21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

In this exercise, I'd like you to select a book from the second half of the Official ENT 3003 Reading List and report on it. This part of the list focuses on books that cover, generally, entrepreneurship, business, and learning. I'd like you to address the following in your post:

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? The book is all about how to use social media for your business, including advice and tips from the author. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? This book added a whole extra layer on how to be an entrepreneur and how to grow a successful business using social media, which is so important in the modern day. This book expanded my knowledge on a level of business building that I feel I haven't yet explored in this class.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? Creating an entire social media campaign for my business. I've done this before in internships and it is such important experience to have if you want to go into social media marketing or if you want to start your own business. It also gives a greater degree of intentional thinking and attention to detail in the way we think of marketing.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations? I was VERY surprised that the book talked about using the Google social media platform 'Google+' for social media marketing. I really thought that no one in the world uses that, but it actually caters to a specific demographic which would be huge if your business wanted to get into that specific market. 

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry. This would be someone who's engaged in the same type of business activity as you would like to be. They may own the same kind of company that you would like to own, or they may be a technical expert who knows a lot about the kind of product or service that you would like to produce.

• 1) Bethany, a local Sephora employee.
• 2) Domain Expert
• 3) I went to Sephora to speak to one of their employees.
• 4) There was no return expectation! She was just at the store doing her job and was happy to answer a few questions.
• 5) I'm not sure that having Bethany in my network will do much, because shopping and stocking decisions are made at Sephora Corporate, rather than local stores. However, she is a nice friend to have and a friendly face for advice/future questions in my local area.

2) One person must be an expert on your market. This would be someone who is targeting your market with similar products services -- or knows a lot about conducting customer research in your area -- or represents a major piece of your market (this might be most applicable with B2B markets).

• 1) Alexandra, an owner of a local mom-and-pop beauty/skincare store.
• 2) Market Expert
• 3) I knew that this store existed and was locally owned, so I went and asked for the owner/founder.
• 4) They gave me some of their time and explained some of their products and how they conduct their marketing. I purchased a product from the store and it seemed that it was appreciated.
• 5) I think that having her in my network is very beneficial, as she has her own start-up and a lot of experience. I connected with her on LinkedIn and we exchanged emails. If I was starting this business, she would be a great person to ask advice from or talk to if I had any issues/questions.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry. This would be someone who is selling products and services to other organizations/firms in your industry. 

• 1) A supplier of organic herbs/plants/oils that can be used in beauty/skincare products (he asked to remain anonymous).
• 2) Supplier
• 3) I asked Alexandra where they get some of their raw materials that they use for their products and she directed me to this individual.
• 4) This exchange was a little more forced. He is a busy man and wasn't as generous with is time as the other two, however he was willing to answer a few questions of mine and connect with me on LinkedIn.
• 5) This would be a very important contact for starting my business. Now that I have established a relationship with a supplier, I would be able to organize purchase deals and more, especially after being referred by a current customer of theirs.

Finally: Reflect. It was a good experience of more cold-call networking. Most of my networking has been in organized events where people want to and came to talk to you. This gave me a feel of a more real-world type of networking that will be useful in building a business.

19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

For the idea napkin, please describe the following (these are the same elements as in the first idea napkin). However, this time, please adjust your napkin to reflect the feedback you received.:

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

• I am an individual that is very passionate about this unmet need because it is my own as well. This allows me to view inside the business as from our consumers' mindset and use my additional business skills, experience, and drive to build the business to success.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

• I am offering high-quality hair care products at a drugstore price.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

• My customers are all people who want the most for their money.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

• Customers care about my product because it is the best value for their money on the market!

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

• I have a quality at my price that is not matched by any other product.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

• These all fix together very well because the solution matches the need perfectly and allows me, as the business owner and a member of this consumer segment, to build the business and products to fit this need.

For the "feedback memo" -- please summarize at least two main points that you took away from the feedback you received. Also, please describe how you incorporated the feedback into this idea napkin. 

• Through the last few assignments, I've been able to specify my market even further, allowing me to get a clearer vision for my business plan and marketing efforts.

18A - Create a Customer Avatar

My customer avatar is a young woman who has a passion for haircare and/or beauty with a  limited budget. This individual is thoughtful of their purchases and enjoys doing research to find the best products in their price range.

What kind of hobbies does your customer have? Beauty, self-care, shopping, etc.

What kind of car do they tend to drive? (What color is it?) Nothing specific, but probably nothing too fancy (where people who purchase more luxurious items are more likely to purchase high end haircare products, rather than taking time to research for better prices)

How old are they? between 17-35.

What do you have in common with the customer avatar? I have everything in common with the customer avatar!

If you have anything in common with the avatar, do you think that is a coincidence? Why? I created this business concept because it was a solution for an unmet need for people exactly like me.