Identifying Local Opportunities

Identifying Local Opportunities

1.

Title: Former City Worker Agrees To Prison Deal

Link: https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200130/former-city-worker-agrees-to-prison-deal

Description of story: A former city of Gainesville worked was caught using city cards and her bosses cards to purchase items for personal use. Natwaina Sharee Clark will serve a minimum of 2 years after stealing close to 93,000$ from taxpayers. Records show she spent the money of a variety of things such as: round trip airline tickets, a Brazilian butt lift, a 70" 4K TV and other electronics, bills and cosmetics.  

Description of problem and who has the problem: The problem is that a worker from the city of Gainesville was caught stealing money from residents/taxpayers and was using the money for personal benefit. This problem affects the city of Gainesville and Natwaina Clark and her reputation. 

2. 

Title: High-Priority Violations: Alachua County Restaurant inspections (Jan. 20-25)

Link: https://www.gainesville.com/photogallery/LK/20200129/PHOTOGALLERY/129009984/PH/1

Description of story: The article is a list of every restaurant in Gainesville that failed for high priority violations and also indicates the specific types of violations. As listed, some very noticeable restaurants require follow-ups while other restaurants are clear of any violations.  

Description of problem and who has the problem: The problem belongs to each individual restaurant and each problem is specific for the restaurant listed. Specific restaurants failed for different reasons whether one be for pests and rodents and the other for not labeling food and liquid containers. 

3. 

Title: Miami-Dade Triple Murder Suspect Found Dead As Police Search Desperately For Missing Newborn 

Link: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article239752953.html

Description of story: The story is that a man named Ernesto Caballeiro took the lives of the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother of his son, Andrew. The man took the son and drove off after the killing spree and ended up committing suicide near Tampa, FL. Andrew was not at the scene of the crime and is still missing.

Description of problem and who has the problem: The Caballeiro family is dearly affected by this problem as well as other close friends and relatives. Also, since it involves a crime and a missing person, the police are involved to help understand and piece the case together. 

4.

Title: 30 Students, 3 Teachers in South Florida Return To School After Coronavirus Scare

Link: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article239789388.html

Description of story: A group of 30 students and 3 teachers traveled to Yale University for a Model United Nations convention and a Chinese student happened to fall ill and start coughing. This led to huge precautions because of the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus and caused the last day of the convention to be canceled. As a result, the students went home and were informed to stay home until the results came back about the ill Chinese student. 

Description of problem and who has the problem: The problem was that Chinese student fell ill and since the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus has scared people, they sent everyone home and told them to stay contained until they received results about his sickness. The problem, which was held by the 30 students, 3 teachers and other officials present in the environment ended today when they were allowed to return back to school. 

5.

Title: Cops Are Once Again Outside Antonio Brown's South Florida Home

Link: https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/after-parkland-to-screen-at-savor-cinema-in-fort-lauderdale-on-january-22-2020-10484606

Description of Story: The story is that supposedly Antonio Brown, former NFL wide receiver, assaulted a UPS delivery driver while being under the influence outside of South Florida home. 

Description of problem and who has the problem: Antonio Brown has the problem as he can't seem to stay out of trouble. Antonio was caught supposedly working out with his trainer when he started an altercation with a man driving a moving truck. When police arrived, they examined the chest of the moving truck driver and the story is that Brown and his trainer attacked him. 

Forming An Opportunity Belief

Forming An Opportunity Belief

1. With a increase in demand for off-campus living, I believe there is limited thought regarding garbage removal and disposal in buildings and sometimes this leads to an influx of bugs and rodents, foul odors and piles of trash in hallways throughout the apartments. I believe there should be a separate trash removal service hired by each apartment complex to manage and maintain the trash throughout the whole apartment.

