Final Reflection

Coming into this class I was excited to see how the course work would affect the way I think about the market and innovation and business in general. Coming in, I was already pretty experienced with the entrepreneurial spirit and knew what this class would entail overall. However, this class provided these unforgettable experiences that I will always remember. The fact that we were forced to make three different elevator pitches has made me more confident than ever before. It was also enjoyable to make that video countless times until I got it right. Also I loved being able to get to see other kids ho have the same mindset as me and would be open to partner up in different projects.

I am most proud of not one thing in particular but as myself as a whole throughout this class. at the beginning I was reluctant to do the projects and participate in most things because I thought I knew everything. Extremely wrong of myself. As soon as I let myself take in and truly dissect the culture of this class my mindset developed and jumped exponentially.

My biggest recommendation for the ones taking this class is to take it Bec tase you want it. If you enjoy this class and take it seriously and not just for a grade it'll teach you things about yourself that most classes do not. Most classes teach you content about a certain area of study, entrepreneurship is a mindset. It is a way of thinking that allows you explore every idea possible surrounding a product or an idea. Even if you do not plan to become an inventor of an idea or product at this moment in time, someday you may wake up or find yourself in a position of a brilliant idea and this class will help. Be open to the coursework, do not delay it till the last minute, and listen to the feedback, everything is for a reason.

Venture Concept No. 2

The opportunity I’ve seen for my business is the ability to help people with an unsought need, but one that is actually needed. For example, people with families and finances used to support others, can benefit from life insurance to keep supporting others if anything life threatening were to happen to them. I classify this as an unsought need because people do not wake up and go out and look for life insurance. It is a need one must make aware to them. In my dealings with potential customers, I’ve come to the realization that once they are made aware of the potential benefits life insurance will offer them, it practically turns into a necessity. 

I’ve also identified my potential customers as a wide age range. Life insurance does not cover just those in good financial position who have something to lose in a life-threatening situation. It covers everyone just because the premise of this idea is that “everyone is in denial of their mortality’. That expression so clearly identifies the target audience, because at any point in your life, something can happen that renders you incapable of taking care of yourself. If you are a young teen who has recently become independent with a job and an income, the last thing you want to do is have to become dependent on your parents for the remainder of your life. Without a proper compensation plan to be careful about the future, how can you be prepared. However, this opportunity also becomes equally important to those who have an income and have dependents upon that income. Examples of this include husbands, children, wives, parents, and just relatively anyone that depends on you. Those that depend on you cannot afford for anything to happen to you, which is where life insurance plays a role. Basically means, expect the unexpected. 

This market is opened for life. The window of opportunity will never close because no matter what people will need to be insured for the rest of their lives. Unless there is an alternative to insurance in which people can protect themselves from these unexpected accidents, I believe life insurance will be here to stay. As for the geographical context, I plan to stay in America. Expanding to international areas brings too many problems and changes I believe I’m not ready for, until my business has reached the maturity stage of its process. America is the biggest economy in the world, so to be able to market and sell my product in an economy of this scale, I believe my profit margins are going to be well over enough. 

Figuring all this out has given me an amazing opportunity that most don’t understand. People try to find opportunity in things that consumers seek out on a daily basis. My idea has formed by thinking just a little bit outside the box. 

After discovering my opportunity, I have been able to be innovative with the product. The biggest problem in finding customers is the fact that life insurance policies become to unexpected. Most consumers have the mindset of not wanting to pay for something they don’t directly reap rewards from. Car insurance is a necessity if you want to drive a car, but sometimes most don’t even offer to pay for that. Consider the fact that this is a legal requirement to even drive a car. To bypass this barrier, I have formed a plan create customizable insurance plans that become affordable to every age range. The purpose of this is the idea that it appeals to every age range and that not everyone wants to have the same life insurance coverage. But why would a younger person pay the same price as an older person who is well into his/her career and is already financially stable? This is where my company truly elevates the game to the next level. 

