customer interviews no 1. : Week 4

 Opportunity: New UF Gym facility to decrease wait times 

Customer 1: Fresia Urdaneta

I also live at cabana and regularly see Fresia at the gym. i knew she was a student and decided to dig a little deeper. i learned that fresia finds it more convenient to work out at her apartment gym vs UF's gyms. shes tried that scene and cant handle the long wait times and how crowded the gyms are. fresia does a total workout so she needs access to not only cardio machines but also the machines. shes willing to give up a bigger facility and state of the art equipment for the convenience of having her gy,m a walk away with a more private setting.

Talking to fresia was very easy shes a PR major so she was very comfortable with interviewing. the questions defiantly have to be relevant for the source to give you meaningfull answers. 

Customer 2: Dana Pea

Dana lives at Muphree hall and i saw her at gator dinning on campus. she was wearing workout clothes so i decided to ask her a few questions. dana generally goes to student rec. she also dosen't like the wait times of southwest rec but agrees that there are certain times you can go when its not so crowded. however Dana is a premed student who has a very busy schedule where if she does workout she can only go at night which is the peak time for southwest rec. Dana thinks the student rec has everything she needs except the runners track but shes willing to give that up for the convince of having a less crowded gym. Dana loves the idea of a new fitness facility and say that would make a lot of students more willing to go to the gym on campus.

Customer 3: Katie Rankin

Katie is a regular runner who i decided to stop and speak with. She says shes an outdoors kind of girl. she dosent really do the gym scene because she only does cardio. and she thinks running on the treadmill can become too boring. i asked if she had ever used the gym facilities and she said yes, however again the facilities are always crowded and don't have anything to offer her besides a treadmill. the idea of a new UF facility intrigues katie but one thing she said she defiantly wants to see is a better inside track to appeal more to runners then solely focusing on the weight room.

Customer 3: Shantel Santana 

Shantel lives off campus on the grove and only goes on campus for her classes. shes never been to the southwest rec facility but has heard all the bad rumors that are continuing to come up. she took it upon herself to buy a planet fitness membership to make things more convenient for her. shantel says she would much rather pay to have a nice quiet gym with ample high quality machines then us the free facilities at UF and have a frustrating gym experience. shantel would love a 3rd UF facility because it would save her money. She would love to come work out on campus if she was amble to keep the comfortable atmosphere of planet fitness.

Customer 4: Wendy Miramontes

Wendy is a Freshman who live son campus and is infatuated with the south west rec gym. she dosen't have too hard of a schedule so her gmy times tend to vary.  however she did acknowledge that the wait times are a problem but she has a system of what to workout when and the time of day to go in order to beat the rush. wendy is a gym buff so she likes the track and size of the southwest rec facility and has never been to student rec. she likes the high tech equipment and cant think of a better alternative. So if  UF were to open a third facility she would be more then happy to try it out as long as it didn't take away any of what southwest already has to offer. she thinks it would also be beneficial in decreasing wait times.

The Opportunity: I learned that there are a lot of common aversion towards southwest rec. many people were turned off by the crowds of the facility even with its large size. this translates into very long wait times to use the fitness equipment especially the popular ones such as the squat racks. Everyone was in consensus that a new facility could possibly solve alot of the current problems it would allow more spread for the gym goes reduce the crowds and just offer one more close facility to work out. im my opinion UF would attract more people who currently stray away from the gym scene back into action.

Interviewing: i learned that interviewing can be very awkward. some people just feel uncomfortable talking to someone they don't know. then there are others who are happy to share their opinion. i found that having a topic that the interviewee can relate to makes them more comfortable. having relaxed body language and engaging in their answers makes them feel confident about there answers. and finally having something in common. being that we were all UF students we were able to relate much more on the subject i go through the same thoughts pains and gains that they go through so it game their answers alot more meaning.  

i originally had videos concerning each customer and our interviews. However my phones LCD was turning off so i had to hard rest my phone and the videos were erased.  

Very Short Interview No. 1 : Week 3

Luis is the owner of one of the biggest Crossfit gyms in central Florida. But he didn't start here. Crossfit M.D.I ( motivation, dedication, inspiration), was originally a small rented out storage unit garage. Where a husband and wife who were able to change their lives through their love of fitness began to grow. They began doing promotional and marketing events to get their name out there and harped on the support system and family they were giving not the brute fitness. They wanted to sell the idea of life changing fitness not getting skinny. they began to find people who were willing to take a chance and eventually they were holding about 10 classes a day with about 40 plus members. by budgeting well and continuing to compete and succeed to get their name out. they were able to get the funding to open their very own gym. crossfit M.D.I is now flourishing and hitting back harder then ever in the crossfit world.

Question 1. What does being an Entrepreneur mean to you?
Luis: " It basically means following your dream. for me it meant to continue to push myself further then i had gone before. to take that risk. because i knew my dream would help others in the end it was never about success itself. "

Question 2. What would you have liked to learn from taking a course like ENT3003 ?
Luis: i would have like to learn the importance of combining the ideas of others.Me and my wife set out to do this on our own. but now we have some of the strongest friendships that have made M.D.I better then it could have ever been with just us two.

Question 3. Do you have any advice for me, being that i don't particularly plan on having my own business.
Luis. i think that the entrepreneurial mindset is relevant to all career paths. no mater what you decide to the world is changing so you have to know how to change with it and be different, to cater to peoples needs or the needs of that job. i don't believe you can follow your dreams without the courage to think on your own and that is the entrepreneurial mindset.

Question 4. Now that you are a successful Entrepreneur, whats your next step.
Luis. being an entrepreneur never stops, i'm continuously working on my self , my gym,  and members to find new ways to be more efficient in fitness. and we continue to compete in different competitions to see how the other gyms are developing as well. I'm doing what i love so now i'm just doing my best to see where it takes me.