2. The problem is the space allotted in the design plans for proper garbage disposal in apartment complexes and the mistreatment and careless effort from the establishment staff to remove trash efficiently and properly sanitize after the removal of garbage. Anyone who lives in these specific apartment complexes will tell you the same thing, but collectively the residents continue to ignore and maneuver around it. Having an abundance of residents who together create a lot of trash, apartment complexes know that this has been a continuous issue and is only being handled when brought to the tipping point. Currently, residents either take it upon themselves to walk to the actual dumpster to discard their waste or to leave it in the trash room when all of the shoots are full. This acknowledges to other residents to throw their trash on the ground as well, leading to large pile ups which cause animal problems and a foul smell throughout the hallways. Having a group of people come throughout the week to check any issues with waste or disposal, would remove the problem with trash rooms causing foul smells, would limit attraction for bugs and rodents to come and ultimately would result with a cleaner version of the original method implemented to handle garbage responsibilities.

3a. Amanda G.
3b. David C.
3c. Bryn T.


4a. Amanda G. Freshman, F
Do you live in an off-campus apartment complex? Do you have designated areas for trash disposal around your apartment? If so, do they fill up relatively quickly and what do residents typically do when they are full? Are you happy with this current method?
Yes, I live in an off campus apartment called The Nine at Gainesville. We have one designated area for all trash disposal throughout all residents who live in both buildings. During busy weeks, trash typically fills up quickly, like in 2 or 3 days, as there is only one trash room and my roommates and I just pile it onto the dumpster outside or leave it on the floor in the trash room. It gets annoying to walk to the other building to dispose of trash and when it's full, it's annoying to lug around a bunch of bags from building to building. 

How often do you see management or any staff member working to "fix" the issue of piled up trash, clean trash exposed on the floors or mask the smell of trash throughout the hallways? How often, if ever, does the trash room get cleaned? How often does the trash get taken out per week in your apartment complex? Do the complex have an issue with bugs or rodents?
I rarely to ever see management clean the trash problem, it's usually maintenance whenever they come and that usually happens at nighttime. The trash room is never cleaned, it always smells so bad and no one wants to be near the room. The trash people come once or twice a week, early in the morning and if theres trash in the room it doesn't get picked up. I believe this is what causes all of the cockroaches and bugs in the apartment but it could be because of other things.

Would you be willing, if required, to pay an extra 5 dollar fee on top of your rent to have your trash chute and room cleaned at least twice a week? To have people make sure the room is clean and spacious, make sure there is no foul smell or bugs and rodents running around and also to make space for more trash to come later in the week?
I feel like we should not have to pay any extra fee as we already pay so much money to live in this apartment complex and the management should be responsible for cleaning or hiring people to take care of the trash problems and room in the apartment complex. The idea sounds like it should be already apart of every apartment and would fix many of the problems that The Nine has. 


Lastly, would you be willing to pay an additional 5 dollar fee (10$ total addition) monthly in order to have your trash removed from your room at least twice a week and to have the ability to have access to cleaning opportunities for your apartment, extermination opportunities for pest control and a dry cleaning/clothing cleaning delivery service?
I would definitely pay an extra 5 dollar fee to have this service as The Nine charges 50$ a bag to be picked up but does offer complementary extermination for pest control every Friday. A clothing cleaning service would be beneficial because there is no way to dry clean at The Nine and people don't want to leave or drop off clothes. 

4b. Charles B. Freshman, M
Do you live in an off-campus apartment complex? Do you have designated areas for trash disposal around your apartment? If so, do they fill up relatively quickly and what do residents typically do when they are full? Are you happy with this current method?
Yes, I live off-campus at the apartment complex Social 28. We have a trash room and chute where we throw our garbage down. The room is gross and smells but it doesn't ever cluster with bags too much. When it's full, I just push harder till it fits and closes. I like how their is a room on each floor to throw out trash but it gets nasty over time. 

