My Solution

Here I'd like to talk about a potential solution to the parking situation on Anna Maria Island. One idea I have is building a parking garage either on the mainland right before you cross the bridge to Perico Island or on Perico Island.  Then people going out to the island for the beaches or restaurants can take the trolley that already exists to AMI. This solves the parking situation on the island by reducing the amount of cars actually on the island. It also helps with the back up of traffic from the island to mainland. If more cars are puling of the road to enter a parking garage they decrease the line of cars that are waiting to get out to the island.  The parking garage also could include a store that sells all of the beach essentials - sunscreen, flip flops, bathing suits, etc.

Looking for Opportunity

• To start off with this assignment I'll use the decreasing gas prices as an opportunity from an economic trend.
• I found a great article that talked about the reasons why gas prices had dropped and the consequences of it, that article can be found here.
• After getting towards the end of the article it explains because of the low prices more traveling is done.  This seems pretty obvious, but with that increase it also means more car accidents. The first nine months of 2015 saw an increase of 9.3 percent more accidents, which is just some number right? But that's 26,000 more recorded deaths in America. This is what truly made me believe opportunity existed.  There must be a way to make traveling more safe.
• The prototypical customer in this scenario is anyone who is likely to travel more now that gas prices are lower. More specifically though I'm thinking those who have less income and maybe don't have as nice of cars with better safety features are the real target.
• The opportunity could be difficult to exploit. It really just becomes a numbers game. More drivers means more accidents, that's the unfortunate truth. The key is to make the most safe car at the most affordable cost. Here is a list of safe cars for under 25 grand, but I still think that these would be too expensive. VW and Volvo are known to be well built cars but they may still be too expensive for the target market I've identified. 
• Why did I see this? Last December I was involved in three car accidents.  Two parking lot fender benders, where people on their phones had hit me. The third accident a drunk driver hit me and pushed my car into the other side of the road into oncoming traffic. Luckily I was never hurt, but it was a dangerous situation and made me think about the safety of me in my car. So when coming upon this NYT article online I immediately realized I had found something that could be turned into an opportunity. I also think other people can realize this since it is backed up simply by numbers. More cars on the road equals more accidents taking place. 
• My second economic trend is fairly vague, but allows for a lot of creativeness.  The rise of consumer spending as the country continues to get out of its slump.
• The link to the article can be found here. It mentions four other trend in the article, but the shortest one is the one I'm focusing on.
• With more spending from the consumer, more products and services are being sold and more businesses are profiting. This is an easy opportunity to see. 
• The prototypical customer would be the consumer who recently acquired discretionary income since the end of the recession.
• I think this opportunity is easy to exploit compared to the opportunity mentioned above.  More people have more money that they'd be willing to spend on items that are not needed. 
• I saw this as an opportunity because I think anyone that has more money that they can spend on non-essential goods and services is inspiration to entrepreneurs to create the next 'unmet need'. For example, over summers I work full time and my 'discretionary' income increases greatly. For the first few weeks I tend to spend money on things I don't really need because I'm not used to having all of this extra money. I think this is similar to what the country is experiencing with the recession closing and unemployment rate decreasing. 
• My first regulatory change that provides opportunity could be directly related to the trend mentioned above. New overtime rules for hourly and salary employees.
• The article I found on this topic can be found here. It explains what the new rule is and how it affects some small businesses.
• I believe this is an opportunity related to discretionary income as previously stated.  Workers will either get a raise or get new overtime protection. More or less they have the chance to receive more money.
• The prototypical customer is someone who earned a lower salary but now gets an increase to meet the new minimum requirement. While overtime will not be payed they at least have a higher income.
• It might not be easy to exploit. It depends on how the company or management decides to use the new rule. They could lower the wage and pay overtime to their advantage making the employee not earn anymore than they have been. It also could mean the employer hires more employees, but this may not mean the new worker makes enough to have discretionary income still.
• As an employee for an employee leasing company I'll start to see the results of this change rather quickly.  It will be interesting to see how companies react to this new rule and how they manage their employee's pay.
• The last regulatory change I'd like to discuss is more of a governmental stance. I think regulated use of drugs, specifically marijuana is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs.
• The article I found talks about support for legalization of the drug. For the sake of the assignment I'd like to assume the drug will be allowed in every state of the country at some point tin the future. 
• With this drug available to everyone in the country I see a lot of opportunity. From taxing to decreased incarceration rates and sales of all the 'accessories' there are many opportunities. I'd focus more on products that could be sold along with the drug at stores.
• The prototypical customer in this scenario would be any consumer who buys the drug at a store. I think the key here if opening up a store would be to make it more user friendly and more appealing than the smoke shops are today.
• I think the opportunity is easy to see and exploit. Once the drug does become legal to all the economy could boost from all of the sales and taxes associated with it.
• Why did I see this? I think it is safe to say that most people whether they like the use of recreational drugs or not could agree that the selling of it could at least benefit the economy in one way or another.   

