7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1) Opportunity to provide an educational resource for coaches to learn effective coaching skills through online materials and eventually services like hosting coaching seminars and personalized coaching for coaches. 

2) The Who: Coaches

The What: Educational resource for coaches

The Why: Personal skill development resources are lacking in the athletic coaching realm. 

3) Testing the who: Originally my aim was explicitly for coaches of athletes. My experience as an athlete having different coaches and many experiences has driven me to want to provide a resource of education for coaches who are looking for more out of their careers and want to become the best coach they can. I would be providing educational material to help these coaches learn constructive coaching mechanisms. An idea that was introduced to me during an interview was that my educational resources don’t have to be restricted to coaches of athletes, but my resource could be helpful to those also who are in the life coaching/mentoring professions, or anyone who considers themselves any kind of coach. While I think that is a great idea, I’m not sure I want to go that broad since I don’t know much about other coaching professions outside of the athletic world, and while I still plan on gearing my content toward coaches who coach athletes, my resources will be available to anyone who wants access to them. 

Testing the what: The only boundaries I and the people I interviewed see within this need, are the boundaries that people put on themselves. The materials I will provide can be helpful to any coach, not matter their level. Some college and professional level coaches may not become customers just because they may not feel the need to improve, but there will be some who still do. 

Testing the why: Different people’s “why” for wanting a product/service like this vary slightly. The underlying reason for wanting this resource is for professional and personal development. Through my interviews I find out that some coaches want to become better coaches so they can help produce more socially intelligent people through athletics because they already have a really good grasp on how to effectively teach athletic skills. Others want a resource like this so they can effectively coach athletes to become more competitive because they know how to coach skills but they have a hard time with the psychological aspect of athletics. And other coaches want a combination of both. My original idea was to impact for the reason of helping athletes become the best versions of themselves, not not a high level athlete, but whatever the reason people would want to utilize my resource, it can be extremely beneficial. 

What I don’t know about this opportunity before is that it could appeal to a much wider variety of people, not just coaches of athletes, but coaches of other fields as well. 

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends Submit Assignment

6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends Submit Assignment

1) Online business is becoming even more popular now. An educational platform to help people understand their options in online business, how to start one, how to market one, and how to become profitable, I think would be very helpful for some of those wanting to take more control of their finances. After this economic crisis recently, I think there will be a boom in entrepreneurs because people my age are learning for the first time that there is little, if any security in a job. The customer for a resource like this could be anyone, but I would expect it to be mostly adults in their late teens or twenties. I don't think this opportunity would be too difficult to exploit, because people are going to be actively looking for opportunities and looking at what their options are. This knowledge came from just general knowledge about our world's current situation.
2) Economic changes recently with everyone staying home has caused a major decline in CO2 emissions. A lot of people are seeing this and are recognizing the impact on staying home, instead of driving everywhere all the time, and many jobs are going o be allowing their employees to continue working from home. an opportunity here I could see is to affair a personal assistant type of offering, similar to something like instacart, but more personable where someone can do more than just buy your groceries but also take care of other responsibilities for you while you work at home. This idea came from two articles: one a read about the recent global warming changes, and another I read about the job market changing. This might be difficult to exploit because I'm not sure how high the demand would be right now which most people not looking to spend too much money, and also because after people work at home all day, they might want to get out of the house and do things themselves. The customer in this situation would be any adult, probably mostly ones who are now working from home.
3) Obviously regulatory changes have occurred where in some places we are required to wear masks or wash our hands before entering the building. An opportunity here could be to manufacture masks, especially kids sizes. Many people are still needing them and can't get access to them. Anyone who leaves the house is a customer for this. This opportunity might be difficult to exploit because so many other people have already started selling masks, but it might not be too difficult because people are still experiencing having to wait multiple weeks or months for their masks to come in. This information came through just general knowledge about our world's current situation.
4) With schools being closed and us not knowing when they will re-open, there are a lot of parents in need of schooling services. There may be parents who enjoy their kids being home, but don't want to teach them school material. An opportunity here would be to start an online schooling curriculum where kids interact with heir teacher online and have their school supplies mailed to them, or have virtual school supplies. I think this would be a very difficult opportunity to exploit because I'm not sure how high the demand would be, and because there are already other schooling curriculums out there for parents to choose from. The customer would be parents of children who either don't work or work from home. I came up with this idea just from an article I read for our 5A assignment.

5A – Identifying Local Opportunities

Credit Score Drop? How to Diagnose Why, and What to Do Next

https://www.gainesville.com/ZZ/business/20200522/credit-score-drop-how-to-diagnose-why-and-what-to-do-next

This article talks about how to figure out why your credit score dropped and what step you can take to fix the problem. It goes into specifics on what issues people may come across and specifically how to work toward a solution. The need I found within this article is services that can do all of this for you. Someone could start a business having to do with dealing with the credit companies to fix their problems for them instead of the individual having to do all the leg work. People with poor credit or unknown reasons for a dropped credit score have this problem.  

