30A

1. The highs I experienced personally in this class were all the book reflections we has to do throughout the semester. I love to read and I love business so the combination of these two truly made me happy and were extremely enjoyable to do. The lows would have to be the one time I watched all the wrong lectures for a particular cupcake that made me pretty angry truthfully. The moments of dread that I had in the class were trying to anticipate what questions would be asked in the cupcakes I loved the lectures I wish I could have just watched without the pressure of being quizzed on them every time.

2. I would say the most formative experience I have had to date would be all the interviews that I conducted. It was an amazing experience to have people tell me face to face that they would love my business idea. It gave me a sense of purpose to make a restaurant that would promote health and fitness while providing delicious food in the Gainesville community. The most joyous and memorable would have to be all the positive comments I received on my venture capital and elevator pitch assignment. It was awesome having so many believing in my business idea.

3. I really do see myself as an entrepreneur now. I have already started taking steps to making my business come true and I am extremely excited. I think I have an entrepreneurial mindset indeed.


4.To perform best in this course I believe time management is paramount, and you should for sure do your work ahead of time.

29A

1. In a venture concept write-up there are three different components. The first of the three components is opportunity. The definition of opportunity is a set of situation or circumstances that give someone the ability to do something. Opportunities are especially important in the world of entrepreneurship because I believe that is the exact highlight of what makes entrepreneurs special. Specifically, their ability to recognize a problem see this particular issue as an opportunity rather than a burden to then come to a solution that they are able to make a business out of. I really believe it is a beautiful thing. The second element in this venture concept is innovation you need to be innovative in some way or another in business because if not you will not thrive and prosper in a constantly evolving world. Also, innovation is what the core of your competitive advantage over your competition. The last portion of my venture concept consists of the venture concept.
                 Allow me to go in depth about the details regarding the opportunities my restaurant "Gainz on the Go" has. The forces in the environment of my business are the fact that other restaurants in the Gainesville area are simply not open past 11pm. The places that offer food which are open late at night are typically fast food places, which we all know are extremely low quality food that is simply not healthy for us to consume. Geographically I would say this market is defined as Gainesville local as well as its demographic being young college students between the ages of 18-28 years of age. Customers are currently satisfying this need by going to fast food options such as Shake Shack, McDonalds, and worst of all Taco Bell. I would not say they are really loyal to these options because of the fact that they simply do not have any other alternatives. I believe if they were given a healthier affordable and delicious option such as Gainz on the Go they would gladly take it. I believe the opportunity here is truly massive because it would revolutionize the standards we the Gainesville community hold for fast food. I think the window of opportunity will be open as long as no one else decides to make a healthy fast food alternative such as myself.
                I believe customers would stick to this new product simply because of how affordable, healthy, and delicious it will be. Let us take a look at why Chick-FilA for example is so successful it is because they provide an extremely healthy, affordable, and delicious food option. What is there issue they are not open late at night nor are they open on Sunday's. Gainz on the Go would essentially be a blend of Chick-FilA and Chipotle open late at night so college students can have an amazing healthy place to eat late night after a long night of studying or partying. My competitors include, Shake Shack, Taco Bell, McDonalds, and Wendy's. My weakness could be is that my food will not be as cheap as the locations I previously mentioned. I believe customer support/customer service is where I plan to set my competitive advantage because that is something the fast food casual market lacks heavily. Moreover, business location is very very important as well being located right next to all the bars and clubs would be extremely useful because it would make my restaurant very convenient and accessible to those party college students who are leaving and are hungry. I believe having four employees would be sufficient in the store to start off and if I need more I will hire accordingly.
              All in all, I believe if I implement of all these things that I just mentioned this has the potential to revolutionize the fast food industry we know today. In five years I hope to be a smashing success in the Gainesville community hopefully have an on campus location at UF to further establish the brand and make it ever so recognizable. After opening an on campus location I have the hopes of maybe franchising it as long as I am able to secure quality control since it will be a challenge having expanding it to such a large scale I will not be able to oversee all the operations. Hopefully, we can have fellow Gators that are into business to intern and volunteer to gain experience in the restaurant industry.

