Final Reflection

Assignment 30A

This class has been one of the most interesting classes that I have taken in all of my undergrad years. As my last semester comes to an end, I have had the time to make a lot of reflections about myself and the courses and activities I have participated in that made these three years a UF so fun. I told myself and everyone around me that I wanted at least one of my last electives at UF to be a really fun one. Several people suggested I take scuba diving, or golfing, or even a yoga class. While all of those sounded fun, I told myself that I also wanted to take something worthwhile and useful (not that yoga, scuba diving, or golfing aren't useful, they just don't have a place in my life). In many online forums, this class was recommended for its flexibility and its entertainment. I was intrigued by the reviews, especially the great reviews about the professor, and decided to give it a try, and if I didn't like, it, I would just find another one. Well, here I am, two weeks before graduation, writing about my phenomenal experience. This class truly did take me out of my comfort zone, and even gave me a boost of confidence. At first, it was intimidating to read through my groups' posts because I found everyone to be very smart and eloquent. However, that intimidation quickly dissipated once I noted how nice and genuine everyone commenting on my posts were. Also, the lectures from the professor were always quirky and funny to watch and definitely helped restore the confidence in my abilities. 

One of the hardest things I had to do in this class was take videos of myself pitching an idea. I am an awkward person as it is, and having to record myself presenting an idea I had no confidence in was truly one of the most difficult and painfully awkward things that I have had to do for any class. It pushed me out of my comfort zone to the max, however, both times, I got it done. I pushed my pitches to the very last minute from the due date because I did not want to do them. However, each time, I found some sense of comfort in pushing myself. I found a lot of pleasure in my results. The fact I was able to do it because I care more about my grade than how I appear online is a big factor tat pushed me. However, a latent effect of that is that I was actually very pleased with the way the videos turned out. Now, if I ever have to present a pitch, I will recall back to the guidelines of our pitch, and use it for reference. 

Venture Concept No. 2

Assignment 29A

Reading back through my first venture, I found that I did exceptionally well in showcasing my ideas and separating them in a coherent manner. The feedback that I received from two of my classmates also mentioned that the formatting that I wrote this assignment in made the read very easy to follow, so I have decided to keep most of what I originally wrote. Personally, I really like that I incorporated bit my own personal touch/experience with my concept in the first subsection, Opportunity. In both assignments, my peers had a lot of positive things to say, which was incredibly motivating because throughout this entire semester I have had a lot of doubts about the validity of my idea. However, many believed this venture to be something that could potentially grow big, which is very encouraging because it suggests that I have at least been exploring my ideas in the right direction. I have decided to keep the IT maintenance and large staff as one of my main focuses for this operation because I believe it is crucial for the success of my concept. In my original post, I said that I was considering this operation to be an additive for other grocery stores, however, I have decided to delete that portion in this version. Because of the encouragement from my peers, I now believe that this concept definitely has the potential to be a stand-alone concept and does not need aid from other grocery stores.

Pictures for visual reference: 


     

   

Opportunity

My opportunity stems from the under-met needs of busy, hardworking individuals. To begin with, pitch involves the creation of a drive-thru grocery store. All of my life, I have wondered if one day someone would come up with a solution to having to do groceries. Many companies have incorporated mobile order and pick-up technology, others have created delivery systems for their services. However, I have yet to see a grocery store that offers a drive-thru option for doing and picking up groceries. As a busy college student who is also a full-time worker and mother, I find myself having a hard time juggling every minute detail in my life. I am an avid believer in cooking at home, so groceries are ideally very important. This being said, grocery shopping is on my chores list once or twice a week, if not more. I have tried mobile order and pick and delivery services, and while I was content with both, I found the delivery service to be expensive, the order pick-up time to be too long. This class has allowed me to explore my idea of a drive-thru grocery store and think about the possible outcomes of it. My customer base is easy to target—people like me. There isn’t a specific age group, or demographic that would benefit more from this. However, families with dual-earning couples with more than two children would get the most use out of this service.

1.     Forces creating this opportunity involve the rapid change in technology and the time requirement that the workforce and children require. Parents are having to juggle chores, their kid’s after school activities, dinner, their own work, and their own hobbies all in one day. Grocery shopping should be the least of their worries.