Inside a changing industry: Animal Rescues 

https://www.alligator.org/covid-19/inside-a-changing-industry-animal-rescues/article_8f6140b0-a145-11ea-ba91-13710dee21c6.html 

This article talks about the issues of adopting and fostering in Gainesville during quarantine time. Shelters are having a hard time getting funding from outside sources because of the lack of activity, and while fostering rates are up, adoption rates are not. So there is clearly an unmet need for these animal shelters. 

Homeless encampment broken up by Florida Department of Corrections 

https://www.alligator.org/covid-19/homeless-encampment-broken-up-by-florida-department-of-corrections/article_7418e4a4-9a3b-11ea-8cff-af89eda6a2e5.html 

This article speaks on the lack of protection for homeless people. Recently in Gainesville over 50 homeless people were forced to vacate an area because it was about to be bulldozed, and there was nothing the homeless people could do about their temporary home there. Homeless people have an unmet need for shelter, that maybe this could be solved through a nonprofit organization. 

Student mothers struggle to find balance in quarantine 

https://www.alligator.org/covid-19/student-mothers-struggle-to-find-balance-in-quarantine/article_b30276bc-92e3-11ea-8850-b772b0d2b2f1.html 

This article talks about how student mothers during this time in quarantine are having a hard time juggling schoolwork and giving their child enough attention since childcare centers are closed. It talks about multiple different mothers and their experiences. 

UF faculty juggle motherhood and work during quarantine 

https://www.alligator.org/covid-19/uf/uf-faculty-juggle-motherhood-and-work-during-quarantine/article_211440b8-92ee-11ea-a663-e342c4bcd816.html 

This article talks about a lot of sillier concepts to student mothers having a hard time juggling college and motherhood. The only difference here is college professors too are having a hard time juggling work and motherhood.  

Forming an opportunity belief-4A

I believe that there is a need for coaches to have more education on not how to teach a skill, but how to coach the individual. I am a retired gymnast, and I trained for 15 years. I competed at the elite level and earned a full ride athletic scholarship to UF, but never got to compete in college due to spinal stress injuries that I later found out could’ve put me in a wheelchair had I continued training. I had various coaches with different coaching styles, all with the same intent: to help their athletes excel. However, not all coaches know how to coach effectively and constructively. Many coaches are willing to do and say whatever it takes to motivate their athlete to do what they want them to do, and as many times as they want them to do it. This is where verbal abuse and psychological manipulation can occur, whether or not the coach even realizes it. There is no type of degree or certification required for someone to become a coach, and I do not believe that degrees are the key to success. I believe quite the opposite actually, depending on what it is that you want to do. However, there should be more resources available for coaches to be able to access that would educate them on how to not just teach a skill, but how to coach the individual and help that athlete develop into an exceptional human being, not just a world class athlete. That is where I come in.  

  

I believe this need has existed as long as high level athletics has. There are coaches who will do their own research to look for literature or YouTube videos pertaining to coaching, but from my own research, there’s great content, but it’s scattered everywhere, and in my almost 20 years of being involved in sport, there’s very little emphasis put on coaches development. So, this is where I asked myself the question “will people buy the type of content and services I want to produce?”. After interviewing athletes and coaches, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a very strong need that many coaches wish they had because they too were coached by coaches who didn’t have this education. I am 100% sure that this opportunity exists, and it’s a matter of being able to create quality content and effectively market what I will have to offer. 

  

The type of personal who’d be looking for this content would obviously be a coach looking to become an effective coach and leader. Every year thousands of coaches of different sports go to coaching clinics and seminars to learn how to coach skills. But what about coaching the individual? The coaches I sat down with expressed frustration with not knowing how to handle certain situations they come across with their athletes. They lack the proper skills to help their athlete. That frustration is often times taken out on their athlete in a negative way, and thats when they had realized they need to educate themselves on how to coach the individual. More experienced coaches experience this frustration less than young coaches being that they have 10+ years of coaching experience that has taught them a little bit about what does and doesn’t work. Younger coaches experience this frustration much more often, especially when it comes to working with athletes who have fear issues and bad attitudes. These coaches realize they have the need for more education pretty soon in the game. It doesn’t take long for coaches to come across an athlete that doesn’t listen or has other incompetencies that go deeper than physical skills. Very few coaches are already addressing this need with self-education through books and online literature/video content, but most coaches are just trying to figure it out on their own. For the coaches who are already addressing this need on their own, they find some good content here and there, but they wish there was more quality content with clear instruction on how to handle certain issues.  

  

After customer interactions, the only thing that changed was also potentially adding athlete's education and parents-of-athletes education. Other than that, the opportunity has remained the same. I think the new opportunity just adds more value, and if I was able to put all of that content and offer services to not only coaches but athletes and their parents, that just opens up more possibilities to create something even more impactful and potentially more profitable.  

