20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry.

1) -I reached out to the owner of Maxfit Nutrition here in my home town, Mr. Mark.  He has been in the supplement industry for over 20 years and managed five supplements stores before opening his own back in 2013. His store was awarded Panama City's fastest-growing small business for 2015-2016.

2) -He is filling the domain expert slot for this assignment. This individual fills this spot due to his long history in my particular industry, as well as identifying the needs of the various customers that enter into his supplement store.

3) -I contacted this individual through a personal text message. My good friend has worked for him for about five years, which is how I got his number.

4) -In the text message, I explained my business idea for this course, and included the links to my blog post so he could get a better understanding, and asked for his feedback. Mr. Mark responded quickly with feedback. There was zero return expectation.

5) -Adding Mr. Mark into my network will deeply enhance my ability to identify new products as well as new customers because he is knowledgeable about the type of products I want to produce.

Summary:

-This experience allowed me to gain more confidence in myself, as well as understand the great benefits of growing my network with professionals within the supplement industry.

2) One person must be an expert on your market. 

1) -I interviewed Ryan who is the local gym manager at Sequence Fitness here in Panama City.

2) -Ryan fits into the market expert slot due to his ten years of operating experience in the health club industry where he has built and marketed his own HIT classes named Pulse. Therefore he is extremely knowledgeable in the health and wellness industry.

3) -I reached out to Ryan through his work email.

4) -I sent Ryan an email where I explained my business to him and asked for his feedback. I included the links to my blog where he could get more in-depth information on the project. There was no return expectation for his help.

5) -Including Ryan in my network will enhance my ability to exploit this opportunity because of his extensive knowledge in developing various projects in the health industry as well as what supplements work best for weight loss and improved cardiovascular health.

Summary:

-The experience described above proved that networking can be relatively easy and email can be an effective method of communication. This particular networking experience was very similar to the one above.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry.

1) -I reached out to Rob Marstellar over at Makers Nutrition who is the manufacturer of the supplements for Anam Beauty and Wellness.

2) -Rob Marstellar fits the spot of supplier with my industry because he actually supplies Anam Beauty and Wellness with the supplement products.

3) -I reached out through email.

4) -I gave a brief explanation of the project to him and asked for his feedback. He thought the products we were producing fit the overall needs of the majority of customers trying to get in shape.  There was no return expectation.

5) -Including Mr. Marstellar in my network will enhance my ability to exploit this opportunity because he knows the most popular products and what usually sells the most.

Summary:

-The experience described above helped me develop a better relationship between myself and the manager of the manufacturing facility, which gave me new information on future products as well as better marketing techniques.

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You.  



-Hello everyone, I am a sophomore finance major at the University of Florida. I am a very active individual who enjoys learning and developing new skills. I am pursuing a career in finance due to my curiosity about understanding global economics and business. I am also in the process of applying to the MIB program as I type out this blog post. I am a very analytical individual, which helps in finance, but it also allows me to be more unbiased when trying to solve a problem. Additionally, I am able to build and form friendships with the people around me. I find it relatively easy to find common ground with individuals which allows me to form a collaborative relationship fairly well. This skill is imperative, especially in business when dealing with different individuals who all have different backgrounds and upbringings. Anam Beauty and Wellness is the company I am currently working on creating, and it has been a real pain, to say the least. However, the skills I described are extremely helpful when it comes to developing this business. 




2) What are you offering to customers?


-Anam Beauty and Wellness offers a clean and all-natural product line of health supplements to our customers. The four products we are launching with are designed to help individuals build an overall healthier lifestyle, one day at a time. Many supplement companies within the industry are focused on catering to the male bodybuilding community, which leaves the rest of the market pretty barren in terms of options for their dietary needs. The wellness community as a whole focuses on improving overall health through supplementation, this is the goal of Anam Beauty and Wellness. This company focuses on that idea by developing a line of products focused on gut health, natural energy, and high potency antioxidants. 


