6A Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

Regulatory Trends: controlling decentralized currency like bitcoin, too many forms for stuff.

 1)      Governments trying to control and create regulation for decentralized currency like bitcoin is the whole point it was created. If it is based on just math and computers it will not be susceptible to crazy swings in value like, like inflation or deflation during a recession2)      I believe there is an opportunity for the government to just leave it alone as an experiment, and see what happens to the value. By studying what happens to this currency on the real market it will be better than any simulation or model, and will help them learn valuable information about the US Dollar and how consumer demand affects the price. I believe that this would be more valuable than trying to add regulations to control the market.

3)      The consumer would be the professional sector of economists. They would be able to learn valuable information about behavioral patterns of consumers.

4)      It might be hard to convince the government not to add any regulations to these coins, but overall the amount of data that comes out would be valuable and easy to use once patterns and trends are recognized.

5)      I formed this belief because I believe block chain is a great technology that has the chance to revolutionize banking and security technology. Machine learning without regulations has the chance to flourish, but if the government imposes strict regulations the synergy achieved might never be recognized. If the government lets this technology amplify it will disrupt, move the needle, and will be at the cutting edge of future bandwidth based on its core competencies.

 1)      There are too many forms to do almost everything. Something like paying taxes sometimes requires hundreds of pages of documents and forms. All of these lead to a complicated system, and incentives people to cheat on their taxes or not pay them fully because of how much work it is to report everything.

2)      I believe it is a problem because it is something that people always complain about. Taxes are something all Americans have to pay, so it would be a large market that we could tap into.

3)      The most likely customer would be someone who has to pay a lot of taxes and has income coming from different sources like investments. The product would be software that could automatically read document that the user uploads and fill in the forms for them. The user would buy the software for a reasonable price, and that is how the company would make money.

4)      It would be difficult to create the software at the start. But once the program is created the variable cost to have another person buy the software would be almost nothing, so the main hurdle would be getting market share. If the software was the best and could automatically fill in forms it would be the best product and easier to use so hopefully it would gain market share.

5)      I saw this opportunity because of how annoying taxes are to complete. I am sure there are many other people out there trying to create a better solution. It would be a race for who could create the best software.

Economic:

1)      The sharing economy is becoming more common with the widespread of the internet. One way I see to potentially use this is to create a place where employees could outsource their own jobs. If a person had to do some boring repetitive job at a company they could post it online, and have people bid to do the job for them. I am sure some manager who gets paid a lot at a company doesn’t want to fill out basic forms, so as long as the information is not proprietary they could post it online and pay someone $15/hour until they complete it.

2)      There is an opportunity because I have spent many hours filling out boring forms for my managers, and I am sure there is someone overseas that would do it for $8/hr, and I would pocket the difference in salaries that I am paid and what someone else is paid.

3)      The potential customer would be anyone who has a repetitive job that could be done all online without any external input.

4)      It would be hard creating a website, and then the website would require upkeep. It would also be hard convincing people to use the service, because they would not be convinced about the quality of work, but overtime as people get ratings the users of the site would be able to see who does good work, and thus be able to decide who they want to do their work for them.

5)      I came up with this idea while my mind was thinking when doing boring work. I also remembered reading a story online a while ago about some guy who was making $200,000/year, and then he hired some guy in china to do the job for him, and he paid this guy $50,000/year, so he made $150,000 for doing nothing. If I was able to create a website where I can connect people like this I could take a small fee and make a lot of money.

Economics idea #2:

1)      Block chain has great potential and finding new places where it can be applied can result in the amplification of the disruption of marketing, finance, basket weaving, and information systems.

2)      This technology is all around us everyday, and everyday there are news articles about new places the technology is being applied.

3)      The potential customer would be large companies that have to deal with problems of data security.  

4)      Creating an entirely new use for blockchain technology would be hard, but once the idea is up and running it would have a high likelihood of being adopted by the industry.

