Elevator Pitch No. 3 -- 22A

After reading feedback from my previous elevator pitch, I definitely made a few changes in what I talked about during my pitch. Some of my feedback touched on how I would specifically differentiate my facial bar business from regular spas. This made me discuss the opportunity for membership rates and packages, which I mention in my pitch above. This leads into my next feedback that I took into consideration, which was how prices would be determined and deemed worth while, giving me the idea of creating a membership program.

Additionally, I received feedback on the delivery of my previous pitch in terms of pauses and speaking too quickly. I get nervous public speaking even through a camera so this is one thing I tried to make a conscious effort on based on the feedback but ended up being harder for me to accomplish as I wanted to hit all my points and be sure all of my content was still in the pitch. I felt that some of my speech was a bit memorized but other parts were more conversational.

Reading Reflection No. 2 -- 21A

I read the book How To Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams.

1) I think the general theme of the book is having persistence and determination throughout your career and life, even when things aren't going as you hoped or expected. Adams portrays this through his story by showing readers you can fail, fail, and fail again and in the end it is helping teach you lessons that will amount to an eventual success -- as long as you persevere through the failures and learn major lessons from them.

 2) I think the correlation between this book and this course is strong. The lessons and themes Adams  discusses in his book are super relevant to our course work and further our life/careers. Being determined, motivated and persistent when you face obstacles, challenges or failures in your life is what builds you up, makes you stronger and contributes to the goal you will eventually reach. In this course, we as students have had to be determined to overcome our obstacles we have encountered in our blog posts and business/product developments taking feedback and holes in our ideas and transforming that 'failure' into a better product which will impact the end result.

3) If I had to describe an exercise based on this book, I would have my exercise deal with taking risks and diving into things that may not be the most comfortable but are manageable enough to actually help your end goal by slowly taking steps to overcome them. Risks are essential to achieving success, so identifying what your strengths are and where you need improvement as a weakness, figuring out that middle ground and finding a starting point can really help to make strides in getting comfortable with the idea of breaking out of your safe zone.

4) I think I was most surprised by the mind frame of Adams in terms of his belief of finding his energy rather than finding his passion. We hear the phrase of finding our passion so often that it was refreshing to read about someone approaching life from a different angle that I hadn't thought of before. Finding your energy is all about staying motivated with your energy so that even when you do fail you can pick yourself up and figure whatever it is out and that managing this energy through different facets can still lend itself to success through that failure. To me, that was such an interesting perspective and really made me think of my own failures, what future failures I could encounter, and how I can further handle them by channeling my energy.

Growing Your Social Capital -- 20A

1) Domain Expert: Christine Falcon
Christine Falcon is an esthetician in Key West, Florida. She has been an esthetician for almost 8 years and offers facial services, waxing services, spray tans, etc. out of a day spa. I contacted her via text as Falcon is my family's  esthetician and I have a personal contact with her as she has been performing skin care services on myself, my mother and even my brother for years. She has a zest for skincare and tons of knowledge on products, techniques, and customizes the advice, knowledge and service to the client. Having her in my network will offer me a lot in terms of how to keep a consistent client base and what prices are deemed fair enough to keep the customers coming back, in addition to how to branch out into selling products with the facial services.

2) Market Expert: Brooke Atwell
 Brooke Atwell is my peer and friend here at the University of Florida. She is a market expert because not only is she directly in my target demographic as a young female in her 20s, but also she actively participates and understands the skin care market -- frequently getting facial services at all kinds from local spas in Gainesville and her hometown of Key West. I decided to talk to Brooke via phone call because she sees the opportunity for a more accessible facial service business in addition to really  understanding the power of a unique experience and what social media can do to help the business take off -- which is one of the main focal points of my business in terms of creating an experience to keep customers coming back. She will offer an interesting perspective as someone who sees herself in the market and I can clearly ask her what she thinks does and doesn't appeal to my target customers.

3) Industry Supplier: Sara Fulton
Sara Fulton is the co-founder of Vivant Skincare. As the first woman to own and operate an FDA-approved manufacturing facility, it's safe to say she understands the market and strength of the skincare industry. She also has extensive background in acne treatments and research, her products are formulated to target and heal skin safely. I personally use the Vivant Skincare system and it is great, which proves that she would offer me invaluable information and advice in future endeavors of my facial bar business idea. It would be important to have someone like Dr. Fulton in my network as she really knows her stuff in terms of what products work for which individuals, which is customizable and can of course be trained and passed onto to further estheticians working a the facial bar.

This assignment was harder than I anticipated. I found it difficult to really think about who would best fit my network and understand my facial bar business idea. I really wanted to make sure I reached out to valuable people who each could offer different perspectives and ideas through different avenues and levels. For the future, I definitely wouldn't hesitate to reach out to people as this assignment taught me that gathering contacts and advice/information really can help to further develop your idea and diversify your opinions and thoughts. This assignment was a little more difficult than my previous networking assignments because of the parameters, considering I do not have much of a background (besides being a consumer and customer) in skincare, it was intimidating to contact professionals in a field outside my comfort zone. I think I will continue to seek the opinions of others, whether in these parameters or outside of them, as all thoughts and information can usually help to further your idea in some facet or way, in my opinion.

