Identifying Local Opportunities

Identifying Local Opportunities

1) “An Important addition to mental health funding” 

- By Carrie Seidman at the Sarasota Herald- Tribune

https://www.heraldtribune.com/opinion/20200130/seidman-important-addition-to-mental-health-funding

- The author of the article is personally influenced about mental health as she shares about her son’s challenges and how people she knew reached out to her for help as their child suffers. Sarasota county saw a problem with the neglect of mental health funding and many parents are seeking help for their children. The county is attempting to establish a mental health care tax special district to address to problem. The issue is that there are many different opinion on whether this is a good use of funds, since there is already money going towards the issue. Desperate parents cannot afford these expenses for the services and care their children need, and the county is trying to come up with innovative ways to find a solution. The sarasota community is very supportive of the victims of mental health issues and many organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness and The Academy at Glengary are helping them recover and find jobs.

- The problem is that there are not enough funds in the county to help parents pay for mental health services for their children. The problem worsens as county citizens have different views of where their funds should be going. 

- The people who cannot afford help for their mental illness are the ones with the problem. This includes parents who cannot afford care for their children with mental illness, or adults with mental illness that cannot provide for themselves.

2) “Coronavirus outbreak being monitored by UF Health officials”  By AJ Bafer from The Independent Florida Alligator. 

https://www.alligator.org/news/coronavirus-outbreak-being-monitored-by-uf-health-officials/article_326453ba-40d4-11ea-afec-2f079d021025.html

- In the article, it explains how UF students, faculty, and staff received an email regarding preventative information about staying healthy as the coronavirus shifts the the North American continent. Many students at the University travel to and from China as they participate in the international programs. These students are being monitored to prevent any more cases from spreading. They explain how the coronavirus has no cure and how it is similar to the flu or common cold. It states that this is not an alarming case as of now, but students should still be taking preventative cautions and to be aware. 

- The problem presented in the story is that UF faculty, students and staff are in danger of receiving the coronavirus. Now, travel to and from China for study abroad students are being monitored due to the outbreak in the United States.

- The people who have the problem are UF faculty, students, and staff as they are at risk to acquire  the virus. 

3) “Rental cars were stolen from SRQ airport. Hertz worker was running side hustle, cops say” By Jessica De Leon in the Bradenton Herald

https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/crime/article239808453.html

- On January 30th, a report went out about on how there was an arrest of an employee at Hertz car rental at the Sarasota Airport, as he stole 10 cars to run a side hustle. Police started the investigation as cars were disappearing from the airport. The police found that an employee used the business’s cars and rented them out to make his own profit. The criminal was released hours after.

- The problem is that in the Sarasota airport, there have been have been 10 stolen cars being used to run a side hustle to make a profit. This creates an unsafe environment for travelers and workers, and will negatively affect tourism flow through this airport.

-The people who have the problem would be the the Hertz car rental business as well as the customers at the Sarasota airport such as car renters and flyers.

4) “Amid backlash over anti-LGBTQ schools, Florida lawmakers push even less voucher oversight” By Emily L. Mahoney from the Tampa Bay Times

https://www.tampabay.com/news/gradebook/2020/01/31/when-it-comes-to-raises-whos-a-teacher/

- Florida schools have been found making policies that are negatively directed towards the LGBTQ community. Investigation found that many private and religious schools are not allowing the LGBTQ students to attend their school. It also was written in policy that being gay or transgender was a sin. A bill was passed that is meant to increase the amount of private school vouchers so more people are eligible to go, but now that this prejudice information was reported many companies stop donating money that went to the vouchers. This was an act to show support to the LGBTQ community and be against the unfair policies. Legislation is now trying to come up with a way to remove the discrimination from schools.

- The problem is many Florida school hold policies that are considered to be anti-LGTBQ. There are many schools that are mistreating these people and taking away their rights and freedom. 

- The people who have the problem would be the people who classify themselves to be in the LGBTQ community.

5) "No more public money for Tampa's Downtowner car service" By the Tampa Bay Editorial Board from the Tampa Bay Times

- Due to a shortage of public funds, the Tampa Downtowner car service has been cut. The Downtowner was a similar service as Uber, but it did not cost money. There was an average amount of 448 people a day who used this service. The Hillsborough County transit agency has donated money so the service can continue for another eight months, but will soon meet to see if more funds will be given. Hillsborough is challenging that there be a countrywide transportation tax to fund services such as the Downtowner, but as for now the community is unhappy with where the funds are being distributed.

-The problem is that since public funding has been lowered, the government has decided to stop the free car service. Now, many people and students in the Tampa Bay area will have to pay for other ride services or walk if it is too expensive.

- The people who have the issue would be the citizens in the Tampa Bay area that use public transportation methods.

Forming an Opportunity Belief

Forming an Opportunity Belief

    Due to the increased building and development, there is a greater need for more space for students in public schools. Kids are forced to take the bus to schools further away that have more space, since the school they are zoned for is over populated, and new commercial buildings are taking up the free land. I think that kids should be able to go to school in the neighborhoods the live in to cultivate the neighborhood family culture. The unmet need is space for students (upcoming and current) in schools. The people that have the need, are the students themselves. The need arose fro, new developments and buildings in a growing city. As of now, more people are taking advantage of the private schools, magnet schools, out of district school choice and home schooling availability. At this point, I can tell that this opportunity exists as there are portable classroom being put up outside of the schools for overflow classes. Newly built schools should be built to accommodate the growth of the community. 

