Forming an Opportunity Belief

1) I believe that an opportunity exists in teaching college students how to cook and maintain a healthy balance between their diet and college responsibilities.

2) The unmet need pertains to college students. Most college students, especially freshmen, come into college with little to no cooking experience. This need has always existed. It is well known that college students take the easy way out when eating. The term, “Freshman 15”, where new freshmen gain weight during their first year proves that this is an important unmet need for college students. Students are on college meal plans, purchase frozen meals, and order take-out. This opportunity 100% exists in college towns, especially in a place like Gainesville.

3) The prototypical customer is a college student.

4)

Q1: Would you consider yourself a good cook? Who cooked before you came to college? How is that affecting you now?

·      No, I have no experience. My Mom cooked all the meals, she grocery shopped as well. I now don’t know what to buy, what works together, or even how I’m supposed to cook any foods I do buy.

Q2: As a freshman, what does your diet consist of?

·      Cereal with fruit, protein shakes, Chipotle, meal plan items (chicken, burgers, hot dogs, pasta, dessert). Living in a dorm doesn’t allow me to try and cook things myself because it is communal and I have no pots/pans/etc.

Q3: Would you like to be a better cook? Why? When did you realize how important maintaining a healthy lifestyle is?

·      Yes, I want to live a healthier lifestyle and budget my food money better. Eating mainly take out and quick snacks does not satisfy me and give me the nutrients I need. I realize I am more sluggish when I eat premade meals and thinks like that. I think learning how to cook and prepare meals would make me feel better internally, perform better, and not be as tired.

5) I realize that the opportunity does still exist. I think an issue that could arise is that even if freshmen aged students took cooking classes; they still won’t be able to really prepare meals because they don’t have the means to if they live in a dorm. But the cooking classes wouldn’t just be for freshmen, so I think it would still be very beneficial for sophomores and even upperclassman.

Entrepreneurs should definitely take customer feedback into consideration. If an entrepreneur simply ignores feedback, then his/her product or service cannot be as useful as it could be if the entrepreneur adapts his/her idea to the feedback received from customers. Listening to customers is extremely important if someone wants to be successful.

Identifying Local Opportunities

Opportunity 1:

·      Article: Friendships require more than Facebook and FaceTime

·      Description: Even though there are numerous social media platforms used to keep in touch with the lives of others, they don’t necessarily “connect” us with others. Being friends on Facebook or liking photos on Instagram does not make for authentic friendships. There is not an app that truly connects, nurtures, or maintains relationships.

·      Problem: No app that sustains friendships between people.

·      Whose problem: All people who are too busy, faraway, etc. to maintain friendships/relationships with important people in their lives.

Opportunity 2:

·      Article: Influence marketing: the new cost of entry

·      Description: Brands must now turn to influencers to market their products and services instead of traditional ads. Influencers have large social media followings and their followers trust in them for advice and recommendations.

·      Problem: Brands must find influencers that align with their products/services, maintain positive relationships with these influencers, and rely on them to share authentic views on a brands product.

·      Whose problem: Brands and marketers.

Opportunity 3:

·      Article: College eating tips for avoiding the dreaded freshman 15

·      Description: College freshmen experience a shift in decision-making when they go to college. They no longer have their parents controlling their everyday life, so they gain independence for themselves. With the change in independence, it’s easy for freshmen to make unhealthy decisions for themselves, especially when it comes to their diet. They’re on the go constantly and are always coping with the stress of assignments and exams. The so-called “Freshman 15” refers to the pounds that freshman students gain during the first year of college. Having a responsible lifestyle can easily counteract the freshman 15. Exercising, buying nutritious snacks, and cooking for themselves are ways for freshmen to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

·      Problem: Unhealthy eating habits of new college students cause them to gain weight.

·      Whose problem: College students.

Opportunity 4:

·      Article: Miami Rental Prices May Have Already Begun to Drop

·      Description: With the increased supply of residences in Miami, rental prices will soon decrease. Developers are also turning to renting properties out instead of selling.  Property owners cannot charge the top margin for their rentals in the future, which in turn will make them operate at a loss.

·      Problem: Developers and residential owners are experiencing a loss of return on investment.

·      Whose problem: Developers and property owners.

