Assignment 13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

Assignment 13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

I  read Mary Kay Ash’s Miracles Happen.

• What surprised you the most? I think what surprised me the most was the fact that Mary had
• to take care of her ill dad and basically all of the household duties too when she was only seven
• years old. Despite being a kid she knew exactly how to manage the situation and was always
• willing to help her mother. Her childhood was not a normal one but she enjoyed taking care of
• her dad and the house because of the confidence her mom installed on her. I was surprised that
• she managed it well and did not complain about it.

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? 
  I could say that I really admire how she created a company whose goal was not to earn profit,
  but to instruct and empower women. Mary Kay created a company where women had a chance
• to succeed by helping others and not competing with others. She had an incredible philosophy
• that helped women reach their full potential during decades and even now. I should mention that
• I also admire how she instead of retiring she decided to follow her dreams. There are not many
• people who would take that risk; however, she did it with the right reasons and succeeded.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? 
  I guess that what I least admired from the entrepreneur was that most of time during the book,
• she praised herself by saying how she was never envious and wanted to help everybody. I cannot
• tell if she is actually telling the truth or she is just trying to make her company look righteous. However, even if she is actually praising herself , I cannot ignore that she indeed helped a lot of women reach their potential and be independent.

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• 
  
• Mary Kay encountered adversity and failure during her whole life, but that did not stop her from
• trying harder the next time. Actually, facing adversity as a sales woman took her to initiate her
• whole business idea. She knew how hard it was for women to be accepted in the business field,
• so at first she wanted to help women by writing a book but later on she realized that it wasn't late
• for her to create a company dedicated to empower women. She demonstrated through her ideas
• that despite the adversities you can always succeed when working hard.

• What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
• Mary Kay demonstrated through her sales career that she had communication and leadership
• skills. Always trying to compete with herself, she was one of the best sales person in the company
• she was working on. Moreover, she had the skill to convince people and make them feel valuable.
• She also used this skill when she decided to create personalized sessions for her costumers. I
• believe that the skill that helped her the most was that she did not easily gave up, she was optimistic
• and hard working with any of her ideas despite of what others said. I believe that’s an invaluable
• skill for a business person since failures and adversities are part of learning.

• Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. 
  I was a little confused about Mary Kay’s adoptee program. Mary Kay explains how her
• employees recruit people from different places, but the commissioners are the ones who get the
• money from the recruiter. I am not really sure I understood it well, but that is the part that
• confused me the most because I do not see how a program like that could succeed.
• If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? I think I would ask what would she change from her starting business plan, if there is anything she now realizes was a big mistake. I believe that with her experience, she maybe now would realize that one thing that almost took her dream away. I would also ask if it was hard to work with her family involved? I do not have anything against family business, but I have read some stories of companies going bankrupt or split because of some family dispute.

• For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share
• that opinion?
• Mary’s opinion of hard work was that it is always possible to improve your work
• even when you think the opposite at that moment. She believed that you should not be
• disappointed when you make a mistake but encouraged to work harder next time. Moreover,
• she also thought that you cannot be the best in everything; therefore, losing is an important
• part of learning. Improving yourself as a parent, as an employee, as a student, was always
• possible and could help conquer failures. I strongly believe that improving is always possible
• and it is up to us to conquer our own failures.

Assignment 12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Assignment 12A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Choosing a segment: 

For this assignment, I chose the segment of business students. All of my interviews were with business students who

would like to or are planning to have their own business. One of my interviewees was a female student doing a

master in International Business at Pepperdine University, so that she can later on open her own business

( most likely retail or beauty related). My second interviewee was an international student majoring in General

Studies here at UF, who is studying business to be able to manage his family business back at home. The third

one was a Marketing student at UF who already knows that her business would be an online brand of imported shoes.

Interviews:

INTERVIEW INFO

What I learned: 

I learned that there might be a high demand for clothes that could fit someone's views since there is an increasing

demand for equality in young people minds. Moreover, most of the interviewees believed that the social cause added

value to the whole business idea. The business students I interviewed believed that the clothing line could create a

bigger impact in young generations rather than older ones. They all agreed that it was a good idea; however, they also

agreed that advertisement would be the key for success since the retail world is really competitive. Moreover, they

said that cooperating with my business idea would be a good way to promote their own business since it would mean

they are socially responsible.

