16A- What's Your Secret Sauce?

I find that I am a very hard worker. I also get stuff done when I set my mind on it. I have great time management skills. I try to think about all alternatives before making my move. I always try to have a positive attitude while getting the work done.

A lot of the interviewees said the same things I said. They did not mention my time management skills or positive attitude. They stated that I am very productive, I can think ahead, when I set my mind on something I get it done, I can take constructive criticism, and I am good at meeting and making relationships with new people.

I like both lists and would not change either of them. They are both spot on.

15A- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #2

My first interview was with Christopher Holton. He fits my segment of a large family that does not have the time or knowledge to recycle. I asked him what would matter to him the most and his response was punctuality. He told me he hated when his trash service was running or missed his house because he had to wait to go back out to grab his trash can. He said he really liked that he did not have to pay for my service with money just his unwanted recyclables. I also told him if he used my service I would send out monthly newsletters describing how much he has recycled with a lot of other recycling facts and he said that would be a great way to keep the customer engaged.

My second interview was with Randy Wilson. He also fits my segment of a large family that does not have the time or knowledge to recycle. The first question I asked was what would matter the most the to him about my service. His response was different from all the of my other interviewees. He told me the style of his bin would matter a lot. How big it is, color, and shape. He also really liked the idea of paying for my service with his recyclables only. Mr. Wilson also liked the idea of the newsletter to keep the customer engaged.

My final interview was with Bobby Martin. He lives with a large family but also does not have the time or knowledge to recycle which makes him fit into my segment. I asked him what would matter the most to him about my service. Mr Martin actually combined Mr. Holtons and Mr. Wilsons viewpoints. He said as long as I was always on time and my bin was big enough that he would not have to fight or struggle with his recyclables to fit in my bin then he would love my service. He thought my idea of paying with recyclables was very unique and he liked it. The idea of the news letter did not do as well with Mr. Martin as it did with my other two interviewees. He said as long as he was recycling that was all he cared about.

I learned a lot about what my segment wants and what they do not want. If I were to go through with this business opportunity then I think I picked the best segment.

14A- Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

I find this class is very simple when it comes to due dates. They are always due on the same day and same time for the most part. Keeping up with other classes and this class does get hard though. I bought a planner and wrote down all of the due dates for my classes so that I could stay on top of every class.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

I did assignment 6A identifying opportunities in economic and regulatory trends but I forgot to declare that I did it and lost both points for the assignment. I was very angry but only at myself. I have kept pushing through and if i stay on top of everything from here on out I can still get the A in this and that is what is keeping me going. I do think I have refined my tenaciousness because of this class

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

Always double check that you have declared your assignments! Always!

Get a planner so you do not get confused about due dates between different classes.

Start working on assignments as early as possible and even work ahead if you can.

13A- Reading Reflection #1

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?
• It really surprised me that Mcdonalds was originally a simple buzzing family owned business until a cheap salesman seen e money mine out of those beautiful golden arches. 
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• I do have to say even after everything I read about Ray, he may have been a thief but he was a smart and very hardworking man. I wish he had used his astounding work ethic in a much better way though.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• At first I really liked Ray Kroc he seemed like a hard working intelligent entrepreneur with a huge future ahead of him. Then I realized he stole the business and that made me lose all respect for this man.
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• He did start up a hole in the wall music store with his friends that did not do so well. They had to sell their goods and split the money three ways. He played the organ for the Harvard Congressional Church but after playing a song that wasn't approved he didn't play for the church anymore. After he came back from the Red Cross he tried to go back to school but that only lasted one semester

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

He was definitely a hard worker. He sold paper cups for 17 years while climbing the corporate ladder. He seen a great opportunity to sell Multimixer and he became an entrepreneur. He liked to debate and be the center of attention ever since high school.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

The book was not clear about when it went back in time. First he was 54 and being incredibly inspired by the McDonald brothers then he is 18 in the Red Cross. Could of had a better transition.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

My first question would be why in the world did you make  John Clark give his shares back. It was an unreasonable number but it still put Ray in 100,000 in debt which was so much money in the 1940's. My second question is how could you steal the company from the McDonald brothers. They were doing just fine working right next to their home till you came along and took their livelihood for your own financial gain.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

He loved hard work. He even said " I have always believed that each man makes his own happiness and is responsible for his own problems... As long as you're green you're growing, as soon as you're ripe you start to rot." I do in fact share his opinion and I am blown away by how amazing that metaphor is!

