Interviewing Customers No. 1

Howdy!

For this assignment, I had to interview 5 strangers.

Potential opportunity: Improving the whole "getting ready for bed" process. Whether it be making an attachment for the wall to turn off the light from afar or a way to fall asleep faster.

People with this problem: Pretty much anyone that sleeps.  So everyone.

Interview strategy: I mostly approached the interviewee, told them my name and about this project, and asked my questions.

Questions asked: What is your general going to bed process? Are there any pet peeves you have?

Here is the video containing brief interviews with complete strangers. Enjoy!

Reflection: Overall,this process was easy and difficult in different ways.  Although I do not have difficulty talking to people, approaching strangers after being told to not talk to them as I grew up made it slightly challenging.  I did appreciate the people that did talk to me for they were all very nice.

Week 4 Reading Reflection

Howdy! Here is a reflection on the Week 4 Reading.

1. What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
• I didn't realize that creativity was able to be broken down into as many categories/"arenas" as it is.  I usually considered creativity to be a very general term.
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• I've taken a Business/Entrepreneur class that covered creativity and entrepreneurship before, so I didn't really find anything that was confusing to me.  Everything was pretty straight forward.
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• Have you followed the phases of the creative progress or have you followed a different process?
• I would ask this because there are many ways to come up with an idea for a product or service and I am curious to see how he would have gone through this process.
• What kind of creative projects have you done to nurture your creativity skills?
• I'm assuming the author must have outstanding creativity to write about it in a textbook, so I would want to know how to get to his level.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• There was not anything that I thought the author was wrong about.  In the other Creativity books I've read, what was written is the general consensus.

Top 5 World Problems

Howdy!  In this post, I am ranking the Top 5 of my World Problems list and their solutions.



Problems (from most to least serious):

1. World Hunger/Thirst
• One cannot solve the worlds problems if there are people dying from lack of basic needs.
2. Pollution
• One cannot solve the worlds problems if there is no livable world. 
3. Lack of Available Education
• If people are uneducated on global and local affairs, one cannot expect them to do anything to help solve the problems.
4. Racism/Intolerance
• I feel like this kind of goes without saying, but it's a problem that people are killing each other over their race and beliefs...
5. Overpopulation
• Overcrowding can cause resources to be expended unnecessarily.

Solutions (from most to least possible):

1. Overpopulation - Make contraceptives more available to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Find more renewable resources to support our growing population.
• This the most possible because there are different organizations that provide contraceptives (This is not in reference to abortions.  Separate issue.) already.
2. Lack of Available Education - Offer better financial aid to those that need it.  Or lower tuition in general. Make extracurricular programs not included in the price of tuition (EXTRAcurricular.  Key word extra. Seriously).
• Second most possible because there are plenty of businesses/foundations that could provide different scholarship/sponsorship opportunities to aspiring students that need it.  
3. Pollution - Implement more laws that regulate emissions from vehicles, recycling, etc.
• Since laws have to go through different divisions of the government, this could take a long time to implement, but it's totally doable. 
4. World Hunger/Thirst - Donate food/money to people that are less fortunate either locally or farther away to help make these resources more accessible.  Build clean water pumps (see: https://www.thirstproject.org/).
• There are a lot of people without resources to sustain themselves.  It would take a lot of time to help everyone.
5. Racism/Intolerance - Help people understand that we were all created equally and should be able to coexist. 
• This is the least possible because people are stubborn and are not quick to give up their ideals regardless of how wrong they are.  

World's Biggest Problems

Howdy! For this assignment, I am to identify 10 of the worlds biggest problems and what a practical solution would be for them.

Here they are (in no particular order):

