The Mind of Babington

Here's the link to my venture concept:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B45NL5S9VRkFa2N2elpHV2htUkk

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback on my first venture concept because I did not do one, but I did use the feedback I received from my other assignments to develop this concept. In particular, determining the pricing model and the break-even analyses were a major aspect of the feedback I received. In determining the pricing model, I ended up changing part of the business. Originally I would rent out the printers for a time and charge that way, but now I decided it'd be better to offer a submission option.

The main argument of this book is that companies, particularly those selling online through e-commerce, should not solely focus on the most popular products in the market. There is a very large array of products that are not well-known, but can be easily and cheaply distributed and sold at higher margins due to fewer competitors. The author states that including the long tail of products in one’s sales catalog will increase revenues and margins. This is mainly possible for e-commerce sales because they do not have to pay for expensive physical locations to sell these products.

The points made in this book enhance the entrepreneurial skills I’ve obtained from this class because it allows me to see even more entrepreneurial opportunities in our society. This book has taught me to look more into the competition and margins of a product or industry rather than just the demand. This is very helpful because it is easy to fall into the trap of seeing an item that is very popular and has very high demand, then assuming it will be a great product to sell. However, there will be many other competitors trying to sell that product as well, causing prices and profit margins to drop. If I will be selling any products in the future, I will definitely research heavily into the competitive landscape before choosing a product.

I would design some form of survey asking people about their hobbies and unique interests. I would then use this information to see what kinds of niche markets are currently being exploited successfully, and which niches are displaying an unmet need.

One of the most fascinating parts of this book was the emphasis on niche markets. Niche markets are small subgroups of the economy or society whose needs can be very specific. Historically, providing products to niche markets was much more expensive because it’s easier and cheaper to have generic-type products rather than very specific products, but it has also been much more difficult and expensive to reach these subgroups, and these extra marketing and storage costs outweighed the extra sales. However, with the advent of e-commerce, these problems are solved because we can now easily reach these subgroups with very little cost, and we do not have to worry about the expensive cost of physical stores.

Here's the link to my updated resume:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KU5BmFXIcJFVwmFm46iv34oUAoruDhAVW9ogB-6hO2c

This is the type of business I would love to expand and grow as much as I could, but if I were to receive a good enough offer in the next 5 years or so, I would highly consider it. I say this mainly because the main reasons I would start a business are to create financial security for my future, and in this case, provide an establishment that fosters the creativity of our society, especially the younger generations. That being said, if the people buying the company have a vision with which I agree and they offer an amount of money that will guarantee financial security, then I would consider selling the company.

My exit strategy hasn't really affected my idea for the company itself. I just plan to open one location at first in order to build the cultural foundation, then move on to building locations nationwide to provide a creative learning environment for individuals interested in engineering, design, and 3D printing in general.

There are definitely many areas in which I failed during this semester, but one example that comes to mind is the "crow" pose in yoga. I started doing hot yoga at the Orlando Power Yoga studio a few months ago to increase my flexibility, posture, and lower body strength. I still can't do the crow pose that well, but in the first few classes I literally fell on my face, but now a few months later I'm able to hold the pose for about 3-5 seconds on average. There's a picture of someone doing the crow pose below.

I've learned that in order to accomplish certain things, there are pre-requisites that must be met. In this example, I have to have certain levels of mobility and flexibility in certain areas of my body, core strength, and overall balance and body control. This idea reverberates to many other aspects of life. I already knew that a foundation must be set in order to build a strong structure, but this practice of yoga has made me look at this idea in a more practical way so I can take the necessary steps to build stronger foundations in all areas of my life.

I definitely see failure as being hand-in-hand with progress. I actually discussed this exact topic in my Portmanteau post. Here's the link:

http://damethestoic.blogspot.com/2016/06/to-benefail.html

Since I think of failure as a necessity of progress, I do not get very disturbed emotionally when I fail at something. This class has definitely reinforced my thoughts on failure as well, so I think I'm more inclined to take risks, especially since I believe that we should take more risks when we are younger because we just might hit a huge success, and also because if we take risks now and fail, we will have time to recover, so there will be no permanent damage. It's pretty much the same as the common principle used in portfolio management in which a financial adviser will suggest a certain level of risk depending on one's age.

