15A- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No.2

Report Findings
      For the interviews I conducted, I found some insights from the interviewees on how to make the service I am providing more appeasing towards those people who need it. One of the interviews (I believe it was the second one) gave me some good advice I should make a note of is that for the people who are too proud to take the help could be convinced by someone who already went through the works of both programs and have a better understanding on what the stubborn homeless person is going through. If they succeed then perhaps in the future those very same stubborn people could end up helping people who are too proud in the future as well.
      But going back a bit my first interview was not as informative as the other two but I was still able to get some insight on the matter of homelessness at the very least. They suggested when first starting up the business in order to get people to acknowledge that this is problem perhaps something could be done to spread the word. Up until now I didn't think that much on how the service would start except that it would require a lot of money, so creating a way that gets people to know about this problem which at the same time not so much that it would make the target audience (homeless people) uncomfortable. Ways I thought of to spread the word include flyers, social media, creating a website, or writing a blog (like this one but more professional).
      Lastly the third interview I was able to obtain much insight because there were things I still didn't think about yet. Some suggestions they gave during the interview on how I could make this service more friendly towards customers would be that even after all the support they could obtain from it if they are still hesitant could there be any alternatives like for instance if there are people who prefer to stay at the home of a friend or family member would there be a way for them to participate in the job finding program or vice versa with wanting find jobs themselves and only wish to use the temporary living program. I also asked them where or how they would to use this service if they were homeless and they said perhaps someplace locally so that person won't have to go very far, this area will require more information gathering in order to find out the best possible place. They also added as a side note to not hire just anybody for the job of helping people out and that homeless people will be in a dark place so not just anybody can be certified to help them.

Conclusion
      To conclude through these interviews I was able to get a better idea on how to improve my service. I need to make both programs helpful to people that they be willing accept the help. I should also research where most homeless people are located so to have an area they could go to participate in the programs. I should also find an efficient way to spread the word on this matter to get people's attention.

14A- Halfway Reflection

1. Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?
• To keep up with the requirements of this class I mainly used my time management skills to be able to post the assignments needed to be posted before the due date and to not be rushed at the last minute. I also prioritize the importance of each part of the assignment if it comes in multiple parts like interviewing, looking up information, or reading a book which are more important than typing up the post itself or can't be done without that information.
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?
• On the assignments that require me to interview people were times that I felt like giving up, for one thing it was difficult enough the first time and it seems like almost every week I had to go talk to some random person to interview and I am not much of a talker. What pulled me through was the thought of failing a supposedly easy class and so I got the work done. I do feel like in these past two months I've obtained a rather tenacious attitude because I haven't been having any issues with my work lately so that's a good sign. The experiences that contributed to this would have to be all the interviews done on different people because it really got me out of my comfort zone.
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. Fostering the skills that support tenacity. There will always be something that you'll be doing something at the same time as your assignments for this class, heck you'll even be studying for an exam at the same time as doing your assignments for this class. But my tip for you is to continue to improve on your time management, any time yous could have done something better with your time remember it.
2. Developing the 'tenacious mindset'. If you manage to get this far without having any problems with this class the it shows that you have a tenacious mindset. You manage to put off stuff you would rather be doing and manage to pull through with the class and all the work that comes with it alongside your other classes. My tip for you for this would be to not stay at this level of tenacity but to rise up as the assignments for the class go by.
3. My last tip for you is to not stress the small things in this class and to just keep up with the work and you'll be fine. Good luck.