1. World Hunger/Thirst
• Millions of people around the world do not have access to clean water and food even though it is one of the basic items one needs to survive. This leads to malnutrition and ultimately an early death. 
• SOLUTION: Donate food/money to people that are less fortunate either locally or farther away (lots of organizations do this already, but more couldn't hurt) to help make these resources more accessible.
2. Unemployment
• My knowledge of this only extends to that in the United States.  Although unemployment rates have gone down over the past decade or so, there are still many people that are looking for jobs, but are unable to because there are no jobs available.
• SOLUTION: Either create more job positions or help educate people to take their ideas and do something with it (whoa entrepreneurship), thus creating more jobs for people on a local scale.
3. Racism/Intolerance
• Through a particular type of elitism, some people are under the impression that they are better than others because of the color of their skin or the religion they follow (if any). This leads to hatred and occasionally acts of violence.
• SOLUTION: Spread love and not hate. Help people understand that we were all created equally and should be able to coexist. 
4. Terrorism
• According to the dictionary, the definition of "terrorism" is the "systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion." This means that people will resort to violence as a way to push their agenda (usually political, but it can vary). This has very much to do with number 3 in that some terrorism is based on religious and racial intolerance.
• SOLUTION: World leaders should promote peace and tolerance rather than enabling hatred.  While it would be ideal for no one to fight at all, it is not a perfect world. Therefore, countries should hope for the best while preparing for the worst (focusing on strengthening their own defenses rather than attacking people elsewhere as civilians are getting killed all them time for doing nothing). 
5. Overpopulation
• To put it very simply, we have too many people and not enough space and resources. 
• SOLUTION: Make contraceptives more available to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Find more renewable resources to support our growing population.
6. The Economy
• Everyone's national debt is increasing continuously and national spending isn't slowing down either. 
• SOLUTION: Although it is not ideal and not everyone would agree with it, raising taxes for those that are able to pay them would probably be good start. Also redirecting some of the funds from unnecessary expenditures would also be a good idea. 
7. Apathy
• People do not care about what is going on in the world if it doesn't relate directly to them. Since people aren't caring about the world's issues, they more than likely will do nothing to solve them. 
• SOLUTION: There really is no tangible solution for this unless more people have a change in heart and start caring or if they are made aware of these issues.  So I suppose making education more affordable for everyone would help (See number 9).
8. Pollution
• Whether it be air pollution or littering, pollution is a growing problem. While air pollution destroys the ozone, littering can kill off species
• SOLUTION: Some places, such as New York City, have implemented different rules to regulate the amount of air pollution emitted. For example, people aren't allowed to leave their cars idle and running for more than a short period of time.  If more places used this rule, air pollution would decrease. 
9. Lack of Available Education
• Education is very expensive and not very accessible to those in less fortunate financial situations.  There is almost no reason for school (college especially) to be as expensive as it is.  If education is to stay this expensive, how are we supposed to expect people to obtain knowledge to make a living for themselves? Most jobs (with the exception of most of the food industry) requires at least a high school education.  Higher paying jobs require an actual degree.  You can't get those if you have no money.
• SOLUTION: Offer better financial aid to those that need it.  Or lower tuition in general.  That would be great. 
10. Reliance on Antibiotics
• Bacteria are building tolerances to the medicines that have been discovered already. We rely very heavily on antibiotics as a source of health. Not saying that medicine is a bad thing, but eventually we might not be able to fight bacteria that have built up an immunity.
• SOLUTION: don't use antibiotics unnecessarily. This solution is very dependent on medical advances.

Unfortunately, none of these problems are issues that can be changed overnight, but hopefully in the future, these will all get solved (or at least be closer to getting solved).

Week 3 Reading Reflection

Howdy! Here is my reflection for week 3's reading.

1. What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
• Although I knew how that there were risks and negative factors that come into play within any entrepreneurial venture, the biggest surprise for me in this reading was how many there were (especially when it has to do with ego).  
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• I thought this chapter was pretty straightforward, so nothing was really confusing to me.  
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• In your opinion, between the types of risk listed, what is the greatest risk an entrepreneur takes when creating their own business?
• I would ask this because since there are multiple types (financial, career, social, psychic, etc.), they could potentially be ranked from worst to not-as-bad based on opinion.
• Have you personally had to recover from failure in any entrepreneurial endeavors?
• I'm curious to see if he had any first hand experience with the grief recovery process.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• There wasn't anything in this chapter that I really disagreed with in particular.

