30A - Final Reflection

Assignment 30A – Final Reflection

1) Read through previous posts

2) My most formative experience was doing the different elevator pitches. I had never given an elevator pitch and was not comfortable in front of the camera at first. By the time I got to my last elevator pitch, I felt very confident in front of the camera. I had memorized my elevator pitch almost verbatim, and I was very familiar with the key points that I wanted to make during my elevator pitch. I learned how to speak slowly and to be enthusiastic about my pitch. That is the thing that I will certainly remember years later.

My most joyous experiment was when I felt that I had “nailed” my third elevator pitch on my first attempt. Nailing it on the first attempt showed me that I had learned much from the elevator pitches and developed that skill-set. I am proud of having accomplished that feat.

3) Ever since I was about 15 years old, I have seen myself as an entrepreneur. When I began buying and selling coins and other items to make money at a young age, I began to see myself as an entrepreneur. This class certainly did help me to further develop my entrepreneurial mindset and spirit. I do consider myself even more of an entrepreneur now than I did before.

4) To students who are going to journey down this path in the future, I would advise that they keep an open mind when it comes to developing how to best exploit identified opportunities. Stay adaptable. Ask for feedback from your prototypical consumers/customers and act upon that feedback. By listening to feedback, entrepreneurs will best be able to meet their customers’ unmet needs.

I would recommend that students work ahead in this class. I have worked ahead in this class very much and doing so has allowed me to focus on my other classes. Stay motivated. Whatever you put into this class is what you will get out of it. As a result of working hard in this class, you will develop your entrepreneurial skills.

29A - Venture Concept No. 2

Assignment 29A – Venture Concept No. 2

1) Opportunity

While on deployment here in Australia, I identified an unmet need of my fellow Marines. We must get haircuts every week per our commanding officer’s orders. Here in Australia, haircuts are very costly and inconvenient to get. Marines must get together in groups of four or more and split taxi expenses to and back from the mall. They must also pay the outrageous price of about $35 for a haircut from the local barber. Overall, it costs Marines approximately $50 every week to get a haircut. In addition to that, it takes about three hours’ time to go to the mall, get a haircut, and then head back to base.

I identified the unmet need for cheap haircuts at a convenient location. I have the skills necessary to give in regulation fades and decided that I will begin to give fades to my fellow Marines for $20 per haircut. The interviews that I conducted confirmed my belief that this opportunity does exist. This window of opportunity will be available for the remainder of deployment. It will no longer be available after deployment when Marines can get top-quality fades for as cheap as $8.

2) Innovation

This entrepreneurial venture certainly required some innovation. My idea of cutting hair is nothing new. Other Marines on base do cut hair also; however, they are unable to meet the overwhelming demand for haircuts. It took innovation to recognize this entrepreneurial opportunity and to develop how I would capitalize on it. I will make money by charging $20 per haircut. My expenses to start and continue this venture will be minimal. I will purchase $60 clippers from the local Big W, a $10 cape, and a $5 spray bottle of clipper lubricant.

I will provide haircuts tailored to the request of my clients. The haircuts will be given in an informal but professional environment, where I show the client that he is my priority throughout the duration of me cutting his hair. I will also ask the client if he would like me to play any music and if so, what type of music would he like to listen to.

3) Venture Concept

My innovation to meet this unmet need provides a convenience to my customers. They no longer must spend several hours to go out in town to get a haircut. They can get a haircut at the convenient location of our own haircuts. In addition to this, they will save approximately $30 per week on haircuts. Customers will pay for my services because it is the rational thing to do. I have friendships with many of my future customers, and these friendships will help to increase the demand for my services.

My competitors, who are not Marines, cannot compete with the convenience that my services offer. This is due to their inability to get on base to cut hair. Fellow Marines can provide similar services to me; however, there are not enough other people exploiting this opportunity to take away from my opportunity.

4) Three Minor Elements

My most important resource in pursuing this venture will be my work ethic. I am willing to spend significant amounts of my free time cutting hair rather than doing other things. My work ethic is very valuable, rare, not easy to imitate, and there is no substitutability for my work ethic. Utilizing the VRIN evaluation helped me to identify that my work ethic is my number one resource in this venture.

Cutting hair and charging $20 per haircut will be the extent of this venture. I will not pursue cutting hair after deployment due to the overwhelming competition back in California. Marines in California can get better haircuts than I can give for as cheap as $8.

This venture will allow me to increase my income and my savings per month. I will be able to use the money that I make from this entrepreneurial venture to pursue future entrepreneurial ventures. I will continue to identify unmet needs that are worthwhile to exploit and that I am capable of exploiting.

Feedback

Unfortunately, I have not yet received any feedback on my first venture concept. Through self-critiquing and other methods of refinement, I worked to improve my first venture concept. My improved work is this assignment, my second venture concept. During the “What’s Next” exercise, affluent businessmen pointed out to me that if myself or other barbers were to cut their hair, the quality of the haircut is very important to them. One of the two businessmen also pointed out that the environment of the barbershop is important to him.

How I changed my venture concept
My “self-feedback” was very important in the development of my second/revised venture concept. I realized that during my first venture concept, I failed to recognize the innovation involved in the identification and development of how to exploit this opportunity. Although a ton of innovation may not have been required, it still took innovation to recognize the idea. It also took innovation to develop the best course of action possible to exploit the opportunity.

Through feedback, I also recognized the importance of tailoring my haircuts to the requests of clients. I will provide an informal but still a professional environment. I will ensure that they client knows he is my priority, while I cut his hair. I will offer to play the clients’ music of choice while I cut hair.

28A - Your Exit Strategy

Assignment 28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) As I have stated in previous assignments, I intend to exit this market at the end of deployment. I do not intend to continue cutting hair back in the United States. I will consider re-entering this market if I identify that this opportunity exists once again. For example, I may re-enter this market and begin cutting hair again on my next deployment.


2) I have selected this exit strategy because the opportunity that I identified primarily exists here on deployment in Australia. Getting a haircut for us Marines on base is a very time-consuming and expensive process. Once we redeploy and are back in California, I will no longer continue cutting hair. This is due to my lack of desire to compete with local barbers, whom give haircuts for as cheap as $8. They also give better fades than I can give, so I do not believe that Marines will be willing to pay me even $10 let alone $20 to cut their hair. I have already asked several Marines if they would be interested in me continuing to cut their hair back in California, and they all said no.


3) My exit strategy has certainly influenced other decisions that I have made in my concept. I identified this opportunity for cutting hair, while on deployment. All along, I have known that I will most likely not continue cutting hair once we return to the States. It has influenced how I purchase and use resources. Since the total time that I will be cutting hair is only a few months, I chose to spend only $60 on a pair of clippers. If I were planning to cut hair for longer, I probably would have purchased higher-quality, more expensive clippers. I may have also considered purchasing a barber chair if my cutting of hair was going to be a long-term venture.