27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The book talked about our cognitive systems and how those function in our decision making. 

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

This book brought awareness for me to the different ways people fail to think effectively in their decision making process or when it comes to retaining information in general. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would include and exercise that tests the students on their thinking process and see if they're a "fast" thinker or a "slow thinker. 

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

One part that stood out to me was a quote, "A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth". I didn't really have any expectations going into the book, but it definitely brought some truth to light for me. 

28A – Your Exit Strategy

As I go through my journey I will have a team of people who are directly and indirectly involved in my business. I don’t want to keep my business in the family because the point of my business is not only to make a profit, but to truly impact the sports world. So unless my future kids have the same passions and purpose as I do, I will not be keeping the business in the family. Through the years I will be growing my business, and as I get older I will be identifying who’s hands my business belongs in to continue taking it to the next level and impacting people. Now for those who think it’s wrong to not keep it in the family, this business is not going to be my only business venture, and I will have plenty to pass down to my future kids. So, I do plan to work the business for some decades, and then eventually hand it off to someone who I believe is committed to continuing the journey. 

I selected this exit strategy because I don’t want this to die when I die. I want someone to take it over who is capable of continuing on the legacy I will create. 

My exit strategy has not had any influence on any of my plans, mostly because for some reason I have thought very little about an exit strategy. However, it didn’t take me any time to know exactly how I will exit down the line. 

26A – Celebrating Failure

This assignment was a little more tricky for me, not because I don't make mistakes (I make tons of mistakes), but over the last few months, I haven't really done a whole lot other than work and school. I did make a mistake when I went to work and forgot I needed to be there 30 minutes early for a private lesson. The really dumb part was that I put it in my calendar to get to work at the time I was supposed to, but when I looked in my calendar a few days later, I thought I made a mistake when I put in my work schedule and forgot about the lesson I had. That was a really dumb mistake considering I had even put it in my calendar, but it was what it was. Crap happens.

I learned to trust myself with what I'm putting in my own calendar, because I am working on becoming a less forgetful person.

Failure isn't bad, I don't even like to call it failure. To me, failure only occurs when you make a mistake and don't learn from it. A great book for someone struggling with failure is Sometime You Win, Sometimes You Learn by John Maxwell. The foundation of success is failure, and I've heard successful people say that if you're not willing to go through the failures, then you don't deserve success.

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

The forces creating opportunity in this environment are all the athletes speaking up about their abuse situations during there athletic careers. Verbal abuse has been present in sports for a very long time, however, many athletes are speaking up about it now more than they ever have. Geographically, there is no specific group of people that this will target. Demographically, there is no specific group either since what I’m offering will range from young children, to older experienced adults. My audience will typically be low-middle class, on up. Some coaches are satisfying there need with general self education, however, many of them aren’t satisfying this need at all because they don’t know of any resources. I believe that this opportunity is huge, yes to make great profits, but more importantly to make a huge impact. I believe this window of opportunity will be open forever, because there will always be ways to improve personally and be better for our athletes. 

Innovation

In the gymnastics community, and athletic community in general, there is a huge need for coaches to better learn how to communicate with their athletes so they can bring the best out of them without being abusive or psychologically manipulative. What I am creating is going to be on online resource targeted mainly toward coaches, but I will also have content for the athletes and parents of athletes as well. 

Coaches content:

What I will be providing for coaches are recorded interviews, podcasts, articles, curriculums, and a book to access that all educate coaches on how to coach more effectively. These will cover a variety of topics like how to help an athlete overcome a mental block, how to use positive reinforcement vs. negative reinforcement, never wanting more for an athlete than they want for themselves, etc.. I will have many different guest speakers and experts to offer their knowledge when it comes to the psychology behind the sport. 

Athletes content:

This will mostly be interviews for the athletes to watch with guest speakers who are athletes they most likely look up to, speaking about different topics. Some of these topics will cover how to deal with injuries, how to deal with burnout, how to overcome mental blacks, etc..

Parents content:

This content directed toward the parent will be all about how to best look after their athlete. This content will be articles, interviews, and podcast covering topics like how to best be supportive of their athlete, how to be involved but not overly involved in their child’s sport, etc..

To have access to my resource, there will be a $20 monthly subscription fee that will include standard content like podcasts, and interviews, but additional fees for the book and curriculums. 

