Assignment 21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

Assignment 21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

• What was the general theme or argument of the book?
• The book I chose was Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and the general theme was that everybody is able to succeed by having or developing the right mindset. The book discusses the importance of our mindset in our actions and daily life. Moreover, the author explained where these mindsets come from and how we can work on them.
• How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in
• ENT 3003?
• I believe this book could inspire whoever reads it. This book teaches you valuable lessons
• that can be used in different situations of your life. In this class, I have learned that being
• organized and having multitasking skills was really important. At the beginning, I used to
• stress over the long assignments we had. However, now that I have read this book, I know
• that my success is only on my hands. It might be stressful; however, with the right mindset
• , now I understand that this class is a challenge that I need to learn from and not be scared
• of.
• If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that
• exercise involve?
• I believe I would have the class create a list of the moments where they thought they failed.
• Then, I would ask them what they felt and how they handled it. Were they optimist about
• it or did they feel stupid and sad? After having their answers , I would read some out loud
• and ask the class if they think that failures affect everybody differently. I would have them
• reflect on how our own mindset can sometimes destroy us or improve us. Moreover, I
• would explain the differences between the types of mindsets we have and show the
• consequences of each of them.

• 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?
• Biggest “aha” moment of this book was when I realized that I had a fixed mindset during
• most of my high-school years. I never understood how or why but when I read the book I
• could relate to the situations described. I almost forgot how I used to be back in high
• school, how I avoided homework and always made the less effort possible. I can say that
• I might still have a bit of fixed mindset; however, during these last years I have been
• constantly introduced to this different world with a different language, where I had to
• adapt myself and therefore change my mindset. I now see how I grew as a person and
• how my mindset helped me get where I currently am.

Assignment 20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Assignment 20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1. Who they are, what their background is:
1. Marisol is the owner of "Rayitos", a clothing line for girls in Peru.

2. How this person is a “domain expert”:
1. She has been in the retail business for over 10 years and has successfully managed five stores at the same time.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
1. This person is my mother and she was really happy to help me with this assignment.

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:
1. I explained to her my business idea and she showed interest and asked me more questions about how I could successfully create jobs for single mom families. She agreed with me about empowering women and she herself wants to create a change for younger generations to feel safer than she ever did and does.

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
1. She has the connections and a big influence in the retail world in Lima, Peru. She also understands my objective and is more willing to help women to feel safer and empowered.

Market Expert:

1. Who they are, what their background is:
1. Susan is the owner of Domitila Dresses, a growing company in Peru.

2. How this person is a “market expert”:
1. Susan's market is mainly women from 15 to 55. She managed the social media accounts and their market approach depending of the demographics of their consumers.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
1. She is my mother's friend and they both have stores in the same mall.

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:
1. I explained my business idea and she immediately though that I could start that now with the help of my family. She said that finally people understands the difficulties women go through and that I could start helping by having an online store. She told me that she had to create Facebook pages and Instagram when she realized most of her consumers are browsing online, and believes I should do the same.
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:

Susan has a lot of experience when dealing with younger consumers and has a lot of ideas about creating a successful website and social media accounts. 

Industry Supplier:

1. Who they are, what their background is:
1. Oscar is the owner of Pelo de Oso textile industry.
2. How this person is a “industry supplier”:
1. He basically manages the distribution of his supply to different parts of the country. He has his own store where clients go to check the quality of his supply.

3. How I found and contacted this person:
1. He is one of my parents' suppliers. I have met him couple of times before and his work is always efficient.

4. Nature of Exchange: What they did for me, what is the return expectation:
1. I explained my business idea and how I would be needing his product to create clothing lines that are inspired by the indigenous community from Peru. He questioned me about how much would I need to start and told me that he does not have many indigenous related supply but that he could contact me with one of his friends.

5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
1. Oscar has even more contacts in the textile industry, he could support me with some of his supply but he could also connect me with bigger industries.

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?

• I believe targeted marketing is hard; however, I had the contacts and could contact them easily through a phone call. However, all these connections are from Peru, not from the US, which is unfortunately because I need to study the US market as well. I think I need to network with more people here and UF could help me in doing that. There needs to be something done to create relations and generate resources for my business idea. This experience differed because I had to prepare and have the correct information for them to understand my final goal. I tried to be very specific to transmit my ideas.

