reading reflection 3

The thing or fact that surprised me the most about the Wright Brothers was how many failed attempts they had before finally succeeding. It takes true resilience to pursue a goal as lofty as flying. Flying is something that has truly changed the way the world operates. Suddenly, everything and everyone is now accessible to places they never dreamed they would visit. I would say their grit and determination is what I admire most about the entrepreneurs. Without that, none of their success would have been accomplished. Something else I deeply admired was Wilbur's toughness when he was gruesomely hit in the face during the hockey game. One of the most notable competencies I noticed was their will to never give up. One of the parts of the readings that was a bit confusing to me was the process of how he began to make profit from the West Side News. I don't recall much detail in the process of what they wrote about but they eventually found success in that venture. The first question I would ask them would be, " where did the idea of flight pop into your head or what inspired that vision?" I would just love to know where he thought of that possibility what they thought it really entailed at time of development. It did not seem like they had much of an opinion of hard work because that is all they knew. Without hard work, none of their success would have occurred.

Your Exit Strategy

I think the best decision to make would be to sell the business in the next five years. Like in any other industry, competition always begins eventually and people create similar products for cheaper. My choice would be to sell for a large sum and then use that cash to fund several other ventures like real estate investments. Real estate investment is truly what I aspire to do eventually, you just need cash to begin. I have selected this strategy because there is a cap on the amount of people that will purchase this product and it is only a matter of time before another company surpasses our advancements and innovation. That is primary reason I have chosen this particular exit strategy. I believe the exit strategy has a drastic effect on the overall intentions of the company and its goals. Since our plan is to sell the company and liquidate our assets, we want to make sales increase in whiter way possible. If that means to lower prices on products or relocate manufacturing to be able to maintain the product for a cheaper amount, thats what we will do. Simply put, the goal is to make as much money as possible before selling out. The expansion into the commercial market is unlikely now that since that venture will probably take more than five years to accomplish. That is what I am most upset about as the CEO, is because we are not able to see how this product will perform in commercial markets. We will be paying close attention to the prices of industrial properties as we are looking to sell our property. We will try and optimize our profit by selling at a positive time during the market. This product will do well enough in the retail market to provide plenty of capital to venture into other opportunities.

Celebrating Failure

The past four to six months I had failed myself in a huge way. I failed myself in not thinking I had something in me when I clearly did. I simply did not have the self confidence to think I could succeed in doing that task or goal. For the past six months I have been studying to obtain my real estate sales associate license. I completed the the sixty three hour prerequisite course in a timely manner but procrastinated for a while in actually taking the exam. I always found myself questioning myself and feeling unsure of of my knowledge of the material. One of my best friends was studying to take it as well and we always discussed the topic. He signed up to take it first and failed it badly. He failed five more times until finally passing so this naturally intimidated me from taking the exam. Back to studying I went as I thought I needed to complete way more practice problems before attempting. I studied for about two more weeks aggressively then had a conversation with my little brother one day. He said, " bro, I think you're comparing yourself to Fern too much, you've been doing this stuff way more than him and know way more about it." When he told me this, I woke up. I signed it up for the exam at 8:00 a.m. the day of the game against Alabama Birmingham last Saturday. Upon finishing the exam, I felt very good about it. When I was done, the proctor handed me the sheet of paper that began, " congratulations ......" I was shocked I even asked the guy," I passed?" He said, "Yes, congrats!" One of those moments you feel so much pride because you know how hard you worked. We've all gotten those feelings when we study hard for a test and do well or work hard to accomplish any goal and do it.
I learned to always believe in yourself over others and only you are capable of knowing what you can accomplish. All it takes is hard work and patience. Waiting for the correct opportunity to capitalize on any task or goal is crucial to succeeding. With enough hard work and grinding, you can truly get anything but it won't happen over night. Failure is indeed hard. I felt so terrible about myself after the fact that I wasted that much time contemplating my skills. I always had that in me but never had the faith. Failure flattens your sails and deters you from reaching your goals. I failed myself during this process but then in the end became victorious. I handle failure emotionally I would say. I just get down on myself and don't even want to be involved in the topic of concern. I learned that failure is relative. Failure is about perspective. If you look at failure as a growth opportunity or step in the right direction, it doesn't spurs your progress. I am now open to taking risks because after that risk is taken, I am one step closer to success. We only have so much time on this earth and all moments of "failure" must be utilized for positive progression.

