Local Opportunities

1. "Unhappy Lakeview crowd seeks solutions to car burglary spike: 'We're not getting what we want.'"--New Orleans Advocate

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_7f2bcb12-3ca4-11ea-8a9e-cbf8be24879b.html

This article highlights a meeting of Lakeview officials with residents over what can be done to stop the spike in car burglaries, which have been going up every year since 2015.  

problem:  car burglaries are rising in this neighborhood

This problem affects Lakeview residents who are feeling less safe.  The opportunity is to sell video surveillance systems that will be visible to potential burglars.

2. "Years After New Orleans Banned Smoking in Bars, A Look at How Others are Handling the Issue"--New Orleans Advocate

https://www.nola.com/news/business/article_b9f9eb74-4079-11ea-9932-dfbdf17c8fa0.html

In this article The Advocate takes a look at how the smoking ban in New Orleans bars affected business for bar owners, as well as how business in Jefferson Parish, the neighboring parish, has benefited from still allowing smoking in bars.

Problem: New Orleans bar owners have lost money because smokers who prefer not to walk outside to smoke are going to the next parish (county) over to drink and smoke inside.

Bar owners are losing money because of the city ordinance.  The opportunity exists for a new bar owner to create a luxurious outdoor smoking patio for smokers, if a New Orleans bar has an outdoor smoking area it will be less likely to lose money.

3. "Mayor Latoya Cantrell owes more than $95,000 in back taxes; IRA puts liens on her home."--New Orleans Advocate

https://www.nola.com/news/politics/article_649502c4-43ba-11ea-ab67-7781b2901476.html

New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell has struggled with unpaid taxes since 2013, and now owes more than 95,000 causing the IRS to place a lien on her home.  The article discusses how Cantrell promises to make this right.  The tax issue was also a question for her during the 2017 campaign.

problem: The mayor cannot pay her taxes on time

This a problem for the mayor who likely seeks reelection in 2021, however, her constituents may not vote for her if she continues to struggle paying her taxes.  A tax law firm can help the mayor and use the fact that they helped the mayor of the city of New Orleans to gain credibility to gain supporters of the mayor and other New Orleans citizens who may be going through the same thing.

4. "New Orleans' troubled school bus system: 1in 5 drivers does not have required permit."

https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_0e462276-42ee-11ea-b46e-4f752e4d98d5.html

This article looks at the New Orleans public school bus system.  1 in every 5 drivers does not have the proper permit from the city.  The Advocate says they conducted this study and hope that more drivers have acquired the permits since the news was made public.

problem: The bus drivers in the public school system do not all have permits.

People who ride these buses have this problem, because they are at the hands of an unsafe driver.  The opportunity exists for a company to come in and get the contract to handle the public school bus system since people have this problem and know it needs to change.

5. "Dixie Beer is back: Take a peek inside the new brewery opening Saturday in New Orleans."--New Orleans Advocate

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/eat-drink/article_48bc3982-3d43-11ea-80cc-eb73e0f1d660.html

Dixie Beer has not been brewed in New Orleans since Katrina, until the new brewery opened in New Orleans East on Saturday, January 25th.  

problem: With this local business booming, there's an opportunity for Hubig's Pies, another classic New Orleans company that has not produced pies since their factory burned down eight years ago.

 Dixie Beer has boomed since it was bought by investors and made again and sold in New Orleans.  Hubig's Pies were every bit as loved as Dixie Beer, so opportunity lies in producing these pies yet again.  The people of New Orleans have been deprived for far to long--these are the people that truly have this problem!

Opportunity

1. I believe that an opportunity exists in the midtown food market.  Specifically the late-night midtown food market.  Midtown lacks a chicken restaurant. 

2. The unmet need is the need for a good chicken option for people who go to midtown.  Think about it: there's Relish (burgers), Jimmy John's (sandwiches), Pita Pit (wraps/pitas), Burrito Famous (Mexican), and Italian Gator (Pizza).  There are other options close by as well but no primary chicken restaurant.  Any UF student has this need because of midtown's convenient location close to campus; however, students who patronize the bars at midtown have even more of this need.  Let's face it: drunk college kids like to eat at the end of the night when they have finished drinking.  I think many college kids would enjoy having a place to get tenders or a chicken sandwich after a long night spent at the bars.  This need used to be satisfied by The Coop; however, The Coop closed a few years ago.  I do not believe there are any attempts in the works to satisfy this need as of now.

