22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3

https://youtu.be/FjcF4WMHrGI

I mostly wanted to get straight to the point rather than have as much fluff as I did before. I also wanted to cut down my introduction. I believe I told the customer exactly what they needed to know in as little time as possible. I definitely felt a bit more comfortable in front of the camera.

23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

• My first resource would be my extremely competitive nature.
• This is valuable because it forces me to want to be the best and nothing will stop me from obtaining my goals. It is rare and hard to copy because it is not a quality that you can really just learn. There is not really another human quality that can replace this mindset other than tenacity.
• I believe that I have assembled social connections that are very valuable.
• Who you know is extremely valuable in any field you work in. It is definitely rare to know the right people and it can be copied, but it is very difficult to know the right people. This also makes it very difficult for others to provide this resource.
• I have a skill in teaching that is vital to this business.
• Teaching skills are more than just valuable in the education industry. I believe my experiences have helped me develop this skill and so that will be difficult for others to emulate. Others can offer this, but not many. 
• My creativity will help me develop a way of teaching what I want to teach in a way that is done by no other school. 
• This idea will be of extreme value because it will differentiate us from the basic technical school. It is rare because its our own system and should not be able to be copied. No other school will do it exactly how we do it.
• My idea of teaching how to diversify skills is vital to my business.
• Expanding student's skills will help them combat changing fields and the increase of artificial intelligence. This is a rare goal for any education system. It can be copied, but it is not an established method. 
• Knowing someone in the investing industry will give me the opportunity to mold my company around what my customer's value.
• It is valuable to understand customer preferences. This probably somewhat of a rare connection, but it can obviously be replicated and provided by others.
• I have the ability to sell my ideas to people.
• This is valuable when it comes to establishing and selling your idea to others because you need other people to buy into the company. This is probably a rare ability and can be copied, but not in the exact same way. So others cannot offer this exactly the same.
• Being a finance student will be beneficial when it comes to financial capital. 
• It is as valuable to understand your companies finances and how you're going to finance your idea as it is to understand anything else. This ability isn't all that rare and can definitely be copied. So it can be offered by others.
• My mission to improve the lives of others and to have a system more about the individual is something that separates my idea from current established systems. 
• I believe this idea is very valuable when it comes to accomplishing my goals. It is rare and I don't believe others will be able to mimic the way I do this. Therefore, this can not be offered by others.
• My outlook on efficiency is a form of human capital that I highly value.
• Efficiency is extremely valuable when it comes to get things done well but in a timely manner. I think my mindset may be a little rare, but it is not hard to copy. 

The focus on the student and how to diversify their skills would definitely be my most valuable resource that separates my company from other educational institutions. It's easy to get lost in the mix at a lot of other places, but this focus will make it certain that students will improve themselves. This resource will also improve the lives of our students because they will be well equipped to change job fields and adapt to any new situation or environment. 

21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

1.) The book just explained that everything you do and accomplish will be based off your energy. And your energy levels are based off your diet, exercise, and elimination of unnecessary stress in your life. It states that your priorities should be based off of focusing on yourself, then your finances, and then your friends and family.

2.) It taught me how to fix my problems and how to obtain my ultimate focus. It also taught me how to work on myself and obtain the highest energy in order to achieve basically anything.

3.) If I had to create an exercise, I would make one that had students create a list of goals, then later explain how each of these goals could actually hold them back. After that, I would have students explain how they think they can improve on their own wellness.

4.) I found it funny that the book basically said that I should put my finances ahead of my friends and family. I definitely know a lot of people that wouldn't be very happy if I told them I was doing this. The selfish approach that this book took was probably the most surprising thing.

20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1.) The first person that I spoke with teaches at Virginia Tech and is a friend of my aunt. I have never met this person before and he fills the slot of domain expert because he, in fact, knows a lot about education and how to get the best possible results out of students. My aunt recommended that I contact this person because she believed he would be related to my business idea. He did me a favor by taking time out of his busy schedule in order to hear out my business proposal. I don't think he is expecting much from me at this time, but we'll see in the future and I'll be happy to help. I think having this contact could potentially assist me in providing the best education service that I possibly can since I can seek advice from someone who is currently a professional in this industry.

2.) For the second part, I contacted a friend of a friend who works for an investment firm. I believe this person is an expert in the market because he knows all about customer research and how to evaluate if a company has any value or not. This is actually someone that my friend has been recommending that I try to intern with since I am in finance, so this could be mutually beneficial for both of us since he gets an intern and I obtain experience. I think a relationship with this person will help me gauge how much customers value my service and how to really find and understand consumer interests.

3.) My third contact is an important supplier in this industry because he works for a large tutoring service that supplies services to students who are attending university. This person was previously a teaching assistant but moved into the tutoring industry. This person has actually tutored me before and I requested to have a quick discussion with him about my business proposal. He provided advice on how to best reach students and how to make life and education easier for them. In return, I will advertise his service to friends. I believe by knowing this person and seeking out his advice, I will be able to expand my own knowledge on the industry.

I think my networking will have more of a purpose in the future. I will try to meet people who are more directly related with what I'm trying to accomplish. I think this experience did differ from past experiences because I have never really pursued networking the way I did here. I just kind of met the people whom I've crossed paths with. In this exercise, I went out and looked for networking opportunities.

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1.) My name is Mark Midkiff and I am a tenacious worker who is extremely competitive and wants to be the best I can be with everything I do. I believe that I have tons of leadership experience and I mostly excel at leading by example. I have been team captains and have done coaching, which has helped me become a better teacher, as well. I know that if I started a new business, I would become absolutely obsessed with it because that's the way I am with everything I put my mind to. I would want for this business to change people's lives while also bringing in a large profit for me and my family.