Venture Concept 

This opportunity will help alleviate some of the issues going on on the sports world related to verbal abuse. I don’t think my customers will really be switching from anything, but more so starting something new. The main competitor is a guy named Nick Ruddock who does something very similar to what I want to do, however, he is based in the UK and does most of his work there, and I don’t think that is a weakness of his, but it is more so an opportunity for me to have more opportunity in the US. I will not be limited to the US, though. Since my business will be online I will not have to worry about packaging and things of that nature. I plan to create content for a year in advance before releasing any, and then from that point start releasing the content and continue creating more 

My most important resource will be my experiences and other experiences to pull from. For the next venture, I would branch off to start hosting seminars and gymnastics camps. 

In five years I want this to have 2000+ subscribers and by the 10 year mark I want to be hosting seminars for coaches and clinics as well. As an entrepreneur, I want to continue creating and adding value to people. I want my business to make so much profit that I don’t have to base my decisions off of how much it costs. I want to make all of my decisions based on my values and goals, not my checkbook.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

10 Resources:

1) Financial capital
This is valuable obviously because I will need money to start up. It isn't rare or inimitable, and is only substitutable by credit.
2) Lots of connections
This is valuable because to succeed in anything you need to have other people in your network. This isn't rare or inimitable. There is no substitute for this.
3) Coaching experience
This is valuable because I need experience to know what I'm talking about. This isn't rare, but is inimitable because it can't be copied  There really is no substitute for this.
4) Experience as an athlete
this is valuable because I have first hand experience dealing with different coaches as the athlete, and so I know what it feels like from the athletes point of view. This isn't rare, but is inimitable because it can't be copied. There really is no substitute for this.
5) Others experiences to pull from
This is valuable because everyone has different experiences, and to learn about others experiences will be crucial. This isn't rare or inimitable. There really is no substitute for this.
6) Access to technology to start up
This is valuable because I will have an online business. This isn't rare or inimitable. There really is no substitute for this.
7) Knowledge on the subject
This is valuable for obvious reasons. This may be somewhat rare and inimitable. There really is no substitute for this.
8) Relationships with people who will be customers
This is valuable because people who like what I'm offering will refer it to others. I don't think this is rare, but maybe somewhat inimitable. The substitute of this would be going out and finding other customers.
9) Credit
This is valuable for if I ever need to fall back on credit if my money runs out. This isn't rare or inimitable. And this is substitutable by cash.
10) Thousands of coaches and gymnasts out there with a need
This is valuable because you need customers to succeed. This isn't rare or inimitable. This is not substitutable.

I want to have a team culture that is all about integrity, loyalty, and constant progression. Those will be the main core values and our culture will be one that is rare. I want my teams culture to exude love and passion so that we are able to add value to as many people as possible.


I think the most important resource I have is experience. I did talk about 3 different experiences, but overall I think that's going to be the most valuable because my experiences are unique and those experiences is what I'll pull from to relate to and educate my future customers.

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

Mindset by Carol Dweck

1) This book talks bout the growth mindset verses the fixed mindset, and how having a specific mindset may be initially programmed into out minds growing up, we have the choice to change it once we've been brought aware of it. 

2) This book opens up dimensions as far as possibilities go. She taught that even though you may not have a certain ability, with the growth mindset you are able to work past that and grow in that area. That's vital to business. To have a growth mindset is to be able to be creative, and creativity is important in what we do. 

3) For an exercise, I would maybe take a set of questions from the book and ask others what their answers are to those questions. for example, "true or false: I am born with a certain level of intelligence and that cannot be changed."

4) There wasn't really anything in this book that gave me an aha moment, probably because I'm more of a growth minded person, but I think the biggest thing was learning how many people keep themselves in a box simply because of their beliefs about themselves, people, and their capabilities. 

20A – Growing Your Social Capital Submit Assignment

1) Anna Genrich

2) Domain expert. Anna is a coach and is very knowledgeable about the industry. 

3) I found her on Instagram and contacted her there. 

4) She simply gave me feedback on my business idea. 

5) She offers knowledge, as she has been a coach for much longer than I have. 

1) Justin Laury

2) Market expert. This person is a market expert because he is in a similar field and is very successful in his business. 

3) Justin is one of my old coaches, so I didn't have to go searching for him. 

4) He have me feedback on my idea and we may potentially work together to bring it to life. It will then be profitable for both of us. 

5) Having Justin in my network is vital, as he has every connection in the book when it comes to the gymnastics world. He also already has a platform he is open to helping me expose myself through. 

1) Nick Ruddock

2) Supplier. Nick Rudduck almost does exactly what I want to do, but he is based in the UK. He too is very successful in his business as it seems. 

3) A friend recommended that I check him out after telling her about my business idea, and I reached out to him on Instagram. 

4) He too simply gave me feedback on my idea, no exchanging needed.  

5) Having him in my network will be a huge asset if he is willing to work with/ collaborate with me later down the line. 

