Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Will Templin's Small Business Tech Company (The name is a work in progress)

1) I think I am going to want to start a tech company that is able to supply small businesses with a way to interact with customers over the internet.

2) 46% of small businesses do not have an online presence, meaning that the only interactions they have with customers are when they walk into their store. Given the world we live in today, having a website, social media, etc could be the difference between staying open and closing down for good. If there were an affordable way to provide these small businesses with an online presence, they could reach customers all over the world.

The Who: Small business owners or managers

The What: 46% of small businesses do not have an online presence

The Why: Having an online presence could be the difference between staying open and closing down.

3) Testing the Who: I think that there are other people who would benefit from the service. I think people who work in marketing would benefit because this would be another way they could reach customers. However, most companies that have marketing teams usually have have someone who handles public relations and someone who handles their IT. I think small marketing companies might benefit from a partnership because I could provide the IT services like creating a website, social medias, etc. while the marketers manage it and tell us when a change is needed.

Testing the What: I think the boundary for this opportunity is that not every small business has this problem. Like I said before, only 46% of small businesses will need this service. I guess other small businesses might want to use the service, if it is more affordable or better than the one they are already using. In all, I think that my opportunity's boundary is that it doesn't apply to every business within the target market.

Testing the Why: The main reason that this opportunity exists is because e-business is growing in importance. Having an online presence is becoming a necessary thing to have in order to be successful, especially during the pandemic. I think this "why" holds true for all businesses because they can no longer sell to people in person anymore. If they had an online presence, they could sell to customers over the internet and stay in contact with them.

The Interviews

Robert Templin III

4a) My brother is in marketing, and I asked him his opinion on my plan. He agreed with my idea that marketers might find it useful to work with someone who has the knowledge to create websites, run social medias, etc. He said that marketers use the internet to reach customers, receive feedback, build loyalty, etc. He believes that the internet is very useful for all businesses, but especially for small businesses because it extends their reach past their neighborhoods or their cities. He also believes that many small businesses are realizing that having an online presence is important. The coronavirus is causing many small businesses to take out loans and grants in order to stay open, if they had the ability to reach customers over the internet, they might not have to do that.

Dale Templin

4b) My mom was a manager in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for over 20 years, so I consider her take on this to be the most insightful. We had a discussion yesterday about a few types of businesses that might benefit from an online presence. One of the businesses she said was assisted living facilities and nursing homes. My mom is the primary caregiver for my grandmother and has found it very stressful during the pandemic because she can't have any contact with her. Even though many assisted living facilities and nursing homes have an online presence, she believes one tweak would alleviate the concerns of all caregivers: status updates on those who live in the facility. Before the pandemic, my mom was over there everyday, and grew close to other residents and employees, and says she would love to hear how they are doing as well. I think that my idea would do a great job fulfilling this request because we would be the ones managing their website, social medias, etc. We would be able to make the changes necessary to keep residents and family members in contact with each other.

Robert Templin Jr.

4c) My dad is a lawyer at UF Health Jacksonville, and brought something to my attention regarding the need primary care physicians (PCPs) might have for an online presence. My dad says many PCPs are practicing telemedicine since the government expanded medicare/medicaid to cover it. He said that many PCPs might need things like a website where patients can go to check-in and wait for their appointment to start. My dad said he doesn't see the federal government amending medicare/medicaid to make it where telemedicine isn't covered, so telemedicine very well could be here to stay. My dad also said that many people might not feel comfortable going to doctors offices for a while after the pandemic ends, so telemedicine might be heavily used for the next year or so.

Sean Savage

4d) Sean is my manager at the restaurant I work at in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Since he manages a restaurant, I of course asked him about how restaurants would benefit from my opportunity. He said that restaurants really need to have websites, social medias, and a place where people can place to-go orders. He said that their business has been all to-go order since the pandemic started. Now that Mayor Curry has lifted restriction on eating in restaurants, less of their business has been ordered online, but he still stresses the importance of have an online presence. He said that they have had more and more take-out orders over the years. He says that this is a recent trend for restaurants everywhere. Every restaurant needs to have an online presence in order to satisfy the increasing amount of to-go and delivery orders.

