14A- HALFWAY REFLECTION

1. In order to stay on top of this class, it is super important not to procrastinate. All my life, I have waited till very last minute to do things and sometimes I feel more stressed out than other times. Procrastinating in this class is a good way of setting yourself up for failure. I won't lie and say that I am always on top of my work in this class, because I'm not. But the times that I actually put time aside and do my work for this class early, I feel a lot more relaxed and I think that reflects on my work. Putting time aside for this class in particular would be in your very best interest if you plan on succeeding.

2. I sometimes find myself reading through instructions of an assignment and saying to myself "this isn't really worth the few points" but quickly shake myself out of that mentality because that is how I failed this class last semester. Each point counts and it is very important you realize that sooner than later.

3. My 3 main tips would be to not procrastinate, find a relaxed setting to work on assignments in to reduce stress and make your ideas flow better and lastly, do all your work. If you attempt to do every assignment then forgetting an assignment or two wont be that hard of a blow on your grade. But if your constantly skipping assignments on purpose then forgetting to do some as well, you will not succeed in this class.

11A- IDEA NAPKIN NO. 1

 My Name is Gianna Caceres aspiring a career in marketing. Growing up, I always found small ways of making my own money whether that was setting up a lemonade stand in the summers, making my mom set up a garage sale for my barbies or growing up and selling my old clothes to friends or stores that would take them. I have always been super business orientated and creative with my styles in selling. I use to decorate extravagant posters to draw attention from drivers when they would pass my house. As I got older, I started playing around with adobe illustrator and creating works of art through my laptop. I feel like I would be a well rounded business woman because I am motivated, determined, creative and quick on my feet. I'd personally call myself a one woman show. I'd like to take my business proposition all the way. While a team would make things go a lot smoother, I believe I could 100%  do this on my own. My idea would help irresponsible people feel better about their irresponsibility. I would be the creative director of my product (design the material), market on my own (find the appropriate audience and outreach) and eventually find a team to help me out with the knitty griddy of it all. I am offering a service to my audience. A service that will help them track their misplaced debit or credit card. My cards will have a chip in them, similar to ones already installed, that will be connected via Bluetooth to any smart device through an app that I will create to help you easily track your card, similar to the "find my devices" app installed to I phones right now. I am offering this product to all people. Even those who don't find themselves to be irresponsible because it is always good to take measures to ensure that you will be okay if anything were to happen. If you're anything like me, your card is getting misplaced often. If you're also anything like me, you have your card linked to 23 different websites, cashapp and venmo. It is a huge struggle every time I lose my card because I have to go the extra mile to enter my new card information. I want to put an end to all that hassle with my service. This has yet to be done. I would be the first one working on this sort of technology. While it has been spoken about, no one has put the time and effort into making this an actual thing and that is exactly what I plan on doing.

9A- Testing the Hypothesis

From conducting my interviews, I was able to infer the following:

WHO:
Those who lie inside the boundaries of my opportunity would be those who feel like they lose their cards often. Anyone who would rather find their card instead of going to the bank/waiting in the mail for a new one. Also anyone who can see themselves only benefitting from this product. From my interviews, I found that 4/5 people would say they would only benefit from this service. Many people may be responsible, but as a precaution, it is always better to have the tracker than to not.

WHAT:
There has yet to be a service like this. Although there are mobile card apps such as apple pay, Venmo and cash-app, there really isn't anything out there like a card tracker. While these mobile apps might be just as convenient, some people like to keep it old fashion and just have their card in hand. I use Venmo and cash-app to pay others, but my apple pay is personally not set up because I just use my debit card instead.

WHY:
Because their is no other service like this, it makes the people want it. Most people don't know they need something until they've had a taste of it. In this case, while their are mobile payment apps, no one likes losing their stuff. Especially a debit card that anyone could easily find and use. If there was some sort of tracker installed in the card, people are able to track down their cards a lot quicker than the manual way. I feel like people need this product more than they realize. With everything turning digital, it may be hard to compete. But if this wasn't an option and just a simple installation in newer cards, it would be a great feature to have.

8A- SOLVING THE PROBLEM

"Find my I-phone", an app by apple, has done a very great job of making it easy to find all of your apple products in one app. Not only does the app locate the last place your device was on wifi, it also gives you an option to erase that product, label it as missing and even send it a little chime if it is near by for you to easily track it.

For my product, I would like to offer a similar service. Lately, Cards have added a security chip to make it easier to combat theft and fraud on cards. If I could figure out a way of adding a similar chip with a GPS installment to locate the last place your card was near you, many people would benefit. My Idea would be a a chip pre-made on the cards or a simple add on sticker like the "Tile tracking device" to wipe all worries of a missing card away. While the idea is still in the works, A GPS installment that is Bluetooth compatible with your phone/app is generally the direction I am planning to go in.

