This book has taught me a lot about being an entrepreneur, starting all the financial work, advertising and marketing. Through my business school classes I have had the opportunity to learn a lot more about these obstacles as well and I've learned how to overcome them.
Business Basics at the Base of the Pyramid.
Business really does start at the bottom of the pyramid and its hard to climb up the ladder but many companies do do it.
"A decade after founding SKS Microfinance, CEO Akula explains how to make money at the bottom tier of the economic pyramid while raising the living standards of the people who occupy it. His company, which provides many small-business loans and other financial services to poor women in India, has a customer base that has been nearly tripling each year and now numbers more than 2 million. Akula attributes his firm's success in part to heeding three principles: Adopt a profit-oriented approach in order to access commercial capital; boost capacity by standardizing products, training, and other processes; and use the latest technology to reduce costs and limit errors. Collectively, these for-profit maxims reflect a rethinking of the conventional microfinance model, which simply aims to break even. Instead, SKS scales up to achieve growth; the margins are razor thin, but the volume is staggering--160,000 new customers every month. Numbers like that give the company great leverage with partners--insurers, telecom providers, consumer goods manufacturers, and so on--whose products SKS's clients need. Customers are indeed central to Akula's enterprise. Every SKS loan officer is required to do what's best for the client, even if it undermines the firm's short-term interests. That means everything from traveling far and wide to meet with prospective borrowers on their schedules to scratching out repayment plans in the dirt with them. Such commitment scales up customer loyalty, which ultimately improves the fortunes of not only the clients themselves but also the company and its investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]"
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Final Reflection
1) Reading though my blog I can now see how much my idea has developed and how much I have grown with it. My outlook on it is much more positive and I see it as something that could potentially happen, a company that I could actually start up and make a reality.
2) Something i'm most proud of is telling random people about my idea and them loving it. Conducti the interviews was the best part of the semester because even thought I dreaded doing them it was still fun hearing what people were saying about my idea and how they would change or improve it in their own way.
3) I am an entrepreneur. I see myself maybe making this a reality one day because i was able to see how much support an organization like this would have.
4) Keep on track with all of the small assignments all of the points really do add up in the end. Its really important to start the assignments earlier because you will not be able to get five interviews all in one day.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Venture Concept No. 2
Opportunity.
The opportunity is that college students love traveling and exploring, its the time in our lives where we have the freedom and time to travel but have no money what so ever to afford any of it. So we spend most of our college life in a small college town going home once a month maybe but never venturing any further. If trips were more affordable or even had options to work off the price of the trip, many more students would have the opportunity to travel and see the world.
I know that if students were to try this once they would love it because having the freedom to travel with friends and explore new places and cities are memories that stick forever. There are many different options of travel today but none are college-budget friendly. No other service out there in my opinion meets this need. The window of opportunity will be open for as long as no one starts a company like this and starts providing students with trips they want and can afford.
The opportunity is that college students love traveling and exploring, its the time in our lives where we have the freedom and time to travel but have no money what so ever to afford any of it. So we spend most of our college life in a small college town going home once a month maybe but never venturing any further. If trips were more affordable or even had options to work off the price of the trip, many more students would have the opportunity to travel and see the world.
I know that if students were to try this once they would love it because having the freedom to travel with friends and explore new places and cities are memories that stick forever. There are many different options of travel today but none are college-budget friendly. No other service out there in my opinion meets this need. The window of opportunity will be open for as long as no one starts a company like this and starts providing students with trips they want and can afford.
Innovation.
The basic idea is to create trips in huge numbers for students. Students don't care about the business class flight or the 5 stare resort hotel as much so it is much easier to accommodate cheaper lodging and transportation. Like buying anything in bulk it always comes cheaper and I believe that if large enough groups were to be organized students could be able to get really cheap prices to go to amazing domestic places here in the US as well as to other countries internationally. This idea isn't really about money more about the experience about the traveling opportunity itself, but a way to make money would be commission. For x amount of trips after all expenses are paid for a would make a profit off of each trip.
The basic idea is to create trips in huge numbers for students. Students don't care about the business class flight or the 5 stare resort hotel as much so it is much easier to accommodate cheaper lodging and transportation. Like buying anything in bulk it always comes cheaper and I believe that if large enough groups were to be organized students could be able to get really cheap prices to go to amazing domestic places here in the US as well as to other countries internationally. This idea isn't really about money more about the experience about the traveling opportunity itself, but a way to make money would be commission. For x amount of trips after all expenses are paid for a would make a profit off of each trip.
Venture Concept.
As i've said before there isn't anything quite like this available. There are traveling agencies and different event groups in the city but there isn't anything that offers this to students here in Gainesville. Organizations like Trip provide students with hiking and diving expeditions which in my opinion are insanely over priced and don't appeal to students because of the fact that they are very structured and also allow staff and faculty to apply for them as well.
