30A - Final Reflection

Final Reflection:

As I read through my posts, I see a journey of incremental steps. I wanted to do everything all in the beginning and didn’t respect the interviews that I needed to do. The most formative experience were those numerous interviews. Especially the ones with people who weren’t in my expected demographic. They opened my eyes to the fact that I dismissed their interest instead of finding an accommodation for them. What new business should be turning away or ignoring potential customers? I don’t like talking to people and would not have had this not been required. It was easier to blame the conversation on a school assignment. I consider myself capable of being an entrepreneur, but I don’t have the interest in it at this time. I don’t think my business idea is that great.

For future students, I would recommend spending more time on your business idea. I didn’t realize in the beginning that the rest of the class would be assignments focused on that one idea. I recommend future students look ahead and start early on the interviews.

29A Venture Concept No. 2

ENT 3003: Venture Concept

Brian Kalch

Adults-only camp

 Opportunity:

Adults wishing to participate in a different activity or vacation that is not readily available currently. They need to be offered an alternative to the vacation and activity destinations currently offered. Potential customers are adults who have disposable income, are employed with vacation time, are physically active with outgoing personalities. The market would be adults in the Southeast and it is unlikely this will be a national destination point for visitors. Potential customers are currently going to Las Vegas with friends, renting cabins for fishing excursions, and reuniting in ball rooms and conference rooms for reunions. This is a moderate sized opportunity but will be difficult to scale as the locations and amenities are crucial to the interest levels of participants. The window of opportunity is long term as there will be interest among new generations.

 Innovation:

This is a new style of vacation or camp. Typically, camps are focused on children, religious youth groups, and boy/girl scouts. This camp would be gender specific for each period of time. There should be less issues by not mixing genders. Summer camps are also an option. What is innovative about this business opportunity is that it is marketed to adults. It will include activities that children can do as well as provide alcoholic beverages and adult themed activities. This is rarely offered in the current camp atmosphere. There would be premium alcohol upgrade packages for those that want finer beverages and brands. The adult camp would provide short term weekend getaways as well as weeklong vacation style packages.  The adults would sign up to fill each cabin of approximately 10 people. Any cabins not completely filled would be completed with smaller groups to get to 10 people per cabin. Upon arrival the campers would be directed to their cabins. Once given time to unpack and meet their camp counselor, we would have a welcome party to explain the calendar of events and rules. We would provide sign up sheets for additional cost excursions and activities that are not part of the standard camp package. Campers would be fed three times a day and the campers would be responsible for part of the total camp cooking, cleaning, and serving on a rotational basis to cut labor costs. Each day there would be activities for the campers. There will be dinner themes and costume nights planned beforehand for better camp participation and experience. Towards the end of the camp experience there would be a cabin competition which would determine winners that will be presented awards at the final campfire night of the camp. The average cost per head per day would be approximately $125. Short term weekend campers would be $150 per day and long-term campers would be $100 per day. There would be one paid counselor per cabin on 10 people. The additional activities that are additional fees would be offered only if profitable to run. These activities will be comfort based for those campers not wishing to have a rugged and basic experience. Activities offered would include zip-lining, swimming, survival skill training, fishing, basketball, volleyball, flag football, kickball, diving, water skiing, hiking, archery, bb gun range, and many other activities.

 

 Venture Concept:

With all the negativity going on in the world this camp would be a getaway for adults to have fun with current friends and make new friends. Many folks went to camps as kids and have fond memories. Many wish they could have attended due to economic reasons and now want to have that experience. Other folks who may meet friend’s yearly are tired of going to the same place such as Las Vegas or their former hometown. This camp would offer a new experience for adults.  This would be something different than what they are used to. Word of Mouth and a good Social Media campaign would be crucial to the long-term success of this business. Seeing pictures and videos of friends, family, and acquaintances on social media attending an adult camp would catch their attention. Once the business was established, we would then move to a themed camp to try and attract repeat visitors by offering a different experience than what they had previously. There are camps around the Southeast that market to children. If the adult experience was not sufficient enough to make a profit, we could always fall back on to allowing children and be a traditional camp part of the year to supplement income. The roles that would need to be filled are Camp Director which I will fulfill at first, Camp safety coordinator, camp marketing/finance Director, Activities director, and one camp counselor per 10 attendees.  Due to alcohol consumption, the age of counselors would be 21 or older. The “secret sauce” of our camp would be adult only activities that customers could not get at a traditional camp.

