Reading Reflection No. 1

1.     The thing the was most surprising to me about Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is that he is so private in his life and does not enjoy the public spotlight that many people enjoy. I admire most his persistence and his dedication to his work. I least admire the controversy around the child labor accusations. Phil Knight did encounter failure when his first Japanese shipment didn’t come in right away, so he ended up having to work another job to make some money.

2.     I noticed that Phil Knight can pursue his dreams and keep going and working towards goals that he has. He also is willing to talk to others to see what their opinions are on his work.

3.     I was a little confused about the start up of Nike, like when he was working with the Japanese company originally.

4.     My two questions for Phil Knight would be:

·       Did you ever consider giving up when it got difficult?

·       If you have the idea but not the money, what do you do?

5.     I think that his opinion of hard work is diligent and focused work that is outside of your comfort zone. I agree with this meaning of hard work and think that it should apply for everyone.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment: College students who do not have transportation

1.     Freshman student who lives on campus

·       If you need to get somewhere without walking, how do you get there?

o I usually take the buses to get there.

·       If you cannot take this form of transportation what do you do?

o I try to find a ride from one of my two friends who have cars.

·       Do you ever pay money to use any form of transportation?

o Yes, occasionally I must pay for ubers to get places.

·       Do you think paying money to go somewhere else is worth it?

o Yes, I think that the money I pay is usually worth it because if I need to go somewhere, I think that paying to get there is worth it.

·       If given the opportunity to pay money to a service that makes you need transportation less, would you take it?

o Yes absolutely.

2.     Sophomore living in a Fraternity house

·       If you need to get somewhere without walking, how do you get there?

o I usually ask my friends for a ride.

·       If you cannot take this form of transportation what do you do?

o I usually pay for an uber to pick me up and take me to the place I need.

·       Do you ever pay money to use any form of transportation?

o Yes, I pay for the ubers and I also have chipped in money for gas for my friends that drive me around.

·       Do you think paying money to go somewhere else is worth it?

o Yes. If I need to go somewhere, I am willing to pay for it to get there quicker.

·       If given the opportunity to pay money to a service that makes you need transportation less, would you take it?

o Yes, I would.

3.     Sophomore who lives in the dorms on campus

·       If you need to get somewhere without walking, how do you get there?

o I usually borrow my friend’s bike.

·       If you cannot take this form of transportation what do you do?

o I typically try to catch the buses, but they are unreliable.

·       Do you ever pay money to use any form of transportation?

o Yes, but only when I am desperate.

·       Do you think paying money to go somewhere else is worth it?

o Yes, because if I really need to go somewhere, paying a little money to get there is nice.

·       If given the opportunity to pay money to a service that makes you need transportation less, would you take it?

o Yes, I would.

After conducting my interviews with the segment I chose, I found that people who do not have forms of transportation are still using money to find rides to go places that they need to. I am drawing a conclusion that some of these students may be using transportation to get to places where they can get something to eat. Since they are paying money for transportation, I believe that they would be willing to spend some of that money on my idea that would allow them to eat at places on campus during the weekends. Instead of taking transportation, they can just walk to a place close by and get something that they want.

Idea Napkin No. 1

1.     I am a freshman at the University of Florida studying Finance and involved with Greek life. My talents include knowledge in bass fishing, ability to play ice hockey, and connecting with people. I aspire to be successful and continue to have a strong work ethic. I want to work to make people’s lives better and help them be successful as well. I think that this business could help my life because it would be easier to get food on the weekends for myself, and it would also help the companies make more money.

2.     I am offering to my customers the potential to make more money by opening their stores on the weekend so that they can gain more customers who want their products. This will allow the students to have good places to eat on the weekends and will also allow for companies on campus to make more money.

3.     My customers are students that are living on campus and do not have a form of transportation to get around.

4.     People would pay me money for my service because they need places to eat on campus during the weekends and the convenience of having places on campus open would be great for them, and I believe that they would be willing to pay me for this opportunity.

5.     I think that my ability to communicate and make everyone happy will allow me to make an agreement for the companies to open their stores on the weekend to allow for customers to eat there on the weekend.

I believe that my concept is solid and can be put into place on campus here at the University of Florida. However, I have some doubts about the customers willingness to pay extra money to have the shops open on the weekends. Taking all of these things into account, I think the demand to fix this problem is high enough to the point that I can gain a great number of customers.

