5A- Local Opportunities in the News

1. If UF builds it, will they come?

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/16C34E6836AB8390?p=WORLDNEWS

Florida Baseball is at an all time high selling record number tickets at McKethan Stadium. But upon national attendance UF is currently ranked in Ninth place even though they won a national title last year. Asking fans why they think more people don't come watch, one responded " It's a tough place to watch a ballgame". Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin states " part of the new charge is to attract students and make it more of a happening (place)" Basically saying since fans don't like coming they will build a new ball park over in a new area to comfort and attract more students and visitors.

The problem I see that they have is they are having a hard time to have students come visit the games. They state multiple times that mid week games don't have as much of a showing as weekend games which makes sense because of students having class but during the weekend games they don't have nearly as much of a student showing as they do for say Softball games and Soccer.

The people who are having the problem are UF Baseball and the Athletic directors for ticket sales.

2. Bike With Mayor event focuses on bike safety

http://infoweb.newsbank.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/resources/doc/nb/news/16C2FEF136B449A8?p=WORLDNEWS

Citizens from around Gainesville came together in Depot Park Saturday for a community event made to instruct attendants on bike trails and emphasizing the importance of bike safety. Mayor Lauren Poe told the Sun "that the event was organized to bring people out to enjoy riding bikes and showcase Gainesville as a biking city." Lt. Officer Patrick Riordan commented about the death of long time cyclist Shawn Smith stating many accidents could be prevented if motorists recognize their driving enviroments.

One of the problems that I find as an underlying theme in this news report is that many Gainesville residents do not recognize the laws around bicyclists and therefore do not create a safe enviroment for others or themselves.

The problem can extend to all cyclists that don't feel safe on the roads they even describe that they see officers busy on their computers and not stopping for them. So this could even extend to all people.

3. Gas prices highest since 2014, but relief in sight

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/?tfp_id=GA_BN

People are realizing that gas is on the increase jumping more than 25 cents in the past two months. A national average of 2.97 per gallon as of tuesday and Americans on average paid 2.31 this time last year.

The problem in this would be gas is on a increase and many people will probably be struggling with the higher cost on gas.

I will assume most people will have a problem with this I have always noticed a common conversation with some adults will inevitably be "Can you believe how much gas is?"

4. Media Giant buys Pilot

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/?tfp_id=VA_VP

The Batten family, which has owned the Virgininan-Pilot for more than a century, has sold it's business and newspaper to the media conglomerate Tronc for 34 Million. Many people found out about the sale which happened Sunday on Tuesday through Troncs posting on Tuesday. Troncs has aquired many different news outlets like Orlando Sentinel and the Chicago Tribune.

This could be a problem because many people could lose their job in the media industry because of the change. It is a well known fact that Tronc's downsized chicago and LA's news branches so this could happen to Virginia in the next few years as well.

5. They might look harmless, but vaping devices aren't allowed at school, Beach principals says

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/?tfp_id=VA_VP

Parents who have children attending Virginia Beach Middle School are being warned about a small innocent looking device causing major problems at schools. Virginia Beach Principal Sandra Brown sent an email alert to parents and faculty to be on alert on these devices because they "are not allowed in school under any circumstances" if one is found they will be confiscated and administrators will decide the consequences.

This could be a problem because Students could be vaping in class or vaping on campus and be seen by people who do not go to the school and make the public view of the school go down.

People who might have the problem is the school and parents. Most vapes hold some sort of nicotine which is a addictive substance and that are the reasons why vapes aren't allowed to be purchased until you are 18. This proves this is even more of a problem because students in Middle school shouldn't even have access to these small USB looking devices.

Opportunity Beliefs

Belief: There could be a easier way to capture pictures and video of real estate in my town through the use of drones.

My belief comes through my use of drones extensively for fun. Through using drones I understand that they are great for mapping out a area and could give a different perspective on a layout of land that could enhance someones choice on a property. This is an unmet need because many realtors only use their cameras to take pictures of different rooms out a house and say there backyard whereas a drone video could show what the front yard looks like and then pan to the backyard to give a clearer understanding of what the property looks like. at the beginning of this assignment I was about 80% sure a oppurtunity exists.

