21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

In this exercise, I'd like you to select a book from the second half of the Official ENT 3003 Reading List and report on it. This part of the list focuses on books that cover, generally, entrepreneurship, business, and learning. I'd like you to address the following in your post:

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme of this book is that you don't have to be exceptional at something to find success.  It takes having a system, being able to try things, fail, learn and try again or something different. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

I liked this book because it seems to enforce the idea of taking risk.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I think I would make an exercise outlining a couple of instances in general life that you have failed at something asking the question of what you learned and how did you apply this new knowledge.

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?

One of the things that I learned was, in his opinion, passion is not necessary.  It is more about dedication and want.  You always hear that you need to find something that you are passionate about to pursue but that is not the case according to Scott Adams.

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. 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?

1. I am a 37 year old father of 2.  I currently run an IT consulting firm as the Director of Operations and my skills revolve around managing people, teams and processes.  I would love to start my own business and build a company that can provide my family with financial security going forward.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

2. There are two main things I am looking to provide.  One is to the community; I want this business idea to help bring people back to an area of town that has all but been abandoned.  This would help to bring other businesses back to the area has well with new jobs.  The other facet is to provide people with a fun outlet for their lives and give them a way to be immersed into a fantasy world they can interact with.

3) 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?

3. I believe that my customer base is going to be people that enjoy the excitement and safe fear of a haunted house.  They also will enjoy solving puzzles and working as a team.  Due to the nature of this service, I think I will only offer it to 18 years old or older. 

4) 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.

4. They will pay money to participate for a few different reasons.  They want to a break from their reality for a bit; to be immersed in a new and different world. They may just want to test their own resolve.  Perhaps they are mainly there because they are bored with the existing escape room experiences and want to see who they can really perform under pressure.

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

5. Something like this does not exist around our immediate area and possibly anywhere, that I have found.  I believe that this idea is a twist on what is already out there making it unique. 

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 all five of these elements fit together nicely.  This is something that is consumable and content can be used to make money over and over again.  It offers a way to be efficient with the resources that the business would use.  There is also the added benefit of commercial realestate. 

Feedback Memo:

The only comment I had on my last version of the napkin idea didn't have much feedback except that they should it would be in Gainesville.  After that looking into that I decided that would not the case.  The population of Gainesville is about 132k whereas Jacksonville is about 892k.  The population difference is so large that I think it makes sense to keep it there.

17A - Elevator Pitch No.2

Elevator Pitch No.2

I was not able to submit my first elevator pitch so I do not have any changes.  Below is the pitch and I am happy to hear any feedback.

18A - Creating a Customer Avatar

18A - Creating a Customer Avatar

Idea Recap for those who have not read previous posts:

My business idea is a combination between laser tag and escape rooms with a theme of zombie apocalypse.  You begin by walking into a broken down and breached quarantine zone.  You have to escape zombies encamped within the zone utilizing your energy weapons (laser tag).  As you progress from room to room (escape rooms) you are putting together to whole of what happened and hopefully reaching the goal of finding the vaccine that will save what's left of the world.

Customer Avatar

I decided to list out the attributes of my customer to make it easier.  Below are the traits that I believe belong to my customer.

• They are going to be between 18 - 40 years of age
• My customers will enjoy being involved being immersed into a life that is not their own and do this by different means or a combination of them
• Movies/TV
• Reading
• Board/Video games
• Role Playing
• They will like the genres of Horror/Action/Sci-Fi
• They will like to do haunted houses during Halloween
• They probably enjoying doing things like Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios
• They will be someone who enjoys puzzles
• They will enjoy being a creative problem solver

I have a lot in common with the customer avatar.  My idea is based on something I would enjoy doing and want to be a part of.  So, it makes sense that the avatar is something I have a lot in common with.