11A Idea Napkin No.1

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?

a.     My name is Emily. I am a sushi loving, Hospitality major, shoe enthusiast. I have worked in hospitality for about a year now. Some talents that I have are that I speak Chinese, sing, and bike without holding my handlebars. I hope that I can reach my customer base and continue to narrow down who will be able to most benefit from my service. Since I know I’m just starting, I think I would need to learn more about the chemistry of shoes to be able to improve on the service I provide. In the future, I hope I can just use this as a side job doing something I really enjoy and solving people’s problems.

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

a.    I provide my customers with the consulting and the product needed to best water repel their shoes, bags, and backpacks. There are people out there that want to spray their shoes, but don’t have enough shoes to justify buying a whole bottle, so I can provide them use of the repellent for all their shoes, so they don’t have to dish out more money for an exuberant amount of repellent they will never use.

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?

a.    I’m offering this to business men/women, outdoors men/women, and those who want to protect their shoes or their feet from the elements. The people who will want my products are very attentive to how well they present themselves (seen though their shoes and other accessories like bags) and how confident they feel in these articles. For those who find strong discomfort in wet feet, this would help bring comfort into their lives when being outside, say during a rainy soccer competition.

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

a.    I am providing a service to water-repel customer’s shoes, but more importantly, water-repellent shoes allow you to be confident in what you wear. You can wear the shoes you like (not clunky rain boats) and not worry about getting your shoes or your feet dirty, so that you can focus on what is important: that big interview, winning that soccer competition, or enjoying that fancy date. All these moment in our lives are precious and the last thing you should be worried about it having rain take that away.

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

a.    I have the knowledge of the best spray to use on different types of shoes that tailor to different events, allowing my customers a central location for their shoe-spray inquiries.

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. 

My interest in the topic and personal need for the product inspired me to become interested in the possible business plan. However, if there are college students out there that are truly willing to purchase the service is still unsure. Additionally, I want to spend more time trying out different sprays on very specific shoes that are worn with professional attire to expand into a market that might demand this service more than the typical college student.