30A - Final Reflection

I believe the most formative experience was assignment 4A, Forming an Opportunity Belief. This was the first time I have ever really identified an opportunity. It was also the first time I have ever interviewed people regarding a specific opportunity. This assignment was the foundation for the rest of the assignments throughout the course. I definitely learned a lot of valuable information from this assignment that, without a doubt, helped me along the journey. I will most likely remember my “Bug List” the most out of all of the assignments. When I first read the directions for that assignment, I thought the whole assignment sounded kind of ridiculous. However, after putting a lot of thought into it, I ended up learning a lot about myself and the world around me. It was definitely a great experience that I will never forget. My most joyous experience was learning about two amazing entrepreneurs during my reading reflections. From my first reading reflection, I learned about Phil Knight, and from my third reading reflection, I learned about Steve Jobs. Both of these men are extraordinary individuals and I am so grateful I got the opportunity to learn about them. Out of all of my assignments/experiences, the one I am proudest of is my Venture Concept No. 2. I will say that I probably spent the greatest amount of time and put forth the most amount of effort on this assignment compared to all of the others. I am really proud of how far I have come throughout this journey and I really wanted to showcase that in my Venture Concept No. 2. There is no doubt this experience is one I will remember for years to come.

This course has definitely helped me develop an entrepreneurial mindset. The way I look at and discover potential opportunities has completely changed. While I have learned a lot about what it takes to become an entrepreneur, I still have a long way to go. I plan on pursuing a minor in entrepreneurship to further strengthen my knowledge and understanding of all aspects of entrepreneurship. My goal is to one day use everything I have learned to successfully start and operate my own business.

One recommendation I would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future is to make sure you identify an opportunity that you are passionate about. Almost every single assignment you complete in this course will be centered around that opportunity so you might as well pick something that interests you. Writing thousands of words about something you don’t care about would be very challenging and boring. In order to perform best in this course, I recommend that you don’t wait to the last minute to complete assignments. It is impossible to put forth your best effort when you are scrambling to finish an assignment on time. Do yourself a favor and don’t let this happen. In order to foster this mindset, I recommend that you look ahead at assignments you will have to complete later on in the course so that you get an idea of how much time will be required for you to complete these assignments. You will notice that assignments become lengthier the further along you get in the course. It is important to learn the necessary time management skills before it becomes too late.

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Ending Nicotine Addiction 

Opportunity

• The opportunity here is for me to create effective drugs to fight nicotine addiction.
• Who has the need: There are millions of people all over the world who are addicted to nicotine products. There are many different ways people are consuming this nicotine. Some people smoke cigarettes, other people like chewing tobacco, and recently, electronic cigarettes and vapes have become extremely popular. People are starting to use these products at a very young age and they quickly develop strong addictions. These addictions continue to get stronger as they get older. When an addict is young and in the beginning stages of their addiction, they may only smoke a couple of cigarettes each day. However, as their addiction becomes much stronger, they may eventually get to the point where they are smoking multiple packs of cigarettes each day.
• Nature of the need: This need exists because the number of nicotine addicts is increasing and there are not many effective ways to fight nicotine addiction. There are many products currently on the market, such as pills, chewing gums, patches, and vitamins that are all supposed to help stop nicotine addiction. The reality is, however, that the majority of these products do little to nothing in actually helping people end their addictions. This is exactly the reason why I am going to create new products that actually do what they say they are going to do.
• The opportunity here is huge. If I can create effective products, I would instantly be helping millions of people. There are people who cannot live their lives because their nicotine addiction keep getting in their way. Providing these people with the products they need will drastically improve their lives. There are some people out there who cannot function without the constant rush nicotine provides. These people, oftentimes, struggle to hold jobs and complete day to day activities. My products would, hopefully, give these people a second chance at life.
• The window for my opportunity will be open until someone else creates an extremely effective product that fights against nicotine addiction. Currently, the opportunity here is continuing to grow. The number of nicotine addicts around the world is at an all-time high and it does not appear as though the numbers will be dropping anytime soon. That is, unless effective products are introduced into the market.

