Forming an Opportunity Belief

1. My belief is that parking at the University of Florida, specifically car parking, could get a lot better.
2. The unmet need is an increase in parking services on and around campus. This need is realized by all students and faculty at UF who drive their car around campus. This need has existed for a while, but recently a parking lot on fraternity row was completely replaced with scooter parking, eliminating at least 40 spots. The scooter parking lot is barely even 20% full at night. Currently, people are parking off campus at restaurants and other private parking lots. This is a problem because most of these parking lots tow cars that are not authorized to be there. I am 90% sure that an opportunity for more parking exists.
3. Iteration 1: The first person that I interviewed was a second year student that lives off-campus. They said that they commute to and from class every single day and struggles to find parking when going to class. On some days, they are late to class because there are no parking spaces nearby and they spend too much time having to look for one further away. One of the ways that they have adjusted to this is by leaving for class earlier or driving their car to a UF bus location and then taking the bus to campus. Both of these solutions are inconvenient for them and they wish that UF would implement more parking locations especially for commuters coming from off-campus. They first became aware of this need after moving off-campus to an apartment in their second year. When they were on-campus their freshman year, it wasn't as much of a problem because they were walking distance from all their classes.
4. I learned that there is an opportunity to increase the parking at UF. The most surprising thing that I learned is that the lack of parking has made this student late to class numerous times. I also learned that maybe if the housing on-campus was better, students would be more inclined to stay on-campus because of the convenience of being close to classes.
5. Iteration 2: The second person that I interviewed was a first year student that lives on-campus at the Broward dorms. This student says that their parking situation is not bad because of the convenience of being near the Broward parking garage as well as being able to walk to all of their classes. The only time that this person runs into a problem parking is when they drive back to campus late at night and the parking is somewhat limited. However, they usually are still able to find a spot near where they live. This person has never experienced the need for more parking firsthand, but they did say that some of their friends complain about the lack of parking on-campus, particularly those who live in an apartment off-campus or those that don't like to take the bus. They are satisfied with their solution of walking to class and only using their car when traveling off-campus.
6. I learned that not everyone with a car believes that the parking situation at UF is a problem. It was also surprising to hear that this individual has never had trouble parking on campus.
7. Iteration 3: My final prototypical customer was a student who lives in a fraternity near the new, oversized scooter parking lot. This student has a scooter and uses it mostly to go to class and to get around campus, however when it gets cold outside, they prefer to take their car to get around campus whether it is going to the gym or going to the library. Since the new scooter parking lot eliminated at least 40 car spots, more people now have to park in the fraternity parking lot. Also, some of the spots in the fraternity lot have been changed to include reserved parking spots for specific people. This makes it harder for this individual to find parking close to where they live. Another problem for this individual is the lack of car parking near Library West, arguably the biggest and most popular library at the University of Florida. This person noticed the need for more parking after it started to get cold out and when the university changed one of the parking lots to a strictly scooter parking lot. They are not happy with their solutions of riding their scooter in the cold as well as parking farther away.
8. I learned from this student that not only is parking limited at UF, but also it is starting to disappear in favor of scooter parking. I think that the need for better parking infrastructure at UF is obvious.
9. Most of my opportunity is still available, it seems that other students agree that the parking at UF is underwhelming. I think that the opportunity is still here and is as accurate as before. I think that entrepreneurs should listen to what potential customers want, but shouldn't completely change their business idea based on that because customers may not be able to see the bigger picture.

