14A - Halfway Reflection

1.     One behavior that I have developed to keep up with the requirements of this course is that of getting ahead. I believe that starting work early makes the requirements of this course less stressful, as you won’t feel pressured to get assignments done at the last minute.

2.     One moment that I felt defeated was during the elevator pitch assignment. It took me several attempts until I finally had a version that I was happy with. However, I felt like giving up during the times of struggle because I was unsure if I would ever get a clip that I was happy with. What pulled me through was the thought of all of the determination and hard work that I had demonstrated up until that point. I feel like I have definitely developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months in the sense that I have been very determined to stay on a strict schedule of getting assignments done early. I experienced one circumstance in the beginning of the semester in which I waited until the last minute to do an assignment and feel that my best effort was not exerted. That moment contributed to my tenacity to now get ahead in all of my classes.

3.     Three tips I would give next semester’s students about fostering the skills that support tenacity and developing the tenacious mindset would be to create an agenda and follow it, keep the end goal in mind, and to always reach out to your professor or TA for assistance if needed. By creating an agenda and following it, you are exemplifying tenacity in your determination to always get assignments done early. By keeping the end goal in mind, you will always be looking forward and remain persistent in reaching that goal. By reaching out to your professor or TA for assistance when needed, you will never feel like you can’t move forward if you don’t fully understand something.

13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

I chose to read the autobiography of Nike’s founder, Phil Knight. I was surprised the most about the whole story in general. Knight, although very successful because of Nike, has always stayed out of the spotlight. Unlike some other highly successful CEO’s, Knight was always very quiet about his endeavor, which made this story very interesting. I admire Knight in a lot of aspects, but I most admire his courage to go all out for his dream. One very courageous move that Knight made was calling for a meeting with Mr. Onitsuka, the CEO of the Tiger Brand in Japan. He secured a meeting and that was the beginning of Knight’s journey. I can honestly say that there is not one part of Knight that I do not admire from what was shared in his book. He stayed humble throughout his career and built an empire in the process. One notable struggle that Knight faced in the early days of Nike was finding customers. He started out very small, selling very small amounts of athletic sneakers in retail stores.

One competency and highlighted characteristic of Phil Knight was his ability to never give up. Knight was as persistent as they come, and no challenge or obstacle he faced brought him down from building his successful athletic sneaker company. One part of the reading that was a little confusing to me was how he kept getting banks to believe in him enough to continue investing in his company. Even at Knight’s lowest points, he was able to convince banks to continue loaning him money to further his journey of creating Nike. I believe that if this were to happen now, it may be a little tougher to convince banks to loan money without any signs of progression and numbers to back up the request.

If I had the opportunity to ask Phil Knight two questions, they would be:

1)    What pushed you to keep going after facing all of the struggles you did?

2)    How did you look past your generally shy and introverted personality to gain the courage to reach out to the CEO of Tiger and execute a meeting with him?

I would ask him the first question because I am always interested in learning of an entrepreneur’s mindset when facing adversity. I believe that mindset is what separates entrepreneurs from the rest. I would ask the second question because I can relate to it personally. I am generally more of a shy individual, but also understand that networking and taking bold moves to meet with higher level executives who can help can be extremely beneficial to building on any business idea. I would be curious to his mindset on how he overcame is introverted personality to gain the courage to reach out to Mr. Onitsuka.

If I had to guess, I would say pretty confidently that Phil Knight thoroughly believes in hard work and would credit it to a lot of his success. I share this opinion with Mr. Knight. I believe that there are no short cuts, and a combination of hard work and persistence is the key to success in anything you set out to do.  

12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

My target segment is restaurant owner's and managers between the ages of 25-40. I believe this segment of people understand the true value of technology and what it can bring to their business. 

Interview 1: Restaurant owner of a local BBQ restaurant (Age 32)

In this interview, I had the chance to speak with a local BBQ restaurant owner. His situation is a little different because a lot of his foods are already prepared, but he still sees the need of offering quicker service to his customers. He told me that he offers a happy hour in the early evening, and that is when his place gets extremely busy. He says that everyone comes after work to get drinks and BBQ, and  during this time it becomes difficult to serve everyone immediately. Due to the fact that his happy hour is only a couple of hours long, everyone piles in at the exact same time. He says that he has been trying to gather possible solutions for some time without adding a ton of payroll. He made a good point in saying that nobody would come to work just for a couple of hours, and he would not need all of the extra people he would have to bring on for an entire shift. 

Interview 2: Restaurant owner of a diner (Age 38)

In this interview, I had the chance to speak with the owner of a local diner. In this interview, we discussed what his busiest times were. He told me that Saturday and Sunday morning are his peak times during breakfast. He says that during this time, he has the most issues. He currently has a POS system in place where he can tell how many customers walked out and when, and he noted that he suffers the most customer walk outs during the weekend breakfast hours. He blames this on everyone piling in at one time, and not everyone being attended to in a timely manner. He has looked into possible solutions to this problem by speaking with other restaurant owners. 

Interview 3: General manager of a local sports bar (Age 26)

In this interview, I had the opportunity to speak with the general manager of a local sports bar. He says that his busiest hours are during big sporting events. He says that during a big MMA fight, football game, or basketball game, sports fans pile in to watch the games and buy drinks and food. He says that the crowd he gets during this time are often rowdy, and often times make scenes when they are forced to wait excessive times to order their food and drinks. He has tried looking into a solution to this problem by discussing with his cousin, who also owns a sports bar in another state. He believes that implementing technology in his bar would ensure that customers would be satisfied as they could order drinks as they please without being forced to wait for a bartender. He also believes this would bring in more revenue as more drinks would potentially be ordered. 

Upon these 3 interviews, I learned that restaurants face the biggest issues during their peak times. Each restaurant had their own peak times and reasons for it, and would all likely benefit from adding technology to their customers dining experience. The three people I spoke to all seemed to be aware of the issues, and were interested in any possible solution that I presented. They all concluded that a change was needed to ensure that all of their customers leave satisfied. 

11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

About Me

I am currently a junior in the UF online degree program, majoring in business administration. I am very business-minded, with skills in technology and math. I am currently a manager at a local restaurant. My aspirations are to get technology into all casual restaurants. Technology is bigger than ever right now and has the potential to positively impact the dining experience.

What am I offering to customers?

Customers of my product would be in the restaurant sector and would see a positive impact in the service they are providing to their clients. Adding a technological device on each table and allowing for customers to order at their own leisure would prevent customers from leaving a dining experience unsatisfied.

Who am I offering it to?

Based on my interviews, I came to the conclusion that my customers are in the restaurant sector that offer a casual setting. Restaurants such as Ale House, Chili’s, Flannigan’s, and more would be my target group of customers. All of these restaurants offer a casual dining experience to their clients and could use some assistance in offering a quicker and more efficient service.

Why do they care?

Customers of my product would see value as it would assist them in offering the most for their clients. The number one goal of restaurants is customer retention and offering my product in their setting would allow for an optimal dining experience, sure to bring customers back!

What are my core competencies?

My product differentiates from everyone else's as it offers an all-in-one experience. For instance, customers can place not only dessert orders, but also food and beverage orders right from their table. Imagine how convenient it would be to order at your own pace. It would essentially be like putting a POS computer system at every table.

I believe that these elements fit together. In my experiences, the number one priority of restaurants is customer satisfaction and retention. The goal of restaurants is to keep customers happy so they will be more likely to return. One of the biggest issue’s restaurants face today is attending to impatient customers immediately. Thus, customers get upset and often times never return for business. My product would eliminate these hardships and ensure that customers always are always attended to.