 

Next steps would be acquiring the land and facility and getting activities ready to be performed. Acquiring insurance and legal certifications for employees would be next. During this time, we would set an opening week and start marketing to customers with stock file photos. These would be updated with employees once we were close to starting the camp. There would be introductory offers to influencers as the first campers and an agreement to post on their social media numerous times to get the discount. I would keep my current job until the opening of the camp and then take a leave of absence to focus on the business. I would partner with the American Camp association to try and get free press and contact opportunities.

Changes from first draft of Venture concept:

I changed the counselor ages to 21+ since alcohol was being served. I clarified that cabins would be gender specific. I added premium alcohol packages for more profit. I added the package for influencers to attend camp first to get the word out on social media afterwards. I added dinner themes and costume contests. My next steps didn't change much after conversations suing first venture concept.

27A - Reading Reflection No.3

  My third book for this semester was Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a fantastic Future, by Ashlee Vance. I’ve seen and heard quite a few opinions about Mr. Musk and saw a few interviews he’s done over the past couple of years. My initial interpretation of his personality was that he was very smart and had quirky social behavior. The book supported that view and went into more detail about his childhood, early business dealings, and his current situation.  What surprised me most was the schizophrenic nature of his upbringing. He was privileged with opportunity and experiences across the world by his father but also was stunted emotionally by him as well.

   I most admire his drive to explore, learn and create. His boldness at an early age was astounding. His inability to nurture long term relationships is least admirable. Like most groundbreaking CEO’s, Elon had some early struggles and made some wrong moved early in his business career. He continued to move forward and was already on to the next vision before the previous one blew up in his face. He has his own thoughts and doesn’t care what others think. He has a goal and vision and doesn’t let anything deter him from trying to accomplish them.

   I was confused on how little depth there was about Elon’s mother and father and how those relationships affected who he became as an adult. I would have liked to have had a few chapters on his childhood from his parents’ perspective. The book skims across the parental relationships in favor of much more detail about the business dealings.

Two questions I would like to ask Mr. Musk:

1.       Are you burdened by all the ideas you have that you won’t have enough time to pursue?

2.       If you had to re-live a year of your life, what year would you go through again and why?

Mr. Musk’s expectations of hard work are chronicled in the book. He expects his employees to work around the clock to get the job done. If they don’t want to, there are plenty of people who are waiting to take their place. I agree this is hard work, but too hard in my opinion. I think people burn out too soon with this kind of work ethic and you lose the benefits of longevity and experience.

28A - Exit Strategy

 I don’t think my adult camp will make me a millionaire. In fact, I think it may be difficult to consistently turn a profit. I foresee repairs and regulations pinching my bottom line. Unless the success was enormous, I think this business would be one that I would pass on to family at some point. A new generation may be able to spark life into it a decade from now. It would be nice to keep in the family. It could be run by managing partners.   

This exit strategy has probably diminished my passion for this project as I don’t see a guarantee it will make me and my family a lot of money or easily be continued for decades. This strategy would limit my sacrifice for this business and the amount of work I want to put in. It could all be for nothing in a few years and put a strain on my family finances.

26A - Celebrating Failure

   This past semester I fooled myself into thinking I could keep up with my UF classes while I took a vacation. My family and I were originally scheduled to go to Europe in June but with COVID happening, we of course had to cancel that. After many weeks of being cooped up at home my wife wanted to get out. We didn’t have many options that weren’t risky. We decided to vacation at a condo on the beach in the Gulf. We didn’t interact with many people and just relaxed. I intended to do my schoolwork and tests while on vacation. I thought it would be peaceful. Unfortunately, the WIFI was not as good as it appeared, and that week we had to interview a bunch of people for assignments in this class. I failed miserably keeping up with the assignments and scored poorly on a test in another class. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was not motivated to do anything, and I felt like school was infringing on my earned vacation. I should have known this was a mistake. I can’t let the emotions of getting something I want now to hurt something I want in the long run.

