Friday, February 22, 2019
14A - Halfway Reflection
This course has really brought the best out of me. It has forced me to be diligent with deadlines and it's one of the first courses I've connected well with. I have had to increase my organization skills to succeed in this class but even that is sometimes not enough. To get over those humps, I had to change my mindset about the course and about life in general. I believe that my perspective on life and my understanding of the difficulties some people go through day in and day out are the two things that have gotten me this far in this class. I think if people can first, develop this mindset; second, understand that there is worse you can be doing than learning; and third, I would tell the future students to go into this class with a specific idea they want to actually investigate as opposed to just picking one for the sake of it. I am sure a lot of people in this class did that and now regret it.
13A Reading Reflection
David McCullough can be considered one of my favorite authors of all time, especially after reading his Wright Brothers biography. Wilbur and Orville successes were of course because of their individual prowess, engineering capability, and unending curiosity; however, what surprised me about these two entrepreneurs was their ability to work together and breakthrough conflict. These are two traits I feel will be imperative to my own success. I would ask these men to mentor me as there's not enough to learn in two questions compared to as many as I have for them. If I did have to choose two, I would ask them to analyze my life and tell me where I can be better (with respect to entrepreneurship), and I would also ask them what their ambitions were to see if their ambitions were related to their business/engineering goals or if they were working towards a life external to their work. It's because of this that I would believe their opinion of hard work would be relatively convoluted. For instance, they had such a love for what they were doing WHILE they were doing it that I don't think they would consider what they did hard work. I believe the hardest work is that of which you have to do and yet you do not want to. Their drive to succeed is what set them apart from other entrepreneurs and believers alike, and I wish I could find a passion similar to that of Wilbur and Orville so I could exert the same drive towards a singular goal.
Friday, February 15, 2019
12A - Figuring Out Buyer Behavior
The segment of people that would likely have the highest affinity for my potential product would be parents or grandparents that have children who have become pregnant (or impregnated another) before the age of 21.
Interviewee 1 (Relative, preferred that name not be disclosed when I told her what this was for):
This interviewee is someone who has experienced both ends of the spectrum with respect to early pregnancy (or what may be considered early in today's society): she had a kid at age 20 and then that kid had her kid at age 20 as well. So she has experienced this both as an young parent and as a 40 year old grandmother. When I spoke to her about my potential product, she had a few concerns. First, she wondered how I could build enough credibility to make my product respectable enough to purchase. And second, she mentioned how it could help people going through these situations; however, people are becoming more and more distant from reading and she thinks it would be difficult to find enough people who will actually take the time out of there day to read anything anymore.
Interviewee 2 (Elizabeth Conerly): This interviewee is a 75 year old great grandmother whose grandchild just had her first kids at the age of 19. She spoke about how this was hard on the family both financially and with respect to the relationships. With respect to my potential product, however, she says that the information contained may be useful. She also said though that people may not be inclined to take advice from a guide that may not have pertinent information to their specific situation. I explained how it would be very specific for people in a very specific situation, and she said that it just can't possibly account for all the intricacies of a certain family. I understand what she is saying, but I just see this as a buyer perspective that would make people less inclined to buy the product.
Interviewee 3 (JJ Ledbetter): JJ has two kids at ages 9 and 11. He had his first child when he was 22 and his ex-wife was 20. He talked about how it created a rift between him and his family who thought less of him for having children so early in life. He believes that my potential product could have saved their relationship during that time if they better understood the difficulties relating to these types of situations. However, similar to other interviewees, he was not a fan of the form in which my product was offered.
These interviews with people who have gone through the targeted experiences have taken away some confidence that my product will be successful, even with proper marketing. I will have to reconsider the form of my product and if it can it is even still viable.
Interviewee 1 (Relative, preferred that name not be disclosed when I told her what this was for):
This interviewee is someone who has experienced both ends of the spectrum with respect to early pregnancy (or what may be considered early in today's society): she had a kid at age 20 and then that kid had her kid at age 20 as well. So she has experienced this both as an young parent and as a 40 year old grandmother. When I spoke to her about my potential product, she had a few concerns. First, she wondered how I could build enough credibility to make my product respectable enough to purchase. And second, she mentioned how it could help people going through these situations; however, people are becoming more and more distant from reading and she thinks it would be difficult to find enough people who will actually take the time out of there day to read anything anymore.
