Growing Your Social Capital 20A

1. Dwayne  Durham, the founder and president of the Marion County Salvation Army.

2. This is acting as the domain expert in my assignment.

3. I found the person through the local website and exploring the board of directors and contact page. This allowed me to send a contact request to the board. I also looked on Hoovers for more specific contact info but did not find anything better than the website had to offer.

4. I explained my position in the email and provided a short description of my idea. I asked for any feedback on the idea and if they would be willing to hear my elevator pitch or idea write up which I would provide if allowed.

5. This person would be a valuable contact due to the influence and experience he has from leading the local organization for many years as well as being able to change processes and make changes. He also could have valuable insight to the product idea and offer feedback regarding improvement.



1. Carlos Tobon is the Vice President of Interfaith Marion County.

2. This is acting as the expert on my market since they deal specifically with growing their influence in the Marion County Florida area.

3. I found this person through Hoover and also through their website. It listed the Board of Directors for Interfaith as well as how to contact them.

4. I explained my position in the email and provided a short description of my idea. I asked for any feedback on the idea and if they would be willing to hear my elevator pitch or idea write up which I would provide if allowed.

5. This person would be a valuable contact due to the influence and experience he has from leading the local organization and being very involved in Marion County Specifically. He also could have valuable insight to the product idea and offer feedback regarding improvement. I am hoping that his contact would really help me grow my idea in the local community.



1. Frances Thompson is listed as a local manager at the Winn-Dixie in Ocala.

2. This is acting as the important supplier to the industry as the manager of a grocery store could help influence what decisions are made in regard to the donation of goods.

3. I found this person through the Hoover data base and Frances was listed as a contact of the organization.

4. I explained my position as a student and the idea for the organization. I also asked how they distribute donations and if this would be something that could potentially help them spread their donations. I also asked for feed back and if they would like to hear the elevator pitch or the idea write up.

5. This would be a great contact to have as Winn-Dixie is a large grocery store chain. This person could help provide insight into their process of how they donate excess food items and help connect with various supermarkets in the area.



I think this experience of networking was good for me. I have not even finished the wright up for this assignment and the president of the local salvation army emailed me saying he would like to call and talk to me later to hear more about this idea. This is both nerve wracking and interesting to be able to hear real feedback from someone in a position of influence. I was surprised at how effective contacting these people was and will help encourage me to be more willing to do that in the future. I would say the experience differed because I was reaching out to specific people electronically rather than just trying to walk in somewhere and hope to talk to the right person. So far this seems to be more effective.

Idea Napkin 2 19A

1. Who are you? I am a 20-year-old college student who is in my junior year of studies at the University of Florida. My talents generally revolve around interpersonal skills. I pride myself in my social awareness and the ability to connect and lead individuals. My position at my current job is a recruiter for a staffing company. What this means is that every day I go to work my job is to talk to applicants all day long and sell them on the value of our process as well as simultaneously determining if this is a person, I think we should hire or not. There is a lot going on in just a few short minutes and I am learning how to best effectively communicate and discern information in a timely manner. My aspirations are to start a company that can help other people and be self-sustaining. I want to be able to do something with my life that I can be passionate about and something that makes a lasting difference. If I were to start this company, I would pour all my skills and energy into developing relationships with nonprofit organizations and creating a network base with which to launch my platform. I would be creative in solving problems and be extremely open to feedback as the goal is to ultimately help as many people as possible and help to eliminate waste.

2. What are you offering to customers? The service that I would be launching would be a social platform that connects businesses and people with donations to the nonprofit organization that needs them. The main key that would set us apart from the way things are done now is a streamlined process that allows for more donations to be given in a less amount of time and effort for all involved. The process would allow the people with donations to take a picture of the donation and post it to the platform. This allows the nonprofits seeking donations to then be alerted of a new donation and to then go and pick it up. Instead of just one organization having the opportunity to receive the goods, it now alerts all of them involved and creates a better chance that the donation will be picked up and not wasted. This creates a better process for the organizations that now do not have to call the companies to ask about donations and it allows the people donating the goods to simply take a picture and post the goods without having to directly contact anyone.

