18 - Create a Customer Avatar

"Hi, my name is Bill"

Meet Bill Walters, he will be 92 years old in three weeks. He is a widower and he has a younger brother who lives three towns over. He has three daughters, seven grand-kids, and fifteen great-grand kids. Two of his daughters live four hours away from him and come to visit and help take care of him when they can, but that leaves Bonnie, his middle daughter to care for him the majority of the time. However, Bonnie herself has two children and 5 grand-children therefor she does not have the time to chauffeur her father all over town every day of the week. Before his medical condition prevented him from driving himself, he had a full schedule of people to see and places to go. He was a regular at the local diner around the corner from his house, he attended church functions multiple times a week, and was spotted regularly at the town senior center. He can no longer cook himself meals and now that he cannot drive it drastically limits his activity options, but he still looks forward to watching the races on TV during the weekends.

I don't have anything in common with the avatar I created however, when creating this avatar I modeled him, in part, after my great grandpa who had some of the same traits.

15 - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.2

1. Begin with Alternative Evaluation. For these interviews, I found three people who fit the previously identified segment – older citizens who can no longer drive themselves because of medical reasons. Some of the alternatives to my service that the interviewees mentioned are public transportation, car services such as uber/Lyft, and family and friends. Above all the people that I interviewed said they relied on friends of family members to give them a ride.
   
2. How/Where do they buy? When the people that I interviewed run into this problem they rely on friends and family to drive them, therefore no transaction occurs. when I asked them about their preferred method of payment for the type of service that I plan to offer, they cited interest in a monthly member cost for customers who plan to use the service consistently. they also noted that there should be a pricing tier for customers who wish to pay per ride.
   
3. Post-Purchase Evaluation. What maters most to the people that I interviewed when considering the "rightness" of the purchase are quality of service, timeliness, and safety. Customers want to be able to rely on the service to be prompt so customers will not be late to any possible appointments. Safety is a big concern with customers, they want to know that they will be safe in transit and safe in the company of our drivers.
   
4. Report the Findings. Through my interviews I found that people are currently relying on friends/family to give them rides. Also, the three aspects that customers look for most in a service like mine are quality, timeliness, and safety.
   
5. Draw Conclusions. From all the interviews I understand that the quality of the product is definitely a key factor in buyer behavior. Price and style both matter, but they do not play as big of a role as quality. This leads me to believe that I would need to put extra time in when designing and creating my business. Ensuring the service potential and process is up to par is key.

13 - Reading Reflection No. 1

Coco Chanel by Lisa Chaney

1. The way she was raised and her background is what surprised me the most in this book, it was not what I had expected. She was born into a poor family and spent much of her childhood in a convent. Her mother died when she was 12 years old and her father did not support her, so he put her in an orphanage after her mother died. I admired how strong and independent she was, especially for the time in which she lived but I did not admire her drug habits. Gabrielle experienced adversity in her career because of her childhood and the fact that she grew up with no money. Her career also took several years to actually take off. 
2. Her main competency was that she was determined to bring her designs to life, she was very tenacious in the fact that she never gave up until she succeeded. Chanel was a very hard worker and also worked smart which was what ultimately let to her success in the fashion industry.
3. The only part of the reading that was confusing to me was the use of french words and places that were mentioned throughout the book.
4.  If I had the chance to ask two questions they would be, why did you choose to hide your past,  knowing her background allowed me to see how far she came. Also, What advice would you give to someone trying to start their own business? I chose these questions because they are the questions that were most prominent in my head when I was reading this biography.
5. I think Coco's opinion of hard work would be to never give up on your dreams. I believe she would think hard work is necessary to be happy with yourself and your career.

14 - Halfway Reflection

1. Tenaciousness is a competency: The best behavior that I have used to keep up with the requirements of the course is to create a schedule for myself. Keeping track of assignments and due dates in a calendar and planning time to work on each assignment has really helped my keep on track and avoid missing deadlines.
   
2. Tenaciousness is also about attitude: By the time I got to assignment 11 is when I really started to have trouble with my entrepreneurship idea. The problem that I was focusing on got harder to continue with and I wasn't very enthusiastic about solving the problem. so, that's when I decided to change the problem that I was focusing on solving to an idea that I have more enthusiasm towards.
   
3. Three Tips:
• If you are really having trouble with the problem that you are trying to solve, then think about changing the problem that you are working on solving to something that you are more interested in.
• The best thing that you can do for yourself is to make a schedule. Write down all of the assignments and due dates on a calendar so that you will never miss a deadline and plan time to work on each assignment, and stick to it.
• Setting time to watch all of the lectures can really help you be successful in the course. Watching them no later than the day after they come out can really make a difference and help you stay on track.

