Assignment-5A-IDENTIFYINGLOCALOPP

1.)

• The title of the article: "2 roads closed through Friday in Melbourne Beach for repairs after water main break" 
• The link to the article: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2020/01/30/roads-closed-due-water-line-break-melbourne-beach/4618660002/
• A description of the story, in your own words: A main road that connects to an elementary school and other local businesses has been closed off  until Friday afternoon due to the process of pouring and repaving concrete to cover up a main water pipeline that had been damaged from over a period of time.
• A description of the problem presented in the story: The water pipeline being damaged has made this a hazard for the community on their daily endeavors by the continuation of breaking this water pipe and have put people in possible harms way. This construction process will make traffic for civilians very chaotic in the morning and during rush hour.
• A description of who has the problem: This construction process will make traffic for civilians very chaotic in the morning on their way to work and during rush hour on their way back home. Parents with kids that attend this local elementary school will experience a difficulty to get through heavy traffic to get their children to school on time. The construction crew may have a problem of completing their job on time with disruptions from the public traffic and other occurrences.

2.)

• The title of the article: "Human remains found near LPGA Blvd. in Daytona identified, police say"
• The link to the article: https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20200130/human-remains-found-near-lpga-blvd-in-daytona-identified-police-say
• A description of the story, in your own words: The remains of a dead body found in a wooded area has been identified as what seems to have been a man who was a construction worker on duty. The occurrence of the death is still unknown.
• A description of the problem presented in the story: The occurrence of the death is still unknown.
• A description of who has the problem: I believe the family who is experiencing the loss of this  loved one is definitely a source who is facing this problem. The crime scene unit of this county is also an organization who is facing this problem by not knowing exactly how the indivdual's death occurred. 

3.)

• The title of the article: "Pensacola man alledgedly locked woman in closet for 24 hours, hit her with vacuum cleaner"
• The link to the article: https://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2020/01/30/pensacola-man-allegedly-locked-woman-closet-24-hours/2856131001/
• A description of the story, in your own words: A psychological unstable man kidnapped and physically abused a young woman while using a vacuum as a weapon to eventually barricade the female into a closet for more than a day.
• A description of the problem presented in the story: The woman who had been abused recently covered up for the man in a previous incident, reported by her own mother who was very concerned of her daughter's well-being.
• A description of who has the problem: I believe the local law enforcement who dealt with the case and the family who was traumatized by the man's actions are the ones who have the problem.

4.)

• The title of the article: "After son's suicide, Tallahasee parents start TCC endowment for students with mental illness"
• The link to the article: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2020/01/31/after-sons-suicide-parents-start-fund-students-mental-illness/2823003001/
• A description of the story, in your own words: A young man who was an excellent student all throughout high school and in his first few semesters of community college, took his own life away by committing suicide. 
• A description of the problem presented in the story: It appears the young man was experiencing a series of mental health illnesses such as schizophrenia and facing pressure by pursuing a challenging degree at Florida State University.
• A description of who has the problem: Parents who have children who are currently young adults graduating high school or enrolling in college are the ones who have the problem because they have to be aware of many outside factors of their children's lives and their consistent overall behavior. Doctor's and mental health specialist are also the one's who currently have the problem in researching and investigating this certain case. 

5.)

• The title of the article: "Hardball: Rays threaten to block redevelopment of Tropicana Field"
• The link to the article: https://www.tampabay.com/news/st-petersburg/2020/01/30/hardball-rays-threaten-to-block-redevelopment-of-tropicana-field/
• A description of the story, in your own words: Executive members of the Tampa Bay Rays organization have upheld ongoing conversations with City Council members of St. Petersburg regarding to the redevelopment and renovations of their own stadium known as Tropicana Field.  
• A description of the problem presented in the story: The Tampa Bay Rays have had a lousy attendance rating in the MLB for the past several years. Some executives of the organization proposed an idea to split their home games between Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg and Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada. These executives believe this is the only way to keep an MLB team in the St. Pete/Tampa Bay area. The Mayor of St. Petersburg has shut down this proposal mainly because the team has a contract in place that expires in 2027.
• A description of who has the problem: It is obvious that the executives in the front office for The Tampa Bay Rays and City Council members including the mayor of St. Petersburg have the problem butting heads and not agreeing to terms on a deal to improve their current stadium to improve attendance. I also think the players, staff, and their families of the professional baseball team are facing extreme pressure of the problem with this question surrounding the idea of possibly traveling on the road for two-thirds of the season (121 games out of 162). I also believe the die hard Rays fans and season ticket holders acquire the problem of not wanting to root for a team that wants to leave or possibly having two home stadiums throughout the season. This falls back on the Rays organization of having the problem on maintaining loyal fans and establishing a consistent attendance rate.

