30A – Final Reflection

First, I’m grateful for this class and what it has taught me throughout the semester. This semester provided challenges, both academically and personally. Going into this class, I went in with the mindset to just do the work and get the grade. I had zero desire to be an entrepreneur, and no one was going to change my mind about that, or so I thought. I’m not going to lie, having to talk to complete strangers about this crazy idea of mine was not easy. I didn’t like it at first, until I started seeing a pattern. I wasn’t the only one who could use a service like this. My mom friends weren’t the only ones who could use a service like this. There really is a problem, and I was able to see beyond my little circle that we weren’t the only ones with it.

Unfortunately, what sticks out most for me this semester was the pandemic that rocked all of our worlds. The most joyous experience throughout this course was knowing the lectures were not going to put me to sleep. Even after a long day, I didn’t mind sitting down to watch them because I knew they would be entertaining, and I would learn something. I think I’m most proud of reaching out to Professor Chris to explain my situation regarding work, home and school. I’m the type of person that doesn’t seek help, or acknowledge I’m drowning. In my head, I felt I had no right to have a discussion with him about it, but a friend of mine pushed me to do it, and I’m grateful she did.

Today, I can say that yes, I have an entrepreneurial mindset. I didn’t realize it was developing until the pandemic happened and I started to see problems and find solutions to those problems. Do I think I would ever move forward with this business idea that I created for our assignments? If you would’ve asked me this 45 days ago, I would’ve told you no. Today, however, it’s possible I just might go for it.

Future students here is the best advice I received for this course…“You don't get it, if you don't ask for it!”~Professor Chris 

If each student remembers that quote, they will do just fine in this course.

29A Venture Concept No. 2

My Idea: My idea is a ride sharing venture that assists working parents with getting their children to and from their activities, events, etc. Mom-Assist is a one of a kind business that is specifically developed to help working parents.

Opportunity

As my daughter continues to build her activities and social life, I realized it’s almost impossible to get her to everywhere she needs to be when she needs to be there. As I talk to other moms about my hardships (and my gratefulness for the help I receive from family), I learned that I am not the only one struggling with this. In fact, I learned some of my mom friends do not have any help at all. Some of my mom friends risk losing their jobs to get their children where they need to be. Some of my mom friends pay people to drive their kids to where they need to go. Some of my mom friends beg friends to help them. It’s not easy, and we all need help. The saying is true…it’s take a village to raise a child. We live in a society where it is almost a necessity for family to have two incomes. With both parents working, it’s hard for parents to meet the needs of their children. Working parents need help, and it’s not always so easy to get it. As long as homes require two incomes, the need for help will always be there.

Innovation

Light bulb! What if there was a ride sharing type business specifically to help children get to and from their destinations? What if there was a company parents could trust to transport their children to all of their activities? My idea is a ride sharing business specifically for helping working parents. It’s an innovative service that will provide much needed assistance to parents. Parents would no longer have to juggle a schedule to get their children where they need to go. They can now rely on a safe, ride sharing service to help them. Safety and security are the priority, and because of this, parents will; be able to watch the entire ride to ensure 1) the child is behaving; 2) the driver is behaving; and 3) the child arrives safely (and on time) to their destination. At less than $1.00/mile, parents would be able to afford a service that allows them to ensure their child(ren) are able to get to their activities, events, etc. It’s a winning service for both the parents and the children.

Venture Concept

As a mom who needs this service, I believe parents would use this service to help alleviate the stress of having to get their child(ren) to different places. It would also be beneficial to parents who have more than one child that need to be at different places at the same time. It will also allow parents to give their children more opportunities to participate in activities to find their path in life. At this time, the only competitors I can pinpoint are nannies and other ride sharing services. It will be hard to persuade a family that has a nanny to try this service as they have found someone they trust to care for their children, but for the parent who does not like using Uber to get their child to their activity, this service would allow them to have a safe and reliable method of transportation for their child(ren). Employees will need to go through rigorous background and driving checks before they are accepted as a driver. Each driver will set their own schedule at a minimum of one week in advance to allow parents the opportunity to plan transportation needs at least one week in advance. Ideally, we would have up to 50 drivers per day to support the needs of working parents.