2.     There is no specific market geographically that would benefit from this service. Perhaps areas with warm weather would find this service more convenient to use if the drive-thru were not created to have overhead protection.

3.     Like mentioned earlier, customers (such as myself) are satisfying this need through online order and pick-up and delivery services. However, a drive-thru options would trump these options easily.

4.     The opportunity has the potential to reach a very large-scale. However, because it is so specific, it may currently appeal to only a small number of people.

Innovation

As mentioned earlier, my service is a drive-thru grocery store. This service, essentially, is an independent grocery store, with drive-thru lanes and “order boxes” or order machines available so that customers can pull up, choose what items they would like to purchase, and pull up to a separate “window” to have their groceries loaded up for them. The idea behind this is that it will be machine-operated for faster service. A warehouse will be used to stock all the available items, and a robot will be in charge of collecting all items for the customer. The idea behind this is fast service. This is specifically meant for people who need a few items but do not want to go inside to shop for an entire haul. For example, if a mother is on her way home from work and she realizes she’s missing pasta noodles for tonight’s dinner, then she can quickly stop through the grocery drive-thru and acquire her item without having to make a huge ordeal out of it. The manner in which it will generate money is through more volume. The faster the service, the more customers one can tend to.

Venture Concept

The customers that this service targets are busy individuals who are in need of more fast service for their everyday needs and chores. Combining a chore that generally takes an hour or so to complete with a drive thru lane will cut these times by 90%. There will be no additional charge for using the drive thru service, and because many people will choose convenience over leisure, the service will essentially sell itself.

1.     Customers who are using mobile order and pick-up options still have to pre-order their food and wait (roughly 2 hours) before all their items are collected. If a customer needs this item immediately, this kind of service does not help them. For that reason, if a customer is in need of an item quickly, they will opt to go through the drive-thru where they can get their item in less than 5 minutes. Having explained this suggests that the switch will not be a problem. In fact, customers will be eager to have their needs met.

2.     Like mentioned in bullet 1, the competitors of this service are mobile-order and pick-up services and grocery delivery services. The weakness of both of these services is the length of time they take in order to get the products to their customers. Another weakness of delivery service is that it costs additional money, something many people rather not do if they can simply go get the groceries themselves.

3.     High-tech machinery and IT maintenance will be one of the most important factors in this operation.

Three minor elements

The secret sauce for my service will be the highly advance technology taking over the business. Investing once in high-tech machinery that will do the job of many people will eventually pay for itself and allow the company to profit more and longer. I would like to incorporate drive-thru mobile order pick up as an addition to this service. Customers will be able to schedule when they will pick up their mobile orders so that by the time they are at the drive-thru, this order is already pre-made and ready to be loaded in a vehicle. I would love for this operation to take a life of its own and become the new norm. It would be cool to see other grocery stores, such as Publix, come to my company and ask for a partnership in the service.

Reading Reflection No. 3

Assignment 27A

The reading I decided to do for this final reflection is Coco Chanel by Lisa Chaney. I chose this as the very last reading because I wanted to make my final one the most enjoyable and most fun to read, considering I know a lot about Coco Chanel's story and the history of the brand. I have always been into designer fashion, and Chanel has remained as one of the most luxurious and high-end brands in the designer market for years. There have been many documentaries detailing her life and tremulous past, and every one I have watched have been equaling as inspiring as they were motivating. She is continuously admired for her iconic stand in the fashion world, and the brand continues to set forth the pavement for fashion. After reading the book, a few things did surprise me. First, it was her unconventional upbringing. Her mother passed away when she was only 12 years old, and she lived at an orphanage for girls until she was 18 years old. This helped forge her into the powerful and headstrong woman that she is today Another thing that surprised me is that she told the story of her past in more glamorous ways, which took away from the true struggles she endured. I admire her for wanting to be recognized for more than just her past, but for her talent as well. Like mentioned previously, she certainly encountered adversity, primarily through her mother passing and her being placed in an orphanage, where she was severely disciplined.

In order to become successful, Chanel (Chasnel) had to jump over many obstacles that can still be observed today. For example, she had to break the gender gap in fashion and introduced a fluid approach to gendered fashion. This allowed her to stand out among the rest, and therefore permitted her to step foot into the arduous industry of fashion.

