Alex Clouser- Final Reflection Assignment 30

Throughout this semester, there have been many highs and lows, especially outside of this class for me. I believe that this class has given me a way to feel as though I accomplish a lot on Fridays when I am cramming to finish up my blog posts, which really helps my self esteem as I feel like at least something is going right in my life. I think the most formative experiences were the reading reflections because I really feel like I learned a lot from all of my books that can be applicable even if I do not choose to become an entrepreneur. I think that the reading reflections were also extremely interesting because you got to read other peoples' reflections about their own, different, books. I think that I will remember these books years later because they were just very impactful and overall interesting to read. My most joyous experience in this class was writing this blog post because it is my last blog post and signifies the end of my entrepreneurial experience in this class. I am most proud of myself for doing all of the elevator pitches because when I first looked at the syllabus at the beginning of the semester, I told myself that I could be fine without doing the elevator pitches and still get a good grade, but I actually willed myself to finish them on time and was comfortable enough to upload myself in a video, which I was dreading at the beginning of the semester. I do not see myself as an entrepreneur, but I do think that I have fine tuned some entrepreneurial characteristics that I already possessed prior to this class. I believe that this fine tuning has definitely lead me closer to the entrepreneurial mindset, but I do not believe that I am quite there yet or whether I even want to be there in the future. One recommendation I would give to students who are taking this class in the future is to stay on top of lectures and to watch all of them because they help with the Cupcakes a lot and also help to let you not get overwhelmed by your workload. I recommend that they just hold themselves accountable in order to foster this mindset.

This image represents my pride in my elevator pitches. 

Alex Clouser- Venture Concept No. 2 Assignment 29

My potential opportunity is in the data collection industry. The nature of this need is to have a data collection system that collects data effectively and securely because a lot of people have fears about the safety of their privacy with regards to data collection. My target consumers would be in the retail industry and social media outlets because they rely on data collection to further their business and their marketing exploits. The forces that are creating this opportunity are the public distrust and the overall attitude towards data collection and how it is invasive to consumers private data. I believe that the opportunity is long term because I think it will take a long time to change this public attitude towards data collection. I think that this is a big opportunity because of the lack of available alternatives to current data collection methods.

My innovation would be new data collection methods that do not invade people's privacy and make them feel better about the action of data collection. This innovation would make data collection more indirect through things such as promos or holiday gift guides or other things of the like. It works through people interacting with the product, such as ordering things from the holiday gift guide or participating in a special promo which gives you a certain bonus during a specific criteria, such as a discount when you shop on your birthday, or something of the like. I do not know yet the pricing criteria for my innovation, but I wouldn't make it too expensive because then no company would want to buy it.

The data collected from this interaction is then processed by the retailer and used to improve their next holiday gift guides with popular items purchased, improve their marketing campaigns, and gives them the ability to help better serve their customers with things that they want. This will help to ease consumer attitude towards data collection by not being invasive, yet also still help companies to further their future ventures. My product will change consumer distrust surrounding data collection because it will be publicly known that none of the information that is collected will ever be sold to or used by any other company except for my own. Companies will buy my product because they will gain positive publicity for actively trying to change their data collection methods and will not get as much public backlash as other companies have been getting in recent years because of the non-invasive quality of my methods.

I believe that my most important resource is my connections to people in the retail industry because that can benefit my venture the most and is also hard for other companies to replicate. What is next for my venture is to further expand my data collection methods and to continue to come up with new ways that are not invasive to collect data. To be honest, in 5 to 10 years I would like to see my venture become successful and would really like to sell my venture for a hefty sum of money because then I could put my energy into something less time consuming than running a business and would be able to focus on my other life goals that I have.

The feedback that I received on my last Venture Concept was pretty positive, but it definitely included some critiques and suggestions to help strengthen my venture concept this time around. One of the main things that was talked about in the feedback was to expand my customer base in order to reach more customers. One more suggestion that was given to me about my last Venture Concept was to explain more about how exactly I plan to go about changing the consumer stigma surrounding data collection and gain their trust. Other than these critiques, the rest of the feedback was very positive and said that my concept was very detailed and well thought out.

I changed my venture concept by adding social media outlets to my customer base since that was one of the most mentioned suggestions. I also changed my venture concept by adding more detail to my plan on how exactly I am going to get people to trust my data collection methods more than they do the current ones. I learned a lot through the feedback on my first one and have learned that you can always improve in some way in order to keep your business successful and running.

This picture represents my addition of social media companies to my customer base in this Venture Concept. 

Alex Clouser- Your Exit Strategy Assignment 28

1. The exit strategy that I plan to make is selling my business off a few years down the road for a large sum.

2. I have already touched on this in one of my previous posts, but I would choose this exit strategy because I do not see myself managing a business for my entire life. I do not think that I have the right personality to turn a business into a family business and hand it down to my kids, but I do think that I could start a business and let it be bought out by a bigger company for a large sum of money. I would just like this strategy the best because then I would use my money to invest and I would get a steady job that would supplement my earnings from the sale of the company and allow me to live comfortably for the rest of my life.

3. I do not believe that my exit strategy has influenced how I have identified an opportunity, but I do believe that it has influenced my growth intentions because I have always had this exit in mind when designing my venture and I believe in growing my business as quickly as possible so as to gain a large traction in the market that is attractive to a larger investor who would be willing to buy out my company.

Alex Clouser- Reading Reflection No. 3 Assignment 27

1. I read about Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. What surprised me the most in his book, Shoe Dog, is how Phil Knight managed to not write some boring autobiographical book about his rise to success, but how he actually made it extremely interesting and a very interesting and motivational read. I most admire his tenacity and passion that he put into his business from the time that he was in college. Phil Knight wrote an entire paper his senior year of college that explained how Japanese cars were becoming very popular in the United States, so Japanese shoes would be no different and he saw the opportunity for this market to be very lucrative. After college, he actually traveled to Japan, after traveling all over the world, and set up a meeting with a top Japanese shoe manufacturer and actually made them believe that he owned his own shoe company in America and faked his way into a deal that allowed him to distribute their shoes in America. I least admire the way that Phil recklessly took action like that and did not even have a way to pay for the shoes he had just negotiated a deal for. I think that you do not always need to plan out every aspect of a business, but I believe that you need to at least plan out your financial risks and expenses or have a general plan before you start to take action. He did encounter adversity as his motto was "fail fast" because this early failure can lead you to bigger and better opportunities in the future by learning from failure. Most of his adversity came in the early stages of Nike when he made almost no profit off of Nike because he reinvested every penny into buying more shoes to sell. He even had to take a full time job with an accounting firm to be able to pay his bills and support his new wife and kids.

2. I noticed that Phil Knight exhibited competencies such as tenacity, passion, and a growth mindset. He was not particularly skilled in the finer parts of business, but he was able to learn because he had passion for what he was doing and the tenacity to make his dreams a reality. He also accepted risks and failure because he believed that these would ultimately help him to grow and expand his ideas in the future through the lessons and wisdom these experiences provided.

3. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was how he would reinvest every single penny into ordering more shoes in order to expand Nike as quickly as possible. I found this very confusing because I would never do this because although it worked, it is extremely risky as you can have a bad sales year and then you are left with inventory that you already paid for and are not going to make any money on, losing money in the long run.

4. If I was able to ask two questions to Phil Knight, I would ask him how he managed to stay so focused on his business throughout everything that went on and also how he managed to fake a company into reality when meeting with the Japanese shoe company. I would ask these questions because they both fascinate me and I think it would be cool to hear his entire experience word for word about his meeting with the Japanese shoe company for the first time.

5. I believe that Phil Knight's opinion of hard work is that hard work can get you through the most difficult challenges and with a little hard work, you can make your dreams a reality just as he did. I share this opinion as I am a big advocate for work ethic and it correlation to success. I believe that if you put in the work, you will see the rewards.

Alex Clouser- Celebrating Failure Assignment 26

This semester was my roughest semester here so far and was no walk in the park. I decided at the beginning of the semester to take 16 credits and I believe that was a big mistake as I have been extremely busy all semester trying to keep up with my classes. This semester has been full of a lot of challenges, but not necessarily failures. I have also had a couple health scares throughout the semester that I have been monitoring closely with my doctor that have made things even more hectic. Overall, I think my biggest failure this semester was getting a D on my first financial accounting exam. I count this as my biggest failure this semester because I have already taken financial accounting in high school during my freshman year as part of the Academy of Finance program at my high school. I believe that having already took it somewhat contributed to this bad grade because I was very overconfident and thought that I didn't need to study that well because the test was just going over the basics that I already knew. I did not study until the day before the test because of this overconfidence and it ended up hurting my grade very badly. This failure was a wake-up call that I needed to start putting in more effort to that class in order to succeed. I learned from this failure by starting to study for my next exam a week before so that I had enough time to practice and thoroughly understand everything. This improved work ethic was rewarded by a much better grade on the second exam that brought up my grade a lot. I believe that failure is hard, but it is necessary to grow as a person. Failure brings about change in our lives more effectively than anything else. I usually handle failure by freaking out at first and thinking of the worst possible scenarios and consequences to come out of this failure, but then after about an hour I settle down and realize that I just have to do something to avoid the same mistakes next time. I usually brush things off pretty easily and am a pretty laid back individual, so I don't fear failure a whole lot, but I definitely have a healthy awareness of it. To be honest, I do not think this class has changed my perspective on failure as I always saw it as a stepping stone for success even before this class. I feel as though this class has just emphasized my pre-existing view on failure and not really changed it. I would say that I am not a risk averse person, but I do not actively seek risks for fun, I will take some risks but most of the time I would rather play it safe.

Alex Clouser- What's Next? Assignment 25

Existing Market

I believe that what is next in terms of products and services for my venture is just a few simple data collection methods that are not invasive to people's privacy. Based on the feedback I received from three of my connections in the retail industry, they said that I should focus on changing the stigma surrounding data collection to really make my whole business work, and that I should target other big retailers in order to cover the most ground possible with regards to awareness about my product. I also believe that this should be my plan in the future as it would give me a wide range of people who are aware of my services and also in need of my services, which is good for starting the business.

What makes the most sense for growing in my existing market is just to try to appeal to many big name retailers and to try to persuade them to use my data collection methods in order to more effectively and ethically improve their future ventures. I believe that my company can be very successful in this market and that it is definitely the market with the biggest potential for my product and has the most need for it.

New Market

A new market that I am thinking about targeting once my company is expanded and grown is social media companies such as Facebook. Many questions surround these companies and their uses and collection methods of consumer data and I believe that my company could help to change consumer attitude towards them and that they would be more successful than they already are due to more positive publicity. Based on my interviews with two people I know who work for Facebook, I believe that my venture would be very successful because they recognize the public's attitude towards their current data collection methods and they see it as their weakest point in the public's perception of their company and are actively trying to fix it.

What surprised me the most about this new market is that they are actively trying to fix the problem and have still not garnered any attention to this fact by the media. I found it very interesting how they also are very self aware and keep up with their own social image of their company, although it makes sense because they are a social media company. I think that with a few tweaks and different data collection methods, my company would be very successful in this market and would be able to expand and grow, though I am not sure if it is to the same extent as my existing market because it would be harder to think of more secure and less invasive methods of data collection through social media.

Alex Clouser- Venture Concept No. 1 Assignment 24

My potential opportunity is in the data collection industry. The nature of this need is to have a data collection system that collects data effectively and securely because a lot of people have fears about the safety of their privacy with regards to data collection. My target consumer would be in the retail industry because they rely on data collection to further their business and their marketing exploits. The forces that are creating this opportunity are the public distrust and the overall attitude towards data collection and how it is invasive to consumers private data. I believe that the opportunity is long term because I think it will take a long time to change this public attitude towards data collection. I think that this is a big opportunity because of the lack of available alternatives to current data collection methods.

My innovation would be new data collection methods that do not invade people's privacy and make them feel better about the action of data collection. This innovation would make data collection more indirect through things such as promos or holiday gift guides or other things of the like. It works through people interacting with the product, such as ordering things from the holiday gift guide or participating in a special promo which gives you a certain bonus during a specific criteria, such as a discount when you shop on your birthday, or something of the like. I do not know yet the pricing criteria for my innovation, but I wouldn't make it too expensive because then no company would want to buy it.

The data collected from this interaction is then processed by the retailer and used to improve their next holiday gift guides with popular items purchased, improve their marketing campaigns, and gives them the ability to help better serve their customers with things that they want. This will help to ease consumer attitude towards data collection by not being invasive, yet also still help companies to further their future ventures. Companies will buy my product because they will gain positive publicity for actively trying to change their data collection methods and will not get as much public backlash as other companies have been getting in recent years because of the non-invasive quality of my methods.

I believe that my most important resource is my connections to people in the retail industry because that can benefit my venture the most and is also hard for other companies to replicate. What is next for my venture is to further expand my data collection methods and to continue to come up with new ways that are not invasive to collect data. To be honest, in 5 to 10 years I would like to see my venture become successful and would really like to sell my venture for a hefty sum of money because then I could put my energy into something less time consuming than running a business and would be able to focus on my other life goals that I have.

Alex Clouser- Your Venture's Unfair Advantage Assignment 23

Some resources that my venture already possesses are my work ethic, my connections to people in the retail industry through people that I have interviewed and talked to, my willingness to learn, my capacity for flexibility, my general business knowledge, my knowledge of marketing, and my social skills. I know this may not seem like a lot, but as of right now I am only as good as my social and human capital because I do not have a lot of financial capital as I do not have a job and am currently in school. I also do not have a lot of technical knowledge pertaining to the making of a data collection system at this point in my life.

