Brain Greenberg, CEO of an insurance agency in Tampa, FL
1) Brian is the owner and operator of an insurance agency in Tampa named Alera Group Company. He went to the University of Florida and worked his way up in an agency and eventually branched out creating his own. He now currently merged with another insurance company and that is where he stands today.
2) Domain expert in the industry
3) I was looking up CEO's in Tampa and came across him on LinkedIn. I emailed him introducing myself and my elevator pitch asking for feedback.
4) The favor he did for me was evaluate my elevator pitch and told me the strengths and weaknesses of it. There is no return expectation other than him happy to help and for reaching out to him.
5) Including him in my network gives me the ability to exploit an opportunity due to maybe one day working for him. Coming out of college he will certainly remember me and could offer a job.
Ryan Griffin, Insurance Agent
1) Ryan is an insurance agent that specializes in medicare and life insurance. He is starting as an agent and plans on working his way up to a manger role in the future. He sells insurance for a living so is an expert in insurance and the ways about it.
2)Market expert
3) I found Ryan by researching through LinkedIn and contacting him through that. I wanted to stay within the insurance agency setting since that is who the domain expert was and found him. I joined his network of connections and emailed him.
4) I asked about my elevator pitch and any feedback he had for me. His response was positive stating all the good things I did in my pitch and what he liked about it.
5) He is a good reference to have if I have any questions about his experiences or what to do at some point out of college.
Cindy Schobert, Insurance purchaser
1) Cindy is an elderly lady who has recently purchased insurance in the medicare period. She would be the "supplier" in this case since she is the one purchasing the insurance.
2) Supplier
3) I found Cindy and contacted her through Facebook messenger. She is the grandma to my girlfriend who I have never met before and reached out to her on Facebook.
4) I asked her about the insurance process and what it was like on her end. The favor she did for me was giving good information on what it is like on the customer side of the insurance agency and her experiences.
5) This enhances an opportunity by gaining knowledge on what it is like on both sides of the spectrum. What I mean by this is I saw the ways from both the company perspective and the customer.
Reflect
This will shape how I participate in future networking events by encouraging me to meet and connect with as many people as I can. Building connections can only be a positive thing for myself and this post helped me realize that. It did differ from the past due to reaching them via online rather than person. It is a more challenging way to per personable with people but an effective way of communicating.
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
19A- Idea Napkin No. 2
1) You
I am a 20 year old college student at the University of Florida. My talents consist of being good at sports, knowledge when it comes to sports, and video game skill. Some of the skills that I have are being a hard worker, competitive, and reliable in a variety of situations. My aspirations are to work my way up in a company with a managerial role and eventually start my own business. If I started this business today it would consume my life. I would put all my time and effort into it to ensure I am doing everything I can to make it succeed.
2) What are you offering to customers?
The service that I will be providing is a textbook company in Gainesville that offers cheaper alternatives than the bookstore and renting options. Included is the option to bring in old textbooks for either cash or store credit for students who have previously taken classes. This motivates students to use my service as they will save more money on textbooks each semester and have the ease of obtaining them. The customer's unmet needs will be addressed by having cheaper textbooks with a variety of ways to obtain them with the option of bringing in old textbooks for money.
3) Who are you offering it to?
The demographic of who I would be selling to is college students at the University of Florida or Sante Fe. Since it is a textbook company, it would directly target them since they are the ones in need of books and have them from previous classes. What they all have in common is the need for textbooks each semester since typically they have 3-4 new classes every one. This is perfect for my service with renting options and the ability to get money back from previously owned textbooks.
4) Why do they care?
College students will actually pay me money for my service as they could save around $200 a semester on textbooks and could get money on top of that for previously owned ones. College students most pf the time are on a budget so saving this much money would be important to many people and something they would want to pay for if it is cheaper.
5) What are your core competencies?
What sets me apart from anyone else is the option to bring in old textbooks for cash or store credit. For example, a student can bring in his old calc 1 textbooks and trade them in to go to his calc 2 textbooks. If he gets $100 store credit for his calc 1 book and the calc 2 book costs $250, he saves $100 and would get it for only $150. What I have that no one else does is this process along with the option to rent only for the UF semester terms each year.
I believe these elements fit together pretty well as a whole. I think there is a big demand for textbooks each semester at UF and costs are a major problem for students. My service would focus on having cheaper alternatives and making the process a lot smoother for students each semester.
Feedback
One key takeaway I got from my feedback is how I need to be more aware of other companies that I would be competing against. To deal with this, I need to make sure I explain why my service is better and what distinguishes it. Another take away is to further explain more my trade in process and how the students would want to choose that over the competitors. I incorporated this feedback into this idea napkin by providing a specific example of the trade in process for a student at UF.