3. Who are you offering it to? There are three major groups that it would be offered it to. First it would be the average person that may have some perishable or nonperishable items that they would like to offer up for donation and to picked up. The second major group is the businesses. This includes both restaurants and supermarkets. These companies often have waste and can then alert the organizations that they have goods available for pick up. This could be a huge factor for many businesses as they can then advertise that they support the local community and are a member of the organization. Many people are more likely to spend money with an organization that helps others rather than one that does not. Lastly this will also be for the nonprofit organizations that collecting the donations. This will provide a necessary streamlined platform for them with which they can accept more donations for those in need.

4. Why do they care? Most people want to limit waste and help other people. However, we all live in a busy world and don’t have the time to drive to different organizations to deliver our goods. Customers of this startup will be happy to hear that they have a streamlined process with which to help others and our environment by limiting waste through a platform that requires minimal time and effort. Organizations could pay fees to advertise and request certain goods while other companies may be inclined to advertise their green initiatives on the site that attracts socially conscious customers. Businesses are frequently looking for ways to be considered an organization that cares about the community. This also gives them opportunity to advertise on the sight and expound upon their initiatives to help the community and create a greener world.

5. What are your core competencies? The reason I am the right person for this start up is twofold. I have the social competencies necessary to network and create a community of people with which to launch this endeavor. I also have traveled on 4 different international humanitarian missions’ trips and have participated in many events in the local community geared towards helping people. I have demonstrated a willingness and energy to help others by sacrificing time and significant amounts of my own money up to this point for other people. I will be creative in marketing this idea and will sell the idea to businesses that want to be a community leader and as people that care about the environment and limiting waste.

In conclusion, I do believe that these elements fit together well together but there are some glaring holes to the idea as well. The main reason that it would be difficult for me to start this is that I do not have any experience developing an app or online platform for which this could operate from. Additionally, I do not have any experience running an organization or how to start something from the ground up. I do have some weaknesses regarding social capital. I do not have many contacts in the realm of business or large nonprofit organizations that would want to join to help get the operation up and running. This is a potential problem and it would be something that I need to be intentional about growing.  I believe that the need exists, and that the startup idea can satisfy the need. I think that my passion and experience in helping others could be valuable to creating the company. Also, my experience in networking and interviewing people at my job would be helpful for getting the start up off the ground. I am concerned with how to develop the idea into a mobile platform for easy and convenient use. There are still some roadblocks to launching this but several of the components I feel are in place.

There were two main pieces of feedback that I received and implemented. The main thing I implemented regarding the idea was from a comment I received about how businesses could use this as a marketing piece. It is true that companies want to be a part of something that helps others and that they can promote as part of their community initiative. I included multiple explanations in the revised post that help explain that and how I will use it to my advantage. The other thing I changed was the feedback that Dr Pryor has given in class about being open about your weaknesses. I thought more about the deficiencies I have that would limit me from starting this venture and recorded those in my conclusion as well. This allowed me to think more about where I need to improve and what I can do to help limit those deficiencies moving forward.

Elevator Pitch 2 17A

The only feedback I received from my last elevator pitch was to include some ideas about how to create revenue to be self sustaining as well as changing my question away from asking how to create revenue. I did both of these thing and I think it helped make for a more complete elevator pitch. I included ideas for selling advertisements and boosted posts for requesting goods, as well as changing the question to a call for action for everyone to help.

https://youtu.be/8mKUP3gjrPU

Create a Customer Avatar 18A

The prototypical person that would donate goods for an organization would be a middle aged, middle class person that is involved in the community. When I think about someone that wants to help limit waste while helping others I generally think about people who work a standard white collar job, have a couple kids and are about more than just getting by in life. For example, the avatar is a middle school teacher who has two kids that still live at home. She drives a minivan to take her kids and their friends around to different activities like soccer practice or Sunday school. She volunteers at some after school programs and she also is involved in church. She likes to donate their excess goods to others at Church but generally ends up throwing things away when she gets too busy. She prefers to see her items go to help people in the local community and cares more about giving things to help them rather than making a few bucks selling the goods. She is conscious about the environment and separates recyclables at her home. Her personal hobbies include gardening and reading historical fiction novels about ancient civilization. She is tech savvy and uses her smart for more and more activities like communicating with her students and their parents. She likes to be a good role model for the kids she has influence over and is always looking for opportunities to make a difference anywhere she can.