             

2. From the feedback I received all of my classmates agreed with the points I had made about marketing and location. They all agreed that location for my type of restaurant would be extremely extremely important for convenience purposes which makes so much sense. They also emphasized how important marketing and branding would be for the business so my customers already know a new restaurant is coming into town. The one negative feedback I had was towards my protein pastries but I took it with a grain of salt and I will explain why. The person assumed I would be unsuccessful in making protein pastries because they assumed I would make them with protein powder which does not taste good. Luckily, I know a bunch of different recipes that I eat on a daily basis that are delicious because my sources of protein are natural such as peanut butter, greek yogurt, nuts etc. This will ensure the taste and quality of my pastries.

3. From the feedback that I received the only concerned that my peers brought to my attention was the protein pastry situation. However, I explained how and why that would not be an issue in the previous point made. All the other people expressed how important marketing and location would be which I had already anticipated and work towards. Essentially as of now I know the game plan I need to follow I simply have to follow through and execute it.

   

28A

1. I personally do not plan to ever sell my business. My goal is to grow it into maybe a franchise depending on my team and how suitable it is for me in my point in life. Even if I do not franchise it I would be extremely happy making it and family owned and run business. I think and mom and pop restaurant is the type that would especially thrive in the Gainesville area.

2. I have selected this exit strategy because I believe this would be something really nice myself and the family can all be apart of. As well as helping the Gainesville community by providing them will extremely healthy, and affordable delicious food they can eat on the go.

3. It has certainly influenced how I identified my opportunity I want to be what life revolves around of which is health and fitness with cooking delicious foods. It has also influenced my growth strategy because it has motivated me to see what I can do to further expand once my idea becomes a reality.

27A- Grinding it Out, The Making of McDonalds

1. What surprised me most is that Ray Croc did not invent McDonalds he simply bought off the two brothers who invented it which I thought was crazy. What I admired most about Ray Croc was his tenacious attitude towards business he took no prisoners. What I least admired is that he did not give the brothers who made McDonalds enough credit but I somewhat understand why he didn't. Ray Croc his whole life experienced failure as a salesman it wasn't till his 50s when he stumbled upon McDonalds. He responded by never giving up and always pushing knowing one day he would make it.

2. He was a excellent salesperson, as well as a great visionary. Ray knew how to execute when it was crunch time a well as creating a great strong team because he could not have done it alone. Most of all he knew how to define a brand, and make it a household name.

3. One part that was confusing to me was how the McDonalds brothers just let him buy them out of the company so easily I thought they should have put up more of a fight. Although, Ray Croc certainly knew what he was doing.

4. My first question would be how did you have so much motivation when most people want to retire at that age, because his work ethic was remarkable. The second question I would want to ask him is did he ever think he was going into the restaurant business, I would ask this because he was truly a natural at managing it.

5. I think Ray Croc's opinion of hard work is to not accept no for an answer no matter what. At every obstacle he faced he never let anyone tell him no he was always able to work his way around thing, and if you ask me I completely agree with him!

26A- Celebrating Failure

1. A time a failed miserably in this class was when I accidentally watched all the wrong lectures for a particular cupcake we had. I had just finished watching all the lectures I felt so confident I was going to know everything I needed to to get a 100% on the exam, but as soon as the quiz opened up and I knew nothing. I thought to myself how is this possible I spent hours preparing for this quiz to not know anything, it was a terrible feeling I felt as if all my time was wasted.

2. What I learned was that I needed to be more focus. At time I can find myself almost on auto-pilot where I am just going through the motions as people say, rather that being in consciously in the moment. Another thing I had to learn was better time management because I was in a bit of a hurry to finish watching the lectures therefore since I was in a rush I was not paying full attention to what I had to get done.

3. Failure is most definitely hard, and certainly embarrassing I could not believe the hours I had just wasted preparing for the cupcake. What I did learn was to remain calm even though I did not know the material I was able to think and reason logically making me able to get three out of five correct which was way better than 0. I think this class has for sure made me more likely to accept risk. I think the best advances you make in life are when you take major risk.