My first interviewee believed that she could herself use the clothes to feel empowered and would pay to represent her ideas in her clothes. When I asked what could be done to try to fight violence and discrimination against minorities, they had different answers about creating awareness but they all agreed that making people feel empowered is one great way to fight this inequality. My third interviewee also told me that she has seen clothes that aim to empower women online, but they are only part of a collection. So, that is why she is not sure how successful my brand could be since bigger brands do it too but in a smaller scale. Additionally, when looking for a solution to the problem, I was told to focus in cities where harassment and discrimination rates are higher. If my goal is to empower minorities, I should also focus where most of the minorities are located. My second interviewee gave me the great idea to create products for immigrants to feel more welcome and able to adapt.

How I would describe this segment: 

I think that plenty of students are aware of what is going on in the world or at least in their country, most of them know

how important is to fight against discrimination and emphasize in diversity. This segment would buy my product for

their individual use but also to advertise for their businesses. This segment is a really good market target since they

are currently students who would like to invest in their clothes but also will become future business owners who want

to meet their customer's expectations.

Assignment 11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

Assignment 11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

• My name is Jazmin Sotomayor, I just transferred to UF from Broward College and I’m a General Studies Business major. I have a talent in working and managing groups of people, which helped me become the Vice President of Student Government in Broward. I have a lot of experience dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds and with different learning abilities. I have a passion to help individuals who have gone through violence, discrimination, and bullying.  I enjoy exploring new places and I am not scared of new things. If I were to start this business concept, I think it would play a pretty big role in my life. I watch the news and there is no single day where I do not see violence happening in different parts of the world. I want to advocate for minorities and people who feel unwelcome just for speaking a different language or having a different skin color. I think it would help me and others understand the importance of diversity in our society.

2. What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

• I am offering a product that does not only advocate for equality but also creates jobs for single-mom families in Peru. For customers, I am solving their unmet need of being able to advocate their ideas through clothes. Not only a simple graphic design, but actually clothes that could empower individuals and others. Moreover, I also found that other unmet need was that many single moms in Peru tend to migrate or leave their kids for long hours because they do not have many job opportunities. My brand wants to create flexible jobs for this minority in Peru. I want to create a responsible and ethical clothing line whose main goal is to help end discrimination and empower minorities.

3. Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common? 

• I am offering it to two main groups: individuals and companies. Individuals included in my target market are those who are in the age range of 15-35. My product is going to be mainly purchased by young women and men who believe equality and responsibility are important in the retail world. This young target market includes students and workers. I did not include older individuals because they are not that interested in advocating for diversity. However, any individual who believes our social goal is worth a small part of their salary, they are more than welcome. My main target market are those individuals who identify themselves with our clothes and believe there is a need to protest against discrimination.
• The second group is the companies who want to invest and help our social cause, which is to create jobs for single mom families. This target market is wider and could include from restaurants to supermarkets. Moreover, bigger retail stores could also buy and resell our products to prove consumers that they advocate for what we advocate as a brand.

4. Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

• I believe that customers will actually pay me money to buy my product because they understand the importance of social responsibility. Consumers expect a lot from businesses and what my brand offers wants to exceed those expectations. The public constantly prefers businesses that promote equality, responsibility and ethics, which is what my brand sells through our clothes and our social cause. I believe bigger businesses will buy my products to promote and advertise how they agree with our brand view and ethics. Additionally, I believe that clients would buy my products because they feel impacted by the brand's cause but also because they identify with our clothes.

5. What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?  

• I had to do my research to find similar businesses like mine. I found that there are plenty of small stores that sell a "pro equality" clothing line but they only do it for a special month or celebration. However, they seem to be businesses with no social cause beyond selling clothes. They do not seem to be popular since they are relatively new. I believe that having a social cause would be a great asset to advertise and promote the brand. Moreover, I already have the connections to connect with single mom families in Peru .My parents own a textile company, so the products and fabrics could come from there.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others.  