Prototypical Customer #1: Middle aged Florida woman with a child.

When you were enrolling or your child in school, did school administration ever inform you about the schools population or student-teacher ratio?

    I don’t believe we were informed of population , we were informed when we asked about teacher to student ratio , however that is determined by the state legislature and not the schools or the county. We we also not given the status of any plans for more housing developments in the works or in future plans 

Did you know that approximately 31% of all school facilities in America have portable classrooms?

    I was unaware of the percentage of portables. 

Did you know that the majority of the temporary portable classrooms will never transition into real classrooms?

    As for the students never transitioned out of them, I assumed that since the portables never left the school yard that the portables were there to stay .

Have you/your child ever had a class in a portable classroom?

    Yes my child has been in a portable. And in my state during inclement weather it is dangerous for the children to go outside to get to the portables and other arrangements needed to be made. When I was in school, there were no temporary classrooms.

Have any new schools been built in your area in the last 5 years?

    Yes, a few new school have been built in Bradenton and already I see portables on campus. 

Have you ever considered going to or putting your child in a private, magnet or home school?

    Yes I had thought of magnet programs but considered the reason we bought a home in the area was to live, work and play in the place we own our home and pay taxes.

Reflection: In this interview, I was able to receive information from someone who went through school with no portable classrooms and had to put their child in a school that was overpopulated. In Bradenton, it is surprising that the development is still growing and portables are already put up in the newer schools. I believe that this example shows how this is still an opportunity in todays society.

Prototypical Customer #2: College freshman from North Carolina.

When you were enrolling or your child in school, did school administration ever inform you about the schools population or student-teacher ratio?

    No, I was not informed of the student-teacher ratio. However, my mom may have been, and I was really never looking at multiple school options growing up.

Did you know that approximately 31% of all school facilities in America have portable classrooms?

    No, I was not aware of that statistic. But, I am not surprised considering my middle and high schools had portable classrooms.

Did you know that the majority of the temporary portable classrooms will never transition into real classrooms?

    Yes, I figured that was the case as many of them are used for schools that are over capacity. 

Have you/your child ever had a class in a portable classroom?

    Yes, I had many classrooms in portables throughout middle and high school. 

Have any new schools been built in your area in the last 5 years?

    Yes, new Elementary, middle, and high schools have been created in my county over the last 5 years.

Have you ever considered going to or putting your child in a private, magnet or home school?

    No, this was never a real consideration for me or my family. I have stayed in public schools my entire life.

Reflection: I learned that this opportunity is prevalent in other states as well. It is interesting to see the different school culture in different areas of America. What is surprising about this interview is the amount of schools that were built in the past 5 years. It seems like the community is trying to alleviate the crowded schools, as this freshman experienced portables in his high school time.

Prototypical Customer #3: High school senior from Florida.

When you were enrolling or your child in school, did school administration ever inform you about the schools population or student-teacher ratio?

    Yes, I was fully informed of the demographics of my school and the student-teacher ratio.

Did you know that approximately 31% of all school facilities in America have portable classrooms?

   No, I did not know that. 

Did you know that the majority of the temporary portable classrooms will never transition into real classrooms?

   No, I did not know this because there has always been promise of a new building underway. 

Have you/your child ever had a class in a portable classroom?

   Yes, I have had several classes in a portable classroom throughout high school. 

Have any new schools been built in your area in the last 5 years?

   No, there have not been any new schools built in my area of Weston, Florida in the last 5 years. 

Have you ever considered going to or putting your child in a private, magnet or home school?

   No, I have not because the public school system in my area has adequate facilities and offers a very good education.

Reflection: By this interview, I can tell that the people in the area are well aware of their large population and low space ratio. Although, their school is informing their families of their population and keeping up with delivering quality education, keeping the students in their public school. This school in particular had portables, but the student was unaware of how many there were in America. I think that after this interview, it would be helpful to look at schools that are loosing students due to the inclement amount of space. 

Summary:

    I believe that most of original opportunity is still there. Some areas of America are not struggling as much with new developments overcrowding school student space, but I feel like it is still a problem worth looking at in specific areas. If you find these specific locations of cities with higher growth it may be easier to find a solution for them instead of focusing on everyone. My opportunity is more accurate now that I have second hand information from the customers I have interviewed. They have provided me evidence that there is an opportunity and it needs to be fixed to help their future generation. Entrepreneurs should definitely adapt their ideas if the customer feedback does not align with their opportunity. You want to take the opportunity if one arises, even if you have to tweak your original idea.