Assignment 19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

Assignment 19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

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 am persevering and hard worker, I have strong leadership skills and I like to work with others. I am also a person that is really sensitive and empathetic, I do not like injustices and I speak up when others are being insensitive with their comments or ideas. If I were to start this business, it would play the biggest role in my life. I am really passionate about giving everybody the same opportunities and making this idea a reality would be wonderful. I aspire to start a change that would help women through clothes, give them control over their decisions and bodies.

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 help women feel themselves but also helps single mom families from Peru to succeed. There is inequality between males and females all over the world and what my product pursuits is to advocate for feminism and also create opportunities for women in the job field. The increasing xenophobia and gender discrimination in the US and Peru made me realize that something needs to be done to help women feel empowered. 

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?

My target market is women aged 14 to 35. These women could be from high school, college, or working. They care about other's issues and believe that female empowerment is needed in our society. They themselves want to feel empowered and be part of a community where fashion is ethical and responsible,

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. 

 They care because they themselves have realized of the many issues women go through in different fields. They want to make a change in others' life and would pay money to empower themselves and others at the same time. They have seen inequality with their own eyes and want to create a change. 

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

I grew up being involved with the retail world. My parents own clothing stores back in my country and have connections with different distributors and textile companies. I also found that there are some online and physical 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 making profits. Therefore, I believe that having a social cause would be a great asset to advertise and promote the brand.

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 these elements fit well together. However, I believe that I do not have the connections to promote my business idea in the United States. I do not know any distributor nor textile companies that could help me produce the clothes here. Moreover, I would need to do market research to understand the US consumer behavior. I strongly believe that UF could help me create connections with people with more experience in a similar market. Other than that, I feel that my business idea is not only about making profit but actually helping women in the US and in my country.

Feedback Memo: 

I decided to be specific about my target, in comparison to my last idea napkin where my market was really wide. I changed minorities and women to only women because of how difficult is to satisfy distinct communities. 

 I also decided to be more specific about my skills instead of talking about past experiences, I wrote what I learned from the "Secret Sauce" assignment. 

I changed why my consumers would care about buying this product by including that they are aware of issues women go through and want to actively create a change. 

Assignment 18A – Create a Customer Avatar

Assignment 18A – Create a Customer Avatar

My product can be sold to both individuals and businesses; however, my main costumers
would be only individuals. She is from New Jersey, which is the state with the largest
population of Peruvian immigrants. She is of Peruvian descent; however, her first language
is English and she is currently learning Spanish. She is majoring in International Relations
at the Rutgers University, and is 21 years old. She is proud of her ancestries and wants to
learn more about the culture. She loves her family and really enjoys going to the Market
Street "Little Lima" in downtown Paterson. She loves hanging out with her girl-friends and
she also tends to cook for them. She just joined the Hispanic Women United student
organization, where she learned about the difficulties minorities go through. She does not have a car and takes the bus every time she goes to college. She just started
being vegetarian and she is kind of sad that some of her favorite foods have meat. She really
likes her classes and is planning to do a minor in mass communication. She tries to keep a
healthy lifestyle by going to the gym but sometimes she feels overwhelmed by her college
classes. She also volunteers in dog shelters and is planning to adopt a dog or a cat. Her
family loves her and supports every decision she makes; however, they prefer her to be home
by 2am when she goes out. Her parents are always telling her that she should be careful with
men and advises that she should not trust anybody but her own family. That is why she takes
time to trust and meet new friends. She likes to party but prefers to watch Black Mirror in her
bed. She is part of Model UN and she sees herself doing that as a profession. She does not like
injustices which is why it is easier for her to be empathetic with others. Her dad was an illegal
immigrant for a few years until he met (my customer's mom) his wife; therefore, she knows
how difficult it is to be an immigrant in the US. She knows how hard her parents worked to
get out of poverty and is extremely grateful with them.

What do I have in common with her? I also really enjoy my classes and love dogs and animals
in general. I wish I was a vegetarian but I just cannot stop eating my favorite foods without meat.
I also like to cook and take my time to meet new people. I hate injustices and I believe that
empathy is really important to succeed.

I don’t think this is a coincidence. I came up with this business idea because I have seen the
struggles women go through in Peru and ,since I migrated to this country three years ago, now
I know what it feels to come to a country that has its own issues and its just culturally different.
I have myself seen the existence inequality between women and men. Girls like me or you
need to know how valuable they are and that is what this business idea is about.

