1. The first person I reached out to was Vik Bhide, who is the Director of Transportation for the City of Tampa. She would be my domain expert as she is familiar with everything that goes into transportation within the city. She would be able to provide insightful information into congestion and traffic patterns in Tampa and any potential solutions. Unfortunately I have not yet heard back, but she would be a good connection to have going forward with anything relating to transportation.
2. The second entity I tried to connect with Commercial Building Services Inc. located here in Tampa. They are a commercial contracting company and are familiar with large scale construction operations and thus would qualify as my market expert. They too have yet to get back to me but having a large scale construction company as a connection will be very beneficial going forward.
3. Lastly, I reached out to Tampa Steel & Supply who supply steel and other large scale needs to construction companies and contractors. They would be my supplier in this instance, and it was interesting to familiarize myself with what all it would require for a project of this nature. Although I was not able to directly reach them, their website alone was very informative and emphasized to me how a connection like this could possibly benefit me in various facets in all future endeavors.
Although I do not technically plan on pursuing a career in construction or contracting, this was a very insightful process from a general networking perspective. This differed from previous networking for me in the sense of specifying a domain and market expert as well as a supplier. This will help me hone my networking abilities in the future in focusing on those who would be able to benefit me.
Friday, March 27, 2020
Idea Napkin No. 2
1) Recognizing one's own strengths and weaknesses is not necessarily always as easy as it sounds. Personally, there are two things I tend to note and that is for one, I am a hard worker in anything I do and I like to think I am self-motivated. I guess there are really three things because I also usually include the fact that I work with other people, and more specifically other highly motivated individuals. I've had a rather diverse background of experiences from working for a Congressional office to manual labor in the Florida summer heat. Thus I believe this has paved the way for my future aspirations that are still to be determined. If I were to hypothetically pursue the route of attempting to solve the problem of traffic, that would change a lot of my life as I currently know it.
2) The problem itself is rather simple and that is the unmet need of traffic but the solutions on the other hand are not so simple. Considering this has been a problem for years, there is no one single solution and so I believe a combination of things would be necessary. To start, the enhancing and upgrading of public transportation(buses, trains, etc.), combined with promoting carpooling and other methods of cutting down on congestion. Lastly, the unique aspect of an overpass from one point to another in the more crowded corridors without lights or anything to create any congestion.
3) The beauty and simplicity of this problem and therefore my solution is that it is applicable to nearly everybody regardless of demographics or psychographics. The primary factor for me would be location as the issue of traffic is not nearly as large of an issue in some of the smaller cities.
4) Traffic is something that no matter who you talk to or where you are for the most part, it will be something that people complain about. Countless politicians and officials have attempted to solve this problem with solutions somewhat similar to mine but have not been successful. In my opinion, there will never be a perfect solution that will entirely eliminate traffic, but limiting it would be a success.
5) To be honest, there is nothing that sets me or my solution apart or that has not been attempted before. With that said, I do not believe my unique combination of solutions has ever been set forth in the right environment and thus it is something that could ultimately prove to be a viable solution.
I only received one comment on my first post, so there was not much to change within my second post. She agreed with basically all of my points and then suggested I consider civil engineering to be able to execute this solution. As a senior in the sports management program, this would be rather difficult to do at this point. Instead, if I were to work on a potential solution to this issue I would have to hire/work with people like that in doing so.
2) The problem itself is rather simple and that is the unmet need of traffic but the solutions on the other hand are not so simple. Considering this has been a problem for years, there is no one single solution and so I believe a combination of things would be necessary. To start, the enhancing and upgrading of public transportation(buses, trains, etc.), combined with promoting carpooling and other methods of cutting down on congestion. Lastly, the unique aspect of an overpass from one point to another in the more crowded corridors without lights or anything to create any congestion.
3) The beauty and simplicity of this problem and therefore my solution is that it is applicable to nearly everybody regardless of demographics or psychographics. The primary factor for me would be location as the issue of traffic is not nearly as large of an issue in some of the smaller cities.
4) Traffic is something that no matter who you talk to or where you are for the most part, it will be something that people complain about. Countless politicians and officials have attempted to solve this problem with solutions somewhat similar to mine but have not been successful. In my opinion, there will never be a perfect solution that will entirely eliminate traffic, but limiting it would be a success.
