Assignment 4A - Forming an Opportunity Belief

     I believe that there is an unmet need in personal planning for college students. Many of the students who have come to UF with high involvement in high school extra-curricular activities do not translate to involvement at the collegiate level. I believe that these students become distracted by their social lives and their newfound freedom, as they no longer have to pursue goals set by their parents. These students then miss important deadlines for organizations and career events, which resurfaces later on in their collegiate life when they have to secure internships and jobs. The need for something like a personal adviser exists because students no longer have parental or scholarly guidance, thus they no longer feel pressure into getting involved. There are also far too many students for academic advisers to handle, so the needs of the students are not fully met. Currently, there are programs, some of which are associated with certain scholarships, that are designed to provide students with collegiate guidance; but it remains that this does not consistently satisfy the needs of the majority of students. I am about 63% sure that this opportunity exists.

#1: 18 year old male student

• Do you feel like you are now less involved in extra-curricular activities than you were in high school?
• "Yes because college activities require more time and management of said time, as well as devotion to different activities."
• Do you feel that you should be more involved with on and off campus organizations than you are now?
• "Yes because it helps with resume building for graduate school or a job."
• Would you say that your current lesser involvement is due to the lack of parental oversight or less pressure in general?
• "Yes, parents serve as reminders and push you to do things you may not be fully invested in."
• When did you first begin to feel that you weren't being as productive or as involved as you can/could have been?
• "Whenever I compare myself to some of my peers and how they are involved, which was around the end of the spring semester."
• How are you trying to rectify the situation so that you can become more involved and productive?
• "I am conducting research in the summer so that I can join organizations next semester."
• Do you think this current method is sustainable and successful enough?
• "If I follow and am dedicated to it yeah."
• How would you feel about having bi-weekly meetings with a personal adviser who has access to some information about your social and academic life, and uses it to make an involvement plan for you while also pushing you to follow said plan?
• "If it comes with a reasonable price then I don't see why not."

     Reflection: It's going to be hard to get people to sign up for this service when they are not even focused on getting involved to benefit their future selves. A lot of my assumptions about the opportunity are correct, but that does not necessarily mean it will succeed in terms of pricing and getting enough customers.

#2: 18 year old female student

• Do you feel like you are now less involved in extra-curricular activities than you were in high school?
• "Yes because I was told that extra-curricular activities would help me get into college."
• Do you feel that you should be more involved with on and off campus organizations than you are now?
• "Yes, it would contribute to me living a more well rounded lifestyle."
• Would you say that your current lesser involvement is due to the lack of parental oversight or less pressure?
• "My parents were never involved in my academic life, I just started caring less because I don't think it matters as much since I'm already in college."
• When did you first begin to feel that you weren't being as productive or as involved as you can/could've been?
• "My first semester."
• How are you trying to rectify the situation so that you can become more involved and productive?
• "I got a job and am now going to the gym in the hopes that I can get used to being busy and later join some clubs."
• Do you think this current method is sustainable and successful enough?
• "Yeah that's why I'm doing it."
• How would you feel about having bi-weekly meetings with a personal adviser who has access to some information about your social and academic life, and uses it to make an involvement plan for you while also pushing you to follow said plan?
• "I would love that, it would push me to work on myself more."

     Reflection: The people who I have identified as prototypical customers seem to be naturally inclined to improve their involvement by their own means. The business only seems likely to be focused towards college freshmen, but beyond that they are likely to start improving with little to no help, which means the business might not be sustainable.

#3: 19 year old male student

• Do you feel like you are now less involved in extra-curricular activities than you were in high school?
• "Yeah, I lost the motivation because my involvements in high school were because of obligations and not interests. I now need to focus on career based involvements."
• Do you feel that you should be more involved with on and off campus organizations than you are now?
• "I mean yeah because its important to build my resume."
• Would you say that your current lesser involvement is due to the lack of parental oversight or less pressure?
• "Not as much parental oversight as it is less pressure since people aren't really pushing me to get involved."
• When did you first begin to feel that you weren't being as productive or as involved as you can/could have been?
• "End of last year, when I began to see some of friends getting involved with BSU and LDI."
• How are you trying to rectify the situation so that you can become more involved and productive?
• "I've been asking around and trying to seek out different organization by seeing what my friends are involved in, and which would be a good startup organization for me."
• Do you think this current method is sustainable and successful enough?
• "I do. Again, I can use it as a startup to get more involved."
• How would you feel about having bi-weekly meetings with a personal adviser who has access to some information about your social and academic life, and uses it to make an involvement plan for you while also pushing you to follow said plan?
• "I'm not sure about it. On the one hand, it would be nice to have some mentoring; but I want to go at my own pace and do stuff because I want to do it for myself. The mentor should also be someone I know personally and can trust."

     Reflection: This confirms my theory that the prototypical customer will eventually be able to naturally find time and activities for involvement. Even if this is sort of a personal planner/mentor, that does not mean people will necessarily mean they will be comfortable with sharing personal information with someone who is going to be watching over them. I feel that this was the most productive interview, it helped me see some of the more interpersonal problems that can come with this idea.

SUMMARY:

The original opportunity is still there but perhaps not as encompassing and long-term as I may have previously thought. I do not think that my opportunity has changed that much from the interactions that I have had, but they have definitely brought some possible issues to my attention. Getting people to sign up for the business, as well as working out the possible interpersonal problems definitely are some things that I would have to work to overcome. Entrepreneurs definitely need to adapt when constructing their business, but they also need to focus so as not to stray from the original business model. The role of an entrepreneur is to make sure that customers remain happy, but demands can sometimes be unreasonable so the entrepreneur has to balance all this to keep the business sustainable.