Blog 24: Last Presentation Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

• For the presentation, I felt I did alright. However, hearing feedback from everyone in the room they all told me I had a lot of examples to explain why so many businesses failed. With all those real world examples of companies like Blockbuster and Kodak, I was able to help the audience relate to what I was teaching.
• I got feedback saying I looked very comfortable up there speaking, like I could talk for forever. Definitely something I felt proud of considering how nervous I felt up there.
• Research was also abundant to support my lecture, and the class felt like they learned a lot from what I was saying.
• The thing that made me the happiest was my activity of replicating shark tank. Everyone was having a good time participating and it was just fun all around. 

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE       P*          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AE*       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

• I'd say researching. There was endless amounts of sources and examples to research into and use for all components regarding my senior project. 

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?

• I talked too fast in my presentation. This was something I could have easily avoided had i not gotten ahead of myself and just taken a deep breath while presenting.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

• I feel like the project itself helped me understand in hindsight things I could of done better. i feel like it improved my writing with the i search papers that would reflect later on in college. It gave me more public speaking opportunities that allowed me for once, to teach a lesson in front of a large group of people. It has definitely been helpful, and it was good practice for any future projects that involve long dedications of time. 

Blog 23 Exit Interview

1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

• What is the primary reason so many businesses fail? Among the many answers I've come across the prime 3 are as follows. 
• Failure to adapt to changing times.
• Competition.
• Not understanding consumer base. 
• Of the three my best answer is the first. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• My interviews with my Mentor Justin Khoury helped provide insight on a real world business that failed because they didn't adapt. On top of that Forbes magazine and many other business websites authored by entrepreneurs explained how renowned businesses failed due to their lack of evolution, such as Blockbuster.  

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• My only problem was trying to narrow down all my answers since I had so many of them. I fixed this issue by looking at real world examples of each of my answers and assessing which ones occurred the most. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericwagner/2013/09/12/five-reasons-8-out-of-10-businesses-fail/#1ea0ac8b5e3c
• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/83764
• These sources were the most significant because they offered the most versatile information. They didn't just give me one answer, they gave me 20. It was a lot of information to work with and gave me options. 

Blog 22: Independent Component

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WgqLktrU0CYNuknB0IgshQ2Z0vPMY2L9SNaT6ldt48I/edit

Blog 21: Fourth Interview Reflection

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  

• I learned about the chamber of commerce from my interviewee, essentially it is a local gathering of business owners who get together and help each other out. It allows for more flexibility with your marketing and offers opportunities to expand. Social media is also a great and innovative way to market your product and business, it's essentially the future of advertisement. 

2.  How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

•  There is much to expand upon with finances and loans. I have a lot more material to work with now in my final presentation. I'm going to expand more upon small businesses and how they work, what they should and shouldn't be doing, and why they particularly fail compared to big businesses. 

 https://soundcloud.com/dawson-khoury/interview-4

Blog 20 Interview 4 Prep

1. Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

• I plan to interview my brother, Justin Khoury. He has had past experience owning businesses and managing them, along with a profession in marketing, sales, and communications.

2.  Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

1. What mistakes do you think lead to businesses failing?
2. What reasons do you think prompt people to become entrepreneurs?
3. When you were a business manager, what activities did you engage in to adapt to changing consumerism?
4. Can you name a case of a business that failed and why?
5. List off reasons you think businesses fail?
6. What struggles to business owners have to face?
7. In your opinion, why is Apple so successful?
8. What advice could you give to a starting entrepreneur.
9. Do you agree that businesses primarily fail due to not adapting to changing times?
10. Many people start their businesses on a loan, is that a good idea?
11. What recommendations can you give to find more answers to why businesses fail?
12. What do you know now that you wish you knew back when you managed a business?
13. How can one improve their marketing techniques?
14. How does a business effectively manage its finances?
15. Can you tell me what qualities a successful business has?

1.  

Blog 19: Third Answer

•  EQ
• What is the primary reason so many businesses fail? 
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
• Businesses fail due to the business not understanding its customers. 
• 3 details to support the answer 
• The consumers are key to a business surviving. To lose them is to lose your business.
•  Apple made their products simple, aesthetically pleasing, and luxurious which appealed to the masses.
•  My mentor lowered his prices for food to attract college and high schools who didn't have much capital to spend.
• The research source(s) to support your details and answer
•  http://www.inc.com/paul-schoemaker/5-ways-to-know-what-your-customer-wants.html
•  http://readwrite.com/2013/01/29/why-do-americans-hate-android-and-love-apple
• Concluding Sentence
•  Businesses need to establish a communication with their very consumers. Relate and understand them to provide the right product to get desirable sales.

Blog 18 Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

• What is the primary reason so many businesses fail? 

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• Businesses fail due todue not adapting to changing times.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• Competition can be deadly for businesses, constantly there is someone else trying to put you out of business. Business is all about competing for customers, this can be done through superior products, customer service, marketing, ect.  

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• You must adapt to beat the competition. Hummer went out of business because it could not adapt to meet consumer needs. in a time where other competitors were averaging 20 mpg Hummer was averaging 10. 
• When you are trying to get a loan to launch your company almost all banks want to see your business plan, so this is the first thing anyone should do when starting a new business endeavor.
• Lack of planning can hurt in many other ways as well, another example is not having enough products to meet the possible demand you may encounter. Thinking everything through beforehand is a must, as well as knowing what you need to start off successfully. 

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm

7.  Tie this together with a concluding thought.

• Without an organized plan in place to conduct a business one such function cannot survive. With so many factors and complications being presented to bring down a business one must learn to adapt and rival its competition.