Sunday, April 24, 2016
Final Reflection
What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?
-The most formative experience for me was stepping out of my comfort zone and filming strangers about my product. The experience I will remember years later, however, is different. I believe my interviews with an entrepreneur we're the most joyous. There is nothing that I am really proud of myself for accomplishing in this class.
At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And we repeated the mantra -- I am an entrepreneur. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?
-In some ways I do see myself as an entrepreneur but overall I believe that I have developed more of an entrepreneurial mindset.
What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?
-Keep up with your assignments! There is a lot, I mean a lot of busy work and it can bite you in the ass if you continue to miss assignments. To foster this mindset just ensure that you try to do it before the day it is due because a lot of assignments require outside sources.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Venture Concept No. 2
Opportunity
The opportunity presented is making social drinking more responsible. By creating an application for mobile devices, this on-the-go ability can prevent individuals of all ages from exceeding their limit or tolerance. The need for this opportunity is rapidly growing as our generation has taken social drinking to a whole new level. More often than not, high schoolers and college students are found binge-drinking so excessively that it is rare for them to remember their night. The changes in the environment that are creating this opportunity have a lot to do with how social communication has been altered over time. Technically speaking, the geographic market is all over our nation and the demographic is both male and females in their early teens on. Currently, there are not many ways to acknowledge and recognize ones tolerance when drinking unless they are experienced. I believe the individuals whom would be loyal towards an application like this are those who have had bad drinking experiences in the past. Because of this, this opportunity has the potential to be huge! It is hard to say how long this "window of opportunity" will be open, but it is important to get the ball rolling in order to create a safe drinking environment.
Innovation
I believe there is an unmet need of drinking responsibly. From the time teens enter high school, they are presented the opportunity to drink alcoholic beverages very frequently. In college, it is almost looked down upon if you don't. Now for me personally, I could care less whether someone chooses to drink or not, but I do care about their well-being if they have exceeded their limit and made it strikingly obvious. I believe to prevent this in the future, one could download an application called DrinkSmart. This app would be on your phone and would be able to track your BAC, the different types of alcohol and amounts consumed, as well as providing services to locate the cheapest and nearest taxi or Uber to get home safely. This innovation could infiltrate and assist each community in a number of ways but primarily by keeping each individual safer.
Venture Concept
The innovation that has been presented can assist in solving the opportunity presented in various ways. By gaining a better understanding of one's tolerance by using this application, one can remain in a safe atmosphere and stay fearless from the harmful effects of being over served. With just a few times use, the individual can educate themselves on how much and of what they are capable of drinking. I believe customers would be interested in this because there is not currently anything like it on the market. Of course, there are still competitors in this market. There are apps that are out that have similar intentions, however none to this extent.
The opportunity presented is making social drinking more responsible. By creating an application for mobile devices, this on-the-go ability can prevent individuals of all ages from exceeding their limit or tolerance. The need for this opportunity is rapidly growing as our generation has taken social drinking to a whole new level. More often than not, high schoolers and college students are found binge-drinking so excessively that it is rare for them to remember their night. The changes in the environment that are creating this opportunity have a lot to do with how social communication has been altered over time. Technically speaking, the geographic market is all over our nation and the demographic is both male and females in their early teens on. Currently, there are not many ways to acknowledge and recognize ones tolerance when drinking unless they are experienced. I believe the individuals whom would be loyal towards an application like this are those who have had bad drinking experiences in the past. Because of this, this opportunity has the potential to be huge! It is hard to say how long this "window of opportunity" will be open, but it is important to get the ball rolling in order to create a safe drinking environment.
Innovation
I believe there is an unmet need of drinking responsibly. From the time teens enter high school, they are presented the opportunity to drink alcoholic beverages very frequently. In college, it is almost looked down upon if you don't. Now for me personally, I could care less whether someone chooses to drink or not, but I do care about their well-being if they have exceeded their limit and made it strikingly obvious. I believe to prevent this in the future, one could download an application called DrinkSmart. This app would be on your phone and would be able to track your BAC, the different types of alcohol and amounts consumed, as well as providing services to locate the cheapest and nearest taxi or Uber to get home safely. This innovation could infiltrate and assist each community in a number of ways but primarily by keeping each individual safer.
Venture Concept
The innovation that has been presented can assist in solving the opportunity presented in various ways. By gaining a better understanding of one's tolerance by using this application, one can remain in a safe atmosphere and stay fearless from the harmful effects of being over served. With just a few times use, the individual can educate themselves on how much and of what they are capable of drinking. I believe customers would be interested in this because there is not currently anything like it on the market. Of course, there are still competitors in this market. There are apps that are out that have similar intentions, however none to this extent.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Week 14 Reading Reflection
1. The biggest surprise for me in the reading was the concept on "Ecopreneurship".
2. There was nothing confusing to me in this reading.
3. If I were to ask the author two questions based on this reading they would be:
What is the best way to build the reputation of your company from the ground up?
What do you recommend to women who are implementing start-ups?