The biggest things that I have in common with my customer avatar would be a desire to help others and be a good role model to those around me. This "customer" is always looking for more ways to help others and that is something that I try to do as well. Additionally, she cares about youth and wants to set a good example for them as I strive to do as well. I do not think these things are a coincidence because it helps shape the way we view things and brings a stronger desire to help others in need when we can.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior 2 15A

My start up deals with some different customers and clients. For this section I will be focusing more on the customer side and how people decide where to donate goods and what the best options for that would be. As well as how they feel after donating the good and the ease of the donation process. Currently, people that are donating goods can take them to local organizations and drop them off. I talked with several people who are active in the community donating goods. Their problem lies in the fact that they must take them to the drop off locations. One person said that they often have bags of clothes or goods that collect and then forget about and leave in the garage for months. Additionally, another individual said that they often plan to take goods to donate and then end up leaving them in the car for weeks and eventually get frustrated and end up just dropping it off at the nearest drop box rather than a verified organization of choice. The last person said that when they have items to donate, they generally bring them to church with them the next time they go to service. For each of these people the number one factor for them was convenience. This segment of people all said they would be much more inclined to donate if there was a streamlined service for which people could request their items to be picked up. As far as the post purchase evaluation, this is a little bit different because people are not actually purchasing anything but only donating goods. However, people did say that they would want to make sure that the organization coming to get the goods would be a verified nonprofit organization. This was good information for me and offered an aspect of the business that I had not previously considered.

 Overall the information gathered confirmed previous interviews that the main key lies in the ease of access and streamlined way to donate the items. However, one great piece of information received was an idea to verify all of the nonprofit organizations so that the goods that are being donated are only going to verified organizations whose main purpose is to help others. This segment seemed to be very open to any solutions that involved ways to have your items picked up instead of delivering them themselves. As far as post purchase evaluation, people are more concerned to know that the goods are going to places where they are helping other people.

ENT 16A Secret Sauce

What I think my human capital is:
1. My work experience is fairly unique for my age. I have worked at a staffing company as a recruiter conducting interviews and applicant screenings for about a year and a half. This experience has helped me develop an understanding of who to hire and what to look for in an employee.
2. My integrity and character is something that I pride myself in and invest much time and energy into growing as a person and how I can best help others. I have sacrificed large amounts of time and money into growing as a person and participating in ways to help others.
3. My passion for sports and outdoors has led to developing skills and knowledge in multiple fields around that area. I have spent many years playing sports both competitively and recreationally. I also own a boat that I purchased to be able to go fishing and enjoy the outdoors. I have developed skills in these areas that take time and a desire to invest into these fields.
4. My desire for adventure and willingness to take risks and travel is something that is important to me as well. I have been to multiple countries on missions trips and enjoy helping others there. I have also been to multiple places that others did not want to go including San Pedro Sula, Honduras which is known as the murder capital of the world, as well as high in the Andes mountains of Peru eclipsing 16,000 ft of elevation.
5. My ability to communicate well in front of people and a comfort with public speaking allows me to present well naturally. I have given many presentations over the years and have performed or spoken in front of thousands of people on occasion for events. This has helped me conquer the fear of public speaking and has helped me learn how to effectively present information.

