The Book I read was How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams.
1. The general argument of the book was simply how to successfully succeed in a world where failure is so prevalent. Adams did this by diagnosing the idea of goals and why we need to be more lenient with ourselves and our visions of our future lives. Adams says that being discouraged by goals is one reason why others stop fulfilling their passion. Adams advises business owners to work at full capacity at any time they work and to look for marginal success instead of chipping away at an end goal.
2. This book connected with me because I had the same exact thoughts Adams did about my venture when I first started. Waking up one day and saying that you want to construct a company from the ground up is very challenging. This class actually employs the same design that Adams said would work. Instead of having one assignment in the class where the objective is to make a company, we have nearly 100 different assignments that are all separate grades and all contribute to the overall success of our companies. This instant gratification per assignment is how we should be graded for our final company, instead of looking at the company as a whole.
3. The exercise I would design for this book would be dissecting a large goal. Adams said goals were bad for two reasons: one is that they were in the future and not now, and two is that they are too specific and can be disappointing if not exactly obtained. My exercise would be to take a 5-year goal and dissect it into multiple accomplishments you need to receive in order to get close to your goal. That way, a business owner can gauge their success by how many of these 'checkpoint' goals are passed, instead of judging how well they are on their way to some unattainable goal.
4. The 'aha' moment in this book is where I realized I need more patience with my career. I tend to look at where I am and even now wonder if I am falling behind and if I will be able to get a goof job going forward. However, Adams would want me to slow down and take it one step at a time. Adams mentions many famous stars and entrepreneurs who did not make it until much later in their life. Sometimes, success takes a lot of time. I need to be more patient with how quick I am on my way to success.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
28A – Your Exit Strategy
For the business, I plan on protecting it as an asset and passing it down to someone I am close with. This company is not something that requires a lot of attention or time until it is used or purchased from. For the most part, this can be a source of secondary income during hurricane season.
I have selected this exit strategy because I feel like this company will be undervalued in the eyes of other business owners. Many people don't realize the demand for hurricane protection supplies and equipment until an actual hurricane comes around. It is a great opportunity to earn a passive income while I focus on my career.
Because I plan on keeping the company for a while, I have set my goals for the long-term and am taking it slow with growth and investment. By doing so, I am able to have enough time to analyze each business situation and take the right steps to preserve the authenticity of the company moving forward.
I have selected this exit strategy because I feel like this company will be undervalued in the eyes of other business owners. Many people don't realize the demand for hurricane protection supplies and equipment until an actual hurricane comes around. It is a great opportunity to earn a passive income while I focus on my career.
Because I plan on keeping the company for a while, I have set my goals for the long-term and am taking it slow with growth and investment. By doing so, I am able to have enough time to analyze each business situation and take the right steps to preserve the authenticity of the company moving forward.
26A – Celebrating Failure
There was a moment a few weeks ago that I failed miserably. One cold afternoon, I was riding home from work on my scooter when I realized my kickstand fell off while I was mid-ride. The kickstand acts as a kill switch so my scooter was unable to start after I turned it off. My plan was to leave my scooter in the parking lot overnight and to walk my scooter to the repair shop in the morning. However, when I went to go retrieve my scooter, it had been towed. This caused me to become very frustrated as it made it harder for me to get to and from work without my scooter. Also, I knew the repair might be expensive, and I was in no place financially to spend many hundreds of dollars on my scooter. I ended up having to catch a bus to the towing company, paying for it to be given back, and then walking it 3.5 miles to the repair shop.
I learned from this experience, believe it or not. One thing I learned is to always remain calm and never become frustrated. Getting angry and upset only made the situation worse for me at the time. Also, I learned to always keep an emergency fund for vehicles. There is too many things that can go wrong with a scooter and having a solid fund for any repairs will help to alleviate stress during those times.