4. There was nothing I disagreed with.
2. There was nothing confusing to me in this reading.
3. If I were to ask the author two questions based on this reading they would be:
What is the best way to build the reputation of your company from the ground up?
What do you recommend to women who are implementing start-ups?
4. There was nothing I disagreed with.
Google Gold
1. A discussion of your general approach and strategy to search engine optimiation (SEO). What were some of the activities you did for each blog post to pursue SEO?
For each blog post I made sure to include the week in each label. Additionally, if there was a post I found particularly enthralling I would email the link to my peers to ensure they would view it.
2. What were your keywords. How did you select those keywords? Did you change or refine your keywords through the semester?
Although very broad, my keyword for my blog was simply just my name. I believe this was the easiest to use in order for others, or myself, to locate my blog through search engines.
3. How did you use social media to enhance your SEO efforts? What your your surprises or general impression of using social media to improve your blog's profile? Was social media generally receptive of your blog, or did it get ignored?
In most cases, social media works wonders in helping a blog thrive. However, I never publicized my blog on any of my social media sites because it was not something I was passionate about. If I were blogging for fun about things I thoroughly enjoyed it would be a different story.
4. What was your most "viral" post? In other words, which post obtained the most traffic? Why do you think?
I think my posts that obtained the most traffic are simply those that have more peer reviews assigned to them. Unfortunately, I do not think many of the students in this class go out of their way to view others blogs unless they need assistance understanding how to properly do an assignment.
5. Finally, did you make it to the first page of Google results for your keywords? If not, what page of results did you make it to?
I did not make it to the first page. This is strongly because there are other people who are named Emmalee May. I did, however, make it to the second page!
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Very Short Interview, Pt. 2
Unfortunately, the first part of this assignment was not completed. However, I was fortunate enough to interview an entrepreneur with the name of Isabell Springer who started the company LovEd. LovEd is an up and coming company whose mission is to educate and empower individuals to make wise decisions when it comes to romantic relationships. Although she refused to let me record the interview (she had just gone to the gym), I did find fascinating information about being an entrepreneur.
Interview Questions/Answers:
How has your company flourished since you have rebranded it from former Driver's Ed for Love?
Isabell: Well to be honest, as a marriage and family therapist I was always encouraged to start my own company. Growing up, your parents teach you things like how to read and write and how to drive a car, but they never teach you how to make smart decisions when it comes to relationships. Because of this lack of education I started Driver's Ed for Love, which was recently rebranded to LovEd. The reason for changing this is to gain the exposure necessary to thrive and the previous name happened to throw off many of my customers.
Has social media had a big influence on the success of your company?
Isabell: Indeed. Social media has been the biggest factor in promoting LovEd to the public. We currently have our own website, a FaceBook page and a Twitter handle. Our large number of interns and volunteers assist us in keeping everything up to date and posting frequently. However, our company is designed for the most part on the attendance of events held each year.
At times, do you ever regret making the transition from being a therapist to starting your own company?
Isabell: Absolutely not! I strongly believe in my company and where it is currently headed. Little by little, individuals find themselves and grow significantly by attending our events. Sometimes I like to think of LovEd more like a movement than a start-up company.
Although I did not complete the initial assignment, I felt very comfortable speaking to this particular entrepreneur. She was excited and very approachable and I believe a lot of my comfort has come from the many exercises we have done for this class.
Interview Questions/Answers:
How has your company flourished since you have rebranded it from former Driver's Ed for Love?
Isabell: Well to be honest, as a marriage and family therapist I was always encouraged to start my own company. Growing up, your parents teach you things like how to read and write and how to drive a car, but they never teach you how to make smart decisions when it comes to relationships. Because of this lack of education I started Driver's Ed for Love, which was recently rebranded to LovEd. The reason for changing this is to gain the exposure necessary to thrive and the previous name happened to throw off many of my customers.
Has social media had a big influence on the success of your company?
Isabell: Indeed. Social media has been the biggest factor in promoting LovEd to the public. We currently have our own website, a FaceBook page and a Twitter handle. Our large number of interns and volunteers assist us in keeping everything up to date and posting frequently. However, our company is designed for the most part on the attendance of events held each year.
At times, do you ever regret making the transition from being a therapist to starting your own company?
Isabell: Absolutely not! I strongly believe in my company and where it is currently headed. Little by little, individuals find themselves and grow significantly by attending our events. Sometimes I like to think of LovEd more like a movement than a start-up company.
Although I did not complete the initial assignment, I felt very comfortable speaking to this particular entrepreneur. She was excited and very approachable and I believe a lot of my comfort has come from the many exercises we have done for this class.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
My Exit Strategy
I fully intend on continuing research on the idea of my application because I strongly believe it can impact the future of drinking responsibly. I have chosen this exit strategy because of my strong belief of this and what I witness as a college student on a day to day basis. Personally, my strategy and idea has given me the strength to recognize when I am over serving myself. I identified this opportunity because it has the ability to save many many lives. I hope to continue with this for as long as I can, and if it ultimately does not work with my schedule I hope to pass it on to someone who can make it successful. This has primarily influenced my communication and networking with others.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
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