Here's a list of some of the resources I have for my 3D Print Cafe:

1. I've spoken to several people I know who would be interested in providing capital to fund the idea, and a couple of these people were even interested in joining to help with the company. This financial capital will help the company turn from just an idea into a reality. It's not necessarily rare, and can be imitated.  - (financial capital)

2. One of my roommates and friends, Chris, is an entrepreneur himself, and he has a huge network in the central Florida area, especially among the main demographic I will be targeting. He would help spread the word for the company via social media, etc., and would definitely be able to get some people to come check out our establishment.  - (human/social capital)

3. My best friend, JD, is an amazing graphic designer. He can make very artistic and unique designs for anything from flyers to logos to apparel, and more. We could use digital flyers to promote on social media, and the apparel to sell in our location or use for "give-away" marketing campaigns. In addition, working closely with him would make it a lot easier to create the exact image I want for the company, and obviously I'll pay him for his time, but I'll get the best friend discount, of course. These services can be very expensive, and the communication can be very back-and-forth with the designers since edits will have to be made until the design is just right, so working with someone I know so well will not only save lots of money, but it will be a much more hassle-free process.  - (human/social capital)

4. My girlfriend would also be willing to help with the company. She graduated with a degree in Marketing and now works for a digital marketing company in downtown Orlando. She would help manage our image and gain more customers through various social media outlets, e-mail marketing, perhaps a blog, etc.  - (human/social capital)

5. One of my other roommates and friends, Aaron, is a very talented photographer and videographer. He would create promotional videos and photographs that we can use for advertising and marketing. He also knows how to do 3D Virtual Tours, the ones that can be found on Google Maps where you can virtually walk around a building and whatnot, so if people search us on Google, they can take a virtual tour of the establishment and see how it actually looks inside.  - (human/social capital)

6. Another resource that we have is our channel of distributors that we acquired in the 'Growing Your Social Capital' assignment. I was able to obtain inventory files with quantity and pricing from several distributors, so this will make it much easier to get the ball rolling once funding comes through. This isn't necessarily rare or inimitable.

7.  Our location can be seen as a valuable resource because this area of central Florida is surrounded by several large colleges. This is very valuable since our target demographic is mostly college students or younger. This is somewhat rare, but not necessarily inimitable.

8. One of my "capabilities" would be that I am very detail-oriented. With the type of atmosphere I wish to create, I believe the seemingly small details will play a large part in our success. I believe this is rare since I don't think anyone has the exact same vision of what I want to create, but perhaps after it has already been created, then it might be somewhat imitable, but not directly.

9. Another capability I have is that I am pretty experienced with creating and analyzing financial statements. This will allow me to closely monitor the results of our operations and marketing measurements and figure out where we need to improve or allocate more resources. This is somewhat rare and inimitable, but not very substitutable.

10. One thing that I guess I can consider as a beneficial resource is that I have a pretty good credit score. Apparently this could help show that I am responsible with money and could increase the chances of receiving business loans. This is somewhat rare, but not inimitable to non-substitutable.


I think the most valuable resource is the location because without our customers, the business would have no chance of prospering, and this location provides great access to many potential customers.

For my 3D Print Cafe the main revenue driver will be when customers pay to print out their projects using our 3D printers. We will have a standard, pay-per-use pricing model that will depend on how long it takes to print the item, but we will also have a membership program that offers discounts and other benefits; this will appeal more to the frequent customers.

When it comes to revenue drivers, the next type of offering I would like to include is some form of educational courses and tutorials. The learning atmosphere I would like to create in this establishment is one of the most important factors, and I believe these courses would be beneficial to the existing customer base. Also, the courses will vary in length, with some being quick 1, 2 or 3-hour tutorials all the way to classes spanning over weeks or months, and the prices for the courses will vary depending on their length and materials required.

The courses would be on relevant topics within the umbrella of engineering and design, such as how to use specific design techniques with the CAD software, etc. - basically, any type of course that would help our customers gain the abilities and knowledge they need to create and design what they want. Of course, our customers who are part of the membership program will get discounts on these courses. I believe this will have a nice synergy with the learning environment we would be creating, and the customers who participate in these classes are much more likely to use what they learned to create something, therefore leading them to use our printing services.