My Entrepreneurship Story

        In my life, I have experienced entrepreneurship very closely as my mom started her own business. She was always a crafty classroom mom, and always personalized my belongings for school. She realized that the prices she was paying to personalize these items was getting a little out of hand, so she decided that doing these customizations are on her own would be cheaper. After buying a few supplies and watching some tutorials online, she was personalizing my things for a much lower price. Her business idea started to spark when she posted photos of the items she personalized on facebook. People saw the images of her work online and loved the car decals, customized tumblers and much more. This is when she decided to officially make a personalization business. She was successful as she used a more popular social media, like Facebook, that was full of others moms that would also love to customize their children’s things. Her other key point in success was she sold these items at a much lower cost than her competitors on websites such as Etsy, which helped her earn more customers and revenue in the long run. I find the passion in my moms work to be very inspiring and I believe that there is much to learn from entrepreneurs like her. The pictures aside are some examples of what my mom produces as well as her business logo. 

        I enrolled in ENT3003 as one of my business elective courses. I didn’t have much information about the course, but my advisor had recommended it to me. As I mentioned before, I think by observing and learning about entrepreneurs, you can apply the characteristics of their work to anything you do in life. I think that entrepreneurs are creative, flexible, versatile, and smart workers. All of these qualities are great to have and will help you in many aspects in the work field. So overall I hope to gain more knowledge about the process of entrepreneurship and try to apply the qualities of an entrepreneur as I work towards earning my degree. I look forward to learning about other topics discussed in class as well since it has just started!

Bug List

2A-Bug list

1. When people don’t use their turn signals while driving around UF campus.

Why: Many drivers make last minute decisions on turning, especially freshmen who don’t know where they are going. Also, teenagers are very lazy and apparently it takes a lot to move your hand and turn on the signal.

2.  The washer and dryer machines at the Ivy House dormitory      are always occupied especially on the weekends.

Why: There is only one washer and one dryer per floor, and around 50 residents on each floor. The most convenient time to do laundry is when there are no classes, which is on the weekend. 

3. Many restaurants in Gainesville switched to paper straws and I cannot enjoy my drink through the wet straw. 

Why: As restaurants try to be more environmentally friendly, they have used paper as an alternative for plastic. Unfortunately, the paper soaks up the beverage, makes the straw flimsy and therefore hard to drink from.

4. There is never parking at the Publix on 13th.

Why: This Publix is closest to campus and is the most convenient to go to, therefore it is always busy.

5. People putting their hair on the shower walls.

Why: When you shower, hair comes out and the easiest place is to put it on the wall as it clings to your body.

6. Constant road construction in my hometown.

Why: Since the city is growing, traffic gets very backed up. So they are doing the road work to eliminate future traffic issues.

7. People who walk very slow on campus and don’t move over for others trying to go to class.

Why: Some people don’t have class and are leisurely strolling through campus and causes traffic on sidewalks. 

8. Bikers who don’t use the bike lane on campus.

Why: The bikers want to avoid traffic and so they swerve through lanes of cars to try to get to their destination faster, so they have time to lock up their bike before class.

9. People who drive slow in the left lane.

Why: The left lane is supposed to be a passing lane, so it is usually less busy, which attracts people to go into that lane. Since it is less busy, it is harder to tell if you are going slow.

10. Same labeled sized clothes don’t fit the same from store to store.

Why: Different brands use different materials and put together clothing in many ways that causes a deviation in size. 

11. People who bring children to adult movies.

Why: parents want a night out and to go to the movies and probably do not want to hire a babysitter to watch their kids, so they bring them with.

12. Long wait times at the doctors office.

Why: Many people are late and push appointment times back, making your wait longer.

13. Slow WiFi at Marston library.

Why:  The library is busy and everyone is on computers studying, so the server is slower. 

14. The line at the Chipotle on University is always out the door at dinner time.

Why: Chipotle is an easy and affordable dinner option for students on campus, so there is a high demand and not enough employees. 

15. When it is cold outside and walk into buildings and get really hot.

Why: The buildings attempt to compensate for the cold outside by turning the heat on. But, when you walk in from outside being cold, you tend to be wearing layers of clothing. This heavy clothing mixed with warm air inside the building makes you very hot.

16. You have to sign an apartment lease almost a year in advance if the building is close to campus. 

Why: Since dorms are not that nice, many people choose to live off campus, but as close as possible so they can still get to class easily. These apartments book up fast due to the high amount of students.

17. There is no option to get on campus parking if you do not live in university housing.

Why: There is not enough room for everyone to park their car on campus, so only the people who live there can access their car closer to their housing.

18. When you order food online and it comes out wrong.

Why: It is easy to misread the online order, and many people do not check their meal until they go home to eat it.

19. When you get the flu shot and still get the flu.

Why: There are many flu strains, and the shot only covers the predicted popular strain. 

20. When you talk about something and it shows up as an ad on the internet.

Why: Your device is listening to what you say in case you ask for a voice prompted command. Also, recent searches leave cookies on your devices that remember your search history.

Reflection:

Surprisingly, I found this assignment to be very difficult to come up with these “bugs.” I feel from day to day, there are minor inconveniences that occur that we just brush off to keep moving forward, so it was hard to recall them. Also, there are many pet peeves I have that people do that are unexplainable, such as bad manners or loud chewing. There is no evidence or science to prove why these people do such things, and therefore do not have an explanation on why it exists.