Julianna's Entrepreneurial Blog

1) 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 in this class was coming up with the idea itself.  I thought for hours about what a good business idea would be, and even asked for input from my friends and family.  When I finally decided that my business idea would be nonprofit, I was worried that it would be hard to follow the assignments that were geared more towards for-profit companies offering a good, rather than a service.  But I also decided that sometimes it pays off to stand out.  I have also enjoyed interacting with my classmates and getting to hear other people's ideas as well. 2) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do y...

Opportunity Who has the need?    Not only do the homeless population of Alachua county need better resources, but having a comprehensive facility could benefit everyone else in the community at large. What is the nature of the need?  The homeless population in Alachua county is alarmingly large, and only continues to grow.    Many people are in need, and could benefit from a program that helps them get back on their feet. Other Topics What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? Although there are always people who are homeless, certain forces like an economic recession make the need for assistance more present. How is this market defined geographically and demographically? The people being aided by Homeward Bound Florida would be similar—out of a job, down on their luck, or in need of basic necessities.    Geographically, they would be in Alachua County. How are customers currently satisfying this need? ...

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children? I intend to have a family at some point, which may mean that I have to dial down my commitment to my career. At this point, I hope my business is successful enough that it can come under new management or that I can sell it.  2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy? As a woman, you are often forced to choose between being wildly successful in your career, or making room for a family and dedicating less time to your job.  Although this is an unfortunate position to eventually be in, I don't mind eventually having to make the sacrifice in order to raise my kids and be a greater part of their lives. 3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions...

The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users, Guy Kawasaki        The theme of this book is about how you can grow your business through social media effectively. Well marketing through social media can increase a lot of profits with brand recognition as it can target a specific group of customers. It explains many methods to tackle in detail.       After you finish this book, you will understand a big picture of how social media roles in business, especially cross-promotion methods. This is essential because you can apply in different situations, it is not a fixed formula. So, as long as you get a concept and purpose, you will rock it.      The activity that I would come to must be advertising the opportunity in a previous assignment on social media in any platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. And let’s follow the numbers of customer reaching and interactions. Then, presenting s...

1) Tell us about a time this past semester that you failed -- whether in this class, or outside of this class. Don't spare any details! It'd be even better if there was something you tried several times this semester, and failed each time. A notable time that I failed was actually in this class.  It was the first week of assignments, and I had been putting off starting my work after syllabus week.  Finally, on the first Friday of classes, I went to the library and took a look at the assignments for my classes.  To my dismay, I had missed the first four ENT assignments because I didn't realize that they were due at noon on Fridays, instead of at midnight. I completely flipped out because I wasn't sure how many points they were worth or how they would impact my grade. 2) Tell us what you learned from it.   Thankfully, assignments are only worth a few points and I was able to make up for my losses relatively quickly.  However, I learned from that experience ...

Opportunity Who has the need?   Not only do the homeless population of Alachua county need better resources, but having a comprehensive facility could benefit everyone else in the community at large. What is the nature of the need? The homeless population in Alachua county is alarmingly large, and only continues to grow.   Many people are in need, and could benefit from a program that helps them get back on their feet. Other Topics What are the forces or changes in the environment creating this opportunity? Although there are always people who are homeless, certain forces like an economic recession make the need for assistance more present. How is this market defined geographically and demographically? The people being aided by Homeward Bound Florida would be similar—out of a job, down on their luck, or in need of basic necessities.   Geographically, they would be in Alachua County. How are customers currently satisfying...

Plan for growing in the existing market My plan for growing in my existing market (Alachua County) is to first start the business right here in Gainesville.  During this stage, I will create brand awareness and expand only into the local area/market.  Once the business has success in Gainesville and we have some recurrent donors, we will expand into new markets. Plan for growing into a new market Before we tackle new markets outside of Alachua county, I must make sure that the business is stable enough in the original area that it was created.  Then, we can move to cities outside of Gainesville that are dealing with a large homeless population.  If the business is sustainable in those new locations, then we can continue expanding across Florida.  We can aid in this expansion by effective marketing strategies. How my concept can create value in the market The concept of Homeward Bound Florida is simple:  Help homeless people get back on th...

10 Resources in My Venture/VRIN Analyses Financial Capital (gov't aid) Valuable - Money to buy needed goods Rare - Money is not rare, according to Professor Pryor! Inimitable - Most other businesses are not government funded Non-substitutable - can only be substituted with money donations Fundraising Power Valuable - special team of fundraisers that will reach out to collect donations Rare - People can only donate to so many charities before reaching their limit Inimitable - people will want to support a good-doing business Non-substitutable - my fundraisers can only work for one business at a time Corporate Social Responsibility Valuable - We are helping the community Rare - Most businesses are not solely dedicated to helping the homeless Inimitable - the organization will continue to have the same mission statement Non-substitutable - there are not many organizations that focus on this single cause. Donation resources Valuable - every donated item counts...

1) The book I read was Mindset: How to fulfill your potential by Carol Dweck and the general theme was unsurprisingly about mindsets. She specifically focused on two types of mindsets fixed and growth and the theme of the book is how the growth mindset can help you achieve your goals and leaves you more satisfied. Whereas the fixed mindset keeps you in a place of being stagnant and under a lot of pressure. 2) I think the book connects to what I am learning because the growth mindset is all about taking full advantage of learning opportunities and not focusing on failure and I feel like that is a consistent theme in this course. 3) Something that the author did during her research on this topic was to interview kids and give them puzzles that were hard to see how they responded and to see what mindset they had. I think a similar concept could be applied in this class by giving students a difficult assignment to see how they respond. I think this could be helpful because we woul...

The pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl16Goe-f98&t=1s A reflection on the feedback of my last pitch: After my first pitch, I showed it to a few of my friends and family members, and they noted that I should give a few more details about what specific services will be offered at Homeward Bound Florida.  They said that I was a little vague, and could make my pitch a tad longer. What did I change, based on the feedback? For the second pitch, I made sure to include specific services that Homeward Bound Florida would offer--specifically, cooking classes, Microsoft office lessons, and financial literacy classes.