Final Reflection

I remember and really enjoyed doing all the elevator pitches for the blog and just practicing presenting my business idea in a concise and magnetic manner. The first time I received feedback on my blog posts via comments was really exciting too. Just reading about what other people in the class thought about my business made me really happy to hear.

I definitely think that with all the of assignments and exercises I had to do for class I developed more of an entrepreneurship mindset. The assignments helped me practice to think in a very business oriented way and to search for new pockets of innovation and opportunity in my everyday life.

I would recommend for anyone who is remotely interested in business to take this course. I would suggest that the future students who take this course take it very seriously because that way they will surely get the most out of the assignments and activities. Also, time management is very important in doing well in this class.

Experience Portfolio

LAUREN HOFFMAN

EDUCATION                                                                                                                         

University of Florida                                                                                                  Gainesville, FL       

Bachelor of English Literature

Minor in Business Administration                                                                     May 2017

Pre- Law                     

                                                           

Relevant Coursework: Advanced Exposition, Modern Criticism and Theory of 20^th Century Thought, Business Finance.

WORK EXPERIENCE                                                                                                           

Founder, My Venture                                                                                       2016- Present

• ·       Composed and thoroughly thought out a possible business venture.
• ·       Interviewed entrepreneurs about their businesses and how they became successful.
• ·       Interviewed possible customers for my business and inquired what they thought of the idea.
• ·       Delivered multiple elevator pitches, venture concepts, ect. and received feedback on my idea.

College Magazine                                                                                             Gainesville, FL

Writer                                                                                             October 2015-February 2016

• ·       Nationally recognized magazine that provides an inside look to the lives of college students.
• ·       Compose, edit and promote articles daily, as well as communicate with the other editors and writers of the publication.

Speakiesy App Company                                                                             Gainesville, FL

Brand Ambassador                                                                             January 2015- May 2015

• ·       Updated and advertised for the company daily, through the app itself as well as other forms of social media such as: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
• ·       Attended workshops and assisted in running large fundraisers and conventions to promote this app and sell it to consumers.

Gordon & Donor Injury Law Firm                                              Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Internship                                                                                           June 2014 – August 2014

• ·       Organized and prepared case files, medical documents, medical records, evidentiary support cases for hearings and trials.
• ·       Contacted and collaborated with various insurance companies to confirm that all medical files were accurate and present in the law firm, as well as confirmed court dates and legal appointments with various clients.

Talay Thai Restaurant                                                                               Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Hostess                                                                                                 June 2012 – Present

• ·       Coordinated reservations for the restaurant, dealing with accommodating both the costumer as well as ensuring possible availability with my supervisor.
• ·       Received take out orders. This involved balancing the amount of take out orders sent to the kitchen with the kitchens availability to prepare the orders that served satisfactory to the customers.

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE                                                                                    

The Odyssey                                                                                                     Gainesville, FL

Writer                                                                                       December 2014- October 2015

• ·       The Odyssey is a nationally recognized magazine present in almost every university throughout the United States.
• ·       Continuously write articles and submit them weekly concerning a large array of topics; both connecting and informing everyone around campus of present news.

Swamp Party                                                                                                 Gainesville, FL

Member                                                                                              September 2013- Present

Invisible Children Chapter                                                             Riviera Beach, FL

Founder and President                                                                        August 2008 – May 2012

Suncoast High school                         

Debate Team/ Club                                                                           Riviera Beach, FL

Public Forum Captain and Team Member                               August 2008 – May 2012

Varsity                         

Suncoast High school

Soccer Team                                                                                      Riviera Beach, FL

Captain                                                                                                September 2011- February 2013

Suncoast High school

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION                                                                                           

Languages: Spanish and English

Honors: International Baccalaureate, National AP Scholar and Honor Roll.

Other Involvement: Delta Phi Epsilon Member, Pre- Legal Honor Society, University Campus Ambassador, Tutor.

Interests: Reading, Writing, Tennis, Soccer, Piano, Yoga, Guitar and Traveling.  

Skills: Mac and Windows Platforms, Word Processors, Social Media Platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Word Press, ect.)

Week 15 Reading Reflection

1. The biggest surprise for me in the reading was how micro finance is a solution to poverty. I have heard many things about poverty and different ways to solve it but micro finance was never one of the things anyone talks about as a possible solution.

2. One part of the reading that was confusing to me was the part about having Indian villagers explain when they would need to borrow money or not. Also, I was wondering how the exchange rate from whatever money these impoverished countries used to the U.S. dollar. Even though their company is a non-profit they still need to break even or else their business would be losing money and would not be able to maintain itself.

3. If I could ask the author two questions, I would ask: 1). How do you get the people in these countries to trust your business as a method of money lending? 2). Which country has been the most successful to your business so far?