Opportunity 5:

·      Article: Miami Beach king tides flush human waste into bay, study finds

·      Description: Miami pumps that discard floodwater into Biscayne Bay have been dumping human and dog waste as well. This is becoming a major concern for the future because floods will just be increasing as sea levels keep rising. Educating businesses on pollution causes and upgrading sewage pipelines will help Miami be more aware and hopefully decrease the amount of waste in the water. Additionally, Miami needs to advise its community on the city’s pollution. This pollution is not only negative for the Miami residents; it is also detrimental to the environment.

·      Problem: Polluted waters in Biscayne Bay.

·      Whose problem: Miami community and Biscayne Bay.

My "Bug List"

1.) The line at the light on 34^th street always gets backed up and others try to cut in as well.

Because the lanes switch to one, only so many people can make the light when it turns green and people try to skip because they don’t want to wait.

2.) After waiting for an avocado to finally ripen and the pit inside is huge, leaving me with little avocado “meat” to actually eat!

There are many different types of avocados, some with commonly larger pits. An avocado is reliant on the seed for growth, so the bigger the seed the more mature an avocado is. 

3.) Dunkin Donuts puts too much creamer and sugar in coffees, making them sickeningly sweet.

Because many consumers like products to be overly sweet.

4.) Windshield wipers skipping across during a rainy drive makes my windshield unclear, which limits my sight.

The Florida sun dries out the rubber on the wipers

5.) Apple’s manufacturing of iPhones with glass screens makes my screen shatter after the smallest drop.

Broken Apple products allow Apple to make additional money repairing the electronics and also open opportunities for other businesses to make money from replacing them.

6.) When a Chipotle worker questions me because I insist that I don’t want any meat in my burrito bowl.

Chipotle’s “norm” customer is a meat eater, so just wanting vegetables must be unexpected.

7.) The telephone customer service technology that banks use makes banking issues take much longer and drawn out than immediately speaking to a person.

Automated machines are more cost effective than customer service representatives.

8.) After getting a manicure and I snag my freshly painted nails when driving my car.

Fresh nails need time to harden so they don’t get easily nicked or chip.

9.) Paying extra for express shipping on an online order and the delivery is delayed.

Some packages can be misplaced, lost in transit, incorrectly labeled (UPS Ground instead of Express), or the order took a long time to process.

10.) The predictable timeline of romance movies: start as a deep love, a disastrous fight occurs, and then the couple rekindles their love and live happily ever after.

Romance movies try to exemplify that true love conquers all. The plot also makes viewers bond with the couple and have hope for them to get back together.

11.) After visiting retail websites and Facebook instantaneously has ads of those retailers.

Because Facebook collects user data by tracking actions on third-party websites Facebook is associated with.

12.) When the host says the to go order will be ready in about 15 minutes and you arrive but the foods isn’t close to being ready.

Service always varies in timeliness; the host could’ve under calculated the time it would take to complete the order, the cooks might’ve had to redo the order, or peak times result in longer waiting times.

13.) When a commercial is much louder than the television program to get a viewer’s attention.

It’s an effective advertising technique to get a viewer to see the commercial.

14.) When there are 10 or more checkout lines in a grocery store but only 3 are open.

Workers may be on break or a store could be under staffed.

15.) When a potato chip bag has more air in it than it has chips.

All of the air is supposed to keep the potato chips from becoming stale.

16.) Not being able to dry my hands in a public bathroom because the paper towel dispenser is empty.

The workers may have overlooked the bathroom.

17.) The car mechanics always telling me I need additional services even though I know they’re unnecessary.

They want to further the sale and capitalize on the fact that I lack knowledge about cars.

18.) Having to watch a full YouTube video ad instead of being able to skip it after a few seconds.

Aside from YouTube offering different advertising formats for businesses, it seems as though YouTube is becoming similar to television in the aspect of commercials.

19.) Investing in a life proof phone case in hopes of it staying in tact for a long period of time, yet little pieces of it begin to break off, defeating the purpose of the case.

Faulty and defective manufacturing of the cases.

20.) When a newly purchased jewelry piece breaks only after one wear.

      Lower quality jewelry is mass-produced and shouldn’t be expected to be long lasting.

Creating a bug list about situations that are out of my control became quite difficult towards the middle and end. Most of my bugs are somewhat minuscule, which I am happy about because that means things are usually content in my life and nothing detrimental bugs me.