Reading Reflection 2

For this exercise, I chose to read the book "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" by Scott Adams. The main message of this book was to pursue things that benefit yourself, as that will keep you from being a burden on your friends, family, and society. There are three principles that he follows throughout the book in the following order of importance:

1. "Look after yourself first." Be selfish sometimes by taking time to exercise, eat healthily, getting enough sleep, and minimizing stress in your life.
2. "Look after your economics." Take care of your own job, investments, and home before others so you don't become a burden on others.
3. "Look after all the other things." After you've taken care of yourself, it's important to care for your family and your community.

This connects with what I'm learning in this class, as it encourages people to go out and actually pursue their dreams, rather than just wishing for them to happen. This is something we practice every week in this class, and is something that Adams emphasizes. 

If I were to design an exercise based on this book, it would be to interview people, asking them to prioritize and give examples of how they follow Adams' three priorities.

My biggest "aha" moment in the book was when Adams said that in order to wake up energized and excited for every day, he practices self care above all other things. By doing things he knows will increase his "personal energy', he is able to propel himself towards success. I think this is something a lot of people in our country struggle with, as it can be difficult to prioritize these when so many other things are calling your attention. In this way, it surprised me that such a successful businessman placed his own health above his work.

Growing My Social Capital

1. I emailed Dr. Sharon Richardson, a high school guidance counselor, to find industry expertise. As a guidance counselor, Dr. Richardson gives career advice to students every day. More importantly, many of these students are not college-bound, and therefore will be low-wage workers. I found her name and email address on her high school's website. I requested information from her about the most effective ways of giving advice, and how to compel people to succeed. I hope she does me the favor of returning my email with her advice. This advice will be crucial in the development of my sessions.
2. I emailed Bill Falasco, a manager at Amscot Financial, to find market expertise. I found Bill on Linkedin. Since Bill works for a company that targets low-income workers, I asked if he would be willing to partner up with a business like mine in advertising, or at least if he had some advice on how to effectively reach this population. This information will help me plan a marketing strategy.
3. I emailed Barbara Share, the author of book Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life of Your Dreams, to find supplier expertise. I read Barbara's book, and I feel that she has supplier knowledge in my industry, because her book could be used as an outline of what to teach in the sessions, and could be recommended to customers. I asked if she knew of any groups or organizations that had used her book as a base for guidance, and if she could put me in contact with those organizations. The more people I know who do research on this topic, the more people in my network I can reach out to in order to develop my business plan.

This experience definitely differs from my past networking experiences, as I've never emailed a random person to ask business questions before. Even more than the advice they give, the connection I make with these individuals will benefit me as I enter this industry. Doing this now will make it much easier to reach out to people in the future.

Idea Napkin 2

1. My talents include reading, writing, and planning, and problem solving. I have experience in job searching and mentoring others. I want to have a career that will allow me to help others solve their problems. I think this business will allow me to combine these strengths and aspirations, as I will be able to provide a way for them to solve their career problems. I also think my passion for solving problems will allow me to succeed in this business.
2. I'll solve customers' unmet needs by setting up a career search workshop service that will allow them to receive advice and help with career planning and obtaining their professional goals. I'll help them narrow down the multitude of options they have, and simplify things.
3.  The people that need these services are people who have unfulfilled career aspirations, and the lack of knowledge to fulfill them. These people will be low-wage workers that have the desire to move up in their career path and make more money.
4. Customers will care about this service because it will help them make more money. Furthermore, for many it will give them the kind of career-oriented achievement they have lacked. This will provide monetary and internal value.
5. Using college students as the workshop facilitators will set us apart since they are currently receiving this career planning and job search advice. They have the most current knowledge in this area of expertise. This may be challenging, but the unique job platform should be appealing to students.

While I am confident that this plan will work, I remain realistic in that there may be challenges regarding low-wage workers' readiness to trust someone else with their career planning, especially a college student.
Feedback memo: I should specify how my specific passions make my idea unique. Also, I should point out the challenge many people face in narrowing down career options and making them less overwhelming. I incorporated both of these ideas into my new napkin in steps 1, 2, and 5.