5)      Blockchain is a current buzzword in the industry, and it is revolutionizing the way data is stored and handled. I came up with this idea when I became interested in cryptocurrencies, and how they operate and run.

5A Identifying Local Opportunities

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/fl-reg-python-hunters-everglades-20180530-story.html

“Hunters with shotguns to go after pythons in the Everglades”

This story is about an attempted solution to the problem of invasive python in the Everglades. The article talks about the issue cautiously, as “hunting” is still not allowed in the park, and that the men and women going out there to kill pythons with shotguns is considered problem solving, not hunting.

The problem is that pythons are an invasive species that are drastically altering the ecosystem by changing the food chain. This has gotten to be such a big problem because they have no natural predators, so their population keeps expanding.

The problem applies to all of the animals in the everglades, as well as the people that relay on the natural wildlife to earn a living, like people operating tourist companies. If the pythons eat all of the animals gators usually eat the population of gators will decrease, and then tourist will be disappointed when they don’t see any gators and it could potentially hurt the entire natural wildlife tourist industry in Florida.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange/os-painted-house-dispute-20180530-story.html

“House painted with bees and dragonflies the product of zoning dispute, homeowner says”

The story is a classic one, people having trouble with local zoning codes, and even the simplest of things takes forever to get done. The home owner wants to make renovations to his house on the property, but according to the city the house does not exist because it does not have an address, even though the homeowner says he applied and got approved for other renovations last year.

The problem is that dealing with local governments takes forever, and almost everyone views it as slow an inefficient. Paperwork is lost, there are so many regulations, and most of the time employees only work during normal business hours. Improvements to systems like this are scarce because money is always tight and they would say they don’t have the funds to upgrade systems and make it more user friendly.

The problem applies to everyone that has to deal with any local governments and regulations. My own parents have faced this problem, with the home owners association trying to have very strict policies about landscaping, and even the type of grass that be planted in yards. As long as associations exists and try to control the lives of people there will always be ways that people try and fight for their own freedoms to express their views.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/hurricane-guide/os-hurricane-prep-puerto-ricans-stress-20180515-story.html

“Puerto Ricans in Central Florida still reeling from Maria as new hurricane season nears”

The story focuses on a couple families, and how they still have not recovered from hurricane Maria last year. It is a depressing story to read, as hurricane Maria was almost a year ago to see how people have still not recovered. The story dives into why they have not recovered, and the problems that are keeping them from returning home. It is frequently medical problems and care that stop people from going home.

The problem is mostly the lack of infrastructure in place in Puerto Rico at the moment. The island was having problems before the hurricane hit with the power grid, but when the hurricane hit it completely destroyed the entire power grid. Because it is an island repairs have been slow and time consuming, so people have not moved home. People do not even have time to think about getting ready for the upcoming hurricane season, they are still trying to recover from the devastation last year.

It mainly affect people from Puerto Rico, but it affects everyone who is in a hurricane zone, it serves as a warning to everyone in Florida that hurricanes and natural disasters still rule, and there is nothing we can do to stop them. All we can do is try to prepare as well as we can and be ready when the next big hurricane hits Florida.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-ed-open-government-lawsuits-20180529-story.html

“Editorial: Don’t punish citizens for exercising their constitutional right to open government”

The article is about the transparency of government, and what rights we have as citizens. Most citizens understand that some things need to be kept secret for the good of the country, but when it comes to local issues nothing should be that important that it is marked as top secret. So if the government has a meeting with a local company about a potentially controversial issue citizens should be able to find out what it is about and what happened. That is usually the case, but one local government sued a local company when they requested a document about a meeting with a water company, this resulted in a $18 million settlement when they refused and had a lengthy court battle. Of course this means that our tax dollars were spent to pay out this settlement.

The problem is transparency in our government, and our rights to know what the government is doing. As with anything there are always people that will abuse the system, and try to request every single record to create a hassle for the government and slow down the process for everyone else. However I believe we need to find the right balance of how much transparency we want. 