Innovation

• I will be producing two products that fight nicotine addiction. These products will be a pill and a chewing gum.
• The pill: The nicotine addict will take the pill by mouth once a day until their nicotine addiction is completely gone. After a couple of weeks, they should notice a huge difference in their level of nicotine cravings. The pill is aimed specifically for addicts who smoke cigarettes and vapes.
• Chewing gum: The chewing gum that I will be selling will be a medicated chewing gum that is specifically designed to help with who are addicted to chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco can lead to all kinds of serious health issues. Chewing tobacco addicts have been known to develop mouth and throat cancers. My medicated chewing gum will significantly help reduce the cravings of chewing tobacco, and therefore, reduce the chance of addicts developing these health issues.
• My goal is to get both of these products to be sold as over-the-counter drugs at various pharmacies. Getting these products to be sold as over-the-counter drugs will be a crucial step in order for me to be successful. Over-the-counter drugs are a lot cheaper than prescription drugs and they are a lot more accessible. People do not have to schedule doctors’ appointments to get prescriptions and pay outrageous fees. All they will have to do is walk into a pharmacy and purchase whichever of the two products they want. This will allow me to obtain a much larger number of customers.
• While I am not exactly sure on the price for each product, my goal is to get the price for each product to be below $50 for a monthly supply.
• This 50 dollar mark is extremely important to me. I want every single addict to be able to afford my products and I want the people who can’t afford them to be able to eventually come up with enough money.
• If my products were priced in the hundreds, the majority of people would probably not be able to come up with enough money to purchase them. This would be a major blow to my business.

Venture Concept

• Customers will switch to my products because, like I mentioned earlier, the products currently on the market are not at all effective enough. If they were effective, there would not be an opportunity for me to create my products to begin with.
• I do not believe it will be very difficult to get customers to switch to using my products. Once they see the immediate results, they will have no choice but to give my products a shot.
• There are many competitors out there, but none of them seem to be able to develop the correct formula to successfully fight nicotine addiction. I think their weaknesses are that the only thing they care about is making a lot of money. They do not actually care about the health of their customers.
• My price points are extremely important. If the prices of my products are too high, I will not be successful because people will not be able to afford to purchase my products. On the other hand, if my price points are too low, I will not make much money. I need to find the perfect price point so that the people who need my products can afford them and I am able to make money in the process.
• I am not yet sure how many employees I will need.
• The hardest part of my business will be creating the correct formulas for my products. Once I do that, the rest of it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Final Elements

1. My most important resources are my knowledge and dedication. Knowledge and dedication are two things that most people don’t have.
2. In the future, I hope to develop products that will help fight other addictions, such as alcoholism and other drug addictions.
3. Assuming my business launches, in five years I hope to have the number 1 selling nicotine addiction products on the market. In ten years, I hope to sell my formulas to a large drug company for a lot of money. Eventually, like I mentioned before, I want develop additional products and be known as someone who truly cares about the well-being of my customers.

Feedback 

Overall, I have gotten some great feedback from my previous assignments. Along this journey, I have continued to adjust my plan based off of the feedback I received. For my first venture concept, multiple students told me that I have come a long way since I first introduced my opportunity. They also mentioned that I have taken major strides in regards to the development of my ideas. Everyone seems to like the fact that I plan to put a low price point on my products. They all also acknowledge that I have a huge opportunity to make a difference with my products.

Along with positive feedback, I have also received some constructive criticism throughout this process. At one point, I mentioned that it may be possible for me to create a product that would allow people to consume nicotine without adverse effects. However, one student responded saying this would probably be very difficult and that it would appear as though I would be promoting to use of nicotine products. Another bit of constructive criticism I received is that I should branch off and consult with people in my industry whom I don’t already know. This became apparent during assignment 20A when I mentioned that I consulted with my neighbors who are pharmaceutical sales representatives. Instead of talking to people I know, it would be beneficial for me to talk to experts in my industry who will give me more blunt feedback.

