Posted in MGT 5985 - Reflections

Reflection

This was one of the best courses so far, after taking other management classes. Most of the learning was self taught, reading articles, putting all what you have been taught into action, creating a website. It was all for our benefits, coming out of our comfort zone and trying out things we thought we could never do or achieve. Is one thing to create a business idea plan for a class and it is another thing to take more steps further and run this business idea plan to see what your targeted customers really think. That was the most fun part of this course the MVP testing. I am happy I got the chance to actually create an ad, I have never done that before. It is so cool to watch other people or see people being interested in your product you thought of  literally two months ago. It takes people years to come up with an idea but all of us in this where put into that test and we experienced what it had to take design a solution/product that people would be interested in. 

Also, I liked the fact that the mode of teaching for this class was very open and understanding, giving students the option to pick working by themselves or working with students in class was a good teaching skill. People are better off working better when they are alone and they are given the opportunity to do that. 

It was a pleasure taking the course with all of you and professor you were the best! Have nice summer everyone!

Posted in MGT 4952 Reflections

Reflection

When I first registered for this class, I wasn’t sure of what to expect. I know it was an innovative, technology class to help improve my skills, thinking, knowledge on being a better entrepreneur. But aside from that I actually didn’t know I was going to get introduced into tinkercad/sketchfab prototype idea. This class actually made me design some product that I believe was of value to me and other individuals. My creative was definitely tested in this class and I am happy I participated in such a kind of practical learning. I am not an aspect on tinker cad or sketchfab but this an important tool that I will most likely go back and use for my own personal use later in future.

Also, I liked the fact that the mode of teaching for this class was very open and understanding, giving students the option to pick working by themselves or working with students in class was a good teaching skill. People are better off working when they are alone and they were given the opportunity to do that. 

The 60 seconds video was really tough, I won’t lie. but I liked that we were given that limited amount of time because that is really how it is in the real world. People don’t give you the opportunity to say all that your business has to offer, they have limited time to offer and it is important to learn how to pitch your idea or show what your product stands for with that short amount of time. 

It was a pleasure taking the course with all of you and professor you were the best! Have nice summer everyone!

Posted in MGT 5985, MGT 5985 Product

Final Project

Here is the link for my video College Ivy – YouTube

This idea is actually interesting for me because this is something I would need for myself and creating a business idea to solve a problem I face will be an addition to me. After I spoke to primary and secondary competitors, I went towards the negative comment’s customers made and incorporated that into my strategy. I definitely think this will be a good idea, if I am to go into it, I will start with small amount of targeted audience maybe concentrate on New York, Texas, California alone for now giving that those were my highest engagement and viewers came from when I tested my MVP and with that, I provide the solution to the negative feedback customers give to other companies.

Posted in MGT 4952, MGT 4952 Product

Final Project

I did my final project in transforming my old idea into something that has more value in today’s technology era. After a deep thinking I came up with the design of having an exclusive all in one in-built Microsoft digital bookshelf. This is like having your gadgets such as desktop, laptop physically attached to your bookshelf. We currently living in a world, that keep evolving and advanced in technology. I thought could be another idea that could eliminate the waste of storing books psychical and reduce the amount of money spent in buying several gadgets and books.

This design is to serve purpose of what a desktop would usually do, it has access to all Microsoft services, being able to stores files, connect other devices to this digital bookshelf. It will help in the amount of stored physical books and reduce waste. I also decided to design the bookshelf to have a bit of extra storage space for other items that can be stored while working for an easy reach. With extra features of two USB Ports, lamp and wireless connection

Here is the link of my video. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iQc3KE5VEGq9-M2OQi2dogXnkukIJgJh/view?usp=sharing

Posted in MGT 4952, MGT 4952 Reflections

Next step

Moving forward, I still not yet 100% sure on the next tinker cad innovation design that I will be going for. The problem solution design I created for my sister was both a success and a failure, that went well but now I have to design something that I like or an innovation of my interest. I have some idea I could design, such as car, house, a technical pen but I am still thinking of other ideas too. By this week I should know what I am doing, so I can start working on that.

Posted in MGT 4952 Product

Updating Prototype

My customers problem and design was a success for me. After I spoke to my sister she validated the idea and the solution that I made for her. The only negative thing was the size which wasn’t that much of a big deal. We decided to build the product actually and because I designed it, I was able to explain what parts or kind of pieces we needed to buy from ikea, in order to bring this to life. We are still yet to get all the parts but it is looking like it can happen.

Just attached the designs I made from tinkercad earlier, she wants it a bit smaller, this is too big for her room but everything else is good for her.