What's Next?

Existing Market 

The first thing that is to be done is to capture the initial target market which is basically boat owners and those who engage in water sport activities. After a successful execution in that market, it will be easier to evolve into possibly a commercial technology or patent. Our patent will be on the technology that secures, holds, deploys, and retrieves the rope. For the interviews I interviewed my friends fathers, Jim and Fernando, who are avid boaters that have owned boats for several years. I asked them both the simple question of what we should be doing that we aren't already doing? They both had similar responses surprisingly enough. They said that we should be focusing primarily on a specific sector of the target market which is the part that uses my product for water sport activities. Specifically for water skiing, wake boarding, and tubing. Mr. Milanes said that he thinks once I capture that specific market I can advance into other spaces. They both answered that they would like the rope to come attached with the device rather than having to provide their own. The last interview I had was one of my roommates, Anderson that has been boating and fishing all of his life. He first of all over my idea and believes that is has several applications. He thinks that I should go after the commercial market and try and tap into the real estate market on the water.
As a company we believe moving forward we should target a smaller range of the market based on the feedback we received from the interviews. For the future of my product, we want to start mainly with online sales through popular water sports outlet websites for the beginning phase of the products life. Once we capture that specific market, we will have the experience and expertise launch into other markets.

New Market

I could possibly target an affluent market and target just yacht owners to use for docking purposes. Since docking yachts require several ropes on each side to make sure the heavy yacht stays in place. Considering the size of the vessels, several lines and points of security are required in order to keep the wind gusts from causing potential damage. One of the features we may have to revamp would be the lock power and strength of the button. Possibly we will design a model that is designed to hold way heavier items. One person I spoke to on the phone was a yacht broker that worked where I interned this past summer named Barry. We have continued to keep in touch after I stopped working there. He owns a yacht and would consider him to be successful in the industry. I asked him what he thought about my idea and he was a bit confused at first. He eventually got to understand the concept is the device that operates the rope, not the rope itself. He was bit concerned about the strength of the lock setting and was worried that if they did not hold up a lot of damage would be caused. The next person I interviewed was my fathers good friend, Dr. Issa. He owns a 37 foot Boston Whaler. He believed that there would be too much liability involved if you were to rely on that technology to hold multi million dollar vessels. He was very intrigued for the idea for for tubing and water skiing because he said that my product would save him a lot of time and hassle while leaving the dock . One of the things that surprised me about the new market was that they didn't see the commercial possibilities immediately. I thought having a mature perspective examine my product they would see that possibility. I believe that this new market does indeed look attractive to us as a company because the more ropes a vessel needs the more EZ Tow's are needed.

Venture Concept

Thankfully, my potential target market is fairly vast and there are not many barriers of entry in order to use my product. I would identify the customers I am targeting as people who own boats, use boats, or engage in water sports activities. Currently in the market, there is a lack of progress in my specialized space that has to do with towing ropes. The need for advancement is there as it is incredibly annoying to have to untangle a rope for 5 minutes prior to actually engaging in fun. Also, it is unsafe to leave the helm of the vessel to adjust or switch a rope for someone. Thankfully, with my product you just adjust the length of the rope with just a push of a button. Some of the forces in the environment creating this opportunity would just be technological advancement in general. Across all sectors, technological developments are being made to drive efficiency and safety. Initially, my market was geographically described as being mainly in Florida but as this project has progressed, we have expanded to nearly every coastal state that operate boats. I believe this opportunity is huge because products that truly drive change and progress make peoples lives easier. My product does just that. The fact that there is not a product like mine on the market further ensures my confidence in this product. That is definitely the most interesting topic surrounding my product, how much longer will the window of opportunity be there? I don't think that there will be an opportunity like this again for quite some time. Revolutionizing a product and changing the industry only happens at specific times.