5) To be honest, there is nothing that sets me or my solution apart or that has not been attempted before. With that said, I do not believe my unique combination of solutions has ever been set forth in the right environment and thus it is something that could ultimately prove to be a viable solution.
I only received one comment on my first post, so there was not much to change within my second post. She agreed with basically all of my points and then suggested I consider civil engineering to be able to execute this solution. As a senior in the sports management program, this would be rather difficult to do at this point. Instead, if I were to work on a potential solution to this issue I would have to hire/work with people like that in doing so.
Friday, March 20, 2020
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Customer Avatar
My customer is your average person, as cliche as that sounds. His or her hobbies likely include playing sports or going to the gym, reading or playing games, and spending time with family and friends. They tend to drive a typical four sedan, depending on if they have kids or not. The car is likely black or white and is a newer model, but nothing too fancy. They watch popular TV shows such as the Bachelor, college and pro sports, and the nightly news. My customer can be an array of ages so my guess is some have kids and other don't. Amongst those who do, some of those are likely to be adopted. They enjoy books all of types, from John Grisham to non fiction biographies, etc. Views of politics vary just like any other group of people, but generally are more moderate. The typical age is in the young adult to midlife range but on average tend to feel older than their age.
The avatar I created did somewhat resemble me at least at first glance. The hair, eyes, facial features are all somewhat resemblant of my own. This is probably not a coincidence when I think about it as I probably chose a lot of features I saw in myself when creating this customer avatar.
Friday, March 13, 2020
What's your secret sauce?
As someone who always orders extra of the "special sauce" at any restaurant where it is available, secret sauce is an invaluable ingredient to the recipe of success. When considering my personal sauce the five things that come to mind are:
1. Personable - I believe this is my biggest ingredient as I love to work with other people and believe I work best that way.
2. Hard-working - This is something that seems very general and applicable to a lot of people but this is something I pride myself on as one of my main attributes.
3. Leadership - This is something that's vital for any entrepreneur in my mind as you must be able to galvanize people and get them to believe in your mission.
4. Problem-solving - Whenever a problem arises being able to solve it in an effective and efficient manner is a crucial ingredient.
5. Empathy - Lastly, being able to relate to those you are working with and around is key for any entrepreneur and that is something I personally think I strive at.
In conducting five interviews with people around me who I closely interact with regularly they agreed for the most part with my self-assessment on my strengths or secret sauce recipe. A couple of other traits they added were resolving conflicts, which somewhat goes hand in hand with problem solving, and lastly attention to detail in that I focus on all of the little things that make me successful.
1. Personable - I believe this is my biggest ingredient as I love to work with other people and believe I work best that way.
2. Hard-working - This is something that seems very general and applicable to a lot of people but this is something I pride myself on as one of my main attributes.
3. Leadership - This is something that's vital for any entrepreneur in my mind as you must be able to galvanize people and get them to believe in your mission.
4. Problem-solving - Whenever a problem arises being able to solve it in an effective and efficient manner is a crucial ingredient.
5. Empathy - Lastly, being able to relate to those you are working with and around is key for any entrepreneur and that is something I personally think I strive at.
In conducting five interviews with people around me who I closely interact with regularly they agreed for the most part with my self-assessment on my strengths or secret sauce recipe. A couple of other traits they added were resolving conflicts, which somewhat goes hand in hand with problem solving, and lastly attention to detail in that I focus on all of the little things that make me successful.
Figuring Out Buying Behavior No. 2
Figuring out the right segment and the buying behavior within that segment is imperative to being successful within that segment. After conducting several interviews, I found out that quality is the most important aspect to my potential customers followed closely by price. Style much less more important but price and quality are equally two factors that must be considered. Buying online has become a much more common trend as technology continues to evolve, but strangely enough, of the people I interviewed a lot preferred to buy in person. That way they could see and more importantly touch the product before they decide to purchase. Buyers today are generally more likely to finance the purchase as opposed to paying outright with cash. In closing the interviews, I asked what would be the deciding factor in whether or not they would be happy with their purchase. The primary answer was whether or not they regularly found themselves utilizing the product or not. In summary, in this segment one must prioritize the quality of the product at an affordable price and it must be something the customer can see themselves using routinely.
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