Cason's Blog

Part 1: For the first person, someone who is a domain expert in the coffee industry, I reached out to the owner of a small coffee shop, Mrs. Annie's Coffee, that I have known for years to learn more about the industry from someone who is knowledgeable. She told me about how the coffee industry is handling COVID-19 and how it is effecting her setup. Mrs. Annie told me that she has seen the market continue to expand as people love coffee "more than anything". Part 2: For the second person, someone who is an expert in the coffee industry, I reached out to Micah Zuber, a coffee connoisseur and long time business observer in the coffee realm establishing contact through a mutual connection. He told me about how the typical consumer in the coffee market was more focused than ever on trends and trendiness rather than simple espressos and cappuccinos. The younger market is basing their purchases more on product appearance now than ever before. Part 3: For the third person,...

Napkin Draft #2 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 ...

Here is my second elevator pitch for my coffee bike in ENT3003: Elevator Pitch No. 2 Reflection:   Reading through the feedback on my previous elevator pitch was quite interesting. The most helpful feedback I received was when someone pointed out that I focused entirely on my idea and did not touch on what that business idea would look like. Where would I make the coffee for my stand? What would I sell? I didn't include this information in my pitch. What surprised me the most is when people said I had prepared and practiced well when, in fact, I had made up the whole pitch during the recording. I didn't think any of the feedback I received was silly, however, some of the ideas given to me by my peers were very simple suggestions. I needed help regarding my messaging from a pro; this is why I sent my video to Professor Pryor. In addition to my peers' help, Pryor helped me with how long I should focus on my hook and what to do less of next time I recorded my pitch. L...

This week, I took some time to think about my business and what my stereotypical customers might look like. In this assignment, I am going to describe, in detail, my prototypical customer: My customer avatar would be a generation Z individual of any gender. Because they are college students, they will likely be from 17-25 years old, without children, living away from their parents and their homes. These individuals will be on-campus students with traditional classes (vs. online). They will likely be those who want to succeed in college, not just attending for the party life that comes with college. Most of my customers will drink coffee because they like the taste of it and the cool feel it gives them to be a part of a cultural "coffee-loving" trend of students. Playing into this stereotype a little more, they will likely drive sporty little bright-colored cars. They will prefer short waits and decent quality as well as cheap prices. My customers will enjoy doing schoolwork...

Five Things That Make Me Different: Here are several things that distinguish me from other people around me. I am someone who embraces uniqueness. Many people seem to want to be just like everyone else. This includes comparing our success in the world to what others around us have accomplished. I believe this is deceiving because every single person is different; it also leads to insecurities and anxiety. What others accomplish might not be what I should accomplish. I have been nurtured in an entrepreneurial environment. Like I shared in assignment 3A, my father is a successful entrepreneur. Growing up learning about how to manage a company and grow a business is invaluable learning that not many people are able to obtain at a young age. My father has taught me many things about what it means to be a leader, businessman, and a risk-taker. This is something very special that I am beginning to value more throughout the course of this class. I'm independent: I make decisio...

My Segment: "People who are interested in purchasing coffee" For this assignment, I interviewed three people who I did not interview last time to begin to understand my potential client's "buyer behavior process" in a deeper way.  What I found in my interviews is that when people find a list of alternatives to solve a need they have, they base their eventual decision on one or two things. One of the students I interviewed said that he narrows down his options by price. The other students I interviewed said they narrow down their options based on the perceived quality of that item and things like other customers' reviews. Using these measuring sticks, they compare their options to each other and select the best choice for their needs. Thus, I found that there is more than simply one factor to my customer segment when they choose where to buy coffee, among other things, from. Because the main portion of my target audience is college students, I expected ...