Identifying Local Opportunities

Howdy!  In this post, you'll find 5 different local unmet needs. Here they are:

1. How to Avoid Boredom, Monotony in Retirement - The Orlando Sentinel
• People transitioning from a full-time job to retirement are having issues staying busy and motivated, whether it be at home or in retirement homes. There are some companies that offer "transition programs" to help with the adjustment, while donating to nonprofit organizations.  There are also many volunteer programs that "offer programs for retiring workers looking to engage with nonprofits." One company (My Next Season) trains executives to be able to effectively help these people start projects and to keep busy.  The head of this company wishes to/is in the process of creating a mobile networking app to develop a more phone-based service.  Potentially, other businesses could solve this issue.
• PROBLEM(S): Elderly/Retired people are not enjoying their retirement. One of the main organizations wants to expand their service to different markets through mobile phones.
2. Video-game Realism is Big Business - The Orlando Sentinel
   • The video-game community is beginning to migrate toward highly immersive/virtual reality game play, meaning that they are able to experience the game more first-hand rather than staring at a TV and using a controller. If gamers aren't able to use these devices, they expect the companies that create the games (Bethesda, Bungie, etc.) to implement higher graphics, updated player rosters, and improved game play.
   • PROBLEM(S): While there are major companies like Samsung and Oculus Rift creating VR games and hardware, these are very expensive and not accessible to everyone.  There also aren't that many popular video games that are made for the Oculus Rift (and products of the sort).
3. Hoverboards with Fake Batteries Seized at Port Miami - The Miami Herald
• Police confiscated over 200 of the "self-balancing scooters" that contained fake batteries.  The batteries had "LG" labels on them, but they were not actually produced by that company.  Since the batteries are not legitimate, they are at a higher risk for bursting into flames. Since there is no "one hoverboard manufacturer" (although they are mostly produced in China), it is hard to keep track of all of the counterfeit and potentially dangerous products. 
• PROBLEM(S): Batteries in general aren't very well made and even if they are legitimate, they still have the potential to malfunction (especially Lithium-ion batteries).  Also, if an organization were to create their own hoverboards, they would be able to ensure that they meet certain safety requirements before distribution.
4. As Veterans Come Home, a New Generation of Caregivers - The Miami Herald
• The article provides data for the amount of caretakers in the US post-9/11.  The author notes that this is the longest period of war that the country has been in, so the consequences of that are finally beginning to show.  They talk about a veteran in Miami who is no longer able to store short-term memories.  They also mention how the training of the caregivers "directly affects the health and wellness" of the veterans,
• PROBLEM(S):This isn't exclusive to Miami, but there doesn't seem to be too many reliable resources for veterans to receive help from (especially psychological help).  There also isn't many places for potential caregivers to receive training to help the veterans.
5. Have Bike, Will Travel -- And Will Suffer - The Orlando Sentinel
• MetroPlan Orlando, who is in charge of regional transportation, needs to install bike racks in a more accessible place, rather than on the second floor of their office building.  The reporter also said that there were no bike racks or lanes near the Orlando Executive Airport. "The authority has 109 miles of toll road along six expressways but no bike lanes."
• PROBLEM(S): There are not enough bike racks or bike lanes for people to use in different areas of Orlando.

Very Short Interview No. 1

Howdy!

This post contains a very short interview with an entrepreneur.  For this assignment, I interviewed Jezrael "J" Flecha.  J is an IT at the University of Florida and my boss.  He has worked for the University for ~10 years.  Recently, he decided that he wanted to create his own company that would assist other people with either their IT, carpentry, or vehicle maintenance needs at an affordable rate.  He is an entrepreneur because he is taking advantage of a need for a service by using skills he has accumulated over the years from both the University of Florida and from his personal hobbies. Here are his answers to the questions:

What does it mean to be an entrepreneur? 
To me, it gives me a sense of freedom. Even with taxes upon taxes upon taxes, I still feel less restricted than when I’m on business with the University. I’ve learned while starting up my own business that I am a victim of my own success. 

What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course? 
The ability to research efficiently and effectively. The saying, “time is money”, is never so real until it affects you directly. Communication is also another great tool to keep in your toolbox. Effective communication is key all throughout business.    

What do you wish you had been taught in school before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur? 
I didn’t attend college for business prior to being an entrepreneur. If I had to choose, I would say learning a bit more of the law side. One small mistake and all the time, effort, and money can simply just disappear.

During this interview, I learned that people can choose to be entrepreneurs for different reasons. Some people do it for money, while others do it for freedom.  I also didn't think about how important the legal aspect of business could be (which in retrospect, it is very, very important).  I actually will be working with J within his startup as he is looking for people with IT skills (he trained me in all that). At the end of the semester, I will be interviewing him again.

Week 2 Reading Reflection

Howdy! 

