Reading Reflection - Week 8

Reading Reflection Week 8 -  Chapter 8

For each reading reflection post, I ask you to address the following areas:

1) What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations?

I was surprised to learn about social lending. I’ve heard about Lending Club but never really thought too much about it. A great way for entrepreneurs to get small injection of funds into their business with much more ease then going through traditional lending. Another added benefit for these borrowers is being able to communicate with other members of these networks and share experiences.

2) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

I found the chapter interesting and pretty straight forward. I wasn’t confused by the reading but was surprised to learn under “Dispelling Venture Capital Myths” in the third myth. I always thought that venture capitalist where always out there on the hunt for the next big thing and were quick to make offers. I never really thought it could possibly be such a long process at times.

3) If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why?

Under “Private Placements” it states that it can be difficult in some states and costly for small ventures to use the SEC Regulation D and I would ask the authors if they knew of any website/resource that can help navigate them through the process in those states that have not kept up with the SEC Regulation D rules.

4) Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How?

I didn’t have many questions in this chapter. I did find some of the information surprising and I did have some pre-conceived notions on how venture capitalist chose what to invest and how long the actual process takes and the criteria they use to determine what business to finance.

Half-Way Reflection

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

I think that it’s more than just a skill that I have developed for this course but more of an attitude of not giving up and continue on. With so many little assignments and videos to create it can get overwhelming at times especially for me working a full-time job and being a single parent, so finding the time to get it all done can get stressful.

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 think this section for me applies as well to what I discussed in the previous question. This course can get overwhelming at times, for me more so with having to do videos. But any way you look at it I have to finish the course in order to get my business degree no way around it. I can’t put it off or take another course. My attitude is keep going, don’t give up and suck it up.

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’?

This course is setup a little differently than most of the courses online. So I would say to a prospective student is to not dwell too much on the little stuff. Keep going forward don’t look back. Complaining too much isn’t going to get you anywhere if anything is going to make you more stressed out. Try to have fun with some of the assignments and good luck.

Reading Reflection Week 7

Reading Reflection:  

Rediscovering Market Segmentation 

by Daniel Yankelovich and David Meer

1)      What was the biggest surprise for you in the reading? In other words, what did you read that stood out the most as different from your expectations? The way market segmentation was originally used and intended was not as effective as it was thought and that it did not make more of the consumer behavior, which I thought would be a good area to be more informed about since behavior can drive consumer purchasing.

2)      Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. Psychographics was a concept as described in the article that I found a little hard to understand but found the idea interesting and would like to see if something that still was used today in marketing research for consumer purchasing behavior because as stated in the article most found it to be ineffective.

3)      If you were able to ask two questions to the author, what would you ask? Why? I would ask how marketers and product researches could use psychographics to their advantage and would it be worth using.

4)      Was there anything you think the author was wrong about? Where do you disagree with what she or he said? How? I thought the authors brought up a few good pros and cons to using market segmentation and showed the effectiveness of this method. I don’t believe I found anything in the article that I would necessarily disagree with.