Assignment 30A - Final Reflection - Darren Liebegott

Assignment 30A - Final Reflection - Darren Liebegott

1) After reviewing my blog for the semester, I do recall having some initial reservations when trying to complete the first couple assignments that required customer interviews. However, as I progressed through the course, I became more comfortable with doing the interviews, and I actually began to enjoy them as I was receiving valuable feedback. The book reviews were also challenging to complete within the time frame that they were due, along with work and other classes. Altogether, these were stretch exercises that helped me to grow, and I appreciate what I have learned along the way.

2) The most formative experience that I can take away from this course is the venture concept exercises. They helped me to think deeper about my business idea, and I also had to incorporate what we learned along the way to provide a detailed account of my venture concept. The elevator pitch exercises were also helpful, because they force you to explain your business to people, and there is just something about reviewing that exercise in your own words.

3) By the end of this semester I feel like I have developed a more entrepreneurial mindset. I have always had a knack for spotting problems that could potentially be good business ideas, but this course refined the way that I think about that process. I really enjoyed the way that Dr. Pryor broke down the process for us with real world examples. I think that will be one of the most valuable takeaways from this course.

4) A recommendation that I would make to future students of this course would be to keep an open mind about the process. Dr. Pryor lays everything out for you, and all you really need to do is be creative with your responses to the assignments. That creativity is what really fosters the entrepreneurial mindset. So just lose yourself in the moment, and you will be surprised with what might be waiting for you inside your mind.

Assignment 29A -Venture Concept No. 2 - Darren Liebegott

Assignment 29A - Venture Concept No. 2 - Darren Liebegott

1) Revised Venture Concept:

Opportunity: The opportunity that I have found for my venture concept is based on the fact that many people are looking for ways to save money on their cable, internet, and cellular services. This need is important for many different groups of people, although at first it will be marketed towards middle-class families who live on a strict budget. The forces or changes in the environment that are creating this opportunity are the amount of competition in these services industries, and the rising costs of these services as well as other household commodities. This market is based mainly in suburban areas, and is made up of people from a wide array of ages, including teens all the way up to middle-age people and senior citizens. Customers are currently having to switch services to save money, which is not ideal for the customer or service provider. This opportunity has the potential to be big based on the interviews that I have conducted. Most people feel that their services are over-priced. The window of opportunity for this business is wide, however, many competitors could cause concerns with the passage of time.

Innovation: This service is innovative because it is a fairly new concept for these industries. It is a mediation service that is used to negotiate price and service contracts for customers and their service providers. This will bring value to both the customer and service provider by removing the headaches of these negotiations, allowing the provider to focus more on the quality of their services while also continuing to keep longstanding business relationships with their customers. The service will be rendered to customers at a fee, which will not be charged unless the customer saves a significant amount annually on their services.

Venture Concept: Customers will try this service as an opportunity to save money each month. Once the concept takes root, word of mouth advertising will be a key catalyst for driving revenue. Some competitors include smaller service providers that already offer low priced services. Their weaknesses are that their services are of lower quality, and they cannot reach as many customers as the larger service providers who tend to charge more for their services. Customers will trust my service to get them the best price for their service at the quality they expect. The roles that will be created for this service will be that of IT Manager, Chief Operating Officer, and customer service support staff. The service will be introduced on a website, and there will also be an 800 hotline for customers to forward their questions.

Three Minor Elements: First, the most important resource for this business is the social capital that will be included in the beginning phases of the business. This service will require professionals with industry knowledge and dedication to the cause of saving our customers money. Second, after the business becomes successful, the plan will be to begin franchising it out to entrepreneurs. By doing this we can increase our revenue exponentially while continuing to provide excellent customer service from a proven framework. Third, the next thing that I plan to do as an entrepreneur is to begin creating new business ideas to work towards. This first venture will give me the necessary knowledge of building and growing a business so that my future ventures will be successful.

Summary of Feedback: The feedback that I received on my first venture concept assignment helped me to create a more specific plan this time around. Most of the feedback that I received was positive, giving me a boost in the perception that this venture can be successful. Many other students feel that this service is a good idea, and that is encouraging to hear from my peers.

Changes: The changes that I made to my venture concept were minor, however, they helped me to narrow down my concept and become more specific with my plan. The advantage of doing this assignment twice, for me, was that it helped me to resonate further with my idea. I think this type of repetitive practice is what changes a concept from being good enough to great.