This problem affects all Florida citizens. A law was passed in 1992 that let any citizen request a record of a government meeting. And if citizens think that they will get sued for requesting records they will think twice about it, and that is not what we want. As a society we all agree to be governed, and if the government does not do things in an ethical way it is up to the citizens to do something about it.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/get-healthy-orlando/os-americans-sleep-shortage-20180530-story.html

“Americans aren’t sleeping early enough, but early risers might live longer”

Sleep deprivation is a problem that I’m sure we have all faced at some point. There is just so much to do, especially with all of our electronic device. Normal screens give off some blue light, which makes our bodies think it is daylight, and thus our bodies try to keep us awake. This problem can lead to severe lack of sleep, as most people use these devices just before they go to bed.

The problem is that we are messing up our normal sleep habits. Lack of sleep can make humans have lower reaction times and decreased cognitive functions, reducing overall productivity. This could affect the workplace, it can be dangerous when drivers are sleepy as they have slower reactions times and could cause an accident.

This problem affects everyone who does not get enough sleep. It also might affect people that get enough sleep, but it takes them longer to fall asleep because of blue light. Lack of sleep can affect your health, and can be a cause of heart disease, and diabetes, this lost productivity can lead to a decrease in GDP of a country and increases the risk of dying from a heart attack.

4A Opportunity Belief

1.                I have a belief, that bathroom stalls should not have large gaps in the doors that allow people to see through. It is the simplest of things, but it is such a big negative when done wrong, and when its done right people don’t notice the benefit. A solution is so simple, tighter tolerances when public bathrooms doors are designed and installed. A simple piece of rubber would only cost a couple bucks and would be an easy retrofit.

2.                The unmet need is privacy in the bathroom. People look to see if a stall is open, and sometimes eye contact is accidentally made. Everyone has the need for this simple decency. This would be applied to everyone who uses a public restroom. This need has always existed. I have always noticed, and something that always annoys me. It always annoy me when bathroom doors are not open by default, then you have to go through the awkward process of trying to open doors when they are locked and someone is inside. To meet this need now nothing is being done, they just hope to awkwardly avoid eye contact. I am sure this is an opportunity, and it could be applied to almost every public bathroom is the USA.

3.             The typical customer would be any business with public bathrooms, one of the first clients that comes to mind is airports. This could be a big market, each contract would be small, but it would be the quantity of contracts that would help make money.

4.             As this is a product is a large-scale product I tried calling a couple large places and the few I got through to would not give me an answer. Instead of getting responses from businesses I asked a couple of my friends and asked what they thought about it from a large business perspective. The main thing they were worried about is if businesses would have the motivation to pay money for something that they don’t think is broken. Their other concerns were about installation, if the business has to close the bathrooms for a while they would be less inclined to do it.

5.             I think my product is different from the normal product that would be sold directly to consumers. As I thought about it more I would need to include different colors to match all of the different color bathroom doors. Another things I would want to change is the ease of installation. Originally I wanted to have my product be screwed into the doors, but I think having an option to tape it on the doors would be faster and easier for installation. My product would not cost a lot, and one big contract like an airport would at least a hundred bathroom stalls where they could use my product.

6.             Answers in step 5

7.             Overall I liked this exercise. As I think about it more I feel like this is an actual opportunity that exists that. I think it would be harder to actually implement it than I thought. I thought it would be much easier to talk with someone at a large organization like an airport. I believe this forced me to do more research, and if I actually wanted to pursue it, it would require much more work. I would have to work on the project design and also on how I would market the product and get the word out to new business opportunities. In the start its all about listening to customers, but with a grain of salt. If you have a product that is revolutionary and not evolutionary customers would not know what is good for them, but in the end its all about listening to customers and creating a product that they want and would buy. 