4. There wasn't anything in the reading I thought the author was wrong about.

Elevator Pitch No. 4

Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity

The opportunity I saw in creating my business idea started with my own frustration with a personal unmet need. There were times where I needed to eat something quickly and at the same time wanted something healthy like- sushi. Sushi is available at restaurant establishments for pick up, delivery, and dine- in experiences, but never have I seen or heard of nay drive through sushi places. I then began to research, and noticed that this was also an unmet need a lot of my friends were experiencing as well, the ones who enjoyed eating sushi of course. Hence, I saw a great opportunity to create a sushi to go restaurant named Roll Through that also has a dine- in and asian cuisine option. Sushi is great if someone is looking for something healthy, compact, and non- messy on the go, or if they simply don't have the time to dine- in, pick up, or have anything delivered. 

The customers my business would be approaching are obviously people who enjoy eating sushi. I wanted to take my business a step further and also include some asian cuisine that is also available for dine- in or drive through as well. That way my business could garner more customers for those who don't like sushi but enjoy asian food, and are looking for something on the go. My business is not limited to any age group, just those who enjoy eating the kinds of food that would be provided at my establishment. I think this is a great benefit to my business because there aren't any strong restrictions to my target population. 

It would be both ideal and beneficial for my business to be open somewhere that is a busy city where a lot of people are on the go. This would be a better target population and demographic for my business than if it was placed in a rural or suburban area. Still, a suburban area could benefit from families looking to get something quick and healthy to eat before taking their kids to soccer practice, or an individual in the work force on a lunch break. A busy city would be ideal, but not too busy. For example, a city like New York City would not help my business because a lot of people don't drive cars there. Perhaps even a college town would be a prime location since a lot of college students are always on the go. Overall, the business would benefit from a location that is full of busy people, but a place where majority of residents use cars. 

I think the window of opportunity for this business would be indefinite. For the most part, there will always be people who are busy and cannot find time to eat, as well as people who enjoy eating sushi or asian cuisine. 

Innovation

As I have mentioned in the previous section, I decided to extend the kind of products I would be selling to not only sushi but also asian cuisine. That way my business could appeal and benefit financially from people who don't like sushi. Additionally, for people who like sushi but not raw fish, there can be some vegetarian options or "fake sushi" like a roll with chicken instead of fish. I'm not exactly sure how much each ingredient to make the sushi or cuisine would cost, but to make my business both appealing and affordable I would try to range my products to around $8-10 per roll/ meal if that would be financially feasible. 

Venture Concept

I believe that customers will switch to this product because there is nothing like the business I have created. Through my research there has yet to have been a sushi drive through place and I think because it has never existed, people will be very intrigued by it. My business would definitely rely heavily on customer loyalty, because as it has been expressed in comments on my posts and in interviews, people would be concerned by the freshness of the raw fish included in the sushi. My business would have to put in a lot of work in marketing the freshness and quality of the sushi used in my business. I think to start there would not have to be many employees in the store. Perhaps, two people to make the sushi and then one person at the register inside and one person handling the drive through window, at least until the business proves that it is busier and needs more help. 

Three Minor Elements

I think that my business's major resource would be the innovation and uniqueness of my idea. That is has not been done before or at least proven successful. If my business promotes enough where people will trust the quality of the fish, it would be very hard for another business to open replicating mine because I have already established customer loyalty and people are not as adventurous to try raw fish at other places. 

The next opportunity I would want to try for the venture would be to open more stores across the nation. I think expansion would be a great next step for my business. 

After creating this business and in five years, I see myself overseeing the franchise of what hopefully will be successful sushi to go establishments in different cities and states. 

Google Gold

1. My general approach and strategy to SEO was to use key words that would catch peoples attention when they search on the internet or that people would most likely use when searching about things that are related to my blog/ business idea.

2. My key works were: delicious, sushi, business, drive- through, health. I thought these words were broad enough that people would google them who are looking for something along the lines of what my blog could offer them.

3. Social media is a good tool to garner more traction from users on the Internet. A great way to promote the blog on social media would be through sharing this blog on Facebook, Tweeting, setting up tweets on Hootsuite, and even just simply emailing people or telling them about the blog by word of mouth. Social media worked reasonably in having people read my blog.

4. I think my first elevator pitch garnered more traffic from the rest of my blog posts, probably because that blog post included the main idea and focus of my business idea venture. If people would want to know the central idea of my start up business that would be the page to go to to find that out and that is why I think it got the most traffic.

5. I made it onto the first page of google, second link down. My mantra was the first thing to come up.

Week 14 Reading Reflection

1. One thing that surprised me in the readings was how many different strategies organizations have when trying to create a start up and all the different mentalities entrepreneurs have when creating and running their business. 

2. One part of the reading that was confusing for me was the part about some of the ethical challenges entrepreneurs face. 

3. Two questions I would ask the author are: 1). Will there ever be a time an entrepreneur won't have to face an ethical challenge when starting or conducting their business? 2). Over time, what has proved to be the most effective kind of business organization for entrepreneurs?

4. I did not find any information that I thought the author was wrong about in the readings.