When I fail, I try to handle the situation as rationally as possible and with as much positivity as possible. Looking at each failure as an opportunity to learn and grow helps to internally fight of the embarrassment of failing. Owning up to your failures and using it as an opportunity to learn makes us feel better about failing. With this relatively new outlook on failure, I would be willing to take more risks going forward. There's nothing to be afraid of when the only two options are success and growth.
I learned from this experience, believe it or not. One thing I learned is to always remain calm and never become frustrated. Getting angry and upset only made the situation worse for me at the time. Also, I learned to always keep an emergency fund for vehicles. There is too many things that can go wrong with a scooter and having a solid fund for any repairs will help to alleviate stress during those times.
When I fail, I try to handle the situation as rationally as possible and with as much positivity as possible. Looking at each failure as an opportunity to learn and grow helps to internally fight of the embarrassment of failing. Owning up to your failures and using it as an opportunity to learn makes us feel better about failing. With this relatively new outlook on failure, I would be willing to take more risks going forward. There's nothing to be afraid of when the only two options are success and growth.
Friday, November 15, 2019
24A – Venture Concept No. 1 (Hurricane Survival Kit - HSK)
Opportunity
As I start locally, my potential customers will be anyone living in Gainesville that would like to feel more safe and protected during Hurricanes. This would only include those who do not evacuate before a Hurricane. My main market segment will be college students because college students have parents that have a min concern of safety when it comes to natural disasters. This would eliminate a lot of the elasticity that comes with college students and their lackluster wallets.
The nature of the need is simple. In fact, this need is the base on the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs: safety. Everyone wants to feel safe and in a secure campus like UF, it isn't that hard. However, natural disasters are unstoppable, unpredictable, and can't be detained by UFPD. This causes a frenzy every time a Hurricane is potentially coming our way, with people lining up outside of Publix for water and working through the day to install shutters. Because of that, the need for my product will never go away, as Hurricane season arrives every year.
Without the HSK, customers now use a lot of time and money traveling to different stores to collect various emergency items that they may not use and never need until the next storm. This is how the HSK fits the niche. The HSK has everything one can possibly need for a storm, allowing customers to save time, money, and worrying. This opportunity, if it picks up in popularity, is tremendous.
Innovation
Right now there is a secret hole in the market for preventative supplies. Of course, emergency supplies are always offered individually at many different individual stores. However, not only is the process of obtaining them costly, but it also requires a lot of knowledge about Hurricanes, and it prevents discounts from buying all of the supplies in bulk at once. On the other hand, there are Hurricane Survival Kits for sale online, but those are ridiculous as well. Some kits go for upwards of thousands of dollars and contain things like a mobile AED and a month's supply of food. Who would ever wake up and decide to spend $4,000 on an AED? The Hurricane Survival Kit fits right in the middle of those two extremes.
The HSK will contain every basic but essential item to get anyone through a one-week storm. The kit will sell for a ballpark estimate of $40 and will contain emergency food, emergency supplies, emergency power, and physical discounts for local generators and shutter companies. It is expected that once one kit is used, another one will be purchased. The kits are personal pouches too, meaning a family of 4 should spend around $160 for four kits in order to ensure everyone will be fully prepared for a one-week storm.
The canned food and emergency supplies will all be bought in bulk at wholesale. They will then proceed to be split up into 'servings' and placed into each HSK. The discounts for local businesses will be a deal to exchange a small fee and free promotion for the ability to secure these discounts. These discounts will be given out on physical coupon cards that are packed away within the HSK. Starting costs will obviously be higher, but overall a profit of about $10-$15 will be made on each HSK. If bought online, the customer will pay for shipping.
Venture Concept
The innovation I have will be successful because it is better than the alternatives. Both alternatives to the HSK provide the same feeling of safety, but at a much higher cost, and perhaps a little bit more work involved. The HSK will allow customers to satisfy their need of safety while also satisfying secondary needs, like financial needs or convenience needs.
It will not be too difficult to get customers to switch to my product. The product is a great alternative, so the only issue with a potential blunder of sales is that customers are not informed or fully-informed about the product and its ability.