25A- What's Next

Existing Market

Step 1: I think my next move in terms of my business idea is to being to prospect possible restaurant locations that would be most convenient for my customers.

Step 2: The three people I decided to interview were Matthew, Frank, and Carlos I will admit that I did not ask them this question individually but rather I asked in a group what my next move should be. They all responded in the same way telling me I should start focusing on and releasing marketing material to begin to get people in the area excited for the new restaurant. I then told my plans and the completely agreed that the location is extremely important as well.

Step 3: To me what makes the most sense in my future plans for my business venture is to begin to first of all determine the location of my business. This is the first step because all the people I know in the restaurant industry admit this is arguably the most important thing about a restaurant. The next thing I should start doing is begin to prepare marketing tactics so I can start building some anticipation in the Gainesville area for my business.

The next step I believe to be very very important is start to interview potential employees to be my waiters and chefs. We all know the restaurant industry is all about service therefore it is crucial to provide the best service in the area. Personally, my favorite restaurants are my favorite because of the excellent service the provide their customers. I strive for Gainz on the Go service to exceed that of Chick-FilA's.

New Market

Step 1: A radically different market would be catering to people who wake up early and are not out late as well as people who do not really care about consuming really healthy food.

Step 2: I think I can cater to this type of audience by having imitation foods that replicate unhealthy food but are quite delicious. A prime example is the vegan chocolate cake at the top you would think it was terrible for you but in fact it use no dairy or any animal by-products making it the most delicious healthy chocolate cake I have ever tasted.

Step 3: Frank and Matthew both agreed I should attempt to make protein cookies and brownies that way potential customers can come and satisfy their guilty pleasures while at the same time getting tons a protein off of a delicious treat. A variation they offered was to make loaded brownies that have cookie dough as the base and the Oreo in the center how delicious.

Step 4: What surprised me most about this new market is that we even had to think of a radically different cliental. I would have never thought of a way to somehow cater to a group of people who simply do not care about their dietary needs since my entire business model is about making quality healthy food. The help of Matthew and Frank mentioning to make protein cookies and brownies is for sure going to be implemented in my restaurant in the future.

All in all, I do not believe this new market is better than my existing market for the simple fact that I believe this new market to contain much more risk. The entire point of a business is to focus on the customers who are your regulars and staples because they are the majority of your business. I just do not see my business being successful if I focus on creating unhealthy food to bring in customers who do not share the same values as we do.

Gainz on the Go Venture Concept

                  In a venture concept write-up there are three different components. The first of the three components is opportunity. The definition of opportunity is a set of situation or circumstances that give someone the ability to do something. Opportunities are especially important in the world of entrepreneurship because I believe that is the exact highlight of what makes entrepreneurs special. Specifically, their ability to recognize a problem see this particular issue as an opportunity rather than a burden to then come to a solution that they are able to make a business out of. I really believe it is a beautiful thing. The second element in this venture concept is innovation you need to be innovative in some way or another in business because if not you will not thrive and prosper in a constantly evolving world. Also, innovation is what the core of your competitive advantage over your competition. The last portion of my venture concept consists of the venture concept.
                 Allow me to go in depth about the details regarding the opportunities my restaurant "Gainz on the Go" has. The forces in the environment of my business are the fact that other restaurants in the Gainesville area are simply not open past 11pm. The places that offer food which are open late at night are typically fast food places, which we all know are extremely low quality food that is simply not healthy for us to consume. Geographically I would say this market is defined as Gainesville local as well as its demographic being young college students between the ages of 18-28 years of age. Customers are currently satisfying this need by going to fast food options such as Shake Shack, McDonalds, and worst of all Taco Bell. I would not say they are really loyal to these options because of the fact that they simply do not have any other alternatives. I believe if they were given a healthier affordable and delicious option such as Gainz on the Go they would gladly take it. I believe the opportunity here is truly massive because it would revolutionize the standards we the Gainesville community hold for fast food. I think the window of opportunity will be open as long as no one else decides to make a healthy fast food alternative such as myself.
                I believe customers would stick to this new product simply because of how affordable, healthy, and delicious it will be. Let us take a look at why Chick-FilA for example is so successful it is because they provide an extremely healthy, affordable, and delicious food option. What is there issue they are not open late at night nor are they open on Sunday's. Gainz on the Go would essentially be a blend of Chick-FilA and Chipotle open late at night so college students can have an amazing healthy place to eat late night after a long night of studying or partying. My competitors include, Shake Shack, Taco Bell, McDonalds, and Wendy's. My weakness could be is that my food will not be as cheap as the locations I previously mentioned. I believe customer support/customer service is where I plan to set my competitive advantage because that is something the fast food casual market lacks heavily. Moreover, business location is very very important as well being located right next to all the bars and clubs would be extremely useful because it would make my restaurant very convenient and accessible to those party college students who are leaving and are hungry. I believe having four employees would be sufficient in the store to start off and if I need more I will hire accordingly.
              All in all, I believe if I implement of all these things that I just mentioned this has the potential to revolutionize the fast food industry we know today. In five years I hope to be a smashing success in the Gainesville community hopefully have an on campus location at UF to further establish the brand and make it ever so recognizable. After opening an on campus location I have the hopes of maybe franchising it as long as I am able to secure quality control since it will be a challenge having expanding it to such a large scale I will not be able to oversee all the operations. Hopefully, we can have fellow Gators that are into business to intern and volunteer to gain experience in the restaurant industry.