The following is a reflection on the first assigned reading.

1. What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 
• I didn't know that there was a specific term for small businesses that grow quickly per year (gazelles).  I was expecting the chapter to be purely about entrepreneurial mind-sets.
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• The section on the concept of integrative approaches to entrepreneurship and the figure involving entrepreneurial inputs and their outcomes was a little bit hard to follow.  
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• Why do you say that all companies die when there are multi-million dollar companies that are still going strong?
• I would ask this because I disagree with this statement and I would be curious to hear about his opinion on that.
• What is your personal opinion on the "profile" of an entrepreneur?
• Under Myth 5, he said that defining a set list of characteristics for entrepreneurs is hard to do, so I would want him to try making a list.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• I disagreed with the statement, "All companies wither and die."  There are a lot of companies that have lasted for a very long time without any sign of slowing down.  Logically speaking, generalizing and saying that absolutely all companies die is more than likely incorrect as every company's situation is different.  

Bug List

 Howdy! The following is a list of things that bother me and the reasons why these problems exist.

1. The crosswalk at the intersection of SW 13th St. and Union Dr. takes too long to change.
• This "bug" exists either because me timing to get to the light is awful or because the timer on the entire stop/go cycle caters more to vehicles even though the crosswalk has a lot of foot-traffic.
2. I feel like soap in my bathroom is not as effective when I have to put water in it when the dispenser is almost out of soap.
• The soap that is not dispensed is collected at the sides, away from the soap pump.
3. The song queue on my shuffled Spotify playlist always plays songs that I don't particularly want to hear at the moment, even though I like the song in general.  
• The shuffle function is not able to cater to moods of people.  Spotify itself can create a "Discover" playlist of new music based on the types of songs you listen to the most, but unless you manually skip the songs you don't want to listen to or make a completely new playlist, you can't listen to the songs you want to right away.  How inconvenient.
4. The light switch in my bedroom is too far away from my bed, meaning I either have to get out of bed to turn it off or never turn it on in the first place.  
• This problem exists because I don't have any other lights in my room and once I get comfortable in bed, I don't want to move. 
5. My phone chargers and headphones always end up broken.
• The materials used to make the cords are not very flexible, leading to their destruction (dun dun DUNNN). I also lose them a lot, to be honest.
6. Speaking of headphones, whenever I plug them into a desktop (located on top of the desk for whatever reason) or the sound-bar on the monitor, the cord always gets in the way of the keyboard and my typing.
•  There are no convenient places to plug in the headphones that won't get in the way of something else.
7. The cardholders that can be placed on the back of cellphones break/become detached if too many cards are put in there.
• Too much stuff, not enough space.
8. There is a "bug" in my iPhone that causes none of the notifications to register as being read.  I have to restart my phone every time this happens,
• This is some error on Apple's part.  I'm sure it will be fixed in the future.
9. My computer has been trying to force me to update to Windows 10 for the past couple of months.
• This would stop if I updated my computer, but Windows 10 is a new operating system and has a bigger potential for security issues.
10. It is too easy to turn off my phone alarm rather than press snooze whenever I have to be up at a particular time.
• If you unlock your iPhone while the alarm goes off, the alarm will be deactivated rather than snoozed. Beware.
11. There isn't a place on the UF campus for students to practice piano (or other instruments) unless they are taking a class or are a music major.
• This is probably an effort to get more students to take these classes or to keep the instruments available for the students that are actually studying music.  However, it's somewhat unfair to those that are interested in learning an instrument, but don't want to change their course of study.
12. Lint brushes don't always get the lint off of my clothes.  Especially on pants.
• The adhesive on the brushes aren't that powerful.
13. On the sidewalk on SW 2nd Ave. on the Social 28 side, the sidewalk is horribly uneven (I've stubbed my toe and tripped too many times).
• General wear from getting walked all over all the time.  Poor sidewalks. They should stand up for themselves sometime. Could this be how they're doing that? I wonder...
14. It is too easy to lock myself out of my bedroom in my apartment.
• I don't always have my keys on me and the lock out process at my apartment complex is $20 too much (aka $20).
15. My keys are annoying to carry as I don't always carry a purse and they collection of keys themselves are bulky when bunched up in my pocket.
• Need either bigger pockets or smaller keys. 
16. The fact that I have to rinse off dishes before putting them in the dishwasher is both a waste of water and a waste of time. 
• Dishwashers are not powerful enough.  Probably something to do with water pressure.
17. 3M Command strips don't work all that well on larger items, such as posters on foam boards, even when multiple strips are used.
• Adhesive could be stronger (although damage to wall paint is another issue).
18. Chairs pretty much everywhere don't really help with proper and healthy posture and are uncomfortable in general (especially when one has to sit there for a really long time like during lectures).
• Poor back support and not enough cushioning on the seat.
19. Laptop batteries don't last that long, both power-wise and usability-wise, and are really expensive to replace.  And if you don't get a properly licensed battery or charger, it can completely ruin your computer.
• Everything has to expire one day as to create demand for the supply, but batteries could improve overall anyway.
20. Being super literal with the whole bug thing, but wasps bug me (Haha I'm funny, right everyone?).  They are terrifying, don't do anything for residential areas (unless you have a farm or intense garden as they protect your plants from most pests), and will actively go out of their way to sting anything that moves.  AND even when you spray their nests, they keep coming back! Wasps can't take a hint.
• They are the worst.  That is all.

