CRUSHING EXERCISE AND RELFLECTION

rules:
1. renovation must be completed with proper licenses
2. all debris must be cleaned up by workers
3. you must pay for our work.
4. 50% down-payment must be made before work begins
5. you must vacate your work area

solutions:
1. do work that doesn't require licenses
2. do work without licenses and hope we don't get caught
3. charge a clean-up fee
4. give discount if the homeowner cleans up after us.
5. we accept barters
6. we offer payment plants
7. 25% down-payment must be made before work begins
8. 75% down-payment must be made before work begins
9. slower speeds may result from occupation of work space
10. we are not liable for harm done while others are in the workspace.

REFLECTION:

            During the group activity we discussed certain rules that we felt were essential to making our FixPro idea successful. Coming up with 5 rules allowed to visualize the ideals of the our specific service. Then finding ways to break those rules broadened our understanding of the various scopes at which we can run our business. Even ideas that where hard to break, such as " must have a vacant work space", we somehow managed to come up with a "solution" to "crushing" our "rule". Overall we learned that some rules are just essential to the business and can't be broken.

Class Reflection

In class our group, Remodelx, discussed the problem of obtaining customers. Obtaining customers would be a problem in the sense that as a starting company we have no reputation. We also went over the possibility of offering jobs to students who are interested in remodeling and have some experience. Towards the end of class we attempted to do the "words and associations" technique in order to solve our problems and gather a deeper understanding on how to promote our services.

Headlines for home and business remodeling company

" REMODELING: "FREE OF LABOR COST"- LIMITED TIME OFFER"

"LOW ON MONEY BUT NEED REMODELING, CALL US"

"WANT A HANDS ON EXPERIENCE WHILE GETTING PAID?"

"IN NEED OF EXPERIENCED ELECTRICIANS, PLUMBERS, ECT"

"WIFE SCREAMING FOR REMODELING, CALL US"

 

Revised "How might we statements"

"How might we promote our services"

• Seeing as we have no reputation within the market for interior design and remodeling it will be difficult to obtain customers. A possible method of promotion could be high deduction in labor cost in exchange for a high risk of poor quality work.
• We can create business cards and distribute them amongst homes throughout Chicago. Offering services to which we feel we are capable of handling. Such as:
• Painting
• Moving of furniture
• Demolition/Installation of floors and dry wall

"How might we gather experience while working at the same time"

• In the long run, our goal is to expand our services so how might we gather experience to offer services which may require more knowledge or practice. Such as electricians or plumbers
• We can reach out to our community and find people with such skills and in need of jobs. While they obtain some work and pay, we can possible watch learn and take note of how to work in done.

"How might we reach out to local business in need of remodeling"

• For starters, we must search for smaller local businesses which seems a bit downhill. Furthermore we must be able to relate to service or product the business offers and adjust our remodeling style accordingly.

Refined users journey, some problems within our previous assumptions, and 3 "How might we..?" statements

User's Journey:

• The potential customer gets up in the morning
• Goes to his kitchen to get a cup of coffee
• Steps over the broken transition piece seperating the kitchen from his bedroom
• Sits down to eat his breakfast
• as he sits he stares at his wall and notices the paint chipping off
• He then decides that he needs to get some remodeling done
• Problem: "How might we get them to know our company exist"
• Maybe advertise on our company on our company vehicle
• Once we get hired to do the Job
• Problem: "How might we guarantee that we dont get in the customers way"
• Maybe narrow our work space consistantly picking up any demolition produce
• The customer waits and watches us as we work
• Problem: "How might we limit our time spent working"
• Working overnight might not be so good as it might provide a bother to the customer, Hint: take less breaks and maybe more workers the finish the job quicker
• The customer walks the workers out after the remodeling is done
• Problem: "How might we guarantee long lasting quality work"
• Notifying the customer on the quality of the material used for their remodeling.

Last Group Discussion

This past tuesday we discussed our user journeys. We became aware that our users journey is much more than simply the time the user spends with the product or service. The users time prior to using our services and after are very important. Questions like : "Will the customer rush us?" "how will the user be aware of our services" and "why chose us over more reputable companies".  After putting myself in the users shoes, i realize that I would be annoyed if I requested a similar service and I was told it would greatly interfere with my daily activites. In other words, the customers space must be highly respected and cleaned throughout the remodeling.

