16A whats your secret sauce

1.       I think what makes me different from other people is my awareness of the situation around me. I know it may sound lame but in just about every situation I always consciously make sure I am aware of my surroundings and the people around me. Another thing would be my intuitiveness, I pick up on new tasks quick and usually tend to get things done at a high level if need be.

2.       Interviews:

-          Interview 1:

  https://soundcloud.com/mari-beth-lee-thieryung/espn/s-W4gTj

This interview was my brother Espn, he is 13 and me and him are very close. I completely agree with what he said because I have had to demonstrate this skill several times.

-          Interview 2:

https://soundcloud.com/mari-beth-lee-thieryung/grammie/s-6EM0j

the second interview was my grandmother. She has seen me at both my best times and my worst times and knows what I’ve been through to get to where I am.

-          Interview 3:

https://soundcloud.com/mari-beth-lee-thieryung/home/s-h0dwL

the third interview was my grandfather. When I was younger, I was in and out of the hospital a lot for various reasons and to get to where I am today seems almost impossible seeing as where I was 12 years ago.

-          Interview 4:

https://soundcloud.com/mari-beth-lee-thieryung/michael/s-EeMb9

This is my brother Michael; he is 15 and for most of his life I have had to basically take care of both of my brothers.

-          Interview 5:

https://soundcloud.com/mari-beth-lee-thieryung/mom/s-Ux8FN

The last interview was my mom. Although I don’t think about including people in everything, its just kind of how she raised me.

3.       I believe everything that was said about me in the interviews is correct. Although I don’t consciously think about doing some of the things, I do whether they be good or bad, it just comes sort of naturally. I would keep what I said about me still and would add my ability to care for one another and think of others before I think of myself.

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Evaluating How Your Customers Evaluate Stuff



Interviews

For this section I chose to interview the parents of the 3 interviews from part 1 of figuring out buyer behavior exercise.

Alternative Evaluation

While no one had even considered a water bottle koozie, they all said that convenience is the biggest deciding factor in their purchase. This is an item that could be an impulse buy, not one that someone goes to the store looking to purchase on its own. While price is a factor is the buying process, when someone is ordering a custom item, they all agreed that they would be willing to pay more for the customization. 

How/where do they buy

This item can be bought at sporting goods stores, Walmart, convenience stores, or at any outdoor event expo. This is an item that will usually not be bought online. It could be paid for with either cash or credit.

Post-purchase evaluation

When looking back on their purchase I believe the most important thing customers are looking for, is did the product do what it was intended to do. When looking at the water bottle koozie, the two important factors are, did it keep the water cold and did it hold up in the conditions outside. If the answer to both of those questions is yes, then the buyer could determine that the purchase was a good idea.

Report your findings

All three of the parents I interviewed, stated that the product is something they would be interested in trying because of the amount of waters their athletes go through and usually end up throwing parts of them away because they get too hot too quickly.

Conclusion

            Based om my interviews, I feel that the parents would be willing to purchase the product and if it worked, they would purchase them for others.

14A Halfway reflection.

1.       I have experienced several behaviors in order to be able to keep up with this course, the other courses I am taking, as well as work and my social life. The biggest behavior I’ve experienced during that time would likely be either anxiety or flustered

2.       I don’t think in the last 2 months I’ve felt like giving up, but it has happened in the past. About 8 months ago I had some very personal things go very wrong, on top of it all I was struggling looking for a new job as well as getting through the semester. I did eventually get through it, but it was probably one of the roughest times of my life. I did develop a tenacious attitude during that period, and I learned more than anything to not easily trust people and always do what’s best for me and my future.

3.       Advice I would give to incoming students would be to make sure you set a time aside for this class alone, that work isn’t overly hard but it is time consuming and definitely makes you think about what you’re doing.

figuring out buyer behavior pt.1

For this assignment the segment I choose was the demographic segment. All 3 of my interviewees I focused on active teenagers who not only play sports but do multiple things outside. I started of all 3 of the interviews of by asking if they have ever been outside and had no choice but to drink either warm or hot water just to try and stay hydrated, unsurprisingly they all said yes. I then asked if something like a water bottle koozie would be something that they would be interested in and potentially purchase, once again they all said yes. After saying yes, I began to give a brief description of what the idea is and the benefits, on top of the personal customization that can be done to the koozie and they all loved the thought of it. One noted that a koozie would be so convenient for her to use at track meets where coolers aren’t allowed. Another one said when he was outside with his friends, it would be good when he was outside with friends to just stick the water inside of the koozie and keep it warm. I also asked if they had ever thought of something like this to look and see if it was already available. None of them had looked and just always used coolers when it was convenient or allowed. What I was able to learn from the interviews and each person I spoke with is that if there were something like this product on the market they would be interested. The extra feature of the personalization makes it that much better.

13A- Reading Reflection No. 1- Steve Jobs

13A- Reading Reflection No. 1

Biography-Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

       1.      Steve Jobs

a.       What surprised you the most?

