Week 3 Reading Reflection

1) QUESTION: What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? 

Answer: When I came to the part in chapter 2 called, "The Grief Recovery Process" I was rather quite intrigued. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Wow that's incredible that Kuratko is going this in depth into the emotional side of entrepreneurship this early in the textbook!"

2) QUESTION: Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

Answer: There was a part in this chapter where Kuratko talks about the sense of distrust. This part got extremely psychological and a little confusing to me just from the depth of this. How do you go about sensing distrust from a particular person!? That's such a crazy concept to me, but I guess it is a necessity in the entrepreneurial world.

3) QUESTION: If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Answer: The questions I would ask would have to be 1) Did some chapters take longer to write? I would ask him this question because I feel like this chapter was a lot more philosophical than chapter one and I wonder if it gets even more in-depth in the future chapters. 2) Have you had any personal experiences with the "Dark side of Entrepreneurship?" I would ask him this question because this is such a crazy and out there idea that he had to have some sort of life experience with it! I bet it would be a crazy story!

4) QUESTION: Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

Answer: Just like last week there wasn't really anything that I thought the author was "wrong about." Like I said last time, since this a textbook I take all info in and learn it all. He wouldn't be putting false information into this textbook which is also the 9th edition of it as well!

Identifying Local Opportunities

Title: Politicians say Miami ‘slums' prove need for new laws

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=15A8E3CD20CD1840&p_docnum=1

Miami slums are in such bad conditions while the landlords of these places are still being protected by the state of Florida. Police say that "new laws need to be enacted now."

Florida landlords are taking advantage of Florida laws being in their favor and leaving these places to run down while also cashing in as much money as possible from these poor home owners.

The police have the problem because right now because of the way the laws are set up right now in the state of Florida, these scummy landlords are getting away with their places running down and being badly taken care of while still making money off of these people.

Title: ‘Why can't I recall yesterday?' Amnesia erases daily life for Army veteran

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=15A83B10B4074278&p_docnum=8

Army veteran Steve Ligeikis has an extreme case of amnesia that makes him not remember what he did yesterday. The article talks about his experiences and the problems that he goes through each day.

The problem is definitely Steve's brain because that is something that is not normal at all. The article says that he was searching his house looking for his cat, but the cat has been dead for 10 months. I found this extremely scary that that could happen.

Obviously, Steve has the problem because he has the amnesia. They are still running numerous tests on his brain to try and figure out if there is a cure or a way to fix is short term complete memory loss.

Title: Shivering dog needs a checkup at vet

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=15A83B09FB30F440&p_docnum=11

Patty Kahuly writes about symptoms that shivering dogs have and what they could mean. It's a very detailed description with a lot of extremely good info that I would use if I had a dog!

The problem is figuring out exactly what problem the dog has. There are so many different possibilities going from pain to neurological diseases. Most pets can be diagnosed from either physical or behavioral issues.

Well, in this article, directly the veterinarian has the problem of figuring out exactly why the dog is shivering. But, I think you can also see it this way, that the dog has the problem because it is at the doctor.

Title: Bob Graham calls for Gov. Rick Scott to veto sweeping water reforms

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=15A83B0A1DF407A0&p_docnum=12

Bob Graham is trying to get the governor to veto this certain bill. This bill calls for a weakening of protection of state waters pollution, waste and rising consumption. The week prior Florida House and Senate passed a series of bills yet only touched on this idea of water reforms. Hopefully they will figure this one out soon.

The problem is that if Rick Scott doesn't veto these water reform bills, Florida could be dealing with the same thing that Flint Michigan is dealing with right now. Currently the town of Flint is dealing with a major water crisis that happened because the lead pipes poisoned the water in the entire town.

Bob Graham has the problem because if Rick Scott doesn't veto this bill its going to be a mess in Florida and I'm sure Bob Graham knows very well of this. I guess you can say that Bob has the problem AND the solution to this mess!

Title: Keeping your home deal on track in the new year

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=15A8E3CCE1A49450&p_docnum=3

Kenneth Harney gives a detailed overview on the housing market in 2016. He talks about the most common problems that arise while looking for a house and also while you are trying to sell a house as well.

The problems that Kenneth brings up are buyer financing setbacks, home inspection issues, and Appraisals that diverge from the agreed upon contract price. He continues by saying, "According to the study, of the 32 percent that experienced delays, 46 percent were triggered by "financing issues," which is up from 40 percent during the first half of 2015. Appraisal-related problems caused delays in 21 percent of transactions and home-inspection issues in 14 percent."

I think that the home buyers and sellers have the problem in this case. They are the people dealing with all these buyer financing setbacks and dealing with the terrible housing market that has been on the decline since the 2008 crash of the economy.

 

Very Short Interview No. 1

I interviewed a close family friend back from my hometown whose name is Mike Jones. He created his own motorcycle business from scratch and still works there full time still to this day.

Me: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your dream?

Mike: I started a motorcycle business with a dream, a lot of sweat, and a desire to help people to enjoy riding the western Carolina mountains. I wanted to give customers the opportunity to ride a pre owned motorcycle at a reasonable price.

Me: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

Mike: It really meant to me to start a business on my own salesmanship and qualities that my dad taught me at an early age. I strived to work hard, be honest, and make a reasonable profit. My motto was to be the home of the working man's friend.