Interviews:

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording-4
This was my mom who mentioned a few things that I was proud of. She mentioned my ability to retain information and also my desire to help others.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/ent-16a-intv-5
This was my grandfather and he talked a lot about my character. He mentioned my faith and also my ability to learn in school and have good grades and a good work ethic.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording
This was my brother. He really focused on my personality and people skills. He mentioned the ability to sell products to people and create fast relationships.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording-2
This was one of my younger siblings. She focused on my work ethic and personality as well. She also mentioned I like to make things fun.

https://soundcloud.com/bryce-ballard-220765395/recording-3
This was my other sister. She talked about my desire to serve others and also my experience in going to other countries and helping others.

Reflection:
I believe the way I see myself and the way that others see me line up fairly well. The people I interviewed were all very close so they knew me well. Overall one of the main things that I did not think about that they did was my ability to learn quickly and gain a valuable education rather effectively. I think that the people I interviewed were correct in their assessments and have known me long enough to know my skills and abilities as well as my emotional intelligence. I think I would add my education to the list of things in part one as this is something that not everyone has and is something that I take seriously and desire to grow in.

Halfway Reflection 14A

                                                      Tenacity and Paying It Forward
1. Tenaciousness is a competency: This course offers as much as you could possibly learn about entrepreneurship however, it takes a desire to learn it and grasp it. I truly do have a dream to open a business, but my biggest weakness lies in developing an idea that I can explore. The biggest behavior I have developed to help me succeed in the course is developing a thought process that identifies problems and seeks a solution to those problems. I think this mindset will help me see opportunities and be able to better develop and plan to create a business as well as succeed in the course.
2. Tenaciousness is also about attitude: For me the hardest part of the course lies in conducting the interviews. I do not have a product or service that I truly believe in yet and so the interviews have been difficult for me. However, finding an idea that is easy to talk about and something that identifies with your peers would make it easier. The biggest thing attitude wise is a desire to learn the material. If you truly want to own and start a business, you will enjoy the class. It goes back to the point of why you are in the class. If your reasoning and attitude for taking the class is to learn and grow as a potential business owner, you will have no problems succeeding in the course
3. Three tips: The main tip for fostering the skills to support tenacity would be to find a job that is challenging and causes you to be forced to work outside of your comfort zone. I am currently working as a recruiter for a staffing company while taking a full slate of classes. This makes me have an intense and tenacious mindset to be able to accomplish my goals and learn what I need to. I think it would be too easy for me to slack off if I was just focused on doing my assignments and nothing else. The second tip for developing the skills would be to seek out the advice of Dr. Pryor. I wish that I had lined my days off work up with when class was because I would love to pick his brain about different things in class. Whether it be Dr. Pryor or other business owners, do not be afraid to ask questions related to owning a business. This will help you learn what skills they have developed and what you should focus on in your journey. Third, regarding developing a tenacious mindset, I would have to use Phil Knight and his book I read for the class as an example. He viewed life as a competition and a race to the finish whatever that might be. Although this may not be healthy long term, it begins to foster a competitive mindset that seeks to create a competitive advantage. When you view your startup as a competitor in a race and everything else as either a teammate or competitor, it can really change your view on the class and in business. This is what I am focusing on creating currently.

