15A) Buyer behavior 2

As I interviewed my prospects, I realized that there is low awareness for a service such as housekeeping among Gainesville students. Not a single one of my interviewees had ever seen or heard about that service in Gainesville, nor have looked for one because they simply thought it didn’t exist in the town. As a result of that I think that competition will not be a problem, at least at the beginning since I will be the only one in town targeting students. They all mentioned how important price was for them, but they guy in my second interview was concerned with security and guarantees too, and what would be the procedures in “special” occasions.

Since my option for the business idea is a service, it would be web based, which means that students searching for my company would go online and use my website/app. About the payment methods, there are two options, monthly or by service delivered. In the case of the people I interviewed for this specific assignment they all preferred monthly. But I have interviewed other people and some mentioned that they would preferred to pay one by one.

My third interview was with a girl, who focused a lot on what she would expect from my service. She said that the most important think is that I deliver my promise of making her life easier. It is key for my company that the client notices that their apartment was cleaned, but at the same time, that the person cleaning doesn’t interrupt anyone in the apartment. What I mean by that is that I want my customers to see the outcome, not the process. My first interviewee said that housekeeping service needs to be constant and stable to be worthwhile. It needs to be done every week, so dirt doesn’t pile up.

In conclusion I think that there are not many alternatives in town for my business idea, therefore, it would be very important for my startup and growth to have a strong marketing campaign around campus, to get students to know about me. Once they know this service exists, comes my role in teaching them what the benefits are and then, fulfill the expectations.

13A) Reading Reflection 1

I read the book “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”, which as the tittle suggests, talks about Elon Musk’s entrepreneurship adventure.


1. It is an interesting book, full of amazing stories about Musk’s personality and past. I learned a lot about the life of one the most polemic figures of the last couple of decades. I would say that what surprised me the most was to learn all the business he participated in and how they started from a “crazy” idea to become multi-million companies. I knew that he was the founder of Tesla Motors, but I did not know about SpaceX, Paypal or Zip2.
    I admire his ability to sacrifice everything for work, he was able to work many days in a row, only taking small breaks to eat and take a nap, doing shifts of up to 20+ hours. That is something that not everyone is capable of, specially in such demanding and stressful situations.
    What I least admire is the way he treats people, especially his employees and even how he treats his wife sometimes. That is why I think he is one of the best entrepreneurs ever and an inspirational figure, but he is not a great manager and therefore, he doesn’t make a good CEO.
    In this case, the whole book is basically about all the failures that Musk had through out his life, and how he overcame all of that. For example, with SpaceX he failed to send the rocket to space like times in a row, and every time he would fix what went wrong in the previous try. And it was worth the effort, after millions spent and a lot of arguments with other managers and investors, they became the first private company to launch a rocket and sent it into the space.

2 The author repeats in many occasions during the book the ability of Elon Musk of working really long shifts, of up to 20 hours, multiple days in a row. It actually allowed him to get over some critical situations where the future of the company was at stake. Mr. Vance (the author of the book) also describes Musk as a fast-learner, to the point of being superlative, for example through out college where he barely studied for super hard classes and got good grades, or when he learned rocket science basically on the go, and acquired knowledge compared to an actual rocket scientist. Another competency that I found in Musk is he entrepreneurial spirit, for me he is the definition of entrepreneur. He is the type of person that acts upon an idea, specially if he thinks that if it has a positive impact in the world.

3. Whenever the author talked about the legal aspect of the different companies Elon was part of, especially when it was about the ownership and management of the company. It looks like Musk had many fights and arguments over his role in the foundation and growth of the companies.

4. First of all, I would ask him that what would be that one thing that he would change, that he really regrets or that he could have preventing form happening. I would ask that because I saw in the book that he has gone through a lot of difficulties and failure, but I want his opinion on what he considers the worst thing in his life. Then I would ask him why the heck he married Talulah Riley, just like that, it was crazy.

5. I think that hard work for Elon Musk has a different meaning than for the rest of the world. He thinks of hard work as your job is the only thing in the world and he doesn’t care about family or leisure time. I feel like he doesn’t take into account the important of people’s mood and personal situations for their productivity as workers. I don’t share his idea because I thinks that that is abusive with employees and self-destructive with the company.