• I believe that all of these elements fit well together. Nevertheless, I believe that my business idea has parts that might be weaker than the rest. For instance, I do not have the connections to promote my business cause in the United States. Moreover, I am not sure if having an online store or a physical store would be better for the American consumers. These are all issues that occur because of my unfamiliarity with the American society, since I am not from here. However, I could fix this by doing the right research in the market and creating the right connections with the people who could really help me drive this business idea. Other than that, I feel that my business idea is not only about making profit but actually helping communities in the US and in my country.

Assignment - 10A Elevator Pitch No. 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK3PVgzykUA

Assignment 9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Assignment 9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

 

• Who: After conducting five additional interviews, I realized that there are groups of people that fall outside of my market. These individuals are men, kids, and elder people. Two of my interviewees were a young man and a young woman from Peru. They both agreed that selling clothes that could empower women and minorities was a great idea and they considered it a "must" in order to empower minorities and create a safer environment. However, the young man thought that the product was directed to women and other minorities but not men in general. Although, he agrees that this product could help others feel represented and powerful, he does not think that men have that need. My third interviewee was a mother and she explained that this product could help her feel represented; however, she would not buy that for her kids because she would rather buy clothes that fit their age better. Moreover, she loved the idea of creating jobs for single-moms by buying these products. My last two interviewees were an elderly couple who did not think that women nor men needed a product to feel empowered. They both believed that empowerment comes from each individual and that clothes could not do much without a strong personality. Moreover, they stated that women and minorities should buy the product only because it creates jobs for single-mom families.

• What: The elderly couple highlighted something I already knew: this product is not going to end with violence against women nor help every single-mom get out of poverty. Violence and discrimination would still be a problem. The product might contribute in a smaller scale but the problem would still be there.
• Why: I believe that the need is different. The people outside the boundary do not have this need because they either believe there is no problem at all or because they'll just rather buy a different clothing style. However, women and minorities who are usually discriminated in different countries all around the globe would think that this representation could not only help them feel empowered but also could contribute to create awareness.

 

Inside the Boundary Outside the Boundary

Who:	Women and minorities who want to feel represented by clothes Men who believe that representation is important.	Elders who believe that they do not need clothes to feel empowered. Men that feel there is no need to feel represented.
	Mothers who want to help other single-moms get a stable job	Kids who prefer a different clothing style.
		Mothers that prefer a different style.
What:	To create awareness about minorities and women's issues	No need for empowerment No need for clothes that could represent them
	To give women and minorities more independence
Why:	Discrimination and violence is still      Violence and discrimination a reality in our society.                          against women and minorities                                                               is not a reality anymore.

Assignment 8A – Solving the Problem

Assignment 8A – Solving the Problem

My product has to do with the risks presented by using ride-booking apps like Uber or Lyft. Drivers and users all over the world suffer from assault, harassment, and even abduction by using this platform. Being and feeling safe ought to be a priority for every women and men; therefore, what I am offering is an app that could quickly identify drivers and users' personal information by scanning their faces and plates. Being able to have this personal data could help thousands of people feel safer at riding or using these ride-booking services. Moreover, by having this information the user or the driver could instantly know if they want to ride with that person in particular. This facial recognition software could give users and drivers back the confidence to do something as simple as asking for an Uber or Lyft ride. It could enhance the security of this transportation service and even turn it into a selling point by marketing the much needed safety features.   

Assignment 7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Assignment 7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Ride-booking services prevention

• Opportunity:
  
  
• Using ride-booking services has become an essential part of Americans' daily life. This service does not only create a convenient and faster way to get to our destinations, but also creates an unsafe environment for women and men who use or work for this private service. These ride-booking services have shown that not only women but also men suffer from sexual assault, robbery, and even abduction during the rides. Therefore, I believe that an app that uses a facial and plate recognition software could prevent crimes.
  
  
• The who: Americans who constantly use ride-sharing services
  
  
• The what: They are victims of sexual assault, robbery, and abduction
  
  
• The why: Safety challenges related to poor background checks and safety standards for drivers and users.
  