I am a 20 year old college student at the University of Florida. My talents consist of being good at sports, knowledge when it comes to sports, and video game skill. Some of the skills that I have are being a hard worker, competitive, and reliable in a variety of situations. My aspirations are to work my way up in a company with a managerial role and eventually start my own business. If I started this business today it would consume my life. I would put all my time and effort into it to ensure I am doing everything I can to make it succeed.
2) What are you offering to customers?
The service that I will be providing is a textbook company in Gainesville that offers cheaper alternatives than the bookstore and renting options. Included is the option to bring in old textbooks for either cash or store credit for students who have previously taken classes. This motivates students to use my service as they will save more money on textbooks each semester and have the ease of obtaining them. The customer's unmet needs will be addressed by having cheaper textbooks with a variety of ways to obtain them with the option of bringing in old textbooks for money.
3) Who are you offering it to?
The demographic of who I would be selling to is college students at the University of Florida or Sante Fe. Since it is a textbook company, it would directly target them since they are the ones in need of books and have them from previous classes. What they all have in common is the need for textbooks each semester since typically they have 3-4 new classes every one. This is perfect for my service with renting options and the ability to get money back from previously owned textbooks.
4) Why do they care?
College students will actually pay me money for my service as they could save around $200 a semester on textbooks and could get money on top of that for previously owned ones. College students most pf the time are on a budget so saving this much money would be important to many people and something they would want to pay for if it is cheaper.
5) What are your core competencies?
What sets me apart from anyone else is the option to bring in old textbooks for cash or store credit. For example, a student can bring in his old calc 1 textbooks and trade them in to go to his calc 2 textbooks. If he gets $100 store credit for his calc 1 book and the calc 2 book costs $250, he saves $100 and would get it for only $150. What I have that no one else does is this process along with the option to rent only for the UF semester terms each year.
I believe these elements fit together pretty well as a whole. I think there is a big demand for textbooks each semester at UF and costs are a major problem for students. My service would focus on having cheaper alternatives and making the process a lot smoother for students each semester.
Feedback
One key takeaway I got from my feedback is how I need to be more aware of other companies that I would be competing against. To deal with this, I need to make sure I explain why my service is better and what distinguishes it. Another take away is to further explain more my trade in process and how the students would want to choose that over the competitors. I incorporated this feedback into this idea napkin by providing a specific example of the trade in process for a student at UF.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
18A- Create a Customer Avatar
The prototypical customer for my service is young adults from the ages of 18-24 both males and females. The segment I selected is college students across the United States which falls right in this age range. It is not just a male or female as both genders will continue to use and purchase textbooks for their studies.
The typical hobbies of my customers are sports, gaming, socializing, and going out/partying. Most students do these activities in their free time when they are not studying for classes. The typical car for most college students is kias, fords, or toyotas as they are most seen on UF's campus. I can personally vouch for this as two of my roommates fit this category of cars. The TV shows that most young adults watch are mainstream ones such as Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, or The Office. This age group tends to interact with mainstream the most which is why these are the TV shows they watch. Kids are not present at this point in their lives and their favorite politician depends on which side they fall on. Most students are one or the other and it is greatly different throughout a college campus.
I have a lot in common with the prototypical customer as I am a college student myself with the age of 20. I love sports both playing and following, and The Office is one of my favorite shows to watch currently. I do not think it is a coincidence that I have things in common with them as I fall right into the category and can relate. All of these things I see first hand and most of them are apart of my daily life.
The typical hobbies of my customers are sports, gaming, socializing, and going out/partying. Most students do these activities in their free time when they are not studying for classes. The typical car for most college students is kias, fords, or toyotas as they are most seen on UF's campus. I can personally vouch for this as two of my roommates fit this category of cars. The TV shows that most young adults watch are mainstream ones such as Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, or The Office. This age group tends to interact with mainstream the most which is why these are the TV shows they watch. Kids are not present at this point in their lives and their favorite politician depends on which side they fall on. Most students are one or the other and it is greatly different throughout a college campus.
17A- Elevator Pitch No. 2
Link to pitch:
https://youtu.be/mXperBp2Ka8
What stood out to me the most from the last Elevator pitch is making a strong connection right away when the pitch starts. By giving a real life example and putting myself in a situation, the feedback was positive and everyone appreciated the connection. The feedback that surprised me the most was that I will face a lot of competition. This made me open my eyes and motivated me to make sure to talk about that in my next pitch. This was the most insightful feedback as it helped me decide that it will be a major point in my next pitch.