Reading Reflection 13A

SHOE DOG By Phil Knight
This was truly a fascinating and very well written book. When I first bought the book, I was surprised to see how long it was and was not sure if I could even finish it for class. However, once I started reading, I was hooked and really enjoyed the book.
1. I was most surprised at the level of risk and recklessness that Knight displayed throughout his process of creating Nike. He often was days away from losing the company entirely and would somehow find a way to keep it afloat until the next bills were due. I greatly admired his willingness to just act and do something without having a full developed plan or product. He essentially pitched a Japanese manufacturing firm a company that he had not even developed or started. He gained their interest and started selling their products without even having any semblance of a company. He was truly a risk taker and willing to go do things that most of us never would. There were some major flaws about him that I do not want to imitate. Knight was exceptionally consumed by his company and his family and personal life often suffered because of it. I understand that starting a company requires immense sacrifices and consuming amounts of time. However, he would often go out drinking with co-workers and go on long runs by himself instead of spending time with his wife and kids. This led to problems with his oldest son whom he never had a close relationship even up until his son died tragically. He also was a very poor communicator with his team and often alienated employees by never expressing gratitude for their work or giving positive feedback. He lost relationships and employees where he could have avoided that by simply being a better leader and investing some time in people. Knight encountered massive amounts of adversity and dealt with each situation similarly. He attacked the problem with reckless abandon and an obsession that left him constantly thinking about the problem and how to defeat it. He was very competitive and saw adversity as an enemy to be conquered. He was a ruthless and determined business owner.
2. Knight displayed an amazing ability to sell a product and build a powerful brand. He was very successful at creating a network of sales reps to slowly but surely build their sales. Surprisingly, despite many loan and distribution problems, Knight pursued exponential growth each year. This planning and pursuit of growth were some of his greatest assets.
3. One aspect of Knight’s story that perplexed me was his refusal to develop and appreciate employees. He talks about this some in his book and eventually links it back to never receiving that from his father. One sales rep would write him every day with updates and idea trying to get feedback from Knight. Instead of offering occasional support or even criticism, he simply ignored the rep and never once responded. I have wondered why he frequently treated employees like this. I felt that eventually he would feel secure in himself without his dad’s approval and change his leadership style. As it turned out, he never really changed and continued his bureaucratic approach that had a negative effect on some of his employees.
4. The first question I would ask would be if you were to start a company again, what would you change from how you first went about starting Blue Ribbon (Nike). I would like to ask this because I do believe he learned valuable lessons in the process and would potentially go about the business different if he did all over again. However, the route he took ultimately ended in massive success. Secondly, I would ask him what his most prevalent regrets were and how I could avoid them in my business journey. Ultimately, the point of reading this book is to learn from their story and see how I can make better decisions in my journey.
5. Knight viewed hard work as a necessity and a way of life. To him, winning in life was bringing Nike to the pinnacle of athletic brands. He seemed to have no desires besides creating that brand and put his business as his number one priority. I also view hard work as a way of life and something that must be carried out in every aspect of life. However, my priorities would have my faith and my family ahead of the business. I agree with his work ethic and view on work, but I would change it to fit my priorities.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior 12A

Because my idea involves multiple different groups, I tried to talk to people from each group that is involved in my startup. After talking to a middle-class homeowner about how willing they would be to donate goods it became clear they do have the need and desire to help donate goods. The need awareness aspect of this was a little troubling, however. This person described their need to donate goods as when they discovered they were out of date and could no longer use them. This meant that the goods were wasted regardless of if the option was there to have them donated or not. After going farther in the conversation some hope was presented. They said that if the option was there to donate the goods there is a possibility that the mindset could be changed and then the food saved before they expire. The need awareness typically began around dinner time or after going to the store to get more groceries and they saw what goods were expiring or they had no use for anymore. The information search experience was also interesting. This person described a feeling of guilt associated with wasting the food. This person also is active in donating goods currently. The opportunity never existed to donate the expiring goods, but they have often wanted to have different goods picked up to be donated before. They generally just donate to the closest drop off location for donations. Their search generally ends with knowing which locations are open and closest for donations. What I concluded from this conversation was that this person would be more willing to donate nonperishable goods and have them picked up than they would perishable goods.

The next conversation with a restaurant employee was also insightful. This employee described the need awareness as generally happening when doing inventory and receiving new food shipments. This is when raw materials were often not all the way used and were going out of date. They said that the need also could become aware whenever they notice that customers do not like a new food product or are simply not ordering something as often as expected and then they have extra ingredients. The information search usually began by offering the ingredients to employees and then if they had a food pantry that they knew they would sometimes offer it to them. Often the goods were just thrown away due to a lack of time to donate them. This bodes well for my start up as the option to have the goods picked up could work very well in their favor. Their need awareness and information search seems to fit within the parameters of my start up. Their main problems still circle around a lack of time rather than a lack of caring about wasting the goods.