The only competitors I have are those who sell all-inclusive Hurricane Survival Kits online. They do a great job of making their customers feel safe in times of need, but by far their greatest weakness is the price of the product. The HSK trumps all competitors with its price, creating a value that is unmatched.
Packaging and customer service may play a big role. I am pretty good at digital design, so I would be able to make a reeling design on the package. Customer support will be a challenge at first if I am the sole proprietor. However, I believe my experience in customer service will aid my ability to provide it until the venture at least accrues enough money to bring in new Customer Service Representatives.
At first, I can literally buy and sell all of the materials online. However, for the local population, it would be imperative for me to have a brick-and-mortar too. That may be somewhere down the line, along with additional employees. As long as I don't top 10 sales a day (average), I don't see much of an issue.
Three Minor Elements
The most important resource I have is digital design. Especially in an industry that primarily focuses on safety and effectiveness, design is not nearly a top priority. However, the online marketplace and packaging will create an overall brand for the company, something that gives life to the organization and allows customers to easily identify it.
Next, in addition to college students, I will try to target a different target market. In the future, I will begin to target the elderly. Students and the elderly are two of the most looked-after and protected units of the family model. This will allow the market to be widened, as middle-aged customers may purchase the HSK as a gift for their child or their parent.
Lastly, the end-all be-all of this company will be to open a brick-and-mortar along with the online marketplace, and start operating nationally for different disasters. Right now HSK is limited to eastern coastal areas. But an earthquake survival kit and a flood survival kit could sell really weel in the mid-west and western United States.
25A – What’s Next?
Existing Market
For my venture, the only thing to do going forward is to maximize the outreach for the product. Based on my interviews, I have deducted that the biggest gap in customers appears when comparing customers who have thought about buying the product and customers who actually purchase the product. This means that, going forward, I must focus on getting customers to actually purchase the product. I would shift my focus to informing customers about the marginal benefit of my product instead of imply letting them know it exists.
I will do this by using more detail in my explanations or in potential elevator pitches. When communicating with the customer, I will emphasize the product's ability to provide consumers with their biggest need. In this case, the biggest need for the consumer is safety. Going forward, I will deal with the college student market segment by giving them a brief on how the HSK saves student from potential harm or life-threatening events.
I will do this by using more detail in my explanations or in potential elevator pitches. When communicating with the customer, I will emphasize the product's ability to provide consumers with their biggest need. In this case, the biggest need for the consumer is safety. Going forward, I will deal with the college student market segment by giving them a brief on how the HSK saves student from potential harm or life-threatening events.
New Market
The new market I will target will be elderly residents, who may understand the devastation of Hurricanes, or the safety of the product, but will have a major need in the convenience category.
In order to target the elderly, I would need to create a super simple interface when users try to purchase the product. It needs to be as easy as any other online-shopping outlet. Elderly people are not the best with technology and the only way I can sell to anyone elderly who is not local is through an online marketplace. In addition to changing the user interface, I would have to shift my focus of marketing.
This time around, I would need to sell how convenient the product is. Before, with the college student market segment, I would push things like how reliable the batteries and emergency supplies are, and how much those supplies would come in handy during an emergency. However, for the elderly, I would need to focus on how much time it saves them. Through interviews with some elderly folk, I learned that it takes a lot for them to get up and drive to the store. With my marketing, I would push things like how easy it is to purchase the HSK, or how they would never need to leave their home to install shutters or buy canned goods. Overall, if I can pull this off, the elderly market segment may reach a potential of sales near the number of my main market segment.
23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage
Resource List:
- $3000 in my savings account
V: This is worth exactly $3000.
R: Money is not rare.
I: Everyone can use their own money.
N: This can be substituted for any cash.
- A Scooter
V: This is worth around $1200 now.
R: Scooters are very common at UF.
I: Not many can build their own scooter for use.
