5A – Identifying Local Opportunities

1.       “2 roads closed through Friday in Melbourne Beach for repairs after water main break”

·       Florida Today

·       Link: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2020/01/30/roads-closed-due-water-line-break-melbourne-beach/4618660002/

·       Description: This article explains two roadways that were closed because of a water main break. The break caused flooding and damage to the concrete road. The Melbourne Beach elementary will remain closed through Friday because of this situation

·       Problem: Water main breaks cause damage and flooding to the community around the break. The main problem is the access to the elementary school is closed so school is not open for the school. This also plays a problem for local residents who may experience flooding in their homes.

·       Who: School, local residents, police, repairmen crews, students, families are having problems, government in charge of roads, staff of school, the other elementary who will be guiding the students on another road have a problem.

2.       “A bonanza for traffickers’: Why a Miami Super Bowl is a magnet for sex-trafficking”

·       Miami Herald

·       Link: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article239767408.html

·       Description: This article explains why a Miami Super Bowl could aid sex-trafficking. The article mentions that the sex-trafficking business will thrive by ‘pimps’ having complete control over their woman and having the game at the Hard Rock Stadium will accommodate to their plans with reaching shady customers.

·       Problem: Miami already deals with traffickers in Miami Beach and several hotels. The Super Bowl being hosted in Miami will not only aid present traffickers but will bring even more woman under the control of ‘pimps.’

·       Who: Hard Rock Stadium, Police, fans, hotels and staff, women in potential danger to get trafficked have this problem.

3.       “School ethics committee discusses lapses in oversight of after-school program”

·       Miami Herald

·       Link: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article239794353.html

·       Description: A privately run after-school program was found to have only been operated temporarily at two district schools in Miami-Dade County. The program is running without proper protocols for over a decade. Basically, Chabad Chayil near Aventura (who was founded as a district school) was misrepresented to gain access to public school facilities, and none of the employees had background checks.

·       Problem: Employees working for after-school care programs do not have background check and are working with students. That is a huge problem, especially when Chabad Chayil misrepresented itself to gain access to facilities in Miami-Dade public schools.

·       Who: Administrators and School Board members for Miami-Dade, families, students, School, Police (incase felons were potentially hired) have this problem.

4.       “Deadly virus from China spreads to US, CDC says. Five things to know about coronavirus”

·       Miami Herald

·       Link: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article239495223.html

·       Description: A coronavirus outbreak in China has spread to the United States. The virus came from eating an exotic meal (a bat). The disease has infected hundreds and has killed six in china. The article goes on talking about that the virus can spread through humans, and it has reached Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea.

·       Problem: This outbreak puts pressure on border patrols in airlines and other entrances into countries that have frequent visitation from China. This outbreak could eventually reach many US citizens if the correct procedures are not handled efficiently.

·       Who: Every potential country who has affiliations with China (Airlines, businesses), hospitals, students, universities, families all have this problem.

5.       “UF Health monitors rumors of coronavirus spreading to Gainesville”

·       The Independent Florida Alligator

·       Link: https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-health-monitors-rumors-of-coronavirus-spreading-to-gainesville/article_69a9b1a0-426c-11ea-86b2-87354e5a2a4e.html

·       Description: The UF Student Health Center has treated the several students who have been in contact with family in China before the coronavirus quarantine took effect. Luckily, there were no symptoms of the disease.

·       Problem: This outbreak has put on pressure for students to register before traveling to china, specifically Wuhan. The University of Florida needs to monitor student travels and have to deal with quarantine from any other student with visitations from China.

·       Who: University of Florida, UF Health Center, Students, University Staff, Gainesville, the country as a whole, and families have this problem.

4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief

Oakbrook Walk Apartment’s Parking

1.      Beginning Point

The parking at Oakbrook Walk Apartments (my apartment complex) is inadequately designed. Parking is already limited to residents in sections of their units. In some sections, parking spaces are tight, with little room for people to get out of their car. What if there was a way to fix this?

2.      Description

There is no designated guest parking in my apartment complex. Guests use slips of paper placed on their dashboard and can freely park anywhere. Many residents’ cars stay in the same place because residents who live here may work or study from home. Residents may also take the bus to reach their destination, so moving their car is never an outcome. This builds on the tension that parking spaces are becoming more of a hassle to find, especially for guests. I believe there should be a designated parking section for the guest as well as at least one guest parking in each of the sections for apartments. For example, apartments 1100A-1120D (20 units) should have two parking spaces out of the 25 resident parking spaces for just guest parking. The reason for this is because some parking spaces are taken up by a single scooter, sometimes two. There should also be some regulation to park scooters or bikes in their own parking sections as well, to open many other parking spots. I am 100% certain this opportunity exists.

