Assignment 29

 Assignment 29 

Walding Consulting Firm

Venture Concept No. 2 
 

Opportunity-  

My opportunity is described as a consultation firm that would allow for young entrepreneurs to receive the guidance, foundation and financial stability they need for their own startups. There are very few forces within the market, although, you could argue that new products or services can be a force by altering the ideas client bring to the firm. The market will have a younger demographic, probably around 18-35 years old, and geographically will be within the city of Gainesville. This opportunity can be extremely big. The window of opportunity will last, and potentially expand in the future.  

 
 

Innovation-  

In terms of innovation, it isn’t radically different at all, but it will solve the problem of many entrepreneurs having a place to start with limited funds. My consulting firm is similar to the basis of a lawyer not getting paid unless the case is won. There are many vulnerabilities such as financial risk, arguably the most important vulnerability when running a business of your own. I will be selling my time, experience and knowledge for a flat fee plus interest. For instance, If I help a client build a foundation for their business for the course of 3 months, I would charge $25,000 plus interest payable over the course of 5 years. My experience and knowledge is what would make the entire service work, meaning, I should focus on building my own experience that someone else would be willing to pay for.  

 
 

Venture Concept- 

Many people want to be business owners but are intimidated by the financial risks and other things that go into making a business work. The difficult part will be getting them through the door and selling my service. I would organize this business into teams because I feel there are many different skills that need to be covered within a consulting firm and having a team will allow for a broader range of those skills to work together. As said before, there are many vulnerabilities when it comes to consulting. 

The most important assets my firm will possess are the knowledge and experiences it takes to run a successful consulting firm.  

The next venture would be expanding to the point where the firm can consult multiple clients at a time. Having created, managed and launched multiple teams into a space where they can work on the client’s needs will be key to driving more revenue and overall, expanding the business. This venture is extremely long-term.  

 

The summary of my feedback included a few points about how it would be hard to copy the business which would be good due to less competition in the market. Also, there were a few comments about how my experience and knowledge would be some of the most impactful elements to the venture concept.  

According to some of the feedback I received, I decided to change my target audience to consulting younger audiences, like college students for example or recently graduated. I think I went into too much description about the idea rather than focusing on how to make the idea happen. College students have bright ideas; therefore, it would be an easier target tied with high willingness to pursue the idea. 

Assignment 30A

Final Reflection   

1. 1. There were a lot of learning moments throughout the course of ENT3003. I enjoyed watching lectures, learning about entrepreneurship and thinking outside of the box. My first impression was that there was a ton of work to do in a short period of time, but as the semester went on, I learned that it was manageable. There were a few times I felt like skipping an assignment, but most of the time I was able to pull through and get the work done. 

2. 
   

2. 2. I will remember this course as the last course I had to take to finish my undergraduate degree. The entire course was a great experience as I learned a great amount about entrepreneurs and how they identify opportunity. I think this class has given myself a solid definition of entrepreneur and has also impacted the way I will think about opportunity in the future. 

3. 
   

3. 3. I have moved closer to an entrepreneurial mindset. I have noticed that I have many more entrepreneurs in my personal network that I realized before. I have developed an appreciation for entrepreneurship as well. 

4. 
   

4. 4. My one recommendation for students that will take this class in the future is to think deeply about the venture concept that you plan on using. I didn’t realize that all of the assignments were going to be connected to the same venture concept early in the course, and at some point, it will be too late to change the concept you want to pursue.  

5. 
   

6. 1. 

Assignment 28A

The business concept that I have thought about and put together for the duration of this semester is a business that would take many years, even decades to develop. I would focus on running the business for a few decades and then retiring. What I would do when I am ready to retire, I am not. It is possible that I would hand the business down to a family member, or depending if I can net a large return, it is possible I would sell.  

I have selected this particular strategy because a consulting business is not built overnight. It takes many years and many successful contributions to create a firm that is well-known and worth anything. I would like to head the firm until retirement and then hand off the company into the possession of someone I believe is capable of continuing the direction it needs to go. 