N: Many people can purchase a replacement scooter.
- Loans/Credit
V: The value lies with the amount the loan is given as.
R: Depending on which type of loan, it may be rare.
I: Many others can take out loans.
N: There are many options for loans on UF campus.
- Skills in Digital Design
V: This is something valuable to me because a solid brand/logo makes all the difference in the world.
R: This is not rare, there are many graphic designers.
I: Not many others can do graphic design.
N: There are graphic designs for hire everywhere.
- Potential Board Members
V: This might be a burden now but a potential huge help going forward, as we grow.
R: This is kind of rare to find in any other city than a college town.
I: No one can replicate this. Either you have a degree or not.
N: There are replacements everywhere in the School of Business.
- My house
V: The value is from the $2200 due in rent every month.
R: Having a house is not rare.
I: Many others can buy a house of similar value.
N: There are numerous replacements in Gainesville, including some identical replacements in the same unit as me.
- Our brand
V: This is priceless. The brand is the most essential part of a company.
R: Brands are not rare, but a good brand that sticks is.
I: A good brand is not easily replicated.
N: There are many great brands already in the marketplace.
- Computer
V: The computer is worth around $1200.
R: Macbooks are not rare.
I: Nobody but Apple can build Macbooks.
N: They can be replaced by alternatives that probably cost less.
- Cell Phone
V: The cell phone is approximately valued at $800.
R: This is not rare. Everyone has an iPhone.
I: Nobody can create their own iPhone, they must buy one.
N: Replacement iPhones and other phones are available nationwide.
- Boxes
V: These have little to no value.
R: Boxes are very common.
I: Many others can find and use their own boxes.
N: Other boxes can be bought to replace mine.
Overall, the best resource I currently have is my skills in digital design. Digital design aids in the creation of a logo, website, and brand. These skills are hard to find and go for top-dollar in the business marketplace. Being able to create logos on my own not only saves me a lot of money, but also helps me put passion and creativity behind the company.
- $3000 in my savings account
V: This is worth exactly $3000.
R: Money is not rare.
I: Everyone can use their own money.
N: This can be substituted for any cash.
- A Scooter
V: This is worth around $1200 now.
R: Scooters are very common at UF.
I: Not many can build their own scooter for use.
N: Many people can purchase a replacement scooter.
- Loans/Credit
V: The value lies with the amount the loan is given as.
R: Depending on which type of loan, it may be rare.
I: Many others can take out loans.
N: There are many options for loans on UF campus.
- Skills in Digital Design
V: This is something valuable to me because a solid brand/logo makes all the difference in the world.
R: This is not rare, there are many graphic designers.
I: Not many others can do graphic design.
N: There are graphic designs for hire everywhere.
- Potential Board Members
V: This might be a burden now but a potential huge help going forward, as we grow.
R: This is kind of rare to find in any other city than a college town.
I: No one can replicate this. Either you have a degree or not.
N: There are replacements everywhere in the School of Business.
- My house
V: The value is from the $2200 due in rent every month.
R: Having a house is not rare.
I: Many others can buy a house of similar value.
N: There are numerous replacements in Gainesville, including some identical replacements in the same unit as me.
- Our brand
V: This is priceless. The brand is the most essential part of a company.
R: Brands are not rare, but a good brand that sticks is.
I: A good brand is not easily replicated.
N: There are many great brands already in the marketplace.
- Computer
V: The computer is worth around $1200.
R: Macbooks are not rare.
I: Nobody but Apple can build Macbooks.
N: They can be replaced by alternatives that probably cost less.
- Cell Phone
V: The cell phone is approximately valued at $800.
R: This is not rare. Everyone has an iPhone.
I: Nobody can create their own iPhone, they must buy one.
N: Replacement iPhones and other phones are available nationwide.
- Boxes
V: These have little to no value.
R: Boxes are very common.
I: Many others can find and use their own boxes.
N: Other boxes can be bought to replace mine.