Assignment 28A - Your Exit Strategy - Darren Liebegott

Assignment 28A - Your Exit Strategy - Darren Liebegott

1) The exit strategy that I plan to use for my business venture in the next five years will be to create a franchising system that can be sold to aspiring entrepreneurs. I believe the business that I have chosen can be designed to be successful for the right person that subscribes to the process. There will be a great need for business mediators in the future, and this will provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to act on their motivations to be self sufficient.

2) I have selected franchising as an exit strategy because it continues to increase the value of the business while giving me the opportunity to manage from a distance with a more hands off approach. After putting in the hard work of creating, starting, and maintaining the business, it will be nice to realize a profit without the need to run the day-to-day operations of any one business.

3) My exit strategy has helped me to look at the business as more of a tool than a way of life. While having my first official business will be amazing, I believe you should be always moving forward and trying to achieve more. With this type of exit strategy, I am not only offering myself the opportunity to dedicate more of my time to other ventures, but I am also able to continue reaping the benefits of my hard work. I think it is important to find ways to sustain your own business ventures, and this is a way to build further businesses from the profits of my first venture. Once I have gained enough from the business, I will consider selling it entirely for a nice profit.

Assignment 27A - Reading Reflection No. 3 - Darren Liebegott

Assignment 27A - Reading Reflection No. 3 - Darren Liebegott

The book that I chose to read and reflect on for this assignment was Cognitive Surplus, by Clay Shirky.

1) The general theme or argument of this book is that people can benefit from the constructive uses of social media. Shirky claims that in recent years, young people have begun to dedicate more of their time to using technology for collaborative and creative purposes, rather than simply binge watching television shows they are using technology to become problem solvers. The cognitive surplus is the amount of intellectual gain that a person can achieve on their leisure time through reading, writing, and other sources of cognitive exercise. Shirky argues that technology is making people naturally exercise more of their cognitive skills, which in turn is raising their cognitive surplus.

2) This book connected with and enhanced what I have been learning by illustrating the importance of distance collaboration. As a UF Online student, I have many opportunities to collaborate with fellow students and staff via online platforms. This book argues that the use of this online collaboration helps to foster creativity and motivation, which was encouraging considering the amount of time that I have spent using it for my online education.

3) If I had to design an exercise for this class based on this book, I would encourage students to collaborate online to create a website for the class that could be used as a free-form sharing platform for business ideas, and thoughts. I think this type of exercise would be a good simulation for what students could be involved with in a real world remote working environment. As many people are having to adapt to working from home now, this knowledge could prove to be valuable in the near future.

4) The biggest surprise that came to me from this book was just how important that I realized social media actually is now. I use various social media platforms, and I am quite resourceful with technology, but I never really considered the way that these forms of technology are actually shaping the way that we learn and collaborate as a society. Understanding that technology helps us to relate with one another and test out nearly infinite ideas almost instantaneously as a species, is quite remarkable when you stop to think about the actual impact that it is having on society.

Assignment 26A - Celebrating Failure - Darren Liebegott

Assignment 26A - Celebrating Failure - Darren Liebegott

1) Something that I failed to do during this past semester is find the time to rebuild the privacy fence on the back side of my property. After the storms that we had this past hurricane season, my fence has been leaning to one side, and I have been meaning to put some new sections up to minimize the damage. However, between work, school, and other family functions, I have failed to fix it just yet. I plan to work on completing this task between this semester and the start of Summer C.

2) Something that I learned from this experience is that while it seems as if I never have time to complete this task, in reality there have been times when I could have gotten the job done but chose to do other things. I have realized that the sooner I finish the fence, the sooner I can focus on more important tasks and not have to worry about doing it.

3) It is difficult to admit that we fail at things, but if we learn from the experience at least something positive can come from it. I tend to handle failure by trying to focus on getting better on something else, like exercising more, or planning different study habits. While these are good traits to utilize while recovering from failure, they still don't fix the initial problem. This class has helped me to realize that failure is an inevitable part of succeeding. Failure just proves that you are putting yourself out there enough to experience growth opportunities in your life. I plan to handle my failures head on after this semester. As soon as I see that I may be failing at something, I will work towards correcting it immediately rather trying to wait for the right time, in which there may never be.