Example Journey

This is an example "Journeys" layout for our group project involving remodeling

As our imaginary customer, Steve, gets up in the morning. He goes to the kitchen and has to open the old out dated windows with struggle. Then as he brushes his teeth he realizes some parts of the dry wall have fallen off and of what remains of the wall is poorly painted. His wife then wakes up and begins to notice some things that would also need fixing. Hence as a couple they decide that they might need to consider some remodeling.

Struggles: How or why would they decide to want us to do the remodeling

Reflection

Tuesday during my BUS 100 course we learned a new way to help develop any potential business ideas I might have. Having the users "journey" in mind is essential to customer satisfaction and will hence we an important aspect of a successful business. The idea is to imagine a potential customer of one's business, then put yourself in their shoes. In other words, become the customer, see the world as they do and share their needs. Then develop an understanding of why someone would seek such a service at a given time of their day. You continue on to ask why and answer each time and your understanding of a user journey will unveil. This learning style really helped and I found it to be rather interesting.

Interviews for Remodeling Works

Ivan Martinez
Owner of M & P : Remodeling company

While working along side Ivan I asked him how it was that he became involved with remodeling the interior of homes and other living space. He said "I used to work along side my uncle and after years of learning I decided that I wanted to be my own boss and find my own jobs". He then explained how he invested in a Company Van, equipment, and had to gather workers.

Matt
Home Owner

I interviewed a guy named Matt while doing a side job with my father. Matt hired my father to remove some floor tile and place new ones. The reason I asked him for a short interview was because I acknowledged him as a user of a service that our groups project may encounter. I began by asking him "What made you decide that you needed new floor". He chuckled and replied "My wife". Then he went on to explain how his wife didn't like how some of the tiles were cracked.

Horacio Vega
Friend

I decided to interview a random person to obtain an opinion on what factors would come to play when deciding to have remodeling done. Horacio told me he would take into consideration 3 factors "Cost, time, and quality".

Research Project Summary

Title: Architecture Pro
• Topic Area: Remodeling with low cost
• Frame Your Problem 
– Stakeholders: investors in our projects, the owner of the property, the laborers, tenants, city regulators and inspectors
– Objectives:
- Provide low cost labor
- An on-hands opportunity for college students
-Use recycled material
-customer satisfaction through understanding their vision for design
• Research Questions:
-Do we focus on a specific style of design or cater to the wants of the customer?
-Learn of any other companies offering similar services and products?
-Where do we find the recycled material?
-How can we avoid compromising quality over cost?
• Research Methods: 
- Conduct a survey on current trends within the interior design market
-Investigate locations which have interior design based on recyclable material
- Develop social and negotiation skills (how to convince customers to trust college students)

Mindtools Results

While taking the test I realized the importance of planning out my actions. I never took note of all the thought process that went into making descisions. Although I was already implementing these procedures for making descision I failed to recognize their importance. I hope that from now on I will improve my descision  making skills and ensure that I think of all consequences of my actions before making a solid descision.

Many great ideas were mentioned during my last class period in my business course. Some relating to sports and others to music. All were very inspiring but none caught my attention like that of the music industry. Even more so than the music itself, the networking behind the entertainment business. How would one go about promoting a concert for a band? Or for that matter any talented musician that wishes to become wide stream. Once you gain that initial popularity the media does the rest for you. All that would be required of you would be to maintain an image. In this generation full of hand held devices giving everyone easy access to their emails or social accounts, networking has evolved. Gigs can be promoted through sites such as Facebook. Start locally; build a reputation a show at a time. However, keep in mind that the first impression is very important. If the audience feels indifferent when hearing your music they won't recommend it or want to listen to it again. There are plenty of ways to catch the public’s attention. For example, the website YouTube is widely used and would serve as a good basis for publishing ones music. Most viewers are likely to prefer music with music video so it would be in the best interest of the artist to include one. In todays would the internet has made expanding ones work much faster and much easier, it is up to the judgment of the millions of internet users whether or not your work obtains the recognition it deserves.