4A: My Opportunity Belief

1) I believe there is an opportunity behind the process that sorority girls must go through in preparation for rush. I see possibility in making the process of purchasing outfits and preparing for rush less challenging and less expensive. Building kits that are personalized to the requirements of your specific sorority, including clothing, shoes, and jewelry.

2) Being in a sorority at the University of Florida was one of the best decisions I made going into my freshman year. It gave me the chance to immediately surround myself with people that made me feel comfortable and welcome in a new place. Fast forward to the start of my sophomore year and I am on the other side of the rush experience. Each one of the almost 300 girls in my sorority had to buy about five different outfits to wear during rush week. Not only can this get extremely expensive, but it can be very challenging to find specific outfits to fit the criteria when hundreds of other girls are searching for the same things. As sororities have grown at colleges and universities this issue has become more relevant. For instance, at a school as large as UF there are seventeen sororities. Each of these sororities includes between 200 and 300 members. That leads to thousand of girls in the same area, with the same unmet need. I know some girls will share outfits or purchase outfit from discount or consignment stores, such as Plato's Closet. I feel about 80% confident that an opportunity exists in this area.

3-4 Include interviews that I did over the phone with girls I know that are in sororities. Questions  asked included: 1. Do you feel there is a need that is unmet in the process it takes to prepare for rush, specifically searching for and purchasing required outfits? 2. When did you become aware of this need? And why? 3. How long have you had this need? 4. How are you currently addressing/dealing with the need? 5. How satisfied are you with my explained solution?*

3A) This prototypical customer is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha at UF preparing for the rush process for the second time because last fall was her first experience. Now that she has been through it once before and knows the requirements, she is getting ready find five new outfits that are different from the year before.

4A) Answered questions: 1. I feel that shopping online has helped with any needs that were once unmet in terms of recruitment shopping. When I rushed two years ago, I never shopped online and looked in store for all of my clothes. Sharing clothes and jewelry is always a good option too!

2. I became aware of this need during my time rush shopping when I was going through recruitment.  I couldn’t find anything that I loved in local stores around my school.

3. I have had this need since coming to college (two years) and needing tons of different types of outfits for different occasions! It has also been challenging without having a car or lots of shopping options here. 

4. I have been shopping online to find deals and sharing with roommates! I also try to shop at home where my car is. 

5. I think this is a satisfying solution! It would be a really great idea to simplify the process of shopping for recruitment and other occasions! If this was personalized to each person’s individual style I think it would be a great idea!

3B) This prototypical customer is a member of Pi Beta Phi at FSU also preparing for her second rush week.

4B) Answered questions: 1. Yes, I feel as though there should be a way for women to find outfit options that are cheaper. Maybe find a way to order outfits in bulk for women to get the discount. Especially since they are requiring us to buy these outfits, and some girls don’t have the funds to buy all the “trendy” clothes. 
2. Last summer before recruitment, I found this to be a need when I was shopping for my clothes. During the actual school year, their isn’t that pressure to have the best outfits. 
3. As soon as I was about to start preparing for recruitment, so since the end of freshman year. 
4. Since I am in charge of a group of girls for recruitment, I am constantly searching online through different sites trying to find sales or discount codes for clothes. 
5. I am satisfied with that solution.

3C) This prototypical customer is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha at UF preparing for the rush process for the first time.

4C) Answered questions: 1. Yes, this is definitely a need not met.

2. I learned this very quickly during rush as I saw all the girls wearing coordinated clothing. Also learning more about rush, like outfits needing approval, made me realize this is very apparent and taken seriously. I had wondered in the best if there was a better way this could be done.

3. Currently I have this need for my first time going through the recruitment process. 

4. Buying clothes from other girls or searching online for deals prior to recruitment.

5. Currently this is the easiest way to find things (on my own) but a different solution like a company geared towards sorority recruitment outfits would be better to have a place to go to while looking for specific items.

5) Reflection: I was was somewhat surprised with the prototypical customer's enthusiastic reaction to my problem/opportunity belief. All three of them seemed very interested and invested into the interview. I was expecting them to appreciate my belief, but not be so enthusiastic about it. I seems there are multiple other ways to get around the issue, such as online shopping, student discounts, or sharing, but overall prototypical customers found my solution to be simpler and more efficient than those options.

6) Summarize: Honestly, my original opportunity has not changed too much after this process. After speaking to the three prototypical customers, it only reassured me that this is a problem and a solution would be greatly appreciated in the process that sorority girls must go through each year. One thing that I do see change in is the possibility of selling in bulk, suggested by prototypical customer B. She brought up the bulking option. Even more discount could be applied if a sorority makes a big order for all the girls that choose to participate in the packaged outfits. I don't necessarily see more accuracy now than when I started, instead the opportunity has expanded with the input I received. I believe it is very necessary to adapt to customer feedback to the best of an entrepreneurs ability, although it is up to the entrepreneur to decide when a customer's opinion is worthy of adaption or not depending on expense and opinions of others. Overall, what the customers want is the most important aspect that an entrepreneur should consider in development of an opportunity because at the end of the day it is the customer's that will allow the opportunity to come to life or fail.

*I did not give the interviewees full answers to all questions because some where very long and descriptive. I made sure their point was shown in a shortened way, but still expressing their full opinion/belief.

3A: My Entrepreneurship Story

I have been around entrepreneurs my entire life. Not only is my father an entrepreneur, but so is my grandfather and my uncle. My father (pictured below) started his business about fifteen years ago after working for a business that was similar. He is an aerospace engineer and his business sells aerospace satellites and other special equipment. From a young age I have witnessed his passion grow for what he does. He started out on his own and now he has expanded to a total of nine employees. This includes six salesmen, two personal assistants, and a college intern. I know that what he does is not simple, but it is clear that his passion remains just by the way he speaks about his business to myself and to others. He found something he loves to do and he utilizes everything in him to perform at his best and keep the business going strong. From this firsthand experience witnessing my father's ups and downs in the past fifteen years I know it takes resiliency, determination, and positivity to keep a business surviving, but it's passion that keeps a business thriving.