Assignment 17A – Elevator Pitch No. 2

Assignment 17A – Elevator Pitch No. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7zhOeHpHEE&feature=youtu.be

Reflection of Feedback: Based on the feedback given, I realized that my market was too wide and I

had to choose a very specific group instead of just choosing minorities in general. I was also advised

to create a brand name since this would catch the audience's attention. Moreover, I was also told that

I should be specific with the type of clothes I am planning to sell because that would create greater

chances for investors to be interested in my idea.

What I changed, based of feedback: I chose an specific market instead of just targeting minorities

in general, I decided to focus only in women. I also tried to use the sunlight instead of my lamp since

that created a little bit of glare last time. I was also more specific about the type of clothes I would be

selling and how it could help others. Also, I tried to stand a little bit further from the camera and I

used gestures to be more energetic. Lastly, I wanted to have a brand name; however, I decided that

my brand name would be in a native language from Peru, which I do not know, so I need to do

research about it with some relatives who do know the language. This would take me some more time

since these relatives live in areas where WiFi and computers are not that common.

Assignment 16A – What’s Your Secret Sauce?

Assignment 16A – What’s Your Secret Sauce?

Five ways in which I think I have Human Capital:
1. Perseverance: When I set a goal, I know I am going to do everything as possible to achieve it.
I work hard until I get it and I do not get discouraged with failures.
2. Gratitude: I always try my best to show my gratitude with people who are polite and good with
me and others.
3. Compassion: I can easily understand other's pain or sadness. I make decisions thinking about
how would others feel and always try to listen their point of view.
4. Optimism: I am constantly thinking that I can achieve whatever I want. I know it won't be easy
but I try to keep myself positive with my ideas and with others.
5. Fearlessness: I am constantly facing new challenges and I am not scared about new ideas or
problems.

Interviews:
1. My friend Becky explained that I always work hard to get what I want.

https://soundcloud.com/user-772033134/beckie11

2. My boyfriend told me that I am always straightforward and authentic with my decisions. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-772033134/yossef-interview

3. My best friend said that I am a good listener and I am straightforward with my opinions.

  https://soundcloud.com/user-772033134/chumpi-audio

4. My good friend told me that I am always down to help and I am compassionate about others.

https://soundcloud.com/user-772033134/lani-audio

5. My other best friend said that I am always happy and try to spread my positiveness with others. 

https://soundcloud.com/user-772033134/whatsapp-audio-2019-03-10-at-93343-pm

Reflection: 
I think that how my friends see me and how I see myself is similar. I was not surprised with what they
said but more about how good they think about me. It really costed me to think about my human
capital, in comparison to my friends who seemed to know what to say and were positive about it.
I believe they were all accurate about my skills and abilities, which did not surprise me because I
interviewed friends who have known me for years.

Assignment 15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Assignment 15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Report findings and Draw Conclusions:

My first interview was with a Hispanic student whose view about the product was really helpful.
He said that a good way to promote the product would be by hiring influencers and starting
social campaigns with hashtags. He also added that if I want my business to succeed maybe I
should focus in immigrants as a whole instead of few minorities. He said that I could start by
contacting the Hispanic Student Association in UF to promote the product inside the university
first.

My second interview was very insightful as well. My interviewee was a female student that
believed the best way to have an audience was by giving free "samples" , basically free t-shirts
or clothes, for people to start recognizing the brand. Moreover, she also agreed that I could start
this audience inside campus. This person also added that I should put somewhere in the clothes
that this brand helps single mom families get jobs in Peru, like a reminder that they are not only
buying clothes but they are also contributing to society.

My third interviewee was a female business student who believed that since most of my customers are most likely going to be young, I need to make my products affordable and fast to get. She explained that young consumers like products who could get to you faster and prefer to buy online. Moreover, she said that highlighting that my product helps others in Peru would not be enough and she suggested to start a social cause that could be closer and personal to consumers.

This segment gave me really helpful ideas about how to successfully approach the market. My
third interviewee opened my eyes about trying to approach a more personal social cause for
consumers. Additionally, I realized that testing my business idea in UF could help me gain
consumers but also study the market. I believe that it could be more affordable and easier to
start an online business since consumers prefer to buy clothes over the internet.