Daniel Young

4e) Daniel is a friend of mine from when I lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I try to stay in contact with him and in our most recent conversation, I asked him if he had any ideas on who would benefit from my idea. One of the businesses he said was mechanics. He says he went to a JiffyLube the other day to get his car's oil changed. He said he sat in a small waiting room with a bunch of other people while he waited for them to finish on his car. He said many people might not be comfortable going to a mechanic and waiting for them to finish working on their car. We talked about how having an online presence might help. He said that they could use a website to book appointment times so they could drop off their car and pick it up at a later time and pay online. I agreed with him. I think this would minimize the amount of time people would be in contact with someone and alleviate some of the fears that people have regarding the coronavirus. This might help give mechanics more business during this time and might proof to be a more efficient way to see customers. 

Reflection

5) As far as the "whos" are concerned, I had never thought about many of them. I had only really considered small retail businesses and restaurants. These are the ones that we hear about the most on the news and are the ones we normally go to. I had never thought about a mechanic or a doctor needing to have a website for their business, but the times in which we live are making it necessary. All of the people I talked to seemed to agree that having an online presence is a necessary pat of running a business. Many said that it was a way to stay in contact with customers, sell to customers, build loyalty, etc. It surprised me when my dad told me that the internet is necessary to perform services as well. It just seems kind of weird to perform a service over the internet, but given how the pandemic has affected the world, businesses need to adapt in order to operate. Almost all of the people I talked to, with the exception of Sean and my brother attributed the need for an online presence to the coronavirus. The government has required people to socially distance, which includes not congregating in stores, restaurants, etc. The internet could be the one way that these businesses can continue to provide the goods and services without breaking the government's rules. Even after this is over, having an online presence can help those small businesses reach customers with whom  they would not normally do business. In all, the coronavirus has changed the world as we know it for small businesses, but the addition of an online presence could be the difference between staying open and closing for good.

Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Changes

Economic Trends

One economic trend that I identified has happened relatively recently. With the coronavirus causing small businesses across the country to shut down, many people are losing their jobs. I've heard from some that the unemployment rate could be as high as it was during the Great Depression. According to the article I read, the unemployment rate could continue to rise even once the pandemic is over. Since so many people are going to be out of jobs, I think it would be a great opportunity to create some sort of job finding platform similar to Indeed or LinkedIn.

1a) I found this in an article on The Wall Street Journal and it was entitled "Economy Recovering, but Unemployment Likely to Remain High, Trump Advisor Says".

1b) The article states that unemployment currently sits at 14.7%, but could very well "end up with a number north of 20%". This would be the highest unemployment rate since 1948. Since, so many people are going to be looking for jobs, they will need a platform that will aid in their search.

1c) I think the prototypical customer is going to be anyone looking for a job, or looking for a change in scenery.

1d) I think this opportunity would be difficult to exploit, because there are already several platforms that help people look for jobs. I would have to figure out some way to do it better than the other platforms. Maybe I could get deals with companies to display their jobs on my platform exclusively. I think doing this would give me an advantage over other job finding platforms.

1e) I think the thing that helped me identify the opportunity was my involvement on job finding sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. Personally, I have never had any luck finding a job or internship on those sites, and I think a lot of people are probably have a similar problem. Also, given how high unemployment is, many people will be looking for jobs in the not so distant future.

Another economic trend that I found was that home prices are increasing and less people are buying homes. The article I read attributed this trend to the coronavirus, which is understandable since you aren't going to be buying a house if you might get furloughed. Once government restrictions end and people get back to work, they will need someone to give them a mortgage so they can pay for a home that increased in price all of a sudden.

2a) I found this in an article on The Wall Street Journal and it was entitled "U.S Home-Price Growth Accelerated in March".

2b) The article states that the rate at which home prices increase has increased from 4.2% to 4.4% across the country. In some parts of the country, it has increased to 8.2% (Phoenix and Seattle). Before the pandemic, some might have planned on buying a home, but now those plans have changed since home prices dramatically increased. Once the pandemic ends, I believe that people will once again want to buy homes. To combat the rising home prices, they will need someone to finance their purchase, and that is where I come in.

2c) I think the prototypical customer is anyone looking for a new home.

2d) I think this will be a hard opportunity to exploit because many homeowners are going to be loyal to the company that finance their last home. If my idea is going to be successful, I think I would have to target people buying their first home since they are not loyal to any one company yet. Also, I would not be financially successful for a while. The Federal Reserve decreased interest rates to 0%. I would not be financially successful for a while, but if I provide good service to the customers I gain, I would get their business when interest rates increases.