Changes

Changes I made some minor changes throughout my Venture Concept No. 2. To start off with, I corrected the grammar and spelling errors that I failed to correct in my Venture Concept No. 1. Additionally, I changed the wording in some of my sentences to make them flow smoother. In the “innovation” section, I added a few more bullet points so that I could further expand on the price point of my products. Lastly, I made some changes to the part at the end of my venture concept that pertains to the future of myself and my business.

28A - Your Exit Strategy

1. My goal is to build my company up and then sell it in about 10 years from now. Creating the formulas for my nicotine addiction drugs has always been the most important thing to me. There is no way I can compete with the huge companies that are out on there. The most likely scenario is that I create my products and then I sell my formulas for a lot of money to one of these huge companies. This would be a win-win situation for everyone.

2. I have selected this particular exit strategy because I believe it is in my best interest. Competing against the massive companies that are currently on the market would be a huge mistake. They have so many resources and so much money that I definitely do not have. They could easily put me out of business before I even really get started. Selling my formulas and my product ideas to them would probably be my best option.

3. This exit strategy has definitely influenced other decisions I have made in my concept. I have always be more focused on the formula of the drugs themselves rather than how I will grow my business and advertise/market my products. This is mainly because I have always thought that selling my formulas to a major company would benefit me the most. This way I am able to make a lot of money from my business and then I am able to move on and start other businesses.

27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

The book I read was Steve Jobs, by Walter Issacson.

1.     The thing that surprised me most about Steve Jobs is that he didn’t make the majority of his money from Apple. Surprisingly, he made the largest percentage of his money from his investments in the company, Pixar. His initial $5 million investment eventually became worth about $50 million.

·       The thing I most admire about Steve Jobs is his unwillingness to ever give up. Even after being forced to resign as Apple’s CEO in 1985, Jobs didn’t quit. He went on to work with a company called NeXT and later on, he worked with Pixar. Finally, in 1997, Jobs was renamed CEO of Apple.

·       The thing I least admire about Steve Jobs is his harsh personality. Jobs was not the best people person. He always knew what he wanted and he never wanted to let anyone get in his way. Steve Jobs was known as being someone who was very hard to work with. He always wanted everything his way and never wanted to compromise.

·       Steve Jobs definitely encountered adversity and failure. After being forced to resign as CEO of Apple, Jobs had to pull himself together and figure out what to do next. If not for his work with NeXT and Pixar, job might never have regained his position as Apple’s CEO. Everyone admired his work at these other companies, especially people over at Apple. They admired him so much that they wanted him back.

·       Steve Jobs was extremely smart and hardworking. He wasn’t afraid of failing and he was never afraid of pushing people out of his way in order to be successful. While jobs was viewed as someone with a harsh personality, it definitely played a role in his eventual success. 

2.     The one part of the reading that was confusing to me was the part about his investment with Pixar. The book never really mentioned where Steve Jobs got the $5 million from that he invested into the company. I didn’t realize Jobs made that much money from his position at Apple. I thought he used a lot of his money to create Apple in the first place.

3.     If I could ask Steve Jobs two questions, I would ask him if he could do it all over again would he, and I would ask him what he thinks the future might hold for Apple. I would ask him these two questions because I believe they are both very interesting questions. Would he want to go through the rollercoaster all over again? Where does he see Apple in 10 years? Unfortunately, we will never get his answers.

4.     I believe Steve Jobs thought hard work was the most important thing in life. Job worked extremely hard at everything he did in his life. He failed many times throughout his life, but he kept working hard and it eventually paid off. I definitely agree with his opinion because I also believe I must work hard for everything I want in life.

26A - Celebrating Failure

1. A couple months ago, I applied to become a member of a specific organization at the University of Florida. I was very confident that I would be accepted into the organization. I felt that I did a very good job on the application and I believed there was no way I wouldn’t make it in. Surprisingly to me, a few weeks after applying, I got an email saying I was rejected. I was shocked that I got rejected. Initially, I was very upset and disappointed in myself. However, after emailing back the organization and finding out why I was rejected, I felt better about the situation. I was told that my answers on the application were not detailed enough and that I needed to talk more about myself and my accomplishments. I was also told I should reapply next semester and that is exactly what I am going to do.

