Final Reflection

The first Idea Napkin was the most informative experience. I was able to fully write out everything that I stood for and it really put things in perspective. I think that it really helped me understand what my values are and how to go about explaining those values. I also really liked interviewing people about my concept in relation to the Gainesville community. I learned that there is a lot more initiatives like my venture than I thought there was. For example, a school 30 minutes away actually already has hydroponics systems installed in their school! Rather than discourage me, this urged me to research further on how to scale the idea.

Week 14 Venture Concept #2

Opportunity
The opportunity that I'm addressing is the need for a shift in our diet and the inevitable food scarcity that will be occurring by the year 2050 with the rise in our population. There are not enough avenues educating the you on healthy eating choices and my venture concept intends to provide that. Additionally, my concept addresses the issue of food scarcity in inner cities (and beyond). The potential customers are schools and school boards. The product is geared towards students but the school board will be the one purchasing it. This means that I have the challenge of appealing to both the kids and the school board. This opportunity is huge. Every single kid can benefit from eating healthier. The focus of my direction will be to inner city schools because I feel they need the exposure to healthy food the most. That being said, that is not where my initial profit will come from so I will have to start off with targeting schools with more money to spend.

Innovation
My innovation is a school program that combines a vertical plant watering system with an online engagmenet platform to get kids engaged with eating healthy.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

I really liked how this article focused on the development of a new leadership style. I liked the quote- “many initiatives connected primarily by values rather than design.” This made me think of how we can get along with people who are going at things with different approaches but have the same values at their core. I definently agree that the corporate environment is ( and should be) focusing more on creating an environment that fosters innovation. 

Going for Google Week #14

1) A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO? 

I honestly didn't pay as much attention to the quality of my blog as I should have. Although this isn't an excuse, I'm taking this class as a last minute credit in my final semester of art school. I've been focused on completing my art projects and general things in life and haven't focused on the blog as much. That being said, I can address this question using the ideas I would have incoporated if I had taken it more seriously and not just as an assignment for a class. 

2) What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?

Keywords I would use are as follows: entrepreneurship, small business, hustle, healthy eating, vegan,vegartian, plant-based, schools, elementary. I would want anyone looking up these words to see my business idea. Anyone looking for vegan/vegetarian recipes or community could potentially be interested in this. I chose words like "growth" because it sybolizes our growth as a species, something that my product definentely is working towards. 

3) How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?

I think the youtube channel was a great addition. It would be a really good idea to keep a consistent format for each video made. For example making an opening and ending to each bio that you could just place in. Another example would be to take each video in a similar place. Of course this was hard to do because we were assigned to do a lot of public interviews but you could definently make sure you did a lot of public interviews. 

4) What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?

My Idea Napkin #1 was my most viral post. I spent a lot of time and effort on this post and it was my most high quality. The quality was noticed by the public as it has the most views. 

5) Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?

I did not make it past the first pages of google results. I made it to the 7thpage which is obviously not great. 

Week 14 Very Short Interview w/ Entrepreneur #2

The initial interview was much more vague. I feel like that the entrepreneur I interviewed was much more open with me when I interviewed him the second time around. Unlike the beginning of the course, I was able to speak in more specific terms relating to business and entrepreneurship.

Interview w/ John Bonani, Founder & CEO of ISG Imaging

What would you say the biggest risk you take every day (in regards to your business)?  Many, but one...Losing a large client Who would you say your customer base is and has it evolved over the years? Primary Customer base is advertising agencies and other print companies that do not do the specific service that we offer so we act as an extension or division  of their own business. And yes it has definitely evolved we used to deal with more end users and found it was better for us to deal with resellers Has your understanding of your customers developed throughout the years? Yes and understanding your customers needs is imperative to keeping that customer.  ---------------------------------------------------- Honestly, I don't think I've come that far in my discussion of entrepreneurship. The only thing that has changed is being able to refer to specific techniques and vocabulary when talking abut a method. When crafting my questions, I definently aimed at finding more specific answers. For example, I asked what detailed questions about the customer base. I've learned that an understanding of the customer base is extremely important and I'm really interested in an entrepreneur's journey to discovering that.