Three Minor Elements

The most important resource I have are my mom friends. They are the ones giving me honest feedback, suggestions and recommendations to ensure this service is safe, secure and desired.

After Mom-Assist is up and running in Palm Beach County, it is my desire to have this service up and running in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties as well. If the service is successful in this tri-county area, I would look into expanding in other metropolitan areas of Florida, and surrounding states. If the service continues to gain momentum, I would look to expanding it to all major metropolitan areas nationwide and monitor the need for the service in surrounding areas.

In five years, I would like to see happy parents and children enjoying their best lives because this service provided more opportunities for them to succeed. If the service is doing as well as I believe it will, in two to three years I would look to add more services like Driving School for new drivers, tutoring services, and a secure online video conferencing platform for children to interact with friends.

Being an entrepreneur was never my intention, but if this idea does work, it would be my one and only entrepreneurial adventure.

After reviewing this with my husband, I decided to add the additional services by year two or three. Being that I would sell the business by year five, I should have all benefits of this service up and running before I sell it.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

How do I plan to exit this venture? After contemplating this, it’s my opinion that I would most likely sell the business after five years. In all honesty, I’m not the type of person to do the same thing forever. I like to find new adventures and new challenges. I think if I were to stay with the business for more than five years, I would get bored and the business would suffer as a result of that. I don’t mind starting something, getting it off and running and then selling it to the highest bidder.

My exit strategy does influence the decisions I make for the business. For instance, the expectations I have set, and the new ideas I have come up with are all a result of not wanting to be around too long. It’s also providing the best product to a potential buyer who can then take the business further.

27A Reading Reflection No. 3

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The theme of the book focuses on the two systems of thought processing. System I is intuitive thinking. It’s fast, unconscious, automatic, everyday decisions, error prone. System II is rational thinking. It’s slow, conscious, effortful, complex decisions and reliable.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

In Part IV, it talks about bad events. It was interesting to see written in a book that we work harder to avoid losses than we do to secure gains. I had to stop and think about this for a minute. Do I strive to avoid loss or secure a gain? Do I strive to not get an F or get an A? My comments when discussing this with others is, “I cannot get an F,” which makes me see the point the book is making. I’m trying to avoid the F instead of securing the A.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I were to design an exercise for this class, I would ask the class a series of questions, and I would like to see if they use System I or System II to process the decision. I think we would be surprised to see who uses which System of thinking for each scenario. I’ve noticed when making decisions with my husband, I will use System I for the decision, but he will use System II. It drives me insane because although he comes to the same conclusion that I did with System I, I have to wait a little bit longer for him to reach the same conclusion as he goes through System II.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The ‘aha’ moment in this book was Part II: Overconfidence. In reading this part, I learned I can be overconfident about a lot of things. I have never really thought about myself in this way. I like to believe I have a great intuition (I’m a woman after all) but being that this could be chalked up to overconfidence was eye opening to say the least.