Secondly, I enrolled in ENT3003 because I plan on creating a business of my own one day. While it is nothing like my father's aerospace business, he is part of what inspired me. I hope to start my own orthodontics practice. No one in my family has a business like this so I will be building it from the ground up. I am hoping this class will give me some insight of what it is like to be an entrepreneur from a different perspective than what I have been raised to know in my own family.

2A: Bug List

1. When I go to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Saito's Japanese Steakhouse, there is always a very long wait on the weekends even when I make a reservation.
Why: This is a very popular restaurant with no others like it in the area, therefore the wait gets long very fast during busy days/times.

2. The air conditioning in my Gainesville apartment wakes me up every night when it turns on in the middle of the night.
Why: The AC is from 2008 and being older it most likely has maintenance issues.

3. When I try to pump gas at the Chevron closest to my home in Wellington, sometimes the credit card reader doesn't work and I have to go inside to pay for my gas.
Why: The credit card reader may not work because technology is not perfect and sometimes has malfunctions with time and use.

4. On Saturday mornings I go to the Dunkin Donuts on Lantana road to order a caramel iced coffee with one cream and one sugar, but sometimes the worker adds too much cream/sugar.
Why: Possibly the worker did not hear my order correctly or did not understand what I meant.

5. When I walk my dog around my apartment at 8:00 am before class and the sprinklers are on so my dog is scared to go in the grass.
Why: The grass has to be watered at some point and I assume the complex chooses the early morning when most people are still sleeping.

6. The air conditioning in my 2016 Jeep Wrangler is really cold even on the lowest fan setting.
Why: The roof of the Jeep can be removed, therefore the AC is very powerful so that it can be felt with the roof off when the sun is beaming.

7. When I watch a television show, specifically Long Island Medium, the commercials are very long and sometime the show goes back to commercial after playing for about a minute.
Why: Advertisers pay to show their commercials, therefore a popular television show will have many commercials.

8. When I drive on I-95 in the afternoon after work the traffic adds about ten extra minutes to my ride home.
Why: I leave work around 5:00 pm, which is the worst rush hour traffic because many people get off work at 5:00 pm and are headed home.

9. The TV's at Buffalo Wild Wings are muted so I have to read closed captions while I'm trying to eat my food.
Why: There are many TVs in Buffalo Wild Wings because it is a sports bar, therefore if all the TVs had volume on the restaurant would be very noisy.

10. At my house in Wellington, FL workers mow our lawn on Saturdays starting as early as 8:00 am. The weekend is one of my only times to sleep in, but the lawnmowers always wake me up early.
Why: I'm sure they would rather get their work done in the morning when it is cooler because it is very had in the mid-day here in South Florida. Also, if they have other lawns that need to be done they must start early.

11. My friend has a street light outside his bedroom window and it stays on all night shining light into his room.
Why: The streetlight is on all night for safety reasons, or else the roads throughout the neighborhood would be very dark at night.

12. When I drive to work in the morning I drive east, which causes the sunrise to be in my eyes and I can't see clearly.
Why: I work at a resort on the beach, therefore I have to drive east while the sun is rising in the morning.

13. Sometimes I have to drive back home to Wellington from Gainesville late at night and there are areas of slow traffic because of lane closures due to construction on the high way that they tend to work on at night.
Why: Construction on busy highways are best to be done late throughout the night because the roads are very busy during the daytime hours. There may be extreme congestion with lane closure during the day.

14. The closest scooter parking to my Biology class on the UF campus is still a ten minute walk from the class room so I have to leave my apartment an extra ten minutes early.
Why: Motor vehicles are not allowed to drive through campus for the safety of people walking around, therefore scooter parking is kept towards the outskirts of campus to avoid vehicle and pedestrian incidents.

15. When I have a day planned to go to Palm Beach and the weather forecast shows rain the morning of.
Why: Weather is very unpredictable in Florida. The forecast can be estimated to be sunny the day before and then change to rainy the day of just because of the environment's rapid changes.

16. When I go to Pacsun at the Wellington Mall and I have to wait in a long line just to use the dressing room.
Why: Pacsun is a very popular and busy store in the Wellington Mall, yet it is quite a small space. There are only two available dressing rooms for the entire store.

17. When I drive through my neighborhood and there are lawn service trucks and trailers blocking the road.
Why: I assume there are not better places for the trucks to parks so the best they can do is park on the side of the road without blocking the grass that they need to work on .

18. The dryer in my Gainesville apartment is very small and it takes at least two cycles to dry one batch of laundry.
Why: It is a relatively old dryer and it is very small so when a load is too large the dryer can not handle it all in one cycle.

19. When I go to Publix I can't reach the items on the top shelf.
Why: Publix has many items that they must fit in their store, which means the need multiple shelfs to fit all their items. I'm on 5'2" so I can't reach the highest shelf.

20. When I'm looking forward to watching a show on Netflix and my AT&T WiFi is not working so the internet is down.
Why: When the weather is bad or there are multiple people using the internet at once it causes the WiFi to be very slow or not work at all because of poor connection.


I found this assignment very challenging. I believe this is because I am a very optimistic person. In my day to day life I don't let the little things bother me. I had to think very hard about specifics that I would really consider to be a bug.

This Is My First Blog EVER

Hello! My name is Jaclyn and I am going into my third year at the University of Florida. While I am not majoring or minoring in business, I am interested in starting my own dental/orthodontic practice one day. Thanks for reading!

~Jaclyn A. Weber