3.      The prototypical customer: residents, guest, and scooter drivers (if applicable)

4.      Interviews

Resident

1. Q: Do you have a personal vehicle? If so, what type?

   A: Yes, a car.

 2. Q: Have you found parking difficult at times? If so, around what time?

   A: Barely, only a couple of times during the weekend.

 3. Q: Have you ever found yourself parking in another apartment section?

   A: A few times.

 4. Q: Do you host guests very often?

   A: Yes, I have guests over every Wednesday and Friday night.

 5. Q: Have you ever had an issue finding parking for them?

   A: In the middle of the week, like Wednesday, for example, it's not too bad. However, on Friday, parking is always an issue for my five guests.

 6. Q: Have you ever seen parking that was taken up by a single scooter?

   A: Yes, and it always bugs me to see that.

7. Q: Do you believe there should be designated parking for a guest?

  A: Yes, however not too many in one section, which would take away

8. Do you believe there should be designated parking for scooters?

   A: Yes, that would save so many spots.

 Resident

 1. Q: Do you have a personal vehicle? If so, what type?

   A: Yes, a scooter.

 2. Q: Have you found parking difficult at times? If so, around what time?

   A: Never have a problem because I park in the same spot where there’s usually another scooter.

 3. Q: Have you ever found yourself parking in another apartment section?

   A: Not at all.

 4. Q: Do you host guests very often?

   A: Every now and then.

5. Q: Have you ever had an issue finding parking for them?

   A: Barely, most of my friends drive scooters, so they share my parking space. Sometimes it becomes a challenge when most guests have cars.

 6. Q: Have you ever seen parking that was taken up by a single scooter?

   A: Yes, and that’s where I usually where I park.

7. Q: Do you believe there should be designated parking for a guest?

  A: No, not really. 

8. Do you believe there should designated parking for scooters?

   A: Yes, but I don’t want to park farther than what I am accustomed to now.

 Roommate’s Guest

 1. Q: Have you ever found an issue finding a parking space? If so, what day of the week?

   A: Yes, usually the parking spaces are difficult to fit into, and I need to find a parking space in another section.

 2. Q: How often do you come over? And do you ever find it frustrating when scooters take one parking space?

   A: Now that you mention it, every time that I come over, I always see at least one or two scooters parked in one spot, and it irritates me.

 3. Q: Do you ever take Uber or the bus to get here instead of the parking

   A: A couple of times, I walked here, but it is a long walk.

4. Q: What type of vehicle do you ride?

   A: A drive a car.

5. Q: If you said scooter in the last question, do you try to find parking with another scooter, or bike?

   A: Non-applicable

5.      Reflection

 Once I talked with a few residents and a guest of my community, I realized that there is still an opportunity to regulate parking for scooters and guests. There isn’t that much demand for resident parking. There seems to be parking close to resident sections. However, tight parking spaces need to be redrawn in order to utilize that parking space or be facilitated as a scooter only parking zone. This will open more spots that can fit larger size vehicles.

6.      Summary

My original opportunity, after talking to several prototypical customers, is still there. My new opportunity is more accurate in that it addresses specific issues that would aid parking for scooters, guests, and residents. Customer feedback is crucial when entrepreneurs are focused on exploiting their ideas. In some cases, entrepreneurs are fixated that their idea is soundproof. However, customers are the ones aware of what their problem and needs are. Entrepreneurs should adapt the opportunities based on interviews with the right people who are looking for a change, who needs that change. You can always be firm with your beliefs, but to make your opportunity a reality, you must accommodate.

3A – Your Entrepreneurship Story

My Entrepreneurship Story

I’ve been to New York several times. However, one particular trip I met someone at a local restaurant near Wall Street. I was trading on my laptop using a similar software to the gentlemen in front of me. He was going through many tabs of different information and charts. I sat next to him knowing that he may be annoyed of my presence because it is during market opening.

What actually happened was a long enthusiastic conversation of this man’s career of trading and his own business he created a few years ago. Basically, he has a subscriber base website for retail traders to implement their trading ideas into algorithms. He makes their trading strategies into a program and ask for a percentage of ownership. This event really opened my mind into the different ways I could potentially make money with the market without even buying a stock. This meeting with this person at some random restaurant really inspired me to look at different ways to generate money.

I enrolled in ENT 3003 because I want to develop my business ideas into a stronger, more realistic, and attainable opportunity. In this class, I hope to understand what the potential customer for my ideas (present and in the future) want and realization of that need.

This is what his website eventually grew into. A website where you can develop your own algorithms in the market and start trading it with live market data! (Picture below)

Bug List

Bug List

1.       When you order a Kickin’ Chickin’ from Zaxby’s and the toast used cannot hold all three chicken tenders.

Why: Zaxby’s use a bucket of sauce for each sandwich, which makes the chicken tenders slippery within the specific toast they use for that meal. If only the toast was baked like a pouch.