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

For this assignment I'm piggy backing off of my work from last week. My opportunity is limited parking on Anna Maria Island.

Who: Anna Maria Island
What: Limited parking
Why: Not enough space to accommodate heavy traffic

Post Interviews


Who:
What I had originally said was my 'Who' was correct, but it wasn't all the way there.  There was more than just AMI. In one interview a woman stated that traffic or parking could sometimes even get bad on Longboat Key, the island just south of AMI. Another interviewee said that once the parking is full and traffic backs up on to mainland that people here have to deal with AMI's problem as well.  Traffic could be backed up as far as 15 blocks into mainland according to one interviewee. I was told by an interviewee that her friends on the island also hate the heavy traffic because ultimately people resort to parking in the Publix lot, taking up spots for actual customers.


What:
As a result from limited parking the traffic becomes insanely congested.  This is what many of the interviewees stated was another issue.  You're more likely to experience that bad traffic before you get to the island and realize the parking is too full.  Some people also stated that with so much traffic and people it also takes away the 'charm' of the island.  Anna Maria Island and the community prides itself with having the old Florida charm.  They won't allow fast food chains on the island or any large businesses to operate there. Publix is the rare exception.  The locals aren't huge fans of all the tourists that come by and leave the beaches dirty in addition to taking up all the parking and crowding the traffic.  My view changed somewhat as people seemed to talk about how parking wasn't the sole root of the problem.  It may be attributed to a huge influx of people.


Why:
The why and what are similar, but I'd like to reiterate a few key points that were mentioned in my interviews.  Some people blamed the weather. Others the tourists.  One interviewee stated that no matter what day or month it was, if it was beautiful day out everyone is going to the beach, so you had better get up and out there early.  Others said the 'seasons' we have were the why factor.  Because we are a winter destination for many people up north, you can expect more people to visit town from January to March.  According to some interviewees, this is when the beach traffic and parking can become crowded.


Summary:
Overall the experience of talking to people about AMI and its parking/traffic problems was enlightening.  I learned about what other factors played into the opportunity at hand.  Maybe even more amusing was the fact that it's not only AMI.  I'm now understanding that beach traffic and parking is probably an issue all over Florida. It's just magnified on AMI because it is so small and it's not difficult to have traffic back up far into mainland because the city of Bradenton is also small, thus making the problem appear even larger.


Interview Links
1. http://tapeacall.com/nbw8ahg8ty
2. http://tapeacall.com/9aa6rxwuez
3. http://tapeacall.com/ftht9tpxhc
4. http://tapeacall.com/tqt7e8822c
5. https://soundcloud.com/user-297113972/interview-one

Forming an Opportunity Belief

1) My belief is that there is not enough public parking on Anna Maria Island.

2) The need for public parking on AMI has grown in the past few years as the population continues to increase in the Bradenton area. Anyone who visits the island to go out to the beach can experience this problem. The problem has always existed, but it can especially be seen during heavy tourist periods. In order to avoid the problem now beach goers are parking illegally in residential areas in addition to parking in local business lots.  There is a public beach parking lot but it is not anywhere near big enough to accommodate all of the people trying to go to the beach.

3) The prototypical customer is someone who lives off the island and is going to the beach.  They aren't able to get a public parking lot space which results with them parking illegally.

     After interviewing my mom, a person who frequently goes out to the beach, I was able to gain some prototypical customer insights. She believes that there needs to be more public parking all along the island for beach goers to use. She experiences this problem mostly between October and April and any major holiday.  She says the only way to deal with this problem is to get up very early and beat everyone out to the island in order to get a public parking spot.  On a scale of one to ten she said this solution ranked at a four or five.

After interviewing my mom I learned that this problem leads to other issues.  People don't want to get up early on their weekend to go to the beach.  I didn't consider the few major holidays that take place during her described months and much of a nightmare they could be.

My father presented a few different takes on the problem I identified.  He works on Longboat Key, an island south of AMI, and said the main issue for him is the traffic that accumulates and builds up as a result of people taking to long to find parking spaces.  He said he noticed this problem really taking place in the past three years.  To address it now he either gets up extremely early or just won't go on the island at all. He said on a scale of one to ten that this solution ranked as a two.

