Zawada Entrepreneurial Journal

Weekly Reflection – Market Research This week I conducted some market research to determine what my target market wants. An important distinction to make is what the customer wants and what I think they should want. I may be offering a good that is quantifiably perfect, but if the market looks the other way it doesn’t matter. In one of my other courses, we learned about the Minimal Viable product, the simplest form of the product your store sells. In planning for this venture, I made an assumption on what my customers would want. This week I went out to test if I was right. I got a variety of answers to my prompts, but the information was very useful. My MOC commission service seems to be a low-demand service. Many responses showed that people seemed more interested in buying aftermarket sets that were pre-packaged. The cost is expensive and the lead-time is long is a deterrent for many people.   Other parties seemed interested in purchasing instructions for aft...

Weekly Reflection – Trusted and Secure As a frequent online shopper, I have been the victim of some scams. I’ve had sites send me items that are cheap replicas of what was pictures; I’ve had sites steal my card information, and I have had a seller never send the item I paid $700 for. As a consumer, I value a secure transaction and protection. This week we worked with constructing a payment button through a third party, which is a way of offering customers a secure transaction. There are some steps that can be taken to ensure visitors to an online retailer are confident in the transaction and trust the shop. Tools like “SSL Certificate & Encryption” for example protect a costumer’s personal info from getting into the wrong hand. An online retailer needs to ensure their site instills confidence in the customer that everything is legitimate. According to checkouthero.io, as many as 20% of site visitors will “abandon” a transaction due to a lack of branded secure p...

Response to Reading This week, one of the reading assignment stuck out to me in particular, “Opening the Windows of Heaven”; A general conference talk given by James E. Faust. The topic of the talk is the importance of tithing, more specifically how even those with very little, where 10% can mean missing a meal, are still commanded to tithe.   In the March 2012 issue of the Ensign is states; In times of economic or family difficulty, the Lord’s blessings promised to those who faithfully pay tithing may seem distant. But as the following Latter-day Saints observe, paying tithing helps Church members better recognize the hand of the Lord in their lives. Those individuals are not left to suffer, and their sacrifice does not go in vain. God’s love his children is so great that he will fill the losses that may come from paying tithing. He will bless us with the necessary food and shelter; he will find a way to provide. I believe that the struggle to tithe...

A great lesson learned this week was through Heather Evan’s case study. While Heather’s efforts were commendable, she failed to properly create a suitable business plan.   As a small business owner, it may seem helpful to seek guidance from other professionals through networking, books or the Internet. However, it is important to assess whether the advice is appropriate for your business. I think a major issue with Heather's plan was that she used generic advice to create a generic business plan. Each industry is unique and must be treated as such and planned for accordingly. Seeking business advice from successful people is beneficial, but specific details should be sought out from industry leaders. $100.00 Challenge Update As I have stated in some other assignments, by MOC commission business is more a formalization of a hobby I have. Since the beginning of the semester, I have put a hold on this. Today I reopened by commission requests are got an order! ...