My work ethic is valuable because it will allow me to actively seek to make my venture successful and to quickly and efficiently improve my venture. It is rare because a lot of people do not have very good work ethic, although I am sure that a majority of successful entrepreneurs do, which is what helps to make them so successful. It is not easily copied because it is something that is a part of your personality, not something you can just develop overnight. It is non-substitutable because it is a character trait and intangible.

My connections to people in the retail industry are valuable because these connections can allow me to grow my brand and have experts and people more knowledgeable than me give their input on my venture, which is very helpful coming from people in my target market. They are rare because not everyone has connections to their target market directly and can use them as a critical resource. They are not easily copied because these are people whom I have met and created a bond with, which is not so easily done by someone who is a competitor because of my preexisting bond with them. They are substitutable because I could just make new connections with others in the retail industry, but they are also non-substitutable because the knowledge or resources that I would gain from different people may vary compared to the people I have already made connections with.

My other resources are very similar to my work ethic, as they are all valuable because they can help me to improve my venture and make it successful, while also rare due to the fact that many people do not possess the same skills and traits, however those who do likely succeed in their ventures. They are also not easily copied because they take time to develop and some are just personality traits that you either have or do not have. These resources are also not substitutable as they are intangible traits which can vary from one person to another.

After reviewing my resources, I believe that my best resource is my connections to people in the retail industry because that is not very easily substituted and I believe that it brings the most value to my venture. If I did not have help with regards to my target market, it would be much more difficult to bring my venture to fruition, let alone make it a successful venture.

Alex Clouser- Elevator Pitch No. 3 Assignment 22

All of my feedback on my last elevator pitch was very positive, with a few suggestions which I incorporated into this elevator pitch. I started with a hook again, and this time I used hand gestures and was not just standing still like I was in my last one.

Alex Clouser- Reading Reflection No. 2 Assignment 21

1. The general theme of "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" by Scott Adams was very witty yet knowledgeable at the same time. I was very impressed with how the writer kept the book very entertaining with humor and wit, but at the same time continued to tell his story and give his input on what is best for your own life achievement. One of the best arguments he explains in the book is this idea of systems vs. goals and how "goals are for losers" and that in order to succeed you need to develop systems for things and just focus on the system instead of focusing on goals. He argues that with goals you are always trying to live up to the goal and never quite reaching it because you are constantly setting new goals, whereas with a system you can focus on the process and ignore a goal, which eventually becomes a natural byproduct of your system.

2. In my opinion, this book connects with the intangible qualities in this class. I believe that it really connects with the entrepreneurship mindset because Scott talks a lot about intangible qualities and fixes for mental attitudes.

3. If I had to design an exercise for this class after reading this book, I would design an exercise where you have to list a bunch of wants you have and then list decisions and actions you would take to achieve these wants. I would do this because in the book, Scott talks about wishing vs. deciding and how many people talk about wants that they have but never do anything to act on them and take action to achieve these wants.

4. My biggest surprise was learning about Scott's outlook on goals and how he doesn't believe that they are as effective as systems. While I don't think that Scott was saying to discard goals completely, it was still surprising to see someone take such a different approach to handling goals and such. I actually really like his outlook on systems and believe that it is a viable approach to success and could very well work if applied correctly.

Alex Clouser- Growing Your Social Capital Assignment 20

1. The first person I reached out to is named Mike. Mike is a software engineer at Apple. This makes him qualified as a domain expert because he has worked with similar programs to the one that I have proposed for more efficient and private data collecting. I met Mike through his niece who is one of my good friends from back home. Mike did me the favor of listening to my elevator pitch and he liked it and agreed with me that it would be a good business opportunity to design a program that is safer and more efficient than current data collection tools. Including Mike in my network will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity because he can help me with the design and implementation of my data collection tool and oversee the technical aspects of it.

2. The second person that I reached out to is named Jane. Jane is a sales manager at JCPenney. This qualifies her as an expert on my market because she has years of experience selling to people in the same market that would be the most beneficial segment for me to enter with my product. I met Jane when I was shopping at JCPenney and she was working at the same time. We struck up a conversation and got along well, so I asked her if she would help me out with some school work by reading my idea napkin and giving me some feedback on my ideas, and she did. She liked my idea napkin and said that I provided many strong points in it and that my business seemed like a solid idea. Jane would enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity by being in my network because with her in my network, I have a consultant to approach about my target market and who can show me the inner workings and desires of what exactly retailers and department stores want from the products they buy.

3. The third person that I reached out to is named Sophie. Sophie works at Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in the world, ordering supplies and shipments for her store. This qualifies her as an important supplier to my industry because she understands what retailers and other stores look at when ordering their supplies and can help me with that aspect of designing my product in order to make it more attractive to retailers and other customers. I met Sophie on LinkedIn and we set up a meeting for her to give me feedback on my idea napkin. She very much liked my idea napkin and even suggested some ideas to help make my product easily supplied to large retailers and other stores. Including Sophie in my network will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity because she can serve as a resource in helping to make my product more marketable to other supply order managers at other stores, and also by helping to make my business model around my supply process so that I am not over or under producing and do not lose money.

This experience has made me less afraid of other social networking events and has gotten me to become comfortable introducing myself to strangers, something that I was hesitant to do before. This experience did not really differ from other social networking experiences in the past, mostly because I have never really been a part of any other social networking events, but it matched my expectations of what a social networking event is like perfectly.

Alex Clouser- Idea Napkin No. 2 Assignment 19

1. I am Alex Clouser, a second-year Business Administration major. Some skills that I have are my communication skills, my work ethic, and my ability to pick things up quickly. If I were to start it, I see this business becoming a huge part of my life as I always give my all in my endeavors and try my hardest in anything I do.

2. I am offering an alternative and more interactive approach to data collection for companies that want to collect data from consumers but are stifled because of the public stigma surrounding data collection.

3. I am offering it to companies that use data collection methods that regular consumers are wary of. My customers all have the shared desire to collect data from their consumers so as to further their products and tailor them more to consumer demands in future endeavors.

4. It is valuable to my customers because they need consumer data in order to successfully further their business ventures and create effective modifications to existing products or to create effective entirely new products that consumers will want to buy.

5. What sets me apart from everyone else is my goal to help small businesses and corporations alike because I see businesses and corporations as the backbone of our economy and believe that without them we would fail as an economy because of the revenue and jobs that they create for our nation. Many people think of corporations, especially, as being money hungry and greedy and do not see the importance of them to our way of life and their impact on our quality of life in our country.

I believe that these aspects fit together because they show that my head and effort are in the right place with regards to this business. It shows that I believe in my product and the success it can bring, with the right resources. It also shows my willingness to make things happen and to not give up easily at the first sign of hardship. It also shows my desire to create a product that can benefit many people and improve upon our society for the greater good. 

I did not make any significant changes to my idea napkin based on my feedback to the last idea napkin because my feedback was so overwhelmingly positive and everyone seemed to like my idea and supported what I was saying in my post. 

