Blog for ENT 3003

As I pointed out in my earlier venture concept, I plan to divest myself of the business within 10 years.   The hope is that I will be able to make decent profit on the sale, which include the current clients, and goodwill.   An exit strategy plan is needed to keep one from going in to a “goofy loop.”   In other words, if you don’t know when you have reached the point of exit.   How will you know to just exit?   Recently, I had a conversation with my auto mechanic.   He and his wife are the small business owners, and they provide an excellent service.   During our conversation, I learned that they have no plan in place of when they will leave the business, but they do plan to use proceeds from the business sale to retire.   I remember thinking, I sure hope that everything works out for you. I selected to sell my business as my exit strategy.   I don’t see a need to leave a business to my children, let them decide what profession to p...

For this exercise, I read “ The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough. 1.   see below A.       I did not know that either of the Wright Brothers were involved in an aviation accident where someone died B.       Well since there were two brothers, not just one.   I would say that they possessed a tenacious attitude towards their work C.         From the perspective in which the book was written, it seemed that the brothers assumed most people were trustworthy D.       They did encounter numerous failure and had to overcome loads of adversity.   For their failures, they just worked harder to make their Flyer work.   They overcame the adversity in much the same way as their failure.   Which was work hard and let their invention speak for itself 2.   Ingenuity, veracity, hard-working, honorable, well-spoken 3. The last chapter of the book w...

In my profession we work together with other local governmental agencies to accomplish certain tasks.   Although some of our missions are generally different, we all have some common over  arching themes.   Recently, we had an issue that caused our agencies to overlap with regulatory oversight.   Knowing in advance the issue was going to occur, we reached out ahead of time to the local government.   We proposed a work-around that seemed mutually beneficial.   However, as the date approached, the local government wanted to include our regulatory oversight into their mission.   Which is statutorily legal.   Here is where the failure occurred.   I was approached by someone in the other agency with whom I had rapport.   They asked for written direction from my agency requesting assistance with our oversight.   Even though the request was approved by upper management, I took ownership on the basis the request was not properly...

List of 10 things possessed and VRIN analysis 1.       Social Capital a.       I have several friends and family that work within the financial industry.   I do not see this opportunity as a very high rank on the analysis.   I am sure that numerous persons within and outside the industry have or know several individuals as well. 2.       Financial knowledge a.       Anyone that does not operate their personal or business finances in the red would be in direct competition.   That is, most Americans have knowledge of how finances work. 3.       Long-term vision a.       I generally make decisions not based on the here and now, but my decisions are based on the concept of how this affects my future.   In other words, I can start taking steps now to plan for later. Again I believe that this does not necessaril...

Existing Market: My idea for growth was to offer an introductory membership rate to increase paid members.   After the introductory period was over, the fee would increase to the normal amount. I spoke with several individuals in the existing market that provided several different ideas for growth.   Naturally not all the feedback I received was quite relevant to the task at hand.   Here are the general ideas that I was given from the discussions. ·         Provide information on programs and solutions to pay-off mortgage quickly ·         Target low-income earners to help them secure their financial future ·         Work with small businesses to provide financial services to help their employees ·         Target retirement communities by providing short seminars to discuss ways our service would benefit them I decided...

ENT: 3003 – Venture Concept Dan Parisoe, UF Student Here are the three elements that led me in the direction of my concept. Opportunity: The opportunity consists of both unmet and under met needs in two distinct categories.   The first category consists of the Generation X or Gen X demographic.   The individuals whom fall into this demographic are fairly set in their ways, and most of them are looking into the not so distant future for their impending separation from the work-force. The vacuum of under used financial planning in the demographic was most likely created from the baby-boomer’s failure to adequately plan.   The window of opportunity will be available for the next ten years at least.   The next category for opportunity is the Generation Y or millennial demographic.   The window for opportunity will exist for quite some time in the future.   The mass exodus of the baby-boomers will create a lot of employment opportunities fo...

For my third and hopefully final pitch I took the advice I received from one of my classmates. That is, I received feedback regarding the lack of information on the fees for my service.   I also received feedback on redundancy of statistics that I quoted during the pitch.   Finally, I learned that I was monotone in the delivery of portions of the pitch. Here is how I addressed the feedback I received for my last video.     For my third pitch, I was closer to my first pitch in content. So once again, I incorporated my service fees back into the pitch.   I did manage to keep the quoted statistics in the pitch; however, I made sure to eliminate the redundancy.   The stats acted as a hook for the pitch, much like the original video used humor.   I also conducted a few more practice pitches and did not use reference points to alleviate the monotone delivery.      I felt much more comfortable in front of the camera, but my pitch was n...

For the second reading, I chose the book “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman.   1)       The over all theme of the book was how we as humans make decisions.   According to the author, we have two different systems that are utilized or underutilized when we decide.   The systems are aptly named System 1 and System 2.   The writer discusses how each system is used, or when it is used. 2)       We learned about the process of making decisions with certainty, and with risk.   As an entrepreneur we will be making decisions involving risk.   Since there is no certainty in starting a new business or creating a new product.   The decision process will also be useful with trying to do market research to help avoid some common pitfalls of human psychology. 3)       The exercise I would design would be based on a decision test.   There were numerous examples throughout...

After the first pitch assignment, I received some feedback from two of my classmates.   I also provided my own internal feedback for completing the current assignment.   From my classmates I learned that I should practice the delivery to alleviate a few “Uh “and “Ums” that crept into my pitch.   I was also told that I had some dead space, which is probably where I was trying to remember my previous bullet points. For this pitch, I decided to conduct several more trial runs than the previous video.   I also worked with fewer bullet points.   I knew the point that I was trying to deliver, and my only bullet points were actual statistics.   I am confident with delivering an impromptu speech, as I do it constantly at work.   So, for the video I went with a more impromptu style of delivery.   I know the product better now than before.   Especially since we have been doing our own market research over the past several weeks. I also chose no...

For my first idea napkin, I provided generalized information pertaining my chosen service.  I did not receive any feedback from my classmates on the first napkin; however, I have obtained feedback on related exercises and from interviewing prospective consumers. 1)       I am a college educated individual in my late 30’s.  I have experience working with teams and making fiscally responsible decisions. I am adept when it comes to understanding time value of money and compound interest.  When I make decisions, I generally use a long-term approach.  I would like to see this business become a full-time career. 2)       The business will consist of providing financial advice to individuals.  3)       My services are for individuals that need assistance in making large purchase decisions, investment decisions, and general finance decisions. 4)       I can help ...

My prototypical customer is a late thirty, early forty something individual.   My customer has a family and therefore drives two different vehicles, a Chrysler Town and Country minivan and a Chevrolet Tahoe.   The vehicles are grey and white in color, respectively.   As far as television is concerned, much has changed in the past several years.   So, their favorite shows are “The Ranch” and “Lost in Space”, which are both on Netflix.   Their favorite authors include, JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Dan Brown, and C.S. Lewis.   Although they are not quite ready for their retirement, they are taking steps to secure their financial future.   Some days they feel older than others.   They have several children of their own, but the idea of adoption is not ruled out.   The customer and I have several items in common.   Such as, we are in the same age group, we both have a family, and we also have several vehicles.   I chose the tele...