26A – Celebrating Failure

Failure. It’s a term I struggle with more than anything in this world. Not only did I fail this semester, I had to admit defeat and wave the white flag. FIN3403, Professor Banko’s class. It did me in. It wasn’t for lack of trying or busting my butt. It took me down, it took me down hard, and I had to hang my head down as I admitted failure. Professor Banko states during each class, how hard the class is and how hard it is to pass the class. It’s difficult to hear that every day from a professor, but I became numb to his words as I studied and did my best to get through each lecture and assignment. During the first exam with 15 minutes left, my computer lost the connection to ProctorU. I had never experienced this before, and I almost lost my mind. I had studied for days, drank more energy drinks than I could count and then the unthinkable happened. I was able to get back to the exam with minimal time remaining, but my head was scattered and I lost complete control over my emotions. Professor Banko gave me points for questions I did not answer, but it didn’t help. I still failed miserably. He told me not to worry, the second exam was coming, and I would be ok. Um…not quite. The second exam happened to coincide with quite a few work issues: Fiscal Year 21 Budget Cycle, upgrade to our vendor registration platform and the onset of COVID-19. It was a trifecta of circumstances that I refused to let get in my way of passing Business Finance. I was wrong. No matter how hard I tried, how hard I studied and how hard I worked, I failed again. It became evident I was not going to graduate in December like I had planned. The light at the end of my tunnel was no longer visible. I even questioned whether or not I was good enough to be a UF Student. I didn’t understand it then, but I see now, it was a blessing in disguise to fail both exams and drop the class. Why? Because shortly after Exam 2, Palm Beach County went to a Level 2 Activation, which meant I was going to be working 6-7 days a week (8-10 hours per day) for the foreseeable future. What else happened? School was cancelled. I have an 8-year-old daughter in second grade, which means I now have to homeschool her, and work. What happened after the schools closed, I could not have made up myself. For starters, an employee of mine tested positive for COVID-19 on March 23rd. For the record, I have three employees who work under me. Due to the positive test, I was required to send another employee home for two weeks to self-monitor. My last employee, fearful for her life, decided she needed to go home as well. As of March 23rd, I have done my job, the job of my employees and my fulfilled the duties of my County Activation position. In addition, due to the Governor’s Safer-At-Home Order, our staff of 30 was down to 10. Between April 1st and April 3rd, our department watched 20 staff members get approved for 30 days of administrative leave under this order. The last nail in the coffin was one of my employees submitting their two weeks’ notice after they accepted a position with another Department within the County. I told you I could not make this up.

We have 10 people working in our building, and we had to figure out how to keep operations afloat. How did we do that? Prioritizing. We had to prioritize everything. Second, we had to make announcements and send out correspondence to other County Departments and vendors stating the status of our operations and what services would be available to them for the month of April. Next, we cross trained staff to ensure any one of us could complete an assignment for either section of our Department. Finally, we had to modify our current practices to complete our processes and procedures. The ironic part in all of this…our operations have maintained. The downside in all of this, managers are seeing which employees are doing their jobs, and which ones are doing just enough to get by. No longer are the stronger employees carrying the weaker employees. Although as managers, we already knew we had weaker employees, we did not know the extent of their weakness until now. It has been an eye-opening experience to say the least.

In the middle of experiencing failing business finance, I thought my college career was over. I thought I was just not meant to have a Bachelor’s degree from UF. I felt like I was not good enough. However, hindsight is always 20/20. Today, I can sit here and say withdrawing from business finance was the right thing to do. I could not imagine trying to keep up with two classes while going through all of this. Failure does not mean you lose. Failure is a teachable moment. You only lose if you do not learn the lesson.

25A – What’s Next

Existing Market

In the existing market for my idea, parents commit themselves to a nanny or negotiate with friends to assist them with their child(ren)’s transportation needs. By giving parents an option that does not require a long-term commitment or jeopardize friendships, they are able to take care of their child(ren)’s transportation needs with the click of a mouse. What’s next is to actually start putting this business in to motion. I’ve networked this idea with every mom I know. Now, it’s time to get it up and running. It’s time to get an audio/visual person to install the camera in a car; a website developer to set up the website; an app writer to create the app that allows parents to watch the entire transportation process; and set up a business account at a bank that has favorable terms for small/women-owned businesses.

My expectations are high. I expect to have at least 20 drivers within the first 45 days of operation. I expect to have 100 drivers after 180 days in operation. I expect to have at least 10 repeat customers within the first 30 days of operation, and 50 repeat customers after 90 days of operation. In an effort to bring in first-time customers, I would drop the base fare and service fee for the first five rides within a 30day period. I expect the business to grow mostly through word of mouth and social media advertising. The advertising would focus on the safety of the service, as well as, the care your child(ren) will receive during the entire transportation process. It will be a difficult road in the beginning, but any business worth starting is going to have labor pains. It’s all a matter of whether or not I really want to make this happen.