2.) My plan is for my business to provide our customers/students with an education that will increase their value in work place environments. We want to diversify their skills and make the irreplaceable. This will help customers adapt to changing career fields and battle the trend of increasing artificial intelligence in the work place. My business is mostly geared towards blue collar workers because they are mostly the ones affected. I consider this to be more than just a vocational school because our purpose is to teach students a variety of skills rather than specific skills for one field.

3.) My target market are is mostly younger, blue collar workers who likely don't have a college education. These students could possibly be changing career fields and realizing they need to diversify their skills. But we are also looking to help the older population looking to make themselves more valuable than artificial intelligence alternatives.

4.) Customers will want my service because we will establish a reputation of a company that looks out for the best for our customers/students. We will be known for increasing our students' values and changing their lives for the better. We will be the easiest alternative for students to obtain a higher education.

5.) We offer a program that is different than any other form of higher education because we do not look to teach students skills in one particular field. We will have multiple forms of education as well to convenience our different types of customers. For example, we will have classes for full time students and seminars for those with jobs and limited time availability.

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

I see my prototypical customer as a male in his mid 20s. He probably didn't attend university, but vocational school is definitely possible. He is from a blue collar hard working family with parents that may or may not still be together. He enjoys rugged, manly sports like football and
nascar, and definitely loves being outdoors. So camping is definitely a preferred vacation.

I would imagine that he would be mostly into classic muscle cars that are customized and having racing stripes. No particular color of preference. He is into shows on Discovery channel and other common American favorites like Friends and How I Met Your Mother. I doubt he has children because he is still relatively young and is trying to establish himself in a career. But I would imagine he would feeler a little more mature that he is because he's probably been working since a very early age. He possibly worked on a farm or in a car shop as a kid, so he's got a great work ethic. He's probably a little conservative when it comes to politics, but there is no real preference.

I'd say that I actually have a ton in common with my avatar. For example, I am from a hard working middle class family and am into many of the same hobbies, especially, football. But I definitely do not like Nascar. The main difference between myself and my avatar is that I am attending university, but that's really the only thing that separates us. I don't think it is a coincidence that I am creating a company that will benefit people that I can relate with.

16A –What’s Your Secret Sauce?

1.) First off, I would describe myself as efficient and I take pride in this because it means that I get my work done with quality and in a timely manner. It also means I am willing to make executive decisions if necessary.

I am an ultra competitive person and that drives me to be best the best in everything I do. Even if I don't become the best, I know I gave it my all.

I believe that I am a fairly convincing person, so that will help me with advertising and getting people to buy into my system.

I have had the experience of tearing my ACL, which was an extremely trying time. It taught me how to get back up when life pushes me down.

I also think I am creative and a good critical thinker, we could help me solve various problems in the future.

2.) 1st: What do you believe separates me when it comes to being an entrepreneur? "You definitely do not take no for an answer, so that helps you persevere when necessary." What skills do you believe I have? "You have a wide array of skills that allow you to adapt to many different situations" What emotions do you see in me that will help me thrive in business? "You are very prideful in your work."
I learned that this person believes that I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur. I also learned that I am apparently pretty stubborn.

2nd: What do you believe separates me when it comes to being an entrepreneur? "You're not afraid to take calculated risks." Anything else? "You are good at always finding a way to benefit out of most situations."
Here, I learned that I am good at finding profitable situations. This is definitely a good trait to have in business.

3rd: What do you believe separates me when it comes to being an entrepreneur? "After your internship, it seems that you have a strong basis of how a company runs its financials." Why do you think this is valuable? "It's always great to go into something with prior knowledge." What emotions do you think I have that will benefit me? "I know that you at least poor your heart out into everything that you do."
This interview taught me that, he thinks I am qualified to try starting my own business. It's also good to hear that he believes that I have a lot of heart.

4th: What do you believe separates me when it comes to being an entrepreneur? "You know how to handle conflict very well." How do you think this will help me? "In business, there is always going to be arguments over ideas and it's useful to find a happy medium."

5th: What do you believe separates me when it comes to being an entrepreneur? "I'd say you have a mind for numbers, which will definitely help you on the finance side." Any emotions? "You are very caring and so you'll take good care of your employees and customers."
This interview didn't teach me too much, but it's nice to know that this person saw me as caring.

3.) I see myself as very hard working, and so do others. People see me as manipulative, but I think that's a good thing when it comes to business. I'd say there's some slight difference, but it's mostly the same. The differences are mostly caused be people not knowing my motivations or how I feel about something. I'd probably agree that they are mostly correct. I am pretty content with my list.

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

Interview 1: The first person I interviewed was a 21 year old college student. He said that price definitely matters, but his end goals are what ultimately help him make his decision. This would basically be the style and quality of education that he bases his decision of alternatives around. My product is a service, so it is more likely that the customer goes to my service. He says he would definitely finance this since it will be a pretty large expense. He believes this decision is completely based on his mindset. His career field will be the ultimate decider of if he made the right decision.

Interview 2: The next person I talked to is a general manager of a company branch. He is well educated and does not really have a need for my service. He said that if he was looking at alternatives, at this point, price would be the biggest factor to him. Quality does matter to him, but when you're older it's more about the best price and the most time efficient service. In this case, I think my service would be a top option.

Interview 3: My last interview was with an 18 year old female looking to attend a university. She says she is looking for a form of education that provides the best quality, bang for the buck, and best fulfills her end goals. She plans to finance her education and only her and her family are involved in the purchase decision. If she ends with a job in her dream career field then she will determine that her decision was a success.

The biggest alternative to my service is certainly university. The purchase decision is really mostly the buyers decision and is based on that person's end goals. The post purchase evaluation mostly depends on the job that the customer later obtains.