30A – Final Reflection

1. The most fun moment was doing the extra credit and actually making a business. I torched people's driveways with a weed torch and made $120. The sessions was really fun too.
2. Same answer here. The extra credit really opened my eyes to how simple yet complex true entrepreneurship is. Prof. Pryor taking a dump on people's ideas (mine included) was a real learning experience. 
3. I think I'm much closer. I now know the true definition of an opportunity compared to what I thought an opportunity was at first.
4. I recommend all students do the extra credit. It's a huge boon to the grade and absolutely eye opening.

Venture Concept No. 2

The opportunity here is comic fans in the North Orlando/Oviedo area who have no store to go to. The lack of something is not necessarily an opportunity. But in my experience, being a part of that group, large swaths of people in the area are raring for a store that isn't immensely far away.

The nature of the need is one that the people feel at least weekly, if not more often. This opportunity is created by a need for a comic store where there is none. The market is defined demographically and geographically by mostly middle aged permanent residents and younger aged transient college students. They are currently satisfying their needs by pirating comics, driving further distances, or purchasing digital. They are not loyal to these because most comic fans would rather pay for hard copies of comics at stores close to them. This opportunity is not huge, to say the least. This window of opportunity will be open until a store opens.

I will be selling comics and comic related merchandise from a brick and mortar store in an easy to access location. In the grand scheme, this is nothing new, but there isn't one close to the area where there are many willing/potential customers. I will sell comics for regular retail price, as well as figures, t shirts, posters, and more, for their usual retail price. For rarer collectibles, I will price higher, so as to make a profit.

Customers will switch to this because most customers like having a store that's close by with reasonable prices, compared to digital or piracy. It will be easy to get them to switch once they hear about the store, which will be easy to do in the day of social media. The competitors may be regular book stores, which sell certain comics, but not to the extent that an actual store does. There would only be a few regular employees needed. As the owner, I would also work in the store. The most important part of this is inventory and location. Having a wide selection of products as well as having an easy to access location in a friendly area are the driving forces for success.

My most important resource is my location and friendliness. I need to get people who will come back in the door just once to start building a repertoire with them.

Next for the venture would be physically doing it. The first part is the most expensive- getting a building and starting inventory.

In the future, I want to have a steady customer base that pays for the shop and then some. I know I won't get rich off this, but the area is relatively cheap to live, so I think I could make a living off of it.


I received feedback encouraging specific location choice and building customer relationships.

I did not change anything. I had already included that I wanted a specific location and that the focus of my business would be great customer service.

27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

1. The final book I read was Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. The thing that surprised me most was how much he was in debt while trying to get his companies off the ground. I admired that he admitted he was not smart, strategic, or coy, as most people would assume entrepreneurs are. He traveled his own path rather than the one society often expects from business starters. I did not notice anything in particular that I actively did not admire. We're not perfectly alike or anything, I just did not find anything wrong with what he wrote. Likely, he left out any truly bad stuff, since it's an autobiography.
2. His primary competency was his drive and tenacity. He kept persevering despite huge amounts of debt and constant setbacks. He kept trying his ideas in different ways until they finally worked, and the rest is history. 
3. Nothing in this book confused me.
4. I would ask him:
1. What inspired you to do things the way you did? I'm sure many have followed, or tried to follow, in Phil Knight's footsteps, so whose was he trying to follow in, if anyone?
2. Is there anything you would change about the business, knowing what you know now?
5. Knight was probably the hardest worker of the three books I read. The others, Ray Kroc and Scott Adams, did put in the time and money to get where they wanted to get, but Phil Knight had to actively suffer to persevere.

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1. I plan on running the store for a few years. If it's profitable, keep it open. If it's not profitable, I'd just close it. So I suppose my exit strategy is to run it until it no longer is viable to run, then shut it down. It would be a sad day for me and my customers but if it's no longer making money, then there's nothing I can do. 
2. I've selected this because this venture is more of a passion project for me than a hugely profitable money making store. Obviously I want to make a living and have money, but this idea is more of something I'm passionate about.
3. It's probably influenced how much I'm willing to risk for this venture. It's not something I NEED to do, so I'm less willing to risk a lot for something I ultimately only see as a fun dream rather than a reality I want to happen.

26A – Celebrating Failure

1. Earlier this semester, I was planning for a friend's birthday. I messed up the plans and the whole group of us who were going to go out for an activity on his birthday had to turn around after driving for 40 minutes and go home. It was pretty embarrassing. I had tried to get everyone together for dinner before we went, but one person was late (and I knew they'd be late, but didn't think it would matter). We were supposed to go without that person but I tried to accommodate everyone, and it ended up meaning we couldn't do the thing we got tickets for.
2. I learned to just stick to the thing you know will work, instead of trying to please everyone. 
3. Failure is certainly embarrassing, especially when your failure directly negatively affects people you care about. But seeing how much people fail, and reading how much time and money is wasted on failure, and that most people don't make it, I think I'm less likely to take a risk now than I was before the class. Probably not the answer they were looking for, but that's how I feel. 

