Assignment 22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

Assignment 22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

The feedback I received on my second elevator pitch was very helpful. The majority of my feedback was to be more enthusiastic and speak louder and I think I was able to improve upon this in this elevator pitch. When I went to watch my second elevator pitch back I was not surprised by this feedback and I agreed it was something I could improve on. I think naturally I improved on this through just being more comfortable, as this is the third time doing this assignment. I still don't have my elevator pitch memorized, so if I was to do this assignment again I would hope to have it memorized by then. This was an assignment I was nervous for at the beginning of the class, but now I feel much more comfortable and confident in front of the camera.

Assignment 21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The book discusses the two systems in our brains that fight for control over our behavior and actions. Daniel Kahneman explains how this constant fight leads to mistakes in memory, judgement, and decisions, and how to deal with it through outsmarting your brain. The two systems are automatic and conscious. System 1, our automatic and impulsive system, is necessary for our survival and has been with humans for a very long time. System 2 is the opposite. It is aware, considerate, and conscious and it allows us to focus and show self-control. It is considered a recent addition to our brains, being only couple thousand years old. Kahneman discusses how our brains default to system 1 to make decision because it wants to use the minimum amount of energy. Many times, this causes errors and our brains will make mistakes. He also discusses financial decisions and how to separate our emotions when making decisions about money.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? I did not think that this book directly related to entrepreneurship, however I think many of the topics discussed are applicable to what we are learning. Understanding how our own brains work, and how others brains work is very helpful in business. Knowing how people choose to make decisions and judgements is extremely valuable when starting a new business. It can help acquire new customers and be successful in business transactions. It can also help us understand how we make our own decisions and evaluate whether we are making mistakes because of the fight between our two systems.  

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? Throughout the book, Kahneman included many examples that help the reader understand how their brain works. I would design an exercise similar to this that takes students through the same process. It would include photos, math problems, and short summary’s that invite the reader to think about their first interpretation of the exercise presented to them. We would discuss each exercise as a group, and then I would explain how our brains came to this conclusion, and if we misunderstood the situation. An example of this is the below illustration.

Kahneman discusses this image early on in his book, and explains how at first glance we assume the bottom line is obviously longer than the top line. However, after measuring it we can determine that the lines are the same length. System 1 causes us to think that the lines are two different lengths, but we know from system 2 that they are not.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations? I felt that I had many ‘aha’ moments and they all came from participating in the exercises that were included throughout the book. Each time, I found that Kahneman was able to predict what I was thinking and then I learned that what I was thinking was wrong. This has caused me to be much more aware of what my brain is doing and what steps to take to ensure that I don’t make mistakes and have misunderstandings because of my system 1 and system 2 fighting.

Assignment 20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Assignment 20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1.     Who they are, what their background is:

a.     Sam, owner and former manager of a Midtown bar

2.     How is this person a “domain expert”:

a.     He has been working in the restaurant business for most of his life. He went on to becoming a manager in Midtown and eventually the owner. Before working in Gainesville he worked in multiple other college towns.

3.     How I found and contacted this person:

a.     I have a friend who is a bouncer at a Midtown bar. I asked if he could connect me with his manager.

4.     Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:

a.     I explained how I felt about the current situation in Midtown and how I believed a new bar/restaurant would benefit the area. He went into detail about his own experience working and managing bars in college towns. It was very helpful, however he does not have experience opening a new bar.

5.     How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

a.     He has many years of experience managing people and handling the logistical aspects of owning a bar. He also understands the market and how to target college students and local residents. He agreed that there is an opportunity to open a new bar in Midtown, but explained it has to be a specific type of business to be successful. It was very helpful getting his perspective on how it would be to start a new business here and to learn about how businesses work with suppliers as well.

Market Expert:

1.     Who they are, what their background is:

a.     Sarah is a junior at UF who works as a promotor/ambassador for a popular Midtown bar, Swamp. She is also in a sorority here.

2.     How is this person a “market expert”:

a.     I was unable to find a researcher on my market, so I choose a student who works to target college students who enjoy going out. She also enjoys going out frequently to mid.

3.     How I found and contacted this person:

a.     I played club lacrosse with her two years ago and remembered seeing that she worked as a promoter for Swamp. I reached out the other day to see if I could talk to her about it.

4.     Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:

a.     We just texted back and forth about her experience working as an ambassador and what her background is with marketing to students. She was very open about her use of social media and other promotional tactics she uses. She shared some specific marketing posts she has done as well.

5.     How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

a.     As a college student, she has a unique perspective on marketing to students. She was supportive of my idea and told me she would continue sharing her marketing techniques with me. I think she will be a good resource to have regarding marketing to college students and she may be able to help me with marketing to Gainesville residents as well.

Industry Supplier:

1.     Who they are, what their background is:

a.     John. He works at First Mag in Gainesville and handles suppling local bars and restaurants with their beer.

2.     How this person is an “industry supplier”:

a.     He specifically works to communicate with Gainesville bars and restaurants to provide them with their products. It is popular to have options of beer from local brewery’s and I think that is something I would like my restaurant to have as well. He knows his products well and is very knowledgeable on supplying Gainesville bars and restaurants.

3.     How I found and contacted this person:

a.     Me and my friends go to First Mag a lot. The last time I was there it was not very crowded and I asked if someone working in supply management could talk with me.

4.     Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:

a.     I tried to make it a quick exchange because he wasn’t someone I knew and he was doing me a big favor. I explained what we were doing for class. He didn’t get into specifics numbers on how much their beer costs are for large orders. But he explained how it works depending on the business they are supplying to and it was very helpful.

5.     How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

a.     This gave me a really great background on the supply of alcohol for my business. I wasn’t expecting to get this inside knowledge, but it is going to help my view my business proposal in a more realistic way.

Finally: Reflect. This experience requires you to do a little ‘targeted networking.’ How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

a)     This assignment was more difficult than I expected. Finding people to talk to seemed hard, until I started reaching out to my current network. It helped me connect with people that I never would have expected to. In future networking events, I plan to try to develop relationships with as many people as I can. I learned you never know who could connect you to who you need. This was more different than most of my past networking experiences. I mostly did networking for job opportunities, where I was talking to people in fields that I was knowledgeable in. This experience was more out of my comfort zone and I didn’t know which questions were appropriate to ask and which weren’t.