ENT 3003

1. The first time we had to go and interview people for an assignment was honestly a moment I was not looking forward to. It was awkward and embarrassing, but the more times we had to do it the more comfortable I became, and now I could honestly walk up and bother anyone with no problems. Developing my business was one of the most stressful, but also one of the most exciting moments for me in this course. What started with me having absolutely no idea what to do as a business (up until the Thursday night before the assignment was due), has now turned into a business I would actually really love to start one day. 2. I think something I will take with me down the road is just knowing how to see things and think more creatively. I feel like I really learned different ways to see opportunities in things. I am defiantly most proud of essentially "growing" my business. Starting the concept from start to end and changing and evolving it to be the best that it could be. 3. I defi...

1. The Venture Concept Opportunity APTA Athletic Boutique will satisfy the need to an all-encompassing women's only fitness apparel store. At the moment, there's essentially no physical store that carries a wide variety of fitness apparel for women. The stores that exist typically don't have shoes, clothes, bags, and other accessories all in one. Additionally, they tend to lack options that are high quality, unique, and comfortable. The stores that do carry these tend to have only one or two different brands, and all carry similar, if not exactly the same, basic items . The styles that this need addresses can easily be found online, but there are no options for those who wish to go into stores to see, feel, or try on these items. The development and increasing popularity of not only a fit/healthier lifestyle, but these online fitness apparel brands, have really created this opportunity. The people with this need are just women. The concept of athleisure has become so...

For this assignment I read about Steve Jobs 1.  When reading about Steve Jobs I think what surprised me the most was that he messed around with LSD. I went into this not really knowing much about Steve Jobs. Obviously I know who he was, but when it came to the details of his life I didn't know to much. The way he treats a drug like LSD was so fascinating to me, I actually ended up going and watching some of his videos talking about it afterwards. I think I most admire just his work ethic really. He was a very hard working, and pursued what he was passionate about, and willing to put in the work for it.  What I least admire about him was that he definitely had a selfish side to him. He treated people who didn't add value to his life or company very poorly. He definitely overcame failure, I mean the man was fired from his own company at one point, and look at where that company is today, and it's definitely because of him. 2. Steve Jobs had a lot of the competencies of a ...

1. Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intent to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children? My exit strategy would ideally be to keep the business and pass it down to family. At one point I'd have to retire, but if it's a business I love I would really want to keep it in my family. If I do sell it, it wouldn't t be until many years into the future, as I want to expand the businesses within 5-10 years. If I do sell, I would also need to already have another successful business going, but I want something to pass down to family. 2. Why have you selected this particular exit strategy? One of my main goals in being successful is to be able to provide my kids and family a great life in the future. Selling the business once I retire may help in the financial impact of this, but t...

1. My Failure  I'm sure it comes to as no shock to anyone that's read my past posts that I have a passion for fitness. One of the things I have been trying, well maybe not trying but have always wanted, to accomplish is a press handstand. This has been something I have tried for years, but it wasn't until around the start of the semester that I really started trying. Going into this process I couldn't even do a handstand, so I'm not sure why I thought this was going to be easy but it was not. I had no idea what I was doing or really where to begin. I tried some things I thought would work to master my handstand and the flexibility aspects. I was doing more yoga, more stretching, and felt confident that my training at the gym had given me the straight to do this. Well... it didn't. I wasn't able to do a simple handstand, let alone a press handstand. After a few months of what I thought was the proper, and consistent, training for this I was essentially in th...

Existing Market Step 1: The next step would just be expanding and growing the business, whether that be in terms of what items/brands we carry or how many stores are open. Step 2: So after interviewing people, a lot of them just mentioned expanding the different brands that the business would carry. Obviously when starting out I won't be able to have every brand I want to carry so just constantly growing that would be good. They also mentioned again growing the types of items, such as adding supplements or other fitness related items that aren't necessarily clothing. One person did mention maybe having an exclusive line only carried at my stores, so it could be exclusive with one of the brands we carry, or maybe one day we make some of our own clothing items. Step 3: I think within 1-3 years of opening that I should have grown the items and brands that my business will carry. Between 3-5 years would be a good time to open up a second location if the business becomes su...

Opportunity The need that APTA Athletic Boutique will be satisfying is the need for a fitness apparel store for women. There are almost no physical stores that carry not only women's fitness items (ranging from clothing, to shoes, to accessories), but items that are high quality, unique, and comfortable. The stores that do carry these items tend to have very few different brands, and all carry similar, if not the exact same, basic items. The styles that this needs addresses can easily be found online, but there are no options for those who wish to go into stores to see, feel, or try on these items. The development and increasing popularity of not only a fit/healthier lifestyle, but these online fitness apparel brands, have really created this opportunity. The people with this need are women between the ages of 15 to about 30, who also have some sort of interest in fitness or health. There are two ways in which these women are currently satisfying this need, and neither option re...

 Resources and VRIN 1. Social Capital I have met with the manager of a fitness apparel store, this social capital can help run my business a) Valuable: this is definitely a very valuable resource to have b) Rare: this isn't very rare, I didn't personally know the guy, though I did use someone I knew to introduce me, I think he would be willing to speak to anyone that walked in and asked c) Inimitable: This is a pretty easy resource to copy because again anyone can walk in and speak to him d) Non-Substitutable: There are plenty of people or even books that could provide the same insight as him, so this resource is substitutable 2. Social Capital  I have a friend that is actually an athlete affiliate with one of the online brands I wish to have in my store, another social capital resource that could be beneficial a) Valuable: this is an extremely valuable resource to have because she provides a way in with one of the companies I wish to work with b) Rare: I ...

The Pitch Link to Video The Feedback I only received positive feedback on my last pitch so nothing really stood out to be as being wrong or silly. I did get comments on how good my hook was, as well as the value that my closing statement added. Another comment I got was that I was confident and used meaningful gestures throughout the pitch. The Change  I definitely memorized my pitch more. I didn't get any comments on my second pitch about it, but I didn't like how often I looked to the side (where I was reading my script) so I wanted to change that. I also was able to wear one of the unique outfits I talked about which I wasn't able to do last time. There wasn't really much in what I said that I changed. I worked pretty hard the second time to make sure I really liked what I was saying in the pitch, and based on the feedback I got others did too, so I didn't feel the need to change anything in terms of that.

The book I read was How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big 1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? I would say the theme/argument of this book is how trying and failing at things can actually make you successful. The author mentions many, many, ideas and ventures he had that failed (despite similar ventures to his succeeding afterwards). His main idea that every single skill you gain will help you be more successful. Despite failing at many things, each time he tried something he learned about it and in turn learned a new skill. Even the process of failing can teach you things and those things will eventually help you succeed later. 2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? This book definitely connected with a lot of content from the course. I think one of the things this book really connected with from the course is the importance of both human and social capital. The author, being t...