Alex Clouser- Elevator Pitch No. 2 Assignment 17

For this pitch, I decided to listen to my comments on my other post and I started with a hook instead of my name and I also got rid of my major.

Alex Clouser- Create a Customer Avatar Assignment 18

I believe that my prototypical customer in the retail segment is someone who loves to play video games in their free time, specifically games like Minecraft or SIMs. They tend to drive some model of a mini van or a family SUV such as a RAV4 or Highlander. They normally prefer their cars to be white in color, but also like a navy blue or silver color as well. They tend to watch TV shows like CSI and NCIS because they love trying to figure out who did the crimes. Occasionally, they like to watch game shows such as Family Feud because they like to see if they could win if they were on the show. They usually have 1-2 children, they don't really want a big family but they love children. None of their children are adopted, but they always wished that they would adopt a child, so they adopt a puppy instead. Their favorite books are mysteries and fantasy, as they love the Harry Potter books and are currently invested in the Song of Ice and Fire books after binging every season of Game of Thrones. Their favorite politicians are moderates because they do not believe in little government involvement, but also do not want an overbearing and controlling government. They are about 35 years old on average. They feel about 32, they cannot believe how fast time has flown by. 

What I have in common with my avatar is that I occasionally enjoy watching shows such CSI, Family Feud, and Game of Thrones. I enjoy these shows a lot, but other than Game of Thrones, I have never sat down and watched large chunks of these shows. Another thing that I have in common with my avatar is that I love the Harry Potter books as well ever since I was in 1st grade when I read the first book. I believe that many of these things I share in common with my avatar are a coincidence because many people like these shows and books but have nothing else in common with each other, they are just very popular items.

This is a picture of a white Toyota Highlander that I envision my avatar driving.

Alex Clouser- What's Your Secret Sauce? Assignment 16

1. I do not believe that I am very unique but I do believe that my qualities are what set me apart from many others. I believe that I have strong human capital in that I have an extremely strong will and work ethic. I always give 110% of my effort into everything I do and I am very passionate about anything I work on.

2. I was not able to interview the 5 people who know me best in person as my parents, brother, and sister are all out of the state and my best friend is also out of the state away at college, but I did speak to them over the phone to ask them what makes me different. My parents believed that what sets me apart is my generous heart and kind nature. They believed that this would inspire confidence in me from my customers and also make any future business partners or employees very happy in working with me. My brother and sister both said that my tenacity and sense of humor would get me very far because I am tenacious and will tirelessly work to make my goal a reality, but I can also step back and chill out for a little bit and laugh things off instead of letting them bother me. They believed that this could let me quickly get over small missteps and obstacles in my way that prevent me from succeeding, and get back to work trying to further my goals. My best friend Jacob, whom I have known since birth, said that my qualities that set me apart are my intelligence and my positive outlook on life. Jacob and I have competed against each other since we were little kids, always besting one another in anything whether it be soccer, video games, or schoolwork. He said that my intelligence has always surprised him because I have pushed him to try his very best in school in order to not be beaten easily. He said the same is true of my positive outlook on life as it has always surprised him that even when I am in the lowest of lows, I somehow continue to look on the bright side of things and find some ray of hope in the darkness. He said that these qualities would help me a lot in the struggle to achieve my goals.

3. I believe that I see myself very similar to how others see me. I think that others tend to see more of my emotional traits and I tend to look at my abilities more, as every one of my interviewees mentioned at least one emotional trait of mine, while I focused on my abilities such as my strong will in my reflection upon myself. I believe that what causes these differences is my self image that I want to portray vs. the self image that I actually portray around people I am extremely comfortable with. I agree with all of their assessments, these traits just did not come to mind at first while I was reflecting upon myself. I don't believe that I would any corrections to the list from part 1 because I believe that both parts are a very accurate representation of myself.

Alex Clouser- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2 Assignment 15

1. I interviewed a manager at a Macy's in a mall in Orlando, my friend Sam who works in retail, and a cashier at Dillard's at the Oaks Mall.

2. From what I gathered with my interviews, all 3 of my interviewees said that they do not really have many alternative options with regards to data collection, as there are not many companies that are capitalizing on this need at them moment. They did describe to me their preferences for choosing a reliable data collection company, however, and said that price was very important as they would not pay more than it would take to internally deal with data collection. They also said that quality matters a lot because they would not want to pay a considerable amount of money for something that is of poor quality and would not benefit them greatly. All of them said that they did not care for style as this product does not need to be flashy or get the attention of everyone. In conclusion, there is more than one factor that is important to my segment, as evidenced by everyone's interviews.

3. When asked how they would prefer to buy this product, all three said that they would prefer to purchase the data collection service in person rather than online because it is much easier to judge the quality of the service and also gives you a sense of the character of the person selling you the service and whether or not they are reliable. They all agreed on this even though they are currently working different levels of the retail business. They all said that they would likely use cash to purchase it because they would rather pay the service in full than pay it back a little bit at a time, even after the service is performed and useful to them. Sam and the Macy's manager are both involved in the purchase decision making process for their respective stores, but the cashier at Dillard's said that he was not. I believe that even though they are varying levels of status in retail, their answer was the same regarding the services because they understand each other in retail and the way that one retail store operates is very similar to another one.

4. After asking my interviewees about their post purchase evaluations for data collection, they replied with varying answers. The manager at Macy's believed that what constituted a good purchase was if the data collection increased sales in the long run and helped to make their marketing and future innovation easier. The manager believed that it would be a bad purchase if the cost to buy the service exceeded the amount it would cost to internally create a data collection system. The cashier and Sam had a  different idea about what makes a "good" purchase. They believed that it is a good purchase as long as it made money, period, no matter relative increase in income compared to the cost of the purchase. They believed that it would be a bad purchase if the service did not increase any of their income or help them at all.

5. In summary, all of my interviewees had similar answers to all of my questions, which I believe is reflective of the similarity of retail from store to store. While they had slightly differentiated answers, the core of their answer was mostly the same. I believe that this makes retail a great market for my product, as was already evidenced by part 1.

6. I learned a lot in my interviews about this segment in relation to my product and discovered that my beliefs in part 1 were only confirmed during these interviews as I was shown once again just how lucrative my product could be in the retail segment. Overall, I believe that most retail stores would think the same way as these interviewees with regards to post purchase evaluation, alternative evaluation, and purchase decision because of the similarity of each retail store to another based on the same general type of market they are accustomed to.

Alex Clouser - Halfway Reflection Assignment 14

1. Some behaviors that I have used in order to tackle this course are things such as working on the assignments a little bit at a time throughout the week so as not to have them pile up. Also, I watch lectures on a higher speed that makes it possible for me to still comprehend what is being said while taking less time to actually watch, leaving more time for my work in other classes.

