Week 3 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise for me in this reading was how honest the author was with describing some of the downsides of trying to be an entrepreneur. He went past the basic possibility of failure, and described some of the psychological tolls failure can have. He went on to describe how those psychological tolls could present themselves in entrepreneurs. A source of confusion for me were some of the descriptions of the sources of research on entrepreneurs. I didn't understand how proceedings of conferences and some other sources were actually sources of research. They seemed like records of activities entrepreneurs engage in. Some of the activities are ones that other business people could engage it, not strictly entrepreneurs. Two questions I would ask the author would be 1. Did he personally experience any psychological tolls in his experience of entrepreneurship and 2. What source of research has he found most helpful in writing the textbook. For this particular chapter, I don't know enough about the topic to agree or disagree with the author. I would only question the validity of some of the sources of research the author provided.

Identifying Local Opportunities

1. 1.4M to calm Portofino traffic woes
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/pensacola/beaches/2016/01/21/14m-calm-traffic-portofino/79001504/

This story was about Escambia county planning on spending money to slow down traffic in front of a popular beach resort. There isn't much around the resort, so people tend to speed past the resort. However, the tourists that stay at the resort are subject to the dangers of fast drivers. The problem described is that drivers are speeding past the resort and putting guests at risk. The person who has the problem are the guests of Portofino Resort, and the management of Portofino themselves.

2. Downtown Improvement Board (DIB) looking for a new home
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/pensacola/downtown/2016/01/23/dib-looking-new-home/79000154/

This story is about a board that plans activities in downtown Pensacola looking for a new office space. However, city officials don't want to have the board work in City Hall. The problem here is that DIB needs a new office space and wants to be located in City Hall. The DIB is the organization that has the problem.

3. Inmate housing to cost $1.7M in 2016
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2016/01/21/sr-inmate-housing-cost-escambia-17m/79107098/

This story was about how housing costs in prisons are going to rise. Right now, Santa Rosa County prisons are housing Escambia County inmates. The costs are attributed to more inmates, not additional costs. The problem here is that there are more Escambia County inmates in Santa Rosa County jails. This is the tax payers of both counties' problems. Escambia country residents because it is pertaining to prisoners of their county. Santa Rosa county residents because the prisoners are residing in their prisons.

4. Turnpike will pursue Sikes toll violators
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/pensacola/beaches/2016/01/21/should-turnpike-manage-bob-sikes-toll/79004662/

This story is about a local toll bridge making a deal with the Florida Turnpike Enterprise to pursue toll violators. It is part of a plan to start integrating the SunPass system on this bridge. The problem here is that many people are violating the toll bridge policies and need a larger organization to help pursue violators. The management of the Bob Sikes bridge is the organization that has this problem.

5. 90 minute bus rides for local students?
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/santa-rosa/2016/01/21/90-minute-bus-ride-local-students/79119966/

This story is about the overcrowding of schools causing transportation issues. Some children are having to ride on the bus for an hour and a half to get home. The problem here is that distance between two parts of the district and overcrowding of schools are causing extremely long commutes. The people affected by this problem are primarily the students that have to ride these 90 minute rides.

Very Short Interview No. 1

The entrepreneur I decided to interview was my parents' friend, Scott Hill. He runs his own interior design business. He's done a lot of work at my house, and re designed my brother's room as a gift. Scott is what one could call a "self made" entrepreneur. He did not go to school trying to learn how to be an entrepreneur, it just sort of happened to him. He also knows what it's like to have success and failure, and his perseverance is a true testament to his own "entrepreneurial mindset." 

I asked Scott the following three questions and these are his answers:

1. Did you ever take a class in or about entrepreneurship?

No. I took classes on business, networking, and business development but nothing specifically about entrepreneurship.

2. What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?

Making sure to get foundation and tools needed to be successful before going out.

Make sure you learn to have a good foundation and the tools to be successful before going out and starting on your own venture.

3. Is there anything you know now or you wish you had learned before setting out on your own path as an entrepreneur? 

Nothing. I don't wish anyone had taught me anything before I started out.