2.       During after hour and pre-market hours in the market, low floating stocks tend to take a hard hit when a few shares are sold. This has been happening frequently over the last year and has triggered my stop losses easily.

Why: There is more online trading platforms that offer pre-market and after hour trading. This allows for more retail traders to sell only a couple of shares to manipulate the stock price. There is not regulation in place to have a minimum share amount for pre-market and after hour trading, which allows for a person to sell one share of company to lower the price.

3.       The café (Rising Role) in Heavener Hall is always running behind schedule. As soon as they open, they usually do not have the coffee, creamer, or food ready for customers.

Why: The store opens at 8 a.m. for employees, yet there is no routine for the employees to have for the opening of each day.

4.       The café in Heavener Hall closes at 3:00 p.m., which is considered very early when classes can go on till later in the night. The closest restaurant is Chick-fil-A, which is not the healthiest choice to eat. There should be more accessible healthy food to eat throughout the whole day.

Why: The café used to be open till 7 p.m. in recent years, however, each day Rising Role closes at 3 p.m. The new hours may suggest that they did not get enough customers during late hours. This may be because business classes that are online at night usually do not have high attendance rates, thus eliminating potential customers for the café.

5.       My limit orders on Fidelity and TD Ameritrade has had a smaller activation rate.

Why: Online Brokerage firms have slashed fees for buying and selling stocks to compete with one another. However, doing so, I have noticed that my orders are not taken with the highest priority like the ones I placed while paying the commission.

6.       There are no free deliveries on Uber Eats in Gainesville. There were many free deliveries in Miami, and this is not an update.

Why: Gainesville is home to a huge university of students who are busy with studying and night life. In order to capitalize on gains, they realize that students accept paying a higher price for quick deliveries without discounts.

7.       The Rising Role Café has been consistent with being out of stock of cup handles for hot beverages.

Why: The beginning of a semester is difficult to be align with stockings. Many students buy coffee at the coffee, creating a potential shortage of cup handles.

8.       Advertisement on Twitch when you are already subscribed to a channel

Why: A glitch in the website. Another way for Twitch to generate money.

9.       When your paper straw breaks mid-way of your drink.

Why: Paper straws become wet and are cut easily by the opening in the middle of the lid. If only there was a tougher material used in the middle.

10.   When you buy fries from Steak n Shake and there’s ketchup packets in my fries.

Why: Employees through the ketchup packets in the bag last, which can fall into the fries. Ketchup packets are unsanitary, so they should be thrown in first.

11.   Every time I’m on campus and my phone ask me to join a network and I press cancel, it repeatedly asks me to join a network

Why: My cell phone has low cellular WIFI in Heavener Hall, so my phone glitches.

12.   The closest bus stop to Heavener Hall is Beaty Towers, which is several blocks away.

Why: The bus transit has routes made in order to fulfill the needs of all students. There are no further bus stops.

13.   When you listen to the radio and the advertisements are louder than the music that was playing.

Why: An advertising trick to engage with their audience.

14.   When the water up here taste like skunk water in Orlando.

Why: The high sulfur water is consistent throughout out central Florida. It’s difficult to get use to the taste.

15.   When you need to log back into Fidelity after a short period of time because of security reasons and miss out on a trade.

Why: Fidelity has security regulations incase anyone hacks into your account. Facial recognition on the website is not available to make it easier.

16.   Hosting a lobby in Call of Duty servers go by NAT types. If you and your friend have different NAT types, you guys cannot play together.

Why: Call of Duty servers are very strict with NAT types and servers. Good connection is required to play games together.

17.   Uber has the customer walk to a location in order to be picked up on campus. This pick-up location can be several blocks away.

Why: Certain streets on campus are restricted for Uber drivers and drivers with no disabilities. Traffic flow can become hectic with no specified locations.

18.    There are no Bird Scooters on campus that allow students to rent scooters for personal use. At FIU, there were many scooters available for students.

Why: The scooter policy has not been passed by UF safety and transportation.

19.   When the syrup for any type of coffee stays at the bottom of the cup.

Why: The density of the syrup is higher than the coffee. The last couple of sips are sweeter than the first ones.

20.   During the morning, the bus is usually packed. Students stand in the front of the bus instead of walking towards the back. This makes it difficult for students getting on the bus to find an open spot.

Why: There is no routine in place for the bus driver to tell all the students to head toward the back of the bus when getting on.

Reflection: This assignment was challenging because I’m an easy-going person. I don’t usually think about bugs. So, for this assignment it was fun to be in more of a pessimistic mood, however, it was fun solving the problems that I made up. Overall, I had fun doing this assignment. 

The Beginning of Blogging

A new journey begins...