2. One moment during the past two months when I felt like "giving up" was when I studied very hard for one of my exams and was really disappointed with my grade on the exam. While I did average, I really thought that the amount of study time I put in would help to give me an excellent grade and I was very discouraged. What really pulled me through this was just shaking it off and focusing on working harder for the next exam in order to bring my grade up and to start studying even sooner than I did for this exam. I feel as though I have developed a tenacious attitude through this semester so far and am very excited to see how it helps me in the future.

3. One tip that I would lend to next semester's students is to try to work ahead every night, even just a little bit in order to make sure that this class does not pile up on Thursday nights and Friday mornings. Another tip is to make sure to watch lectures as they are very helpful and if you do not watch them, they pile up very quickly and you will need extra motivation to get through them because of how daunting a task it looks like on paper. A third tip that I would give is to really try and understand and relate each assignment to your own life as it helps in understanding the concepts, but also in understanding yourself and your mindset in relation to that of an entrepreneur. This image is what I would like to say to next semester's students, just keep going and chugging along and you will make it through your classes.

Alex Clouser - Reading Reflection No. 1 Assignment 13

1. I read Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. What surprised me the most about this book was how, although it was long, it was extremely entertaining and interesting and I never really got caught up with how long it is. I most admired Steve Jobs' tenacity and sense of innovation when it came to creating new things, it was said that he had a "reality distortion field" because of the way he molded reality to his own will. I least admired the way that Steve handled the situation surrounding his first child, Lisa. He denied that she was his child during the entire pregnancy, later regretting his treatment of the situation and the fact that he could make such statements about his own child. Steve did encounter failure many times in his career, most notably when he left Apple and started his own company, NeXT. NeXT is where Steve made some of the biggest mistakes of his career, but he also learned his lesson from this failure and used it to help Apple when NeXT was bought out by Apple in order to bring Steve Jobs back into the fold.

2. I noticed that Steve exhibited many competencies including his penchant for marketing and innovation, as well as his insatiable hunger for perfection. This was displayed during many parts in his career, most notably through the accounts of some of his employees, which said that he strived for perfection so much that oftentimes he would listen to their ideas, berate them for being stupid, and then they would hear him presenting the ideas a week later. This extremist perfectionism carried into the way that Jobs looked at the world, always seeing the world as black and white, which he is quoted as meaning that people are either "enlightened" or an "asshole".

3. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was when they started talking about technical situations involving the Macs and computers because I do not understand technical jargon that well and was forced to look up some of the more technical terms in order to understand what was being talked about.

4. If I was able to ask two question to Steve Jobs, I would ask: "What made you want to invest in Pixar after you left Apple?" and "What was the moment that made you realize just how successful you actually were?" because I would be very interested to get into his thought process about the decision that made him a billionaire and also I would like to know just what made him actually believe his success for the very first time.

5. I believe that Steve Jobs was very strongly opinionated about hard work and believed that hard work was necessary in order to create the perfect product, as evidenced by his incessant demands that his computers had to be of the highest quality and styles and constantly innovated.

Alex Clouser- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.1 Assignment 12

1. I believe that a segment that would exist in my venture's market would be retailers.

2. For my three interviews, I chose to interview an older friend who has experience in retail, a person I worked with who used to be upper management in retail, and a current employee at a retail store.

3. Need Awareness: All three of the people I interviewed had the same problem with data collection; they wanted to increase data collection, but were scared of losing business because of the social stigma relating to data collection and privacy. My friend who has experience in retail, Jimmy, said that his need for data collection becomes most prevalent when trying to determine what items would be more successfully sold if they were on sale and which items he would make more money from by not putting them on sale. I spoke with my old coworker, Rachel, and she described that her need for data collection becomes most salient when trying to decide on future clothing lines to put out in stores based on consumer history and also when deciding on pricing for items based on consumer history of the consumption of similar products at similar prices. A current employee in retail, Mark, stated that his need for data collection stems from trying to figure out which products to market to consumers and to personalize his selling strategy so as to maximize his commissions, instead of trying to market things that people will surely not buy specifically to them.

4. Information Search: When Jimmy encounters his problem, he immediately begins to ask friends and family what they would be more likely to buy more of if it was on sale. He said that he also checks historic sales to see if similar products that were put on sale did well, or would be better suited at full price. Rachel said that she tries to find a solution to her problem through looking back at sales data and history to see which products historically do well enough to warrant introducing a brand new line that would sell well. She said that for pricing, she also does the same thing by looking at historic prices for similar products and using them as a baseline for future pricing. She said that this method is not 100% reliable though because historical data cannot predict what consumer behavior is at this moment in time and there are differing variables that may have been in place back when the item sold well, such as social or economic factors that played a part in the success of the item, which may not be replicated in the near future. Mark looks for a solution to his problem by also asking his friends and family and anyone he can about their preferences, so that he can market more current preferences to people. He also tries to stay up to date on current trends and such so that he can make generalizations about a wide range of consumers and more accurately market to a mass group of consumers, such as young adults buying different and more up to date products than older, retirement age consumers.

5. I learned in these interviews that while many already have solutions in place to deal with these problems that they run into, they are not always reliable solutions. The most common solution to these problems is through the opinions of other people, namely asking friends and family what they think about a certain product, which is not a terrible solution but certainly not ideal as you cannot judge the masses on the opinions of a few. I learned that there is certainly a business opportunity that has presented itself, and that there are customers who are waiting for the solution to come very eagerly. All of my interviewees said that they would invest in a business such as the one I have proposed, as it would save them time and probably be more accurate than their current measures in place.

6. I believe that the retail segment should be my main target because there is so much opportunity for data collection in this segment, as evidenced through my interviews. This segment has great need awareness and the information search solutions that are provided are not as reliable and accurate as they should be. I believe that this creates a perfect market for my opportunity to thrive in.

Alex Clouser- Idea Napkin No.1 Assignment 11

1. I am Alex Clouser, a second-year Business Administration major. Some skills that I have are my communication skills, my work ethic, and my ability to pick things up quickly. If I were to start it, I see this business becoming a huge part of my life as I always give my all in my endeavors and try my hardest in anything I do.

2. I am offering an alternative and more interactive approach to data collection for companies that want to collect data from consumers but are stifled because of the public stigma surrounding data collection.

3. I am offering it to companies that use data collection methods that regular consumers are wary of. My customers all have the shared desire to collect data from their consumers so as to further their products and tailor them more to consumer demands in future endeavors.

4. It is valuable to my customers because they need consumer data in order to successfully further their business ventures and create effective modifications to existing products or to create effective entirely new products that consumers will want to buy.

5. What sets me apart from everyone else is my goal to help small businesses and corporations alike because I see businesses and corporations as the backbone of our economy and believe that without them we would fail as an economy because of the revenue and jobs that they create for our nation. Many people think of corporations, especially, as being money hungry and greedy and do not see the importance of them to our way of life and their impact on our quality of life in our country.