Overall, the best resource I currently have is my skills in digital design. Digital design aids in the creation of a logo, website, and brand. These skills are hard to find and go for top-dollar in the business marketplace. Being able to create logos on my own not only saves me a lot of money, but also helps me put passion and creativity behind the company.
Friday, November 8, 2019
22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3
Here is the link to my elevator pitch:
https://youtu.be/N6NFiKFhJME
I did not receive any comments that offered a reflection for my last elevator pitch. I had my friend look it over and provide feedback, giving me an opportunity to improve. My friend told me that he thinks my hand motions are too excessive and that I do not sound like I thought the elevator pitch out. This feedback was pretty accurate and offered solid insight for what to improve going forward.
Now, I feel like I am fully prepared to give this elevator pitch in front of a business partner. I have gotten the hand movements limited and I really know and understand the substance of what I have to say. Overall, the feedback really helped me improve my pitch.
https://youtu.be/N6NFiKFhJME
I did not receive any comments that offered a reflection for my last elevator pitch. I had my friend look it over and provide feedback, giving me an opportunity to improve. My friend told me that he thinks my hand motions are too excessive and that I do not sound like I thought the elevator pitch out. This feedback was pretty accurate and offered solid insight for what to improve going forward.
Now, I feel like I am fully prepared to give this elevator pitch in front of a business partner. I have gotten the hand movements limited and I really know and understand the substance of what I have to say. Overall, the feedback really helped me improve my pitch.
21A – Reading Reflection No. 2
The book I chose to read was The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, Guy Kawasaki.
1.) The general theme of the book was how to increase your presence and look professional on social media. The book focused on the do's and don't's of the professional world on Twitter and gave step by step examples and explanations on how entrepreneurs can reel people in on social media. The book offers tips and tricks pertaining to almost every social media outlet, including Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, etc.
2.) The book dives into the psychology on humans and analyzes what exactly makes them click or view your content. This connects to this class because we study human behavior all the time in our assignments. When we separated our target market into market segments, and conducted interviews, we essentially handled the research portion of what the book had to say about human behavior and interaction.
3.) I would design an exercise that requires students to create a Twitter account for their business. The assignment would involve taking a professional headshot, using a professional cover photo, and creating a handle, biography, and a sample tweet (with 4 pictures). This would allow students to get their own head start on promoting their product.
4.) The biggest surprise to me was the book's protocol when dealing with negative users. They said to treat it like a boxing match, and that once the argument reaches the third round, to block the opposer. This surprised me because, personally I deal with social media negativity a lot, but I never realized how much corporations do as well. They must have a really efficient way of blocking out the hate.
2.) The book dives into the psychology on humans and analyzes what exactly makes them click or view your content. This connects to this class because we study human behavior all the time in our assignments. When we separated our target market into market segments, and conducted interviews, we essentially handled the research portion of what the book had to say about human behavior and interaction.
3.) I would design an exercise that requires students to create a Twitter account for their business. The assignment would involve taking a professional headshot, using a professional cover photo, and creating a handle, biography, and a sample tweet (with 4 pictures). This would allow students to get their own head start on promoting their product.
4.) The biggest surprise to me was the book's protocol when dealing with negative users. They said to treat it like a boxing match, and that once the argument reaches the third round, to block the opposer. This surprised me because, personally I deal with social media negativity a lot, but I never realized how much corporations do as well. They must have a really efficient way of blocking out the hate.
Friday, November 1, 2019
20A – Growing Your Social Capital
1. Expert in my industry.
1. The contact I have for this is Jackson, who has been working as the store clerk for M&C Army Surplus for 15 years.
2. Jackson will be the expert in my industry, because he has a lot of experience selling preventative supplies to local residents in Gainesville.
3. I found this person by walking into the front door at M&C Army Surplus (near my house) and immediately interviewing him and asking questions.