1.  The first person I contacted was named Richard Stein. He is a 3D printing expert who works for 3D Printing Expert, Inc. He is a domain expert because he focuses on using the CAD design program to make prototypes for customers. To contact Richard I simply went to the company's website, called their number and asked if I could speak with someone who creates designs for their prototypes. They transferred me to Richard, and I explained that I am a UF student and asked him if I could ask a few questions about the 3D printing process. I explained my business idea and asked questions about the 3D printing machines themselves such as which they would prefer for my idea, how long they typically last, what kind of maintenance they need, etc. He kindly answered all of my questions and seemed glad to be able to help. He even told me I could stop by their location in Florida to check out some of their equipment and see how it works. In his opinion my idea was definitely possible, and he recommended looking into an appointment-based scheduling system. Richard was very knowledgable in this area and I believe that having included him in my network will help me learn a lot of the necessary information I need to operate this type of business.

2.  The second person I was able to get in contact with is a market expert named Jason Kildridge, a marketing associate at Shapeways.com, a website that does something similar to what I envision for my establishment. On this site, one can design, buy, sell, or participate in an online community related to 3D printing. I could not find a phone number for this company so I had to do this by e-mail. I had to e-mail a couple times before they gave me an e-mail of someone in the marketing department. I told him I'm a student, etc. and asked some questions about what their main demographic tends to be and what part of their business seems to attract the most people. He told me that their main customers who make and order custom designs on their site is mostly between 20 and 35 years old whereas the people who buy 3D printed items that are posted for sale varies greatly and is not really concentrated in any distinct age group. He was very helpful and provided some resources and research tools that I can use to find more information that may help me successfully target my prospective market.

3.  The last person I contacted was Tim Alvarado. He is a salesperson from NatureWorks LLC, a company that sells bioplastics and other materials that can be used for 3D printing. I was able to reach him at the number 952-742-0400. I asked about pricing of materials, what materials are the most popular, which are the most environmentally-friendly, and how much volume of sales they tend to do with their customers. He seemed pretty busy when I called, so he asked if he could take my e-mail and send over all the information once he got a chance. I waited, hoping he didn't just say that to get me off the phone, but he actually e-mailed me back answering all the questions I asked and providing me with an Excel file showing all the different materials they have, the regular prices, bulk prices, etc. He was very helpful and let me know that I could contact him if I had any further questions or concerns about which materials would be best for my situation.


This networking experience was definitely different than networking I've done in the past. Usually networking seems like such a pain, especially since I'm pretty introverted, but finding people online and contacting them over the phone and through e-mail was surprisingly effective. I thought it would be harder to have a genuine connection with someone with these forms of communication compared to face-to-face communication, but I was able to get very genuine help and advice from these people, and they all made it clear that I could contact them in the future. I often find myself hating on the negative aspects of social media and other online platforms that cause people to value likes, retweets, and followers more than things that actually contribute value, but at the end of the day the Internet is a very powerful tool, and using it has allowed an introverted person like myself to establish a network with very little stress.

                                               Thinking, Fast & Slow, Daniel Kahneman:

1. Who am I?

Nothing in this part has changed, and I didn't receive any feedback regarding who I am in the first post. So just to summarize what I said last time, I'm the type of person who enjoys continuous improvement and learning, and I have a wide variety of interests, and I would like to open a 3-D Print Cafe.

2. The Unmet Needs:

The unmet need that customers will have stems from the fact that 3D printers are still quite expensive and not very easy to use. We will solve these problems by having high-quality printers in our cafe that customers can use to print their projects, and if they need help using the machine, our staff will always be there to help and teach them to use the printers. One of the people who left a feedback on my post asked about how expensive the printers are and how that might affect how many I can have in the cafe, which would affect how many people I would be able to serve at any given time. I did some research and found that some of the most high-quality printers can be purchased for $1,000-2,000 each. I believe that if we purchased 5-10 printers for around $8-15k, we could break even on this investment in a relatively short amount of time, and we would be able to serve a good amount of customers at any given time. I don't believe this is too drastic of an investment for the printers compared to some of the business costs I have witnessed firsthand. Also, if we purchase too few printers and demand is too high, I see that as a good problem because we would just have to invest in more printers since the demand is already there. 

3. The Demographic:

The demographic will include engineering and design students who are in high school, or anyone interested in 3D printing. I focused on being located in an area that is at the epicenter of 3 colleges to attract these students. Someone who commented mentioned someone they knew using it for medical purposes and that I should consider being near a hospital as well. I did some research on Google Maps and luckily there is a Florida Hospital only 10-15 minutes away from my ideal location. I would definitely attempt to schedule a meeting with someone at the hospital to see if they would be in need of our 3D printers, and I would offer the hospital a discount, of course.