14A) Halfway Reflection

1. I would say that this ENT 3003 with professor Pryor has been a completely different experience for me. I am used to take classes where I have multiple exams through out the semester and this is the first class where I don’t have exams, but instead I have multiple weekly assignments. Because of the structure of this class I was able to create a behavior of consistency and constant working. This has helped me with my time management, since doing the assignments little by little and ahead of time is much easier than procrastinating and trying to do it all the last day.
2. During the last couple of weeks, it has been really hard for me to keep up with the assignments and cupcakes because I have had so many things going on at the same time. I had two exams at the same week, including for my Finance class, which is one of the hardest one (if not the hardest) for my major. Also, I turned 21 this Monday and planned a well-deserved birthday celebration. I had to travel and thought I wouldn’t have time to finish the assignment and submit them. What helped me get through this was that I learned since the beginning of the class that I have to read and be aware of the upcoming assignments well ahead of time. Because I had already started those two reports and because I had learned to give my best, I was able to submit them right on time. I would say that yes, this is an example of tenacity.
3. I would tell them that consistency is very important for this course. Because of the structure it has, assignments are due every Friday and it is very comfortable to forget about it during the weekends, but then you would have to rush the rest of the week to get it done. I would recommend you start your work that same weekend, and if you finish early, start working on the following assignments, that way you have a cushion for the deadlines. Also, don’t be afraid of asking and interviewing, it is a huge part of this class and it is a key to succeed in life. Last but not least, get things done. It could sound dumb, but it is true and sometimes we tend to set things aside, specially our responsibilities. Find what best works for you, writing down your “to-dos” and do it one by one, or doing little by little, but bottom line, get things done!

12A) Buyer Behavior 1

Market Segment:

I have decided to research more in the behavior of young male full-time students that are not currently employed. First, one of my roommates (he is 19 years old) with whom I share the problem of keeping it up with the cleanliness in the apartment. Second was another person that lives in my same condominium but in a different block (he is 22). For my third interview I picked a guy (21 years old) that lives with 2 more roommates in another apartment complex, and has had multiple fights with one of his roommates because he thinks that that person is always creating a disaster in the common areas.

Awareness:

After analyzing my interviews, I was able to establish patterns over when their need peaks and the cause of it. In the three scenarios the problem starts in the common areas, most likely during weekends when these students spend more time at home, and actually time to take some time extra to do some shores. Also, they told me that during weekdays it stress them when all the dishes are dirty and no one washes them, and it gets to the point where there is no clean plate. In the case of my roommate, one of the issues is a cat, from another roommate of mine. The floor in our apartment is carpet, and as you can imagine, all the hair and the food of the cat messes up the carpet and make it stink.

Information Research:

A common pattern among my interviewees was that their immediate answer to “where would you look up information about a house cleaning service?” was “Google, of course!”. They were pretty straight forward with it, since they would just google “housekeeping service in Gainesville”. They would also comment it with the rest of the roommates to see if they know something about it and if they would agree to cooperate in finding and financing such service. Last but not least, they all said that they would think of people that they know that use or have used that service before in order to ask them their opinion and experiences, instead of a suggestion for an specific company.

Findings and Conclusions:

Turns out that there are some patterns in when and where the problem of a mess at home peaks. It is during weekends and late afternoon, early at night that it tends to be the worst. Specially in things related to the common area like the dishes, the carpet, pets, and the use of the washer machine and drier. The main personal problem that they face is the lack of time to do their own shores. For my conclusions I would say that this specific market segment is aware of the problem and have the tools to look for the information. The only problem is that they are hesitant about making the final decision on whether request the service or not. To address this problem, I would focus my market campaign on the emotions that students in these situations feel.