13A- Reading Reflection No.1

For this assignment I read the autobiography "Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's" by Ray Kroc. Here are my thoughts on the book:

• What surprised you the most? 
• What surprised me the most was the amount of jobs and moving around Ray Kroc had when he was still young. One of his first jobs he had was selling paper cups and others jobs he had at the same time was playing the piano at different locations. With these jobs came very little time off and small break times until it was time for the next job. He also moved from his home of Chicago to Florida and back to Chicago again. I believed he did this was to help provide for himself, his wife, and child at the time, but reading on I read he was a very hard worker to gain extra money.
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• I would have to say the thing I most admire about Ray Kroc was when he puts his mind to something he sets out to do it. Then again it could be the endurance he had to be able to handle so many jobs in one day and have little sleep and then repeating it the next day and only having one day off of the week. These factors could be because he was still a young entrepreneur who was passionate on the things he does. Seeing that he did many jobs instead of sticking with one shows that he was determined to earn money to better help his family and himself financially and it was during a time where very little money today was considered a lot back then.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• He seemed to have a bit of an ego, like in the part of the book where he becomes a salesman for a cup company he mentions getting his salary cut due to it being the time the Great Depression, he mentions that hearing that information from his boss was blow to him by affronting his ego. And he literally mentions that he is the best salesman the company has (not to his boss) and that he would not stand for it and began arguing with his boss. Now I don't know how things were in the Great depression but at the very least you should be satisfied with having any job earning any money at that time. Why he almost lost that job but his boss made special arrangements just for him, talk about adding on to his ego.
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure?
• Yes he did encounter adversity and failure. One time was during a winter when he was trying to sell paper cups to customers who would buy them for their workplace, business slowed down. See Ray thought of the customer first and he wasn't going to sell his cups to people who were not getting as much business due to the cold temperature of winter, customers he had difficulty selling to included people who sold cold drinks. And there were also times when he worked as pianist the places he work at weren't always the best scene. One place he worked at was a night club for a short period and due to him being uncomfortable with the staff and people who came to this place, when he got his payment he left and never looked backed. Another job he had was as pianist at another night club which happened to be illegal and soon after revenue agents found the place and Ray spent three hours in jail.
• What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
• The competencies I think the entrepreneur exhibited was that he knew ways of making a tough situation better. For instance he found a way to earn more money as a pianist when he found out he had to share his earnings with the rest of the musicians there and he was able argue with his boss of another job to keep earning a decent amount of money even during the Great Depression.
• Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you:
• One part on the reading I found confusing was that he starts the reading with a recap on all the things he has done in his life and how he would eventually start the McDonald's franchise and then the next chapter it begins with his life's story. I found it confusing because why start the reading with "spoilers" and then get to the actual autobiography I feel like it defeats the purpose a bit.
• If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
• The first question I would ask if he regrets any of the jobs he has taken in the past? I would ask this because reading the book I noticed that there were a few jobs that he didn't particularly enjoy and if he ever regretted working for them in the first place. My second question would be if he regretted not taking school seriously because he mentions earlier on in the book that his brother and sister were more studious than he was so it makes me assume that might not have been the best student.
• For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
• I think Ray Kroc's opinion on hard work is that it is important, that you can go far. I do share that opinion because take Ray Kroc for instance would you really expect a cup seller would eventually go on to open a franchise of restaurants that is still popular to this day, so yeah I do believe that with enough hard work you can accomplish something great.  