This idea is different because its not only hiking expeditions, there would be many different options for students like traveling to different cities choosing which excursions they want to go to and which ones they don't and most importantly not having to pay for the once they don't want to go on. Providing these options will mean that everyone will have a unique and different experience in these cities, some might visit the museum or the beach or maybe are there for the gastro tourism.
Business would be organized very simply, students can vote on where they would like to go next and then from those votes, events would be planed, lodging and transportation arranged and excursions organized for those who want them. There would have to be a lot of planing and checking with venues about housing and transpiration but I believe that after a few trips that with a good team it could be done very effectively.
As i've said before there isn't anything quite like this available. There are traveling agencies and different event groups in the city but there isn't anything that offers this to students here in Gainesville. Organizations like Trip provide students with hiking and diving expeditions which in my opinion are insanely over priced and don't appeal to students because of the fact that they are very structured and also allow staff and faculty to apply for them as well.
This idea is different because its not only hiking expeditions, there would be many different options for students like traveling to different cities choosing which excursions they want to go to and which ones they don't and most importantly not having to pay for the once they don't want to go on. Providing these options will mean that everyone will have a unique and different experience in these cities, some might visit the museum or the beach or maybe are there for the gastro tourism.
Business would be organized very simply, students can vote on where they would like to go next and then from those votes, events would be planed, lodging and transportation arranged and excursions organized for those who want them. There would have to be a lot of planing and checking with venues about housing and transpiration but I believe that after a few trips that with a good team it could be done very effectively.
The three minor elements
The most important resource would be I believe the student body, of UF but also other participating universities. Students are what would make this work, if they like it they will invite friends and continue to come but if they don't then it just wont happen. The next venture would be to figure out working opportunities for students who want to travel like this. Many really can not afford even the cheap prices, so finding small jobs that they could do for a week or two to pay off the trip would be a really cool way to get this going as well but this would have to be much further down the road.
In five years it would be really cool to have an organization established with many trips offered all year around to students from all different universities across the world. It would be amazing to give students the opportunity to see the world.
The most important resource would be I believe the student body, of UF but also other participating universities. Students are what would make this work, if they like it they will invite friends and continue to come but if they don't then it just wont happen. The next venture would be to figure out working opportunities for students who want to travel like this. Many really can not afford even the cheap prices, so finding small jobs that they could do for a week or two to pay off the trip would be a really cool way to get this going as well but this would have to be much further down the road.
In five years it would be really cool to have an organization established with many trips offered all year around to students from all different universities across the world. It would be amazing to give students the opportunity to see the world.
The Feedback that I received on this idea was very positive, although most people were not very sure about how it would all work out, they were very enthusiastic about the idea and would love to see it happen.
In order to make the idea more clear I will have to go more in detail about the actual planing stages and how everything will be organized. But this would all have to be done much deeper in a business plan.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Google Gold
1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO?
I posted continently and did not skip any assignments. I think the most important part is staying on track with the blog and not getting distracted.
2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?
My key words were my name and "entrepreneurship". Every post I made had the same name and then the title which makes it much easier to find my blog.
3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?
I did not use social media at all to enhance my SEO efforts because I don't post much on social media at all but that does not mean that I did not get many views on my page.
4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?
The one post that got the most views was "20 percent" and I think this happened because of the interviews that I conducted. People wanted to seem themselves.
5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?
Yes! If you type in my name and principles of entrepreneurship my blog pops up.
Week 14 Reading Reflection
Week 14: Kuratko Ch. 3 & 4 (The
Entrepreneurial Mind-Set in Organizations – Corporate Entrepreneurship / Social
Entrepreneurship and the Ethical Challenges of Entrepreneurship)
These two chapters are about being a global citizen and entrepreneur. Choosing where you see your organization going and what you wish to see from it. It also talks about how to get started. Doing a joint venture with another organization or doing it on your own. Importing or exporting, there are so many choices that you can chose from when creating your organization.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Very Short Interview With Entrepreneur, Part 2
David Waitforit Nassau
Founder and CEO of Hopping 4 a Cure
I was a lot more comfortable talking to David about his plans because I understood everything that he had to do and I was able to from that ask more questions about his future plans. I understood what I meant to work with a non-profit organisation and to one day have to leave it to pursue other greater things maybe. I was really nice being able to talk to him and just see what his future goals were, where he saw the organisation going in the future and what he planed to do when it was time to leave.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Week 13 Reading Reflection
This chapter is about managing a companies entrepreneurial growth. A firms life cycle consists of the venture development, start up activities, growth, maturity and then innovation of recline of the firm. This is very similar to the marketing stages that a firm goes through. The innovation part is the most important, the idea is where everything starts.
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