Famdued (My Portmanteau)

My portmanteau is the word famdued.  It is combination of the syllables "fam" from the word famished and  "dued" from the term subdued. Famished is an adjective meaning extremely hungry or to go without food.  Subdued is an adjective defining someone as quiet or controlled. Thus, the word I've improvised is an adjective describing a noun's attributes. In this case famdued means to be in a lethargic reserved state because of hunger. Its a pretty simple word to throw out in everyday conversation, but over a week of trying to make the word popular among my associates I realized it wouldn't be easily integrated into common speech.

After realizing my word was a flop I investigated why each individual didn't quite find the term desirable. Majority opinion was that it sounded to goofy. Famdued is accused of sounding like a mix between surfer culture words like dude with the idiom fam, short for family.  Some people found the word unnecessary because its seemed redundant where they felt the term famished implied the same definition as my created word. To be accurate famished merely means a state of hunger and I interpret that doesn't mean an attitude when hungry. So the response to my addition to the English language was not promising.

Normally, since I consider myself rather creative when it comes to the mastery of diction I would be somewhat downtrodden with my failure of word craft. However, I find that the task is more difficult than it appears at first. If I were to work harder at the skill a portion of my terminologies might catch on.

Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course? 

I have improved my self evaluation skills since enrolling in this class. I never really listen to the sound, volume, pitch, or tone of my own voice when speaking. However, screening all the audio recordings of interviews I do for this class has, through repetition allowed me to enhance my eloquence.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. Talk about a moment or two when you felt like "giving up." What pulled you through? Do you feel like you've developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months? What experience or experiences most contributed to this?

I came into this online class with a tremendous amount of confidence in my ability to navigate the class. I have been taking online classes at numerous colleges over the past several years in addition to my online schooling completed in high school. Needless to say I'm experienced with online submission protocols and where lessons or assignments belong. However, because this class is structured differently and requires me to use different mediums like, "Soundcloud" to present to my work I was thrown off guard. I remember how it felt in my early days of taking online classes and how frustrating technology can be when its not functioning the way you desire.

3) Three tips. What are three tips you would offer next semester's student about (1) fostering the skills that support tenacity and (2) developing the 'tenacious mindset' ?

The first tip I would offer a future student of this class is get in the habit of investigating interesting headlines by reading. Today society has television and internet to throw information in our face and many of us haven't employed discerning eye about what data is relevant in a while. Get a decent tape recorder is my second tip. Lastly, my third piece of advice is to make an alarm to not miss extra-credit assignments.    

                                             

Week 7 Reading Reflection

WEEK 7 READING REFLECTION

     I read about entrepreneur Steve Jobs in a biography by Walter Isaacson.

1) The thing that surprised me most about Jobs is that he was such an informal genius who touted his own individuality, but at the same time remained a perfectionist about his creations. For instance, Jobs didn’t mind being perceived as a hippy by his coworkers during his time at the Atari or making his company represent the antithesis to IBM’s formality. However, when heading a project like the “Macintosh” he had clear restrictive guidelines for engineers and designers in an attempt to present his work in one particular light.

I most admired Steve Jobs for constantly betting on himself. Whether it was going into someone’s office without an appointment to demand a job or having the guts to manage any project that came through Apple himself, Jobs felt he was always the most capable guy in the room.

I have to say I least admire the way Jobs denied his first child Lisa Nicole Brennan, admittedly because he wasn’t ready to be a parent at the time. A man who had the courage to literally build his visions into reality and amassed a net worth of 256 million dollars by the age of twenty-five was so frightened by the thought of being a present father he alienated his one child. In retrospect considering Job’s personal struggles with identity due to the actions of his birth parents giving him up for adoption one might understand his hesitancy concerning the matter. Nevertheless, this was no excuse for his physical absence in his daughter’s life (he was a more than decent financial provider).

Many of Job’s great qualities come from his narcissistic behaviors. Viewing himself as an ultimate innovator he would label those individuals in lockstep with his way of thinking as “enlightened” and he didn’t see potential in as “assholes”.  His narcissism had other considerable drawbacks as well, he’d often repackaging the thoughts of others including his employees as his own brain children. As a younger man, Jobs seemed to have viewed himself as infallible which is why he seemed to shift blame for company failures on others. He blames the disappointing Apple III launch on there being to many designers on the project, while he stated the world wasn’t ready for the powerful “Lisa” computer. Not to mention Jobs gave the bulk of the blame to marketing director John Scully for the Macintosh losing to Microsoft in personal computer sales.  Jobs states he overpriced it at $2,495.

2) Jobs was a very competent man exhibiting an affinity for both the liberal arts as well as mechanical engineering. He could always see how consumer technology was trying to evolve and proceeded to pick and choose what trends he wanted to apply to his own masterpieces. This was the case when Apple encouraged investments by Xerox so Jobs could get his hands on graphical user interface technology. Obviously, Jobs added to this list of skills shrewd business man because inventor/mechanical designer Steve Wozniak claims Jobs always knew how to make a profit whenever Wozniak produced great technology.  

3)  In chapter 16 the relationship between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates is introduced. The two worked together to produce some software for Job’s Macintosh. However, after Gates’ company Microsoft released Windows operating system the two friends had a falling out. Jobs was disgruntled that the graphical user interface was being used in the Windows system. However, I will never understand this grievance because as Gates pointed out on numerous occasions both products are merely an advancement on the Xerox technology. There shouldn’t be any reason for animosity.

