30A – Final Reflection

1) I have to admit that some of these posts really did take a lot out of me and required me to really use some brain power. The lows that I experienced in this class was when I realized that I did not turn in an assignment or when I realized that I waited too long to begin an assignment. However, this got better when I started putting reminders on my phone. The highs of this class was reading all the feedback from my peers. I got to see what they actually took away from my posts and see what stuck out to them the most.

2) All the posts for this class really allowed me to display my creative side, which is not something I usually do. Creative thinking is extremely useful and important and this class taught me the benefits of it, so I think that is definitely something that I will cherish and take away from this class.

3) As I said before, we were really required to look at our business idea in a critical and creative manner, which is something that is required of entrepreneurs. I think this class really did help me to think and act more like an entrepreneur. Now, if I plan to be an entrepreneur in the future is a different question, but this class definitely helped me see that it is possible.

4) I would just encourage anyone who has the desire to be an entrepreneur to start planning now. Document and save everything down so you can see how your idea possible changed. Look to others for advice and feedback as different perspectives are necessary to develop the best idea. For this class, I would just advise students to take it seriously, start assignments early, and actually put some effort into it. The things you learn from yourself when doing these assignments are very rewarding so put your best foot forward when you are in this class.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity: My business idea can completely eliminate long wait times in checkout lanes. This solution would be beneficial for the typical mother of two who is just trying to get their kids out of the store before they ask for about every candy on the shelf. It would also be great for the typical college student who is just trying to get home to finish studying for their three exams, or just about anyone who can't stand these long lines.
This would be a great opportunity as humans are only becoming busier in their lives. Checkout lanes are becoming longer than ever, especially now during this pandemic because everyone is trying to stock up on cleaning supplies and make home-cooked meals rather than eating out. Currently, people are attempting to bypass these long wait times by using self-checkout lanes. However, this is not always the best option for everyone because self-checkout was designed for people who have less than five items, not for the person who has a cart full of groceries and house supplies. This new situation we are facing in grocery stores will likely become our new normal so that is why the window of opportunity for my idea will probably be open for quite a while.

Innovation: My idea is that instead of all the checkout lanes, we equip our cashiers with smartphones that have scanning and paying ability. This can potentially save about five minutes per customer during their whole checkout process. This process also encourages customers to bag only the few necessary items. So not only would this solution help to cut down the long wait times, but it might also help to eliminate some of our plastic waste while keeping our customers happy and our cashiers employed. I would be selling this app to grocery stores and other stores who wish to get involved. This app can be downloaded on any smartphone or tablet, however a store must be registered to the app and the appropriate sign-in information (as created by the store admin) should be entered to verify everything and prevent fraud. I would probably sell this application for $15 per device as it allows for scanning and paying and requires large storage of data and accounts, however this price has not been declared yet.

Venture Concept: This is a good idea to implement into stores especially right now because people do not want to be standing in long checkout lanes for several minutes as they have other things to do and it might increase their risk of infectious contact. People are always looking for a faster alternative so I don't think it would be that hard to get the customers to switch. As for store owners, making that switch might be a little hard for them because they are the ones required to invest in this idea. The biggest competitor for me would be the self-checkout lanes, however one cannot really use these when they have a cart full of groceries, so it is not always the most convenient option. In creating this business idea, I do not plan to eliminate any employee positions. The utilization of my idea will require just as many cashiers as before as stores would need employees to operate these applications. Of course, a brief training and mastering of the application would be established prior to its use.

Minor Elements: 1) My secret sauce that will set my idea apart from others is my tenacity and perseverance.

2) What's next for my venture is to possibly venture out to clothing and appliance stores, which might be very useful during peak times of the year, such as for holidays and Black Friday.
3) In the next 5 years or so I plan to sell my idea to some company, which will allow me to focus on other possible ventures.

I didn't receive any critical feedback, but I was encouraged about the benefits of implementing my business idea into grocery stores during the situation right now. I was also encouraged about my idea to venture out into other stores, so I incorporated this more into my updated venture concept. I tried to clarify in this post what exactly I am selling to these store owners. This would allow people to see if my idea is actually worth investing in.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

For my exit strategy, I think it is best that I sell my business in the coming years to large company grocery stores. This might be the most lucrative option for my business and this way I would not have to deal with the individual store owners or managers. This particular exit strategy would possibly allow me to spend my time and efforts in other, bigger ventures such as expanding my business idea to maybe clothing and appliance stores. This isn't an idea that I was exploring prior to making this strategy. I was merely focusing on grocery stores because I thought that those checkout lanes were the only ones that could get as long. But I would profit off introducing my idea to these other stores because their lines can get crazy long especially during peak times of the year. So this strategy really helps me to continue aiming higher and bigger for my business.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance

1. What surprised me the most about Elon Musk is just the great number of business ventures he set out on and the notability of each one of them. It's just so surprising to me that one can have that many unique ideas and and see to that all of those ideas are successful.
2. Just as it surprised me the most, I also admired it the most. His sheer ability to pursue all these ideas that are so vastly different from each other, and the ideas that might have seemed so far fetched is what is most admiring.
3. The thing I admire the least seems to be common between most of these figures. Elon Musk was known to fire his employees impulsively, which I don't agree with. His employees are people that he should be establishing trust and respect with. So I think he needs to work on his relationships with people.
4. Musk has had several failures involving failed model rocket launches. But he learned from those failures and found what was wrong, and now several people are signing up to be the first ones on Musk's rocket to Mars.
5. I think Musk was extremely courageous in his business ventures. He thinks of ideas that no one has even thought of or thinks is possible.
6. The one question that I could think of asking Musk is: When do you think the rock to Mars will be set to launch?
7. Musk obviously valued hard work and dedication from a very young age and he continues to use that today. These are extremely important elements to have along with many others in order to gain success, so I think it's definitely great qualities to have.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1) This semester, even though my grades did not show it, I felt like I was failing at my classes. There were a lot of times that I just forgot to complete assignments. There were a lot of bonus and forgiveness opportunities offered for these classes, which was a relief, but still, it just created a lot more headache in the end. I do procrastinate a lot, but this semester it has been really bad especially after being home and not in the typical class environments. I tried using an agenda, but I eventually stopped using it because it seemed more like a chore to fill out. Hopefully, I can just say it's because of senioritis.

2) The main thing that I learned from this is that you should never ever procrastinate. You will just end up regretting all your decisions leading up to it and it just creates even more headache, so it's not worth it. I learned that putting reminders in my phone might be the best way to go since they can be set to go off at a specific time and will go off multiple times until you actually delete it.

3) Failure sucks but I think it's necessary because we need to learn from our mistakes. We need to see what we did wrong and how to change it so that we never make that mistake again. So it's ok to fail at something as long as you know that you need to fix it and you figure out how to fix it.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market:
What's next with my product in the existing market is not only implementing it in busy grocery stores, but also implementing it in shopping malls and busy clothing or appliance stores during peak shopping times of the year. My product is something that would be very useful during Black Friday when almost every store is filled to the brim with customers. So my idea would not just be limited to only certain types of stores. Since we were not able to conduct the customer interviews, I used three of my friends and family friends who work or have worked in retail. They all agreed that my idea and the manner in which I am going about it is reasonable and doable. They all liked that it would not eliminate the cashier position, however they were afraid that it might reduce the amount of cashier positions. However, I assured them that with the smartphone scanners and payers there would be just the same amount of cashiers hired and required to operate the technology as there once were with the original checkout lanes.


New Market:
I think a completely different market that I could sell my product to is clothing and appliance stores like I mentioned above. Before, I was thinking that my product would only be useful for grocery stores. However, these other stores also see that their lines can become very long and wait times during checkout are also unnecessarily long. This happens especially right before holidays and school reopenings. That is why a product like mine could easily benefit such shops and their customers.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

We all hate waiting in long checkout lanes at the grocery store. We have things to do, places to be, people to see, so the checkout lane is the last place we would want to spend a good chuck of our free time in. We find ourselves constantly skipping from line to line in an attempt to secure the fastest-moving and shortest lane. But often the result of this skipping around just to save ourselves some time results in a facepalm when we notice the other line we were just in is actually moving faster and the person that was behind you has completely checked out. Customers become infuriated with long wait times in checkout lanes, especially when they see that only 2 out of the 12 lanes are actually open. We can no longer be forcing these customers to wait in these long lanes when they have other things stacked up on their busy schedule.

I have a great idea that can completely eliminate long wait times in checkout lanes. This solution would be beneficial for the typical mother of two who is just trying to get their kids out of the store before they ask for about every candy on the shelf. It would also be great for the typical college student who is just trying to get home to finish studying for their three exams. 

This would be a great opportunity as humans are only becoming busier in their lives. Checkout lanes are becoming longer than ever, especially now during this pandemic because everyone is trying to stock up on cleaning supplies and make home-cooked meals rather than eating out. This market might be defined more by parents as they are often the ones in a big rush to get home to their kids. Currently, people are attempting to bypass these long wait times by using self-checkout lanes. However, this is not always the best option for everyone because self-checkout was designed for people who have less than five items, not for the person who has a cart full of groceries and house supplies.

My idea is that instead of all the checkout lanes, we equip our cashiers with smartphones that have scanning and paying ability. This can potentially save about five minutes per customer during their whole checkout process. This process also encourages customers to bag only the few necessary items. So not only would this solution help to cut down the long wait times, but it might also help to eliminate some of our plastic waste while keeping our customers happier and our cashiers employed.