Week 10 Reading Reflection- Rachel Mead

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

I really appreciated that the author pointed out how technical it can be to start a business in regards to money, property, and resources. There's a lot of detail to pay attention to when starting a business.

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

I was somewhat confused on a few of the charts. They looked like just a bunch of numbers to me and it was hard to identify the different components and variables. 

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

I would ask the author if there's a standard range to be in with a cash flow budget and how much one should spend on advertising and resources and how much they should leave set aside as a cushion. 

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

There wasn't anything significant I thought the author was wrong about other than his use of the word "assumption". When I think of the word, it tends to have a bad connotation and he uses it to explain that entrepreneurs assume where their money comes from and bases validity on the assumed moneys. This just sounds a little contradictory although I'm sure he didn't mean it that way. 

Growing My Social Capital- Rachel Mead

I chose to speak with Brett Watson as my domain expert. He is a pastor and teacher with two siblings who are also involved with education. He happens to be my Uncle as well so it was easy to get a hold of him over the phone. He recently decided to go back to school while staying involved with his work at the church so he knows the difficulty my customers are facing. The favor he has given me is support, guidance and confidence. In return, I try my best to follow his advice. Brett Watson would be an important component to my company because he knows how the educational system works and will be able to help me identify the steps I need to take to make my idea reality.

Justin Valletta is the market expert I spoke to. He is a tutor at UF. I spoke to Justin during one of our tutoring sessions. He provides with me with help in Calculus and in exchange, he gets practice teaching others. Justin would be a great person to include in my business because he agrees that students should get paid to study and related my idea to some graduate programs that pay you to attend school. He would be able to provide me with more insight on the day-to-day process of running my business since he is involved with one that is similar.

The supplier would be Thomas Tahmosh. Thomas Tahmosh is a mortgage loan officer and manages his own company. He is my step father so I just had to speak with him over the phone. Thomas would provide me with the funds and in return, he will be more likely to receive workers from my business who are more self motivated and driven to get things done under his supervision. Thomas will the driving force behind my business be the person helping me fund the organization so that I can pay students.

Although I think this assignment is helpful in recognizing that networking is essential to almost every business, it isn't much different than what I do and have done in the past already. I am constantly networking every day with many different people with various needs through school, work, and clubs.

Elevator Pitch No. 3- Rachel Mead

The comments I received on my last pitch were all very positive. I did not come across any comments I believed were wrong or not useful. I think the feedback was all important and encouraging, giving me confidence that I could actually start this business. I still added more information in this pitch on how I would obtain the funds to pay for the students using my program. I hope that this pitch is even more direct and gets my message across.