Lastly, a conversation with a supermarket employee provided an interesting experience as well. They described the need awareness beginning when doing inventory and product cycling. They generally find items that exceeded buyer demand and have products that will expire. These processes are generally done at night when they restock the store. The information search process generally happens with asking employees if they know anyone who needs donations and giving them to a nonprofit that they know and work with. Occasionally there are multiple ones that they contact but if the one they generally work cannot pick up the goods for whatever reason they are often thrown away. Again, the root problem lies in not having the time to contact other nonprofits nor the time to deliver them. I think that again my start up could provide the solution by allowing them to post the materials they have for pick up to all the nonprofits in the community. I think the opportunity to help all parties involved still exists in these situations.

ENT 11A Idea Napkin

1. Who are you? I am a 20-year-old college student who is in my junior year of studies at the University of Florida. My talents generally revolve around interpersonal skills. I pride myself in my social awareness and the ability to connect and lead individuals. My position at my current job is a recruiter for a staffing company. What this means is that everyday I go to work my job is to talk to applicants all day long and sell them on the value of our process as well as simultaneously determining if this is a person, I think we should hire or not. There is a lot going on in just a few short minutes and I am learning how to best effectively communicate and discern information in a timely manner. My aspirations are to start a company that can help other people and be self-sustaining. I want to be able to do something with my life that I can be passionate about and something that makes a lasting difference. If I were to start this company, I would pour all my skills and energy into developing relationships with nonprofit organizations and creating a network base with which to launch my platform. I would be creative in solving problems and be extremely open to feedback as the goal is to ultimately help as many people as possible and help to eliminate waste.
2. What are you offering to customers? The service that I would be launching would be a social platform that connects businesses and people with donations to the nonprofit organization that needs them. The main key that would set us apart from the way things are done now is a streamlined process that allows for more donations to be given in a less amount of time and effort for all involved. The process would allow the people with donations to take a picture of the donation and post it to the platform. This allows the nonprofits seeking donations to then be alerted of a new donation and to then go and pick it up. Instead of just one organization having the opportunity to receive the goods, it now alerts all of them involved and creates a better chance that the donation will be picked up and not wasted. This creates a better process for the organizations that now do not have to call the companies to ask about donations and it allows the people donating the goods to simply take a picture and post the goods without having to directly contact anyone.
3. Who are you offering it to? There are three major groups that it would be offered it to. First it would be the average person that may have some perishable or non perishable items that they would like to offer up for donation and to picked up. The second major group is the businesses. This includes both restaurants and supermarkets. These companies often have waste and can then alert the organizations that they have goods available for pick up.
4. Why do they care? Most people want to limit waste and help other people. However, we all live in a busy world and don’t have the time to drive to different organizations to deliver our goods. Customers of this start up will be happy to hear that they have a streamlined process with which to help others and our environment by limiting waste through a platform that requires minimal time and effort. Nonprofits would pay fees to advertise and request certain goods while other companies may be inclined to advertise their green initiatives on the site that attracts socially conscious customers.
5. What are your core competencies? The reason I am the right person for this start up is twofold. I have the social competencies necessary to network and create a community of people with which to launch this endeavor. I also have traveled on 4 different international humanitarian missions trips and have participated in many event in the local community geared towards helping people. I have demonstrated a willingness and energy to help others by sacrificing time and significant amounts of my own money up to this point for other people. However, the main reason that it would be difficult for me to start this is that I do not have any experience developing an app or online platform for which this could operate from.
In conclusion, I do believe that these elements fit together well except for not having the ability to create and develop an app on my own. I believe that the need exists and that the startup idea can satisfy the need. I also think that my passion and experience for helping others could be valuable to creating the company. Also, my experience in networking and interviewing people at my job would be helpful for getting the start up off the ground. I am concerned with how to develop the idea into a mobile platform for easy and convenient use. There are still some roadblocks to launching this but several of the component I feel are in place.