3) Who are you offering it to?


-The ideal customer for my company will be mainly individuals focused on developing a healthier lifestyle through proper supplementation. These customers will mainly be in the age range of 18-50 and primarily female. These individuals will be pursuing a more active lifestyle, most likely focusing on weight loss and overall health. 


4) Why do they care?


-I believe these customers will care for my products due to the companies' focus on delivering supplements that focus on benefitting overall wellness, which is the best way to develop a healthy lifestyle. Many supplement companies pitch a message of instant results which is a direct lie to the consumer, while Anam is focused on helping empower the consumer through building a clean diet/lifestyle.


5) What are your core competencies?


-I believe my biggest competency is my ability to keep a leveled head during stressful times. Running a company, especially in the startup phase, is extremely stressful at all times. Decisions must be made quickly and on the fly, which requires a leveled head to take the proper course of action. I believe this skill allows me to lead and form appropriate decisions that are critical for running a company properly. 


Summary: 


-Overall, I believe that these elements fit together. After evaluating all five of these elements, it was clear to me that Anam Beauty and Wellness delivers ideal products that fit the needs of the majority of individuals trying to live a healthier lifestyle. These products are focused to be simple and effective in delivering nutrition that is beneficial for all customers, ranging from the bodybuilder to the stay at home mom. Lastly, these products offer higher quality at a lower premium due to our manufacturer being within the US and also handling our fulfillment processes. 


Feedback Memo: 


-I received zero feedback on this blog post. 

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

1) 'Customer avatar'

-The prototypical customer of Anam Beauty and Wellness in my mind is a young, 27-37, stay-at-home mother who is dedicated to living a healthy lifestyle. She starts her day by making breakfast for her family and then taking her kids to school in her white SUV crossover. After dropping her kids off at school she heads to the gym to get in her morning workout. She then goes back home to get her post-workout shake and do some recovery yoga. She also works as a real-estate agent from home most of the days. She works on her new home listings until 1 pm and then leaves to go pick up her kids from school.

2) The final set of questions: 

-What do you have in common with the custom avatar: I personally created my buyer avatar based on my mother. She has always been a healthy individual who loved being active and pushed me to be active my whole childhood. I grew up going to the gym with my mom and started working out at the age of thirteen. I share this common attribute with my buyer avatar because I enjoy living an active lifestyle.

-If you have anything in common with the avatar, do you think that is a coincidence: No, I do not think this is a coincidence at all. I created Anam Beauty and Wellness in order to reflect on how I feel about a healthy lifestyle. I love being active and I believe the ideal buyer will also strive to be active. It doesn't matter if it's someone who runs marathons or someone who just walks for activity, everyone has their own level of activity and I reflected that in the buyer avatar.

17A – Elevator Pitch No. 2

Elevator Pitch No. 2

2) A reflection on the feedback you received from your last pitch.

-All of the comments I received on the first elevator pitch were very positive and complementing. I wanted to focus on addressing the products more directly in this video. I did this by directing attention to the product's development and its ingredients. However, it is hard for people to understand exactly what I am talking about due to the uniqueness of these various ingredients. I honestly received very little suggestions on how to improve on my elevator pitch.

3) What did you change, based on the feedback?

-The only real suggestion or tweak to the pitch that was recommended was by Lamar. He stated that I should add some evidence to back the pitch in order to give credibility to the products produced by Anam Beauty and Wellness. It is difficult to list off lab statistics of various ingredients in order for individuals to understand because I would also have to describe the properties of these ingredients. I decided to be more direct and speak about the manufacturing details. 

16A –What’s Your Secret Sauce?

1) Describe five ways in which you think you have human capital that is truly unique?

