24 - Venture Concept No. 1

Description: A membership organization that offers rides exclusively to the elder generation of people who can no longer drive themselves.

Opportunity: Older adults currently make up approximately 23 percent of the total population in Florida. 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? The highest fatal accident rates are among Florida drivers who are aged 85 and older, but statistics show a significant increase in accident rates when drivers reach the age of 70. Beyond driving risks, some older citizens suffer from various ailments that prevent them from being able to drive themselves.

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.

To find a solution to this problem 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. However, these solutions are often flawed because friends or family members may not always be available when needed and public transportation may not be a viable option for a lot of people.

 I believe that this window of opportunity will remain open and continue to grow until a proper solution to this problem is found.

Innovation: 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 their door minutes after calling.

When I asked potential customers 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.

What matters 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.

Venture Concept:
For this business I plan to start in The Villages and grow to be available throughout the state of Florida. I am offering this venture 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.

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.
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 shown that there are countless benefits of an active social life for older adults, and my business would make that possible.

Some of the alternatives to my service that have been mentioned in my past interviews 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.

Future of the Business:

• I believe that this ventures most important resource will be the quality of service, the timeliness of our drivers, and the level of safety our service can provide to our customers on a consistent, reliable basis.
• The next opportunity that I would like to tackle with this current innovation, is to expand to other states across the United States.
• In five years with this venture, I would like to be well established in our first city and looking to expand and provide our services to a second city.

21 - Reading Reflection No 2

Book: "The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users" by Guy Kawasaki

1.  What was the general theme or argument of the book? The overall topic of this book is to help build a marketing presence through connectivity and the use of social media. It goes through multiple social media platforms and explains how to successfully market a product through each social media platform. This book also made the argument that social media is one of the most important metrics for reaching potential customers. It is a great book for people who need to build social capital in their business.
   
2. How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? The book really connects what I am learning in ENT3003 because every assignment we have in this class is posted in a blog which is a form of social media. The introduction of the book states, " In a perfect world, however, you would develop better techniques than us, and you'd tell us how to improve our game too." That reminds me of this class because it is so peer based. We try to help each other out and improve each others ideas. This class leaves most everything up to you and that's how this book approaches social media. They give you some tips and tricks but want you to put your own spin on it.
   
3. If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? I think a very fun activity for those in the class could be for the students to pick their favorite content producing account, whether it be a journalist, newspaper, blog, store, restaurant or any other entity, and go down the list and find several of the over 100 tips being replicated on the account. I think that you will find that many of the great content producers will be tapping into at least 30 or more of these tips, perhaps over half of them. Also, the students could find a few tips that aren't already implemented and talk about how that specific account could do so.
   
   
4. 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? The biggest takeaway that I took from reading this book was how to properly handle the comments section on social media. I have seen business respond to customers in the past, but I never realized that there was a proper way to do it. There was a part in the book that says it's okay to respond to negative comments but to only respond once, otherwise it turns into an argument online and seems unprofessional.

19 - Idea Napkin No. 2

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.

"Feedback Memo"
A couple of the points of feedback that I received is to consider how the funding of a project such as this would work and how I would get my employees CPR certified. When it comes to having employees with CPR certification, we would hire employees who are already certified or upon hiring employees would agree to take it upon themselves to get certified. For the business itself, the majority of the funds would come from the customers who use the service through membership fees/ pay per ride. 

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.