New Market

In addition to the transportation needs I’ve discussed with my mom friends, we have also discussed how COVID-19 has flipped our world upside down. No longer are we worried about how our child(ren) will get to their next activity, but rather we are now worried about how our child(ren) will adapt to distance learning, social distancing, maintaining contact with their friends, and their mental health as they adapt to this new normal they were forced in to. In a way I feel my daughter has a head start on distance learning as she has watched me for years complete school online, but what about parents who do not have help during this time, especially essential-employee parents? How do we meet the needs of our child(ren) during this time? Being that this is a web-based business, I was inspired to consider adding tutoring services, a secure online group chat platform similar to Google Meet and Zoom, and mental health counseling (or similar type counseling) to help children adapt. How did I come up with these ideas so quickly? I am living this with my own daughter. With a Thanos snap of the finger, my daughter’s world changed. She shut down. She became depressed. She lashed out. She was miserable. My daughter is 8 years old. Her father and I recognized it immediately and got her the help she needed. In a perfect world, these options would be available in one platform for our children, but they aren’t.  Giving the parents a platform to have a one-stop shop for assistance, especially during times like these, would be beneficial to both he parents and the child(ren).

As we have learned this entire semester, find a problem and look for a solution. I never expected to find the problem and the solution in my own house.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

My Idea: My idea is a ride sharing venture that assists working parents with getting their children to and from their activities, events, etc. Mom-Assist is a one of a kind business that is specifically developed to help working parents.

Opportunity

As my daughter continues to build her activities and social life, I realized it’s almost impossible to get her to everywhere she needs to be when she needs to be there. As I talk to other moms about my hardships (and my gratefulness for the help I receive from family), I learned that I am not the only one struggling with this. In fact, I learned some of my mom friends do not have any help at all. Some of my mom friends risk losing their jobs to get their children where they need to be. Some of my mom friends pay people to drive their kids to where they need to go. Some of my mom friends beg friends to help them. It’s not easy, and we all need help. The saying is true…it’s take a village to raise a child. We live in a society where it is almost a necessity for family to have two incomes. With both parents working, it’s hard for parents to meet the needs of their children. Working parents need help, and it’s not always so easy to get it. As long as homes require two incomes, the need for help will always be there.

Innovation

Light bulb! What if there was a ride sharing type business specifically to help children get to and from their destinations? What if there was a company parents could trust to transport their children to all of their activities? My idea is a ride sharing business specifically for helping working parents. It’s an innovative service that will provide much needed assistance to parents. Parents would no longer have to juggle a schedule to get their children where they need to go. They can now rely on a safe, ride sharing service to help them. Safety and security are the priority, and because of this, parents will; be able to watch the entire ride to ensure 1) the child is behaving; 2) the driver is behaving; and 3) the child arrives safely (and on time) to their destination. At less than $1.00/mile, parents would be able to afford a service that allows them to ensure their children are able to get to their activities, events, etc. It’s a winning service for both the parents and the children.

Venture Concept

As a mom who needs this service, I believe parents would use this service to help alleviate the stress of having to get their children to different places. It would also be beneficial to parents who have more than one child that need to be at different places at the same time. It will also allow parents to give their children more opportunities to participate in activities to find their path in life. At this time, the only competitors I can pinpoint are nannies and other ride sharing services. It will be hard to persuade a family that has a nanny to try this service as they have found someone they trust to care for their children, but for the parent who does not like using Uber to get their child to their activity, this service would allow them to have a safe and reliable method of transportation for their child(ren). Employees will need to go through rigorous background and driving checks before they are accepted as a driver. Each driver will set their own schedule at a minimum of one week in advance to allow parents the opportunity to plan transportation needs at least one week in advance. Ideally, we would have up to 50 drivers per day to support the needs of working parents.

Three Minor Elements

The most important resource I have are my mom friends. They are the ones giving me honest feedback, suggestions and recommendations to ensure this service is safe, secure and desired.

After Mom-Assist is up and running in Palm Beach County, it is my desire to have this service up and running in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties as well. If the service is successful in this tri-county area, I would look into expanding in other metropolitan areas of Florida, and surrounding states. If the service continues to gain momentum, I would look to expanding it to all major metropolitan areas nationwide and monitor the need for the service in surrounding areas of major metropolitan areas.

In five years, I would like to see happy parents and children enjoying their best lives because this service provided more opportunities for them to succeed. If the service is doing as well as I believe it will, in ten years I would look to add more services like Driving School for new drivers and tutoring services.

Being an entrepreneur was never my intention, but if this idea does work, it would be my one and only entrepreneurial adventure.