19A) Idea Napkin 2

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 and lived there through most of my life. I think that what I lived and learned in Cuba plays an important role in my life and helped me shape who I am today. Dealing with scarcity, be a hard worker, and have ambition in life are few of the things that came from that experience. I came 3 years ago with a huge hunger for success and willingness to work hard. I would say that I have 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, but diverse in some way, at a Financial Aid office, doing catering for special events, and as a swim instructor. 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 an entrepreneur and business person and pursue another business idea.

2.      What I am offering 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). It includes thing like cleaning the floor, vacuum the carpets, washing the dishes, and taking the trash out. I will consider some personal request from the customers.

3.      The ideal market segment for my business would be full-time college student living in apartment complexes in Gainesville, especially for those in big apartments with 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. I think that these are the ones that would have the buying power to afford this service.
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, and even for those who do know how to do them, it becomes a problem to find the time. 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. A common issue is that people don’t like to clean other’s mess, that is another reason why roommates might coordinate to finance a service like mine. 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.

Through out the development of my Business Plan in this class I have received many significant feedback and constructive criticism. I have learned from that and I have applied mist of what my classmates have recommended me. For example, I considered and included the idea of mentioning what the prices for my service is, that way I can be more specific, and customers and investors can get a better picture of what my business represents. Another example of feedback, in this case positive, was that I should get more advantage of what I learned as a person in Cuba and even market it with the business to attract more customers. Last but not least, what I have seen that people agree the most with, is the fact that with EZtime, students will be able to free a lot of time and decrease their stress levels.