Elevator Pitch No. 1

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

1. On campus student

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes, I have declining balance

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   Not bad. I have a scooter so I can go where ever I need to on the weekends since it seems like everything is closed.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   I think they are like that because people that live off campus do not come into campus during the weekends for many things.

2. Kid who lives in his Fraternity house

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   It hasn’t been all that bad. People in my house have scooters or cars and I usually go with them to get food on the weekends.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   I think it is because there aren’t many people that want to eat on campus on the weekends because it is either a far walk or not a great place to eat.

1.     Girl living in sorority house

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes, I have a small declining balance.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   I don’t know much about it because I always go off campus on the weekends since I have a car at the house.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   I think it is because they don’t have enough people coming into campus to be open for the whole weekend and have to shorten their hours or close down for the weekend entirely.

2.     ROTC Student living on campus

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   Not too bad because I get up early so most of the places that I would want to eat at are all open.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   Probably because most off-campus students and students with transportation don’t need to go on campus during the weekend, and that’s why there aren’t that many people looking for food on the weekends.

3.      Student living in on campus apartment

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   It has not been too bad because I choose to go off campus for meals on weekends since I have a scooter that can take me where ever I need to go.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   Probably because there are no classes and the restaurants just assume that there will be limited people on campus during the weekends.

Students Living on Campus with no form of transportation.	Students that live off campus or have a mode of transportation.
Places to eat on campus during the weekend.	Closed or limited hours during the weekends for the on-campus restaurants.
The only way people can get to the places is through transportation or a long walk.	Students are expected to eat off campus during the weekends because of the limited hours.

Solving the Problem

Opportunity: The University of Florida campus does not have good options for getting food on the weekends. This is because of limited hours and even some places closing entirely on the weekends. This causes students to have to choose from a limited selection of places, or even wander off campus to other places.

Solution: What the university can do is talk to the restaurants about their limited hours and closings and see if they can get them to open on the weekends. Even finding more convenient times to be open would be great for the University because it would bring more people on campus and bring in more revenue for the university and the eateries.

You Have An Opportunity, Now What?

The University of Florida campus does not have good options for getting food on the weekends because of limited hours and closings.

The Who: Students who live on campus

The What: They do not run have convenient hours and have closings on certain weekend days.

The Why: The restaurants do not think that there is enough demand to run their stores during the weekends so they either limit their hours or close.

1.     Freshman student

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes, I do have a meal plan, and I can eat unlimited times at the dining halls.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   It hasn’t been too bad because I can always go to the dining hall whenever I am hungry. But when I do want to change things up and eat somewhere else, it does seem as though there aren’t a lot of options.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   I think that they are closed because people do not really come on campus during weekends if they don’t have class, but the eateries are forgetting about the students who live on campus.

2.     UF Professor

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   No. but I do eat at on campus places often.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   Not great. Whenever I try to eat at the restaurants on weekends they seem to be closed. Because of my schedule, I don’t have a lot of time on the weekends and I find it very inconvenient that they are always closed when I need to eat.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   There is less demand for the places because there are far less students wandering round campus and the eateries don’t think they can make as much money.

3.     Off Campus Student

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes, I have a declining balance.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   It has been awful. The places I like to eat on campus are almost always closed when I want to go to them.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   I think that they assume that there is going to be low demand but, it would probably be high because there are still a lot of people that would want to eat at the places.

4.     Sophomore living in his fraternity’s house

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   Yes, I have declining balance.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   It doesn’t bother me too much because I have a scooter that I can take to go get food off campus.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   I think it is because no off-campus students go into campus to eat on the weekends.

5.      Online Student

·       Do you have a meal plan for on campus restaurants?

o   No.

·       How has your experience been with eating on campus on the weekends?

o   When I have come into campus for office hours or things like that, they are usually closed so its awful for me when I need to eat something.

·       Why do you feel that the restaurants are closed or have limited hours on weekends?

o   I think it is because there aren’t a lot of students on campus during the weekends so the places feel like they can close and save time and resources.

Summary: I find that people who live on campus are the ones that are affected the greatest by the short hours and closings. Although it may not seem like all people are affected by it, out of all the people I interviewed, most of them agreed that the weekend hours are inconvenient and need to be fixed. People with declining balances also seem to be affected a lot more than people with the unlimited dining hall plan. I know that this opportunity still exists, and does affect many students at UF.