My product, EZ Tow, is a device that holds, organizes, releases, and retrieves towing rope when engaged in water sport activities like wake boarding, skiing, skurfing and tubing. The rope is held inside the device in a circular position for easy deployment and retrieving. All it takes is a push from one of three buttons to use my product. Either choose deploy, lock, or retrieve on the device and you are ready to use. My product takes the hassle out of untangling and keeping the rope organized. It also prevents distractive driving by the operator of the boat and my favorite feature is that is could potentially save you thousands of dollars in engine propeller repair. A common problem with average towing ropes is that they sink when the rope gains slack, therefore causing the rope to sink and get caught in the engine. My device ensures tension is always on the handle whether or not a skier is holding onto the rope. For the beginning part of our product execution, we plan on only offering the device so that people may choose to use their own rope with it. Later we will start offering rh the bundled product with our designed rope. The goal of this strategy is to not intimidate the customers with a high price so we think our price is now attractive enough to entice a purchase.

I believe there are several advantageous reasons to switch to my product and I think it will be very easy for consumers to switch to my product after they realize that how much time and money my product saves them. One of the reasons I think customers will switch to my product is that it saves them time and hassle. That is a staple characteristic of a great product. I assume my competitors will be other outdoor activity/sports companies. I believe that a majority of those companies are focused elsewhere in retail clothing and things similar to that. I believe packaging and price points play the biggest role in defining my business concept. I plan to package the product not in a box and have a test or fake rope in the device already so the customer can actually visualize how the product works and can be used. The price point is also crucial because sometimes that is the first thing a customer notices in a product so you must get past that barrier. I would operate one warehouse or factory but I would honestly outsource the manufacturing of the product to a foreign firm to save on production  and operating costs in the initial years until I was able to afford a factory in the U.S. I think twenty to thirty employees would be an efficient amount to begin with. As we expand to different territories, the number of employees will increase as well.

Besides our innovation being our most important resource, we will have patents that will prevent any other firm from copying our design or success. For my product, we see an incredible opportunity in the market to expand my products use for commercial applications. We think we can use my product to replace all docking ropes used in the marine industry, commercial docks, marinas and residential docks. Simply attach rope to the cleat on the dock and adjust the length with the button and then lock in place when needed. Assuming the launch was successful, I hope to be a presence in all coastal states in the US and hopefully our commercial application plan for the product is in place. I would love to command operations in Florida because thats where I think we will achieve the most exposure and success. Since my passion is boating and being out on the water, I could not imagine a better venture to find success. I think being able to really capitalize at conforming the use of my product to suit commercial demand will revolutionize the marine industry entirely. Imagine a form of my product or technology on every structure or property neighboring a body of water. Instead of tying knots which sometimes can be tied incorrectly, you can use my product that simply hooks and attaches to the cleat on the properties dock or even other boat. No more tangled ropes, confusing knots, and time wasted with my product. Being able to enjoy a career that generated from my idea would be a dream come true but understand that it is very difficult. The market is constantly evolving so as a business you must keep with the trends.

Elevator Pitch 3

https://youtu.be/XwlgJojuDks

Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

One of the most valuable resources or characteristics of my product would be the innovation factor is possesses. How is it something so simple can be so advanced in performance? In my opinion, this would be the most important resource we obtain. The next resource would be our human capital. This far into the business plan, I would be unsure of how to measure our human capital considering we don't have any employees at the moment. Our human capital would be based upon trust among everyone in the business. Another resource we would utilize to the best of our ability would be our social capital. One of the things that will separate us from the competition would be the contacts we have among the marine industry. From yacht salesman to owners of smaller bait shops, several locations in the Florida will initially be introduced to the product. Hopefully, expansions to the north and west part of the country will begin at that point.  Some of our capabilities that I would consider resources would be safety and efficiency. There are many more capabilities of my product than those two but those I would consider to be the most important. My product removes hassle and speeds up an annoying process. That is why I consider it efficient. My product organizes, keeps, deploys and retrieves the towing rope used in water sport activities. For the safety aspect of my product, there is constant tension on the rope to ensure there is no slack or tangle that causes the rope to go under water and get caught in the engine propeller. I believe this aspect of the product is the most convincing or attractive when consumers are contemplating shopping decisions. I would say that majority of my resources would fall under the category of capabilities because not a lot of factors of my business are ready for deployment. The organizational structure of our company would be constantly evolving as we grow and expand. To begin, our culture would consist of several different kinds of employees. I won't really discuss the manufacturing aspect of the product but at the beginning stages of the business that will most likely need to be outsourced by other manufacturing firms. After that we will have designated sales people in charger of different cities and areas. One of the last parts of the team would be the executive portion.

