Week 2 Reading Reflection

1) 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? 

I was surprised to read that the highest ever percentage of American people that started a business per month, which happened in 2010, was only 0.34%. I would have imagined that number to have had a peak of much closer to 1%.

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

I didn't get a good sense of the definition of a "large organization". It is placed in quotes in the textbook so potentially there is no formal definition being used in the material.

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

I would ask the author the following questions. 1) What percentage of gazelles are considered large organizations prior to their status as a gazelle? I would ask this because I'd like to know how often small business grow into large organizations prior to becoming a gazelle. I imagine the percentage is low. 2) Aside from high tech, what industries have been more conducive to gazelle creation over the past five years? I'd like to know this to target potential industries that may not make the list, that are also primed for some type of transformation.

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

I do not disagree with any of the viewpoints presented in the chapter.

Bug List

1. I have to manually test my pool water to determine if I need to adjust its chlorination levels.
   Why: This exists because I don't have an automated way of knowing the chlorination levels.
   
2. I have to sit in traffic when driving to work in the morning, making what could be a 20 minute drive take 45 minutes.
   Why: This exists because of the congestion on I-95 and Hallandale Beach Boulevard.
   
3. The open floorplan at work makes concentration difficult.
   Why: This exists because of the noise level in the open area.
   
4. I can't find healthy food that I really enjoy for the taste.
   Why: This exists because the healthy options I've been exposed to lack the unhealthy flavorings I'm accustomed to.
   
5. The American Airlines seat upgrades I've accumulated will be essentially useless once I stop traveling as much as I do now.
   Why: This exists because AA's rewards program is saturated with frequent flyers.
   
6. The TSA PreCheck at SFO in the International Terminal where JetBlue operates sometimes shuts down at 11pm when I need it most to make the red-eye.
   Why: This exists because the volume of PreCheck passengers at this hour is minimal.
   
7. When flying Southwest Airlines with my little kids I am pretty much forced to pay the extra cost to board early so that we can sit together, since there are no assigned seats.
   Why: This exists because Southwest feels it positively differentiates itself with its target demographics by allowing flexibility in seating.
   
8. The coach seats on American Airlines long-haul flights are so much less comfortable than almost any other airline, especially JetBlue.
   Why: This occurs because the seats on AA planes have not been adjusted across their fleet like seats have been adjusted in other airlines' planes.
   
9. When airlines take off from and land at FLL the walls at my house shake.
   Why: This occurs because my house was built in the 1950's, is close to the airport and has termite damage.
   
10. My Internet at home gets really slow when it's raining outside.
    Why: This exists because there are probably exposed contacts or a leaky junction box owned by Comcast somewhere in my neighborhood close to my house.
    
11. There aren't any really good restaurants within 2 miles of my house.
    Why: There are restaurants nearby but none that we prefer. We like that our neighborhood is more laid back than living in downtown but do miss some of the perks of living in a more urban part of the city.
    
12. When I go to a doctor on ZocDoc's list of doctors I still have to fill out all the paperwork even though I filled it out electronically on ZocDoc.
    Why: This occurs because ZocDoc is still a relatively new service.
    
13. The car line at my kids' school is extremely slow at pickup time.
    Why: This is because keeping the kids safe is a priority.
    
14. Home automation is not even close to being platform agnostic. For example, Nest products don't natively work with Apple HomeKit and Siri.
    Why: This is because the competition in the home automation is fierce and different companies are vying for the top spot.
    
15. Commercials on television are too frequent and interrupt the flow of viewing my favorite shows.
    Why: This is because the commercials are needed to pay for television network costs.
    
16. It's difficult to motivate my son to try things he's not immediately interested in.
    Why: This is a tough one to explain.
    
17. It's difficult to find a portfolio lender for real estate.
    Why: Portfolio lenders are usually smaller banks and do not advertise their portfolio lending opportunities.
    
18. It bugs me when a selling realtor ruins a potential home for me with their bad attitude, making me think of the realtor whenever I think of the potential home.
    Why: This happens because the first impression of a potential home for a buyer can be heavily influenced by the people involved in visit.
    
19. My son's car seat starts to loudly rattle randomly and the only way to stop it is to adjust the tilt on it.
    Why: This is due to poor craftsmanship by the manufacturer of the car seat.
    
20.  It takes far too long for me to get clear answers about mortgage options from the loan officers at my otherwise favorite bank.
    Why: This is because my bank has a few very popular loan options and the loan officers are inundated with paperwork.

It was somewhat difficult to get this list started, but once I got going the bugs just started rolling in and I could probably add another 50 without breaking a sweat.

My Entrepreneurship Story

I have some experience as an entrepreneur through my current rental property. I currently have a property that has been rented for just over two years. It started out simple enough, with me buying a home to live in, moving out but keeping the house and converting the mortgage to an investment mortgage. I hired a low cost but effective rental property management company to handle the primary interactions with current and potential tenants, and am enjoying being a real estate investor. I'm now looking to acquire a second investment property, and ultimately plan to have enough properties in my portfolio so that I can have enough passive income to sustain myself comfortable once I retire. Each property will take about 15 years to pay off without any accelerated payments, so I should be able to retire 15 years after I get the last income property that gets me to my desired passive income amount.

I enrolled in ENT 3003 given that this class is on my current set of requirements for the business track that I'm on, which was a pleasant surprise as I'm eager to be exposed to as much in the way of entrepreneurship as possible.

Introduction

I'm a father of two lovely little ones and live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, originally from Atlanta, Georgia. I am attending UF in an effort to ultimately obtain an MBA to better position myself along my career path.

I travel quite a bit, mostly for work. For over a year I traveled almost weekly to the bay area from Fort Lauderdale, making for a constant whirlwind of transcontinental jet lag. I've been to many, many cities in the continental U.S., plus Puerto Rico, and I've also been to Japan, China, India and the United Kingdom.

Entrepreneur's Mantra, inspired by the Sound of Music