20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1) The first person that I contacted was one of my dad's friends who works in the same industry, healthcare, as my business venture. He fills the expert domain spot because he understands the healthcare industry extremely well. I got in contact with him because I had mentioned this course to my dad who then got me in contact with him. He told me to let him know if I ever need help with clarifying anything which is very helpful. I also showed him my idea napkin and he gave me some feedback based on his experiences and similar services. Having him within my network will be extremely helpful when I need advice on the industry because not too many people are willing to share this kind of information in such a competitive industry.

2) The second person that I contacted was actually my dad's business partner who is targeting my target with a similar service as mine. That is why she fills the expert on my market spot considering she understands the kind of service I am shooting for and the people I am targetting as well. I have gone to business meetings with my dad and that is how I met her and was able to contact her through my dad. She looked over a few of my posts so she could see exactly what I have been doing. She mentioned how marketing is tied to this kind of service and how it would be best to get the word out about my business in order to be successful and well-known. Having her within my network will be helpful considering she could help me with the marketing and advertising perspective.

3) The third person that I contacted was my uncle who sells a similar service to those in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. That is why he fills the important supplier of my industry spot since he basically does this for a living. As previously mentioned he is my uncle so I've known him pretty much my whole life. I showed him my elevator pitch and got feedback regarding my idea and how to tailor and perfect my pitch. Having him within my network will be helpful considering, once again, not many people are willing to share this kind of information.

4) Since I start college, time and time again I keep being told how important it is to network-- "It's not what you know, it's who you know." This has made me appreciate sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn a lot more since they can definitely aid in networking. I actually haven't been to any "networking events" per se, but after completing this assignment and gaining this experience I now feel a lot more confident and ready.

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1.) My name is Nathan Craigdallie and I am an information systems major here at UF. After speaking to a few people that are super close to me, I have learned that my skills including being hard-working, detail-oriented, and easy to work with. I truly believe that with the right resources, my business idea could be successful.

 2) I am still offering the same service to my customers: I am offering a service that solves our customers' unmet needs with our thorough, confidential, face-to-face assessment and care plan methodology, that evaluates and uncovers their loved ones' needs and safety concerns. Then, we develop an implemented action plan that, as previously mentioned, produces healthier, safer and more fulfilling lifestyles for everyone.

 3) I am offering a service to family members or friends who have an elder to take care of who do not relate to their needs and safety concerns and thus require help from my service. My target market has also not changed because I will be aiming this product at those prospective customers including male and female individuals who are either elders or have an elder to take care of and do not have the knowledge or resources to successfully do so. In terms of psychographic characteristics, my customers would all share an interest in wanting to positively impact the elders' lives at hand and better their lifestyles in any way possible.

 4) People tend to care for their loved one's well-being, whether they're just friends, a significant other, or family. In this case, taking care of the beloved elders takes energy and time which most people don't have enough of. This is why people case about my service enough to be willing to pay for it: in order to mitigate stress and burden being caused by having to figure out how to properly take care of an elder on their own.

 5) My core competencies have also not changed at all. I have first-hand experience on the matter due to my stepfather being in the healthcare business. Everything I know about the industry I've learned from him through the years which is fundamental when talking about dealing with people's lives and well-being.

6) Personally, I believe that the aforementioned elements fit extremely well together. My skills and experience tied together to give me enough authority to have a say on the matter at hand. I used these to my advantage in order to come up with a successful solution to my observed opportunity that a prototypical customer, whether male or female who need help in regards to taking care of an elder, would be willing to pay for.

7) Feedback memo: The feedback that I received was mostly positive and encouraged me to stick with what I had but also improve as much as possible. I also used feedback from several different posts to assure that I catered to the optimal amount of feedback. Two things that I focused on the most were listing new skills that I believe also pertain to my business idea and thus life in general as well as specifying my target customer.

17A – Elevator Pitch No. 2

2) Some comments I received on the first pitch that stood out to me as important, include having started my pitch with a question in order to engage the audience and get their attention as well as the call to action at the end of my pitch as a way for potential customers to get in contact with my business. What surprised me the most was that many found this pitch to be a great one, while in my head I thought it could be done better, but maybe I'm just being too harsh on myself. I don't consider any feedback wrong nor silly and I believe all of the feedback I got was both useful and insightful.

3) Considering I didn't get many comments regarding what I could improve on, except for trying to read less, that's what I attempted to do on this pitch. However, I know I did still read a bit and have to keep working on it for the next pitch so that I can perfect it.

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

This is Mary. She is a 64-year-old woman living in Margate, FL. She enjoys speaking on the phone with her friends and playing bingo. She does not own a car since she thinks they are dangerous. Mary watches any and every criminal show you could imagine: Criminal Minds, NCIS, CSI New York, CSI Miami, Breaking Bad, among others. Mary has 2 sons: John and Robert. Robert is actually adopted since Mary did not want to go through another pregnancy after having John. Mary doesn't like to read books nor does she care about politics, however, she does love reading the newspaper.

