18A

Creating my customer avatar is somewhat challenging given that my company provides services to businesses and not individual consumers. I do believe however that my business caters to a specific kind of business more than others.

Finding businesses who match my target consumer may be more challenging than it appears because finding value in my service has a lot to do with their values. The businesses I do service for would need to put an emphasis on caring for the environment. I do not believe that many of the luxury apartments around Gainesville would care for this given that many seem to do whatever they can to cut costs. However, if I really can provide fast and cheap products for these types of businesses we may be able to form a partnership. I believe that the university would find a lot of value in my idea but given the strict, time consuming process for becoming a vendor of the school, I am unsure if they would find it very helpful since they have need for so many products constantly. It makes sense for them to continue with what they are currently doing. However, if I partnered with a larger consignment store I may have more leverage when approaching institutions.

As for now, I plan to target the less luxurious apartments around UF. I believe Looking Glass may fit the mold since they are not as concerned about aesthetics as other places like Standard and Hub.

I relate to these businesses in that I do care about being resourceful and reducing waste as much as I can. It makes sense that this would be a business idea of mine since my personal values align with those of the company.

16A

1) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique.
- Straight forward and I like to challenge people
- keep calm in chaos
- like to figure out loopholes in rules
- gained a good understanding of psychology through personal research
- bounce back very quick after making a mistake and am able to look at the bright side or the lesson I learned from it

2) Interview the five people who know you the best.

a) Dad

b) Danielle Lara

c) Makayla Ho

d) Valentina Blanco

e) Julian Berrio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5h33YAZg2E

3) Reflect on the differences. 
I think that the attributes my friends and father described are pretty accurate in terms of how I hope to be perceived and what I try to do. I think this was helpful in reflecting on how I have grown since high school and the different ways I try to be helpful towards my friends and family. I think it is a good sign that many of the things I put on my list are things that were described by my friends and family. I think something that was funny that my dad identified is that what makes me rage is unfairness. Recently, I have come face with a lot of issues with people who run organizations I am in by a lack of fairness. This reminded me of the driving force that allowed me to make so many changes at my school while I was Student Body President. I was so upset that popularity determined someone's position within our organization. This is something I am now learning to deal with in different capacities and continues one of the most important things to me as a enter the business world: fairness and truth. 

15A

To conduct my interviews, I first came up with an outline of questions for the firms I decided to interview:

1) What is the most important factor when considering where to buy your office supplies: price, quality, style, speed, or something else?

College Manor Apartments: Probably price

Trimark: speed

The Nook: quality to improve efficiency

2) Do you buy your supplies from a local company or online? Do you have a contract with this company?

College Manor Apartments: We order online from Staples through an account

Trimark: Different depending on product

The Nook: Not sure, but order online

3) How have you set up a payment system?

College Manor Apartments: Connected to one account

Trimark: Not sure

The Nook: Not sure

4) What makes you happy with the supplies you buy and what makes you disappointed?

College Manor Apartments: Happy but there is nothing that makes what is used particularly special or great. Yet, we have no issues.

Trimark: No issues, everything has been smooth

The Nook: No issues

Summary:

I think it is important for me to segment the different types of apartments and do this research again. Luxury apartments may be more concerned with the aesthetics of what they use since the people who live there are more likely to care and be concerned about those aspects. 

13A

1)

• What surprised you the most?

When I think of the Chanel brand, I think of high class. Since Chanel was in her prime around 100 years ago, the things society accepted were a lot different. When looking at old pictures you may think she was old fashioned and conservative but at the time, the things she did were quite progressive. This goes from her style to her actions and lifestyle. It was something I had never looked much into. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I think Chanel's courage to go against the status quo and be a hard working woman is admirable and what makes her such a historical figure, in addition to her timeless brand. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

It is well known that she lacked honesty when describing her family history. I can see how this many have been rooted in embarrassment and is her personal business, yet I think it paints a better picture when trying to understand and learn from her life. 

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• I believe that the adversity Chanel faced in the early years of her life is what allowed her to accomplish many things. She suffered abandonment from her father from the very start of her life and when her father died, she was left at a covenant where her authority figures were overbearing. 

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

Chanel demonstrates great tenacity. After realizing that her company was unprofitable, she started getting even more serious at becoming the best business person she could be. Due to her tenacity, she was able to become resourceful while breaking the rules of modern day standards. 

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

When they described her Cabaret singing times, I at first thought that she was basically acting as a stripper. After doing some further research, I was able to clear this. Due to my lack of understanding of 1920's culture, specifically of France, this made the book more challenging. 

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

- I would ask what are the staples that a woman should wear every day in today's world. I would be curious how she would navigate the trends of today's world while keeping the timeless style.
- I would also ask what are her thoughts on the evolution of her brand since she has been gone. There was recently a new Chanel perfume released by the name of "Gabrielle", which is her birth name, so I can't help but wonder if she would actually enjoy it and how other aspects of the brand waiver from what she may have done. 

