Week 15 Reading Reflection

1. Wow! This whole article was extremely interesting. These people going to poor countries to microfinance and give out loans to the poor to help them build a better life is pretty amazing. I would say the selflessness is what stands out the most to me. I know they obviously have to make money, but such a dangerous business with small loans doesn’t seem so lucrative until they build up their customer base.

2. Nothing was really confusing to me. I just think I might have handled a couple of the situations differently, but they handled most of the situations properly. For example, when they were being strong-armed by thugs would it be wrong to bring in authorities or strong arm them back? I don’t know the culture very well over there and I’m sure it could get dangerous, but extortion is illegal in most places.

3. I would ask him where his business started and his story on how he expanded it. I would also ask him if he personally travels to all these areas before setting up micro financing to make sure that they seem somewhat safe.

4. There was nothing wrong that I saw! I enjoyed this article and the fact that they doing business at the base of the pyramid.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1. I read both chapter 3 & 4 of Kuratko’s “Entrepreneurship” earlier in the semester and they were two of my favorite chapters. I would have to say chapter 3 “The Entrepreneurial Mind-Set in Organizations” changed the way I look at work. I like the idea of intrapreneurship in the work environment. Using an open mind to expand a corporation makes work more interesting than going in and doing the same tasks in and out. I have been working with my boss about this concept and have gotten much more freedom to do what I want, and am even allowed to do work from home and get paid occasionally.

2. Something that was a little confusing to me from chapter 4 was table 4.1 “Classifying Decisions Using a Conceptual Framework.” I didn’t like the layout of the table and the different quadrants were a little confusing.

3. I would ask Mr. Kuratko if he has used intrapreneurship in a corporate setting. I would also ask if he has been faced with any ethical challenges as an entrepreneur, what they were, and how he responded to them.

4. I cant argue with anything Mr. Kuratko said in these chapters. All the information was pretty well displayed and provided me with knowledge on social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in the work place.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

1. The due diligence evaluation came as a surprise to me. It’s not just evaluating the company’s profitability, it goes through the name of the company, the CEO, the date founded, the location, etc. This is different from my expectations of a thorough analysis of a business. Especially since it is pages long!

2. Nothing was necessarily confusing; it was just a lot of information to retain. Every table was pages long on things to do for analyzing businesses. From a chart for the amount needed to buy a business to a checklist for analyzing a business, it was all very intricate and detailed.

3. My first question would be if he’s ever bought a business and used these principles in real life or if he is just basing it off others experiences. I would also ask if valuating what a venture is worth in the future is really possible since it is essentially based on how well you run it.

4. I can’t deny any information that Mr. Kuratko used in this chapter. It all seemed logical and I don’t disagree with anything he said!

Very Short Interview Part 2

1. My initial interview wasn’t bad. I got a lot of information from Mr. Wilburn, and since I knew him previously I was comfortable talking to him. Craig is a smart guy and he gave me plenty of information on the importance networking, and the importance of finding the right people to do the job.

2. On my second interview with Mr. Wilburn we had a 10 minute phone call. My first question was how he decided his venture he wanted to go after. He told me that it was trial and error. He mentioned he originally went to school and studied health science and wanted to do physical training, but ended up finding his niche in real estate and loved it. He wasn’t scared to make a career change and jump in headfirst and it has worked well for him. I also asked him how he started. He said that before he even started trying to sell houses and build a real estate team he studied his first six months and learned the most he could before he started on his entrepreneurial path. He treated like a regular business and tested the market and honed his skills before going in, a true calculated risk. My final question was, is it all worth it? He said absolutely, he lives the life he wants, is financially free, and said that since he loves what he does he never actually works.

3. I think I’ve come a long way since I started this class, and my entrepreneurial mindset has changed. I was still very comfortable on the phone and felt good during my conversation. Craig’s a good guy and definitely enjoys talking about his venture, and likes helping others who want to succeed.

Celebrating Failure

1. While I luckily haven’t failed any classes or exams this past semester, I have failed a significant amount of times outside of the classroom. For example, as a realtor one of the things I do to get leads is cold call. Everybody hates getting bothered on the phone and asked questions about their home and why they don’t want to sell it through a realtor. Doing this, you fail the majority of the time, but occasionally you get people who will let you come out and check out there home and potentially sell it for them. I’ve literally failed so many times doing this I’m used to getting either hung up on or cussed out, and have desensitized myself to this. When I first started doing this however, I was always nervous to call and talk to a stranger that I didn’t know and most likely get shut down.

2. I learned to fail my way forward and never give up, because every time you fail you just get closer to that one success.

3. Failure definitely is hard, and it’s harder when it’s something important. I’ve come to realize that failure is inevitable in life unless you live such a boring life that you never challenge yourself or go outside your comfort zone. I’d rather fail 1,000 times than do the same thing every day and never fail. This class has helped me realize that failing is ok. Also, from reading the Entrepreneurship book, I’ve come to realize that its better to fail when you’re young and don’t have as much to worry about like a family or needing money to service when you’re too old to work. Go for broke while you still have a chance and give it all you’ve got!

What's Next

1. What’s next for my line in my MentalEdge Company is an energy drink. A healthy, nutritious, long lasting energy drink to compete with the existing market of sugary unhealthy drinks are what I feel will be my next product.

3. Based on the feedback received, I think what makes the most sense for my venture is to create more products for the product line that target a similar market. I got suggestions like coming out with more supplements to compete in the health and supplement industry. For example, protein powder, branch chain amino acids, and other workout supplements that people use. People also made suggestions towards what I felt was the next step, an energy drink. With my existing college market, I know that the workout market is also massive, as well as the need for sustainable energy in everything we do. The MentalEdge supplement would be perfect for studying, but maybe I could also come out with a pre-workout supplement, or other things that would supply energy to students in my demographic.

New Market

1. For my new market, I decided to switch my company from B2C to B2B. Instead of supplying supplements to customers, I would supply supplement ingredients at wholesale prices to companies who create these supplements for customers.

2. My new venture concept would definitely create value for this market, because companies who create these products need raw supplements in mass quantity. From protein powders to caffeine powder, selling these in mass quantity is all about buying low and selling high. I would have to have a massive amount of capital to buy these supplements in such bulk that I would be able to make money being the middleman.

4. Based on the interviews and what I feel, there wasn’t much to say about this industry. Since it is pretty straight forward, people agreed that I would have to be able to buy these products in mass quantity to have economies of scale, and thus be able to make a profit and run a successful wholesaling business. My assumptions and expectations were definitely correct though, because if I could come up with the capital and make this work, the demand is very high for these products and the business has the potential to be extremely successful.  I think this new market is equally attractive as my existing market, except for the fact that it is business to business instead of selling straight to the consumer. Personally  I would rather run a B2C business because you get to see how your product positively effects people.

#2 from existing market and #3 from new market: Interviews