Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

The opportunity that I would like to pursue is trying to solve the issue of stolen guns out of vehicles. A large number of guns are stolen out of vehicles every year in the U.S. because there is no great way to keep a gun safe in a car. A lot of the firearms stolen are out of vehicles and in particular, unlocked vehicles. A vast majority of those guns are then used in crimes.

The who: Gun owners who keep guns in their cars

The what: Stolen guns from vehicles that are then used in crimes

The why: The vast majority of guns stolen from vehicles were from vehicles that were unlocked.

These are the 5 people that I talked to. I talked to 2 people in law enforcement and three gun owners.

The two people in law enforcement reiterated what my main point was that most of the guns stolen are from UNLOCKED vehicles.

WHO: The people that keep guns in their vehicle sometime forget to lock their vehicle. They said that some people just never lock their car. They also mentioned that quite a few guns are stolen from houses.

What: Most of the guns stolen are handguns. There are some people that keep long guns in their vehicles but that is uncommon. Criminals are after handguns because they are easily concealable.

Why: The why for this need is that people who don’t own guns are impacted by this problem too. Innocent people are hurt by those stolen guns. Not just the gun owners who lost the value of their property.

Who: The next three people that I talked to were gun owners who keep guns in their cars. They are all extra careful to lock their vehicles because they store guns in their car.

What: They all keep handguns in their car so that is the extent of their need. They wouldn’t need something to lock up their long gun.

Why: Even though they lock their cars, they are still worried about people smashing their windows and stealing their firearms. Locking your doors doesn’t mean that you are safe. Also, they could forget to lock their cars.

After interviewing people in law enforcement and gun owners, I think there is definitely still an opportunity. I thought that most firearms are stolen from vehicles but according to the people in law enforcement quite a few are stolen from houses too. Although, breaking into unlocked cars is definitely the easiest way for people to steal firearms. At home, you can lock your firearm up in a safe but there is not really an easy way to do that in a car.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

Economic trend: Baby boomers aren’t retiring fast enough.

Link: https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666

Many baby boomers aren’t retiring because of the 2008 recession. Semi-retirement is becoming more common for them. I found this on the website The Balance. They are having a big impact of the economy. This leads me to believe that millennials aren’t having enough jobs when they go into the job force. I believe that there is some sort of opportunity for a job finder company directed toward millennials. If millennials aren’t being able to find jobs, that is definitely an unmet need. Millennials would be the prototypical customer for this service. I think that the opportunity would be somewhat difficult to exploit because there are already job finding companies. I don’t think there are not any job finding companies that are directed towards millennials though. I saw this opportunity because I am worried about getting a job after I graduate. I’m going after a business degree so that is a broad field, but I am worried about finding a job that I love.

Economic trend: Climate Change is causing more natural disasters.

Link: https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666

This is having a major impact on the economy because these natural disasters are costing so much money. I also found this on The Balance. I think this information leads me to believe that an opportunity for some sort of weather advising service exists. I think people that live in coastal areas are worried about their homes and sea level rise. I think they would pay good money to have an “expert” look at their situation and see if they are in danger of the impacts of climate change. I think the prototypical customer would be people living in coastal towns. I think the opportunity wouldn’t be too hard to exploit. People are worried and I think they would jump on the opportunity to see what risk they are in. I thought about this opportunity because I have a family member that lives near the ocean and is at risk for sea level rise. I am also personally worried about the effects of climate change.

Regulatory: Illinois Hunters can now wear Pink clothing while hunting.

Link: https://www.nprillinois.org/post/new-illinois-law-oks-pink-hunting-clothing#stream/0

I believe that an opportunity may exist because I have only seen pink hunting clothing once before unlike the usual orange. I think there would be a market for a quality lineup of pink hunting attire. I think that the prototypical customer would be breast cancer survivors or guys that just want to rock pink. I think that the opportunity would be difficult to exploit because the clothing market is a difficult one to get into. I thought of this opportunity because I know people who are breast cancer survivors, hunters, and would wear this.