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

At the very beginning of the book, the author starts with stating a turning point in Chanel's life that served as the catalyst for creating the habits that would lead her to become one of the most influential women in artistic/fashion history. Arthur Capel, one of Chanel's late lovers, is said to have changed her life when he broke the truth to her that her business was not profitable and that he was funding it. She raged while pondering on the fact that all the things she had been buying were not from her efforts. She then began to run a tighter ship in her business, being cautious of every penny spent and giving up love and companionship to focus on her craft. I believe she would say, if she had to in one word, that hard work is about sacrifice. She has said that work consumed her life but she liked it and found pride in it. I believe that Chanel would successful hard work must be done with pride. This is something that I have been trying to embrace more in my life lately since I believe mindset and confidence are key to becoming your fullest self. 

14A

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. 

- I think that to develop tenacity, knowing yourself is very important. What I mean by this is, doing things when you are most effective. There are many times when you need to push through but having an understanding and being able to monitor your mood, level of focus, potential places and times to be distracted, and who you need to be surrounded with at what times are key. It's easy for a student to think that studying all day in the library without break is the best way to get stuff done but that is not what the evidence shows. In my first semester at UF, I read "How to Become a Straight A Student" by Cal Newport which really taught me how to schedule my days to work when I am most effective and plan for the inevitable distractions of life. These have helped me manage my hectic "business major" schedule that requires lots of involvement, career prep, and internships. Applying these skills to this course have made it enjoyable and have allowed me to actually focus when engaging with the content and throughout the assignments. 

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. 

During the past two months, I thought I was going to have to drop one of my hard classes. The day before the exam I took a practice test and did not do well so I started to panic. Yet, my panic did not last as long as it had in the past when situations like this came up. I realized that it is not the end of the world and even if I did fail, I had many ways to make it up and even be very productive for the rest of the semester if I would have had to drop it. I reminded myself of how special it is for me to be at UF in the first place and that I have seen lots of success in the past and that this one moment would not be the defining moment of my life. In fact, I'm not sure that any moment can define the success of your whole life. I know that great things are respectable because they are hard and that I can get back up immediately once things get bad if I just make the decision to. 

3) Three tips. 

- I would first read "How to Become a Straight A Student" by Cal Newport and "12 Rules for Life" by Jordan Peterson because they both provide honest perpectives on the tasks college students face and the hardship that is living. They have helped me better define my aspirations and goals for what I want out of college and life and how I can achieve those things. 

- I think it's important to challenge yourself to do things that you know would impress you. If you do not have some sort of goals, you'll find yourself lost. Writing down your goals and placing them somewhere will help a lot. Everyone hears it but it really does help me focus and bring me back to reality in rough and distracted times. 

- I think it is important to try and observe yourself and your world from that of a visitor who knows nothing about you. When you really focus on why you do the things you do and try to recognize what you are really getting out of them, you can figure out the flaws that are keeping you from your potential. 

12A

Interviews
The Courtyards:
- We use mostly paper more than anything
- We do have a recycling program where residents can recycle but nothing further than that
- We have a vendor through our family company that we use for supplies

The Hub
- Mostly paper and printing services but everything else is paperless. Other supplies would be water bottles, and pens. There is not a lot we
- We are unclear of how the recycling
- Supplies go through an account with Office Depot where we get them delivered since it is much more convenient for us.

The Retreat
- We mostly replace paper frequently more than anything
- We have recycling at our property but it is not used by residents properly or frequently
- Corporate warehouse through a warehouse

Summary
From my interviews, I think it would be good for me to target the companies that do not use corporate warehouses and have an account set uo with local supply stores instead. I think the Hub would be good to target since they are new and outsource a majority of their needs. I think other good collaborations would be more so with the other apartments that outsource.

11A

Who am I: I am a second year Finance major with lots of experience in social media marketing and event planning. With this business, I hope to help local businesses go green and help drive profits for local organizations that support this idea.

What are you offering: I am offering a cheaper, greener way for businesses to get the tools they use in their everyday business practices. The transfer of goods will be through a student ran business.

Who am I offering this to: Businesses who are looking to lower costs and be more environmentally friendly

Why do they care: They will be able to save money while supporting a good cause.

What are your core competencies: We are different from the competition in that we offer solutions that also help fellow local businesses and students looking to gain leadership and business skills.

I think the biggest struggle that is the next part of this process is evaluating if the costs savings really are there for businesses. I believe that this is their ultimate concern so it is the most important element. I also need to work out the logistics for transferring the goods. I am considering getting with the Heavener club that focuses on green solutions to see if they'd be able to operate the business in able to fund their organization's activities and philanthropy.