Guest Lecture from Brian Forth [TINST 475]

A week or so ago, our class had the privilege of hearing from Brian Forth from Tacoma based company "sitecrafting.com". His 3 key points were Core, Company, and Community. He discussed these 3 themes and how they related to business. For the theme of Core, he discussed being true to yourself and "Doing what you say that you will do". For his company, "sitecrafting.com" his core value is creating a company that is committed to it's employees, and keeps them til retirement. This strategy of holding onto committed employees, reflects his own personal beliefs and values. This tied into his second theme, running a company that is committed to employees and customers. Forth discussed how recently his company attempted to implement some bureaucracy into their commitment model. They did that through the addition of a JIRA ticketing system to keep track of issues and assign tasks. This almost completely collapsed their corporate culture. Some of the staff turned on each other and it could have potentially destroyed the company. I found this to be an incredibly interesting story, and it really shed light on the importance of maintaining stable corporate culture. His last theme was community, which he simply summarized as being committed to the community, not just taking from the community, but being a part of it and giving back. Overall, Mr Forth's discussion on the importance of Core, Company, and Community were incredibly insightful and fascinating. In addition to his lecture, I had the opportunity to ask a question reagrding how he got into website development. He detailed how he had always been a problem solver, finding ways to make computers work and creating/maintaining websites for small groups and organizations. -Don

Guest Lecture from Erik Hanberg [TINST 475]

The following blog post is for my TINST 475 Class, and follows a guest lecture from Erik Hanberg.

Mr. Handberg's visit to class was very informative and fascinating, it was very interesting to hear from the perspective of someone who is currently living the Entrepreneurship life. What I appreciated most during his time in the class was the opportunity to ask questions. In particular, I was interested in hearing about how he has advertised his various entrepreneurial endeavors. Considering that I actually have tried to start a computer repair business in the past, and struggled to find clients and get my name out there, his perspective was valuable. I was especially interested in his strategy of creating an advertising funnel. Using free technologies and products to draw in potential clients and using the information gained from those services to create emailing lists sounds like a very effective strategy I will definitely consider for the future. His insights into the idea of most jobs being a trade of time for money and entrepreneurship being one of the only ways to break that cycle was interesting. Finally, I was really interested in Mr. Hanberg's advice of practicing shipping as well of his examples such as Bat Lables, and joke websites. I plan to find things that I can produce and ship, so that I can follow his advice and practice shipping. Overall, Mr. Hanberg's visit to the class was a valuable opportunity to hear from another person who actively partakes in entrepreneurship. Besides his advice in advertising, and practicing shipping, hearing stories from his life and about the books he wrote was also fascinating. I look forward to future guest speakers!

My apologies for the rambling post,

Don

My Three Business Ideas [TINST 475]

The following is a post for my TINST 475 class:

Idea 1: Simple Security Systems

With the continual improvements in cheap consumer electronics, internet connected cameras are more accessible than ever. A reasonable security system with cameras can cost in excess of 800 dollars. I believe that I could produce a functional security system for a fraction of that price using 3D printing and android based smartphones. Using cheap 3D printing to create a case (designed in CAD) for a cheap android smartphone running custom software (of my own design) I could build cheap wifi connected cameras that could all be tied to a central system. The cost of all the parts and manufacturing would permit a four camera alarm system of this design to be manufactured and sold at a profit for 200 dollars.

Idea 2: Augmented Reality Escape Rooms

Ever since hearing of Escape Rooms and experiencing them for myself, I have had an interest in creating my own. The area I live in is completely devoid of Escape Rooms, and definitely has a sufficient population to support an Escape Room business. However, with my interests in technology, I have spent time devising ways to implement upcoming technology in an Escape Room format. Using Augmented Reality would allow escape rooms to have deeper layers of interaction, such as using the camera on your smartphone to uncover hidden clues and solve puzzles. This could also be taken a step further implementing something similar to Microsoft's HoloLens. This would allow virtual elements to be projected as holograms in the room, this would allow for simulating impossible situations such as zombie apocalypses, visits to remote locations, etc.

Idea 3: Computer System Repair

This is a business idea I have actually toyed around with implementing when I was younger. I charged per hour and offered a generous warranty. Unfortunately I became too preoccupied with life and schooling to invest serious effort into the business to grow it. Based on the rates that people were willing to pay (especially for house calls) it would be entirely feasible to base a business around that offering, however, more services could be performed such as computer backup services, data recovery, and other computer related services. Regardless of any other future plans, I plan to pursue this business to some extent.

These are a summary of my business ideas I will be pursuing during this quarter and potentially the future, Don

What I Would Like To Get Out Of My TINST 475 Entrepreneurship Class

The initial purpose of this blog is to provide a location to post responses to writing prompts given to me in an entrepreneurship class. The first of such prompts is "What do I want to get out of this class?" and my response follows.

Primarily I took this class because, as a computer science major, I view the holy grail of employment is self-employment. I want this class to provide me with the tools and information that I need to eventually start my own business. I have toyed with a variety of small business endeavors, including my own computer repair business. However, I have never been able to get my plans to take off. My next post will detail some of my potential business plans and I look forward to developing some of these plans in my class under the guidance of the instructor. In fact, the opportunity to develop business plans that I already have in class is one of my most anticipated aspects of this class. Writing it up into a formal business plan and receiving feedback and critique will be very helpful. Besides just the actual formation of a business plan, I am hopeful that this class will also be an opportunity to learn some strategies for success in entrepreneurship. These strategies could include things like how to advertise (spread the word), how to set reasonable prices, and how to look ahead and see the big picture (not just be stuck in the present). Some of the other information I am interested in learning from this class is how laws work regarding business. This includes things like taxes and hiring laws. Overall, I am very excited to see what this class has to teach, and I hope that I will be able to effectively put that information to use, not only in the classroom, but also in real life entrepreneurship endeavors.

Talk At Ya Later, Don

Welcome to my Blog!

Hey, Welcome! I know there is not much here at the moment, however, that will be changing over the next few weeks! Please stay tuned if you are interested in topics ranging from technology and business to current events. Hope to see you around, Don