I talked to a relator in my local area and asked them if they used a drone service for their realty and they said almost never. I asked how come they never use the service. They responded that a different person provided that service and it was because they charged an expensive fee and it would take awhile to get back a video to show their clients. The realtor realized this was a need because it was good at showing the dimensions of a property and can get to places that they might not be able to walk out to like zooming past a dock and showing off a residence on a marsh. They weren't satisfied with the solution of another persons company making videos for them and considered hiring someone to do videos strictly for them.

I then talked to one of my neighbors who has owned multiple houses over their lifetime. I asked how they would put pictures up of their residences and they explained that a realtor would bring a photographer to take pictures of each room, their front property and backyard and said they hadn't ever considered using a drone to take videos of their home to show other people. They have noticed that with better quality photos of their property the quicker they would get a response with customers wo would want to look at their house so they now see that it could be something to use in the future.

The last person I talked to was one of my friends who was looking for a home for him and his wife a few months ago. They said that when they looked up homes in their area they were not very super impressed with most of the homes because the pictures would only show the good parts of the home not the bathroom locations, where the hallways where and the general layout of the home looked like. They had a need for a video type service that could go through the house before they themselves would go look at the home. They seemed to first become aware of the need after looking at multiple homes and not being encapsulated by it on arrival. Through the use of a drone it could show off the charm of a house and even give them a rough tour of the property before even leaving their own house.

I found asking all three of the of the protypical customers where very different the realtor had realized that the need was there but wouldn't use the service because it wasn't done in their office and they would be charged an expensive fee. Whereas the people who had sold their houses a few times had never even heard about the service but I believe that is because they hadn't been looking in the market for a house in the past several years so they did not realize that it could be a need. The last customers knew there was a need for this type of situation but did not see that in our area but in the richer areas in Jacksonville. Suprisingly I assume that there a lot of people who do not know about this oppurtunity. If I were to start a business like this I would need a pretty high reputation with realtors in my area and have to lower my cost compared to the one other competitor.

I believe there is still an opportunity that could be met with my belief. My mindset has changed slightly on it because I would need to get the word out that a product like this exists to be profitable. I believe with a little work it is more accurate that i could get it to work, I think entrepreneurs should always be able to adapt to different opportunities based on feedback. I don't think their is only one right way to do something and there can be different ways to solve a problem. This assignment opened my eyes to different ways we can precieve a enviroment and to get feedback before assuming what might be best for a business. 

Entrepreneurship Story

Middle school was a weird time where everyone was so clueless about what they wanted to do and would giveaway their money so frivolously. I remember a fad called "Silly bands" were super popular and they were like bracelets you could wear but when you take them off they would form an animal or something cool like a car. The most popular of the silly bands to my school were the ones that were colored like a rainbow just because if you wore a bunch your arm you would look cool and be top dog. Me and one of my friends had decided to capitalize on this fad and bought over 200 different rainbow bracelets because we wanted to save up and buy a new video game. We bought the bracelets for like 20 bucks and when we brought them to school we would each sell of the bracelets for like a dollar a piece because other kids just wanted them now and wouldn't think about ordering off online like we had. Plus they were the rainbow ones so they were the best and we would always act like we were running out when we weren't. We ended up making way over the amount for the video game by selling off over 150 of the bracelets at a dollar a piece. Unfortunately by selling so many of the rainbow bracelets they became less popular and people didn't want them as much anymore. We banked out and were able to make more than enough for each of us to be able to buy the new Call of Duty but we ended up almost killing the fad in less than a week. This was one of the times I felt like entrepreneur because nobody else at our school offered this type of service and we met the crazy need for a week long fad.

I enrolled in this class to meet my requirements for my minor in business and I wanted to learn more about the processes for how to take risks in the hope of profit. I find this subject very interesting and hope to be able to discuss thoroughly the topics in this class with other students, the TA/TA's and Dr. Pryor. 

Buggin' Out

1. Can't invite many friends over to my place at one time. This bugs everyone at the apartment because the complex that I am staying at does not have guest parking or allows people to park in the street.
Why: It's a very small apartment complex that is compacted behind our local walmart so doesn't have very much room to grow.

