Derek came to talk to our class. Though he was interupted by the fire alarm, he was able to give us lots of information regarding the businesses that he was able to create. However, the teacher did say that he was currently running several businesses simultaneously and it was this aspect I was wishing he would focus on. Instead he talked about each business individually. A good portion of his time was spent talking about Exit 133. I understand he probably did so because it was about the area of Tacoma where the school is located, but I would have like information about his other businesses too.
I did ask Derek a single question raising my total number of questions asked to an acceptable amount (I generally ask each speaker at least 1 question). However, I did want to ask him questions pertaining to the simultaneous running of businesses but the alarm sounded before I was able to.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
They Call Me....
Bruce Kendall came to talk to our class. While he took up nearly all the class time, I found his information relatable as well as interesting. I didn't feel like I was stuck in a vortex where every minute felt as though it were an hour. While Bruce was pretty lively, I did find myself nodding off towards the end of the time. I blame the time as it was close to my nap time and Bruce couldn't help it. (Nor could I for that matter....)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Jon Goodman, Not that One
So Jon Goodman (not sure about the spelling) came to our class. I definately liked her discussion with us better than Ron. I think part of it was personality. She was definately a character. She did a great amount of story telling but she definately mixed the information with humor. Since there were no slides to watch, she just gave the information and it didn't seem duplicated. I also appreciated the fact that there was definately more of an ask a question get an answer portion to her discussion so it was better to get the information that mattered to us.
All in all, I felt it was informative and very fun to be part of.
All in all, I felt it was informative and very fun to be part of.
Strongly Weak
So, there's no good way to ease in to this assignment as with the others. In class we had to state our strengths and our weaknesses. As we were asked to give strengths first then weaknesses, I figured I'd do the same.
So here are my strengths:
Leadership
Research
Oganization
Fore-sight (following path mentally to see where it goes)
Catching onto things quickly
Stubborn
Mathematical
Logical (most of the time)
English Proficient
Vocal
Weaknesses:
Shy
Not Ambitious
Stubborn
Overload plate
Let things simmer/fester (then get vocal)
Naive/Too trusting (tend to not think people are as bad/evil as they turn out to be)
Get caught up in "what if....."
So there you go. I'm sure there's more, but given all the other homework I've gotta do, I'll just leave it with what I came up with in class.
So here are my strengths:
Leadership
Research
Oganization
Fore-sight (following path mentally to see where it goes)
Catching onto things quickly
Stubborn
Mathematical
Logical (most of the time)
English Proficient
Vocal
Weaknesses:
Shy
Not Ambitious
Stubborn
Overload plate
Let things simmer/fester (then get vocal)
Naive/Too trusting (tend to not think people are as bad/evil as they turn out to be)
Get caught up in "what if....."
So there you go. I'm sure there's more, but given all the other homework I've gotta do, I'll just leave it with what I came up with in class.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Guest Speaker Ron
I'm not going to have as much to say on this blog post. Ron came to talk to our class a few days ago. While I took notes on what he said, and the information he provided was good and full, I didn't notice much difference between what he said and what was presented on the slide. Normally this would be fine with some guest speakers who are difficult to understand due to accents, when the speaker has clear English I actually found it unenthusiastic. I like presenters to give me additional information. Otherwise what is the point of them being there. I'm not sure if Ron has just been doing this for so long that he's got it down to a science or what, but I feel that I could have gotten about the same information apart from a few (and I do mean few) clarification points had I just looked at the slides from the comfort of my own catch and jamies.
I'm not sure if this will cause a bad grade or if I just completely missed the point (which is possible as I've had a TA point out in a previous quarter that I seem to be a half bubble off). But seeing as Mr. Fry stated that blogs are opinions and that is my opinion I'm hoping it won't hurt me too much. I guess I could play it safe and just list back what I have written in my notes, but again that would not be my opinion and this is much more fun.