What I changed based off feedback was a new unique example to start of the elevator pitch, and the ways that my service will be better than the competition. I only stated in my first pitch the ways my service would function and in this pitch focused on an example of students bringing back their old books and making money.
https://youtu.be/mXperBp2Ka8
What stood out to me the most from the last Elevator pitch is making a strong connection right away when the pitch starts. By giving a real life example and putting myself in a situation, the feedback was positive and everyone appreciated the connection. The feedback that surprised me the most was that I will face a lot of competition. This made me open my eyes and motivated me to make sure to talk about that in my next pitch. This was the most insightful feedback as it helped me decide that it will be a major point in my next pitch.
What I changed based off feedback was a new unique example to start of the elevator pitch, and the ways that my service will be better than the competition. I only stated in my first pitch the ways my service would function and in this pitch focused on an example of students bringing back their old books and making money.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
16A- What's Your Secret Sauce?
Five Ways of my
unique human capital
1. I find myself to be very street smart with common sense
-I feel in most cases I am able to solve issues or problems
with logic and common sense. A good example would be an issue with laying out a
room or even dealing with an exam question. If I do not know the exact way to
do a problem I tend to figure it out be logic and process of elimination in an
exam. With setting stuff up in a room, I tend to make unique decisions in
where to put things outside of the box which typically works great.
2. I am very competitive in all situations
-Being competitive is a trait that I have which can be
beneficial by striving to be the best in whatever situation I am in. In the
workplace, I word hard to make a good impression of the company and hope be
liked by the management for future references or ways to move up. I like to win
and compete, so I feel in any situation can make a positive impact.
3. My time management is very strong
-I feel a unique attribute to me is how well my time
management is. In terms of school or real life experiences I focus on
never being late and making sure to get things done. With assignments that is
very important to turn them in on time to keep up with the course and for real
life experiences to make sure I am never late to a meeting or event.
4. I am reliable when it comes to trust
-Throughout my life I have gone through unique experiences
with family issues and many people telling me personal issues that I have
helped them with. Some of these issues are meant to just stay with me and I am
extremely reliable when it comes to keeping things to myself. I am not the type
of person to spread news especially confidential when people are relying on me
to keep it to myself.
5. I feel I am kind and can work or get along with anyone
-I am very kind to people I meet and everyone in my life. I like
to make people happy and tend to be more of a giver than a receiver in
situations such as holidays. This is great for people I will work with as there
will be a good relationship to get things done.
Interviews:
1. Alex Schobert- My Girlfriend
-My takeaway is that I am passionate about most things in my life especially the things I care about. Im loyal when it comes to friendships and relationships and very dedicated with school and sports.
2. Kyle Stoker- Roommate
-My takeaway is I am driven when a set goals and achieve them. I am a competitor and strive to be the best. Also, I am an honest guy that people can trust and rely on.
3. Marc Johnson- Father
-My takeaway from this interview is that I am a hard worker with great communication skills. I have a good sense of emotion when evaluating people and helping them out. I have great business insight with how businesses work and what to do to make them better.
4. Liz Johnson- Mother
-My takeaway from this interview is that I am caring and careful to make sure I do things to the best of my abilities. When I do a job, I make sure the job is done right and make sure it gets finished.
5. Tori Johnson- Sister
-My takeaway from this interview is that I am responsible making sure everyone I am with is okay and doing well. I stay on top of my assignments making sure to complete them before a deadline. I am athletic and competitive.
Reflection
I see myself as street smart, competitive, responsible, reliable, and kind. Others see me as passionate, driven, caring, hard worker, and responsible. There are a few differences not much and these are that I find myself street smart with logic in most things. What causes this difference is I do a lot of things alone that I am like "wow that was outside the box." I feel the interviews are correct about me and correlate with the list I created originally. I would not make any changes to my list as most of what I stated the interviews covered. A lot of my traits the people I interviewed said the same thing about me. If I was to correct the list at all I would change the common sense to something more general that people would say about me.
I see myself as street smart, competitive, responsible, reliable, and kind. Others see me as passionate, driven, caring, hard worker, and responsible. There are a few differences not much and these are that I find myself street smart with logic in most things. What causes this difference is I do a lot of things alone that I am like "wow that was outside the box." I feel the interviews are correct about me and correlate with the list I created originally. I would not make any changes to my list as most of what I stated the interviews covered. A lot of my traits the people I interviewed said the same thing about me. If I was to correct the list at all I would change the common sense to something more general that people would say about me.
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30A- Final Reflection
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