Cason's Blog

Halfway Course Reflection 1) What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?   The main thing I have focused on is not starting each of the assignments too late in the week. I opted to not work ahead yet I made sure to start each week's assignments early in the week they were assigned. By doing this, I enabled myself to get all the interviews I needed to and write well-thought-out blog posts for each assignment. This is a behavior that I have worked hard to develop this semester because I realize how important it is. 2) Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this? During the week of assignments 11A and 12A, I had one of the busiest weeks of my entire life. Because UF Student Government elections were taking place, I was help...

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson 1) About Steve Jobs: What surprised you the most? I was surprised by his charisma. For some reason, I always had thought of him as an inventor who was quiet and composed. I was wrong on these things as he was a crazy sales/ marking guru who had a personality quite unique from anyone I have ever studied. What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I admire Jobs' ability to get the most out of others. Although he pushed them hard and was often mean, he pushed people to do things they didn't believe were possible. He created an atmosphere where impossible wasn't a reality and his employees could do anything.  What about the entrepreneur did you  least  admire? Although he did many amazing things in his life, I dislike the way he treated his family. He abandoned his first daughter Lisa and was distant from his other daughters. He put himself wholly into his work which cost him the time to put into his family.    D...

Looking Into the Early Stages of Buyer Behavior: For this assignment, I chose individuals from the UF population that seek place utility when searching for coffee as the segment to focus on. This is one of the main segments I seek to target in this business. During my interviews this week, I learned that "individuals seeking place utility when looking for coffee" is a larger segment than I had anticipated. The first student I talked with began to explain to me that his need awareness for coffee starts as soon as he wakes up. This second-year student told me that his brain immediately knows that he needs coffee each day, making this step of the process simple. Next, I talked with a fourth-year student who also said he needed coffee to get him out of bed each morning. In other words, he knows early each morning of this pressing need and relies on coffee, thus raising the level of awareness about his own need. The third person I talked to was a first-year student that realiz...

Me: I am a first-year Management major from Lake City, Florida. I am passionate about helping in our community and about music. I have had several great work experiences in the past 5 years enhancing my communication, customer service, and leadership skills. I am  currently  an employee at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. I want to take the next step in my business and life journey by starting up a coffee bike on the University of Florida campus that will expand into a multi-bike, multi-campus operation within several years. The beginning stages of this would be difficult because of the time and effort required to make this idea a reality. What am I offering to customers? I am offering the UF on-campus population a convenient and easily accessible solution to getting quality coffee in between classes or meetings. By offering customers a solution that brings them both time and place utility, I tap into multiple needs with one idea. The iced coffee cooler that I will offer at m...

Cason's Elevator Pitch #1 (Sorry if it appears sideways!)

This week I went out to find people who should be able to use my potential business but would not need to. Here's what I found. Who? My original "who" centered around people who are part of the UF population and also like coffee. The problem was that there  are people "unable to get a quick and easily accessible, non-bitter tasting coffee drink on campus due to there only being one portable coffee stand, the Starbucks Bike." This problem affects many people in the UF population.  However , after this round of interviews with potential clients, I found that some of my "who," although they have this problem, have found their solution in making their own coffee at home. By already getting their convenient coffee through a different method, they don't need my potential business. This moves them outside of the boundary. What? There are many reasons why people drink coffee. Through this process, I have realized that there is a major difference bet...

" Students and faculty who enjoy coffee at the University of Florida are unable to get a quick and easily accessible, non-bitter tasting coffee drink on campus due to there only being one portable coffee stand, the Starbucks Bike." This was the problem I described in my assignment 7A blog post. In this post, I will be describing a solution to this problem: The solution comes down to creating additional easily accessible, portable coffee options on campus to satisfy the wants of coffee lovers who are unable to get all they're seeking due to the shortcomings of our current option, the Starbucks Bike. My goal is to rival the Starbucks Bike and capitalize on its shortcomings. I would like to obtain a license from the university to start my own version of the "Starbucks Bike" with a different company, Elliano's Coffee Company based out of Lake City, Florida. Instead of serving a bitter-tasting product like Starbucks' Nitro Cold Brew, we would serv...

For this assignment, I had to completely change gears from my previous ideas. My problem from assignment 4A was about bike rack covers, however, this isn't something I can sell for a business because the opportunity is too limited. Now I present my new idea/the opportunity. I've decided to open the competition in the UF coffee world against none other than the "Starbucks Bike", or Starbucks' portable coffee carrying booth. The Opportunity:  Students and faculty at the University of Florida are unable to get a quick and easily accessible, non-bitter tasting coffee drink on campus due to there only being one portable coffee stand, the Starbucks Bike. If we were being honest, the idea of waiting in 15-minute lines is lame and so is the coffee that the Starbucks Bike carries; we need something different and new to compete with them. I propose a new coffee bike with a different/coffee-cooler-like product that is more enjoyable to "basic" coffee drinke...

Opportunity #1 Where I found it:  https://floridapolitics.com/archives/317970-vaping-pulled-out-of-tobacco-21-bill-and-put-in-new-bill-both-pass-senate-panel Why I believe an opportunity might exist: The article describes a new Florida law that is banning, among other things, the sale of vape products to anyone under the age of 21. Vaping, to most teens, might start out as a cool thing to do with friends but it can soon become beyond addictive. Because vaping is highly addictive, those under the age of 21 will need some sort of help to stop vaping in order to live with the effects of this new law. That is why I see the opportunity for more drug rehab centers to open. Parents may be more willing to send their kids to get help now that the law makes it difficult for their kids to access the "fix" to their addiction. Also, with more young people and adults now realizing the harm caused by vaping, many more people may want to get help in quitting. (I am not oblivious to the f...