Emily's Entrepreneurial Journey

1) Read through your posts from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread. I can't believe this is one of my last posts for this course.  This semester seemed to fly by and so much has changed since the first few classes.  Throughout these past few months, I have turned a desire for late-night breakfast food into a detailed vision for a place called "Stacked."  Along this journey, I have gotten to talk to so many incredible people to hear their insight and get tips on how to better improve my idea.  While I have had many great experience, I have certainly experienced times of stress.  There have been days that I waited until the last minute to do an assignment and was frustrated that I couldn't complete the assignment to the best of my ability due to the fact that I didn't have enough time for my desired efforts. 2) What stick...

1) Identify the exit strategy you plan to make. Do you intend to sell your business in the next 5 years for a large return? Do you intend to stay with the business for several decades and retire? Do you intend to protect the venture as a family business, and pass it down to your children? I plan on expanding the business into a franchise to bring it to other college towns first in Florida and then across the country.   For example, I see Orlando as another great market due to the fact that it has the University of Central Florida with the second biggest student population in the United States as well as other places such as Tampa and Boca due to their relations with state universities.  After serving as the CEO for several decades, I will eventually pass the business along to a trusted executive and retire.  If one of my children decides to get involved in the business then I would love to pass it along to them but I want their career choices to be their own and d...

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book? I decided to read  The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawaski because I am very interested in social media and the ways in which it connects us to other users more efficiently. By reading this book, I was able to gain powerful strategies and insights into what it takes to have a strong social media presence and maintain beneficial followers. 2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? This book definitely enhanced my learning in ENT 3003 because social media has become such a big part of marketing for so many businesses and I wanted to improve my knowledge on this essential tool to promote my ideas.  I am very passionate about my business "Stacked" and can think of several campaigns that I could complete on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.  3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, wha...

1) This past October, I failed to keep myself organized after visiting my hometown for my cousin's wedding and I left my laptop at home on accident.  I needed this laptop for work as well as homework assignments and a test that I had the next day.  In order to get this laptop to Gainesville as soon as possible, my mom had to ship it to me in an expensive box with insurance and the total cost far exceeded what I would have liked to pay.  While this was not a cost that I had planned for, I had to pay it because I needed my computer in order to complete my responsibilities. 2) From this experience I learned that it is important to keep track of all of your belongings and helpful to make lists when travelling with important items.  These lists make it easier to ensure that one has all of their belongings and knows exactly what they brought so that they can make it back home with everything they came with.  Additionally, I learned that it is overall important to s...

Existing Market Step 1: Talk about what you think is what's next in terms of products and services for your venture. I think that there is going to be a greater demand for trendy places to eat as people love to take pictures of their food and post them on social media.  Social media has become such an important part of people's lives, especially millennials.  When I go on apps such as snapchat, I constantly see posts of food and people out to eat because it has proven to be an aesthetic and a cool thing to display.   Step 2: Interview three customers who are already part of the market you have identified, and ask them what they believe is next for a venture like yours. Describe to them your business, and simply ask "What should we be doing that we aren't planning to do?" Next, ask them about  your  ideas of what customers might want next.  After interviewing three customers within the customizable fast food industry, I have found that peop...

              Throughout this course, I have turned a simple idea into a grand and achievable vision that I could see becoming a reality in the near future.   Stacked is a concept in which I have developed that will serve as a customizable fast-food restaurant in which customers can build their own breakfast platters.   When pondering on different problems in my life and their solutions, I thought about the lack of good breakfast food that is open late at night and does not require you to sit down for a full meal in which you have to tip a server.               In the Gainesville area, I recognize that there is a great need for a breakfast place that is open extended hours into the night and early parts of the morning.   There are no places like Stacked Downtown and people are constantly looking for new foods to try after going out.  ...