30A – Final Reflection

What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? 

Assignment 20A- growing your social capital taught me a lot.

The experience that you'll remember years later? 

Definitely all the elevator pitches, i feel they were the most constructive assignments

What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?

Assignment 16A- what's your secret sauce? because of the interviews and the responses.

Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?

I wouldn't say i see myself as an entrepreneur yet just because i haven't been in a position of actually starting a business or taking any real steps towards it. However, i have developed more of an entrepreneur mindset for sure throughout this class.

What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course?

For those taking this class in the future i recommend being organized with the assignments and completing them on time. If you do that alone you should be able to get an A in this class. For the cupcakes i recommend watching the videos and taking quick notes on it for reference purposes.

29A – Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:
There is an unmet need for one-stop-shop clothing brand for quality ‘basics’. This exists because although theres many clothing brands most are a mix of cheap quality pieces, or the ones that are good quality, are expensive for the everyday consumer. Also, theres almost no competitors for this very specified brand concept of basics, most clothing brands now a days have breadth but not depth in their merchandise. This opportunity is targeted to middle class women ages 18-30. There's about 22,000,000 women in the US within that demographic (Census 2010), a big amount are found in the south and west regions of the US. I believe the window of opportunity for a business like this is now, it's a competitive industry and many new brands are being build in this day and age.

Innovation:
My business concept can be described as incrementally innovative, because compared to the clothing brands that currently exist this concept improves the depth of merchandise. It provides different forms of basics- casual shirts, formal shirts, blouses, casual pants, formal pants, blazers, sweaters, and cardigans- all in a more neutral color spectrum including white/black/nudes. This is innovative in a way because I can't pinpoint one brand with that spectrum that has good long lasting quality in a medium price range- they are all expensive! $30 for a simple casual shirt - no thanks! This concept makes money by selling the clothing pieces for a range of $15-$70. Also the business would strive on being more than 50% sustainable overall and it would grow alongside those who make it possible.

Venture Concept:
This concept addresses the opportunity mentioned above because it would fill the gap in the market for good quality essentials and all at the ease of a one-stop-shop. Customers would switch to this brand because it provides them with an ease of shopping, by having all the essentials in one place, for a reasonable price. This concept is also special because of its sustainability efforts and community growth which is rare for clothing companies. If done correctly, this can go a long way.

The Three Minor Elements:

1. As identified in the prior assignment my most important resource is  the support of my family and friends. Its really important as a start-up to have people who believe in you and can invest in you. It's also important for you to trust the person(s) who give you money. It's easy for someone to be starting their first business venture to get scammed or start partnerships with bad character people.

1. The next step in this business would be creating an extension online where customers could pair different pieces in a virtual model to see what outfits they could create before or after they purchase the clothes. Also have a photo gallery with outfit ideas and you can click on it to be redirected to the page of the specific clothing article.

1. In five years I want the brand to be known in the United States, specifically having stores in major cities and shipping nationwide. I want to start thinking about expanding outside the US by then and having a great team of talented and expert professionals working side by side with me.

Feedback:

This venture concept is very similar from the first one. I received 1 feedback from my first venture concept which was all positive feedback making it hard for me to change anything about the concept. 

28A – Your Exit Strategy

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. 

My immediate thought when reading this question is that I would want to stay with the business for several decades; however, the future is unknown and depending on where the business stands in 5 years i might sell it. 

2) Why have you selected this particular exit strategy?

I would want to  stay with the business because its something that i am passionate about, and when i put my heart and hard work into something i stick to it and want to grow with it. i think it would be hard for me to sell any of my future businesses. 

3) How do you think your exit strategy has influenced the other decisions you've made in your concept? 

My exit strategy has influenced the way i think about this business and therefore the long-term goals that i have of growing the company and expanding. 

27A- Reading Reflection No.3

For this assignment i chose to read Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life. This biography tells the compelling story of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel life. I picked this book to read because Chanel is such a prestige brand and i was interested to get to know more intimate aspects of the brand and its creator. 

• What surprised you the most?

what surprised me the most was Chanel's past. I would have never guessed that the founder of such a known and high valued brand would have such a dark and challenging upbringing. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

What i admired the most about Chanel is her persistence and resourcefulness when building her brand and now is an icon in the fashion industry.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I least admired the way she viewed relationships, the book described that she had affairs with men who were rich and powerful in order to move up in the industry. 

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes, Chanel went through a lot of failure and hardships. She had to keep persisting and work smartly in order to get achieve her goals. 

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

She exhibited determination, resourcefulness, and good decision making. 

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

What confused me was how secretive Chanel was about her life, she had destroyed a lot of documents which indicated she was hiding some things. 

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask?

- If you saw how your business is now, what would you change about it? Design wise and company wise. 

-What would you say is the thing that helped you the most in the success of your career?

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I think Chanel's opinion on hard work was positive, she hustled a lot to get to where she got. She did what she saw as necessary in order to be successful. 