I believe that these aspects fit together because they show that my head and effort are in the right place with regards to this business. It shows that I believe in my product and the success it can bring, with the right resources. It also shows my willingness to make things happen and to not give up easily at the first sign of hardship.

Alex Clouser- Elevator Pitch 1 Assignment 10

Alex Clouser- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2 Assignment 9

Who: I do not believe there are any consumers or businesses that fall outside the boundary of my opportunity because it affects everyone in an equal way and is a very specific need for a large group.

What: As for "if my need differs from another need", as of right now I do not know of any need that is similar to my need, or at least I can't think of one, so I do not know in which way to compare it to another need and explain exactly how it differs. I guess that the need of secure data collection is a very specific market and kind of in its own lane.

Why: As I said earlier, I believe that everyone is equally invested in this need as it has to do with the general public and regular consumers feeling safe about their data being collected by companies in order to improve company initiatives and public appeal. Because of this shared investment in the opportunity, I believe that there is no person outside the boundary for this need other than maybe babies and young children who have never bought anything in their life, but as for anyone who has ever bought something, they fit into the boundaries of this need.

For my five interviews, since I could not think of anyone who identified outside of the boundary, I interviewed a family friend who owns his own business and 4 of his employees and asked them how much this opportunity would affect their business. Jim, my family friend, answered that data collection is a huge opportunity that his business does not currently capitalize on because of limited resources and not enough technical know-how in order to put together a data collection system. He said that data collection would greatly help to improve his business and accurately report to him what aspects of his company are doing extremely well and what aspects are not up to standards. His employees echoed his statements and they agreed that data collection would greatly improve their business, as they are in the retail business. They said that data collection would also help them to improve their performance as sellers and learn what appeals and what does not appeal to their target consumer group when marketing their products to potential buyers.

Inside the Boundary                                                                              Outside the Boundary

Who: All consumers and people who have bought products.     Who: Babies

What: Secure data collection                                                       What it is not:Collecting personal data

Why: Consumers worry about data collection                            Alternative: To improve businesses

Alex Clouser- Solving the Problem Assignment 8

In my previous post, I detailed the opportunity for data collection to be made less scary for consumers and more personalized and accurate for businesses. I believe that a solution to this problem of data collection is to make data collection more indirect through things such as polls or holiday gift guides or other things of the like. I believe that this would benefit my "who" of companies that rely on consumer data because it would lessen the stigma around collecting data from consumers and would make consumers feel more comfortable giving their data to companies. This solution would also make given data more accurate because it is indirectly gathering data instead of directly asking for specific data, which people are more likely to lie about when asked directly. I believe that this solution would greatly help companies and that they would embrace the idea, in turn increasing their future marketing and other business endeavors through the data collected with this new solution.

Alex Clouser- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1 Assignment 7

1. I believe that there is an opportunity in the consumer data collection industry.

2. Consumer data collection has become increasingly worry filled on the part of consumers, as they keep pushing for tighter data collection laws so as to keep their privacy and not hand over all of their information to companies, such as what happened with Facebook. I believe that there is an opportunity in the data collection industry because of this shift in consumer attitude towards data collection. I believe that in order to collect consumer data and feedback, instead of asking for all of their information outright and scaring customers, a more effective approach would be to create interactive content such as seasonal polls or a holiday gift guide. This more personalized approach to data collection would lead to more consumer interaction and increase their overall opinion of the company, while also serving as a valuable asset to the company to decide things like what new marketing campaign they should pursue or what type of products their customers like best. This method of data collection would not worry people as much because it is not asking for personal information as much as just general consumer information in order to further the betterment of the company. My idea is to create a company that creates this interactive, company specific content for businesses, and then analyzes it and reports to them the data gained so that they will know the new business ventures that they should pursue. Hypothesis: Companies are unable to accurately gather consumer data without scaring or worrying customers because of the social climate and recent big events such as the Facebook data scandal.
Who: Companies that improve and advance through feedback and customer preferences.
What: They are unable to collect data in a way that doesn't scare consumers.
Why: Recent events such as the Facebook scandal have heightened consumer awareness of data collection and given data collection a negative connotation, leaving consumers worried.

3. Testing the who: I believe that everyone in my current "who" has this need and I cannot really think of anyone else who would have this need right now.
Testing the what: The boundary for this need is mostly consumer climate and attitude toward data collection. Other boundaries are that only data relevant to furthering the business ventures should be collected by the company.
Testing the why: I believe that the "why" I explained earlier is applicable to all potential consumers of this need.

4. First, I interviewed my roommate Gavin. Gavin said that he is often concerned with how much information companies collect from him when he is forced to make accounts to websites or uses social media because he does not want some of this information to be public, as he is a very private person and feels uncomfortable giving this information away and does not see how it is beneficial for the company to have this information. I see Gavin's perspective and understand that much of this information seems unnecessary to regular consumers, but is actually vital to companies because they can use this information to market more specifically or to start promotions that will be attractive to consumers, along with many other things. I explained this to Gavin and he said that he would prefer if they did not directly ask for his information because it feels like an invasion of privacy, he would rather them collect data some different way. In my second interview, I interviewed my other roommate David. David shared Gavin's qualms about his data being collected, but he did see the need for it and accepted it as a necessary evil. I asked him what alternatives he suggested to lessen the appearance that it is an invasion of privacy and he suggested that there should be optional polls or something of the like that would make it feel less of an obligation and more like giving a helping hand to the company. In my third interview, I interviewed my other roommate Sam. Sam said that he believes that companies should not ask for consumer data and I asked him to elaborate on this. He said that a company should not ask for data because it is personal and should not be known by some random stranger sitting behind a desk at a company. I explained that this data is only data for marketing research and company betterment, and he still believed that it was not acceptable for companies to collect this data. I understand that in this opportunity, some people are going to feel the way that Sam did, but I believe that the majority of people are going to feel like David and Gavin and there will be a big enough market that companies will accept this opportunity. My fourth and fifth interviews were with my friends Victoria and Emily. Victoria and Emily both had the same approach to this problem and believed that data collection should not be made to feel as though you are obligated to share this information with a company, but rather it should be optional. They said that in order for consumers to feel comfortable with this information being shared with a company, they must feel as though they were the ones giving the information instead of the company "taking" their information. They both believed in a psychological approach to consumer data collection. I asked them if they would like to see consumer data collection in the form of polls or holiday gift guides and they both replied that they would love to see that because it could also tailor marketing movements towards specific consumers and give consumers a feel like they have a stake in controlling how the company changes.

5. Based on my interviews, I now know that some consumers will have the attitude of Sam and I believe that this will be a small amount of consumers based off of the results of my interviews. I also know that there is a lot of support for this opportunity and that many consumers would embrace the idea of changing data collection. I believe that this support would lend companies to adopt the change and embrace my companies skill set in order to further their own business model.