I know my business concept will take years, if not decades to develop. Knowing that, my growth intentions and my plan to use and acquire resources is extremely long-term. The best resource for consulting is experience, and experience is gained with time.  

Assignment 27A

Reading Reflection No. 3

In the book Cognitive Surplus, written by Clay Shirky, Clay argues there are many more profitable, effective and useful ways to spend our time. For example, as Americans, Shirky outlines that amount of television that we watch on average, which is an astounding amount. Shirky shows that if all Americans reduced the amount of television we watch on average by one hour, we could accomplish the equivalent of 200 billion hours allocated toward learning something, developing a product, technology, or other things.

The book is in sync with what we learn in the class because entrepreneurs are expected to make effective use of their time. I know a lot of successful people, and I can confidently say the one thing they all have in common is they make great use of their time, down to every minute of the day.

I would design an assignment that is made to challenge every student. I would challenge them with the tasks of productive time management and ask them to reflect on what they have done differently and reflect on their level of productivity.

This book met many of my expectations. It talks about many of the things we have discussed in class including expanding social capital. Shirky realizes that entrepreneurs have to create a desire to fulfill their inner needs without being incentivized. The discussion is around the idea of what humans are capable of when they invest in their own learning.

Assignment 26A

Celebrating Failure

This past Spring semester, I was interviewing for a few different jobs considering I am soon to graduate. When I received the news that I did not receive the position that I thought I wanted, I was upset and felt that I had failed.

I interviewed with two different local banks for a position that I was going to work until I graduated, and then I would start looking for a different job better related to the career path I wanted to take. After not receiving the positions that I had applied to, I began to feel like finding a job was going to be harder than I originally expected. I reviewed my resume, thought about my responses to many of the questions and more.

I continued to apply to positions, and ultimately landed a job interview with Cox Communications. During my interview with Cox, I was asked many of the same general interview questions from my previous interviews with the banks. At that point, I realized my interviews with the banks had prepared me for the interview with Cox.

I received a job offer with Cox Communications with much better compensation, better experience and higher-quality benefits than what I would have received with the other positions I applied to. I was told I was offered the job because of my confidence in the interview, but I had that confidence because I knew exactly how I wanted to respond to the questions because I had seen them numerous times before.

This led me to the conclusion, the bank interviews were great practice for the job I actually wanted. After taking these risks and evaluating what I thought was failure, I realized I was extremely happy with the ways things turned out. I am more likely to take risks now than I have ever been before.

Assignment 23A

1. Experiences 

Valuable – I would argue so. I could always improve my level of experience. 

Rare – No, everyone has experiences of their own. 

Inimitable – Yes. 

Non-Substitutable – No, others may have similar enough experience as I do. 

2. Knowledge 

Valuable- Yes. 

Rare- Probably mostly common knowledge. 

Inimitable- Yes  

Non-Substitutable- Yes 

3. Leadership qualities 

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- No 

Inimitable- No 

Non-Substitutable- No 

4. My personal network 

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- No 

Inimitable- Yes 

Non-Substitutable- Yes 

5. Financial stability  

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- No 

Inimitable- No 

Non-Substitutable- No 

6. Communication skills 

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- No 

Inimitable- No 

Non-Substitutable- No 

7. An office to work in 

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- No 

Inimitable- No 

Non-Substitutable- No 

8. Relationships that I have with people who are willing to invest 

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- Maybe 

Inimitable- Yes 

Non-Substitutable- No 

9. Degree in Public Relations 

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- No 

Inimitable- No 

Non-Substitutable- No 

10. Ability to provide quality service 

Valuable- Yes 

Rare- No 

Inimitable- No 

Non-Substitutable- No  

I believe my top resource in my venture concept is my experiences. Helping someone build a company is highly dependent on what experiences and capabilities you have as well.