. Good Marketing Crew- This is valuable because a lot of my businesses success will come from advertising. Since I plan on opening recreational cannabis stores in states that have just legalized recreational use, I am going to be one of the first of my kind in that state. I am going to need to advertise my store heavily in order to get the stores name out there quickly.

7. Affordable Pricing- This is valuable because it will set me apart from other stores. I believe that the biggest deterrent for purchasing cannabis can be the price sometimes. If I can find a good supplier that will lower the cost, I can in turn lower the cost to my customers in the store. Having a lower price than other stores will definitely set me apart, and help me drive more customers to my store, increasing my sales.

8. Store Design/Model- This is valuable because my stores model is trying to be different than the typical cannabis store. I plan on making my store an "all in one" store. While the typical store strictly sells cannabis products only, I plan on selling cannabis related products like glassware, etc.

9. Social Capital- This is valuable because having connections to people in the industry is key. I have made some connections to people on the supply side of things. This helps because it can get my price down if I need to fill my store with product. This can set me apart from other stores because I may be able to get a better price for product, which will in turn lower my selling price to customers.

10. Website Design Team- This is valuable because the internet is a huge part of business in today's society. If a businesses website looks professional and inviting, it gives the customer a sense of reliability and trustworthiness.

I believe that the most important resource is high quality product. I think that this is the backbone of the stores reputation, and is the main thing that can set my store apart from others. I believe that the customers are trying to find the best and safest product they can. My store will aim to sell only lab tested product so every customer knows that they are getting extremely high quality cannabis from my store.