2. My dogs cannot go to the bathroom in the backyard because neighbors get upset when dogs go to their side. I have to end up taking them on a walk down the street to a designated area 5 mins away.
Why: The homelease states that I have to take my dogs out on a leash whenever I let them use the bathroom and that i am not permitted to use places on the property to let them go. 

3. My only choice for late night food in Fernandina is Whattaburger, this is fine sometimes but it bugs me beacause there are no other options in the area.
Why: Fernandina is a small town and I would assume they wouldn't have enough buisness to stay open with places like taco bell and arby's to be open late.

4. My street is not lit up at night. This makes it hard to take the dogs out at night and feel safe.

5. Logging in to canvas every single time I want to look at assignments or my grades. 
Why: Everyday more and more people try to steal our information so it's an extra precaution that it is the right user logging on.

6. Watching ads for youtube videos that are longer than the videos themselves.
Why: Because Youtube has decided that this type of ad would be interesting to me and will let me watch about 5 more 30 second videos without being hindered if I watch that ad.

7. Paying for Adobe as a monthly premium.
Why: Adobe is a software that is continually updated and allows access to a plethora of different apps so it helps maintain quality.

8. My Acura shakes whenever I get up to 60 mph but stops when I hit 63 mph.
Why: I haven't had the correct routine to bring it into the shop for maintnance.

9. Being in a movie theater and the ad that they play before the movie is always the same theater ad telling you that for instance "Carmike Cinema is the greatest theater with all the features."
Why: To ensure you that you will be having the best experience at their theater and to encourage you to come back.

10. It's impossible to get to Jacksonville at 4 pm in the afternoon without traffic.
Why: Yulee High School on Minor road lets out at 3:30 and usually all the cars start to pile up on A1A causuing a huge traffic jam.

11. A1A highway is always busy with construction but I never see anybody ever working on the roads.
Why: Currently the only time it's safe to work on busy roads like A1A is at night.

12.  Salads at Chickfila cost close to 10 dollars while just the chicken sandwhich meal with drink costs 6.13.
Why: Chicken sandwhiches, fries and drink are easier to produce becuase of mass production while salads are harder to make because they have someone in the back handmake the salads and cut the chicken making a difference in price.

13. It's difficult to plan out what I want to eat each week.
Why:I do not sit down and plan out what to eat each week which causes me to just become lazy and get fast food when I could have something prepared at home for cheaper.

14. The gym is always full of people I know and I can never get a set in without being bothered.
Why: There is only two gyms in my local area that a lot of people go to because I live in a small town and everyone knows everyone.

15. People not reracking their weights or wiping down their area after using a machine.
Why: Because they assume it's not important or that other people didn't see them use it.

16. My remote controller does not always get a reaction from my TV.
Why: It has been partially been chewed up by my dogs and has gotten sort of old. I can not find the exact model online to replace the remote with.

17.  Moving my posters out of my dorm room caused them to be destroyed.
Why: The tape I used to keep them in place worked too well in the since that when I wanted to take it off they would rip and become unusable.

18: People going crazy over the Laurel and Yanny hearing incident and people would get mad if you didn't hear what they heard.
Why: It was similar to the blue and black dress incident and I just took it as everyone's different so we will all see different things as well as hear words differently. People get excited about phenomanons they hadn't ever considered were possible.

19: Hearing spoilers for movies or videogames.
Why: People hype things up before they come out so much on media platforms and in conversations that after they see that thing they just want to talk about it with everyone because they want to discuss.

20. People being loud in a movie theater.
Why: Too many people in one place can make it hard to be quiet in especially if people bring their children who do not understand the concept of being quiet and being respectful of people around them.

Reflection:
As I had heard in the video with Dr. Pryor, this assignment can be tough when you get past around ten bugs. I was not used to thinking about what bugged me in my daily life because I had just started becoming accustomed to it but thinking about why it is like it is really helps understand that their might be ways to fix those bugs or that maybe you should look at the bug from another perspective. This assignment will definitely help me in the future whenever I am really looking for inspiration and turn a common situation into an opportunity.

Christian's Very First Post

Hello all and welcome to my blog. Go Gata.