3. The prototypical customer is anyone in the UF community, so I interviewed three different students who use midtown in a variety of ways.

4-1. The First Student is a fraternity member who enjoys going out on the weekends and getting a late night snack after a night of drinking.  I told him about the need, and he agrees with my addressed need of a chicken place at midtown.  When I asked him when he experiences this need, he said that after going to the bar he enjoys hitting the eateries at mid so he experiences the need when he wants chicken but can't find a place to get some.  He is a senior at UF, so he said the Coop used to be around when he was younger, so he's had it since the Coop closed.  He addresses the need by eating at the other restaurants as well as ordering food on UberEats, which he claims takes long and costs more than walking in and buying food, and he thinks that his current solution will cease to exist if Midtown were to add a chicken restaurant.

4-2. The Second student is a girl who does not go out frequently, and she uses midtown explicitly for food.  She pointed out that she wishes there was a chicken restaurant as well.  She said she really wants a place to get chicken tenders, her go-to studyfood item, when she leaves live Study Edge reviews.  She mentioned how easy it would be to walk out of Study Edge or Lib West which is very close to Midtown to get her chicken, when now she has to wait to catch the bus back to her apartment near sorority row, then hop in her car to go to Zaxby's on Archer or Popeye's on Main St.  She has always had this need, since she's only a freshman.  She first became aware of this need because it first took her an hour from the time she left the library to get her food from Popeye's, which is only about 15 minutes from her apartment.  The process infuriates her because if she had a place to get tenders at midtown, she could buy them then hope on the bus and be eating within 10-15 minutes.

4-3. The Third prototypical customer is a missionary from my church, which is on the same block as midtown.  His need is for catering chicken to the students who are involved with the student group at the church.  He becomes aware of this need when they have to continually order pizza or sandwiches, which they do because those places are so close to the church.  He wants to change up the food he serves, and said a tray of chicken would be perfect for his students and logistically smart for the church because he could walk to the chicken place at midtown to pick up the large order.  He's had this need since his students have jokingly complained about them serving the same food over and over.  They tried to address the need by ordering burgers, but everyone wants different things on their burgers so it is very hard to keep track.  He does not like ordering burgers and thinks chicken would be a great solution.

5. Now I will reflect on what I learned from interviewing potential customers, I must admit I learned so much and see the need much clearer now.  My first interviewee had my perspective on the need, which is that drunk kids want to be able to have chicken after going out.  However, interviewing the two other customers changed the opportunity completely.  With the girl who wants the chicken while she's studying, I now realize how much having a chicken place would make so much logistical sense to anyone who lives within walking distance.  Students won't have to drive or scoot far away to get chicken! Business during the day will change drastically.  As for the missionary, he opened up a whole new aspect of the potential business--catering.  Catering would add so much more revenue.

7.  In summary, I have a much clearer picture then I did previously:

a. My original opportunity hasn't changed, it is still fully there, but it's expanded drastically from what it was in the beginning which was a place for drunk kids to get chicken at night.
b. I believe the new opportunity is much more accurate, because only planning to solve the need for nighttime business is too narrow to be successful in the long-run.
c. I think adapting to your customer's needs is crucial to the success of any entrepreneurial venture.  Any entrepreneur needs to know his market.  Staying firm is stubborn and will not lead to positives over time; however, starting small so as to not take in large costs before your business becomes a success is important as well.

My Entrepreneurship Story

My first exposure to entrepreneurship happened when I was 13 years old, and I had just started eighth grade.  I walked a mile down the street from my new school to go get Five Guys with my brother when I noticed a store that one would not expect to find in New Orleans, Louisiana: a skiing supply store.  Seeing this store baffled me because there are no mountains within 500 miles of New Orleans, and I've seen snow three times in 18 years of living there.  I mentioned to my brother that this store, called Massey's, had to be going out of business, why would anyone put a ski supply store in New Orleans?