Something I disliked heavily about the book was the author's inclusion of Chanel's affairs. Although the book was recounting much of her life, the inclusion of such events in her life seemed rather unnecessary, as it had the potential to put her in a negative life professionally. In the fashion industry, reputation is everything, and a tainted mark on one's journey can severely hurt an artist.

My two questions for Coco Chanel are:

If you were alive today and able to see the magnum differences in fashion, what would you criticize about it?

What other factors (beside war, sailor attire, etc.) fueled your designs?

I believe Coco Chanel was able to take a horrible situation (especially with war) and turned it into a story of her own, ultimately creating a world of her that she could manage and control, since as a little girl she lacked so little control of her situation.

Your Exit Strategy

Assignment 28A

Because it will take so much investing and so many years of planning and configuring, I plan to keep my business. My business has the potential to become extremely large-scale and take a life of its own. The grocery market will always exist because people need to acquire their food from somewhere. I am simply adding further convenience to this market. My operation has the potential to become trademarked and the service can become distributed worldwide and to all grocery stores across the globe. For that reason, I plan to keep the business. I would love if it was kept in the family lineage, seeing as it is a venture that could become explosive and handing it off to others may cause the purpose of it to cease. I have selected this strategy because I come from a large family with multiple businesses that date back many years. My father's side of the family has owned a restaurant for over 70 years, and they plan to keep this business within the family. My mother's side of the family have had a hardware shop for over 50 years now that they intend to pass down as well. For this reason, the idea of a business staying within the family has been instilled in me since I was a little girl. I have worked in both of these locations, and I know that if I ever need work, I can always rely on my family to provide me with it. However, a large-scale operation requires serious business entrepreneurs, which cannot always be found within the family. However, I see Nordstrom and the Nordstrom Brothers as a source of inspiration. The business was first opened up in 1901, and has exploded and remained part of the family for over four generations. This would be the dream for my venture.

In a sense, my exit strategy has made me consider the scale in which I would like this venture to head in. If it becomes a large-scale service that can be distributed nation-wide, then I would like the venture to have the aid from people who share the same message I do. However, if it remains regional and does not become large-scale, then a familial exit strategy will most likely be the primary option.

Celebrating Failure

Assignment 26A

1. One thing that I attempted to do this semester was reduce my caffeine dependence. I work at Starbucks, which makes doing this 10 times harder because it it like being in a candy store surrounding by candy but being unable to eat it. I decided I wanted to try this because I realized my body was becoming dependent on coffee. I am also mainly an opener at Starbucks, meaning I am usually up at 4 AM to be at work at 4:30 AM until 12 PM. My shifts usually fly by because we are busiest in the morning, however, that is not without the help of my fuel--coffee. Not to mention, I have to drink coffee all throughout my day because after work I go to class until around 6 PM and need the energy to stay awake and conscious throughout the classes. Not only this, but I also have to tend to homework all night because I was busy all day. All this being said, I drink an average of shots of espresso by 12 PM, and then I consume an additional average of 400mg of caffeine through energy drinks and iced coffee throughout the day to stay awake. I hardly sleep, and the days that I do get to sleep in (although very rare), I wake up with massive headaches due to no caffeine. I tried reducing my intake for a week, to a max of two shots in the morning and less than 200 mg throughout the rest of the day, and although it was tolerable, I was miserable. I was sleepless, irritable, and suffered from horrible headaches and even shaking. I gave up in March, however, I told a teacher about my dependence and she recommended I try again, and I did. This time, I lasted two weeks without coffee, however, the withdrawal symptoms were the same. I am currently planning on reducing my intake yet again, however, I fear that as finals come around, I will be tempted by my need for fuel. 

 I've learned that failing is hard and that it takes a toll on your mental health. I've beaten myself up countless times for not being strong enough to beat my dependence, however, my circumstances (my job, heavy schedule) make it feel like it is impossible to quit. However, I am determined to reduce my intake. If I did it for two weeks, I can do it for three, and so on. Although failure has disappointed me, it has taught me that I am capable more each time than I thought I was. This class has taught me much about failure. As my peers critique my work, I am able to see where I went wrong and what I can do to improve next time. I have applied this to my personal life. I see where I went wrong in my caffeine abstinence so that I am able to address it in my next attempt.