How often do you see management or any staff member working to "fix" the issue of piled up trash, clean trash exposed on the floors or mask the smell of trash throughout the hallways? How often, if ever, does the trash room get cleaned? How often does the trash get taken out per week in your apartment complex? Do the complex have an issue with bugs or rodents?
Management is never around trying to fix any of the issues, especially related to trash. The first floor trash rooms are gross and full of trash but the other floors are not as bad. The trash comes once a week and clears enough room to be filled with trash until it comes again. There is A LOT of bugs in the apartment complex and in my apartment. I keep raid in my room and have traps set up around the apartment. 

Would you be willing, if required, to pay an extra 5 dollar fee on top of your rent to have your trash chute and room cleaned at least twice a week? To have people make sure the room is clean and spacious, make sure there is no foul smell or bugs and rodents running around and also to make space for more trash to come later in the week?
Yes, I would 100 percent pay an extra 5$ fee to have people clean the hallways and trash room every week. The only problem with this apartment complex is the how dirty it is and how gross having trash and bugs throughout the garage and hallways is. No one is here to take care of any of the amenities either.  


Lastly, would you be willing to pay an additional 5 dollar fee (10$ total addition) monthly in order to have your trash removed from your room at least twice a week and to have the ability to have access to cleaning opportunities for your apartment, extermination opportunities for pest control and a dry cleaning/clothing cleaning delivery service?
I feel like I would just pay for one of these services and to be honest I would rather pay for this one because it benefits me directly and is more advertised to help out me then how clean the apartment complex generally is. 


4c. Bryn T. Senior, F
Do you live in an off-campus apartment complex? Do you have designated areas for trash disposal around your apartment? If so, do they fill up relatively quickly and what do residents typically do when they are full? Are you happy with this current method?
Yes, I live off-campus at the apartment complex called 2nd Avenue Centre. There are designated areas for trash disposal and they fill up very quickly throughout the week. Residents typically will walk their trash down to the separate dumpsters when the shoots and trash room fill up fast. No, I'm not happy with this alternative method but there is no other options unless you want to pile trash up in your room. 

How often do you see management or any staff member working to "fix" the issue of piled up trash, clean trash exposed on the floors or mask the smell of trash throughout the hallways? How often, if ever, does the trash room get cleaned? How often does the trash get taken out per week in your apartment complex? Do the complex have an issue with bugs or rodents?
The staff members try to assist as much as possible to allow more room for trash especially on weekends and game days. There are always air fresheners being sprayed by residents in the hallways so that there is no smell from the trash rooms. The trash comes once a week and no we do not have any major issues with bugs and rodents in our apartment. 

Would you be willing, if required, to pay an extra 5 dollar fee on top of your rent to have your trash chute and room cleaned at least twice a week? To have people make sure the room is clean and spacious, make sure there is no foul smell or bugs and rodents running around and also to make space for more trash to come later in the week?
No, the apartment makes it easy to throw out your trash even though it may be dirty and gross at times. The apartment should take care of the mistreatment of the trash rooms and shoots but I would not pay extra to handle it. 


Lastly, would you be willing to pay an additional 5 dollar fee (10$ total addition) monthly in order to have your trash removed from your room at least twice a week and to have the ability to have access to cleaning opportunities for your apartment, extermination opportunities for pest control and a dry cleaning/clothing cleaning delivery service?
I would pay an additional 5$ monthly to have our trash picked up, to have pest control on demand and the opportunity to have room cleaners and dry cleaning picked up and delivered to your door. I would be willing to pay more to have my dog walked also but I could only wish right!

5. / 7. Reflection and Summary:

What did you learn about your opportunity? What was the most surprising thing you learned about your opportunity? (You may reflect after each iteration or you may simply include a single reflection that captures all three iterations.)

After all three interviews with residents of off-campus apartments, I realized that there is an opportunity to carry out this belief because of the constant issue of garbage and it's removal in apartment complexes. Although, there would need to be adjustments in order to appeal to all residents and complexes because some have problems that others don't face. What surprised me the most is that not one apartment complex took any noticeable different approach to handling the garbage and waste removal in their designs at all and this is why they all seem to share similar issues.  