Throughout the years I have heard about the way he treated people, but until reading this book, I did not realize how badly he did treat them. I also did not realize that he held a majority stake in Pixar and was there when they produced Toy Story and when they partnered with Disney.  

b.      What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

His desire to change the world and that by being honest with people was the best way to get things accomplished. He was very driven, sometimes to the point of madness, where a times it seemed like he would break.

c.       What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

The way he treated people and he would verbally assault them if he felt their work was not up to his standards. He also took over the Mac idea as his own because he was the cofounder of the company and he felt he could take over the project.

d.      Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes, he was fired from Apple in 1985 because of his bullying and harassing behaviors to those around him. After leaving Apple, Jobs started NeXT computer company followed by Pixar. In 1996, he rejoined Apple as an advisor when they acquired NeXT.

     2.      What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

He did things his way and he was very determined to be the best. He was highly driven and ruthless to those around him. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he refused conventional treatment and went the holistic view of acupuncture and a vegan diet, despite the advice of everyone around him.

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

While Steve Jobs was a brilliant man and Apple is extremely successful, I don’t understand why anyone would want to work for Jobs with the way he treated people. 

     4.      If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

a.       After being fired from Apple, what gave you the motivation to start another computer company?

b.      When or did you ever come to the realization that the way you treated people was your biggest character flaw and for true success you needed to change?

These questions would help me to learned about the maturing of an entrepreneur through failure and self-awareness and how these factors impacted him later in his life.

     5.      For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I believe he thought that success only came through hard word. He was brutally honest and harassing of those around him because of his desire to succeed through hard work. I do believe that hard work is essential to success, but I don’t believe that others should be treated poorly because they do not share my work ethic.

idea napkin no.1

1.       You- with being someone who has played sports since he was 4 years old ranging anywhere from youth recreational leagues, all the way to at the collegiate level I’ve had many experiences with cold water quickly becoming warm or even hot water. My aspirations for this company and this idea would be so that kids can stay refreshed out in the heat and hopefully it will reduce to less heat strokes while playing youth sports.

2.       The product that I am selling is virtually a water bottle sized koozie. It will keep water bottles colder longer, so they don’t warm up while outside.

3.       The demographic that my product will be offered to can be virtually anyone who goes outside. It can be people who enjoy going to the beach, enjoy hiking or even playing sports.

4.       Many people may say “well why don’t you just keep the water bottle in the cooler” that would be an easier and more viable solution. But there are some cases where a cooler can’t be taken. For instance, if someone is hiking, carrying a cooler is sort of an inconvenience. Baseball stadiums and amusement parks allow you to bring in clear bags and you can put water bottles inside of them, but don’t allow a cooler. The simple fact that coolers can’t simply just be taken anywhere and everywhere and koozies can travel anywhere make my product that much more valuable.

5.       What sets my product apart is that koozies are lightweight and compact and can travel easily. Also, they can be personalized to any design you would like.

At the end of the day I truly do believe that if I were to have the funding to start this business, it would be successful. Some of the strengths on the product that I’ve already touched on are the lightweight and compactness of the koozie. On top of that they can be personalized to fit your own personality. Some of the weaknesses, at least in the beginning would be the doubts people have on either how well the product works or if it’s worth it.

Elevator Pitch 1

solving the problem

The opportunity I have decided to sell are full water bottle koozie. The idea would be that anyone who is outside drinking water will be able to keep the water bottle colder for longer, especially in summer. Staying hydrated is very important for everyone, especially the youth. Keeping water bottles colder by using a koozie can help. Essentially the koozie would work much like a beer koozie, easily stored, super light and almost unnoticeable. The koozie will be easily affordable and the different designs that can go on them will attract many different potential buyers and users.

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2



The five people I interviewed for this part of my research were high school and college students between the ages of 16-22. In these interviews 3 of the students stated they get at least 7 hours of sleep at night and still feel they have elevated stress levels. The other 2 students, both college level stated they do not feel stressed with both working part-time jobs while going to school.

      1.)    Who: Are there certain people or certain businesses that, although they share a lot in common with the others in your opportunity, nevertheless fall outside the boundary? Why?

What I discovered was that many young adults have a perceived level of stress that can vary tremendously depending on the person. These people are getting sleep, so sleep deprivation is not a cause of their elevated stress levels. I also found 2 college students who sleep less than 6 hours at night and do not feel they suffer from elevated stress because they feel that they must get done what they have to and stressing out about it will not help.

     2.)    At what point does the need you identified differ from another need? (Is thirst the same as            hunger? Or is the desire to appear fashionable the same as the desire to be loved by others?)

Time management differs from organization because a person can be extremely organized in what they need to do, but not have the time management skills to get everything accomplished. Many people confuse

      3.)    Why: Is the underlying cause of the outsiders' need different than people who are inside the       boundary?

Yes, I believe the underlying cause of the outsider’s needs differs from those on the inside.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is in?  Young adults	Who is out?  Middle aged and Older people; children
What the need is:  To develop time management skills, to help reduce sleep deprivation, thus leading to reduced stress levels.	What the need is not:  To focus on time management due to the maturity levels of middle/older people and lack of maturity levels in children.
Why the need exists:  Young adults are taking on too much and do not know how to prioritize.	Alternative Explanations: Regardless of their time management skills, young adults do not have the maturity levels to handle all the stress put upon them in such a short amount of time from going from the home of their parents to out on their own.