I consider all of my resources valuable and certain ones are unable to function without the presence of other ones. The innovation factor of my product is valuable because the industry has yet to witness a product like this that has its capabilities. That is the reason it is unique and hopefully the reason why it will change the marine industry forever. To make sure the product is protected but more specifically the technology, I would need to get a patent to make sure it cannot be copied. As of now, there is no substitute really other than the regular ropes that this product will beat advancement of. After conducting the VRIN analysis, I was able to determine that the most important or top resource is safety. The safety dynamic of this product surpasses all other resources because of all attributes that come along with it. It saves your boat possible damages, protects who you are responsible for behind your boat, and takes the stress out of which is usually an annoying process. 

Reading Reflection No. 2

In my opinion, the general theme of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success was how and what contributes to the development of a person. The main theme is based around two types of mindsets, fixed and growth. The fixed mindset could be described as some who is complacent to summarize it most effectively. It is usually someone who gives up easy during hardships or challenges and sometimes insecure about themselves. Someone with a growth mindset is basically the complete opposite. Someone with that mindset is always striving to achieve more goals and set him or herself up for greater success. They are usually more of a genuine person and can adjust their perspectives in certain situations. This book and class connected in several ways. One of the first ways I realized was that someone with a growth mindset embodies all the characteristics and habits of most entrepreneurs we know about. They are innovators always striving for more. Some of the same philosophy from the book relates to this class when it comes to advancement in life and how connecting with people is crucial. It relates a lot to human development which I think is a hidden tactic in these assignments. I think developing your own products and contacting other professional only can benefit as you transition into real world professions. I would develop an exercise based around giving the student an opportunity to choose which mindset they think they possess. I would then ask a series of questions pertaining to why they think that and questions of that nature. I was unaware that confidence is such a huge asset to have, Confidence is the trait that can set someone back from making an important life decision or short term decision. When someone hold themselves with confidence, it it usually very apparent.

It's Who You Know, Not What You Know

The first person who I contacted that is an expert in the industry is the general manager of Bradford Marine, Carlos Navarro, located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Bradford is yacht brokerage and full service shipyard/ marina located in the heart of the intercostal for the past 50 years. Carlos was actually my boss this past summer where I interned in the yacht brokerage office. He is PADI master diver and USCG master license captain. He is the most knowledge person I know in the industry because he has worked in marine product sales, yacht sales and now manages a business that does both. I believe his expertise in the field and in the industry will cause me to look to him first if I was seeking guidance or advice. We have had a relationship over the years from my father and had kept in contact since I always interested in his line of work. Having him and keeping him in my close network will be beneficial in my career ahead because he has several high value contacts at his disposal if I were to ever need a recommendation. 

The person I contacted that I would consider an expert in this market is Hunter Hanson, a sales representative located in Tampa for Liquid Force, which is a wake boarding/ water sports brand. They sell an array of products from wakeboard ropes, wake boards and even life jackets. I sent him an email asking about the legitimacy of my product and what his thoughts and opinions were but unfortunately I received no answer. Hopefully I will receive one soon but not as I am writing this. If I receive no answer of this email I sent then I will attempt to contact him by phone. 

For the person who is considered a supplier to the industry and someone who is actively selling in the market place is Steve Weber, a sales consultant for Marine Max. Marine Max is one of the counties premier boat dealers and marine suppliers. I tried to call and email him but I have yet to receive a call back. I really hope to get one back in the near future because Marine Max is a company I would be interested in hanging my license if I decide to become yacht broker. My uncle actually recommend working at Marine Max over the brokerage he works at. He would be an amazing contacts for the future if I found myself wanting to explore that option and work there. This networking experience has been slightly different for me in a few ways. The first is that for two of the people I contacted I had no prior communication or connection with. Usually when I am going into situation like that I have an established connection with them from friends, family, or colleagues which tends to make things run a bit smoother. I would that was the biggest difference between past networking events and the networking required for this assignment.