4. The Value:

We will be providing value by allowing people to enjoy using 3D printers for hobbies, work or school without having to purchase such an expensive machine. Not everyone has the money to purchase one, and some people would only need to make a project here and there, so it wouldn't make sense for them to purchase one. Therefore, I am leaning towards combining a mixture of pay-per-use and membership payment models. We will also make the cafe a learning environment where people can learn more about design, engineering, and the use of the 3D printers.

5. What Separates Us?

Just like I mentioned in the first post, I believe that the open learning environment we will create will be very valuable to the customers, especially since they will all be working on similar subjects. I think this will cause people to mingle and work together, leading to synergies of communication in which people will be able to help and motivate each other to learn more.

I think that all of these elements fit very well together and build off of one another. The fact that people can work on their projects for lower costs will attract many customers. Then once they get there, they will be exposed to many additional learning opportunities. I believe this type of environment would be perfect for the demographic I am interested in. 

These are the main points I took from the feedback:
1. I must further examine the costs of the equipment.
2. I have to determine a pricing model and see how long it will take to break even.
3. I learned that I can still look into more opportunities for other unique customers in my area.
4. I need to do some more interviews and surveys with prospective customers to determine an estimate of how many customers I can expect.
5. I need to decide if I should do a pay-per-use model, a membership model, or a combination of both.

I did some research and was able to use the feedback to find some new opportunities and make the idea for the cafe more clear in my mind than before. I looked into the costs of the equipment, the pros and cons of different pricing models, additional customer opportunities. My next step should be to survey more prospective customers to see the level of interest and use this data to estimate the number of customers we will have. 

Here are five characteristics that I think make me unique:

1. I think I'm better than most people at controlling my emotions. I like to think about things pretty logically and actually weigh the pros and cons of many situations. However, I think I have a good balance where I'm not overly methodical or anything like that.

2. I'm a good listener. It's important to show people that you actually value what they'e saying, and I've also always felt that a lot more can be learned from listening rather than speaking, especially when we are young.

3. I enjoy learning new things. This allows me to practice a mindset of continual improvement in areas that I'm interested in without feeling pressured to do so.

4. I have a good balance of confidence and humility. I'm confident enough to believe I can achieve my goals, but I'm more internally confident rather than arrogant. I'm also humble enough to know that I have room to grow but not so humble that I fall into self-doubt.

5. I have wide-ranging interests in all types of subjects. I feel like I can find the beauty in almost anything whether it's photography, languages, different cultures, math, science, etc. I just find everything interesting, and I think that causes me to be very open-minded, or maybe being very open-minded it's what's causing me to be interested in these things, I don't know.

I interviewed my roommates to ask them what they think makes up my human capital. They're pretty short interviews that get to the point. All 5 interviews can be found here:

https://soundcloud.com/user-642057848

Interview 1:
      -  This interview was with my girlfriend, so it might be somewhat biased, but some of the characteristics that were mentioned were my ability to focus on tasks, desire to learn and my ability to be easy-going and get along with everybody.

Interview 2:
      -  In this interview my roommate mentions that I'm good at analyzing situations before making crucial decisions, and I'm good at gaining information by listening. It's funny that he said this because he's the exact opposite.

Interview 3:
      -  Interview 3 was with my roommate Devin. His main point was my work ethic and ability to stay focused.

Interview 4:
       -  My roommate Aaron emphasized my discipline and ability to look at things with a long-term perspective. He's known me the longest out of the people I interviewed, so I guess it makes sense that he'd mention this.

Interview 5:
       -  The last person I interviewed mentioned my ability to control my emotions and stay level-headed in tough situations. I kind of expected someone to say this.


Overall, it seems that my self-perception was very similar to how others perceive me. The characteristics that were mentioned in the interviews and were also included in my original list were: emotional stability, listening skills and my desire to learn. I pretty much expected nobody to mention my confidence because as I mentioned before, I'm more internally confident rather than arrogant or boastful. I've known all of these people for 2-5 years, so I think they know me pretty well. I hope you enjoyed.

be-ne-fail / be-ne-fail-ure

to experience failure in a way that causes one to grow and learn from the experience; to fail forward; to fail beneficially

I believe that all obstacles in life can and should be seen as lessons from which one can learn and grow into a stronger and wiser individual. This idea mainly came to mind due to my hobby of reading and studying Stoic philosophy, particularly from the Greek and Roman philosophers Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. I also remember watching an inspirational video on YouTube in which Will Smith spoke about "failing forward," which represents the same idea. I believe this idea is important for everyone to embrace because this not only allows us to grow from our mistakes, but it can also help to prevent situations in which people are afraid to take action due to an unnecessary fear of failure. If society were able to slowly remove the negative connotation of the word failure and instead realize that it is a necessary path to growth and achievement, I think this would improve the quality of many people's lives.