List of local newspapers: 

•  Florida Today (Brevard County, Florida)
•  Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay, Florida)
•  Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, Florida)
•  Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida)
•  The Daytona Beach News Journal (Daytona Beach, Florida)

Assignment-4A-FORMINGANOPPORTUNITY

1) Your beginning point: I have a belief that an opportunity exists within the movie theater industry to better the overall experience for customers and it could be dramatically improved for many reasons mainly referring to cost, quality and quantity of production, customer service, etc.
2) Describe your belief: Movie theaters have seen a gigantic deficit in attendance rates from customers over the past few years. According to a survey recorded in June of 2019 by statista.com, it previewed that only 46% of US adults visit the movie theater once a year; 40% visit less than once a month, and 14% visit one or more times per month. I believe the unmet need is that the overall satisfaction customers have is missing from their movie theater experience. This could be a result in how expensive movie tickets are and also concession prices. Some (older) customers cannot adapt to the idea of having an interaction with a kiosk to purchase tickets. So I think people who really enjoy going out to the movies for the full exquisite experience is who has this need. I believe their need is somewhat new and has not always existed, but from seeing a decline in attendance is really dampening the trend of keeping a movie theater in business. A lot of people are using electronic devices such as their phone, gaming console, and amazon firestick to stream movies illegally rather than get in their car and go to the theater. At this point, I'm not sure if I could make a definite impact to change these circumstances, but I could most likely change up some certain things in the movie theater industry to reel in some revenue. In percent terms, I would say that 60% of my opportunity belief exists based off the information I was given for this assignment.
3) Identify the prototypical customer: 
4) Iteration No. 1 William (White male, 24 years old, college student): The first person I interviewed gave me a lot of useful information for my opportunity belief. William said many people that go to a movie theater have different reasons to go and different preferences about certain things. He mentioned that on of the exact nature needs were to lower ticket prices for all categories from children rates up to senior rates. My interviewee said he became aware of this need after a lot of movie theaters went away with matinee prices and stuck to one general price all day, everyday. He said he experiences these needs most of the time mainly because he lives in Orlando and says the theaters there are all one general price for his demographic and he also mentioned that they might not even include a student discount to only take off a few cents. He has had this need for quite a while, ever since he moved away from home to go to college and had to start paying for his own movies. Sometimes my interviewee says he addresses his need by taking a chance on a illegal movie stream website and streaming it off there to save some money. William doesn't prefer to do that because enjoys the experience of going to the theater, smelling fresh popcorn, and sitting in a comfy chair. He is not always satisfied with this solution because half of the time the stream off of the website lags more times than others. He knows if he goes into a movie theater, 99% of the time he will enjoy himself.
Iteration No. 2 Carol (White Female, in her 60's, retired): The second person I interviewed was a lovely lady named Carol who I asked what she loved most about going to a movie and she said she enjoys the delicious snacks from the concession stand more than the picture depending on if it's a movie she wants to see or if it's a movie her husband dragged her to go to. She told me she wished that movie theaters would make the experience in general more affordable, but most importantly to her the concession prices. Carol mentioned that she loves when the theater offers discount night on popcorn or other hot foods, but she said for how often she goes to the movies, she is paying a ton just for refreshments. Carol told me that if she is just in the mood for candy, then she will just go to the dollar store to pick a few treats for a low price to satisfy her needs. Her solution to the problem is sometimes a win and sometimes a loss. Carol is a big fan of hot buttered popcorn, so when she goes into the lobby she is easily influenced to buy some and she herself knows it is impossible to sneak in some of her won.
Iteration No. 3 Mitch (White Male, middle aged): The last person I interviewed also gave me a lot of great feedback on his experiences with going to the movies. Mitch said his biggest pet peeve (unmet need) is that he can't stand how some movie theaters have made the transition to an all computer kiosk setup for a simple transaction to buy a ticket. I think the exact nature of the need for Mitch is that he prefers to have a face-to-face interaction with an employee to purchase his ticket. He mentioned that theaters who feature a kiosk venue to purchase or pickup tickets makes the process of the waiting line seem forever, especially if there is a malfunction with the machine and it makes him never want to go out and see a movie. Mitch also said that it wasn't just movie theaters, but everywhere you go now it seems like every business has a self-serving kiosk including fast food restaurants and he cannot stand it. Mitch is currently addressing his need by facing the music and taking his chances by making transactions at kiosks, but he is not happy about the direction the movie theater business is going in having these kiosk venues to order tickets. His solution is making him fade away from going to the movies and taking a similar direction as William and streaming movies off an illegal stream to save time and money.
5) Single Reflection (All 3): The most important thing I have learned about my opportunity is that each person I have interviewed has at least one issue with the movie theater business and I believe that is something I can improve to keep a movie theater up and running efficiently. The most surprising thing I have learned about my opportunity is that one of my interviewee's were right about people that go to movies, go for different movies and have different preferences about certain things. I think I could be able to accommodate to the preferences of these three customers to where I could bring back enjoyable and affordable movie theater experiences for passionate customers.
6) (Repeat twice more steps 3, 4, and 5): ^^^^^^^ 
7) Summarize: I think my original opportunity belief still exists, although some of the alternate routes these people have taken to reside from going to movie theaters bugs me, but I also think that I can adapt to their preferences and other customers to where the movie theater can draw in revenue through certain ways. I believe my opportunity is more accurate when I started mostly because I figured out what people my age were doing to access new movies through illegal movie websites and I also had a good idea that concession items would attract a good percentage of customers as well (no names included). I truly believe that customer service/feedback is a crucial part of entrepreneurship and owning a business. Customer service/feedback is what can make a business make or break itself. I also think there is a trade-off in both routes you take in adapting to customer feedback and staying firm in certain areas of your business, but I know both concepts can be a difficult process in how you're going to satisfy both your customers and employees.