7A- TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS PART 1

 The Opportunity: Credit/Debit cards are a commonly used item Nationally. I have found through research and conducted interviews that college kids are more likely than not to lose their cards here and there. These thin, flimsy cards are suppose to make it easy to purchase items on the fly. When they are missing, our lives feel like they are put on hold. In order to better keep track of our belongings, I believe some sort of tracking system should be put in place. 

 The Who: For this assignment I will be specifically targeting college students so that I can get a better understanding from young adults who may be a more irresponsible than established adults.

 The Why: it is very common for students to lose their debit cards during outings or just accidentally leaving their cards behind at food places. It is more common that young adults will lose their cards here and there because there's probably not as much money in there that people feel bound to guard with their lives. Again, we tend to be more irresponsible. 

 The What: Credit/debit cards are easily misplaced. Because they are so thin and flimsy, they are bound to fall out of pockets, get left behind and a million other reasons we tend to misplace things. 

Post Interviews Summary: After conducting my interviews, I found that 4/5 people could rely on a card tracker to keep their cards handy. The 1/4 stated that since he pays for everything himself, he tends to be more cautious with the whereabouts of his cards. This made me realize that when something is handed to you, you are more likely to mistreat/miss care for said thing. When it is something you work for on your own or provide for yourself, you are more likely to keep your eye on said thing. I believe this is why it is more common for young adults who rely on their parents to misplace their cards than parents themselves who fund everything on their own. This was an eye opening factor that I did not think about before conducting my interviews. It plays a huge role in whether or not you tend to lose your cards more often than not.

6A- IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES & ECONOMIC TRENDS

ECONOMIC TRENDS:
1. Problem: The rise of Gas Prices
    Opportunity: Cars that run on electricity rather than fuel 

2. a)https://www.thebalance.com/us-economic-outlook-3305669
    b) The article talks about the projected rise in gas prices in the next few years. Gas prices have been rising every year little by little. Soon prices will be too high for anyone to want to pay them.
    c) The prototypical customer would be anyone in the electric car manufacturing business. Soon, people will prefer to pay the price of an electric car over the extreme gas prices we will soon face.
    d) I believe as gas prices continue to raise and climate change continue to be an extreme issue, that people will want to make the switch for themselves. In a few years, everyone will want to switch over to electric versus gas because it is the most economically friendly/ cost efficient alternative.

3. I believe that everyone can agree that Electric cars are on the come up. Elon Musk's company Tesla has been creating cars little by little that are affordable to the common people. At first, electric powered cars were too expensive for everyone to switch over. Now, with developing technology, it is more common to see them on the road. Gas prices rising is leading people to seek alternatives now, I can only imagine as gas prices continue to rise throughout the years.


1. Problem: Climate change hindering Economic Growth
    Opportunity: Help combat climate change 1 person at a time
2. a)https://voxeu.org/article/does-climate-change-affect-economic-growth
    b) The article explains how Natural disasters due to climate change has been affecting our countries economic growth. In 2017, 850 natural disasters occurred causing insurance to pay for damages, hard. If companies have to continuously rebuild to natural disasters, they aren putting any money into the economy, which is beginning to seriously hinder economic growth.
    c) Everyone in return would benefit from doing what they can to combat climate change. It takes a few changes in our daily routine to bring down emission rates. In the long run we will begin to see a rise in economic growth rather than a decline, throughout the years.
    d) Once people begin to see the true effects of climate change, then people will realize something must be done to stop this all. It is our fault that this is happening to our planet and I feel like the only thing we can do is spread awareness. I had no idea climate change related to economic growth until researching for this very assignment.
3. I did some research and felt this topic was one I had to speak about. Like I said before, I had no idea that there was a correlation between climate change and economic growth. All it takes is spreading awareness. It makes sense, natural disasters are causing communities to rebuild a whole town because of damage. No one really understands that this is all of mankind's issue. Soon people will realize when it is too late.

REGULATORY TRENDS:
1. Problem: Data being collected online without the permission of the user 
    Opportunity: Some kind of system that limits what type of information websites can collect from users of the website. 
2. a) https://www.cfr.org/report/reforming-us-approach-data-protection
    b) Data users are concerned that their information is not as private as it use to be when big social media brands first came out. This is leaving some people weary of using these sites because of that. Some are infuriated with the amount of information is collected from them without permission first. A system could be put in place to reduce the amount of information thi collected from a user of social media and other things online.
    c) The customer would be those who do not feel comfortable with social media sites collecting info about them. They could purchase said program to prevent what info websites can collect from them and what they cannot.
    d) No one likes the idea of everything on their browsing history being searched. Some people just dont find it a deal breaker like others do. I personally believe that this is a huge invasion of privacy but I still actively use social media. I feel like if there was an alternative to all this, people would want that over what we have now.
3. This is personally an issue I feel pretty strongly about and I wish that someone was doing something to protect our privacy. As a frequent user of social media, it makes me uncomfortable that websites can see what I am doing on other websites that have no correlation to theirs. One's personal phone/laptop is very private unless they make it public. I just wish that some private things could remain private instead of out there in the "cloud".