Inspirational Will Smith Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeB-AkTH8YQ

I specifically added the Latin prefix "bene" which means "well, in the right way, honorably, properly," to remove or lessen the negative context associated with failure.

When I used this word in conversations, everyone initially asked what it was and what it meant, so I explained it similarly to how I explained it in the paragraph above. Since I work full time, my daily schedule is to go to work, then go back home and relax or do school work, so I only got to use the word with a couple of my roommates and my coworkers. I know my coworkers found the idea and the word interesting when I mentioned it, but there honestly isn't much conversation going on where I work, so it's kind of difficult to determine whether or not they would continue to use the word on their own, but I remember my roommates actually using the word a few times recently.

Thanks for reading!

1.  To keep up with the work for this class I've made it a habit to check my Canvas on a regular basis, usually daily just to make sure there are no assignments I am forgetting about. As a backup I also use an app called Wunderlist, with which you can create various lists with due dates, notes, etc. I input all of my assignments into separate lists for each of my classes and check them off as I complete them. It's also helpful to set up notification reminders when an assignment due date is coming up.

2.  I definitely got a bit discouraged when it comes to the interview assignments. There are several reasons for this, including my limited personal network in my area which makes it difficult to find people to interview as well as my limited schedule since I'm working full time and taking classes full time. I primarily chose online classes because of my schedule restrictions so that I could do my work on my own time, but when it comes to finding people to interview, that's very hard to do in my situation, but I'll continue to persevere and do my best anyway since I need to pass the class.

3.  Here are 3 tips I'd give to students looking to take this class:

• Create a realistic schedule and use notification tools to remind you when assignments are coming up.
• If you ever find yourself bored or having nothing to do, then work ahead.
• Think about the consequences of your actions, or more commonly, your inaction. Yes it is a pain to do some assignments, but just think about how much more of a pain it will be if you have to take the class all over again. 

1. Who am I?

I would say my best talent is my ability to learn things quickly and appreciate a wide variety of subjects. I also enjoy taking the principles I learn from one subject and using them to enhance my understanding of another seemingly unrelated subject. The business I would like to create is a 3-D Print Cafe, which would basically be a more artistic, design and engineering-focused version of Kinkos where people can come to use our printers to print out 3-D designs/models they created themselves, templates they found online, or our own custom-designed models and templates. This type of business would allow me to further explore my interest in design and engineering while following my entrepreneurial spirit.

2. The Unmet Needs:

This will solve the needs of customers who are interested in design and engineering, especially as it relates to creating 3-D models of tools, fashion accessories, prosthetics, decor, and much more. The amount of objects that can be created through the use of 3-D printing is limitless. Having a print cafe for this purpose will give these people access to professional level equipment without the need to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars. I also would like to create an environment that promotes learning in the areas related to 3-D printing, particularly design and engineering, so I would like to have many books, magazines and other forms of resources related to these topics to stimulate those people's creativity and learning. I am also envisioning it as an actual cafe where people can get coffee and snacks and stay there all day studying and designing.

3. The Demographic:

The main demographic for this type of place would be people of any age who are interested in engineering and 3-D design. One specific segment of this market that I would target would be engineering and design students, therefore I would advertise in the design and engineering buildings of local colleges and universities as well as the related clubs and organizations of those institutions. I would also try to speak with the professors in these fields, if possible, to explain the vision I have in mind for the cafe. If the professors like the idea, then perhaps they will recommend the cafe to their students as a study spot/group project location, etc. A location in the UCF area would be perfect because UCF is already the larges school in the nation, plus there are several community and state colleges in the area including Valencia, Seminole State, Full Sail, etc.