2. From this experience, I learned that nothing will be handed to me in life and that I must work hard for everything I want. Here, I was extremely confident I would be accepted, only to be completely devasted when I was rejected. This was a great learning experience because I know what I need to do next time in order to be successful. I definitely grew as a person from this experience.

3. I believe failure can be embarrassing, but I also believe it can be very rewarding. There is no doubt that failure is inevitable. In certain situations, failure can be life altering, both positively and negatively. When I fail, the first thing I do is try to figure out why I failed. Did I do something wrong? Did I not work hard enough? These are the types of questions I ask myself immediately after failing. This class has taught me that it is perfectly okay to fail. I have learned that in order to be successful, I am going have to experience failure, whether it be one time or many times. I believe I am more likely to take a risk now than I was a few months ago. This is mainly because I am no longer afraid of failing. If I never fail, I will never learn.

25A - What’s Next?

What do I need to do? 
I believe my next steps will involve be consulting with additional experts in the industry. The most important thing for my business is the create products that actually work. This means that the formula for the drugs needs to be spot on. If my products were to prove to be ineffective, my entire business could be destroyed.

Existing Market
In terms of products and services, once I have developed the correct formula for my products, I need to determine the best way to introduce my products to the market. I will need to focus on advertising and marketing techniques so that I am able to get the word out as fast as possible.

Interview #1: This person said that it seemed like I’m on the right track. They told be to make sure my products actually work before introducing them to the market. They are seemed to be worried about the prices of my products. This person did not have much money so they stressed to importance of setting a reasonable price for my products.

Interview #2: This person told me I should try to develop a third products other than the pill and the chewing gum. They suggested maybe I try a medicated gummy. While it sounds like a strange, there are other types of products on the market. I told them I would consider it.

Interview #3: The third person I interviewed told me I should do studies with a specific number of participates before I introduce my products to the market. They suggested I get a group of about 100 nicotine addicts together to all test out my products at once. I would then be able to examine each person and determine how effective the products are.

In terms of growing my existing market, I believe the most important things is for me to correctly advertise my products. I need to spend my money wisely and advertise in the correct areas. I don’t want to waste my time and money advertising in ways take will most likely not be effective.

I also need to work on building a strong reputation. Customers tend to drift towards the business who have strong reputations. If I can build up this reputation, I will gain a lot more customers.

New Market
The new market I will be targeting are people who have not yet started using nicotine products, but may do so in the future.
I believe I will be able to use my products to keep these people from ever becoming addicts. I will specifically be targeting younger people who most likely have never consumed any type of nicotine.

Interview #1: This person said I should develop a way to determine the likelihood a person becomes an addict if they start using nicotine products at a younger age. This person said I might be able to scare people out of ever using nicotine products in the first place. This would be sort of like a short program that I could introduce at high schools.

Interview #2: This person said I should create a product that lets people use nicotine products, but helps reduce their health in the process. I was not quite sure exactly what this person meant by this. They said they meant that I could create a vitamin of some sorts that helps reduce the likelihood of developing cancers related to nicotine. I’m intrigued.

From doing these interviews, I learned that many people who have never used nicotine products are afraid that they will one day become addicts. A lot of this has to do with the pressure of constantly being around people using nicotine products. It is very difficult to give into peer pressure.

I thought it was interesting that the second person I interviewed wanted there to be a healthy way to consume nicotine. Although he said he had never used nicotine products in the past, he said probably would in the future. It seems as though even people who have never used nicotine products are concerned about their long-term health.