Week 13 Reading Reflection

My biggest surprise was the emotional bias section. This always brings you back down to earth in realizing that companies perform just like humans do. We all get equally jaded in our rational thoughts due to emotions and ego. I was confused about the section of the chapter where he goes on to talk about the pricing formula. It was difficult to relate it to my own business because he was using terms that I had never heard of before (or rarely heard in context). My questions to the author would be to explain the "Control Factor" a little bit more as well as to explain how we could apply it to our specific businesses. I didn't see anything wrong with the way the author wrote this chapter.

Celebrating Failure Week 13

I failed at committing to a major this semester. During drop/add week I had to choose a major and fully knew that not choosing one would leave me in a state of indecision for the rest of the semester. That is exactly what happened. This happens a lot. 

I guess I learned, for the thousandth time, how important trusting yourself is. The important of this was reiterated to me for sure. I think I’ve gotten too good at accepting failure. I’m very okay with it but don’t think I’m as motivated as I used to be about going forward. 

My Exit Strategy Week 13

1. I intend to sell my venture to someone eventually. Ideally I think that a big seed company would buy it. I believe that my program could be intellectual property 

2. I’ve selected this method of an exit strategy because I’m not passionate enough about it to stay committed to it for 10 years. I would either have to sell it or find a partner who was more passionate about the actual day to day work. I am passionate about the cause but I know that I would want to explore other options in life and couldn’t commit to it for life. 

3. I think that the class made me realize that I’m much more interested in art projects than more monetarily focused projects. 

Week 12 Reading Reflection

I was enlightened by all the things that could happen when things go wrong with a business without strategic planning. It made me think a lot about the different things to think about when starting a business. I feel like I have thought about the strategies I could take when starting my business, for example, I thought of the fact that the business was very vulnerable and at risk for failure at the lines of implementation. The entire business revolved around how the teachers would actually implement it in their classrooms. I thought of a solution for this, to offer skype calls with experts to help integrate the new curriculum seamlessly into the existing lesson plan. But this hapter made me realize that I really need to think more about how I would execute this and what my operations team would need to look like. I don't have any further questions for the author at this moment.

What's Next Week 12

I've switched my blog over so here is my idea for those who don't know. 

****I am offering my customers their lives back through nutritional educational. Each classroom will ge a vertical hydroponics kit along with seeds to grow their own food. Through this system, students will become invested in their food at a young age. The kit also comes with an online platform where students can track the progress of their plant growth and compete with other students.****

I think that next I will need to put together a list of potential schools I can reach out to.
In growing my existing market, inner city elementary a schools, I think I need to expand to wealthier elementary schools. This would provide needed capital because they would be able to afford it. Also, this capital would help in making the program better and more accessible for the inner city schools that may not be able to afford it.

In growing a new market, I think I could expand to middle and high schools. Originally I was only interested in working with elementary schools because I felt that there was a need to get in early but it would be beneficial to extend the program through high school. In my feedback, I was told that they felt that expanding it to go on beyond elementary schools would be extremely effective in keeping customers and revenue.

Week 11: Reading Reflection

1.I really liked how this reading unlike the majoritiy of the tohers, focused on how to improve your personal business strategies. I was surpsrised that this reading took that approach and it helped me a lot to be apply to apply my knowledge to personal ideas.