12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

1. Pick a segment: For this assignment I chose to focus on the segment of my target market that consists of older citizens who can no longer drive themselves because of medical reasons. 
2. Need awareness: Through my interviews with potential customers in my chosen segment I found that during the day when the people in this segment need to get to a doctors appointment and have no one available to drive them because they are working or have other obligations is when this need is most relevant. Also, when people of this segment who still wish to stick to their daily routines and keep a healthy social life even though they cannot drive anymore this need is present. This need is most relevant in Florida cities with a higher percentage of older citizens, such as The Villages.
3. Information search: to find a solution a customer first may ask a friend or family member for a ride. However, these people may have job and family obligations that make them unable to provide them with a ride. Then, this customer may turn to public transportation to get them where they need to go. In many parts of Florida public transportation is very limited and older citizens might not have access to public transportation. Also, they may have safety concerns related to using public transportation.
4. Summary: Through my interviews I have found that older people who cannot drive themselves most notably express this need when they need to go somewhere, such as a doctors appointment, and no one they know is available to drive them or public transportation is not an option.
5. Draw Conclusions: Based on my research I would describe this segment of potential customers as those who are no longer able to drive themselves because of medical reasons and have no one readily available to drive them to the places that they need to go.

11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

Disclaimer: Please read my "Quick Note" post before you read this one. I have decided to change ideas and my new idea is explained in more depth in that post so that you can get a better idea of the business I am discussing in this and future posts.

1. You: For this business I plan to start in The Villages and grow to be available throughout the state of Florida. I have personally experienced people with this need and the unneeded stress and anxiety it puts on them.
   
2. What are you offering to customers: I am offering my customers the idea of no more car payment, no more car maintenance stress, no more driving anxiety, and no more relying of other people to get you where you want to go.
   
3.  Who are you offering it to: I am offering this idea to The Villages citizens age 60 and older who can no longer drive themselves or do not like driving themselves but still have places to go and things to do.
   
4. Why do they care: My customers care because if they cannot drive themselves and they have no one who can drive them then they are stuck at home. Or if they do not like driving they may let that limit them in the things they do. Studies have show that there are countless benefits of an active social life for older adults, and my business would make that possible.
   
5. What are your core competencies: We are different from any other similar business because we cater to the older community. All of our drivers would be CPR certified and have some Emergency training as well as clear background checks and driving records so you know you are in safe hands with us. Also, for those who are medically unable to drive we may even be covered by their health insurance. We would also have hubs placed across the city, so that a customer could have a ride at there door minutes after calling.

Evaluation: I believe all of these elements fit together very well. Experts predict that, by the year 2030, the population of Floridians aged 65 and older will grow to 7.77 million. That large number of people would account for more than 37 percent of Florida’s current population. This means that the problem of older drivers on the road is only going to grow and their need to want to stay active is going to grow as well. Also,I am much more confident with the potential of this new idea than the idea that I was previously working on.

Quick Note

Based off my research and my own personal opinions, I have decided to change my entrepreneurship idea. Rather than focusing my efforts on an idea that I didn't feel like was gaining any ground, I have decided to turn my efforts to solving a problem that I am more excited about and believe to have more future potential. Here is a quick run down of my new project.

Problem: Older adults currently make up approximately 23 percent of the total population in Florida and by 2020, that number will likely increase to 28 percent—nearly one-third of the state’s population. That number is expected to grow even more substantially by 2030. Given the higher population of seniors in Florida, do we need to think more carefully about older adults and auto accident risks?

Solution: A car service that is available exclusively for the older community in Florida. This car service will be available to drive citizens wherever they wish to go, Doctors appointments, shopping, visiting family, etc. Feel free to think of it like Uber for old people mixed some aspects of  Rent-A-Car, but better. There would be central hubs located all over the city so that when a customer request a ride, a car could be there in a matter of minutes. All drivers would be CPR certified and have some EMT training in the case of an emergency.

To start solving this problem I plan to focus on starting this business in The Villages with prospects to grow throughout the state of Florida.

Who: The older community in The Villages.
What: Adults age 65 and older were involved in 10 percent of all reported crashes in Florida in 2015, and in 14 percent of collisions in which a fatality occurred.
Why: As a person ages, many abilities a person uses to drive tends to decline, such as eye sight quality and reaction times.