3A Entrepreneurship Story

Entrepreneurship story- I was part of the Reitz Retail Hatchery. It was a space in the Reitz union where student entrepreneurs could apply, and if they were accepted they could sell their products in the Reitz Union at the old computer lab. The store is still up and running successfully today. It was my first real experience with anything related to entrepreneurship. I worked together with 5 other interns and together we had to do everything related to the store. We first had to figure out how the store would run, who would be in the store and the day to day operations of the store. It was a huge task that we started in January, and we wanted to open the store by the end of January. I was exposed to a lot and learned so much more than I could have learned in a classroom. One thing I learned was the variety of products that students have created and wanted to do as a business. We had everything from a virtual reality simulator to handcrafted jewelry. I also saw how the minds of entrepreneurs worked, and everything was always about the customers and making them happy, while also expanding the market and reaching as many people as possible. Overall it was a great experience and it got me started on the path of thinking about business and wanting to start my own business someday.

From this class, I want to learn about the details of the business and learn all of the common mistakes. By doing this I hope to be more efficient and when I start a company and hopefully it will be more successful.

The picture below is a picture of the inside of the store after it was up and running, showcasing all of the different products and vendors.  

2A Bug list

Bug List:

1.     Lack of parking- I want to give a business my money, most of their customers dive there, so it's their job to provide ample parking so I can come in and spend money. It happens because sometimes a business receives a majority of their customers at once, like a gym at 5:30 when everyone goes there after work.

2.             People that don’t pull over for ambulances- they think they are more important than someone whose life is in danger

3.             Garbage cans that overflow- I don’t like litter in the world, they are full because they don’t compact, its kind of solved with the big belly solar garbage can.

4.             Older people that cant use computers, companies that have employees who are super slow at computers have to lose out on millions on lost productivity.

5.             Walking places, biking is far superior, a mile walk takes 30 minutes, with a bike it takes about 4 minutes.

6.             Traffic jams, when too many people try to go the same place roads reach their capacity then it slows it down for everyone.

7.             Slow meetings, Time at work should be efficient almost all meetings I have been to are slow and in-efficient, and waste time

8.             Not cold water in drinking fountains, I like drinking water, and companies and schools want us to be healthier, thus they should provide cold water that taste better

9.             Hitting orange lights, self explanatory, it slows you down

10.          Rainy weather, its nice for a day, but after that I get restless and want to go outside and do things

11.          Writing the number 5, to write it neatly takes an extra fraction of a second, and its so much faster to write is like an s

12.          Coffee that is never at the perfect temperature, its either too hot, or too cold, and only at the perfect temperature for about 5 minutes

13.          Sand that is too hot, I want to go to the beach and have a good time and walk on the sand, if the sand is so hot that I cant walk barefooted then it decreases my enjoyment level

14.          Bad hair days, my hair is short so it should be easy to take care of, but every now and then I will have a piece of hair that randomly sticks out and looks weird

15.          Computers crashing, I expect my computer to work, and if it crashes it takes a couple minutes to boot back up, it also sometimes causes me to lose a bunch of work and then I have to do it over again

16.          Dead phone battery, it happens because phone manufacturers refuse to make a phone that is slightly thicker than the last generation, even if it means a much longer battery life, they should listen to customers. If I want to use my phone I want it to work, a dead battery can cause all sorts of problems like not being able to make an important call

17.          Brown spots on bananas, they ruin the overall taste and appeal of a banana

18.          Too long of lines at restaurants, I arrive at a place to eat when I get hungry, not 30 minutes before I am hungry. So if I get there and the line is 30 minutes I will be starving by the time I get my food

19.          Pencil lead breaking, its annoying when it breaks and makes the page look messy

20.          Bad eraser, when I try to erase something I want to erase it, not have an eraser smear pencil lead all over the page

Part 3- I had a little trouble with this, but my mind randomly wandered to different things, and then I found something I didn’t like about the situation and then wrote it on the list. Some things I have on this list I have no control over, so I don’t really know why I get upset over them. Overall I think it was good to make this list, and it got my mind thinking about potential business opportunities. 

First Post

Hello Internet!

This is my first blog post to make sure everything works and I can successfully make a post as well as comment on other posts. I hope to learn as much as I can this semester!