My Secret Sauce

Howdy! For this assignment, I will be talking about how wonderful and unique I am!

Five Ways I think I am Unique

1. I am very determined to complete whatever task at hand.  I don't like quitting (not specific to me, but I know that I can be more stubborn than most).
2. I do my best to put others needs before my own.
3. I try to make everyone smile even if it's at my own expense.
4. I'm somewhat quick-witted.
5. I do my best to put forth 100% effort (super hard sometimes though).

From Others' Perspective

Interview 1 - Niamh

Summary: Niamh says that I always give 110% and that I would give my life for the people I care about. 

Interview 2 - Allison

Summary: Allison says that I'm unique because I've only had girl scout cookies once (two years ago.  Barely remember the experience).  

Interview 3 - Veronica

Summary: Veronica thinks I'm funny and punny (true lol).

Interview 4 - Logan

Summary: Logan says I care about the people around me even if I don't know them.  He also says I'm dedicated to both Doritos and whatever I set my mind to.

Interview 5 - Anna

Summary: Anna says I worry about others regardless of my situation.  

Reflection

Based on the interviews with my dearest friends, they all seem to think that I'm incredibly generous and selfless regardless of the cost or situation.  Compared to my list, they think more highly of me than I do.  I think general self esteem causes the differences between the two views.  I'd like to think that what my interviewees said is true.  I certainly do my best to live up to that standard.  I wouldn't change my list all that much because I still think of myself the same way I did before.  

Idea Napkin No. 2

Howdy! This assignment is my product idea tied together with all of the information I've obtain via interviews and research and such (part 2).

1. About Me?
• My name is Nika de Vries and I am good at designing and assembling electronics.  I used to be a part of my high school's robotics team so I have had previous experience with creating a machine that would perform a specific task.  Regarding my business concept, I do not seeing it playing a major role in my life.  However, I think it would be interesting to materialize an idea of mine.
2. What are you offering to customers?
• I am offering a product that provides the convenience of not having to get out of bed to turn off an overhead/ceiling light.  The switch would be activated by using an infrared remote, so it could be controlled from a distance. 
3. Who are you offering it to?
• Although the product can be used for all ages, I believe that college students and young adults would find the most use from it.  Based on my interviews, the older people living in houses (adults and elderly people) had lamps by their bedside table, whereas college students living in apartments only had access to the overhead light. However, elderly people with trouble walking may also be able to use this product. 
4. Why do they care?
• The customers would care because it would expedite their whole going to sleep process and save them a small amount of energy. Personally, I have no other way of turning off my light other than standing up and doing it manually and it has been a terrible inconvenience.  I will sometimes go to sleep without turning off the light, thus expending energy.  Customers would pay for this product to save them energy when it comes to lighting in their homes and to get rid of an inconvenience. 
5. What are your core competencies?
• When compared to everyone else, I believe that I would be able to create this and other products effectively because I will do anything to make my own life easier.  

Reflection

From Napkin No.1: I believe these elements somewhat fit together in that the product does solve a problem. However, there since everyone has different room layouts the product may not apply to everyone.

From Napkin No. 2: Compared to the last napkin and from the feedback I received, I believe that these elements will fit together without any issues. 

Feedback Memo

1. My idea would be very easy to market to all age groups.

2. Aside from saving energy, there are more benefits to this product. 

3. College students would very much enjoy my product as all of the people that commented on my last post seemed to like the idea. 

4. Elderly people will be less likely to trip and fall on the way to turn off their light (bonus safety feature).

5. If there is a cost effective way to create this product, it would probably do well on the market. 

Since no one really said anything was wrong with my idea napkin, I didn't really change too much. 

Half-Way Reflection

Howdy! Here is the half-way reflection post for this class. First, please enjoy this inspirational picture.

1) Tenaciousness is a skill. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

- For this course, I've had to arrange when I'll do each assignment. Since each assignment has the somewhat odd due time of 9PM, I had to figure out when I would make time to fit with this class' schedule. Time management is very important, everyone. 

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

- The "giving up" feeling has been a familiar emotion throughout this course. I think a lot of these assignments aren't worth my time, yet I continue to do most of them because I want a decent grade in the class. I feel like my tenacious attitude hasn't changed much because if I want to get something done, I do. 

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset'?

1. Be persistent. If something doesn't go quite right on your first try, keep trying. This class involves a lot of approaching strangers, most of which will walk away without a word, but one poor experience is not the end of the world. 

2. Manage your time. Some of your schedules might be hectic (I know mine is) and you will need to rearrange a lot of things to fit the needs of this class. If you  don't give yourself time to foster your tenacity, you're really not getting as much as you can out of this class.

3. While you foster tenacity, foster your confidence. This both applies to approaching people and your general self confidence. 