I learned that it is possible to be successful in entrepreneurship even if you don't see it in the future for yourself in college. I found it almost comforting that Scott hadn't gone to school to be an entrepreneur, yet he found success regardless. 

The World's Biggest Problems

These are 10 of what I think are the world's biggest problems:

1. Access to education
In many countries, children do not have access to education. This is primarily because of gender, social class, and intelligence. In some countries, if a child is not deemed smart enough, they are kicked out of school. When a girl starts her menstrual cycle, she cannot go to school for one week out of the month and falls behind. There are some organizations that don't believe girls should have access to education. A simple way to solve this problem, which has started to be implemented, is to build more secure schools. However, the schools need to stay open. Some are built and opened and then not sustained. In some third world countries, schools are too far away. If the schools were closer to villages and safer for children, there could be more accessible education.
2. Access to technology
Another issue that goes hand in hand with the prior is access to technology. Technology provides a singular person access to almost the entire world. One child in the third world could see something on the internet that could change the course of his life forever. To make this happen, infrastructure would need to be implemented first. If one cable company or philanthropist was willing to donate internet cafes throughout the third world, access to the internet and other technology would become a reality.
3. Access to clean water
Water access is a huge issue. Unclean water can contain pathogens that kill people within days. There are already some solutions to this problem, including the filter straw that allows people to drink from almost any source of water. Another solution would be to put filters on water outputs, so instead of having to filter the water through a  straw, the water would already be clean.
4. Gender Equality
In many places, men and women are not seen equally. In the workplace, women on average earn less then men. A simple solution would be to offer incentives to companies who pay equally. Another solution that reaches outside of the workplace would be to have companies with a reputation for treating the sexes equally to start programs in which the gender inequality gap is larger.
5. Access to information (news)
There are countries that restrict the news their citizens can see or hear or read. In other countries, where the press laws are more liberal, stories can be skewed to present a certain point a view. A simple solution would be a news company that presented only the facts. No back story, no filler words; short, simple sentences that presented all the facts from a story. This would allow more people to be informed and make their own conclusions on their opinions.
6. Cost of travel
In a world that is globalizing so quickly, it is very expensive to get from point A to point B. Young people who want to travel can't afford it because airfare and lodging is so expensive. A solution would be a travel agency that offered student/young adult discounts so students could see the world before they had to settle down.
7. Fast Food
There are two reasons fast food is so desirable. First is convenience. Many people like the aspect of having a meal in 15 minutes, especially in this face paced world. The second is affordability. Nothing pleases a poor college student more than a dollar menu. These appeals lead to and have led to a very unhealthy generation. A solution would be a restaurant chain that offered healthy, cost effective alternatives to fast food. If the prices and wait times are the same, maybe people would choose a healthier sandwich over a burger.
8. Road Safety
So many young people are dying on the roads due to distractions. I think our generation feels they need distractions to focus. For example, listening to music while reading a textbook. However, a textbook isn't going 80 miles an hour on the interstate. I think there are two solutions. 1. Drivers education courses teach students how to drive with distractions. The car is never going to be silent, and drivers are never going to be confined to a drivers course, So, a driving simulation with music and people talking would allow drivers to be used to distractions and not let them effect their driving. 2. Cars with systems that cut down on distractions. Ones that block text messages from coming through to the phone, or allowing the driver to only accept calls if they are connected to a Bluetooth device.
9. Housing
In many developed parts of the world, housing is hard to come by. Business hubs that house many jobs are often very expensive places to live (New York, for example.) Even in college towns where students don't have very much discretionary income to spend on convenient apartments, rent is high. If there was a company that offered low rent nationally only to people under a certain age, they could do very well. It would be similar to a rent controlled model.
10. Addiction
Addiction is a gateway disease. It leads to a spiral of more and more destructive behavior. One could make the argument that if there was more access to addiction cures, it could take a domino effect to cure other problems. Public rehabilitation centers often having waiting lists for months and few private centers accept insurance. If more private rehabilitation accepted wider varieties of health insurance, more people could get the help they need instead of continuing down the dangerous path they are on.