4. Jackson was able to give me valuable insight to people's needs and what drives demand locally. He explained that people around here only look for the cheapest of all prices, regardless of what quality comes with it. This means that the overall market of Gainesville is very price-conscious. However, for my product, I am more-or-less looking at the market sector of college individuals. This segment might put more of a value on their life than the general elder population of Gainesville.
5. With this information, I can split the HSK into two separate packages, one all-inclusive package for those who value quality, and one cheaper, limited package that includes less for those who value price.
2. Expert on my market.
1. The individual's name I spoke with is Collin Austin, who is the CEO of New Scooters for Less.
2. Collin has been selling scooters to college students for 10+ years and has learned the market segment in and out.
3. I found this person by visiting NS4L while my scooter was being prepared ans asked if I could interview the man in charge.
4. Collin explained to me that in order to get a good grasp on the market of college students, I must focus on customer service and ensuring that the customer had a great experience purchasing from me. He tells me that his customer retention rate is what makes NS4L so continually profitable.
5. This information is useful because now I know what college students remember when dealing with a business. I can implement features like product returns if they are faulty, or perhaps implement a survey to gauge and track customer satisfaction.
3. Important supplier in my industry.
1. The third person I established contact with is my dad, Gregg Ackerman. He is an expert in the field of IT and owns his own technology company.
2. This person is the important supplier for my product.
3. I found this person because he is my dad and all I had to do was call him up.
4. If me and my dad were to work together, he would be able to help me set-up the online shop and easily manage it with the click of a button. One of my dad's biggest business sources of revenue is e-commerce set-up and installation.
5. With an e-commerce shop, I will be able to nationally market my product online. With an e-store, I would not have to worry about having a limited customer base due to a constricted location. I would just be able to ship out my product to whoever buys it nationally.
Reflection:
This targeted networking ended up being a complete success for me. Initially, I thought it would be tough to get to question such high-up authority around local businesses. However, there seems to be an unspoken code that all small-business owners help each other out. Once I made it clear that I am an aspiring entrepreneur, everyone was very willing to help and answer any question I needed answered.
19A – Idea Napkin No. 2
1.) You.
My name is Michael Ackerman and I am a junior at the University of Florida. I am a finance major with experience in accounting and a passion for entrepreneurship and business. I have decided to take the path of finance, rather than accounting, going forward because I feel like I am more sound with financial concepts than accounting concepts. I am very math and science based and have great analytical skills. My aspirations are to work hard and become very successful with my career opportunities. Part of those aspirations include having the Hurricane Survival Kit takeoff.
2.) What are you offering to customers?
This product will not only save the customers' time, but it'll save their lives too. When a hurricane comes, sometimes there is no time to prepare. Even if customers think they have time, a lot of the places customers shop for hurricane supplies sell out in a time of emergency. The Hurricane Survival Kit helps to eliminate these two problems and ease user stress during a time of natural disaster.
3.) Who are you offering it to?
This product is all about location. Across the country there is an all-or-nothing threshold for the purchase of my product: either a customer needs it badly, or does not need it at all. It all depends on the customer's location of residence. Someone in Wyoming would never think in a million years to buy a Hurricane Survival Kit, but someone living in Miami should not think twice about buying it. My product will be offered to all coastal residents along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
4.) Why do they care?
The customers care about the product because the product can potentially save their life. Aside form the obvious, customers will prefer this product over getting all the supplies themselves for two main reasons: (1.) customers may forget a number of safety items while out shopping while the Hurricane Survival Kit comes loaded with everything anyone could need for a natural disaster, and (2.) discounts for shutters, generators, lawn/debris care are included in the Hurricane Survival Kit. These discounts will range anywhere from 10%-25% off of local preventative businesses. The discounts will individually be negotiated with each company and given as an incentive for customers who buy the HSK to stay safe and save money.
5.) What are your core competencies?