11A) Idea Napkin

1. My name is Enrique Cabanas and I am at my junior year of my Business Administration degree, with Entrepreneurship as my minor and Pre-Law as my area of specialization. I was born in Cuba where I learned how to deal with some sort of scarcity, and to have an ambition for something better in life. I came 3 years ago with a huge hunger for success and willingness to work hard. I would say that I am a hard worker, with a slight OCD for “perfection”, what I mean is that if I do something, I want to do it perfectly. All my work experience is related to customer service, and it has shaped me as a person and as a professional. I dream to be a great business person. I think that this business is a trampoline in my life. With EZTime, I expect to learn the duties of a entrepreneur and business person and pursue another business idea.
2. It is a house cleaning service that will help students free up their time by cleaning and organizing their apartments while they can spend their time in more productive things like watching lectures, doing homework, or even working (for those who work). It is also a solution to those conflicts and arguments over who cleans what and when, and everything for an affordable price, below the competition. Prices will range from 40 to 55 dollars, and the service will be delivered once a week, unless otherwise required (it will mean a different fee)
3. The ideal market segment for my business would be full-time college student living in apartment complexes in Gainesville, specially for those in big apartments of a minimum of 3. Ages usually range from 18 to 25, with some outliers and I expect most of my customers to be males, but not by a big margin. Probably my last characteristic is that these customers are part of medium and high-income families.
4. Full-time students tend to feel like they lack time to do other thing than study. And it is even worse for those who work on top of that. House chores are a headache for people who do not like to do them. The worst part is that it needs to be done routinely in order for the living space to be comfortable and clean. Usually during weekends is when all these responsibilities accumulate and provoke a bad mood. With my service people can feel more comfortable in their own house, they will be able to boost their confidence (they won’t need to worry about friends or family criticizing their mess), etc.
5. In my case my competitive advantage is that my housekeeping service will be dedicated only to young students. It will help me create an image among the University students and increase the word of mouth. It is very important that my service will be delivered at a low fee to attract more customers and the cost will be compensated with the structure of the company. By targeting apartment complexes, I will be able to save traveling expenses and time. I will also be able to use the fact that I am a student myself and that gives me advantage to reach more students.

I believe that so far, my business plan holds together very well. I have been able to find a well defined market segment, which was already tested by interviewing multiple people. I actually came up with this idea because I personally have this need, and I think that this service will create value in customers. I know that my biggest challenge will be to raise awareness among my market segment and convince them of trying it. But once people know this exist, it will be demanded.

10A) Elevator Pitch

Link to my video→Elevator pitch

9A) Hypothesis 2

Who: So far, my prospect clients were full-time students that had roommates and did not have time to clean and organize the apartment. After conducting the interviews, I was able to draw a clearer line between my real customers and people that for some reason are not included within the boundaries. Now I understand that I need to narrow down my market segment and should mostly target those students that at the same time live in bigger apartments (minimum of 3 living together), and that come from medium and high-income families. Otherwise, if these prospects don’t fulfill those characteristics it is most likely that they won’t be able to afford it or prefer to spend the money in other activities.

What: I think that the real need for most prospect is time. It is a reality that most UF students suffer from lack of time, or do not know how to manage it properly. In the case of big apartments, communication is an issue most of the time, leading to fights over who does what. Then, consequently, people find themselves with the need to clean the dishes, the floor, etc.

Why: I think that the main reason why students “within my boundaries” wouldn’t consider my service is because they don’t really care about the cleanliness and organization of their place. It is very common among youngsters, especially if they weren’t taught to do it when they were kids. The other important reason could be because they do know how to clean and fell comfortable doing it, plus they might not have problems with the other roommates.

Inside the boundaries

• Full time students living in relatively big apartments with multiple roommates (minimum of 3), that do not have time to clean and/or do not know how to do it themselves.

• To have a clean, organized, smelling good apartment that allow them live in a more hygienic place, easier to find stuffs like dishes and their clothes, smell.

• Because they don’t know to do it themselves, don’t find the time, or in the case of some guys, they think that it is feminism. 

Outside the boundaries

• Part-time students (especially if they don’t work)
  People in apartments of 2 or less.
  Low income students
  Who knows how to clean

• They don’t need a service to clean for them

• Not enough money
  Apartments are small and is not hard to clean them.
  They have good communication with their roommates and get alone with this type of chore.
  They just don’t care.

8A) Solutions

My problem/opportunity is that mainly students living on their own tend to have problems to maintain their homes clean and organized. My idea is to offer a cleaning service that would cover that need. Initially I though of a classic housekeeping service, but after receiving some feedback I realized that it would be hard because of the variety of preferences and lack of resources young students have. That is where it came to my mind to divide the service and give the option for small specific services (e.g. only laundry, or taking out the trash, or cleaning one specific room).