12A- Figuring out buyer behavior

The segment that I chose would be large families that don't have the time or knowledge to recycle.

The first interview that I conducted was on a co-worker who lives on my road named Kyle Leland. He has four kids and lives with his wife and both his mother and father in-law. They already have the trash company Advanced Disposal that takes their trash off every Thursday. He said if I also did my pick ups on the same day and preferably the same time then he would love to be a customer of mine. As the man of the house he has to take the trash out most of the time and he has started to realize how much plastic his huge family just throws away to sit in a land fill. I had already talked to Kyle about my service at work so he looked up if Advanced Disposal could offer the same deal. He figured out they would but they would charge him extra for the new service and new recycle bin. He said the fact that I do not charge at all, provide the bin, and haul the plastic off has won him over. Thankfully Kyle has a rather large group of friends that he spoke to on my theoretical company. Kyle spoke to his neighbor Allen Ingram and told him all about my ideas and aspirations.

The second person I interviewed was Allen Ingram. He lives with his wife, his three kids, and his brother. As another large family he too noticed that they threw away a lot of trash. When I asked what time and days would best work for him he had the same answer as Kyle. Since his trash pick up is on Thursdays he said it be very convenient for him to just take both of them out at the same time. When I asked him if he had ever thought about recycling before and if he has ever researched ways to recycle he told me that he had not. He said that his family is always busy doing something so recycling was not that important to him. When I told him all the benefits of recycling and that I literally would have no service fee he wanted me to actually start my business so that he could be apart of the solution with out putting in any effort or money.

The third person that I interviewed was Shawna Bernard. Mrs. Bernard is an elderly lady that lives with her husband, son, and her three grand children a little further down my road than my previous two interviewees. She has her oldest grandson take out the garbage every week. She told me that she did not really believe in global warming and I was absolutely shocked! I asked to show her some real evidence supporting this crisis and after that I think she seen how passionate I had gotten in educating her on this very serious problem that she said she would be interested. Once I told her I would not charge a service fee and I would provide the bin she seemed shocked. I explained to her that you can actually get money by recycling plastic, metal, and glass so I do not need to charge a fee since I earn my profit by helping the world and recycling stuff people were just going to throw away. She also became very adamant in me starting my business so that her family  get contribute to stopping the plastic crisis so many citizens ignore. She even told me that if she told her sister about my amazing opportunity that I would have another large family waiting on me to get this ball rolling.

I learned a lot about my market for my business. I found out that this would actually be a viable option and with hard work ethnic and a great attitude I could spread like wild fire among my community.

Based on all of my interviews so far no large family really has the time or knowledge of recycling. With a company like mine that tries to make it convenient for the most amount of customers for no fee then I could really have a thriving business while helping save the planet one trash day at a time.

11A- Idea Napkin #1

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 Myles Finn! I am a hard worker and when I set my mind on something it will get done. My skills that I have acquired so far are a great work ethic, positive attitude, and adaptability. My aspirations for this business idea is to make a huge impact on our ever growing plastic crisis. That may mean finding a better way to recycle plastic, bringing great attention and action to this crisis or even just cleaning out the ocean of all the plastic. If I were to actually start this business I would just recycle a lot of peoples plastic while bringing attention to the crisis and eventually making a real impact.

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 an easy way to recycle for my customers. I provide the bins and even pick up their plastic weekly free of charge. If the customer would like information I could start informing them on this ever growing problem, showing them how big of a difference they are making, and hopefully have them tell even one person about me and my goals.

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?

