Halfway Reflection

1.     Tenaciousness is a competency. 

What are the behaviours that you

have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?

I’d say it’s the way I approach people to conduct some interviews. I also have improved my speaking skills a lot. I can sometimes be procrastinated on my work, but this class has a clear deadline of assignment that I cannot miss them, so I basically to work on things earlier.

2.    Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this? 

I’d say that entrepreneurship is about being creative and coming up with new ideas and initiatives. I sometimes afraid to think out of box. Also, I’m not confidence in myself like Is my idea good enough?

3.     Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about

1.     Do not start doing assignment on the day of deadline or the day before because some exercises are very time consuming.

2.     You’ll get to see different perspectives of people from reading others’ blogs and doing some interviews. That’s just the best way to learn about the environment around you.

3.     Try to go to class if you can make it because interaction and discussion in class are still important and you’ll feel completely different from watching videos.

Reading Reflection No.1

“Grinding It Out,” the Making of McDonalds and the story of Ray Kroc.

What surprised you the most?

I think what surprised me the most is that he started MC Donald’s when he was 52 years old. At this age, many people are already retired, and some of them would feel that they are too old to start a business.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

What I admire most about him are his optimism and determination toward his ideas. I admired him for being an industrial person and not easily giving up to all obstacles.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

What I least admire is how he spent almost every minute with the business, leaving his family behind when he pursued the business growth in many places. He often encountered issues with the actual founder of the McDonald's restaurant. The relationship was worsening between Mr. Kroc and the brother, which lead to many legal problems

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

            I think he had a very good sense of doing business like he knows how to treat employees and how to make customer satisfied. I would say that he’s a very wise man, and he can successfully critically analyse the market needs.

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

            I feel like the book is confusing a bit because it does not follow a chronological order.

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

     I’d ask him about some tricks of starting a business and how to compete with other brands.

    Another one would be how did he come up with delicious burger and French fries’ recipe.

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

     He is very determined, and he was a hard-working guy since he was a salesman. I’d recommend this book to a person who are afraid to start something new. He would be such an inspirational to those who’re struggling to pursuit life goals.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment: The segment I chose is people from teenagers to adults. They could be any gender/ types of job. I target people who has middle-high income.

Interviews: 

1.              Person 1: Female age 21; She is a friend of mine who’s currently living in Thailand. She does points out the only reason she would want to rent is because she gets bored of what she already had. However, she pointed out that, in some cases, it’s impossible to rent. Last semester, she was an exchange student in Montreal, Canada for 6 months. She had to purchase new warm coat since rental services would allow to rent for just a week or two.

2.              Person 2: Male age 35;I know him from my internship, and he loves to go skiing. Although he already had several ski suits, he said that this business is interesting. He loves to post pictures on face book, and he thinks it’s a great idea to be able to change outfits without having to buy the whole price. However, he also points out that if the rental prices have to be low enough to encourage him to rent, instead of buying a new one.

3.              Person 3: Female age 53; She sees the needs of winter wear rental because of cost saving. She emphasises that the rental platform should be simple and easy to use for people of her age.

Conclusion: have chosen these three interviews based on the targeted customers that I planned. The results surprise me since they give recommendations on things that I have never thought about before.

Idea Napkin#1

1    1.I am an exchanged finance student from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. My dream is to open a business that I feel the needs of it. Moreover, I really love fashion and beauty; therefore, I hope to combine my business knowledge with my passion.

        2.The product and service I am offering to customers is a winter-wear rental service. Customers could rent winter-wear for a certain period then return to us. They can choose various styles, and different types ex. Ski suit and fur.

 I      3.I am offering this product and service to anyone who may believe buying these stuffs are a waste of money for hot climate countries but need them while they go on vacation.

        4.Customers would care about this product and service as it would allow them to save costs, and can always choosing new styles.

        5.The core competencies I possess is my desire to make winter-wear rental wear as convenience as possible; everything can be done online with excellent customer service.

I believe that these five elements fit together. This business has clear targeted customers and also the main purpose of why this kind of business should exists.

Elevator Pitch No.1

https://youtu.be/ru6UySsakGc

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Who: So, through my interviews, I found out that there are two groups that fall outside of my market. These individuals are those who seem not to travel abroad; therefore, they do not see the needs to rent winter-wear. Also, another group of individuals are those who have very high budget, and do not mind purchasing luxury winter-wear items.

What: I’d say that the need for winter-wear items are very depending on occasions. People who’re going to rent have purposes on Why they need them ex. Going on vacation.

Why: obviously, people who are inside the boundary are those who love to travel abroad during winter, fond of fashion, or want to save costs.

Inside the Boundary                                    Outside the boundary

Who:                                                               Who:

Young adults-middle age who love.               Those who don’t like to travel and don’t

travelling to cold places and want                 mind buying expensive winter-wear.

to save costs/be fashionable.

What:                                                              What:

Convenient                                                     They don’t need any winter-wear in Thailand/They

Cheaper than buying the new one             always buy luxury items.

Can always choose trendy styles

Why need exists:                                         

People don’t want to waste money.

People get bored easily.

Solving the problem

Winter Wear Rental in Thailand

Okay, so here are some problems I find with running a Winter Wear Rental:

Problem1: Demand will be high during Winter/holidays

The sales could be very fluctuated throughout the year. Therefore, the solution could be increase rental fees during holidays and discount or having promotion during low season. Doing this, the revenue receiving during high seasons will offset those during low season, being able to pay fixed costs and employee salaries.

Problem2: Still a need of physical showroom

From the interview, although I want to make it a complete online process from placing order to return, some customers want to see the product before they decide to rent. Therefore, I could rent a small showroom to display products, so customers and come and see.

Problem3: Delivery and rental Length time

The prompt delivery services could take about more than one day-2 days if the delivery is made from different region. Also, the length of rental time would be different among each otherwise we’ll lose opportunity costs. For example, rate for 2 weeks rental would be $50 while rate for 3 days would be $20.

o   Overall, the latter two problems are quite easy to figure out; however, I still believe that the solution to first problem might not be practical yet. Since we increase price during peak times, the rent volume could have dropped. Therefore, in the longer-term strategies, we might expand products to summer-vacay-beach clothing for customers to rent or try to diversify products that customers can rent throughout the year.