Alex Clouser- Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends Assignment 6

Economic Trends

1. Interest rates have leveled off. I found this trend on https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666 . I believe that this trend could lead to an opportunity because it means that people are saving more money from their deposits, which means they are more likely to spend money on normal goods as their income is slightly higher. I think the prototypical customer of this opportunity would be the average consumer. I believe that the opportunity is relatively hard to exploit because there is no way that you can 100 percent accurately guarantee that consumers will put their new savings into normal goods, but there is an opportunity here nonetheless. I believe that I saw this opportunity because of my background in macro and micro economics and in the Academy of Finance at my high school. 

2. The economy is in an expansion phase of the economic cycle. I found this trend through various news outlets and https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666 . I believe that this trend could lead to an opportunity because it means that now is the time to sell things such as houses and other long term investments, as they are going to be worth much less once the economy goes into the recessive phase of the economic cycle. I think the prototypical customer of this opportunity would be homeowners and other owners of long term assets similar to houses. I believe that this opportunity is relatively easy to exploit because there are people looking for houses all the time, they don't just stop needing a house because the economy is doing well. I believe that I saw this opportunity again because of my background in economics and finance. 

Regulatory Changes
1. The e-cigarette flavor ban that is being proposed. I found this trend through the news. I believe that this ban could lead to an opportunity for many people to enter the market of e-cigarettes, which is a very fast growing industry, by creating their own flavors that are not regulated by the policies currently in place or being ready to be put into place. I believe that this ban could have the opposite effect that it is meant to have and could in fact increase the variety of flavors that are available to the very teens and young adults that this ban is meant to protect. I think the prototypical customer of this opportunity would be the vaping community, which is primarily composed of teens and young adults. I believe that this opportunity is relatively easy to exploit because it is very easy to come up with new flavors that are not banned and market them for retail in small smoke shops in many cities. I believe that I saw this opportunity because I have seen the market for e-cigarettes expand greatly since I have been in college and I understand the consumer's decision making process behind this industry as I have been exposed to it through friends.

2. New tariffs and trade policies implemented this year. I found this trend through the news as well. I believe that these policies could lead to an opportunity because it will open up more opportunity for American grown businesses to start up and thrive. I believe that the high tariffs on certain foreign products promote growth for American domestic companies to produce and sell more because of the cheaper cost to the consumer. I think the prototypical customer is the average consumer because they will buy more domestic products instead of more expensive foreign products. I believe that this market is relatively easy to get into because it deals with such a wide variety of products. I believe I saw this opportunity because of my background in economics and finance as well. 

Alex Clouser- Identifying Local Opportunities Assignment 5

First Opportunity
1. Orlando Health surgeon, Bahamanian native, visits Abaco Islands to help after Hurricane Dorian: 'The smell was one of death'
2. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-hurricane-dorian-orlando-health-doctor-in-bahamas-20190911-oxu5o3nyofdnbb4fybci7ki4vi-story.html
3. A surgeon named Jonathan Higgins grew up in the Bahamas and went back to take care of people in the Abaco Islands and to bring medical supplies and such because of the devastation and mess left by Hurricane Dorian.
4. There is a great need for medical supplies and medical care in the Bahamas right now.
5. The Bahamanian people have the problem because they need medical attention and supplies.

Second Opportunity
1. Florida insurers must refund $107 million to customers
2. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-ne-health-insurance-rebates-florida-20190912-xxds7f2kyjbnpd7dv3snnnhlfe-story.html
3. Many insurance companies have to give back rebates to their customers because of legislation under the Affordable Care Act.
4. The premiums the companies charged were too high for the last 3 years under the Affordable Care Act's standards.
5. The insurance companies have the problem because they made too much profit and have to now give it back to their customers.

Third Opportunity
1. Tropical Storm Humberto likely to form within 24 hours, take path eerily similar to Dorian
2. https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2019/09/13/tropical-storm-humberto-depression-likely-to-form-within-24-hrs-from-disturbance-near-bahamas/
3. Tropical Storm Humberto is projected to take roughly the same path as Hurricane Dorian, passing straight through the Bahamas and up the east coast of Florida, to the northeast.
4. These places that it is projected to pass through just received Hurricane Dorian and now they have to deal with a Tropical Storm.
5. The people who live in the affected areas have the problem.

Fourth Opportunity
1. Bahamians look for loved ones as 1,300 missing after Dorian
2. https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190913/bahamians-look-for-loved-ones-as-1300-missing-after-dorian
3. Many people are still missing from the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian, and their loved ones are still searching for them.
4. Hurricane Dorian left destruction in its wake and 1,300 people are still missing and being searched for.
5. The loved ones of the missing people are affected by the problem because they do not know if their loved ones are dead or alive and cannot find them.

Fifth Opportunity
1. Changes adding stress to St. Johns River, report says
2. https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190912/changes-adding-stress-to-st-johns-river-report-says
3. Many factors, including higher salinity levels and unusual weather are changing the St. Johns River and depleting the grass beds and other inhabitants.
4. The problem is that the grass beds are depleting and that in turn affects the wildlife that live in the St. Johns River.
5. The ecosystem of the St. Johns River is affected by this problem.

Alex Clouser- Forming an Opportunity Belief Assignment 4

1. I believe that an opportunity exists in the automobile industry.
2. My idea is that there should be a way for a car to automatically analyze the speed others around you are going and adjust the speed of your own car automatically, even when you are pulling out of somewhere into moving traffic, it should be able to tell you if it is safe to pull out of not judging off of how fast the oncoming car is going and the distance that it is to your car. 
3. The prototypical customer is anyone who can drive and afford to have a car. 
4. My first interview was with my roommate. He believed that it was a great idea to have this in a car because he said that he always struggles with judging the speed other cars are going from a distance and many times ends up pulling out in front of people and angering them because he impedes their pace. He thought that this idea was really good and would be very helpful to many consumers, just based off of his own personal experience and the other drivers that he sees on the road. He said that he has had this problem since he first started driving when he was 16 and that he currently has no solution to it, other than to wait until no one is coming to pull out, although that solution doesn't work as efficiently as he would like because sometimes it causes him to be late waiting for traffic to stop. 
5. My second interview was with a girl in one of my other classes. She thought that this idea was very helpful and said that she would want it in her car. She did bring up some issues with the idea, such as that a version of it already exists in the form of brake assist in newer cars. Although she believes that the already existing technology can be adapted to accommodate this new opportunity. 
6. My third interview was with a cashier at Lucky's. She said that she thought my opportunity was very interesting and would help the transition of cars from just vehicles that are only as good as the drivers behind the wheel to a much safer means of transportation by not relying on human input to function properly and avoid accidents. 
7. Reflection: Overall, I learned that my opportunity could be possible through the adaption of already existing technology found in cars and that paired with these already existing features, it would revolutionize the safety of cars. I also learned that many people were supportive of this idea and thought that it would be a good thing to have in their own cars. 
8. Summary: I believe that most of my career opportunity is still there from when it started. I do think that it is currently more accurate than when I started because it now includes working with already existing technology instead of being a stand-alone feature in a car. I believe that entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunities to customer feedback and give the consumer what they want, while still keeping the essence and base of the original product because that is what drew people to the opportunity in the first place and you would not want to lose consumers because the product is completely different and no longer what it first was, especially not in a very short amount of time.  

