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.