Creating these customizable plans will lower my commissions deeply. The plan is having cheaper commissions but bigger quantities of customers. Kind of taking a Walmart style approach by appealing to a larger clientele is another form of innovation. Walmart was a pioneer in the field of grocery and wholesale who completely changed the game. This is my idea. It will take a lot of work but being an innovator is where the true entrepreneurs really become successful. 

I have defined my innovation and my opportunity, so the next step is my venture capital. Customers would switch to my idea for the fact that they get a personalized plan based on finance, age, and expected growth. This way they can pay for a plan that offers similar coverage for the price they are able to, not just one that is a standard rate for everyone. This is going to involve heavy collaboration and relationships with life insurance companies to be able to get these plans but expected profit and payout will be enough to provide incentive. In every fair market there is always going to be competition, but that Is the only way capitalism would work. Obviously, my main competitors will be well trusted agencies that have been around for a long period of time. These agencies have a giant customer base and have well established relationships with the life insurance companies and their customers.

The great thing about this service-based industry is that we don’t need packaging or distribution in terms of materialistic areas. However, distribution is important in this area. We must have proper distribution with life insurance plans and keep a standard system for keeping customer database in check. Also, setting a proper business is the biggest step in making this big. I love this because my business can start with just me and as profits and clients grow so can my business. Bringing on a second employee would be an assistant to keep track of my customers to be able to keep expanding. After having a good database of customers I can begin to bring in another salesperson and continue gradual expansion.

          Feedback: I got very positive feedback from my peers in all the peer reviews we did. They said they liked my work and that I have a great idea going. As far as my Whats Next I think this venture concept was able to capture all that. I changed it by grasping the advice from others and instilling it in my new venture concept. Although I was told my idea was pretty full proof there is ways room for progression and for improvement. Anytime Im given a new idea I take it and develop it which is one of the greatest qualities I perceive as an entrepreneur. 

Exit Strategy

1) When I thought of the life insurance business and my idea I planned to make an empire out of this. I planned to make this my mark in the world and thats where people would remember me as. As appealing as that sounds, if in 5 years a company offers me a lucrative deal on my company, I would be more than happy to sell it. Not to sit on a pile of money, but continue other endeavors that would lead to greater rates of revenue.

2) I don't have a set in stone exit strategy, but I chose this one that will allow me to diversify and do more with my life than just keep it at this level. I don't want to just focus all my time and energy on one company, I want to be able to maximize my sources of revenue and get in other businesses. Life insurance is not my true calling, but it is my vehicle to explode into the entrepreneurial world.

3) My exit strategy definitely has influenced my growth within the company. It has helped me identify how I want to grow and what I want to do when the company develops. It has showed me the route I am willing to take my business to.

Reading Reflection No.3

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance

For my third reading reflection I chose to read Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. I chose this book because I have always been a fan of Elon Musk and what he does, he goes against the grain and does what he wants. 

The thing that surprised me the most was that he was bullied in school. I see that being smart and an introvert pushed him against the other children. As you can see he faced those troubling times, but pushed through because he understood that his work was much more important than a couple kids calling his name. He never allowed this to stray hi away from what he wanted.           

 The thing that I most admire about Elon Musk is that he questions everything. If there's anything I learned from the most successful people is that they do not do what the normal 97% of society does. Doing this would lead them to the same lifestyle, so that's why they're in the position they're in right now. They had the power to fight every normality and one of these was Elon Musk. Without this mentality he would not be paving the way for science innovation as he is today. 

The thing I least admire about Musk is when he went off on an employee who was there to show their support at the birth of his child instead of attending a work event. He could have handled the situation differently, especially since they were there to support him and his wife. 

            

Musk encountered a lot of adversity in his childhood with bullying at school and the separation of his parents. He overcame this by becoming a great entrepreneur and starting two very successful tech companies that he used to finance his other passions in life, helping make the world a better place.