4. The Value:

This establishment would be valuable to customers because they will have access to professional level equipment that can cost thousands of dollars, but they can simply use it on a pay-per-use basis. Besides the equipment, the environment will be beneficial as well because it will help stimulate the learning process for people studying design or engineering. This learning environment would be accomplished by having relevant books and magazines that the customers can freely read. We would also have computers set up that would not only have the relevant software programs but would also have an extensive list of bookmarks containing online resources that can be used to learn design and engineering skills as well as free templates with which the customers can create their own models. Here's one link referencing 30 different sites with free 3-D templates:

https://all3dp.com/best-sites-free-stl-files-3d-printing/

5. What Separates Us?

Our core competencies would be knowledge related to engineering and 3-D design. It will also be differentiated largely by the environment of the cafe as well as the top-notch equipment. Regarding the environment, since it will be a cafe that is focused on design and engineering specifically, this will obviously attract people with similar interests and goals, therefore these people are much more likely to work together spontaneously or purposefully, creating the synergistic effect that most often results from cooperating with others towards a common goal. This is contrasted with the typical cafe where people go to study or do work but hardly ever spontaneously commingle.

I believe these five elements work together very well and each of them builds off of the others. I've been fascinated with the idea of 3-D printing since it first came out, and I am sure that people interested in design and engineering will find it interesting and useful as well. I believe the combination of professional resources and my ability to promote a learning environment will be very beneficial to customers. The areas in which the business would make its profit would be through the pay-per-use aspect of the various equipment, the sales of typical cafe food and beverages, and the hourly renting of our computers that already have the necessary software installed such as CAD design, etc. As with all businesses, the location would be a crucial factor in determining the success of the business.

1.  -  I found my first economic opportunity from the following article:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/18/opinions/no-financial-stability-today-conway/

This article describes the transition in our job market that is making it more difficult for people to live financially stable lives from every day jobs. This is occurring for many reasons including reduced benefits, jobs being moved overseas, and the transition to a "shared" economy. I believe that the shared economy will continue to grow and become increasingly prevalent in the near future. As a result, I believe that there will be an increasing need for companies, websites or establishments that provide an established link between freelancer and job opportunity, therefore the prototypical customer would be freelance or gig workers.

 I believe this is a relatively easy opportunity to exploit compared to most business opportunities since there are no tangible services or products provided; the product could simply be the website, which doesn't require much overhead maintenance compared to a typical brick and mortar type of business. These types of opportunities where a company is simply acting as a link between two markets are becoming more common as the shared economy grows. Uber is a great example of this type of model. Uber does not provide any real services or products that require inventory maintenance, etc. They use an app as a link between people who want to drive and people who need a ride. Airbnb is another great example.

This opportunity most likely stuck out to me because I happen to use services like Uber and Airbnb pretty often, and my job deals with selling on Amazon, which also has some aspects of the shared economy, so this aspect of the shared economy was already in my mind, so I am realizing now that there is going to be a greater need for companies/websites who can serve as a link between freelancers and those who need their services.


2.  -  My second economic opportunity also has to deal with the economic trend towards the shared/gig economy mentioned in the previous example. However, the previous opportunity was mostly for a website linking all kinds of freelancers and employers, but this opportunity is a more specific example of exploiting the gig economy.

I believe that there is a great opportunity for a company similar to Uber, but for yard work. For instance, you can create an app where people who are interested in providing yard work can apply and be approved and whenever they are free to do some yard work, they can log in to their app account just like Uber drivers and if someone in the area requests, then they can accept. I believe many young home-owners would be the best customers for this type of app, but it would be useful to anybody because they could quickly find someone to do lawn work, it would be cheaper than typical prices, and they would be able to see customer ratings and reviews for each worker.

Maybe the app could be called Momi, pronounced like "mow,"-"me." It's a short name and easy to remember, plus if they pronounce it like I just mentioned, then there is already a linguistic/psychological primer, so whenever a homeowner or home manager who has heard of the company thinks they need their lawn mowed, their mind will be much more likely to remember Momi.

I realized this opportunity is needed because when I was managing a home that was being rented out to other college students, finding lawn work was a pain sometimes, especially in the summer, so I often had to resort to people posting on Craigslist, but it does not provide any idea of what type of person will be showing up. However, this app would provide reviews, ratings and background checks when the service provider is first applying. I believe this would be a relatively easy app to create and manage.