23A Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Being a late night restaurant, stating open till the early morning
Valuable: Yes, this is valuable because there are barely any real restaurants that are open till very late.
Rare: Yes, it is very rare in the Gainesville area.
Imitable: It is imitable but I plan to establish a brand so respected customers will stay loyal.
Non-Substitutable- No, it is.

2. Always willing to learn
Valuable: Yes, it is extremely valuable because I am willing to adapt.
Rare: Yes, it is rare people get complacent.
Imitable: No, people either are willing to change or are not.
Non-Substitutable: Yes, it's not.

3. My experience in the restaurant industry
Valuable: Yes, it is extremely valuable.
Rare: The experience I got was rare I learned straight from the owners of establishments.
Imitable: No the experience I have you cannot imitate.
Non-Substitutable: Yes, it's not.

4. Social Responsibility
Valuable: Yes, it is valuable for your customers to know you care about the exterior parts of business.
Rare: Yes, I would say it is somewhat rare because not all companies follow the same values.
Imitable: Yes it is.
Non-Substitutable: No, it is.

5. My knowledge in business because of my very useful business degree from a great university.
Valuable: No it is not valuable thousands of other people have the same degree.
Rare: No it is not rare thousands of people have the same degree.
Imitable: Yes you can get the same degree.
Non-Substitutable: No it is extremely substitutable.

6. Being able to speak two languages
Valuable: Yes it is I can speak to way more people.
Rare: I would say it is pretty rare not a majority of people can.
Imitable: Yes anyone can learn.
Non-Substitutable: Yes, it's not.

7. Relentless work ethic
Valuable: Yes it is because I never give up.
Rare: I would say it is rare not many people have it.
Imitable: No it is something you just either have or do not.
Non-Substitutable: Yes, it's not.

8. Management skills
Valuable: Yes it is valuable because you need to know how to manage people.
Rare: I would say it is rare for people to be really good at it.
Imitable: Yes I believe it is some people can learn it.
Non-Substitutable: Yes, it's not.

9. Communication skills
Valuable: Yes it is you need to know how to speak to people professionally.
Rare: No I would say plenty of people have this skill.
Imitable: Yes it is.
Non-Substitutable: Yes it's not.

10. A passion for cooking delicious healthy food
Valuable: Yes it is.
Rare: I would say it is not many people like to cook.
Imitable: No some people are born with the passion others aren't.
Non-Substitutable: Yes, it's not.

Reflection: I think my experience in the restaurant industry is my most valuable asset simply because the training I got was directly from successful restaurant owners themselves. That is something not many people get the opportunity to have so that is why I believe it is my most important asset.