Regulatory: Kids in Ohio will be required to write in cursive by the 5^th grade.

Link: https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2018-12-21/kasich-signs-bill-mandating-ohio-students-learn-cursive

I believe that an opportunity might exist for an online course that would teach cursive to these students. If students are going to be required to know how to write in cursive by the 5^th grade, there are bound to be kids that don’t understand how to at school and have to learn at home. I think the prototypical customer would be parents buying the course for their kids. I think that the opportunity wouldn’t be too difficult to exploit because people will need some way to teach their kids if their kids can’t learn at school. I thought about this opportunity because I never really learned when they taught cursive in schools. I learned how to sign my name but that was really the extent of it. If there was an online course that taught it, I think I would have understood it better.

Identifying Local Opportunities

Opportunity 1: Provide Incentives to save

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0902%21September%2B02&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/175BF5CFF6D10138

The gentleman in this article is hoping that electric companies will provide the resources and incentives that people want to hopefully reduce the effects of global warming. This gentleman does not believe that an electric company should be run like a business of selling more electricity to keep shareholders happy. He also thinks that electric companies should provide services to make a profit, not electricity.

The problem in this story is that no electric company is truly providing incentives for customers that save energy. Also, not many electric companies provide services. I think is an opportunity for someone to start a business that tends to these needs.

The customers for the electric company are the people who are having this problem. When they are trying to conserve energy, they are not getting any incentives. This is a big problem for a lot of people.

Opportunity 2: New apartments key to push for housing

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0903%21September%2B03&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/175C0778DE50E128

Tampa has a lack of affordable housing. Many people are homeless and living out of motels or vehicles. The big reason why they don’t have much affordable housing is because of land and construction costs. There are residents in neighborhoods that don’t want any new development. The city is trying to entice developers with tax incentives. There is also an issue that if many of these affordable housing units are built in one place, it essentially becomes segregation.

The problem in the story is that there isn’t enough affordable housing in the Tampa area. This presents a big opportunity for developers since the city may be offering tax incentives to the developers.

The people who are having the problem in this story is the people in the lower class who can’t afford housing.

Opportunity 3: Nurse sues over hospital staffing

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3ASPTB%21Tampa%2BBay%2BTimes%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0905%21September%2B05&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/175C4A96CFCF8028

A former nurse for St. Joseph’s Hospital is suing her former employer for dangerous working conditions. She includes dangerously low staffing as one of her main reasons. She feels that the nurses were over scheduled which lead to exhaustion. She raised her concerns while she was working there but nothing was done about it, so she quit.

The problem presented in this story is that this one hospital did not have enough staff. This presents an opportunity for a need for more nurses.

The people who have the problem are the nurses. They are over worked and understaffed. The hospital also has a problem because they can’t hire enough nurses to fill the shortage. The people in the hospital are also impacted because if the nurses are tired, they might not make correct judgement calls.

Opportunity 4: Gun Stolen from Rural King in Ocala recovered by police in Muncie, Indiana

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AOSBB%21Ocala%2BStar-Banner%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0905%21September%2B05&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/175C536DA862D248

A gun that was stolen from Rural King in Ocala was found in Indiana. 3 people were charged in connection with the robbery at Rural King. 12 guns were stolen from that Rural King and only 2 have been found.

The problem is that only 2 of the 12 guns stolen have been found. This presents the opportunity for some tracking device that can’t be removed unless you have a specific key for it. Kind of like the electronic tags that are on expensive clothes.

Rural King is the organization having the problem. When items are stolen from their store, that means lost revenue.

Opportunity 5: What is ‘flesh-eating’ bacteria and how to avoid it

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3AORLB%21Orlando%2BSentinel%252C%2BThe%2B%2528FL%2529/year%3A2019%212019/mody%3A0906%21September%2B06&f=advanced&action=browse&format=text&docref=news/175C8DB451A8C850

There is this bacteria going around that can cause a breakdown of tissue. People can get it if they have an open wound and go into water with the bacteria. All it takes is one little cut and the bacteria can get in there. The article suggests using a waterproof band aid over any cuts that you may have if you are planning on going swimming.