I had to do this adaptation because I realized that it would be hard to convince students to pay for the common welfare of the apartment, specially because it would mean a more expensive service. It will still include the regular housekeeping service where the bill is split between roommates and the entire apartment gets clean. As an additional option, it will be available vacuum/cleaning for the interior of cars. The idea of this business is to take it to a more personal level, where the feedback and opinion of every customer will be heard and try to adapt to the individual requests. My idea to keep costs low is to target specific big apartment complex occupied mostly by students and specially of a medium and high-income families. It will allow me to safe time and money in transportation and to take care of more customers in a given time.

7A) Testing Hypothesis 1

Housecleaning service

Must students in Gainesville have a mess at home because they don’t have enough time to clean themselves.

·        Testing the who: Not only students in Gainesville face that problem, it is very common that people don’t have a clean and organize house, it ranges from young students living their own life to old people that don’t feel capable anymore.

·        Testing the what: It is a common problem among the population, not just students. As long as people have a “home” they will need to clean it and organize it (some reasons why people don’t do it is explained in the next section). Customers would be any age older than 18 and could be targeted to both genders.

·        Testing the why: Due to the lack of time and the know-how, students tend to have a mess at home, especially when they don’t with their parents and share room with other students. I have seen cases where guys don’t want to clean and organize the house because they perceive that as a woman’s task. It is also a problem to people physically limited (It could be due to age, injury, or a permanent condition). Sometimes it is because the person doesn’t feel attached to the property and feel no responsibility of taking care of the place.

Interview 1 (male, full time students, apartment of 3):

This person sees the need for an efficient house cleaning service for students as a real opportunity. He talked to me about expensive this service tends to be, being offered at prices not affordable for students. He thinks that having a clean home would help people to deal with stress, since it is pleasant to get home and feel a nice smell or have all your dishes clean. His main concern was with safety and privacy, He came up with requirements like “I need to know before hand who is coming” or “If something gets lost who is responsible?”

Interview 2 (male, full time student, apartment of 4)

This is a guy that lives with three other roommates and he says that it would be really helpful for someone like him because he has a messy roommate. He told me that there is always a messy roommate in apartments so big and that it creates conflicts. After commenting about this initial idea, the conversation led to consider the different options that would generate a better customer satisfaction. One of the ideas that came up was to offer a more specific service, like to only one of them (people living in the apartment). He said that in the case they request the full service, he would like the option to split the bill among him and his friends.

Interview 3 (female, full time student, apartment of 3)

I explained to her what service was about and the options she would have and her first concern was the price. I explain her what the “sticker” price was and how she would be able to get discounts through referrals. She then started explaining me what her thoughts about this idea and she totally loved it. She said that she would definitely pay for it because of the amount of time it saves her. She explained me that her problem is that one of her roommates is super messy and this would be the solution to her. She also told me that the fact that she could get discounts referring people gives her the motivation to find other customers and she stated that she definitely knows people who would use this service.

Interview 4 (female, full time student, part time job, apartment of 4)

This student said that last year she moved with her best friends thinking that it would be the best experience. After the first month it became a nightmare because they didn’t care about how the house was, and she said that the apartment got disgusting really quick. Back then she would have loved to have someone to clean the apartment at least once a week, but she doesn’t know if her friends would care about having a clean place, specially if they had to pay any amount of money. As a result, she moved out after a semester and she doesn’t think that she needs it now, because uses every Saturday morning to clean and it became a routine.

Interview 5 (male, full time student, apartment of 3)

The difference in this case is that this guy lives in the dorms, he says that dorms are to small and is not worth it to pay someone to clean it. He and his roommates take a moment during the weekend to clean everything if needed and that’s it. It is not a big deal for them and that is why they wouldn’t use this service. He told me that it sounds like an interesting idea and thinks that if he would live in a bigger apartment, he would leave it to a majority rule.

Insights

After having a few interviews, I was able to have a better understanding of what my market segment was and how to better target them. I learned that I will have a better opportunity if I focus on students sharing apartment with other students, specially in apartments of four (a few cases of three) or more. The best option to keep costs low is to focus in apartment complex that would avoid me traveling expenses and save me time too. Probably one last condition is that these students come from medium and high-income families, that way they are going to be able to pay for the service (we all know that students are always broke and are financially dependent)