Assignment 25A - What's Next? - Darren Liebegott

Assignment 25A - What's Next? - Darren Liebegott

Existing Market:
The existing market that I chose for my venture was families in suburban neighborhoods that need to follow a close budget. In order to grow this market, I will need to reach these families through advertisements and social media campaigns. Another way that I can encourage growth in this market will be to give discounts to customers that refer friends and families to the service.

Given the high demand for lowering the prices of internet, cable, and cellular services, there will be many opportunities to attract new business to the service via front-line advertising. This can be accomplished by handing out flyers at community events and by advertising in local businesses. With a focus on growth, I will be able to create an environment that builds upon the existing market that I will target to start this venture.

New Market:
After establishing my venture in the suburbs, I will target young, professional adults. Possibly those that have recently graduated from college and are working towards building a future for themselves. This new market interests me because even though these may not be the prototypical customers that are conscious of their spending habits, it will be in there best interests to take advantage of this service at a young age. By helping to educate them on the importance of savings, and creating flexibility in their budget, I will be helping to foster a more financially aware society.

I expect that once I have enough customers in this new market, it could potentially be the dominant market for my business. I chose this as a secondary market because I feel that targeting families first gives me a better chance of sustaining the business in the beginning. However, this new market could prove to be dynamic and help to create even more revenue streams in the future. I am excited to see what the possibilities are for both of these market segments in the near future.

Assignment 24A - Venture Concept No. 1 - Darren Liebegott - Services For Less

Assignment 24A - Venture Concept No. 1 - Darren Liebegott - Services For Less

Business Name: Services For Less

Opportunity:
The opportunity that I have realized through my business concept is that many customers of cable, internet, and cellular providers are unhappy with the rates they pay for these services. The forces in the environment that create the opportunity for my venture concept are that there are not many mediators that negotiate on the behalf of customers with regards to these providers. The market that I have chosen, both geographically and demographically, is primarily families in suburban areas that need to stay within a specific budget with their service costs. Many of the potential customers that I have interviewed have showed much interest in this mediation service. This opportunity has much potential since there are not many out there like it. The window of opportunity for this service is undefined, but it is important to act fast, as other entrepreneurs could be planning similar ventures.

Innovation:
The service that I am creating is innovative in that it helps to level the playing field between service providers of cable, internet, and cellular providers and their customers. This is accomplished by signing customers up to our service through an online platform, and via telephone hotline services. Once our customers have subscribed to the service, we work on the customer's behalf to find them the best rate for their services at a nominal fee. If we are unable to save the customer a set amount per month we will allow the customer to continue using our service for free until they are saving a certain amount per month. There will be different pricing tiers based upon the needs of the customer, and the amount of negotiating necessary to provide them with the rates they need.

Venture Concept:
During the beginning phases of this business, it will be challenging to gain the amount of customers that the service needs to sustain it. We will run promotions that give the service to customers for free and rely on word of mouth advertising from these customers. We will also use social media to push the brand name and help to gain loyal customers this way. Once the word is out that customers are saving hundreds of dollars per year by using our service, it will become easier to gain customers, and to also charge the appropriate rates. Competitors of this service are some of the low-end providers that already charge low rates. They have the advantage of providing the service at a low rate without the need for mediation. Their weakness is that they do not have the resources to reach all of their customer base to provide top-notch services, whereas we do not have to provide the actual services, rather we only negotiate the best rate for the quality of service that the customer requires. Another strength that my business plan provides is that it is not reliant on a physical location. Much of what needs to be done is customer support and technical, this provides the ability to outsource work or even work remotely. The most important aspect of this business is that we help customers save money while helping them to secure the services they need for their businesses and personal needs. Ongoing support for this business will be a continued growth of representatives as the business grows. Also, we will need to incorporate an in-house technical staff to run the website.

The Three Minor Elements:
My service's most important resource will be the social capital that I have to start the venture. This includes industry knowledge and business professionals that have a good understanding of what the service stands for. Having a strong social capital will help to foster the type of organizational culture that is required for long term success. The next step for this business will be to possibly franchise the service. If I can create a service that can be duplicated and copyright it, I will be able to charge others to run their own businesses. This will help to provide the end goal of lowering these rates for the customer across the board. This venture will help me to achieve my goal of being financially independent, and it will also help me to work towards creating other sustainable businesses in the future.