2.  I was confused of how to actually maintain the capacity to innovate.

3. How do you teach innovation to people?
How did you resolve your companies conflicting priorities?

4. I didn't see anything wrong with the reading.

amazon Whisperer: Week 11

• Describe the revenue drivers you currently include in your business concept for this class. Revenue drivers are the different ways you make money. 
The main revenue driver I have is selling the product to schools. The schools will buy the kit. 
• Describe what kind of product offering you believe should be next. What's the next thing your customers want?
I would say that the next thing they want is an extension to the hydropincs system. 
• Describe how this "next" thing will enhance your existing product/service offering. Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?
Yes I think that a more in depth hydropincs system would definently improve the experience. It would give kids who are interested a deeper knowledge into the project. 
• Go to Amazon and try to find a product that is similar to the one you want to offer next. Describe the product. Include a picture of the product.
Hydroponics Growing System
 This is the type of growing system I would offer. The vertical aspect adds easy storage and allows it to be inside. 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00W87F94U/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?qid=1459125116&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=hydroponics+growing+system
• What are the customer reviews for the product? What, exactly, do customers not like about the product? What do they like about it?
• Customers seem not to like that it isn't that accessible. They seem to like the general concept of the product. 


• Describe what design/usability changes you'd make to the product. 
I think I would offer color options to be more accessible to kids. 
• Describe why you think this product would make a good addition to your current product/service offering.
• I think this would make a good option because kids like variety and get bored easily. 

My Unfair Advantage: Week 11

1. Me 
V: Art experience for problem solving
R: Mix of an artisitic mind with business savy
I: Artist process mindset

2. HM Clause
V: They're in the seed industry
R:
I: The connection I have with them.

3. Living in Gainesville
V: The connection to farms
R: The consciousness to farming and eating from the ground
I: 


4. Connection to Green Bronx Project
V:
R:
I:

5. Challenge 2050
V: Extremely easy access to the top people in the industry.
R: UF is the only school in the country that has a program like this
I: """

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. 

Week 10 Reading Reflection

2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

Honestly the finance part was confusing to me. Logistics are really hard to follow unless I’m directly dealing with them. It’s much easier to work with business tactics when working on an actual business than just reading about them. (Which I assume is why this class is structured the way it is.)

3. Two Questions:

Do you feel like entrepreneurship is becoming overly-saturated? 

When do you know when to let someone go?

4. Anything wrong with the reading?

No I really didn’t see anything wrong with the reading and I don’t feel I know enough to comment on it. 

Growing My Social Capital: Week 10

The Domain Expert: Steven Ritz, Green Bronx Project

Steven Ritz is an elementary school teacher in The Bronx, NY. He is also the head of The Green Bronx Project, the project of which my company is based off of. I emailed him back in December asking to get a tour of the school. He actually didn’t respond in time but because I emailed him back then, it was easy for me to follow up with him now. 

The Market Expert: 

Radha Agrawal, Founder of Supersprowtz
Radha Agrawal is the founder of Supersprowtz, a company that promotes healthy eating to kids. I knew her because I used to work forher twin sister, Miki Agrawal. I think working for her sister gave me an advantage and I don't feel like I owe her any favors. I promote her companies a lot (I'm a huge fan). That being said, if there was every anything she needed I would help out immediately. 

The Supplier: Veronica, HM Clause

HM CLause is a seed distributor. I actually presented this idea to them already and they really liked it. They said it was extremely feasible and that I had covered all of the potential risks involved.  I met Veronica from a program I’m in, Challenge 2050. Veronica was eager to talk to me about how this would would work within HM Clause. Since I've met her in person, I feel that it was easier for me to reach out to her. As a return favor, I am to email my friends about the internships they are having this summer.

Reflection: I would say this experience has differed from my networking in the past because I was reaching out to people for specific reasons. I feel like most networking I've done has been in order to put certain people "in my back pocket" and not as much straight and to the point. 

Elevator Pitch

I only received one comment on my elevator pitch so I wasn't able to fully get a holistic approach to how I wanted to change it. I did make sure to make it shorter this time. My last video was 2 minutes long. I think I did a good job of keeping it concise this time.


https://youtu.be/5FsKwgXDGZw

New Blog

There were a lot of issues with commenting on my Tumblr account so I've decided to create a new blog. I've included the link to my old blog in case anything is needed from that blog.

OLD BLOG: http://bonanient3003.tumblr.com/