           

 Musk had many competencies about him from what I read. From his photographic memory to his desire to see things differently and ask questions that weren’t being asked to help solve his problems. One of, if not his biggest competencies is his desire to change the world. One of my favorite quotes was “if the rules are such that you can’t make progress, then you have to fight the rules.” 

            

One part of the book that was confusing to me was his mindset about putting all of your projects under one roof to make a lasting impact on the world. I feel as though there are other ways to make a lasting impact and that they can wear many different hats and live under many different roofs.

            

If I could ask two questions they would be: What impact on your professional and personal life has smoking weed with Joe Rogan on the Joe Rogan Experience had? And What are other little projects like the flame thrower are you working on or can we expect in the future? I would ask these because I know a lot of other information is out there on him because he is so famous, and I think it would be cool to get to know him and see what other cool ideas that aren’t going to save the world he has.

            

I think Musk’s opinion of hard work is that it is the most important thing. He has created so many successful things and those don’t come without hard work. I share Musk’s opinion or at least what I think his opinion is on hard work, I feel it has helped me get to where I am today.

Celebrating Failure

1) I have failed numerous times this semester and classes are one of them. I am very capable of passing each class, especially when its one with no exams and just deals with writing posts and what not. The only problem is that I am not school inclined. Meaning, my number one priority is not only in school, so I struggle with keeping track of hw for classes that repeatedly post a lot like this one. I have experienced failure with this class, but Ive learned to accept it and move on with my work. Ive gotten on track and I have not missed one since. The key is to just keep pushing forward and accept responsibility for that you've done.

2) Ive learned that the only way to learn from failure is that you must take responsibility for it. You must acknowledge what you could've done better to avoid this failure for the future. Ive learned it is my fault from most things that happen, so we must be smart and learn the cause to avoid it for the next time.

3) I believe failure is one of the most important things in life. I believe it defines you as a person. People can be perfectly fine when everything is okay. It is times of hardship and adversity where others show their true character. However, their true character may be one who prevails or one who shuts down and go backwards. I also think failure is how people achieve success and without it, people would not/could not reach success. The most successful and famous people in this world have had to go through an immense amount of adversity before achieving their final destination.

Whats Next?

Existing Market 

1. I believe the next step for my service is speaking to potential life insurance companies to figure out who would be open to collaborating with me in creating these customizable plans for customers. I believe it's an amazing idea and could be open to extreme profits. However, I believe that innovation is the hardest thing to convince these well known established companies. The best thing to do is create a relationship with another startup company that believes in innovation. It will be hard, but the fact of the matter is that to be a successful entrepreneur you must take risks.

2.
Customer 1:

I asked my first customer about what they thought I needed to do next. Their primary response was that I needed to establish a certain client base. The idea itself is great, but I need to expand my network and develop a business plan with more customers. Companies want to invest in startups that have already done their research and created a client base so they can get off the ground running.

Customer 2:

My second customer suggested I begin talking to big companies that have already made their mark in the life insurance world. Even without trying to gain relationships or partnerships they could offer key insight to the new world I'm trying to enter. Understanding the way your competitors think will give you a great edge to getting better insight on the way clients in this industry work.

Customer 3:

My third customer told me that I needed to focus on the big picture things. He thinks I've gotten the basics down, but I need to focus on how I can develop the company into a bigger one. After the profits start rolling in, how will I keep my customers, how will I expand into a bigger company, will expansion hurt my profits or cause me to lose my base.

3. What makes the most sense in expanding my venture is to definitely formulate a business plan and present it to existing competitors. Not to just create relationships and finding partners to work with, but to get friendly insight on how this world works. I've done my research but the best way to get concrete insight and great feedback is to talk directly to those people.

After that really dive into my venture and start my business plan. After using the feedback to adjust my work, I can finally begin what I've been working at for the past months. I have the financials all i need is my concrete plan to get the business up and running. First step get feedback, second, get some office space, third, create the market and explode.