I'm not sure if this will cause a bad grade or if I just completely missed the point (which is possible as I've had a TA point out in a previous quarter that I seem to be a half bubble off). But seeing as Mr. Fry stated that blogs are opinions and that is my opinion I'm hoping it won't hurt me too much. I guess I could play it safe and just list back what I have written in my notes, but again that would not be my opinion and this is much more fun.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Totally Awesome Business Ideas
OK. So this assignment is not the first time I have had a really cool thought on a product. My family is really good at sitting around and BSing about it would be cool if someone built this or that. So I actually had some really cool ideas for products, but not many of them actually fit with a new emerging technology. So I then had to spend even more time trying to figure out what was an "emerging" technology and if there was a product I cared about (as this is vital for an entrepreneur). I think I finally have the 5 required ideas and they range from ones I really care about to some a little less so.
The one that I am really passionate about but am pretty sure I can't do a good business plan for is a computer completely made of plastic components. I got the idea when I was watching the history chanel a while ago and they were talking about how a university was trying to make plastic magnets. I assumed since this was a while ago there must have been some advancement since then so googled it and found that a magnet had indeed been created. After some research I learned that some guys in Australia created a completely plastic circuit, that some Dutch Scientists have created a plastic chip, and Researchers from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and the Italian National Research Council have gotten plastic to hold binary data. All this accounts for the major components of the computer so I thought it a really fine product until I could not determine if it could be produced for a lower cost than the standard computer components.
The next idea that I really like is actually due to my sister. My sister just had a baby 6 months ago (boy does that take me back). Unlike several women who breastfeed or use powder formula, because of the sensitivity of my nephew's digestive tract she has to feed him a specific formula. However, unlike powdered formula, the kind she uses needs to be refridgerated once the original packaging has been opened. After looking at the baby section of several stores (major chains and mom-and-pop types) we discovered that there are currently no leak-proof storage devices that are designed to keep things cold. The best thing we came up with was using a thermos like is used for coffee but this is generally used for keeping things warm and does not keep a cup of coffe as hot as it originally was when it went in. (Any one who drinks coffee can attest to this.) So the product would be to design a leak-proof thermos type device that actually keeps liquids refridgerator cold to allow those parents that use liquid pre-made formula (and even pre-pumped breastmilk) from having to be near a fridge ever 2 hours or less. I'm not entirely sure which technology this would use, but the product itself is new and does indeed use some kind of technology.
Another idea I came up with actually came to me last and was only a few days ago. I had to go to the store to pick up some post-it labels to label the spices for my new spice rack as the spices that came with the rack are not ones that my family uses but we liked the rack itself and the bottles that it came with. Anyways, so I was standing in line with my single little purchase and not really wanting to be there I was worried that the people at the counter would cause a breakdown in the register system causing an even longer wait time. This caused me to reflect on the number of times I have been at a store and had a single item (or just a few items) and every single line was long or had a person in it with everything the store had to offer. Even the express lane was long and seemed to have every person in it maxing out the limit. Then I got to thinking, anyone who has had a wedding or baby recently knows of the registry that some stores offer. The registry is created by the couple (or half of it) taking a computerized scanner of sorts throughout the store and simply scanning to barcode of the item they want. This takes all the information of the time such as description, price, and quantity and adds it to their registry. Even store employees use a similar device to add/update their inventory. So my thought was, why not allow shoppers to carry this type of device, scan the items they want, and insert their credit card into the scanner to pay for the items. This way they don't have to stand in line and can hopefully avoid the 156 year old lady that needs the price check on the 72 gallon bucket of denture cream.