It's very likely that your opportunity belief changed between the outset and as a consequence of your customer interactions. Three questions:

How much of your original opportunity is still there?

I would say about half of my original opportunity is still there because of the consistent problem of all trash rooms being gross, producing a foul smell and in need of a cleaning service/monitoring service. The other half of my opportunity fell through when I found out some apartment complexes offer or include some of the amenities I was asking residents. 

Do you believe that your new opportunity is more accurate than when you started?

Yes, I believe that if I were to approach this opportunity again I would know exactly what to offer in order to assist and accommodate all apartment complexes and their flaws to encourage more residents to hire this team. Each apartment has different flaws and benefits and once you hear each specific one, you can narrow down the services you offer to those residents. 

How much do you think entrepreneurs should 'adapt' their opportunities based on customer feedback? (In other words, is there a trade-off between adapting and staying firm?)

I believe there entrepreneurs NEED to 'adapt' their opportunities based on customer feedback as those customers are usually going to give best advice and will list any problems with it. Also, entrepreneurs are trying to adapt to you and what works best so listening to the people interested in the product helps improve and receive feedback on the well-doing of the opportunity. There is a point where customer feedback may be bias and an entrepreneur needs to realize this so that they know when to adapt to feedback and when to stay firm with their beliefs. 

My First Exposure To Entrepreneurship

My First Exposure to Entrepreneurship

Thinking about it all, I have been exposed to entrepreneurship and basic business skills since back when I was in middle school being involved in the sneaker exchange market. As a little kid, I was always fascinated with looking at crazy name brand shoes and wishing I could have them. It wasn't until middle school that I was gifted my first pair of valuable shoes, a pair of bright pink Air Foamposites. These shoes with a little bit of spare money and an dream led me to start investing time and money into collecting and exchanging rare sneakers. Only being in 7th grade, I learned how to offer, negotiate, exchange, walk away and understand the value of money which helped increase my entrepreneurship skills as well as introduced me to the business world at such a young age. I instantly fell in love with the rush and environment that I was "working" in and thought to myself what I wanted to get out of this? So, I set a goal with the types of shoes I wanted to end with as well as the amount of cash I wanted profit before leaving the industry. This helped me keep focus on actually profiting from being involved in the shoe market instead of chasing shoes that I'm just interested in to have for myself. Overall, even experiencing the simplest business skills at such a young age is fascinating and helps kids know their interests and dislikes to be able to help form ideas on what choices their going to make throughout their lives. I know for me, experiencing such thrill and excitement when agreeing on a deal, all by myself, for a new pair of shoes was one of the happiest feelings I can remember from my time in middle school. 

To be honest, I enrolled in ENT3003 because of the inability to enroll in financial accounting without being sophomore standing. Being in PaCE has allowed me to complete substantially more credits, allowing me to limit my time in the PaCE program. Since I have to wait to take that required class, I figured that I would take ENT3003 because of my previous interest in business, recent reading of a book on Influence and ultimately to help me figure out what my interests are and what path I want to follow throughout college. I hope to leave this class understanding more how an entrepreneur thinks and acts in situations and to advance and further develop my entrepreneurial skills.

Pictured above is a screenshot from one of the sneaker conventions Instagram accounts, featuring my two friends and I in the middle of making an exchange for a pair of shoes. If you look closely, I'm the little kid in the middle with the bright orange shoes. 

List of "Bugs"

List of the top 20 things that "bug" me

1. Coming home to a dirty apartment after a long day of doing work at the library.

This "bug" exists because of my roommates not properly cleaning up after themselves after their done eating.

2. Taking a shower after a long day and only having 10-15 minutes of hot water.

This "bug" exists because of the apartment complex trying to efficiently save water and allow each resident to have access to hot water. 