Mary and I have a couple of things in common. For starters, believe it or not, I too like playing bingo. I don't own a car either, however, the reason for me is that I don't think I need one yet, I don't believe they are all dangerous like Mary. I also do watch the same shows as Mary since those also happen to be my mom's favorites and I always watch them with her. In addition, I don't like to read or pay attention to political matters, but I do not read the newspaper either. These commonalities are probably coincidences in some way, but others may not be, like not liking to read or not having a car for example.

16A –What’s Your Secret Sauce?

I believe that the ways my human capital makes me unique are dependent on the situation I am put in.

#1: Positivity. I enjoy bringing positivity to those I interact with, no matter how much interaction is taking place. Even if we are not very close, I still like to try to provide guidance and share my own experiences if I believe it could possibly help whoever I am speaking to if the topic is brought up.

#2: Goal-oriented. This kind of mindset makes me a good competitor in any aspect of the word. I always want to be the best in any and every situation I find myself in, in order to benefit not only myself but also those around me.

#3: Honesty. I find no reason to ever want to lie to anybody considering I myself would never want to be lied to. I find this a good way to make meaningful connections with people since they can feel as if they can trust that I will always tell it how it is no matter what.

#4: Dedication. I am someone who will put in all the work and as much time as needed in order to get something done right. I think this helps me be successful in anything I put my mind to, even though some things take more time and energy than others.

#5: Resilience. I consider myself to be a resilient person. I have gone through many different experiences, some of them one would consider very difficult, yet I know how to deal with and overcome them when they take place. I don't let anything or anyone bring me down.

Interviews 1-5

1) My best friend. She describes my dedication to any situation I put myself in.
2) My very close friend. She discusses my persistent nature and desire to do things right.
3) My roommate. She mentions how I am able to overcome any obstacle that comes my way.
4) My long-time friend. She details my aspirations to want to help others in any way I possibly can.
5) My classmate. He says how much of a truthful and honest person I am.

I think that those who I interviewed see me very similarly to how I see myself. I do think that my interviewees described me accurately, however, there is no right or wrong considering everyone's opinions are bound to differ from one another. I would not change my original list because after having interviewed and reevaluated, I came to the conclusion that I still stand by the way I see myself. On the contrary, the interviews helped me further confirm the traits I picked.

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

After doing further interviewing, I have discovered a couple of things. For one, my segment tends to put more importance on quality in relation to price, in other words, making sure that the price that is being charged translates into the quality that is being offered for the service. Style is also a player in terms of importance, however, this one is seen as less important than the ones mentioned I mentioned previously.

I also discovered that my segment likes to buy in person using whatever they can offer in terms of monetary value (cash or card). I believe this is because they prefer to see what the service is all about in person rather than just by what they have heard or read online.

What helps my customers determine if a purchase was a good idea when thinking back on the 'rightness' of the purchase, is the experience and overall quality of the purchase. They tend to compare price points and evaluate the quality to then determine if the purchase was worth it or not.

During these interviews, I came to the conclusion that I need to make sure that my service meets quality expectations for a reasonable price while also containing some element of style. I will make sure we are flexible in terms of options on how to pay for the service (both cash and card). I know that if I develop a service that exceeds customer expectations, word of mouth will prevail and I will get good reviews from it.

14A – Halfway Reflection

1) Some behaviors I have used to keep up with the requirements of this course are being motivated and having a good work ethic. This is because many assignments require planning ahead and honestly waiting until the last minute to submit assignments is going to be energy-draining and it just simply won't work in anybody's favor.

2) In all honesty, I don't think I have gone through a feeling like "giving up." However, I believe I would pull through by making myself busy in order to try to forget about whatever is making me feel like "giving up" and eventually get through it that way.

3) I'd say to work ahead as much as possible, develop some communication skills considering many assignments require you to go out and interview people and be passionate about whatever you decide to write about, this will make the workload less tedious and more enjoyable.

13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

1) What surprised me the most is that her son is the one that funded the start of her business. This is because usually, the parent is the one lending money to their kids for big matters such as a business for example, not the other way around. What I admire the most about her is that she was determined to create this business regardless of the recent passing of her husband, she was somehow able to pull herself together and start her business anyway. I can't think of anything I couldn't admire about her, this is considering I noticed that she was a dedicated hard worker who was doing everything in her power to make her dream come true. The entrepreneur did encounter adversity in her life, one being the death of her husband which she utilized as a means of pushing herself over the edge and starting the business she wanted.

2) Considering the fact that Mary has worked in sales in the past, prior to starting her business, this would entail that she has experience and thus knows how to sell successfully. This kind of experience would also suggest that she has developed "people skills" which in other words is enhancing her communication skills.

3) I don't believe I found anything relatively confusing, however, if she had gotten a bit more in-depth regarding how she went from wanting to write a book to going into her business so that I would understand her vision more clearly.

4) What was your biggest challenge in regards to starting your own company? I would ask this because it would be interesting to know to learn more about her hardships. Do you have any advice for people that want to start their own business? I would ask this because I believe any kind of advice is good advice, especially coming from someone who has accomplished things in life such as starting her own company for example.

5) I believe Mary, as previously mentioned, valued hard work and was a determined woman. I also believe this is what made her successful and I do agree with this "opinion," one has to be determined and driven if they expect whatever they're trying to accomplish to work out in their favor.