Another idea came from my son. I read to my son every night and was thinking one night while reading to him, that he loves to read to himself but sometimes the words are a little to hard, or sometimes I just have a headache and can't stomach the thought of reading to him. I then feel guilty that he's not getting the benefit of the reading. And what of those kids who can't read to themselves (my son is past that age) whose parent(s) can't read to them are they to just go by the wayside? My idea was a book that when oppened uses a holographic projection to display a movie representation of the book. The "actors" would speak the portions of the book where that character speaks while any action is visually displayed while a "narrator" speaks the parts. As far as I know there is no current holographic book out there. (And before you say it this is different from the movies that have been produced from the book as many of them have been adapted and do not contain the exact wording of the book. Just think of the Harry Potter books and such.)
My last idea is kindof along the same lines. Many people love watching television, but any parent who has more than one child especially of different ages knows that it is very difficult finding shows that every one of the kids enjoys. Other than marshalling the amount of TV shows for each kid, or a TV in each child's room (is this really needed????) there is currently no solution. I was thinking of glasses much like reading glasses that projects a TV show from a camera type system hiden within the frame of the glasses directly onto the lenses of the glasses. This would allow for the user/wearer to be able to watch the show they want and each wearer can be in the same physical location but watching completely different shows. Problem solved!!! The product can be used in conjunction with sites like NetFlix that allows movies to be viewed online or Hulu that stores episodes of TV shows. The wearer would create an account with these sites and download the desired show to the glasses and watch it until the next show was downloaded.
Those are my ideas, some are definately more plausible than others, but ideas don't always have to be within the realm of fantasy. Even George Lucas created his own company to be able to produce the graphics he wanted for his own movies. And computer tech is improving all the time, so something that is not possible now, may be so in a few years. (James Cameron had his idea for Avatar back in the 90s but didnt have the tech to bring it to the screen in the way he wanted until just a few years ago.) Good things come to those who wait.
The one that I am really passionate about but am pretty sure I can't do a good business plan for is a computer completely made of plastic components. I got the idea when I was watching the history chanel a while ago and they were talking about how a university was trying to make plastic magnets. I assumed since this was a while ago there must have been some advancement since then so googled it and found that a magnet had indeed been created. After some research I learned that some guys in Australia created a completely plastic circuit, that some Dutch Scientists have created a plastic chip, and Researchers from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and the Italian National Research Council have gotten plastic to hold binary data. All this accounts for the major components of the computer so I thought it a really fine product until I could not determine if it could be produced for a lower cost than the standard computer components.
The next idea that I really like is actually due to my sister. My sister just had a baby 6 months ago (boy does that take me back). Unlike several women who breastfeed or use powder formula, because of the sensitivity of my nephew's digestive tract she has to feed him a specific formula. However, unlike powdered formula, the kind she uses needs to be refridgerated once the original packaging has been opened. After looking at the baby section of several stores (major chains and mom-and-pop types) we discovered that there are currently no leak-proof storage devices that are designed to keep things cold. The best thing we came up with was using a thermos like is used for coffee but this is generally used for keeping things warm and does not keep a cup of coffe as hot as it originally was when it went in. (Any one who drinks coffee can attest to this.) So the product would be to design a leak-proof thermos type device that actually keeps liquids refridgerator cold to allow those parents that use liquid pre-made formula (and even pre-pumped breastmilk) from having to be near a fridge ever 2 hours or less. I'm not entirely sure which technology this would use, but the product itself is new and does indeed use some kind of technology.
Another idea I came up with actually came to me last and was only a few days ago. I had to go to the store to pick up some post-it labels to label the spices for my new spice rack as the spices that came with the rack are not ones that my family uses but we liked the rack itself and the bottles that it came with. Anyways, so I was standing in line with my single little purchase and not really wanting to be there I was worried that the people at the counter would cause a breakdown in the register system causing an even longer wait time. This caused me to reflect on the number of times I have been at a store and had a single item (or just a few items) and every single line was long or had a person in it with everything the store had to offer. Even the express lane was long and seemed to have every person in it maxing out the limit. Then I got to thinking, anyone who has had a wedding or baby recently knows of the registry that some stores offer. The registry is created by the couple (or half of it) taking a computerized scanner of sorts throughout the store and simply scanning to barcode of the item they want. This takes all the information of the time such as description, price, and quantity and adds it to their registry. Even store employees use a similar device to add/update their inventory. So my thought was, why not allow shoppers to carry this type of device, scan the items they want, and insert their credit card into the scanner to pay for the items. This way they don't have to stand in line and can hopefully avoid the 156 year old lady that needs the price check on the 72 gallon bucket of denture cream.