This was different from other networking I've done in the past because it was all over the phone, not in person. This exercise doesn't really change how I will network in the future. 

Elevator Pitch Practice! (Part 2!)

I didn't receive any feedback from my previous pitch to change or fix anything, but I did get some feedback saying that what I'm offering is needed and that the subscription idea was a good idea. 

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

My name is Vanasia Bradley, I work part time, study full time, and make progress in my personal growth and entrepreneurial journeys in my non-productive time. My most obvious talent thus far in my life has been my athletic ability in gymnastics, however, I am more than just the “really good gymnast”. I now coach, and outside of gymnastics I have a few professional skills, but more importantly I do have really good interpersonal skills, thanks to introverted intuition, a mom who’s a psychologist, and mentors who are experts in communication. I had a lot of experience being an athlete and so far I have just a few years of coaching experience, and I consider myself still very new to coaching since I have so much to learn. My aspirations include marriage, family, financial freedom, traveling, and as it relates to this course, impacting the coaching and sports realm by creating a resource for coaches to learn not how to teach the skills, but how to coach the athlete. My experience as a high level athlete taught me that being dedicated to a sport for 15 years was never about what I got from it, but who I became through it, and I have my old coaches to thank for that perspective. 
What I will be offering to customers is a resource for coaching to have access to, that will provide personal and professional development materials to learn from so they can effectively and constructively (not destructively) coach their athletes. These materials will be in the form over curriculums, videos, and books. Eventually I see this scaling to a point where we host online and in-person seminars, and provide 1 on 1 coaching to coaches who are looking to grow. 
These products and services would be offered to coaches of any sport who are looking to grow personally and professionally. Something all my customers have in common is a passion to grow, for whatever purpose. Some coaches may want to improve to be better professionally, and others may want to improve so they can effect their athletes in a more positive way. Whatever the reason may be, they would all have a desire to become a better version of themselves. 
Customers would pay for my product/service, because like I mentioned before, they want to become better. Maybe some of them have encountered different athletes that they just couldn’t figure out how to coach in a way that they needed to be coached, and therefore could not help them improve. Maybe some of them have a reputation that’s not so positive because they have at times become verbally abusive toward their athletes without even realizing it. Or maybe some of them think they’re doing a great job and just want to know more about how they can be a better coach for their athletes. Some people are simply obsessed with growth, personally or professionally. There are a lot of coaches out there that want more guidance, and for whatever that reason is, I want to create a resource for them, because we as coaches are deprived of good, easily accessible information specifically geared toward communication skills between coach and athlete. 
What sets me apart from everyone else is my personal experience as an athlete and my drive to make an impact in this very specific area. I have experienced first hand how a coach can be very well-intentioned, but really just not know how to constructively channel their passion, drive, and will for their and my own success. I am very passionate about this particular subject, and I am willing to do the research, and connect with the right people to be able to have access to more people and information that most people may not be willing or able to seek after. I am willing to spend all the time necessary putting together a product/service that can impact thousands of people and bring value to their lives. And all of these things I believe set me apart from anyone else. There aren’t a whole lot of people who say they want to coach coaches, so I think I am tapping into an almost untouched territory as well. 
I believe all these elements do fit well together, and I do know that what I want to create is going to be a work in progress, and will not be something I can start up right after this course is over. Between who I am, my experience, what I’m passionate about, the work I’m willing to do, what I want to provide, and the people I want to provide it to, there are direct relations. 
_______________________________________________________________________________________
I did receive feedback saying I should omit the "I have very few professional skills" I had included int he first paragraph, and so I did.
And the other feedback I got was just positive feedback and encouragement (which I really appreciate :) ).

18A – Create a Customer Avatar Submit Assignment

My typical customer will be a coach. Generally we wear athletic clothing since a lot of us grew up wearing it. Because most of us don’t get paid too much, we tend to drive pretty basic cars, Nissans, Chevys, Fords. For those of us who coach at the college level or pro, we drive more expensive cars. Many of us do have families for those of us who are in our 30’s and older. Most of us are between the ages of 20 and 50. Since we work with kids, we tend to feel younger than we are. Most of us are intensely passionate about our sport and our athletes since most of us were athletes of the sport we coach. Most of us are in pretty decent shape and very athletic looking, but we come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I have almost all of these things in common with my avatar, because I am one of them, so it is not a coincidence. I'm intentionally creating something that I want and don't have because I know that there are others out there who want it too. Here I’ve included a picture of one of my old coaches who taught me everything I know about the sport of gymnastics, and me right beside him. This picture was taken at the 2014 P&G Championships.