Me: What do you think I should learn in an entrepreneurship course?
Mike: You need to learn to give customers quality and honest service. It's ok to make a profit, but you don't need to knock their heads off. If you treat people the way you want to be treated you will build trust in them. Always get referrals from customers. Referral customers are always the way to build a successful business.

Mike: As an entrepreneur, looking back, I wish I had been taught more technical knowledge. First, I wish I had been taught more business accounting. While this is always outsourced to CPAs, I wish I would have been able to better understand accounting issues in order to more effectively communicate with my CPA. Second, I wish I was taught more corporate finance. In particular, how and where to raise money, and how and when to use finance to grow and expand my business.

I've known Mike for a while but I never really knew much about his business. From this short interview I realized how much hard work he put into making his company as big as it is today. I also liked how he said "referral customers are always the way to build a successful business" because if you treat these people well they will always come back and bring you more business. I also agree with his final answer since all businesses require that you to deal with the business accounting side of it all. All in all I can't wait to interview him again at the end of the semester! 

World's Biggest Problems

1. Water Pollution

Water is essential for life and there are still places in this world that don't have access to clean water. Also in current times, Flint Michigan has a problem now with lead pipes poisoning their water supply and they are having to only drink out of water bottles.

Answer: There are already lots of water purifiers available now that work extremely well. There have been many technological advancements to this and there will be even better ones in the future. Clean water is a gift that we often overlook in our daily lives.

2. Over Population

Our population is reaching record breaking numbers and it is only increasing. We are using up all of Earth's resources and if we don't do anything about it we are going to run out and the prices of these resources will sky rocket. Also in under-developed countries where resources are already scarce, it's only a matter of time until these resources start running out.

Answer: We have to make the change right now to stop over using Earth's resources. I've heard that China is going back to their old rule where you can only have one child because their population is exploding so much now. Maybe U.S will do the same in the future if our population ends up like that.

3. Pollution 

Currently there are 1.2 BILLION cars in the world which all put out harmful emissions to our atmosphere. On top of that, industrial processes, waste disposal and fuel combustion are just a few of the many reasons why our pollution rates are at an all time high.

Answer: Buy an electric car and stop polluting. Also maybe we have to start contacting major factories and industrial sites and tell them to cut their emissions by a certain amount. Hopefully there are technological advancements in the near future to help reduce pollution because that would definitely help.

4. Global Warming

This also adds onto my #3. From all the pollution that our race causes, our climate changes are getting worse by the year. Global warming can lead to a steep increase in sea levels which could flood entire cities that are at sea level now. This could also lead to unusual weather patterns with anything from desertification to flash floods depending on the location.

Answer: Again, if everyone just stops being so short sighted and strives to make the world a better place each day we can reduce the amount of global warming that is happening right now. Electric cars will also extremely reduce the toxic emissions that are destroying our ozone.

5. Deforestation

I can't believe that this is actually one of the worlds biggest problems. Hopefully this stops soon too before the Amazon rain forest becomes the Amazon "desert." People are again doing this for the resources and land, when is in turn killing the homes of thousands of wild life as well as removing trees that live to produce oxygen for us.

Answer: Somehow make it illegal to chop down trees because they give us life. Also we should be planting more trees and plants to make up for all the damage we've done so far.

6. Ocean Acidification

Slowly but surely the acidic content of the ocean has been rising for the last two hundred and fifty years. If this rate stays constant, the ocean will be too acidic for life to form. The world is 70% water and this will eventually lead to the death of all ocean animals.

Answer: Dumping acidic waste into the oceans needs to stop immediately. Also hopefully there will be some technological advances in reducing the acidity of the ocean water which could completely solve the problem in its entirety. 

7. War and Terrorism

This has been a huge problem in the history of the human race. For some reason we feel like the only way to solve problems is with brute force and that needs to stop immediately because it doesn't need to happen. Especially now because multiple countries have access to nuclear bombs. 

Answer: Lets just all be friends and help each other make this world a better place instead of bombing it and making it into a nuclear wasteland! Deal with wars through peace treaties instead of with guns.

8. Obesity 

The U.S has the largest percentage of obese people per country coming in at 13% . Researchers say that over 2 billion people are obese in the world and that number is only rising. 

Answer: Obesity is an easy problem to fix if you are staying constant on working out and staying active as well as eating properly. People that only eat fast food for all their meals will become obese no matter how much you work out. Plus that is not healthy at all for you, have you even seen "Super Size Me?"

9. Unemployment 

In 2013 there were 73 million jobless people in the world. Hunger and homelessness are direct problems from this and it's definitely a huge social problem. Having a huge unemployment percentage is bad for the economy as well.

Answer: Lack of education and specific skills are the main reasons for this problem. If free college tuition becomes a thing, this could probably fix a big majority of this problem in the future. Some people also just choose not to work which is pretty crazy, but to each his own.

10. Drug abuse

Anything from peer pressure to wanting to try a new feeling or thrill can lead to drug abuse. Being in a family where there is already drug abuse in the parents could also lead to this as well. Drug abuse can completely alter your brain and personal functions and can even kill you if you are abusing a hard drug.

Answer: Drug rehab is a popular way to get out of drug abuse but I think the answer is actually just to catch yourself before you get addicted. Therapy can also help but you should primarily just live a life that can make you happy without the use of drugs. Don't get dependent on using a particular drug as well because that is when you know you become addicted to it.