Identifying Local Opportunities

1. Story One
1. Lane Ranger: Why are four lanes slower than two?
2. https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200126/lane-ranger-why-are-four-lanes-slower-than-two
3. The lanes of SR-20 were widened from two lanes to four lanes. In the four lane area, the speed limit is 45 mph, when it decreases to two lanes, the speed limit is 55mph. 
4. This causes a problem because it creates a speed trap in this area. Not only this, but naturally on a four lane road, people expect to drive faster and they are limited less by other cars so it makes this possible. This has caused more people to be pulled over for speeding.
5. This problem effects most drivers in the Gainesville area.
2. Story Two
1. West End fades away
2. https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200125/west-end-fades-away
3. A local golf course is closed down after it stopped receiving the funds and customer traffic necessary to stay financially afloat
4. With the loss of this golf course, there are now even fewer public golfing locations for people that want to play golf in Gainesville, especially at the beginner level.
5. This effects people in Gainesville who are not a part of a private golf club, specifically those that are entry level players.
3. Story Three
1. UF Health monitors rumors of coronavirus spreading to Gainesville
2. https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-health-monitors-rumors-of-coronavirus-spreading-to-gainesville/article_69a9b1a0-426c-11ea-86b2-87354e5a2a4e.html
3. According to rumors from a popular Chinese social media app, WeChat, a parent of a UF student traveled to Gainesville from Wuhan before a quarantine of the city took place. Wuhan is the center of the coronavirus outbreak that has now killed 130 people. UF health is monitoring the situation and the people whom this parent came in contact with
4. The problem is that this virus is deadly and now has the opportunity to spread to UF which, with communal living spaces, can accelerate the spread of the virus. 
5. This problem effects everyone in the Gainesville area.
4. Story Four
1. UF requires health insurance, but do students want that?
2. https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-requires-health-insurance-but-do-students-want-that/article_3f77d344-3907-11ea-bf77-abcfeab20e68.html
3. UF requires students to pay for health insurance from the school if they do not have health insurance from their family. The rate of this health insurance goes for $2500 annually at UF. Some students don't have the money to pay for this, but are forced to anyway.
4. The problem here is that college students already struggle to make ends meet with the cost of tuition. The added cost of the health insurance furthers this burden and may entice students to take out expensive student loans to cover it.
5. This problem effects students at the university who don't currently have health insurance and are forced to pay for the pricey, UF-backed insurance.
5. Story Five
1. Local vape shops lose profits due to recent tobacco law
2. https://www.alligator.org/news/local-vape-shops-lose-profits-due-to-recent-tobacco-law/article_6033000a-42d4-11ea-bd9f-4f3ed2b963e4.html
3. The story highlights how vape shops in Alachua County have been hurt by the raise in legal smoking age to 21. The owners of these stores say that over twenty percent of their customers were between the ages of 18-20.
4. The problem that is evident in this story is that business owners are losing profits because of the decrease in traffic to their stores because of the change. This translates into lower wages for employees as businesses attempt to lower costs to offset the change.
5. This problem affects local business owners as well as employees who may receive lower wages and reduced hours. It also affects people who were of age before the ban went into place, and are now underage.

My Entrepreneurship Story

Entrepreneurship is prevalent in our everyday life. Whether it is working on a project in school or being assigned a project during an internship and being creative with it to make it your own. While these are only small examples of what entrepreneurship is, they are still important. When I was in high school, I started my own little entrepreneurship venture with my older brother.

From 5th grade to 12th grade, I played lacrosse year round. It was one of my passions. In eighth grade I moved from a town where lacrosse had been established for a while, to a town where lacrosse was still relatively new and starting to take off (my high school was the only school in the county with a lacrosse program). However, there were other schools around the city that we would play against who were much more advanced as far as youth and high school lacrosse goes. Through observation, I realized that the reason that these other teams were better at the sport was because the kids on their teams had all been playing lacrosse together since their elementary school days. On the other hand, at my high school, despite a select few, most of my teammates had just started playing in high school. I saw this as a problem, and wanted lacrosse to continue to flourish even after I left for college. The solution was simple: try to get kids interested in the sport earlier, which would in turn build up the youth program and would then strengthen the high school program as these kids got older. They obvious benefit to this would be the increased skill of the players, but the less obvious, and possibly larger benefit would be the team chemistry that would build between these players as they continued to play together throughout their elementary years and into high school.

