25A - What's Next?

I am very glad that this assignment was apart of this class as I did not know in what other direction to really go after I had completed my invention and marketing the first product.  Many of my would-be customers were just about as flabbergasted as I was when it came down to other products and how to grow the company into other subjects within the same industry.  One customer offered an idea, making different options much as the garbage disposals that go in your sink work.  You need to be able to offer three different levels of the same product, one that is cheap and noisy, one that is moderate in both categories and one that is silent but expensive.

The other way we all decided that would continue to grow the company would be expanding into other industries such as hospitals, hotels and the workplace, instead of just a household product.  Another idea would be creating a service center as well as other products that deal with hygiene and bathroom products such as cleaning kits and personal care.

20A - Growing Your Social Capital

1) Josh Johansen - Marketing Director for plumbing installation company, 20+ years selling and retaining customers, domain expert.
I found and met Josh at my local Home Depot actually looking throughout the plumbing section and monitoring which of his companies products were selling more rapidly. 
I chatted with him for about 5 minutes about my idea and where I expected to be withing 5 years of launching.  He liked the idea and said to keep him updated throughout my process as he may want to get his company involved.

2) Michelle Klipper - Sales Manager for the same company as Josh.  Been in that position for 12 years now.  Marketing expert.
I met Michelle through the means of Josh as he gave me her contact information in order to help me with this project.
We exchanged emails and she stated that the money it would take to inform the customers about the product and how it works may put me in a huge hole up front but eventually, if it is a quality product, the sales will be profitable.

3) Mike Roell - Plant Manager for the same company.  Has worked in the warehouse for 40 years. 
Once again, Josh hooked me up with his plant manager.  It will be expensive to build prototypes and fill small orders but once it gets rolling it will become cheaper.

21A - Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I chose to write about is called, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".  The theme of the book is the main habits of the more successful entrepreneurs of this era and how those habits have helped them achieve the most they can achieve.  The book navigates through how these people discovered, unlocked and mastered their 7 habits that have made them amongst the most successful people on Earth today. 

This book absolutely enhanced what we are learning in this class as it ties directly into what we are learning about.  Entrepreneurship is not just about how to create a business and be successful, it is about how to enhance your traits and build habits that will help you be successful for years to come.

The exercise I would design would be based off of a model experiment.  An experiment where you create your business with and without the 7 habits and predict the success rates of each of those businesses. 

The biggest surprise was how simple most of the habits are.  They are everyday values that have seem to been forgotten but they really are the difference maker when it comes to success.