The problem in this article is that people aren’t taking proper precautions to prevent this infection from happening. People may also not remember to bring waterproof band aids. If they are already out on the beach, they probably won’t leave the beach to go get a band aid. This presents the opportunity for some type of vending machine for waterproof band aids near the beach.

The people who have this problem is anyone who goes to the beach and has any sort of open wound.

Forming an Opportunity Belief

I have a belief that an opportunity exists. I find it very difficult to trim my cat’s claws at home. They vet gave me the same nail trimmer that they use but it still doesn’t work. Every 2 months, I have to take my cats to the vet and have their nails trimmed. It is $16 per cat. I have 2 cats, so I am spending almost $200 per year on having my cats claws trimmed. Not only is it an inconvenience for me to take them to the vet, but it stresses them out going to the vet. I think that most cat owners have this trouble. I think that since cat owners have started keeping cats inside (last 100 years or so), they have always had this problem. I think most cat owners are keeping the cat’s claws trimmed on their own, or they are taking them to the vet. It would be nice if there was an “in-home” cat nail trimming person.

I went to my vet's office and talked to a few of the customers and asked them about what they do to keep their cats claws trimmed. I talked to 3 people and included are their answers to these questions.
1. Why are you bringing your cat into the vet office today?
2. How do you keep your cats nails trimmed?
3. Do you bring them bring them in and have the vet do it or do you do it yourself?
4. You have obviously had this need of needing your cats nails trimmed since you had your cat but how long have you been doing what you have been doing?
5. How satisfied are with what you are doing now?
6. Would you use an in-home cat claw trimming service?

The first lady was bringing her cat in for a yearly checkup. She said that she experiences the need that her cats’ claws need trimming about every 6 weeks. Since she has had her cat, Simon, she has noticed his nails need trimming right around every 6 weeks. Simon is a very calm cat, so she is able to trim his nails at home. She says it works out just fine with her trimming Simon’s nails so she does not need an in-home service.

The second lady was also bringing her cat, Randy, for a checkup. She currently trims Randy’s nails and has been for about 2 years now. She said that she used to bring Randy in to have his nails trimmed but stopped. She said that she got some medicine from the vet that calms him down so she can trim his nails. She is happy with this because she does not have to make a trip to the vet every 2 months to have his nails trimmed. She said depending on the cost, she may pay for an in-home service just so she doesn't have to do it.

The third gentleman I talked to was bringing in his cat for the yearly checkup. He doesn’t have to have his cats’ claws trimmed because his cat is an outdoor cat. He has the claws trimmed once a year during the checkup but doesn't do it besides that because his cat doesn't need it. He said his cats’ nails just stay relatively dull since it climbs trees and such. He doesn’t have that need for an in-home service.

Reflect for all 3 people: After interviewing these couple of people, I don’t think there is a huge opportunity still there. Two of the three people I talked to didn't have a need for an “in-home” cat nail trimming person The second lady may use the service if it wasn't too expensive. I thought the most surprising thing was that the majority of the people weren't having the same problem that I was having. The first 2 ladies were able to trim their cats claws but the second may use an in-home cat claw trimming service if it wasn't too expensive. The 3rd person didn't have that issue since his cat was an outdoor cats.

Summarize: I do believe that there is some of my original opportunity left. One lady said that she may use an in-home cat claw trimming service depending on the cost. I do not think that my new opportunity is more accurate than when I started. I would say its less but still there. I think entrepreneurs should adapt their opportunities based on customer feedback to the point that it doesn’t change their business model. If they have been successful with their original business model, I think they should make minor changes but stay relatively firm. If they change too much, that could cause them to possibly go out of business.