Venture Concept No.1

The opportunity I’ve seen for my business is the ability to help people with an unsought need, but one that is actually needed. For example, people with families and finances used to support others, can benefit from life insurance to keep supporting others if anything life threatening were to happen to them. I classify this as an unsought need because people do not wake up and go out and look for life insurance. It is a need one must make aware to them. In my dealings with potential customers, I’ve come to the realization that once they are made aware of the potential benefits life insurance will offer them, it practically turns into a necessity.

I’ve also identified my potential customers as a wide age range. Life insurance does not cover just those in good financial position who have something to lose in a life-threatening situation. It covers everyone just because the premise of this idea is that “everyone is in denial of their mortality’. That expression so clearly identifies the target audience, because at any point in your life, something can happen that renders you incapable of taking care of yourself. If you are a young teen who has recently become independent with a job and an income, the last thing you want to do is have to become dependent on your parents for the remainder of your life. Without a proper compensation plan to be careful about the future, how can you be prepared. However, this opportunity also becomes equally important to those who have an income and have dependents upon that income. Examples of this include husbands, children, wives, parents, and just relatively anyone that depends on you. Those that depend on you cannot afford for anything to happen to you, which is where life insurance plays a role. Basically means, expect the unexpected.

This market is opened for life. The window of opportunity will never close because no matter what people will need to be insured for the rest of their lives. Unless there is an alternative to insurance in which people can protect themselves from these unexpected accidents, I believe life insurance will be here to stay. As for the geographical context, I plan to stay in America. Expanding to international areas brings too many problems and changes I believe I’m not ready for, until my business has reached the maturity stage of its process. America is the biggest economy in the world, so to be able to market and sell my product in an economy of this scale, I believe my profit margins are going to be well over enough.

Figuring all this out has given me an amazing opportunity that most don’t understand. People try to find opportunity in things that consumers seek out on a daily basis. My idea has formed by thinking just a little bit outside the box.

After discovering my opportunity, I have been able to be innovative with the product. The biggest problem in finding customers is the fact that life insurance policies become to unexpected. Most consumers have the mindset of not wanting to pay for something they don’t directly reap rewards from. Car insurance is a necessity if you want to drive a car, but sometimes most don’t even offer to pay for that. Consider the fact that this is a legal requirement to even drive a car. To bypass this barrier, I have formed a plan create customizable insurance plans that become affordable to every age range. The purpose of this is the idea that it appeals to every age range and that not everyone wants to have the same life insurance coverage. But why would a younger person pay the same price as an older person who is well into his/her career and is already financially stable? This is where my company truly elevates the game to the next level.

Creating these customizable plans will lower my commissions deeply. The plan is having cheaper commissions but bigger quantities of customers. Kind of taking a Walmart style approach by appealing to a larger clientele is another form of innovation. Walmart was a pioneer in the field of grocery and wholesale who completely changed the game. This is my idea. It will take a lot of work but being an innovator is where the true entrepreneurs really become successful.

I have defined my innovation and my opportunity, so the next step is my venture capital. Customers would switch to my idea for the fact that they get a personalized plan based on finance, age, and expected growth. This way they can pay for a plan that offers similar coverage for the price they are able to, not just one that is a standard rate for everyone. This is going to involve heavy collaboration and relationships with life insurance companies to be able to get these plans but expected profit and payout will be enough to provide incentive. In every fair market there is always going to be competition, but that Is the only way capitalism would work. Obviously, my main competitors will be well trusted agencies that have been around for a long period of time. These agencies have a giant customer base and have well established relationships with the life insurance companies and their customers.

The great thing about this service-based industry is that we don’t need packaging or distribution in terms of materialistic areas. However, distribution is important in this area. We must have proper distribution with life insurance plans and keep a standard system for keeping customer database in check. Also, setting a proper business is the biggest step in making this big. I love this because my business can start with just me and as profits and clients grow so can my business. Bringing on a second employee would be an assistant to keep track of my customers to be able to keep expanding. After having a good database of customers I can begin to bring in another salesperson and continue gradual expansion.