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

The opportunity here is comic fans in the North Orlando/Oviedo area who have no store to go to. The lack of something is not necessarily an opportunity. But in my experience, being a part of that group, large swaths of people in the area are raring for a store that isn't immensely far away.

The nature of the need is one that the people feel at least weekly, if not more often. This opportunity is created by a need for a comic store where there is none. The market is defined demographically and geographically by mostly middle aged permanent residents and younger aged transient college students. They are currently satisfying their needs by pirating comics, driving further distances, or purchasing digital. They are not loyal to these because most comic fans would rather pay for hard copies of comics at stores close to them. This opportunity is not huge, to say the least. This window of opportunity will be open until a store opens.

I will be selling comics and comic related merchandise from a brick and mortar store in an easy to access location. In the grand scheme, this is nothing new, but there isn't one close to the area where there are many willing/potential customers. I will sell comics for regular retail price, as well as figures, t shirts, posters, and more, for their usual retail price. For rarer collectibles, I will price higher, so as to make a profit.

Customers will switch to this because most customers like having a store that's close by with reasonable prices, compared to digital or piracy. It will be easy to get them to switch once they hear about the store, which will be easy to do in the day of social media. The competitors may be regular book stores, which sell certain comics, but not to the extent that an actual store does. There would only be a few regular employees needed. As the owner, I would also work in the store. The most important part of this is inventory and location. Having a wide selection of products as well as having an easy to access location in a friendly area are the driving forces for success.

My most important resource is my location and friendliness. I need to get people who will come back in the door just once to start building a repertoire with them.

Next for the venture would be physically doing it. The first part is the most expensive- getting a building and starting inventory.

In the future, I want to have a steady customer base that pays for the shop and then some. I know I won't get rich off this, but the area is relatively cheap to live, so I think I could make a living off of it.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market

1. The next thing for products and services in my venture would be, I think, combined digital and print comic services. I think if you could go to shop, buy a comic, and get a digital comic, even more people would go into brick and mortar comic shops.
2. I spoke to members of the Gator Comics club here at UF. They all wanted to make sure we had more than just comics. Stuff like figures, t shirts, posters, and other merch. 

I think it's important to make sure the experience at my comic shop is very personable. We need to carry a wide variety of items for any level of comic interest. We would have deep cuts and obscure comics for the lifelong collector, but also the surface level, popular stuff for new readers or movie fans.
Additional to having all types of comics, we must have other things for people to buy, too. Some figures, posters, and other merch can get incredibly expensive. Most people who are into the hobby get REALLY into it. But we can't just have $100+ stuff. We also have to have cheaper, but still good quality, stuff for people to buy. Fun t shirts, fun collectibles, and other comic-related merchandise is the key. I need a store with diverse products.

New Market

1. My market is currently B2C. I could try to sell B2B. Business to business sales would be acting as a middle man between comic distributors and some other market. Maybe other independent book stores that aren't necessarily comic stores?
2. My venture would create value in this new market by allowing those businesses to have a new market. This might undermine my first, business, though. I would go in with the idea of getting stores to buy comics from me to resell.
3. The people I talked to didn't seem to think this was a real possibility. Mostly, if someone wants comics, they'll buy them from the company itself. A possibility is selling comics that are no longer in print to these shops.
4. The second market is not as attractive as the first market. It is not as lucrative, and not as much of an opportunity. I kind of assumed this would be the case here, so I am not surprised. 

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1. A wide support system of family with resources
1. Very valuable
2. Somewhat rare, many people have this but many people don't
3. Not unique
4. It is non-substitute.
2. My college, business-related education
1. Very valuable. About $80k by the end of it, according to the state of Florida.
2. About 33% of Americans 25 and up have a college degree, so rare
3. It is imitable, anyone can get a degree
4. No other resource can provide the exact benefits of a college education
3. Full college scholarship, no debt, and good credit
1. Very valuable. Also about $80k by the end of four years worth of tuition (not counting paying for classes and rent and stuff)
2. Very rare to graduate with no debt at all
3. Very hard to copy
4. Almost no other resource at this stage of my life could have provided this
4. A vast knowledge of the industry I want to break into due to years of involvement
1. Very valuable
2. Not rare at all
3. Not hard to copy
4. The internet could provide the same benefits, but it's better to have it in my head
5. Some very minor contacts in the industry
1. Very valuable to be able to contact creators
2. Not so rare, usually people know at least a couple other people
3. Not hard to copy, just make friends
4. It is non substitutable