26A – Celebrating Failure

1) This past semester I failed many times on my goal of going to sleep by midnight. I am trying to make it a habit of going to sleep "early" so that I can wake up earlier. Given the lack of structure and schedule in my life due to quarantine- class is online and i'm not currently working- I really have nowhere to be at certain times anymore. I have been trying to self- discipline myself as far as my sleeping habits... but no luck so far lol! 

2) I basically learned that I have no self discipline, at least in this situation. I understand that its okay to not have the best sleeping schedule right now but i think that my goal isn't super hard to do because i try not to make goals that are too demanding- like is i said 10pm instead of 12. 

3) My failure has showed me that it is hard to motivate ourselves to change our habits. Something as simple as my above experience can be applied to more drastic examples like managers trying to change or adapt their management ways or business owners having to motivate themselves to keep pushing themselves even when they only encounter failure. I handle failure okay-ish I definitely need to improve and being less bummed out when it happens and seeing it as an opportunity to learn and change. This class has kinda changed my perspective on failure because it shows how the basis for entrepreneurship is failure and its about how you rise up from that.

25A – What’s Next?

Existing Market:

1. As mentioned before what I plan on doing in the future is creating an extension online where customers could pair different pieces in a virtual model to see what outfits they could create before or after they purchase the clothes. Also have a photo gallery with outfit ideas and you can click on it to be redirected to the page of the specific clothing article.
2. After interviewing the three customers what they said where things they saw next for this business where expanding the product line to include workout pieces, dresses, and more bottoms. Also, one mentioned expanding the color line to include light pink, baby blues, and soft colors.
3. Growing in my existing market will include adding product lines for dresses, skirts, activewear, etc. Also, experiments can be done with incorporating color in the brand, primarily soft colors in a way that keeps the pieces timeless and elegant. I also think incorporating the virtual software in which customers can pair pieces together and create outfits would be helpful in growing the user interface of the website and attract new customers within the market.

New Market:

1. Targeting lower income women ages 18-30
2. Value can be create for people in this market by having lower prices and maintaining the good quality. 
3. The interviewees mentioned that having something like this venture would be great for them because what they can find now in the market is cheap quality clothes. They find that instead of having super formal clothes, that they would benefit more from casual and semi-formal clothes. 
4. What i learned about this market is that i would have to adjust the product mix of the company to better adjust to the lifestyle of the market. I don't think it is attractive for a business concept like mines to enter this market because it would diminish the image and value of the brand. The whole point is to have good quality clothes for reasonable prices while being sustainable and not supporting fast fashion. Entering a lower income market would prompt us to cut costs at a certain level which would impact sustainability. 

24A – Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity:
There is an unmet need for one-stop-shop clothing brand for quality ‘basics’. This exists because although theres many clothing brands most are a mix of cheap quality pieces, or the ones that are good quality, are expensive for the everyday consumer. Also, theres almost no competitors for this very specified brand concept of basics, most clothing brands now a days have breadth but not depth in their merchandise. This opportunity is targeted to middle class women ages 18-30. There's about 22,000,000 women in the US within that demographic (Census 2010), a big amount are found in the south and west regions of the US. I believe the window of opportunity for a business like this is now, it's a competitive industry and many new brands are being build in this day and age.


Innovation:
My business concept can be described as incrementally innovative, because compared to the clothing brands that currently exist this concept improves the depth of merchandise. It provides different forms of basics- casual shirts, formal shirts, blouses, casual pants, formal pants, blazers, sweaters, and cardigans- all in a more neutral color spectrum including white/black/nudes. This is innovative in a way because I can't pinpoint one brand with that spectrum that has good long lasting quality in a medium price range- they are all expensive! $30 for a simple casual shirt - no thanks! This concept makes money by selling the clothing pieces for a range of $15-$70. Also the business would strive on being more than 50% sustainable overall and it would grow alongside those who make it possible.

Venture Concept:
This concept addresses the opportunity mentioned above because it would fill the gap in the market for good quality essentials and all at the ease of a one-stop-shop. Customers would switch to this brand because it provides them with an ease of shopping, by having all the essentials in one place, for a reasonable price. This concept is also special because of its sustainability efforts and community growth which is rare for clothing companies. If done correctly, this can go a long way.

The Three Minor Elements:

1. As identified in the prior assignment my most important resource is  the support of my family and friends. Its really important as a start-up to have people who believe in you and can invest in you. It's also important for you to trust the person(s) who give you money. It's easy for someone to be starting their first business venture to get scammed or start partnerships with bad character people.

1. The next step in this business would be creating an extension online where customers could pair different pieces in a virtual model to see what outfits they could create before or after they purchase the clothes. Also have a photo gallery with outfit ideas and you can click on it to be redirected to the page of the specific clothing article.

1. In five years I want the brand to be known in the United States, specifically having stores in major cities and shipping nationwide. I want to start thinking about expanding outside the US by then and having a great team of talented and expert professionals working side by side with me.