Idea Napkin No. 2 -- 19A

1) My name is Rachel Spencer and I am a senior journalism major with an outside concentration in business here at the University of Florida. As a journalism major with an affinity and passion for media, I want to use my skill set I have been building throughout my college years in order to find a creative outlet via digital communication. Throughout my coursework in both journalism based courses and design based courses, like media influenced graphic design, I have realized I want to creatively pursue something that encapsulates both of these areas, while also using my entrepreneurial spirit to guide me and create my own path.

2) I am offering to customers a service that capitalizes on the desires of men and women to place importance on skincare and relaxation. Most of my customer base wants to maintain a skin care service with a professional but are unaware where to find an esthetician or do not have time to book a complete, full-fledged spa service. My facial bar business would also appeal to the idea of experiences, playing into the brand of luxury and relaxation with the access that would accommodate a larger customer base. 

3) While I would mainly target women for this service and business idea, I also wouldn't rule out men as potential customers either. However, I think the female market would be easier to tap into given the idea of my facial bar. These women would be wanting to seek out facial and skincare services but might not necessarily have the time to head to a spa for a likely over priced service. I want to capitalize on the experience factor as well, considering the social media demographic of women wanting to share their unique, fun and trendy experiences online with friends and followers.

4) I think my targeted customers would care because there is a gap in the market for a business that solely caters to your skin. I have made the comparison multiple times over the semester to the immensely successful Dry Bar, which solely offers a service of shampoo, blow dry, and styling of women's hair plus a plethora of other avenues they have expanded into, such as hair products and hair tools. This proves that an isolated service can work and can become something women treat themselves with but can also make part of their maintenance routine, instilling a consistent clientele as it plays into the fact that it is more convenient than heading to a spa.

5) I think the concept itself sets it apart from other businesses and ideas. In addition, I am trying to target a direct market that I am a part of, linking me to the business idea in a way that I can relate and understand what is wanted in this market and how others could potentially react to my idea. Lastly, I think there is an opportunity to establish a membership type deal for the facial bar, which seems to be effective when people can purchase packages for a service and feel like they are getting their money worth on a service they want.

I do think these elements all fit together. With my background as well as experience and understanding of my target market, I feel like I could definitely tap into the need I see as unmet. Again, as I mentioned in my first  idea napkin, I think my biggest obstacle will be with pricing, figuring out a sweet spot of sorts in order to ensure quality, consistent clients and then further actually making a profit. The two main points I took from my previous feedback were pricing conditions and my target demographic changing these in this updated post to reflect the thought of creating a membership price in addition to a standard price for the service as well as redefining my target demographic to show a more specified and explained customer base.

Create A Customer Avatar -- 18A

My service would be targeted toward all women, but has a focus mainly on women in their 20s and 30s in urban areas. My custom avatar exemplifies this targeted market and would be what I would consider my ideal customer. This woman is 24, living in an urban area who uses experiences and hobbies as a way to pamper herself. She loves traveling, sharing her experiences via social media, and indulging in a different pass times in her spare time. She values skin care and frequently gets her nails and hair done, but cannot seem to squeeze in an extensive visit to the spa for a facial, especially when it is accompanied by a hefty price tag. My avatar hasn't had very many professional facials but would love to get them should the time and price be right, making for a feasible alternative to the at-home face masks she usually does. She often values experiences that feel well-rounded and tailored to her with an emphasis on how it makes her feel overall and whether it is deemed worthy in her mind, whether that be in price, quality, etc.

I have a lot in common with my avatar. I also love sharing my experiences on social media and when an experience or service is appealing in aesthetics or quality, I love to share it with friends through social media. I, too, am into pampering myself through getting my nails and hair done, particularly doing so when I am having a bad day or just want to relax. While I have had a lot of professional facials, contrary to my avatar, I do still see the opening for a more affordable facial, both cost and time efficient, like my facial business.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2 -- 15A

Through my three interviews within my segment, I was able to figure out some valuable information. With the majority of my target segment doing their research through internet sources like Google, Yelp and social media platforms. This brought up a few key components which dictated how they select a product or service. While two out of three interviewees said they rely on reviews from Yelp or other similar sites, my third interviewee said in addition to social media and review sites, she puts  a lot of emphasis on reviews from people she knows and trusts, such as friends or family. All of my interviewees said for a service like mine that is more of a luxury, they would definitely put a lot of weight on price, making it a huge proponent or deterrent. They also mentioned that while price is a factor, the quality of the facial would need to be on par in order to justify the price or signify a good deal. The quality of the facial and overall experience/style would need to exceed the cost and make it worth it in the mind of the client.

While my facial bar would require an in person purchase and completion of service, it could also be targeted to my audience's use of technology, facilitating certain things with the use of an app to pay with card, schedule appointments, purchase online products, etc. all of which would contribute to the ease and experience factor of the facial bar.

I think overall experience and worth are the most important post-purchase factors in determining the rightness of spending their money at the facial bar. Should the facial service they receive be deemed a quality service coupled with an experience they enjoyed, that would mean they are more likely to not only be returning customers, but also feel good about what they paid for. To the same extent, a bad facial or experience would equate to feeling like the money paid was not worth it and associate a poor purchase with little to no likelihood of the customer returning again.

When looking back, I think my interviews confirmed my suspicion that while there certainly is interest from my target segment, the service and experience would have to appeal and make a direct impression to thrive on a returning customer basis, all of which is rooted in quality and pricing of my services and products offered at the facial bar.