Venture Concept No. 1

Assignment 24A

Opportunity

My opportunity stems from the under-met needs of busy, hardworking individuals. To begin with, pitch involves the creation of a drive-thru grocery store. All of my life, I have wondered if one day someone would come up with a solution to having to do groceries. Many companies have incorporated mobile order and pick-up technology, others have created delivery systems for their services. However, I have yet to see a grocery store that offers a drive-thru option for doing and picking up groceries. As a busy college student who is also a full-time worker and mother, I find myself having a hard time juggling every minute detail in my life. I am an avid believer in cooking at home, so groceries are ideally very important. This being said, grocery shopping is on my chores list once or twice a week, if not more. I have tried mobile order and pick and delivery services, and while I was content with both, I found the delivery service to be expensive, the order pick-up time to be too long. This class has allowed me to explore my idea of a drive-thru grocery store and think about the possible outcomes of it. My customer base is easy to target—people like me. There isn’t a specific age group, or demographic that would benefit more from this. However, families with dual-earning couples with more than two children would get the most use out of this service.

1.     Forces creating this opportunity involve the rapid change in technology and the time requirement that the workforce and children require. Parents are having to juggle chores, their kid’s after school activities, dinner, their own work, and their own hobbies all in one day. Grocery shopping should be the least of their worries.

2.     There is no specific market geographically that would benefit from this service. Perhaps areas with warm weather would find this service more convenient to use if the drive-thru were not created to have overhead protection.

3.     Like mentioned earlier, customers (such as myself) are satisfying this need through online order and pick-up and delivery services. However, a drive-thru options would trump these options easily.

4.     The opportunity has the potential to reach a very large-scale. However, because it is so specific, it may currently appeal to only a small number of people.

Innovation

As mentioned earlier, my service is a drive-thru grocery store. This service can either take its own form as a drive-thru additional service to independent grocery stores, or it can be an entire new concept of its own. I am looking to turn this concept into a concept of its own, and the only drive-thru grocery service that exists. Basically, it is an independent grocery store, with drive-thru lanes and “order boxes” or order machines available so that customers can pull up, choose what items they would like to purchase, and pull up to a separate “window” to have their groceries loaded up for them. The idea behind this is that it will be machine-operated for faster service. A warehouse will be used to stock all the available items, and a robot will be in charge of collecting all items for the customer. The idea behind this is fast service. This is specifically meant for people who need a few items but do not want to go inside to shop for an entire haul. For example, if a mother is on her way home from work and she realizes she’s missing pasta noodles for tonight’s dinner, then she can quickly stop through the grocery drive-thru and acquire her item without having to make a huge ordeal out of it. The manner in which it will generate money is through more volume. The faster the service, the more customers one can tend to.

Venture Concept

The customers that this service targets are busy individuals who are in need of more fast service for their everyday needs and chores. Combining a chore that generally takes an hour or so to complete with a drive thru lane will cut these times by 90%. There will be no additional charge for using the drive thru service, and because many people will choose convenience over leisure, the service will essentially sell itself.

1.     Customers who are using mobile order and pick-up options still have to pre-order their food and wait (roughly 2 hours) before all their items are collected. If a customer needs this item immediately, this kind of service does not help them. For that reason, if a customer is in need of an item quickly, they will opt to go through the drive-thru where they can get their item in less than 5 minutes. Having explained this suggests that the switch will not be a problem. In fact, customers will be eager to have their needs met.

2.     Like mentioned in bullet 1, the competitors of this service are mobile-order and pick-up services and grocery delivery services. The weakness of both of these services is the length of time they take in order to get the products to their customers. Another weakness of delivery service is that it costs additional money, something many people rather not do if they can simply go get the groceries themselves.

3.     High-tech machinery and IT maintenance will be one of the most important factors in this operation.

Three minor elements

The secret sauce for my service will be the highly advance technology taking over the business. Investing once in high-tech machinery that will do the job of many people will eventually pay for itself and allow the company to profit more and longer. I would like to incorporate drive-thru mobile order pick up as an addition to this service. Customers will be able to schedule when they will pick up their mobile orders so that by the time they are at the drive-thru, this order is already pre-made and ready to be loaded in a vehicle. I would love for this operation to take a life of its own and become the new norm. It would be cool to see other grocery stores, such as Publix, come to my company and ask for a partnership in he service.