This interview, like the one with my mother, made me realize again how one issue can lead to another so easily.  As a result of limited parking the traffic backs up on the mainland and that can cause more problems.  I learned that really this is just one large chain reaction.

Lastly I interviewed my girlfriend who vacations on the island with her family.  I decided that understanding the perspective of someone who lives there, even if only for a week, would be important.  She said the parking situation becomes annoying when people park at shopping centers and take up spots that should be used for customers.

Since I live on the mainland, I wouldn't have seen this issue take place.  Once again I learned how just one problem leads to all these other issues.

After conducting these interviews I learned more about other problems than the one I originally came up with.  My problem was really just the main root of all these other issues.  My dad and I discussed many solutions to the problem, trying not to stray to far from my original idea.  I think it is okay to change your belief a little bit, but not so much that you're leaving the main problem unsolved.

Bug List

1. Coffee grinds in my coffee. Hate when they get stuck in my teeth.
1. Filter didn't do its job correctly
2. Bad hair cuts from new or different barbers.
1. Not enough communication between barber and client.
3. No arrow keys on touch screen Apple products. Not able to move cursor without touching phone.
1. possibly only problem for people with large hands/fingers.
4. Hidden renewal fees for monthly/yearly subscriptions. RedZone, magazines, etc.
1. Forced to actively deactivate services.
5. No WiFi areas. 
1. What if WiFi existed globally.
6. Dropped phone calls.
1. Poor service/not enough cell towers.
7. Out of stock products at grocery stores.
1. poor management, faulty UPCs
8. Out of sync traffic lights in heavy traffic areas (downtown).
1. Faulty wiring, power outage, bad system reboots.
9. "Glitchy" or "laggy" computers. Cursor moves slower than actual motion.
1. Bad cable connection.
10. Understaffed restaurants during prime hours.  Bad waiter/customer ratio.
1. Not enough money for employees.
11. Hidden bank fees. Monthly "maintenance" fees.
1. Not completely honest banks.
12. Faulty debit/credit card readers. Can't pay for things because I don't carry cash.
1. Cheap machines, old machines, old cards, cracked cards.
13. Spam emails.  After I've unsubscribed I continue to receive unwanted mail.
1. Glitches, viruses.
14. Wrinkles in clothes that are made to be wrinkle free.
1. Fabric used can actually get wrinkled in dryer.
15. Leaking Starbucks cups.  I've gone to work many times with coffee all over my chest.
1. lids are not fully secure on cup.
16. Difficult to open medicine packages. Mom has to use scissors to open NyQuil. 
1. Child proof gone over board.
17. Straws with cracks in them.  Sucking more air than liquid through straw.
1. Bent during distribution, faulty star made in factory.
18. Bad customer service at drive thru restaurants. 
1. Don't care about job, not trained properly. 
19. Getting in and out a small car as a tall person.  Dad with bad knees/back takes forever to climb out of the front seat.
20. The University of Florida having an obnoxious amount of websites for all of their services.  Seriously, why can't you put everything all in one place. Canvas, ISIS, ONE.UF, Gator mail?
1. Web designer is oblivious that students like me have their favorites tabs loaded with all of the school's different web pages.
21. When typing on this blog website, towards the bottom you can't scroll up and type. So I'm stuck continuously typing at the bottom of the screen. 
1. Poor design.

At first this assignment seemed difficult, but after a few days of sitting in my office at work I was able to go through daily routines and see how certain aspects of my day were off.  Once I got started one bug would lead me to another.  I asked for input from my parents and noticed that age played a small factor in some of their bugs. I found that products that malfunctioned were the easiest to think of. Looking at the list as a whole it sounds like my life revolves around coffee, monthly subscriptions, and electronics.  That's kind of a scary observation. 

My Entrepreneurship Story

     I would like to share the entrepreneurial story of my current boss.  C.J. Howard and his son, Chuck Howard, started a professional employee services company after they saw an opportunity to help small and large businesses.  They founded the company Howard Leasing which takes care of their clients by managing employee payroll and workers' comp.  C.J. understood the complications with payroll and other employee services after working in the industry and took the opportunity to create a business that helped solve a problem.

     I originally had signed up for this class simply to fulfill a requirement for my outside concentration within the business school.  After switching around classes I ultimately chose this course because I believe the minds of those who work in advertising are very similar to the minds of those who are entrepreneurs.  As an advertiser it is my goal to make consumers and people think and feel a certain way about a product or service. I believe this class can help me think more clearly about how I can take my current skills and apply them in a new way, forcing me to see other opportunities in the advertising world.

     Not exactly sure what kind of photo I'm supposed to include, but here is a picture of the Howard Leasing office where I will spend every day of summer.

Test Blog

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