Another idea came from my son. I read to my son every night and was thinking one night while reading to him, that he loves to read to himself but sometimes the words are a little to hard, or sometimes I just have a headache and can't stomach the thought of reading to him. I then feel guilty that he's not getting the benefit of the reading. And what of those kids who can't read to themselves (my son is past that age) whose parent(s) can't read to them are they to just go by the wayside? My idea was a book that when oppened uses a holographic projection to display a movie representation of the book. The "actors" would speak the portions of the book where that character speaks while any action is visually displayed while a "narrator" speaks the parts. As far as I know there is no current holographic book out there. (And before you say it this is different from the movies that have been produced from the book as many of them have been adapted and do not contain the exact wording of the book. Just think of the Harry Potter books and such.)
My last idea is kindof along the same lines. Many people love watching television, but any parent who has more than one child especially of different ages knows that it is very difficult finding shows that every one of the kids enjoys. Other than marshalling the amount of TV shows for each kid, or a TV in each child's room (is this really needed????) there is currently no solution. I was thinking of glasses much like reading glasses that projects a TV show from a camera type system hiden within the frame of the glasses directly onto the lenses of the glasses. This would allow for the user/wearer to be able to watch the show they want and each wearer can be in the same physical location but watching completely different shows. Problem solved!!! The product can be used in conjunction with sites like NetFlix that allows movies to be viewed online or Hulu that stores episodes of TV shows. The wearer would create an account with these sites and download the desired show to the glasses and watch it until the next show was downloaded.
Those are my ideas, some are definately more plausible than others, but ideas don't always have to be within the realm of fantasy. Even George Lucas created his own company to be able to produce the graphics he wanted for his own movies. And computer tech is improving all the time, so something that is not possible now, may be so in a few years. (James Cameron had his idea for Avatar back in the 90s but didnt have the tech to bring it to the screen in the way he wanted until just a few years ago.) Good things come to those who wait.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Doom Cloud & Repetition
At first reading the 3 pages assigned to us seemed like I had taken a time bubble back several hours to the class. It seemed to be duplicating some of the exact things we had covered in class. Not having a lot of time to do things, I find it very frustrating to have to repeat things. (Or to be part of something that appears to be repetative.) So after reading this portion of the pages I was a little unhappy, but persevered through my horomonal state to complete the assignement.
And after calming down (and getting a slap on the wrist from the instructor in class about it) I began to look back at the reading and decided that while most people may see the reading as a doom cloud with it's grim facts and figures about starting a business, I found it ensightful and actually was glad to see that it did not sugar-coat the situation. I am a firm believer of honesty and much more appreciate a true representation than a rose-colored view of it. If it's gonna be more like Sisyphus with his blasted boulder then tell me about it. This way I can plan for it, instead of thinking I am doing something completely wrong and was just not meant to be an Entreprenuer. Not having all the information up front causes for poor planning and insufficient resources and costs much more in the long run.
And after calming down (and getting a slap on the wrist from the instructor in class about it) I began to look back at the reading and decided that while most people may see the reading as a doom cloud with it's grim facts and figures about starting a business, I found it ensightful and actually was glad to see that it did not sugar-coat the situation. I am a firm believer of honesty and much more appreciate a true representation than a rose-colored view of it. If it's gonna be more like Sisyphus with his blasted boulder then tell me about it. This way I can plan for it, instead of thinking I am doing something completely wrong and was just not meant to be an Entreprenuer. Not having all the information up front causes for poor planning and insufficient resources and costs much more in the long run.
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