3.  -  My first regulatory opportunity was found here:

http://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/regulatory/energy-regulatory-outlook.html

This article highlights some of the important regulatory trends occurring this year. One of which is an increasing need for cyber security in many businesses, including those in the energy sector. The article states that the CFTC recently approved regulations that will require companies to adhere to additional cyber security requirements. This will include additional security measures as well as routine services provided to test and evaluate the security of the companies' information. Therefore, there is an opportunity for companies to provide these additional cyber security measures or to provide the service of evaluating them. The prototypical customer is any company that stores sensitive information.

This opportunity could be very difficult to exploit depending on the level of expertise one has or acquires from others regarding cyber security. I most likely realized this opportunity because I was recently reading about the enormous cyber security breach that impacted Target in recent years.


4.  -  https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/finance/us-outlooks-top-regulatory-trends-for-2016-in-banking-reg.PDF

In this article, many regulatory trends are shown, including new regulations that will require financial institutions to more thoroughly measure risk. A big reason for these regulations is a move toward prevention of faulty loans, similar to the ones that led to the housing crisis in 2007-2009. There is an intrapreneurial opportunity for anyone already working within a financial institution to provide new measures of risk and alternative forms of risk analysis as well as an opportunity for any entrepreneur to provide these risk measurement services. This would be hard to exploit, but could be profitable.

I believe I noticed this opportunity because I recently watched the movie The Big Short, which is about the housing market and financial crisis caused by bad loans that were given due to poor risk assessment.

I believe there's an opportunity for restaurants with more healthy food options in the east Orlando area. I personally have had trouble finding any healthy options that are within a 20 minute drive from my home for the past year, so I assume that others who are looking for healthy food options in this area but don't have the time or skills to cook at home are in the same situation. Right now Chipotle is pretty much the go-to option in this area for healthier food, but that is the only place I can think of, and the line is always out the door with no matter what time you go.

There are over 60,000 students attending UCF, which is a 5-10 minute drive from my house, so there must be a lot of health-conscious students experiencing this issue. Also, even though this is a college area, it is pretty densely populated in general, so there are still many neighborhoods in the area that are populated by non-students, so there seems to be a large customer base for healthy food options here.

I went to a popular food plaza right across the street from UCF and asked a few people to sit down and chat about the issue for a few minutes. You can find the recordings for these interviews here:

https://soundcloud.com/user-642057848

After talking to some students who attend UCF it seemed that they all agreed that there aren't any truly healthy options in this area. I'm not sure if they were mainly agreeing just because they didn't want to disagree with me, but I don't think they sounded biased from what I could tell. They also seemed to lean towards the fast-casual type of restaurant similar to a Panera or Chipotle style, but with more fresh ingredients. If there are any awkward moments, I apologize in advance; I'm really not a good speaker in general, especially with people I don't know.. but it's all good. Also, one of the interviewees was quite an interesting character, but I found it pretty entertaining. Hope you enjoy.

Of all the things in the world that bug me, these are the first 20 that come to mind:

#1 - The inefficiency of traffic, in Florida especially
         - The requirements of getting a license are far too little. You don't even need to know how to drive to get a license, period. When I did my final "driver's test," I never even left the parking lot.. literally. The whole test happened within a 50 foot parking lot. How can someone be expected to go on a highway or drive in stop-and-go traffic just because they can go 10mph back and forth in a parking lot with nobody else around? It's ridiculous.

#2 - Lack of Recycling
         - Caused by the lack of legislature needed to make recycling mandatory. In many countries, people get fined if they do not recycle. That's how it should be.. it's not that difficult.

#3 - The minimal number of electric cars being driven
         - This is because electric cars are more expensive and also because the oil/gas corporations lobby to prevent the switch to electric cars, lessening the amount of legislature being passed to initiate the switch.

#4 - Healthy food is so much more expensive than unhealthy food.
          - This is caused by pricing differences due to supply and demand, or the fact that it might actually cost more to produce foods that are organic, not processed, etc., or maybe a combination of both.

#5 - The U.S. public education system is not suited to prepare modern students for the real world.
          - The education system is still based off the education system that was created during the Industrial Revolution, which molded students into individuals who were suited to fit like a cog into the well-oiled machine of the American economic system. However, nowadays companies and the economy as a whole are completely different. Things like pensions will be a thing of the past, technology is causing more and more jobs to become automated, and technology is also taking away the need for the typical office setting for many reasons, including the fact that, for many jobs, people can work from anywhere. The public education system in no way prepares students for these types of situations, not to mention financial planning, budgeting, taxes, etc. - all the many areas of necessary adult life that are never covered in school.