Interviewee 2 (Elizabeth Conerly): This interviewee is a 75 year old great grandmother whose grandchild just had her first kids at the age of 19. She spoke about how this was hard on the family both financially and with respect to the relationships. With respect to my potential product, however, she says that the information contained may be useful. She also said though that people may not be inclined to take advice from a guide that may not have pertinent information to their specific situation. I explained how it would be very specific for people in a very specific situation, and she said that it just can't possibly account for all the intricacies of a certain family. I understand what she is saying, but I just see this as a buyer perspective that would make people less inclined to buy the product.
Interviewee 3 (JJ Ledbetter): JJ has two kids at ages 9 and 11. He had his first child when he was 22 and his ex-wife was 20. He talked about how it created a rift between him and his family who thought less of him for having children so early in life. He believes that my potential product could have saved their relationship during that time if they better understood the difficulties relating to these types of situations. However, similar to other interviewees, he was not a fan of the form in which my product was offered.
These interviews with people who have gone through the targeted experiences have taken away some confidence that my product will be successful, even with proper marketing. I will have to reconsider the form of my product and if it can it is even still viable.
11A - Idea Napkin
1) My name is Griffin. I was a math tutor at my old school which changed my perspective on life. I tutored many people from 14 year old high school students to 90 year old war veterans. I met people from all walks of life and it gave me a perspective into where I might want to be at those different times in life. I believe that entrepreneurship may be the key to reaching those points. I don't think selling a guide to help with family struggles related to teen pregnancy is my best problem-solving idea, but it could work.
2) This product will serve as a guide to helping people through an unprecedented time in their life. Through research and knowledge from experts, my guide can serve as THE guide to how to help you and your family through that difficult time.
3) This product would be offered to the parents whose children have just become pregnant with their grandchild.
4) In times like this one, sometimes it can feel as if you have no options or no way out. However, this guide can serve as answers when they are needed most.
5) What I feel sets my apart is my perspective on life and my ability to think critically/outside the box. I do not feel contained within the mental society that I feel envelops much of the population.
I think the idea and its potential is not phenomenal because of the way society is today. However, I feel that the combination of these elements and the idea can bring about something unprecedented and different to any competing products.
2) This product will serve as a guide to helping people through an unprecedented time in their life. Through research and knowledge from experts, my guide can serve as THE guide to how to help you and your family through that difficult time.
3) This product would be offered to the parents whose children have just become pregnant with their grandchild.
4) In times like this one, sometimes it can feel as if you have no options or no way out. However, this guide can serve as answers when they are needed most.
5) What I feel sets my apart is my perspective on life and my ability to think critically/outside the box. I do not feel contained within the mental society that I feel envelops much of the population.
I think the idea and its potential is not phenomenal because of the way society is today. However, I feel that the combination of these elements and the idea can bring about something unprecedented and different to any competing products.
Friday, February 1, 2019
8a- Solving the problems
Because of the awkward situation that a parent is put in when their child becomes unexpectedly pregnant (or impregnated another), I think a great solution would be a quick, readable guide that helps these parents not only cope with the situation but also helps them guide their children in the right direction, wherever that might be. This guide could be organized sort of like a decision tree, "if you want abortion read this, if you don't read this" etc. Hopefully, the guide could serve as comfort in this unknown situation of theirs. To accomplish this, I would have to do research with parents who have already gone through this and how they handled it. Also, if we gain enough traction, we may be able to do something like personal situation analyses for more complicated situations that we could use our expertise to help solve their individual problems. Therefore, we could be a business that operates on two fronts: selling guides and information as well as servicing our customer base for their specific needs.
7a - Testing The Hypothesis - Teen Pregnancy
There is a huge problem in the United States and across the world where people are having children without having the ability to support them. This is most likely due to the fact that the parents are too young, possibly young enough to be considered children themselves. While there are no direct solutions to solving the world's problem of early pregnancy, there are ways that can make it easier for the new parents and the grandparents to cope with the situation. A potential way to help this issue is a guide written for parents whose children become pregnant early. This could help give them a better understanding of an unprecedented situation that they have come by. This guide may include how to talk to the teen/potential parent about their options, as that may be extremely difficult in that time. I spoke to 5 different people about this subject and the findings were quite interesting, and they changed the way I thought about this opportunity. One unexpected result was that they all talked about the idea of abortion and how it relates to the guide. One interviewee even said the guide can be titled, "how to convince your pregnant child to have an abortion." While this may be a little extreme, it showed me that there is an opportunity to sell information to parents in this desperate time. Another interviewee mentioned how relatively small a 20$ investment is compared to having to support a child that's not even yours. Because of these interviews, I realized that I may be more successful if I am more direct in my targeting strategy.
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