12A- Figuring out Buyer Behavior No.1

• Choosing a segment:
• The segment I chose was "poor", now finding out if these people are in this segment will be tough to find and is a personal issue for the interviewee so I will have to be discrete about it when finding people to interview. One person I found to interview was a man that was playing his guitar for spare change with a hat next to him to collect that change. The second interviewee I found was a woman holding a sign on the sidewalk asking for financial support. And lastly the final person I interviewed was a part time worker at a convenience store.
• Interviews:
• For the most part of the interviews I found out these people did end up homeless. For the first interview the man who played the guitar for change (lets refer to him as interviewee #1) was laid off from work due to budget cuts and without a job he was unable to pay bills and lost their house. A solution he came up with was living with his parents at their house and to help pay for his stay he plays music for change at the time looking for a job. Interviewee #2 the woman with the sign had a similar situation of losing their job and are currently homeless are trying to get in contact with some friends and family to see if she could do something about her situation. Finally interviewee #3 was evicted from his apartment due to late rent payments and became homeless as well and had to crash at his friends house and earn minimum wage at a store to pay for his stay. What they all agreed on was having someone to help in times a need is great and all but they still would prefer to live their lives how they see fit so they felt the services idea I have was something that many people in similar situations can benefit from.
• What I learned:
• What I learned from the interviews I conducted was that when a person becomes homeless they usually refer to people who they are close with for support, such as friends or family. I learned that perhaps the main reason why there people become homeless is from losing their jobs and unable to find a new one. One of the programs of the service I thought is designed to help people find jobs that fits their capabilities and the the program gives them temporary housing until they are able to afford their own so these programs could fix the job finding situation and the housing to live in and not rely on friends and family.
• Conclusion:
• Describing the segment "poor" can vary because there are different levels of being poor such as the one where a person barely makes enough to live off of, the kind that can't things that range from expensive to regular priced, or not have enough money for food or shelter. So this segment only involves the people who fall under the homeless level of poor. Although I believe that any poor person would support this service because they might feel that they could end up in this situation as well.

11A- Idea Napkin No.1

• Who you are:
• My name is Christopher Denegri, I am a second year UF undergraduate student and I am a political science major. Some of my talents include multitasking and the ability to be organized and punctual. I don't have much experience on the entrepreneur field but I got to start somewhere. My aspirations are that I would like to somehow leave my mark on the world before time comes and to just somehow be remembered in a good way. Which is why that if I were to start my business I would be helping a lot of people and could be on the road to that aspiration. A world where the term homeless is only seen in pictures and not in real life is something I am striding for.
•  What are you offering to costumers:
• What I am offering is a service to help homeless people fix the situation that they are in. What the service I am providing is two programs that are specifically designed to help homeless people get back to living normal everyday lives. One program is for helping people who have become homeless find jobs to help them make a living doing something within their skill set. The second program gives them temporary housing until those people are able to afford their own. With these two programs I hopefully can try to end the homeless situation.
• Who are you offering it to:
• This service is something I am offering to people who lost their jobs and can no longer continue to pay their bills to continue living in their home. It could also be targeted towards people who had trouble getting a job to begin with and have no place to go when they have no money. What each customer has in common is that they have to be homeless and without a job.
• Why do they care:
• I think a business will help by paying me money to start up these programs because there might be some officials who would want the good publicity that doing these services will stir up. It could also help the public become more aware of the situation and could get them to pitch in as well. And if the public is involved then the business could end up saving money on the service as well.
• What are your core competencies: 
• I am not sure what exactly sets me apart from everyone else, it could be that I actually want to do something about this issue or it could be that I might be one of the few people in this world that observes the world around me. Either way I am not sure how I compare to people who make homeless shelters for these people, but I still want to give it a shot. What I have that no one else has is my own ideas on how this service could be like and I can change them any way I see fit.
• I think that all the elements I typed up seem to fit together just fine, although there are some in my opinion that seem to be weaker than others. For instance the element of "Why do they care" I do not have any knowledge of a business that could be willing to help start up this service nor do I know if the public will become aware to this topic because lets face the ugly truth that humanity is selfish. I could be wrong and who knows I could end up finding a business with enough research. As for everything else I think that it fits well together for my business concept and I truly believe that I could make a difference even if its a small one.

10A- Elevator Pitch 1

Here is the link to my pitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-kEzDrA_5s&feature=youtu.be