4) My first question to Steve Jobs:  You clearly saw potential in the section of Lucasfilms you would eventually re-brand as Pixar shown by the 50 million you invested before work begun on the Toy Story project, but how many companies or company departments had you bailed out up to that point? I’d ask this question because Pixar before Jobs took ownership of Pixar hardware, software, and animation all three sections of the company were hemorrhaging funds. I was curious how confident Jobs was before the sustained success of Pixar that he could save a failing business, or would he just be blowing 50 grand.

My second question to Steve Jobs: What was the event that changed your life making you desire to be a family man. I’d ask him this because Jobs always had trouble establishing strong relationships with people and if he simply wanted more kids he might have considered adoption. I want to know why Jobs became a family man during the late 80s was it simply age and maturity or was there an event catalyst.

5) Jobs’ philosophy of hard work was to always strive to make something great regardless of the fiscal cost. Express your opinion without fear backlash or how you’ll be received. Personally I do agree with Jobs that you’ll always work harder if you’re following your passion. If you take pride in something dedicate yourself to it being ignorant to consequence.

"Need Awareness and Information Search"

Unfortunately, my recordings still wouldn’t upload correctly. You’ll hear the first recording cuts off early and the third interview couldn’t upload at all.

https://soundcloud.com/acottman1/interview-6-8-161

https://soundcloud.com/acottman1/interview-2-6-8-161

However, I still want inform everyone about what I’ve learned from these interviews. My attention was brought to another problem my hypothesis will solve. I hadn’t thought about how creating an insurance company to cater specifically to one group of athletes could help customers avoid a tedious process. From my own personal experience and that of those I have interviewed getting insurance can be a complicated time consuming process. It helps when you have an employer or outside source to narrow down applicable options for you. Furthermore, I learned that the problem my hypothesis intends to solve stems into other countries and my insurance company may be an applicable solution for the independent contractors in Japan or Canada.

"Idea Napkin No. 1"

So, please describe the following:

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

Hello I am Angelo Cottman and I am a sports management major. For the majority of my life I have always occupied myself with sports both as an athlete and a fan. To find joy in anything including sports you must have, to quote the late great Bruce Lee "emotional content". As such I found myself emotionally invested in sports and the athletes who played them instilling a desire in me to center my future career around the subject. I have a background as a tour guide specifically working at colleges. Therefore, I've had experience getting people particularly my peers to buy into an idea I believe. If I can get individuals to trust my opinion on where the proper venue for their academic future is than I can get athletes to trust my concern for their health. As a boy I grew up witnessing my mother suffer from physical limitations due to paralysis brought on by stroke. Similar medical ailments run in my family so I'm grimly aware of the importance of having medical insurance and how the lack there of can destabilize a family. I don't want to have to watch the family of beloved athletes go through such struggles.  

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

I want to create business plan to have my own insurance company that provides individuals with health and life insurance. Specifically, my business will be catering to the niche market of uninsured athletes. 

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

Luckily many professional athletes are insured, but there are numerous subgroups that due to not receiving coverage from their employers fall through the cracks. Professional wrestlers who work in the business of sports entertainment fall into this category because they are hired as independent contractors they typically receive no medical insurance. Wrestlers are always at constant risk for life threatening injury whether they're performing live shows or just in the training stages. The sports entertainment business comes with few safety guidelines and is always pushing the boundaries and health complications tend to kill most wrestlers before the age of 70.  

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

As I previously mentioned, wrestlers have one the most physically taxing jobs in the world of sports and promotional companies seem unconcerned with the safety of their employees. An athlete's livelihood is their body so to keep it well maintained is a necessity. Also, most wrestler know the low life expectancy of people who participate in the industry and desire to change that. It is not just the risk of paralysis and stress on the cardiovascular system, but of chronic brain injury that these workers face everyday. A person who provides fans with such enjoy should have a quality of life health wise that reflects their dedication to the craft. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

The thing that sets me apart from everyone else is that unlike other wrestling fans who see a successful multi-billion dollar industry operated by talent that earns more money than they could dream of, I will forever see a system of exploitation. Wrestlers make money off the sweat of their brow, doing a job most people would be scared to do day in and day out. Few wrestlers make the big money anyway because most are stuck on the independent circuit, but are still stuck with a lifetime's worth or injuries. This is why they identify readily with the working class. I consider it an honor to defend my fellow proletariat.

6) In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

I find that these elements fit together. I  could never accomplish such a grand feat alone I would require a lot of assistance to start this movement. Starting any regular insurance company can be a complex multi-step process not to mention a time consuming one. Getting certification and then securing a customer base sounds simple at first, but could take years and even once you have customers that doesn't necessarily guarantee profit. If I were to ever try this endeavor I would need a very trustworthy team of business associates by my side.

Tweaking the Innovation

In my previous posts I explained that professional wrestlers are free contractors hired independently by wrestling promotion and they are typically uninsured. I commented this presents an opportunity for the creation of an insurance company to provide low-cost health insurance specifically to these athletes. Were someone to test my hypothesis there are two ways this could become a profitable venture.


Breadth of entrepreneurial hypothesis: There are two basic ways insurance companies earn income. They can earn underwriting income, investment income, or both. Underwriting income is derived from the difference between how much money is collected for all policies sold versus how much money is paid out in insurance claims for those policies in any given time period. Investment income is revenue generated by investments made by the insurance company with unused funds.

Depth of entrepreneurial hypothesis: For underwriting income the depth of ways the insurance company can make money lies with customers paying premiums for insurance. As for investment income the depth of ways profit can be made is far more plentiful because they have the freedom to invest in many different types of stock.