Pitch 2

The feedback I received from my last pitch was very helpful. My professional dress was a positive aspect of the pitch, although that won't be as prevalent in this one as I am not with my wardrobe due to coronavirus. I was also told that the statistics I provided in my pitch helped the presentation and understanding of my business idea. The main thing that was keeping my pitch from being a success was that it wasn't memorized, which kept me from being as persuasive. This is something I worked on when developing my second pitch, and I hope that the delivery has improved because of it. I also changed some of the wording and phrasing of the pitch so that it would flow more smoothly, and hopefully be more convincing. The feedback I received in my first pitch was very helpful in developing my second pitch, and it feels much more polished now.

https://youtu.be/TzK2J_pBxxM

Customer Avatar

This is my customer avatar. She is a 25 year old single female with no kids who comes from a home below the poverty line, and no one from her family has received a college education. Although she started taking classes at her community college, she was unable to finish, because she had to stay home and help take care of her siblings. She is currently working part-time as a fast-food worker. She loves to cook, and trying new recipes is her favorite pastime. She loves watching Food Network and dreams of having a career that means something.

This customer and I share a common drive to find meaning in our work. We want to improve ourselves and find purpose in our daily life. We are also both unmarried females in our twenties.
I don't think these similarities are a coincidence, because this is who I could be if I came from a less fortunate background. My customer segment consists of people who share my goals, but who lack the education and experiences to get them there.

Secret Sauce

In terms of my human capital, here are 5 things that make me unique:

1. I have strong problem solving skills
2. I enjoy learning new things, and adapting to new situations
3. I have a strong support system that will support me so I can focus on my tasks
4. I have excellent reading skills
5. I remain open minded to new possibilities

https://soundcloud.com/abby-tucker-691559660/gina-recording

Gina talked about how I was a good communicator and problem solver. She said this made me a good leader.

https://soundcloud.com/abby-tucker-691559660/olivia-recording

Olivia said I was very task-oriented. I think this helps me achieve my goals.

https://soundcloud.com/abby-tucker-691559660/julie-interview

Julie said I was good at communicating, and when I set my mind to something I got it done. I think this focus will help me.

https://soundcloud.com/abby-tucker-691559660/barb-recording

Barb said I was very open with my emotions. I think this has a lot of benefits, but also may be a disadvantage.

https://soundcloud.com/abby-tucker-691559660/athena-recording
Athena also commented on my emotions. By being in touch with my emotions I can understand others' needs.

One difference I notice between my own reflection and those of my friends', is they commented a lot on my abilities to work with other people. There were similarities, such as problem solving, but I focused more on my technical task completion abilities, while they expanded on my emotional traits. In going back to change my answer, I would problem touch on one of these aspects, such as communication skills.

Figuring out Buyer Behavior 2

Interview 1: The first interviewee argued that price is the most important factor in picking this service, because it has to be worth her money. This made me think, however, that quality also mattered to her. She would be willing to pay with cash or check for the subscription service in order to get the most value out of her money. She said a promotion or pay raise would allow her to see that this was a good decision.
Interview 2: This woman believed that price was the most important aspect to obtaining these services. If it didn't remain affordable, she wasn't able to reasonably commit to it. She was not in favor of using the subscription model, and wanted to pay cash for individual meetings she attended. Her measure of it having been a good experience is whether or not she feels as if her professionalism has improved as a whole when she's finished.
Interview 3: To this individual, quality is the most important aspect of the service. If he is going to invest his time into furthering his professional development, he wants it to be worth his time and produce results. He thought he would most likely use checks to pay for a subscription of the classes, and turning in the check at the first meeting of every month would be the easiest. In terms of post-purchase evaluation, he thinks that as long as his career prospects improve, he won't feel any buyer's remorse.

In conclusion, I found that while the classes need to be quality enough to provide improvement in customers' job situations, maintaining a low price is vital to working with this customer segment.