My company will separate ourselves from competitors with 2 strategies. One will be marketing: we will market everywhere for the product, including online, newspapers, television, etc. Of course there are other Hurricane Survival Kits out there but none of them are being pushed out to potential customers as adamant as the Hurricane Survival Kit will. Our second strategy is online shopping. A lot of Hurricane Survival Kits are offered locally but none are particularly shipped out and around. The Hurricane Survival Kit will be mass produced and shipped out to all coastal regions.
I believe that these elements of the Hurricane Survival Kit business all fit together perfectly. The customers fall into clear categories of needs based on unforeseeable natural disaster events. There will never be a decline in need for the survival kit as hurricane readiness is always being pushed by the weather stations, regardless of the quantity of storms in Hurricane season. Overall, this is a fool proof business idea.
Reflection:
The reviews of my previous idea napkin were very positive so I incorporated a lot of my last idea napkin into this one. However, one piece of constructive criticism I used was the fact that I needed some more detail. I added some more information about the types of discounts that are within the HSK. Also, I added some more information behind my finance and accounting background, something I received feedback for as well. Other than that, my personality traits and idea line up to generate great potential for this product.
My name is Michael Ackerman and I am a junior at the University of Florida. I am a finance major with experience in accounting and a passion for entrepreneurship and business. I have decided to take the path of finance, rather than accounting, going forward because I feel like I am more sound with financial concepts than accounting concepts. I am very math and science based and have great analytical skills. My aspirations are to work hard and become very successful with my career opportunities. Part of those aspirations include having the Hurricane Survival Kit takeoff.
2.) What are you offering to customers?
This product will not only save the customers' time, but it'll save their lives too. When a hurricane comes, sometimes there is no time to prepare. Even if customers think they have time, a lot of the places customers shop for hurricane supplies sell out in a time of emergency. The Hurricane Survival Kit helps to eliminate these two problems and ease user stress during a time of natural disaster.
3.) Who are you offering it to?
This product is all about location. Across the country there is an all-or-nothing threshold for the purchase of my product: either a customer needs it badly, or does not need it at all. It all depends on the customer's location of residence. Someone in Wyoming would never think in a million years to buy a Hurricane Survival Kit, but someone living in Miami should not think twice about buying it. My product will be offered to all coastal residents along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
4.) Why do they care?
The customers care about the product because the product can potentially save their life. Aside form the obvious, customers will prefer this product over getting all the supplies themselves for two main reasons: (1.) customers may forget a number of safety items while out shopping while the Hurricane Survival Kit comes loaded with everything anyone could need for a natural disaster, and (2.) discounts for shutters, generators, lawn/debris care are included in the Hurricane Survival Kit. These discounts will range anywhere from 10%-25% off of local preventative businesses. The discounts will individually be negotiated with each company and given as an incentive for customers who buy the HSK to stay safe and save money.
5.) What are your core competencies?
My company will separate ourselves from competitors with 2 strategies. One will be marketing: we will market everywhere for the product, including online, newspapers, television, etc. Of course there are other Hurricane Survival Kits out there but none of them are being pushed out to potential customers as adamant as the Hurricane Survival Kit will. Our second strategy is online shopping. A lot of Hurricane Survival Kits are offered locally but none are particularly shipped out and around. The Hurricane Survival Kit will be mass produced and shipped out to all coastal regions.
I believe that these elements of the Hurricane Survival Kit business all fit together perfectly. The customers fall into clear categories of needs based on unforeseeable natural disaster events. There will never be a decline in need for the survival kit as hurricane readiness is always being pushed by the weather stations, regardless of the quantity of storms in Hurricane season. Overall, this is a fool proof business idea.
Reflection:
The reviews of my previous idea napkin were very positive so I incorporated a lot of my last idea napkin into this one. However, one piece of constructive criticism I used was the fact that I needed some more detail. I added some more information about the types of discounts that are within the HSK. Also, I added some more information behind my finance and accounting background, something I received feedback for as well. Other than that, my personality traits and idea line up to generate great potential for this product.
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