My Customer Avatar

My ideal customer is a young adult who has at least one dog. He or she is someone who enjoys taking his or her dog places to socialize, play, and run around with other dogs. He or she may also seek meeting other dog owners to become friends. My ideal customer probably doesn't have children because people without children tend to treat their dog as their child and would therefore be willing to spend more money on their pet.

I am my ideal customer. I own one dog and don't have any children, so I treat my dog as if he were my child. I love taking him to the park to hang out with all of the other dogs, and I don't mind spending money on him because I love him so much. I think it is no coincidence that I am my ideal customer because that is how I came up with the idea for my business. Pictured below is my dog Griff, who I would love to be able to take to my indoor dog park one day.

My Secret Sauce

1.  My Human Capital based on My Own Opinion: 

Kind - I pride myself on being a very kind person and thinking about others always. I love my family and friends endlessly and will do anything for them but I will also do a lot for random strangers. I always want to help people no matter the cost to myself.

    

Loyal - This kind of goes along with being kind but I also feel like I am a very loyal person to those who have gained my trust. I am a tough nut to crack, but once you are apart of my life, you are so important to me that I will do pretty much anything for you. 

     

Hardworking - I love setting my mind to something and seeing it be accomplished. Since getting to college and finding my calling, I have learned how much I really enjoy working towards a goal and seeing myself get closer and closer to achieving that goal. 

     

Problem Solver - I not only love solving problems, I do think I am good at it. Whenever a problem arises in my life, I try extremely hard to come up with a way to solve it mostly because I want a solution. It is also so satisfying to make something in your life easier or more efficient or more fair which is one of the reasons I enjoy solving problems so much. 

     

Rational - I have never been one to let my emotions get the best of me. Sometimes I may come across as a cold person but that's just because I don't like to let people see how I am really feeling and I want to remain logical in my decisions and thoughts. 

2. My Human Capital based on Others Opinions: 

For this assignment, I interviewed my parents, my sisters, and my girlfriend. Everyone I talked to spoke to my kind and loving personality which really meant a lot to me since that is the most important thing to me personally. My mom and girlfriend both stated how they loved that I was a person who got excited over little things. My dad, mom, and one of my sisters, all said that I have a very good work ethic and they are proud of how much I have grown recently. My girlfriend and one of my sisters talked about how good at solving problems I am and lastly, my mom, dad, and girlfriend all told me that I am a very genuine person and that they love that I don't really care what other people thing of me, and that I am just the person I want to be. 

3. The Differences: 

For starters, it was amazing to hear all the nice things all of them said about me and what they thought contributed most to my human capital. A lot of what they said was similar to what I said about myself which made me really proud. It showed me that I'm not just talking the talk but also walking the walk ad really making sure my values are shown in my daily life. They also said some additionally things that I didn't really thing of like being a genuine person and loving the little things in life. I think those two things go hand in hand of allowing myself to enjoy what I want to enjoy and not letting others influence that. I really appreciated everything they all told me and will continue to hold myself to these values as it seems I have been doing. 

Figuring out Buyer Behavior No. 2

My segment was dog owners who enjoy taking their dogs to dog parks.

Alternatives: The obvious alternative to my product are traditional outdoor public dog parks. The other, less available alternative is private dog daycare centers that have indoor dog parks. Printing was important to my interviewees which is why most people said they definitely appreciate the fact that outdoor public dog parks are free to use and why they don't tend to use the private dog daycare centers since they are usually pretty expensive. They all agreed that they do like the idea of having a place indoors for their dog to run around and play with other dogs but didn't think they needed to pay over $20 for it, especially when there is a free option out there.

How/Where do they buy?: This one doesn't apply to my product as much because everyone pretty much agrees that they would first, buy in person and second, buy with cash. They wouldn't want to purchase a ticket to use my facility until the time they wanted to use it which is why they would buy in person, and because it is a small purchase, they all agreed they would just buy it with cash and there would be no need for financing the purchase.

Post-purchase evaluation: All of my interviewees stated that if their dog had a good experience, that was the most important thing to helping them know if they made a good decision. They also want to have a good experience themselves, but because they are coming here specifically for their dogs, they all put their needs above there one.

Conclusions: I believe that the interviewees answered these questions similarly to how I would've thought and it sort of solidified that my idea has a place in society to be effective. I found there aren't many options out there to choose from so if I can place myself into the middle of the market as not being the free option but also not being the super expensive option, there would definitely be people willing to use my product.

Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. I have used and developed many behaviors to succeed in this course. One that I have had to utilize throughout this course is time management skills. With assignments being due every week, multiple times a week, it has been imperative that I set ample time aside each week to ensure I complete the assignments required. I have also learned to look at things and ideas from a different perspective than I initially do. The first time I remember utilizing this skill was when we did the bug list on one of our very first assignments. It required me to take a step back and really analyzing things that bothered me even if I didn’t realize it at first.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. When we were required to film our elevator pitch, I contemplated just not doing it because it made me uncomfortable to record myself. However, I realized that first, it would be a way for me to grow as a person, tackling something that made me uncomfortable, and second, if everyone else in the class could do it, so could I.  Also, I do feel like I have developed a bit of a tenacious attitude during this course and I believe that the circumstance I mentioned above definitely contributed to this.

3) Three tips. (1) This class may seem overwhelming at first but just take everything one week at a time. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by the course as a whole, break it into smaller parts and just worry about one part at a time. (2) Stay determined throughout the duration of the entire course because, even if you don’t do the best on a certain cupcake along the way, because there will be ways to make up for it, like with extra credit. (3) Don’t look too far into assignments. Most of them aren’t very complicated so don’t make them harder for yourself than they need to be. They want you to succeed in this class so be persistent in reading the guidelines for each assignment and follow them diligently and you will succeed.  

Reading Reflection on Andrew Carnegie

1) The fact that Andrew Carnegie was only 5 feet tall but he was also known for his kind character are both very surprising facts to me. There is definitely a stereotype that short people and rich people aren’t always the nicest but in his case, neither of these correctly identified the type of person he was. Like I discussed in the previous point, Carnegie was actually known for how nice of a man he was and I really admire that about him. Although he was a fierce businessman, he never lost sight of what was really important and that is having good character. Carnegie was an extremely intense business man and was willing to do anything to succeed and this led to some poor choices. The one that stuck out to me the most was when he made Henry Clay Frick deal with the Homestead strike on his own and therefore dealing with the repercussions from his actions for the rest of his life.

2) Carnegie was extremely innovative and persistent throughout his lifetime. He was great at finding unfulfilled needs in America and jumped at the opportunity to fill the void. Even when markets fell, he took it as a chance to grow by buying struggling companies, rather than struggling himself.

3) The parts in the book when they discussed stocks and general market trends were confusing to me since I do not have any background knowledge in that sort of thing.

4) What would be your best advice to an aspiring entrepreneur? How did you not let the fact that you had so much money go to your head? I would ask these questions one for myself so that I could attempt to learn from one of the greatest entrepreneurs in American history and two, so that I knew what it meant to be a good person regardless of what you go through in your life and how to achieve such a feat.

5) I think Carnegie would think that the definition of hard work is to do whatever needs to be done to succeed. I agree with this definition to an extent but not when it means hurting those that have helped you get where you are today unlike how he treated Henry Clay Frick.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1) You. My name is Leah Pendarvis and I am studying sport management hear at UF. I work at RecSports here on campus in our two weight rooms in Student Rec and Southwest Rec. Because of that job, I have developed really great customer service skills and can much better pick up on needs of customers that aren't being met. I am a huge dog lover and actually walk dogs as another job currently. If I were to start this business, I would definitely be in the facility everyday helping running operations and talking to customers. 

2) What are you offering to customers? My idea is to create an indoor dog park. Because it is indoors, you would never have to worry about weather ruining your dog park plans ever again. To fund the park it would cost a small fee, somewhere between 5-15 dollars to get in or you could buy a membership for around 30 dollars a month to come as frequently as you would like. There would be staff hired to clean the facility and keep an eye on dogs to ensure the safety of all of our furry friends. There would be separate areas for our small dogs and our large dogs to been even more cautious with their safety. There would be lots of things for the dogs to use like agility obstacles and pools. You as owners will be able to watch from outside the play zone so that you don't have to fear getting run over by dogs playing tag. There will even be concessions offered for owners to purchase but water bowls will be provide for the dogs throughout the park. 

3) Who are you offering it to? I'm offering this product to any dog owners that have well behaved dogs who would like their dog to get exercise and socialization. 

4) Why do they care? My product is valuable to customer because it gives them an opportunity to take their dog to a park in more comfortable conditions and without having to worry about the weather since it is indoors. It will also be staffed with people who know how to spot uncomfortable and aggressive dogs to keep your dog safe as well as keep the park clean. 

5) What are your core competencies? My competition is outdoor public dog parks and all of the things I have mentioned above are things I offer that outdoor parks do not. The main concept which makes my product stand out is the fact that it is indoors and is therefore protected from the elements at all times.

I do believe all of these elements fit together and therefore will make for a successful business.