Luis is someone who i have been able to see grow because i knew him when he owned the garage and now that his business is flourishing. Because i am also motivated by the idea of fitness. i relate very closely to his story. this interview made me remember that its not an easy road to your own personal success. and that you don't have to always be on top to be happy. sometimes taking a bumpier road makes the victory even sweeter.

Worlds Biggest Problems: Week 3

Population: The world population is growing exponentially. With space to provide for these growing numbers dwindling. The increasing population on earth cant provide enough resources to adequately sustain the growing number of around 7 billion. this creates even greater stresses on other problems such as poverty, animal habitat preservation. and can result in actions being taken such as China's one child policy. This is a radical form of fixing the problem. the only other way to help the population growth is to have fewer children. which would also mean helping the countries in poverty move to a more developed way of living so they don't need so many offspring to help sustain and survive.

Water:  Clean drinking water is also one of the biggest problems we face as humans. Because so much of our clean water is used recreationaly , for agriculture and for manufacturing. we are running out of what we can use for our needed consumption. one way that we can possibly assist this problem is by using desalinization methods to purify the water in the ocean. as well as doing periodic watering such as only at night or on certain days for landscapes and agriculture.

Poverty: more then half of the worlds countries are in a state of poverty. and even in the meccas such as new york, china, ect you still see citizens with homes, and unemployed. the poverty levels also seem to be increasing because of the lack of resource being allocated to help the lower chain pf income families a way to aid the situation would be to disperse more government funds and aid to invest in shelters and awareness classes and programs to help get there members to the working class of society.

War: War is lone of the worlds problems that acts as a domino affect when there is war it takes so much of the affected countries resources and its neighboring and allied forces as well. war brings turmoil to the afflicted countries increasing death rates of innocent civilians as well as increasing chances and strikes of terrorism. This is evident in the current was in sierra. a way to help foster this problem would be for the political leaders to have better rein over the countries proving a peaceful environment for its citizens with adequate resources for living so radical groups don't develop or have no power.

Global Warming: Global warming is defiantly one of the biggest problems that effects every single human being on this planet as well as our wildlife and plant life. with the amount of Co2 we are releasing the temperatures are getting warmer and warmer. which is resulting in lost habitat for some animals changes in the ocean patterns and ultimately unstable climate conditions for us. we need to try to drastically reduce our carbon emissions by  going green and weeding off the traditional cars. moving to more clean energy sources such as wind, electric, solar and hydro.

Lack of education: because of the high poverty rates there is a dramatic increase in the lack of education. these lower income families cant afford to go to college and receive a high education. or in some cases are too busy helping at home to sustain their families to even attend high school. one option is for the government to figure out a plan to proved fully free education. and regulate it. that way many more would be able t/o take the step and better themselves.

Social inequality: the social inequality comes from anything either race, income, level, gender. we see the gender inequality with athletes and in the corporate world. we see the income inequality with the growing numbers of poverty. and we see that racial inequality is still evident with the differences in pay and the radical ideas and groups that still exist today. the only way to end this is to continue spreading awareness. and demanding equality in every form.

Exploitation of resources: one way this is extremely evident is our use of oil and coal. many of the nations over use their recourse in a way called tragedy of the commons and more. we are now being to see scarcity in the resource that are viable to our exsistance. the only way to converse these resources is to reduce consumption and find alternative ways instead of the constant use of gas oil, plastics, ect.

Disease: with the ever so growing population gives way for the higher chance of disease. we've seen this with the mad cow, swine flew ect. these disease are able to spread so quickly because of our growing population. you also see the increase in strains of cancer and aids. a proposal for this would be to increase funding for disease prevention providing more free vaccinations. as well as research towards cancer and aids.

Political insatiability: political instability is something that has plagued m,any nations but not always particularly the US. we've seen this with germany, korea, china, ect where the leaders are unfit and put the nation itself at at risk when they decide to take a dictatorship approach. we are seeing this this year in the US when there are such radical ideas for the presidency that could dramatically affect the United States citizens.

My Entrepreneur Story : Week two

One of the most significant exposures i've had to Entrepreneurship was my enrollment into the innovation academy. where we are taught free thinking and what creativity and challenging social norms can mean to the business world. i put this to ;practice this just past summer where i competed in the UF summer catalyst showcase. where dozens of groups take a societal problem and come up with a product brand and company to help solve it. My company was called wheel watch. witch was a defense mechanism for your bike against thieves. and in the event that your bike was stolen. it came equipped with a gps tracker to help you and police officials locate the bike. we developed an app to help register the bike and the gps tracking program. along with the bike lock, that contained a trip wire so if the lock was cut an alarm would sound and you would receive a phone notification. the lock also utilized key fob technology for entry so it eliminated picking the lock or desifering the code. My team and i ended up winning the 1st place peoples choice award. 

I enrolled in the course to see what other skills and knowledge i can attain from challenging thinkers that will help me be innovative in any work i may set forth to accomplish. this course also brings me 4 credits closer to graduating and fulfilling my dreams. 

personal introduction : week two

Hi, my name is Maria Yarbough i am a second year Finance major. Originally i am from a town called Fall River, Massachusetts which is about 30 mins from Boston. I moved to Orlando during the 6th grade and eventually found my calling as a Gator. My Biggest aspiration is to become an investment banker. currently i work as a bank teller for wells Fargo to help get one step closer to my goal. on campus i am involved in a coed professional business fraternity named Alpha kappa Psi. this is one of the biggest passions i have here at the university where i assist in helping the new pledges along their professional journey. I'm doing all this in the hope that one day i will be working in th corporate world with enough PTO to travel the world with my family.

My Entrepreneur's Mantra: Week 2

Maria's Blog
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