19A – Idea Napkin No. 2
1. I feel that my talents lie within my work ethic. Ever since I was a younger child, I have had a strong work ethic and enjoy staying busy. Along with this, I also enjoy finding creative ways to be more productive with work. I feel that everything can always be improved, and am constantly looking for these improvements. This connects with my business idea, because I saw the problem with plastic and paper straws, and thought that an improvement would be greatly needed. My aspiration in life is to one day own my own business, and feel like this business idea is a good step in the right direction. If this business were to grow it could cover more then just Gainesville. I am from Clearwater, so being at the beach, many local restaurants care about being environmentally conscious, and surrounding cities such as St. Pete and Tampa feel the same and would provide a big market.
2. I am offering alternative products to plastic straws, which are bad for the environment, without having to revert to paper straws which do not work well. There are many alternatives restaurants could use, such as grass straws, bamboo straws, papaya leaf stems, biodegradable plastic straws, silicone straws, glass straws, and stainless steal straws. These solutions are not only more environmentally friendly, but also actually work. Offering these will drive consumer happiness up and make customers choose restaurants with these solutions over those without.
3. I am offering these to any restaurant or place that uses straws ranging from chains like Starbucks and McDonalds, to local places such as Bagels and Noodles. These places all are affected by the plastic straw ban in Gainesville, and need to find better alternatives to use.
4. They care because if a competitor starts using these better alternatives, then they may lose business. Raising the price a few cents wouldn’t be noticed by the customers but offering these products could potentially make a major impact. For example, if a customer didn’t have a preference over two coffee shops but one started using these products, the preference of the customer could change.
5. What sets me apart is my desire to make sure everyone is happy. I would go out of my way to help businesses find the best solution, and always be there to keep an open dialogue. Sure, I could make a website for them to order from, but I feel offering face to face interaction and allow them to call whenever they want would provide them with the best customer service.
I feel that these fit together because it is important to have a personal element into the business you are offering. Acting as a distributor, it is important that customers feel that they are valued, so that they will continue to do business with you. I feel that all the points are essential, but the weakest for me would be who I am offering it to. There are many aspects to this, because I feel smaller coffee shops and business would be the most likely to buy from me, but bigger chains would be the most important because they would buy bigger quantities.
My feedback only really offered two points, one saying they like my idea and the other questioning prices. The first point helps encourage me to keep pursuing this. The second one had me research prices and I found grass straws currently being sold for around two cents a piece with a 10% discount on bigger purchases when bought in bulk on Alibaba.
2. I am offering alternative products to plastic straws, which are bad for the environment, without having to revert to paper straws which do not work well. There are many alternatives restaurants could use, such as grass straws, bamboo straws, papaya leaf stems, biodegradable plastic straws, silicone straws, glass straws, and stainless steal straws. These solutions are not only more environmentally friendly, but also actually work. Offering these will drive consumer happiness up and make customers choose restaurants with these solutions over those without.
3. I am offering these to any restaurant or place that uses straws ranging from chains like Starbucks and McDonalds, to local places such as Bagels and Noodles. These places all are affected by the plastic straw ban in Gainesville, and need to find better alternatives to use.
4. They care because if a competitor starts using these better alternatives, then they may lose business. Raising the price a few cents wouldn’t be noticed by the customers but offering these products could potentially make a major impact. For example, if a customer didn’t have a preference over two coffee shops but one started using these products, the preference of the customer could change.
5. What sets me apart is my desire to make sure everyone is happy. I would go out of my way to help businesses find the best solution, and always be there to keep an open dialogue. Sure, I could make a website for them to order from, but I feel offering face to face interaction and allow them to call whenever they want would provide them with the best customer service.
I feel that these fit together because it is important to have a personal element into the business you are offering. Acting as a distributor, it is important that customers feel that they are valued, so that they will continue to do business with you. I feel that all the points are essential, but the weakest for me would be who I am offering it to. There are many aspects to this, because I feel smaller coffee shops and business would be the most likely to buy from me, but bigger chains would be the most important because they would buy bigger quantities.
My feedback only really offered two points, one saying they like my idea and the other questioning prices. The first point helps encourage me to keep pursuing this. The second one had me research prices and I found grass straws currently being sold for around two cents a piece with a 10% discount on bigger purchases when bought in bulk on Alibaba.
Hi Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI think your idea is great and you should definitely feel encouraged from the feedback you get. I think it is great that you are always trying to be better and to improve yourself and your work ethic. I think a lot of times when people see that what they are doing is working, they stop trying to improve it. But you are absolutely right, there is always room for improvement. Great post!
Hey Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to your strong asset of work ethic. That was one of the things that I emphasized in my project. Work ethic is so important in entrepreneurship because you work for yourself. Your work ethic determines how successful or unsuccessful your business will be I can definitely relate to your strong asset of work ethic. That was one of the things that I emphasized in my project. Work ethic is so important in entrepreneurship because you work for yourself. Your work ethic determines how successful or unsuccessful your business will be. Great job!