24A - Venture Concept No. 1

Ending Nicotine Addiction

Opportunity

• The opportunity here is for me to create effective drugs to fight nicotine addiction.·
• Who has the need: There are millions of people all over the world who are addicted to nicotine products. There are many different ways people are consuming this nicotine. Some people smoke cigarettes, other people like chewing tobacco, and recently, electronic cigarettes and vapes have become extremely popular. People are starting to use these products at a very young age and they quickly develop strong addictions. These addictions continue to get stronger as they get older. When an addict is young and in the beginning stages of their addiction, they may only smoke a couple of cigarettes each day. However, as their addiction becomes much stronger, they may eventually get to the point where they are smoking multiple packs of cigarettes each day.
• Nature of the need: This need exists because the number of nicotine addicts is increasing and there are not many effective ways to fight nicotine addiction. There are many products currently on the market, such as pills, chewing gums, patches, and vitamins that are all supposed to help stop nicotine addiction. The reality is, however, that the majority of these products do little to nothing in actually helping people end their addictions. This is exactly the reason why I am going to create new products are actually do what they say they are going to do.
• The opportunity here is huge. If I could create effective products, I would instantly being helping millions of people. There are people who cannot live their lives because their nicotine addiction keeps getting in their way. Providing these people with the products they need will drastically improve their lives. There are some people out there that cannot function without the constant rush nicotine provides. These people, oftentimes, struggle to hold jobs and complete day to day activities. My products would, hopefully, give these people a second chance at life.
• The window for my opportunity will be open until someone else creates an extremely effective product that fights against nicotine addiction. Currently, the opportunity here is continuing to grow. The number of nicotine addicts around the world appears to be at an all time high and it does not appear as though the numbers will be dropping anytime soon. That is, unless effective products are introduced into the market.

Innovation

• I will be producing two products that fight nicotine addiction. These products will be a pill and a chewing gum.
• The pill: The nicotine addict will take the pill by mouth once a day until their nicotine addiction is completely gone. After a couple of weeks, they should noticed a huge difference in their level of nicotine cravings. The pill is aimed specially for addicts who smokes cigarettes and vapes.
• Chewing gum: The chewing gum that I will be selling will be a medicated chewing gum that is specifically designed to help with who are addicted to chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco can lead to all kinds of serious health issues. Chewing tobacco addicts have been known to develop mouth and throat cancers. My medicated chewing gum will significantly help reduce the cravings of chewing tobacco, and therefore, reduce the chance of addicts developing health issues.
• My goal is to get both of these products to be sold as over-the-counter drugs at various pharmacies. Getting these products to be sold as over-the-counter drugs will be crucial for my successful. Over-the-counter drugs are a lot cheaper than prescription drugs and they are a lot more accessible. People do not have to schedule doctors’ appointments to get prescriptions and pay outrageous fees. All they will have to do is walk into a pharmacy and purchase whichever of the two products they want. This will allow me to reach a much larger number of customers.
• While I am not exactly sure on the price for each product, my goal is to get the price for each product to be below $50 for a monthly supply.

Venture Concept

• Customers will switch to my products because, like I mentioned earlier, the products currently on the market are not at all effective enough. If they were effective, there would not be an opportunity for me to create my products to begin with.
• I do not believe it will be very difficult for customers to switch to using my products. Once they see the immediate results, they will have no choice, but to give my products a shot.
• There are many competitors out there, but none of them seem to be able to develop the correct formula to successfully fight nicotine addiction. I think their weaknesses are that the only thing they care about is make a lot of money. They do not actually care about their customers’ well-being’s.
• My price points are extremely important. If the prices of my products are too high, I will not be successful because people will not be able to afford to purchase my products. On the other hand, if my price points are too low, I will not make much money. I need to find the perfect price point where people who need the products can afford them and I am able to make money in the process.
• I am not just sure how many employees I will need. The hardest part of my business will be creating the correct formulas for my products. Once I do that, the rest of it shouldn’t be too difficult.

My most important resources are my knowledge and dedication. Knowledge and dedication are two things that most people don’t have.

In the future, I hope to develop products that will help fight other addictions, such as alcoholism and other drug addictions.

Assuming my business launches, in five years I hope to have taken over the industry. In ten years, I hope I will have developed additional products and be known as someone who truly cares about the well-being of my customers.