Looking for Opportunity

Economic Trends:

http://marketrealist.com/2013/12/boston-beer-company-introduction-better-beer-business/

I found this article while researching the Samuel Adams Brewery. I was curious how a company like Samuel Adams was able to stay in the craft brewing industry since 1984 and still be in control of the craft beer market. Craft brewing has been on the rise since the 2010 and with new breweries opening across the United States at staggering numbers it is clear that there is an interest. The consumer is most likely college to middle aged men who want a beer with more flavor than the watered down mass produced products. Unfortunately, the market is difficult to get into with massive overhead and the necessity of constant creativity of new beers. I was able to find this opportunity because of my love for the craft beer industry. I have also done a lot of prior investigating in my own time to find how feasible it is to start a craft brewery.

http://www.constructiondive.com/news/profits-the-emerging-motive-for-builders-and-developers-to-embrace-green-b/409564/

I found this opportunity while stumbling upon green walkways being implemented in major cities. With the environmental changes and people trying to combat them with new technology, there is a need for building eco-friendly cities. Eco-friendly building help cut down on factors influencing global warming while also cutting down on costs for businesses. There is a demand for construction of these buildings and equipment and there is opportunity to jump into this field. The customer would likely be local government wanting to implement green-tech or a family wanting to go green. The field is difficult to get into with licenses, knowledge of the job and money for starting up. I was able to find this opportunity because I care about the environment and I think increasing green-tech will help the community as well as the environment.

Regulatory Changes:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/five-areas-government-regulation-business-701.html

With the rise of internet there has been a rise of additional security. There is a lot of information about you on the internet and new law are being enacted to protect your rights. I found this article while looking up about security on the internet. An opportunity to give proper internet security at an affordable cost would help many people from the internet. A lot of people use the internet without protection, but many people would be interested in an affordable security. If you or an employee is well versed in computers, this will make this venture more viable. I have had multiple family member had their identities stolen on the internet and this helped spark the idea to help everyone from this problem.

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7671-regulatory-issues-changes.html

Additional laws making retirement plans is becoming more prevalent in the workplace. I stumbled up this article while looking up new regulations coming into effect for businesses. I believe that there is an opportunity for helping companies set up a retirement plan for their workers. This will directly help employers, but also help the employees. I believe that once you understand the basics of the business, the job will not be extremely difficult. This reached out to me because I will soon be entering the work force and having security for the future is very important for success. 

Identifying Local Opportunities

1. Newell Brands to move headquarters from Atlanta area to New Jersey

http://www.ajc.com/news/business/newell-brands-to-move-headquarters-from-atlanta-ar/nrMT9/

Newell Brands is a company that many has many products that are used on a daily basis. The company has around 60,000 employees and many executive will be moving to New Jersey. There will still be a small office in the Sandy Springs area, but this move will take jobs away from those living in Atlanta and will take business out of the state of Georgia. Those living in Sandy Spring will be directly affected by this move and will need to find new work.

2. Braves’ Aybar back in lineup after chicken-bone scare

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/baseball/braves-aybar-back-in-lineup-after-chicken-bone-sca/nrQ58/

Shortstop player for the Atlanta Braves, Erick Aybar, is back on the field after a medical scare involving a chicken bone lodged within his throat. Luckily nothing to serious came of the event, but Aybar was able to tough through and play against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

3. Riverdale psychiatrist charged with murder, over-prescribing pain meds

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/jonesboro-psychiatrist-charged-with-murder-over-pr/nrPqy/

Narendra Nagareddy, a local psychiatrist, was indicted Wednesday for multiple counts of murder and unauthorized distribution of pain prescriptions. His charged with the deaths of three of his clients who all died of overdoses under his supervision. Those affected are the three who died of overdoses and their respective families along with the other clients who were influenced by his prescriptions.

4. State funding for colleges still lags pre-recession levels

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/state-funding-for-colleges-still-lagging-pre-reces/nrQHH/

Many states have been enacting higher budgets for higher education after the devastating recession of 2007. However, the state of Georgia is still $8.7 billion below what the budget originally was before the recession. That state has been on the rise economically, but there are still massive budget cuts. Those facing the brute of this are students and their parents who are paying a lot of money on tuition and other school expenses.

5. Rain, mosquito season and Zika

http://www.ajc.com/news/weather/rain-mosquito-season-and-zika/nrQMG/

The increase in rain and increasing temperature in Atlanta is bringing out more mosquitoes. The humid climate and lingering water is a perfect environment for mosquito to thrive. Along with an annoying bite mosquitoes could also be carrying the Zika virus which while not usually fatal can leave you sick for multiple weeks. Those living in Atlanta need to be wary of lingering water and to use bug spray if necessary to avoid bites.

Forming An Opportunity Belief

I believe that these is an opportunity over the problem of keeping kegs reliably cold. From what I have seen, people tend to just place kegs in trash cans with ice to keep them cold, or just leave them bear with no ice to keep them cold. Using a trash can with ice is ok, but ice eventually melts and you are left with a mess and having no ice doesn’t allow the beer in the keg to last very long before going flat. There are kegorators out now that keep kegs cold in high tech fridges, however these are very expensive and college students can’t usually afford these.

My idea of a cost-effective keg cooler that can properly insulate a keg and keep it cold for hours is aimed towards of-age college students and adults who still enjoy partying, but don’t want an expensive kegorator. This need arise when I saw people having to constantly refill ice for a keg and those that didn’t protect the keg at all. I am sure people will want a cheap keg protector that is easily renewable. It will keg the keg cooler, longer and will keep the party going.

After talking to some potential customers I realized that there that people would be interesting in having a cheap way to keep a keg cool. I also learned that if the kegorator had wheels and was portable it could add to its value. Being able to easily move a keg, while also keeping it cold would be very advantageous. After talking with my interviewees I maintained the majority of my original idea, but I did get some ideas to improve the original idea. I think that adapting to customer feedback is necessary to proper development of your product. If multiple customers bring up the same improvement, it should be considered and be added onto your idea to reach a wide client base.

My Entrepreneurship Story

My entrepreneurship story starts with my dad. He started his own construction business when he was fresh out of college at the age of twenty-two. He overcame many odds and faced the recession of 2007 head on. He inspired me to work towards my own goals. Freshman year of high school is when I started my neighborhood lawn business. I started with one house in 2009 and by 2013 I had 10 houses that I worked the week to clean and maintained. I had one friend whom I worked with and we took care of our customers lawns.

I took this class to learn more about how entrepreneurs think and act. I want to think more like an entrepreneur and to be able to build more connects with co-workers and with customers. I feel this class with be the stepping stone and give me the boost of confidence to help me pursue my dream of creating my own business.

Test Post

This is a test post of my blog.