25A - What's Next?

Existing Market.

I believe my next step is to find a location for the adult camp and to inquire about business licenses and needed permits.

My three interviewees for the existing market agreed in general but had other ideas for next steps. One believed that I need to come up with a name and logo so I can start to “visualize” the business and potential customers will be able to do the same. Another interviewee thought I needed to create an online media campaign asking for interest levels and getting potential customers excited about the concept. Another interviewee said I should be putting together a business plan to see if this all makes sense at least on paper. They all said that customers want to see visuals of what the camp offers and will be like. The concept alone is not enough to get firm interest levels.

I like the idea of visualizing the business and having something in hand that starts the process. I’m going to come up with a name, logo, and mission statement. After that I’m going to inquire about how much liquor licensing cost, insurance would cost, and what permitting would be needed for an adult camp. Once I get all of that I’m going to put together a business plan and get a feel of how much I need to charge people to make a profit. If all of that checks out and makes sense, then I would start looking for a location for the camp and what amenities are available.

 

New Market.

A new market that I haven’t targeted yet would be elderly individuals. I don’t think they would like the adventurous concepts I have for the adult camp. I could adapt to their needs and have low impact water aerobics, more craft making, less alcohol influence, and 50’s style “sock hop” dances. We could have card game and board game competitions.

My first interviewee in this age group said she would be interested in seeing old movies with a group of people her age. She said, “they don’t show movies like they used to.” She referenced having dance classes and old swing music playing that they could listen to with friends. My other interviewee said he would like to teach people of today more life skills that they seem to not have. “Everyone is on the internet and nobody does anything themselves anymore.” He would like to show people how to change oil and do basic home repairs. He said he taught his sons and they are now equipped for what the world throws at you.

My basic assumptions about this group was correct. They aren’t interested in water skiing and ziplines. They don’t want to get drunk and party. They aren’t even thrilled about sleeping in a cabin bunk. However, I learned that I might be able to incorporate them into the camp for select weeks by having them teach skills and tell war stories. Even with that option, this segment of new market is not very interesting to make a profit with.

23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

My Resources for Adult Camp

1.       My 20+ years of operations management experience: Uncommon but not rare. It would take a long time for others to copy this and get the experience and knowledge I’ve accumulated over that time. Knowledge of other industries may prove to have similar value.

2.       My ability to forecast and foresee issues and prevent/minimize them: This is a result of many experiences and overcoming issues with new company and location start-ups. This would take time and opportunity to replicate. Others with similar experience should have similar skills.

3.       My wife’s marketing abilities and contacts in the industry (Sr. Director of Customer Experience): This is a relatively new field in marketing and would be difficult to copy. The fact that she is “free labor and service” would be very, very difficult to duplicate.

4.       Alcohol being served – liquor license: Common for restaurants and many other companies but not typical for camps. This could be replicated though.

5.       Relationships with national vendors and sales reps: Many people have this but in combination with other skills this can save a lot of time and startup costs.

6.       Camp location and structures (land, cabins, etc.): Difficult to copy but can be replicated in a similar fashion.

7.       Camp Culture and ability to generate internship interest: This would be unique to my camp and would not be possible to duplicate. This feature could end up as the most important part of the camp in the long run.

8.       Zip Lines and Outdoor Equipment (Amenities): Easily repeatable.

9.       Boat, skis, fishing and nautical equipment: Easily repeatable.

10.   Investment Capital and great credit scores: Somewhat common but can be a crucial factor for start up funds and expansion needs.

 

I believe my top resource starting out would be my Operations experience and knowledge gained from opening company locations around the world. Once started and sustainable, I think the camp culture is crucial to the long-term health of the business.