Customer Interviews No. 1

I did not so much learn as I did confirm that for the most part people do like to have to get their vehicle serviced.  I do think that there is room for improvement and by making a service center that is more appealing will help retain current customers and earn new customers.  IT was not speaking with the strangers that I found difficult or even made me nervous.  The video recording was very uncomfortable for me and seemed to make a lot of other people uncomfortable as well.  I do like the idea of the assignment, but I think that taking out the recording art will allow for a larger sample size as well as more accurate and honest answers.  I feel this because people are more than willing to answer the questions if they are not being recorded.  The answers will be more honest because the customer will be thinking of the questions and not the camera.

Week 4 Reading Reflection

The part that stood out the most to me is the section about the muddling mind-sets.  I am able to relate to this section, because I do not like change and tend see the negative in things before it even has chance to work.  The part that was the most confusing to me was the section on areas of creativity.  I think that the main reason for this is because I am not overly creative when comes to new ideas.  When I need to think outside the box to solve a problem, I consider that a strength of mine, but when it comes to implementing new ideas or processes that is area that I am weak at.  I think that also brings me into my questions for the author.  Is there a way that I can improve in this area or strengthen it?  I would also ask if there is a way to increase the amount of creative thinking I do as opposed to the 2-10 percent that is the average for an adult.  I did not find anything to disagree with in this section.  I did find this to be the most interesting of the chapters thus far simply because I think it starts answering questions that I was unsure of before.

Top 5 World Problems

TOP 5 PROBLEMS

1.      Selfishness

2.      Hunger

3.      The economy

4.      Unemployment

5.      Homeless in the country

TOP 5 SOLUTIONS

1.      Set up a facility, like a good will for food, that can disperse the food to areas that need it.

2.      A way to help combat this is to get rid of unneeded spending.

3.      Get rid of the automatic check machines from the stores and order and payment machines at restaurants.

4.      set up more programs to help train and teach the homeless and uneducated

5.      Everyone would have to look inside and fight it for it.  Start with baby steps, little things make big things.

I feel that selfishness is the biggest problem in the world, because everything can root from there.  As long as everyone is looking for themselves only no one will improve.  I also have it listed as the hardest solution, because there is no one plan to implement everyone must take upon themselves to be better.  I think that setting up a program to save food will be one of the most implementable programs.  Right now churches have community pantries set up for local communities and with the amount of food wasted by restaurants it could be shipped out to the facilities.

Week 3 Reading Reflection

One of the biggest surprises for me in this chapter is how much I seemed to identify with the characteristics of an entrepreneur.  I don’t consider myself an entrepreneur or at least never thought of myself in that way.  What I mean by identify is that I am very competitive and like to win, I set high standards for myself sometimes to a level that is not possible to achieve, one thing I pride myself on at work is the ability to solve problems, and I like feedback but prefer more constructive criticism rather than praise so I know how I can improve.  I don’t think there was anything that I flat disagree with, but the author makes a point that being successful risks and threatens a successful family life.  He doesn’t say that it can’t happen, but in my experience I have seen multiple successful business in which the owners and operators also have a good family life.  I feel that work and family create risks towards the other weather regardless if the person is an entrepreneur or not.  Something that I would ask the author is if it is better to put your own ethical beliefs aside in some situations if they are not the popular or common belief on a subject?  I would ask this to know if it is better to stick by your guns or if sometimes it better to bow to public opinion.  I personally do not think that I would be able to adjust my views or turn a blind eye to something that I don’t believe.  It seems to me from the reading the first 2 chapters that entrepreneurship has more to do with a person mindset rather than their ability to do things or how they are able to navigate through business.  Someone can have all the attributes but not be successful, and on the other hand a person may struggle with the ideas or how to execute but the determination takes them where they want to go.  I would ask if this is true or if I am on the wrong track.  I didn’t find anything “confusing” but I did read the ethics section of the chapter multiple times.  I did this because, to me, ethics is such a fine line to walk and I do not think that there is any one right answer or right way to do things.