Posted in MGT 4952

MVP Testing

I created a website that includes most information about my business. I made a URL that links to what my business is all about. In the website we have different categories that explain what the product is and how it delivers to the targeted customers. I included a call to action section where customers can subscribe to the company mailing list with their emails, keeping them updated with every information they need to know about the company.

Here is the website link https://collegeivy.wixsite.com/collegeivy

For MVP Ad I decided to go with Facebook because facebook is like a family social media app with a huge amount of users from different ethnicity, country, diversity, religion etc. Creating a tutoring center anyone will be able to come across it, even if they don’t need it, they can send it to their children, cousins, friends who are in the targeted area. I think facebook is the best option I have to try this out. 

Posted in MGT 4952, MGT 4952 Product

Validating the problem.

Before I showed her my design, I decided to speak to her and just make sure I picked out the right problem that she was actually facing. I live with my sister, I want to believe I literally know everything that is up to her. So I spoke to her to know if this is really a problem she is facing or she is just being very picky with finding a bookshelf. She laughed and said “I am actually so frustrated with this because normally I am a picky person but this time if I can find something closest to this bookshelf I had go for it, I just don’t want my money to go to waste”. While I was designing the solution, I had these questions and thought in my head about if this is what she really need and not just want, I thought about why she needed this exact type of design, the decisions she has made of not wanting to waste her money on any other kind of bookshelf if it’s not the exact type of bookshelf that will satisfy her need so she doesn’t have to keep changing and I am happy I thought of this because she had actually tried other options that was available to her. 

she needs this exact type of bookshelf because she is killing two birds with one stone. At her school she’s giving weekly engineering projects, where she will be using her desktop, laptop and some books to help her with her given projects. A bookshelf that can contain all three with a large table space will be perfect for her to do her projects without interruptions or distractions from moving to a table to another. I totally understood her, she was also concerned with wasting her money because bookshelves like that aren’t so cheap as she ended up returning the bookshelf she tried earlier. She needs a bookshelf that will be for the long term and not just short while.

Because she was pleased with the design I made for her, we visited home improvement stores, home depot, home goods, ikea and target. We didn’t want to buy from ikea because their items don’t last for long time, so we were bit skeptical from buying their products, I spoke to an employee and they didn’t have the designed we needed, although the employee actually saved us the stress and told us what we could do to solve this problem. In Ikea there is how you can buy parts of a bookshelf and table and because I was the one that personally designed the bookshelf, I knew exactly the kind of pieces we needed in order to build this. Ikea sold to us the individual parts we need in order to bring this bookshelf to live and this is actually going to work. She was really happy and thankful for this, a problem that had been troubling her for a year one is about to be solved. 

Posted in MGT 5985, MGT 5985 - Reflections

Key Takeaways from competitors.

The key takeaways I took from both my primary and secondary competitors were that some companies who are involved in tutoring business mostly take care of your major customer which shouldn’t be. A tutoring business is made of both the tutors and students but for some reasons the tutors are never fully compensated for the service that they give to this business, when truly it is really the tutors that are the body of this products, without the tutors they can face their main customers, the students. 

Another thing I took was that in general it is really difficult to start a business all on your own, I mean we all know that but really when the business is in motion, you start facing real life issues, you can’t handle the competitors, it is extremely difficult all on your own. The interviewer I spoke to made this sink in my head, because that is really the reality. I know people who do it all alone and they are doing extremely well but it is advisable as an entrepreneur to have open minds on building trust with other individuals who you believe will add value to the company and will be a great business partner.

Posted in MGT 5985, MGT 5985 Product

Competitive Landscape

I created a company analysis based on important key characteristics that college students and tutors will be looking for, before joining the company or working through the company app. I used three primary competitors and two second competitors in order to have different points of direction and know if my business is still of relevance in the market. 

I did some research online for the characteristics for each competitor and the company that almost matched with mine is Wyzant and tutors.com. The one significant factor I think that really stood out was price and price is a huge factor.Tutor.com makes students pay over $60 per hour for Private tutoring sessions, which is really expensive especially if students are the ones paying for out of their pocket, they have other important bills to worry about too. My company will be willing to give these students the same quality of tutoring they get from these other expensive competitors with their own choice of payment, meaning there isn’t a fixed price of payment on the website. Tutors and students will come to an arrangement of how they each know what to pay or the price the students are willing to give before they start the session. One of our weaknesses will be competing with Wyzant, Wyzant is already a developed tutor, although they have no upfront payments or subscriptions that are known to be taking 25% off tutors pay which will make the tutors increase their price for each of their sessions.  This competitive analysis has helped learn more about this type of business, it has helped me analyses my business further and ways I could build it to stand out. I believe my company still has a chance here and I want to see how it goes.