Demographically I would offer my service in my home town. Psycographic characteristics would be either laziness or lack of knowledge about our plastic crisis. All of my customers have the urge to recycle but do not have the means to and that is where I would come in with a personal impact on all my customers.

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. 

Aha! That is just it. I do not require any service fee since they are already paying me with their unwanted plastic! They care because once I talk to them a couple of times and they read the pamphlets that I leave for them they will get the same urge to recycle that I have.

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

What sets me apart is my drive and knowledge of the crisis. A lot of people are aware of this issue and nobody takes advantage of the opportunity that I have identified.

I personally think that these elements do fit together quite well. My service is free with no requirements at all. I feel that I would be able to spread the positive message of recycling to a large group of people this way. While spreading the word of recycling I will be making money off of other peoples plastic that they were just going to throw away. Impacting the planet and making a profit go together quite well.

10A- Elevator Pitch #1

According to a study done by the University of Georgia, 18 billion pounds of plastic trash winds up in our oceans each year. Just to put that into perspective, it’s enough trash to cover every foot of coastline around the world with five full trash bags of plastic…compounding every year The United States recycling rate is around 34.5% right now. If we’re able to get the rate up to 75%, the effect will be like removing 50 million cars from United States roads. The United States alone throws away $11.4 billion worth of recyclable containers and packaging every year. Just think about the sheer amount of money we throw away and the serious harm that it does to our environment. That's why i'm encouraging everyone to recycle. I'm starting my own business where I will give you a recycle bin to fill up through out the week. I will then come pick up your recyclables free of charge. I will make money by recycling all the free plastic that others were just going to throw away. I'm making money and saving the planet at the same time. Let me know how my delivery was in this elevator pitch.

https://youtu.be/69FUPvTaqLs

That is the link to my YouTube video.

9A- Testing the hypothesis part two

Interview #1 was James Godbold who lives very far from me. He told me that he would be interested in collecting his recyclables for me to recycle for him. Unfortunately he lives almost an hour away from me and the recycling plant is an hour away from my house so he lives a little too far for me to drive all the way out there just for him.
Interview #2 was a man named Roger Barnes. He lives down my road so I pitched the idea of giving him a plastic bin to fill with all of his plastics and I would take them off his hands for free and recycle them. He said he would love to be apart of my program because he felt like he would be able to make a difference without having to actually do anything. He said he take his trash out every Thursday and that he would put my bin out there every week for me to collect as well.
Interview #3 was Josh Kennedy. I pitched him my great business idea and he said he loved it. The only thing was that he was already recycling his own family's plastic and making money. He did not want to forfeit his profit to me just so that I could take it to the same place and get the money instead.
Interview #4 was Mr. Eddy. He runs a bar that my dad bounces for so I asked him if he would be interested in doing business with me and he said no. He said that he was already scrapping all of the aluminum and glass that he uses and that he does not use enough plastic to even do business with me.
Interview #5 was Inge Grovienstein who is a friend of my grand mothers. I gave her the same pitch that I gave everyone else and I once again got a no. She said the she not only does not use enough plastic to recycle but she also just does not care enough to sort plastic in a bin for me. She said it was too much work with no return.
I  feel that I have been able to identify the boundaries of my business opportunity idea quite well because of this exercise. If I ever do go through with this idea then I will know who my customers are and are not.
Inside the Boundary:
Who: Roger Barnes
What: Me recycling all of his plastic for him
Why: To make an impact on the environment.
Not inside the boundary:
Who is not: James, Josh, Mr. Eddy, and Inge
What is the reason not: Too far, already recycles, already recycles, and does not want to.
Alternate explanations: I can eliminate these  kinds of people when looking for new customers.

8A Solving the problem

Not enough people are recycling which has always been a huge issue in America. I see an opportunity to fix this issue and make money at the same time. I am going to start a business that is actually free to join all you have to do is collect all plastics that range from 1-7 into my bin and I will recycle for you free of charge with the recycle bin included for free as well. I may not make money off of my customers that collect plastic for me but I will make money on all of the free plastic that I will recycle. I could propose my business to other businesses for guaranteed work as opposed to individual customers.