Assignment-3A-ENTSTORY

One of my childhood friend's dad coached baseball for me and my brother in little league, from T-ball to the big field. This guy's name is Bill and he was an extremely hard worker. When coaching us in little league he was currently working as a construction site manager for a small company. Bill worked long hours. Clocking in for early mornings and clocking out in the late afternoon just to race to the ball field for practice and games. One day Bill was in the process of trying to find a new job where he could have more flexibility and balance between work and family time. A friend of Bill's had recently told him that he was a driver working for "888", a taxi company with different locations spread all throughout the state of Florida. His buddy mentioned to Bill that this taxi thing might be a gig you would want to get into while looking for something permanent. So Bill tried it out for a few weeks and fell in love with the business. He discovered he was making not a drastic difference of money compared to his old job, but he fell in love with the benefits the job brought to him. For instance, less stress, more time to spend with family, and his daily interactions with customers. Eventually Bill would go onto to open his very own taxi business called, "HOO-HA Taxi Co." Bill's business has been a big hit over the past few years to where he has saved enough money to buy himself a small home in Cocoa Beach. Bill say's the best part about being an entrepreneur and starting his own business is that he gets to be his own boss and work on his own time, which is most of the day. The ole baseball coach is a big inspiration to me on how he got out of an crappy 9-5 job to live an entrepreneur's dream. Not saying that Bill hasn't had down times in business, but his overall happiness of what he does for a living positively impacts the other factors of his life.

I signed up for ENT 3003 because I mostly heard good things about the class and that the professor was passionate about his teachings. I'm hoping to learn ideas of what drives people in wanting to become an entrepreneur. Whether that is coming up with their own product/service or owning their own business. Although this class seems like a workload, I think it'll be fun to learn how entrepreneurship works in the world.

Assignment-2A-buglist

1.) My apartment complex consists of caution speedbumps per every thirty feet covering the whole premises, inside and areas outside, for instance the entrances and exits. These frequent bumps make it a pain to leave for work and school, also to come back home.
WHY?
I believe this bug exists because of safety precautionary reasons to protect pedestrians and other vehicles entering and exiting the complex.

2.) My 2012 Honda Civic handsfree link system (Sound System) to connect to my phone's Bluetooth setting delays any message of the sound off of my phone into the car speaker. This is a problem when I am using my phone as a GSP and cannot hear directions right away, while it is a hazard to look at my phone and drive at the same time.
WHY?
I think this bug exists because however the technicians for Honda designed the handsfree link system didn't synchronize the timing process from the main speaker system to a Bluetooth setting of a smartphone.

3.) When I travel back home on weekends, most of my clothes I pack for my visit are very wrinkled and disorganized.
WHY?
This bug exists because I usually intend to pack clothes and other belongings like I'm staying for a two weeks instead of a weekend, which leaves me with wrinkled clothes when I get back to my apartment because I never end up hanging those clothes up in my closet.

4.) Being a baseball coach, I cannot stand the smell of new equipment and apparel we receive for the new season.
WHY?
The fabric and material that is made in a warehouse factory has been freshly stored into a package, never been used, and only contains the oxygen that surrounds itself in the package.

