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.