I guess I did not realize it at the time, but I was looking at a problem.  It made no sense to me why this store existed in New Orleans.  This relates to entrepreneurship because it was the first time in my life that I thought like one.  I would never have opened a ski store in a city that almost never gets below freezing, not to mention a city that is actually below sea level.

I enrolled in ENT3003 because I want to get a perspective on reason to start something.  I've learned about economics, accounting, and the technicalities of businesses, but in this class, I will learn about whys.  Why start a business, why sell a product/service.  I'm excited to learn why.

20 Things that Bug Me

Here are 20 things that really bug me about life. Enjoy:

1. The rule that only authorized vehicles can drive on the streets from The Hub to Turlington.

     This exists because campus has few access points and having those streets open would make campus authorized vehicles less efficient.

2. Max Kellerman's bold takes on ESPN.  If a player plays well in a particular game Max Kellerman will say something like "Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the history of the NFL."  Patrick Mahomes has only been in the league for two years.

     This exists due to a simple psychology term known as recency bias.  When something has happened recently, people tend to be biased in the way they view it.

3.  People who know my parents continuing to treat me like a child.
   
     This exists because to my parents friends, they still view me as "Rick and Lisa's son," which
makes sense because I am not yet completely on my own yet.

4. Online classes.  I feel like as a college student who lives on campus I should be able to go to any class and not have to plan my schedule around watching videos that my attention span is not long enough to watch on my own.

     This exists especially in the business school at UF because many students are in the business school and having online class makes it more efficient for UF to be able to have more business students.

5.  Waking up early

     This is a result of having responsibilities; it would be great if I didn't have any of those.

6. UF being a Pepsi campus.

    It's truly not even about Pepsi, but Pepsi/Frito Lay owns Gatorade, and UF will always have to serve the soda that is associated with the sports that was created here.

7.  Florida basketball recruiting top talent and not being a national powerhouse.

     I believe we do not have the coaching staff that develops talent properly.  From year to year our players do not get better, they do not hone their skills.

8.  The Chipotle on University running out of rice.

     This is the busiest restaurant around campus, but still how does a Mexican restaurant run out of rice!

9.  The UF Mark Bostick Golf Course not having a student discount.

    The course is unlike other student golf courses, being that this is actually the course where the teams play, so it is maintained well, so naturally it is more expensive to play.

10.  LSU fans.

     LSU fans are the most annoying, obnoxious fan base in all of sports.  They are like this because the school literally has nothing else to offer but a good football program, and the fans are proud of that.

11.  People who take things too seriously on twitter.

     Some people cannot take a joke, maybe because they have strict personalities or have strict parents.

12.  Golf parents who take their son's golf too seriously

     These parents are trying to live through their kids, so they get way too invested in their kids' golf games.

13.  ONE.UF server being down.

     This happens at the end of the semester, probably because lots of students are checking their grades so the server crashes.

14.  My roommates not letting me borrow their cars.

     I guess they are worried about me getting into an accident, which is a valid complaint.

15.  My fan making noise while it is running

     It's an old fan so it probably needs some oil.

16.  Publix on 34th not having deals on freezer meals

     For business sake, Publix probably cannot have them on sale all the team, which is understandable.

17.  People posting long concert performances on Snapchat

     I guess people do this to let their followers know that they were there, but most of the time it is impossible to hear the songs.

18.  People who ask me what I plan on doing with my life

    I think this bothers me because I do not really know what I want to do and am embarrassed to admit it.

19.  People who never answer their phones

     I hate waiting to tell people what I want to tell them when I have it on my mind

20.  People who own dogs and call themselves "parents"

     The responsibilities of having kids and pets can often be similar.


I found this very difficult; it took me more than an hour.  I am not exactly sure why it was so hard because I feel like there are a lot of little things that bug me.  I think I struggled because I am somewhat of an easygoing guy, so even if something bugs me, I am less than likely to do anything about it.

   

Test Post

Test Post