1. Ability to work in a team environment. This is a very important trait in order to be successful in the modern work environment, as well as accomplish any serious goal. No one individual ever builds something great without the help of a team, therefore being able to work in a team is key for success in any endeavor. 
2. Ability to properly communicate with others. Communication is essential to completing any difficult task or project. I believe I am able to understand and listen more closely to others, therefore I am able to return a more detailed response which creates a better result. 
3. Ability to set goals and develop a plan to achieve them. I like to place daily and monthly goals, almost as a game, and try to complete them and then identify if they were successful or not. This allows me to accomplish goals more effectively as well as create new goals faster.  
4. Ability to encourage and support. I believe this is one of the most important characteristics of success and is highly overlooked. Helping others and encouraging them is necessary for increasing motivation and progress in a group environment. "A rising tide lifts all boats" is an accurate metaphor for this kind of unique characteristic. Individuals, employees, all work better and deliver higher results when feeling encouraged by others to succeed. 
5. Ability to understand my own limitations and knowledge gaps. This is a valuable piece of human capital because it allows me to understand what and who to ask. I am to detect where I should step-in and where I should sit back listen to the given information or critic. 

2) Interview the five people who know you the best. 

Interview 1: 

Interview 2: 

Interview 3:

Interview 4:

Interview 5:

3) Reflect on the differences.

Overall, I believe all of the interviews I conducted provided a pretty similar picture of my unique human capital that I wrote about above. I have always wanted to work hard and achieve goals thanks to my wonderful parents who always encouraged me to dream big. I am very lucky to have such support, as I know many do not get the same treatment. This upbringing molded me into who I am today and how I interact within the real world.  

15A – Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

1) 

Over spring break I interviewed three individuals, consumers, from my hometown in Panama City, Florida. I went to my local gym and found three ideal consumers who all represented a different niche of consumers within the supplement market. The first consumer was a middle-aged female who wanted to lose some weight from being inactive. The second consumer was a male in his mid-twenties trying to build more muscle and gain weight. The last consumer was an elderly female who just wanted to add some form of cardiovascular activity so she could be healthier. 

2) 

Two out of the three consumers I interviewed said that the biggest factors when evaluating their alternatives are quality and price, while the third consumer said that price and useful-life are the biggest factors. Coincidentally, all of the consumers that I interviewed considered the price to be the biggest factor when considering an alternative due to the expensive nature of many supplements. Supplements are, by nature, the secondary form of nutrition and are not essential, therefore it is key to be competitive when pricing supplement products. Lastly, I came to the conclusion from the interviews that quality is the second biggest factor when deciding an alternative because a supplement product is ranked solely by its quality. 

3)  

For this segment, most consumers will purchase online because consumers usually can find a better deal on price or quantity rather than in-store. Although, some individuals choose to shop in-store because they feel the products are better quality "quality," but I believe that accounts for only a small portion of the market. 

4) 

The consumers I interviewed at the gym all said that being able to actually feel or see the effects of the supplement product mattered most. This is a unique characteristic of the supplement market in general because supplements usually take an average of one-two months of use before the end consumer can determine the benefits of the purchased product. Therefore, providing accurate and educating evidence of the product and its ingredients is key to gain proper consumer satisfaction, aka trust. 

5) 

During the interview, I gave samples of the "Divine Greens Superfood Powder" to all of the gym-goers and their reactions were priceless. They were all so surprised about how good the flavor was given its "grass" like color and texture. Once the interviews were over, they all asked where they could purchase this product and I told them it was launching May 1st on our website. Even the elderly lady said she would order it once the product launched, which really surprised me. They all asked me about the price, which is $45 dollars per unit, and they all said that was a fair market price.

6) 

Based on the information that I gathered from the interviews, my segment is trying to create competitively priced supplement products that deliver in terms of their overall health benefits. There are many alternative solutions in the supplement market, but my segment focuses on providing supplements that focus on factual science and useful dosages in order to be effective. In regards to purchasing decision and post-purchase evaluation, my segment aims to provide multiple purchasing options as well as provide real results for customer satisfaction.