  
• Testing the who: Not only Americans have this need, but every person in the world who uses or works for these Ride-booking services. Women and men are both under risk to being assaulted or harassed while using this service. Nevertheless, I think that the majority of people who have this need are women who are either drivers or users.
  
  
• Testing the what: It cannot be denied that ride-booking services have been helpful and convenient for many people. However, riding with a stranger could be reason enough to be prevented of the risks. This prevention could help both drivers and users to not become a victim of different crimes.
  
  
• Testing the why: Unscrupulous drivers and users are taking advantage of these services and I cannot think of way to describe their crimes but by saying that each of them are motivated by their own "justified" reason. Women and men are under risk by trying to use a "helpful" service; therefore, I think that it is crucial to find a different way to prevent these crimes.
  
  
• Interview #1:
  
  
• This interview was conducted with a Peruvian student who was an user for one of the biggest ride-booking services. She was disgusted by the amount of crimes that are being committed through these ride-booking services in Peru and the world. Moreover, this student said that to avoid being assaulted she just avoids using these services. She believes that the companies offering these services need to create a better system to avoid drivers with criminal records and mental illnesses. This student also mentioned that her parents do not let her use these services anymore and they rather pick her up due to the large amounts of crimes committed against women in these services. This interviewee believes that women suffer this problem more than any other gender. However, she acknowledges that men are not spared by these crimes.
  
  
• Interview #2:
  
  
• This interview was conducted with a male college student. He believes that people are not more exposed to crimes when they use these ride-booking services. The interviewee stated that these services might be safer than the news show because news use an amplification to have higher audience rates. Moreover, he thinks that drivers or users who commit crimes in this platform are taking advantage of these ride-booking services. However, that does not mean that the ride-booking services are doing a poor job at creating a safety environment for users. He said that he feels safer using these services because he knows that drivers go through background checks and their personal information is compromised.
  
  
• Interview #3:
  
  
• This interviewee is a female student who is a currently user of one of the biggest ride-booking services. She thinks that ride-booking services are just as insecure as any informal taxi business. Moreover, she explained that there could definitely exist more measures to make these ride-booking services safer but that it would come with a price. She stated that although there is a risk until certain extent, she uses this service because of how convenient and cheap it is. She said that there are some security measures one can take as a driver or a user. For instance, she mentioned sharing your live location with someone else or sharing details of the car and the driver.
  
  
• Interview #4:
  
  
• This interviewee is a young male in college. He specified that he has never suffered any assault while using these ride-booking services but that he does not believe they are completely safe. He thinks that although the drivers go through background checks, you never know with who you are driving. Moreover, he believes that the companies who offer these services should make sure that the drivers go through psychological examinations before they are able to work for these services. He said that once he read about a driver being robbed and almost murdered; therefore, he thinks that the danger is for both the driver and the user.
  
  
• Interview #5:
  
  
• This interviewee was a female student. She believes that these ride-sharing services are safe in comparison to a normal taxi because of the technology they use. She stated that every time she goes into a ride-sharing service, she sends her location to friend or a relative. Moreover, she explained that the company that offers this service can also see where the driver and the user are. Although she feels safer in a ride-sharing service more than it a taxi or public transportation, she stated that this might be more of a problem of the specific country than with the company itself.
  
  
• Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before? 
  
  
• After interviewing these five students, I found different perspectives about the dangers of ride-booking services. Most of the interviewees believed that ride-booking services are not safe and there is a need to avoid crimes. However, they also stated that this safety issue is not the ride-booking services complete fault. Moreover, most of the students trust these ride-booking services, but anyway take their own precautions. It must be mentioned, that both men and women feel unsafe while using these services and believed that an app that could scan faces and plates to have quick personal information could be really helpful in their daily life. By giving these interviews, I concluded that the danger is everywhere; however, like any other risky situation, people tend to take their own precautions and want different ways to avoid crimes. Therefore, an app that could use a facial recognition software , as well as a plate recognition software could really safe lives.