My brother and I brainstormed ideas to increase the youth exposure to the sport in our town. We ended up deciding on a summer camp that would teach kids the basic skills of the sport, but would also include fun and rewarding, lacrosse-related activities that would heighten their interest in the sport. We ran this camp for two weeks one summer in 2016, when my brother was a senior. It went great and we were able to introduce the sport to ten new players and also had ten other returners attend the camp. Not only did we make a little extra spending money this summer by running this camp, but the next year, there were many new players who had signed up to play lacrosse during the season. It was a very rewarding experience seeing the direct results of my labor and being able to share the sport that I was so passionate about with the youth in my community.

I enrolled in ENT3003 to learn more about entrepreneurship and how to be a successful entrepreneur in everyday life. I hope this class teaches me how to look at problems differently and how to think of creative solutions to these everyday problems.

Bug List - Patrick Schreiber

1.  When I have to grab a quick bite before a class and the restaurant I go to has too long of a line to make it to the class on time.
1. This bug exists because a lot of people go to lunch before a class around 11:00-12:00
2. When I go to the library and there is no scooter parking.
1. In Gainesville, a lot of people use scooters and the parking is limited at the library compared to how many people go.
3. Going to the gym early in the year and there are no machines open.
1. During the beginning of the year, a lot of people have made New Years Resolutions to get in better shape, because of this there are more people than usual.
4. Roommates not taking out the trash.
1. Taking out the trash can be a chore and everyone thinks someone else is going to do it so it turns out no one does it.
5. Getting stopped at train tracks.
1. Trains go through many different cities and are a primary mode of transportation of goods. They usually take a long time to pass and can create traffic.
6. Traffic during rush hour.
1. Cars are a primary mode of transportation for people going to work. When everyone is trying to get to the same area at the same time, traffic tends to build up as the roadways don't have the capacity to efficiently transport all the people on the road.
7. Time to cook food
1. A lot of food that is cooked needs to reach a certain temperature before it is safe to eat, as well as the prep time to prepare a meal.
8. Waking up in the morning
1. Naturally, it is difficult to wake up in the morning, especially if your body is in deep sleep when your alarm goes off. Not being able to control what phase of sleep your body is in makes it difficult to wake sometimes
9. Grocery shopping
1. Although the aisles of grocery stores are organized well, knowing where to find the groceries that you are looking for can be difficult and take a long time. Also, at times when they are busy, the lines to checkout can take a long time.
10. Phone dying at inconvenient times.
1. If you're out all day and are using your phone a lot, the battery can die quick and you won't have access to a charger.
11. Not being able to fall asleep.
1. Sometimes, when you have a big day the next day, or just a lot of things on your mind, it will be difficult to fall asleep.
12. Trying to read an article and ads keep popping up
1. Companies try to take advantage of readers by posting pop up ads that someone might accidentally click on. The more clicks on these ads, the more ad revenue for the website.
13. Having to do laundry and fold clothes
1. No one has unlimited clothes, so doing laundry is inevitable, and if you don't fold your clothes after, they end up being wrinkly.
14. Having to go somewhere, but I can't find my keys anywhere
1. Being so small, keys seem to fall into the most unusual places, not to mention placing them down in an unusual spot and not knowing where they went.
15. Long lines at the bathroom
1. Public restrooms, especially at restaurants, have too few toilets for the amount of people at the restaurant. Waiting in the line can be the worst feeling
16. When the hot water runs out in the shower
1. Hot water heaters can only heat up so much water at one time, when you are the last one to shower, the hot water may be all out.
17. When public restrooms have hand dryers instead of paper towels.
1. This is a thing because it wastes less paper, however there are way more germs from a hand dryer than from a disposable paper towel.
18. Having to go to the gas station to refill my car
1. Cars can only hold a limited amount of fuel, so naturally you have to refill.
19. When food expires
1. Food can only keep its freshness for a limited time before bacteria starts growing on it and/or it loses its freshness
20. When roads get blocked off because of construction
1. With the ever-changing landscape of our cities, and more construction happening around busy travel areas, it typically causes a lot of traffic.

This list was very hard to come up with. It is hard to think of things that bug me because I typically try to ignore these things in order to live a comfortable life. Now that I have thought of them though, I will be more inclined to notice things and ask myself why they happen.

First Test Blog

This is a test blog post.