What's Next?

Assignment 25A

Existing Market

The customers of my market are primarily middle-aged, middle-class suburban families that live in a location where grocery shopping and homemade meals are valued. I specifically targeted working parents with more than two children because these are the busiest customers.

The three customers I interviewed all had concerns for one main thing: Drive-thru time and complexity of orders. This too was an issue I thought of at the very beginning of my venture, and it still is not an answer I have perfectly smoothed out. However, hypothetically, advanced technological machinery would be required in this operation to ensure the smooth-sailing of it. When I told my interviewees I wanted to ensure that customer service and sufficient staffing was prioritized. While they all agreed on this and mentioned this would help resolve the issue of drive thru times, one interviewee suggested that robots take place of the staff. This makes a lot more sense than my idea for several reasons. Automated robots are a lot faster an more efficient than humans. Plus, it would lower costs of having to hire so much staff to ensure a convenient experience. While robots cannot replace humans in the customer service realm, they can replace them in the actual, physical aspect of having to search for food on the spot.

New Market

Oppose to the members of my existing market, the new market customers include individuals with plenty of free time in their hands, as well as local food market advocates. I chose this specific group because I believe they would be oppose to the idea of a large corporate grocery change managing produce and facilitating its sale through drive-thru operations.

I was right to believe these two kinds of individuals would oppose my idea. I interviewed an older gentleman who lives alone and does not have a job because he is living off of his retirement funds, giving him plenty of time to partake in chores and daily hobbies. When I brought up my idea, he laughed an said America was getting lazier as technology advanced. I responded by telling him this could give people more time to enjoy their days with their family instead of chores, but he disagreed. I also then visited our local food market and spoke to a young lady with fresh produce on her table. I told her about my idea and she frowned at the thought of a large venture as mine taking all the business from small fresh produce market tents like hers. She then proceeded to give me a wonderful idea. She told me that my corporation should buy its fresh produce for local farms and support the local community. This, in theory, would be an ideal situation. However, buying locally might incur more costs than buying in bulk elsewhere.

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Assignment 23A

1. Combines both groceries and drive-thru operations
1. This is especially important because many companies find themselves struggling with managing just one of these operations, but my venture dives into both. This gives me an advantage into the convenience realm.
2. Staffing dedicated to drive-thru operations
1. This is important because it allows my venture to focus on making the drive-thru scene easy and convenient, smoothing out any technical difficulties that may incur.
3. Efficient and updated floor-plans
1. This allows for drive-thru operations to remain on one side of the building and regular grocery store lay out to stay out of drive-thru's way.
4. Well-planned out order of food items
1. There will be a surplus of food available at all given times, so that no one item is sold out and so customers do not feel like they wasted their time going through a drive-thru that did not have what they were looking for.
5. Efficient lay out of drive-thru
1. There is a lay out of up to 10 lanes, allowing for quicker drive-thru times. This enormous lay out will be pre-planned in the floor plan. The property will resemble the size of Costco's or Sam's Club.
6. Bulk availability
1. Buying in bulk will be available through drive-thru, something no other grocery operation besides Costco has available.
7. Customer service at drive-thru
1. This is probably the most important advantage my operation has. At each drive-thru lane, there will be staff assisting patrons with their order if needed. This allows for a smooth sailing and quick-fix assistance.
8. Order online, pick-up in drive-thru
1. This is another tremendous advantage to our operation. Patrons will be able to order online and pick up their orders through the drive-thru instead of having to order at the drive-thru box.
9. Express Lanes
1. Express lanes will be available to customers who want to purchase less than five items, so that they do not have to wait in line behind a larger order when they simply want to order paper towels and cheese.
10. Memberships
1. Rewards and VIP memberships will be available to those who find themselves using the drive-thru facilities more often than the general public. This motivates people to go through the drive-thru to acquire points/visits for having used the service.

The most important advantage of my venture would have to be the amount of flexibility that I have with having a variety of assets available to me. Among these, customer service and large staffing are among the most important. Although not unique, my venture will focus on having a big enough budget to make these aspects a main priority.