  

I think entrepreneurs should take customer feedback into consideration and gauge whether or not applying that information can help them be more innovative. Also, to consider if applying that information would still allow the entrepreneur to stay true to his/her vision for what they want to create and if it aligns with that person's values as well. We’ve all heard the quote by Henry Ford who said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” And a quote by Steve Jobs who said, “A lot of people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” To some extent, receiving peoples feedback on your potential product or service is good, but I think when people receive a God-given vision, there’s a reason, and they should stay true to that and not stray too far from that vision. 

Bug list-2A

Bug List

1. My roommates don’t keep the kitchen clean. Why? We did not set up any accountability with chores. 

2. My roommates like the temperature too low and I cant make my bedroom a different temperature. Why? Each room doesn’t have its own thermostat. 

3. Gainesville traffic. Why? Maybe the roads in Gainesville are too narrow. 

4. I don’t get paid for the time traveling to and from work. Why? Employers don’t take into consideration that that is time we give to them as well. 

5. My toothbrush holder doesn’t have a space for the toothpaste. Why? They only make the toothbrush holder for the toothbrushes.

6. The lock on my door is always difficult to lock and unlock. Why? They didn’t make the button easy to push and the lock doesn’t align with the door frame. 

7. My packages go to the front office as opposed to coming to my front door for security issues. Why? There's no way they can put my packages in a secure place in front of my door. 

8. Most kids were never taught anything of value in high school when it comes to real everyday life. Why? We aren’t required to take any classes that really apply to our life in high school. 

9. Till recently, I was very ignorant of different business models that I learned through reading books on my own, not through business classes. Why? College is a business and they’d rather you get a job than start your own business so they can get ratings. 

10. My feet are always cold. Why? I don’t have anything thats designed to keep my feet warm. 

11. There aren’t enough cup holders in my car. Why? They don’t make cars with extra cup holders. 

12. There’s no parking on campus. Why? They didn’t factor in parking when constructing campus. 

13. Half of my dishes don’t come out of the dishwasher clean. Maybe the dish soap sucks, or maybe the water doesn’t get hot enough. 

14. When I call certain companies I don’t talk to a human being. Why? The companies replaced people with computers. 

15. How much spam email I get. Why? I can’t change the settings in my gmail account to stop spam. 

16. Noisy neighbors. Why? The walls in apartment complexes are too thin. 

17. When I forget a password to an account and have to create a new one. Why? Some websites don’t automatically save your account information. 

18. When cyclists ride in the middle of the road. Why? They don’t have enough room on the side of the road. 

19. How hard it is to clean finger prints off my phone screen. Why? I have yet to discover a dry cloth that can really clean my phone screen. 

20. When people don’t know how to navigate a four-way stop sign. Why? Maybe driving school wasn’t effective enough. 

My challenges with coming up with this list were to look at things from almost a pessimistic view. Eventually I was able to start picking things up that bug me pretty quickly when I remembered that I needed to finish this assignment. I had to be very intentional with picking those things up. 

Entrepreneurship story-3A

I got connected to a network of successful entrepreneurs through a friend, and I went to an event where some of these leaders in their industry were speaking. At this event I noticed some people huddled around someone during one of our breaks, and so I went over to find out what was going on. It ended up being one of the leaders who’s business created over 400 million dollars in revenue during the previous year. By the way he spoke to me and the other people around, you would never have guessed that he has so much money. He was so down to earth, he spoke of his values, and encouraged us to continue fighting for what we believe in so we can impact our families and other families. He took the time to get to know our names and shake our hands, and it was an amazing experience to get to know him and the other leaders in their industry because of the values they hold, not because of the amount of money they make. They never mentioned money. They talked about the entrepreneurial process, and that it’s about who you become through it, not what you get from it. They talked about their values and impacting families. They gave great advice when it comes to building your own business, but they really focused on the “why” behind doing what you do and treating people they way they should be treated.  

I enrolled in this class because I’m sick and tired of all my other business classes not teaching anything about business and only teaching how to be a manager of someone else’s business. I am already being mentored in business, and have read about 35 books dealing with personal development and business. So, entrepreneurship is a journey I’ve already embarked on, and it’s what I’m interested in. In all my other classes the professors always say, “So, you want to be a manager!” No, not at all. Not for someone else. I also had another professor that was brutally honest with us and basically said that from her experience in the job world over the last 30 years, that realistically we will be working about 60 hours a week to only get paid for 40, and that because of this reality, it’s really important to get a job that pays decent and has good benefits. I refuse to make that my reality. I don't want to be so busy making a living that I can't create a lifestyle. I wanted to finally take a course that was more geared toward people like me who aren’t looking to work a job forever, or climb a corporate ladder (not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just tired of professors assuming that that's what we all want to do). While I’m being mentored in one area of business that has more to do with financial stability, I am also wanting to eventually start a different business that has more to do with what I’m passionate about, and I am hoping I can take away something from this course that can get me started on that. 

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