This assignment was slightly more difficult than anticipated.  Not a lot of things bug me.  However, once I thought of one thing that bothered me, a decent amount of other problems came up that were somewhat related to the first. A lot of these have pretty simple solutions, but as resources are limited on my end, there doesn't seem to be too much I can do immediately.

My Entrepreneurship Story

Howdy! For this post I'll be talking about an entrepreneurship story of mine and why I am taking this class.

My entrepreneurship story happened fairly recently.  During the Spring 2015 semester, A group of friends I was approached by Parker Fields, another friend, to help him work on an app.  Without disclosing too many details, we would have work sessions throughout the week to learn how to develop apps for both iPhone and Android products.  We were working on a particular idea that would consolidate several existing apps into one program, making certain features more accessible, especially for students.  Eventually, we were registered as a business Arcium LLC.

Arcium LLC Logo

Working with Parker and my other friends was an interesting experience.  I ultimately ended up leaving the group so I could focus on schoolwork, but I am glad I was involved at all.  Parker and company continues to learn how to create apps.  A Wizard Game is available on the iPhone App Store for free (10/10 would recommend. I spend so much time on this game it's kind of sad).

I enrolled in ENT3003 mostly because it is required for the Innovation Minor.  However, from the first week, it feels like this class is going to be more interesting than I anticipated (as evidenced by how much fun I had recording the Entrepreneur's Mantra).  By the end of this course, I want to be able to figure out effective to the solutions for all of the problems I have.  Although I do not want to start my own business, I know that this skill will be useful in any job setting I may come across.

On that note, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day/night/afternoon/dusk/dawn!

Entrepreneur's Mantra

Howdy!

Here is my Entrepreneur's Mantra video. Enjoy!

Introduction

Howdy!

My name is Nika de Vries and I am from Palm Bay, Florida.  My immediate family consists of my parents, my grandmother, and my younger brother, Otto. They all live in Palm Bay.  Both of my parents are incredibly hardworking. I strive to be able to have the discipline and resolve they have.  My Grandma is unbelievably patient and is very good at crossword puzzles.  Otto is a somewhat typical teenage boy.  He's very much into sports, video games, and combinations of the two (he kicks my butt in FIFA every time).  We've grown closer since I left for college.

I am a second year Computer Science major, but I'm working on switching to Mechanical Engineering (that's a super fun and complicated process, but it'll be worth it when it's over with).  After I get my Bachelors, I also want to go to law school.  As for what I want to do with my life and with the education I'm obtaining, I'm not sure yet.  Right now, I'm mostly studying what interests me and I'm hoping that something that I want to do will appear along the way (either through opportunities made available through UF or through my own decisions).

Over the years, I've traveled to many places.  I've been to Bermuda (I lived there for almost 7 years), England, St. Maarten, Saba, Costa Rica, Jamaica (on a mission trip), and Ireland (on a study abroad trip with the Innovation Academy).  I hope to go to more places.  Number one on my bucket list is Australia.

One of the sunrises in Jamaica

Anyway, I will be posting on this site based on whatever is assigned in this class.  So stay tuned? Maybe? I would if I were you.  I'm pretty cool.

Test Post Please Ignore

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