Week 7 Reading Reflection

Howdy! Here is the Week 7 Reading Reflection:

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 find anything particularly surprising, but I thought that the development of segmentation in businesses was interesting (early 60s and forward).  It makes perfect sense as to why it happened, but I never really thought about that change. 
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• There were no parts that were confusing to me.
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• Which is the most effective type of segmentation (advertising vs new products)?
• I would ask this because both of these can work together (advertising FOR new products), but if one were more effective overall, I would want to use that one predominantly.
• In your opinion, which is more important: the issues of the business or the consumers concerns?
• I would ask this because in the event of conflicting solutions, one would have to choose which to solve first (if both cannot be resolved at the same time).
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• There was nothing that I thought the author was wrong about.  

Free Money

Howdy!  For this assignment, I was supposed to give $5 to busy strangers.  Here is how that went:

1. Where will you go?
• I went to my church since I was home for the weekend.
2. What kind of people will you approach?
• I approached pretty much anyone since I wasn't particularly nervous to talk to anyone
3. What will you say to get the conversation started?
• I just went with the "Excuse me, do you have a moment?" approach.  
4. What is your plan for the conversation?
• I chose to just ask people if they wanted a dollar so their initial reaction would be an immediate yes or no.  I didn't feel the need to make it any more descriptive than that, especially since my business pitches would be generally straightforward.
5. Out of five attempts, how many dollar bills do you think you will be able to give away?
• I thought I could give away at least 3 dollar bills.  I gave away 4.  How cool am I?

Encounter 1

The video cut out the "excuse me" part, but he was a bit busy selling gift cards.  He took my dollar after I stopped recording.  Totally counts.

Encounter 2

My phone is the worst at taking videos (or I'm just really bad at pressing record), but this girl was collecting money for her class' bake sale.  Of course she accepted my dollar.  She thought it was funny that I was recording her. I didn't get any baked goods (so I guess this project was a failure overall).

Encounter 3

I approached a parent also collecting money for the bake sale.  He accepted my dollar too.

Encounter 4

I walked up to my pastor after church while he was shaking everyone's hands (I waited in line because I really didn't want to interrupt a priest outright).  He also accepted my dollar.  He'll probably put it in this weekends collection.

Encounter 5

The last person I tried to give a dollar to was a man with his baby boy.  He didn't accept the dollar.  Probably because money has a lot of germs on it and he was holding a baby. 

Reflection

Giving away a dollar was about as easy as I expected it to be.  The most difficult thing giving the location I was in was that everyone was trying to leave to go to breakfast.When I approached people, I didn't really consider reasons why they would say no other than the fact that they were busy.  But all of their reasons for accepting or not accepting the dollar were completely understandable.

Idea Napkin No. 1

Howdy! This assignment is my product idea tied together with all of the information I've obtain via interviews and research and such.

1. About Me?
• My name is Nika de Vries and I am good at designing and assembling electronics.  I used to be a part of my high school's robotics team so I have had previous experience with creating a machine that would perform a specific task.  Regarding my business concept, I do not seeing it playing a major role in my life.  However, I think it would be interesting to materialize an idea of mine.
2. What are you offering to customers?
• I am offering a product that provides the convenience of not having to get out of bed to turn off an overhead/ceiling light.  The switch would be activated by using an infrared remote, so it could be controlled from a distance. 
3. Who are you offering it to?
• Although the product can be used for all ages, I believe that college students and young adults would find the most use from it.  Based on my interviews, the older people living in houses (adults and elderly people) had lamps by their bedside table, whereas college students living in apartments only had access to the overhead light. 
4. Why do they care?
• The customers would care because it would expedite their whole going to sleep process and save them a small amount of energy. Personally, I have no other way of turning off my light other than standing up and doing it manually and it has been a terrible inconvenience.  I will sometimes go to sleep without turning off the light, thus expending energy.  Customers would pay for this product to save them energy when it comes to lighting in their homes and to get rid of an inconvenience. 
5. What are your core competencies?
• When compared to everyone else, I believe that I would be able to create this and other products effectively because I will do anything to make my own life easier.  

Reflection

I believe these elements somewhat fit together in that the product does solve a problem. However, there since everyone has different room layouts the product may not apply to everyone. 

Week 5 Reading Reflection

Howdy! Here is week 5's reading reflection on chapter 9:

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? 
• Nothing was really surprising for me in the reading as I am already interested in the legality of intellectual property (and other legal topics), but it was interesting to see it applied directly to entrepreneurship as opposed to criminal justice topics.
2. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
• I felt like this entire section was pretty straightforward.  There was not anything I found confusing.
3. If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?
• If you could create a patent for anything (already patented or not patented), what would it be?
• I would ask this because a lot of good ideas have already been patented and I would want to know what his "missed opportunity" would be.
• What are your thoughts on the patenting of particular lines of code in programming projects?
• This question is pretty specific, but there are a lot of arguments about the validity of patenting code as there are only so many ways one can make a section of code perform one task.
4. Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?
• Since a lot of the information in this section was factual and not based on the author's opinion, there is nothing that I thought the author was wrong about and nothing I disagreed with in particular.