5.) The Dunkin Donuts on Palm Bay Road is always congested with customers from the time it opens at six in the morning until about nine-thirty that same morning.
WHY?
Dunkin Donuts is a famous coffee and donut shop. A good percentage of customers that come to this Dunkin Donuts at an early time are usually on their way to work and forgot to make coffee and fix themselves some breakfast at home.

6.) Netflix consistently removes fan-favorite shows and movies all throughout the year.
WHY?
Netflix adds other popular TV shows and movies to attract more people into paying for a subscription plan to make more revenue.

7.) Being an on-campus student, I have to pay for student tickets to the UF football games and not UF basketball games.
WHY?
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium holds a lot more seating and football games are held once a week on a Saturday to where it gives students and other fans more time to prepare and plan to attend. Where as the O'Connell Center holds less seats, but the season offers more opportunity to attend games by holding one during the week and one on Saturday. That gives more fans and students a flexibility to attend if they cant make it during the week or on the weekend.

8.) The Wi-Fi connection on the UF campus tends to be very slow in the morning and sometimes cuts out where I have to sign in every so often to acquire Wi-Fi access.
WHY?
The University of Florida has one of the biggest student bodies in the country and therefore so many students and faculty members are accessing one system of Wi-Fi. Also in the morning is when the campus is busiest.

9.) On my way to work, the red light on the intersection of 13th street and West University Avenue takes forever to turn green.
WHY?
West University Avenue is a much more busy street than 13th because it is the main road for the University of Florida and most classrooms are located off of University for students to travel to.

10.) The parking spot lanes are more narrow at the parking lot in my apartment complex and the parking lot at my workplace, the parking lanes seem wider.
WHY?
The owners of the apartment complex has to account for an "x" amount of people staying and visitors as well. The property owner of my workplace accounts for a certain number of employees and visitors, unless the company expands.

11.) Driving around my neighborhood, I tend to get stuck behind drivers that are going below the speed limit and that makes me late to work or class.
WHY?
The population of my neighborhood has a good percentage of senior citizen/retired people and that is the trend for them when they get behind the wheel.

12.) The shopping carts at Wal-Mart are rusted up and the wheels squeak throughout the whole time I am grocery shopping.
WHY?
The shopping carts may have been used by millions of customers for many years and are wore down to the point they need to request a shipment for new and approved shopping carts.

13.) The lead in my mechanical pencils I use for school seem to run out quicker than an original number two pencil.
WHY?
The durability of a number two pencil is more stronger than the lead in a mechanical pencil.

14.) Having to update my resume and submit one for every job application.
WHY?
A company would like to receive more information on my background of education, work experience, and overall attributes I offer to the company.

15.) The size of the keyboard on my Microsoft Surface Pro is very small and it makes my fingers cramp after typing.
WHY?
I believe the Microsoft Surface Pro was created for a more innovative way to display images and having the ability to draw and touch the screen to make changes. For example, an architect's design of their floor plan. The keyboard is not so much a necessity.

16.) McDonald's discontinues the two for five dollar value special.
WHY?
I believe McDonald's already lays out a plan to make this promotion for a certain amount of time or until they reach a certain quota.

17.) The balcony outside my apartment has no roof for when it rains or to protect me from sun rays.
WHY?
My apartment is on the top story and no other top story apartment has a roof over their balcony. I also believe it would be considered a hazard for the inclement weather that comes through Gainesville, preventing any damages to the building.

18.) Making a frozen pizza seems to take a lot longer than I always expect.
WHY?
It takes an additional five or six minutes to pre-heat the oven before originally cooking the pizza.

19.) The battery on my iPhone runs out very quick throughout the day.
WHY?
The time of usage I spend on apps such as social media and texting can take a toll on the battery. Also overcharging the phone overnight tends to damage the battery life as well.

20.) My sinuses become very sore and swollen anytime I walk outside and get into my car.
WHY?
My car is parked under numerous trees that produce pollen and my car becomes covered in it. I am also allergic to pollen.

Reflection: I found this bug list exercise very interesting and somewhat difficult. At times I was stumped and had to think, "What really bugs me from the moment I wake up in the morning to the time I go to sleep." I also took the advice from the directions and took a drive around town and examined things that would bug me that are not part of my routine. Explaining the "why" made me think of how others experience bugs like mine and might think differently of why they exist as well.

Introduction to the Course

Hello everyone. My name is Stuart Brown and I'm really looking forward to learning about entrepreneurship and discovering what you all have to share about the assignments in this class. Good luck!