Alex Clouser- My Entrepreneurship Story Assignment 3

To be honest, I really have not been exposed to entrepreneurship very much during my 19 years on this earth, at least not in a hands on sense. I have obviously seen entrepreneurship on TV through shows like Shark Tank, and learned about what entrepreneurs do through general learning in school and such, but I have not really interacted with any real life entrepreneurs who are serious about their craft. About the only time that I can remember when I even remotely dealt with entrepreneurship or was exposed to entrepreneurship in real life was when I was in middle school. In middle school, there were these very popular products called Silly Bandz. Silly Bandz were a hot commodity and they had a direct correlation to your coolness factor in the social hierarchy of the cutthroat world of middle school; the more Silly Bandz you had, the more fame you garnered from the masses of 11-13 year olds in middle school. I would say that the business negotiations associated with these rubber bands were far more sophisticated affairs than many negotiations that go on between businesses today. The Silly Band trade brought out your inner entrepreneur, whether you knew you had it in you or not. I partook in many of these trades and amassed a hefty collection of them myself, in order to further my ascent to the top of the social hierarchy. Many people would buy Silly Bandz for an inordinate amount of money just because they were "rare" shapes that no one had seen before; simple supply and demand negotiations. However, soon the rare shapes would be mass produced and everyone would have them, decreasing their value, so you had to strike while the iron was hot and quickly sell them for triple what you paid for them. I made a pretty good chunk of change in these business dealings for an 11 year old through understanding the laws of supply and demand. I would say that this is the only real hands on experience I have had with entrepreneurship so far in my life, or at least the most profound impact that an entrepreneurial experience has left on me. I have included a picture of many Silly Band shapes down below for reference.

I enrolled in this class because I am a Business Administration major and need to take this class to further my education, however I did not mind having to take this class as I was very intrigued as to what exactly the specifics were that entrepreneurship entailed and how I might be able to use these details in my own life moving forward.

Alex Clouser- Bug List Assignment 2

This "bug" list consists of 20 things that bug me in my everyday life and "why" they exist:

1. The 122 bus has such a large interval in between when it stops by my apartment, so I often miss it or end up having to walk. 
1. Why: There are only a few 122 buses that run that route so after the 20 minutes when both buses make separate stops at my apartment complex, there is about a 50 minute interval before they would stop at my apartment again. 
2. Having to restrict my eating habits so that I can lower my cholesterol and not have a heart attack before I am 30. 
1. Why: I did not watch what I ate closely the past couple years and my parents both have high cholesterol so my genetics are already prone to high cholesterol. 
3.  Online classes that do not use the Canvas calendar for assignment due dates. 
1. Why: These classes use other websites to assign homework and quizzes and the due dates are not inputted into Canvas. 
4. When people don't use turn signals and you have to brake super hard to avoid rear-ending them because they slow down out of nowhere and turn off so slowly. 
1. Why: People are too lazy to put on their turn signal or forget to turn it on to let other people know their intentions. 
5. When people pull out in front of you and cause you to slow down a lot from the pace you were going instead of just waiting for you to pass and pulling out behind you because you were the only oncoming car. 
1. Why: People misjudge the distance between your car and theirs and don't take into account the velocity with which your car is moving relative to their stopped car. 
6. Having to buy/rent expensive textbooks that I am only going to open a handful of times to do about 2 assignments the entire semester. 
1. Why: The course requires you to buy a textbook and the publisher has to charge an insane price in order to recover the investment they put into the book because they don't expect to sell many copies of each book since the market for textbooks is so niche. 
7. Having to take my trash to the dumpster downstairs and walk down a bunch of stairs with it every time the trash is full. 
1. Why: There is no trash chute or receptacle on my floor of my apartment, so I have to dump my trash in the dumpster on the ground level that the garbage truck picks up. 
8. You just want to watch one YouTube video and then 3 hours later you are still watching YouTube and find yourself questioning everything about life. 
1. Why: YouTube's suggested video algorithm and autoplay feature are very well done and continue to keep you sucked into the void that is YouTube until you finally wake up and find that you have been watching videos for the past couple hours. 
9. Buying a product and then finding it for a cheaper price somewhere else a few days later. 
1. Why: It is hard to compare prices from store to store because not all websites are accurate about the prices of products and it is not practical to drive from store to store to see the difference in price between a product because that would waste more money in gas than you would probably save on the product. 
10. Gas prices are always so high. 
1. Why: It takes money to ship the gas inland and various factors such as seasonal changes in demand or a problem with an oil rig can raise the prices drastically as well. 
11. When someone waves at a person behind you but you think they are waving at you so you wave back and then feel embarrassed. 
1. Why: Your brain tells you that even though you have never met this person before, you know them, and rather than be rude and ignore them you give a slight wave so as to be courteous and then realize that they are, in fact, greeting someone walking behind you. 
12. Waiting in the long line at the Chick-Fil-A at the Hub. 
1. Why: Everyone loves Chick-Fil-A and the Hub is always busy because it is centrally located. 
13. People claiming that UCF are national champions. 
1. Why: UCF went undefeated in one season because they play in the AAC and don't play any good teams. If they played in the SEC they wouldn't even win half of their games.
14. You can't open your balcony door at night in the summer in Florida because of the mosquitoes and bugs. 
1. Why: Mosquitoes and bugs will get in and stay in your house until they die. 
15. When my roommates watch Dr. Pimple Popper during breakfast. 
1. Why: They like Dr. Pimple Popper and watch it a lot and even when I am trying to eat. 
16. When they put too much ice in my iced coffee. 
1. Why: Sometimes they scoop too much ice into my coffee and it dilutes it. 
17. Cooking chicken because I don't want it to be under cooked. 
1. Why: Under cooked chicken causes salmonella which makes you really sick. 
18. When fast food restaurants get your order wrong and you only figure it out when you get home.
1. Why: They were probably busy and read the order wrong or got distracted with something else. 
19. When my brother hogs the TV and doesn't let me watch what I want to watch. 
1. Why: My brother is selfish and wakes up really early so that he can get to the TV first. 
20. When people are mean to waiters and waitresses or anyone who works in the service industry over a problem that is out of their control. 
1. Why: They are probably having a bad day and are projecting their feelings of frustration on the employee. 

Reflection: I found this activity kind of challenging, but not too hard because I am annoyed and bugged by a lot of things daily. I thought it was a good exercise to get my brain thinking in a different manner than it usually does and to set my mind up to think in the way of an entrepreneur.

Test Post

My name is Alex Clouser and I am from Orlando, Florida. I am 19 years old and currently a sophomore at UF. I have played soccer since I was 6 years old and enjoy hanging out with my friends.