#6 - Peer pressure prevents most kids and even many adults from staying true to themselves.
          - Not sure exactly what causes this, but there may be some sociological explanation, or maybe it stems from the evolutionary need to fit in to the "pack."

#7 - Inconsideration, referring to people not being considerate of others or not thinking of how their actions will affect others
         - Due to the individualistic nature of American society

#8 - News/Media and Entertainment mostly focus on negative occurrences or current events that are superficial in nature.
          - Unfortunately, due to human psychology, these aspects of society happen to attract the largest audience, which leads to more profit for the organizations in these industries who care more about money than creating a positive influence on society.

#9 - There are far too many car accidents.
          - This is due to the same reasons listed in #1 above as well as the fact that the driving age of 16 is too young because the road has to be taken with the utmost seriousness, and there is no way that any more than 25% of 16 year old kids in America are mature or responsible enough to be driving a vehicle that can easily put other people's lives in danger.

#10 - The war between science and religion leads to a divide between large segments of our population and causes discrimination on both sides.
          - Once people make up their mind about something, they tend to pay more attention to the statements that support their beliefs while ignoring statements that oppose their beliefs, causing an endless debate. For some reason most people assume that it has to be science or religion; I don't see why they shouldn't be able to coexist.

#11 - The terrible treatment of animals in the food production process and how it then affects the people eating the food.
           - The companies producing the food create their processes only with the aim of maximum efficiency for profit. This causes the animals to be more unhealthy, which then causes the people eating the food to be more unhealthy.

#12 - A large percentage of food goes to waste, especially from restaurants, etc.
             - This may be caused by sanitation laws as well as the reluctance of restaurants to undertake any excess expenses that this may cause.

#13 - The 40 hour work week is not the most efficient work schedule, but it is still widely enforced.
             - Not only has it been shown that worker's efficiency decreases dramatically as the day goes on, but they will then be more tired the following days, causing an endless cycle of unproductive and unmotivated work.

#14 - Health care in the U.S. is too expensive, causing many people to go bankrupt due to unexpected accidents that end up costing tens of thousands of dollars
            - I believe this is due to some inefficiency in government budgeting because there are some countries that provide free health care as well as free education all the way through college, and it is not ruining their economy.

#15 - The corrupt political system does not accurately represent a democratic system.
            - Too many political decisions are affected by lobbyists who require favors for helping politicians get into office. Just watch House of Cards. It's obviously exaggerated sometimes, but a lot of it represents how politics really works.

#16 - The voting process is not efficient or a fair representation of what the people need or want.
            - One major issue is that not everybody votes. In addition, other areas such as polling, biased media, and the delegate system contribute to an inefficient voting system.

#17 - College tuition is too expensive and rising, which leads to many people graduating in debt, meanwhile the value of college degrees is decreasing.
            - This is caused by a combination of schools' trying to generate profits as well as inflation, which causes the prices to increase for seemingly no reason.

#18 - Personal information is too easily accessible. From a simple Google search you can find out some one's address, phone number, and many other personal details.
            - I am honestly not sure why this is allowed. One's address and phone number shouldn't be considered as public information.

#19 - If you do research on many topics, for example "Should I keep my body warm or cool when I have a fever," you will find so many answers agreeing with both sides. This is the case with so many different topics including weight loss, nutrition, exercise, etc.
            - This is caused by the ease with which people can post information on the Internet combined with the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for these issues. Each person's body is different and each scenario is different, so each case requires a different solution.

#20 - Wall Street purposely creates complicated fee structures and promotes short-term-oriented investments that are not the best for the investors.
            - This is caused by the greed of the companies who are trying to get investors in the habit of doing short-term trading so that the financial institutions make more money off transaction fees.


This list was not difficult in the sense that there are countless issues to choose from. However, once you can choose anything, then it becomes difficult to choose because you have too many options. I also wanted to choose more economically viable or product/item-based issues, but it is very hard to remember specific moments where I found something to be annoying, inefficient, etc. It seems that these small and random occurrences should be noted if one wants to remember them later. This is why my list ended up covering mostly wide-ranging issues rather than very specific opportunities for improvement. I should start keeping a journal for times when I notice bugs in my daily life.

My entrepreneurship story is one that's not yet finished, that's to say it's still ongoing.

This is just a post to make sure everything is working.