9A- Testing The Hypothesis Part 2

• Who: For these new set of interviews I am going to conduct, I tried to find people who can relate to the issue of being homeless more than other people can as well as some normal as well, these will be different than the people who I've interviewed in the past. One person that I interviewed was somebody who by the looks of it was sleeping on a bench judging by the covers on the bench. And the shopping cart full of an assortment of clothes and other cloths next to them gave me the impression that they were struggling so, to not impose on them for too long I asked them questions on the matter. They said any help to the homeless would benefit anybody because you may never know if you will end up in this mess. He also mentions as a side note that people need to be willing to accept this help because there are some people who need this help but don't want it, whether it comes from self pride or just refusing the help of others not everyone will want help but do it themselves.
• For my next interview I interviewed a passing grocery store worker who I assume was on break or their shift ended I wasn't sure and I forgot to ask. However here this interviewee told me that the program ideas are something that they would use if they were homeless. Being poor is one thing but losing someplace to live is something far worse is what they told me.
• The third interviewee was someone who was working at a fast food place and earning minimum wage. He told me that the idea regarding having to create programs that will give homeless people a place to live and one that will help them get a job could be of great help to people. He told me that even though he wasn't living off minimum wage there are some people in the world who are and if they were to lose their job it would be difficult for them to pay their bills and lose there their home.
• I decided to interview two college students here on UF on the matter seeing as I interviewed three people who to some extent can relate if certain conditions were met. One of the people didn't have much insight on the matter but did mention that they have seen the issue out in the world with people losing their jobs and the second person gave me a bit more thought on the matter by saying that even with the programs created to help them there is no guarantee that it could fix the homeless issue permanently.
• What: Interviewee #1 made a good point on saying that some people are to proud for their own good so I will have to make the programs seem like something that one can trust and to be easily approachable.
• Why: The underlying cause of the need is different because in the world their are some people who fall on the category of poor and while they may have enough to at the very least sustain themselves they don't fall under the homeless category of having no home. Even so poor people with enough passing time could end up homeless, so the difference between the two is minimal compared to ones with big differences like people with high paying jobs or people of the normal class.

                             Inside the Boundary                                          Outside the Boundary

Who:           Poor or homeless people. People                     People with high paying jobs.

                    care about the lives of those people                 People who don't care about their fellow

                    and wish the best for them.                              man.

What:          To help homeless people get back on              To help people who are financially okay or

                    their feet by getting them a place to                or have a job already find another job or 

                    live and helping them get a job.                      give them a place to live.

Why:           There is an increase in homeless people          People with gambling problems.

                    due to them unable to pay their bills or           People who never could find a job.

                    be laid off from work.                                      People in need of a place to stay yet have

                                                                                             the money to buy or rent a home.

8A- Solving the Problem

• Opportunity: In Gainesville there seems to be a rather big increase in homeless people and the ideas that I had obtained through long thinking and speaking with other people gave me the knowledge I needed to probably solve this problem, delay it at best.
• Now there are some people who actually pay attention to the world around them they may have noticed that there is more people with cardboard signs praying for help or more people begging for spare change. What I hope to accomplish is creating programs that could help deal with the many factors that leads to different people ending up poor to the point of losing their home. I would like for this to not only benefit a homeless person but a family that has been unlucky enough to be in this situation.
• Some of the ideas for the programs I want to implement include:
1. Creating a program whose job it is to help homeless people find a job that fits their skill set and help them get back on their feet. See when a person get laid off from work it is sometimes difficult for them to know where to look for the best option of work.
2.  Second a different program that if a homeless person did manage to get a this program would give them a temporary shelter until they have enough for their own living space. Its sounds similar to a homeless shelter but in reality it would be something like a homeless apartment for them to live at until they get back on track instead of being jumbled up together with other people.
• I want to make any of these programs helpful and to actually make a difference in the world. Currently there is nothing I can do because in order to implement these ideas to become reality I will need money and many workers as well. Also there is no guarantee that these plans will work. But it is a start as good as any.
• I think that somewhere in the world there are people who see this as an issue too. Perhaps if these programs were to not get anywhere on the matter it, what could be done to delay the problem from increasing more rapidly would be to build more homeless shelters so that the ones already exist don't get too full. Now while it may seem like a waste of resources to build another building just to house homeless people I can assure you it could make a difference and if the issue were to be delay maybe the future generation would be able to find an opportunity from this.