3. Being forced to drive and park on the top of the parking garage at The Nine when I live on the first floor. 

This "bug" exists because of The Nine not effectively using their garage system by not assigning parking to residents based on which floor they live on.

4. Being forced to take multiple trips from your car to your apartment in order to unload all of the groceries.

This "bug" is prevalent because of the lack of ability to carry so many bags over a long distance without being able to open any other doors.

5. Driving behind someone while they're waiting to turn and you are driving straight during a green light

This "bug" exists because of people who brake slowly when they turn or don't understand the traffic rules and right of way. 

6. The refrigerator being frozen over because of the inability to adjust the temperature.

This "bug" exists because of the refrigerator's intention to keep the food cold and fresh but inexpensive by not including an temperature adjustment knob.

7. Not being able to apply for any other UF parking decal besides park-and-ride as a off-campus freshman.

This "bug" exists because of the limited parking spaces available on campus and the disregard for PaCE students. 

8. When someone sneezes or coughs in an enclosed area, without being courteous, such as a elevator, car or airplane.

This "bug" exists because some people forget or were never taught correct manors on how to be courteous when you cough or sneeze.

9. When the Uber or Uber Eats driver can't find you and charges you to cancel.

This "bug" exists because of Uber drivers not knowing their direction and ways around Gainesville or not speaking perfect English. 

10. When the Postmates delivery guy delivers your food to the wrong person and you're charged for the whole meal.

This "bug" exists because of the delivery drivers not making sure of the person who is receiving the meal at The Nine. 

11. Having to wait in the gym to use a machine of set of weights.

This "bug" exists when people use gym equipment at their own pace and aren't courteous when other people are trying to workout also.

12. An excessive uncontrolled crying baby or kid on an airplane, especially long distances. 

This "bug" exists when parents can't control their infants or children and don't know how to handle them in a public situation. Also, this goes back to being courteous towards others on the plane. 

13. When people cancel on planned events at the last moment.

This "bug" exists because sometime people forget they planned two things at the same time or hear about something that sounds more interesting to them, so they inconsiderately cancel on the other plans. 

14. When whoever is driving, in any weather, doesn't unlock their car even though people are waiting at it.

This "bug" exists because people have trust issues or think its humorous to lock their friends out for an extended time. 

15. When people eat food and chew with their mouthes open in social settings.

This "bug" exists because people don't have respect, aren't courteous, and aren't taught manors on how to eat properly. 

16. When someone who is dirty sits on my bed without asking or while wearing shoes.

This "bug" exists because I like to have the place where I sleep clean and if someone is dirty, and they know it, and sits on your bed, it's just disrespectful. 

17. When people abruptly change lanes or don't use their turn signal.

This "bug" exists because people aren't courteous when they drive, especially in Florida, and are only focused on their destination, not the safety of themselves or others. 

18. If your talking to someone and they are distracted by their cellphone or aren't paying attention to you.

This "bug" exists because people are increasingly more reliant and addicted to their cell phones and don't give someone the respect they deserve when being directly talked to. 

19. When the people who live above us, aren't courteous when walking in and moving around with heels at late hours.

This "bug" exists because people don't take into account the courtesy of others when they're not physically around them. 

20. When someone is repeatedly late and doesn't do anything to adjust or call ahead.

This "bug" exists because people seem to think everything works on their own schedules and don't understand that not everything revolves around them.

Throughout this assignment, I became seemingly frustrated thinking of things that frustrated me. I thought, going into this assignment, that I would have plenty of things to write about that "bug" me, but actually I didn't. After the 7th or 8th "bug", I found it hard to come up with things that actually bug me because I payed little attention to them. I also realized that not many things "bug" me in general and that I finished the list with things that would potentially "bug" me if I payed more attention to it. For me, this assignment was difficult because of how hard it was to find things that would "bug" me because I naturally  payed little attention to them.

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