2e) I think one thing that helped me identify this opportunity was my basic understanding of Macroeconomics. I know that low interest rates incentivize people to spend money on big purchases like homes, cars, etc. The article also opened my eyes as to how much the cost of housing has increased in the past couple of months. This opened my eyes to the opportunity at hand. Many people will want to buy homes, and I could be the person to finance them.

Regulatory Changes

The first regulatory change that I identified was that the Federal Reserve decreased interest rates to 0%. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in order to lighten the economic hit caused by the pandemic. The article I read claims that these low interest rates are here to stay because unemployment is going to remain high once the pandemic ends. I think this opens up many potential  opportunities for entrepreneurs, but the one that stuck out to me was creating a company that loans people money because people are going want to take advantage of these low interest rates and buy things that they once could not.

3a) I found this in an article in The New York Times and it was entitled "Rock-Bottom Interest Rates May Be Here to Stay"

3b) I think this opportunity exists because of what I learned in Principles of Macroeconomics. Generally, when interest rates are lowered, people are more willing to take out loans because they won't have to pay as much back to the lender. Low interest rates will cause people to go out and get loans to finance some big purchases.

3c) I think everyone in the United States is going to be a prototypical customer because they will all be affected by low interest rates. However, the main people who will be affected are those who are interested in making large purchases (cars, homes, etc.).

3d) Similarly to my second trend, I think this would be a difficult opportunity to exploit. Many people are going to want to stick with the company they have always used to finance their purchases, so I will be relying on people who are not loyal to any particular financial institution. Also, I would not be making any money until interest rates increase. In all, this opportunity would take a lot of dedication because it could be a long time until it becomes profitable.

3e) This is similar to the second opportunity. Since the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates, people are going to want to spend more money on big purchases. In the long-run, this is going to cost consumers less since they have to pay less in interest. While interest rates are low, many people are going to be applying for car loans, home loans, etc. Just because interest rates are low, the price of the home or car is still going to be pretty large and they will need someone to finance it for them.

Another regulatory change that I identified was that some congressmen and congresswomen are proposing that the federal government pay up to 80% of unemployed peoples' old wages. This would be great for those who own businesses or want to start businesses because it means that consumers are going to have more money to spend during this hard time. If this were to pass, I think it would be a great time to start a "One-Stop Shop" that sells everything from home supplies to groceries.

4a) I found this in an article in The New York Times and it was entitled "As Unemployment Soars, Lawmakers Push to Cover Workers' Wages"

4b) I think this opportunity exists because the government is wanting to pay people what they would have been making if they could work. People are now bringing in the money they once did and will spend their money like they once did. They will no longer have to worry about dipping into their savings to buy things, preserve the little unemployment money they bring in, etc. Finally, if there was a place where you could buy everything you need, wouldn't you go there, I know I would.

4c) I think the prototypical customers are those who were able to retain their jobs and those who receive the additional government aid.

4d) Out of all of the opportunities, I think this one would be the easiest to exploit. I think it would be the easiest to exploit because shopping is much easier if you just have to go to one place to buy everything you need. Personally, I hate shopping and I think everyone else feels similar when it comes to spending long days shopping. The only problem I see with this is that there are already stores that do the same thing as what I am proposing. What stops someone from spending their federal aid money at Walmart or Target? I think I would have to start in a tight-knit community where there is not a Walmart or Target. This would help me get a following and then it could be a successful business.

4e) When I read that the federal government was thinking about paying unemployed workers what they would have been paid if they had worked. If this were to pass, consumers would have the money to buy things again. They could go to the store, to the movies, etc. Not everyone will feel comfortable going to places like the movies but everyone has to go to the store. I brought in my hatred for shopping and thought that this would be a great time to open a "One-Stop Shop". You could minimize your time out by buying everything in one place.

Identifying Local Opportunities

The Florida Times-Union

The local newspaper I looked at was The Florida Times-Union. The Florida Times-Union is one of the many newspapers for Duval County and covers everything from sports to classifieds. I thought this newspaper would be great to find opportunities because they cover a large range of things happening in Duval County.

Stories

1a) Reopening Jacksonville: Buffet restaurants struggle to recover from Covid-19

1b) https://www.jacksonville.com/entertainment/20200525/reopening-jacksonville-buffet-restaurants-struggle-to-recover-from-covid-19

1c) Arden's Kountry Kafe & Katering is a buffet located in Northeast Florida. Arden and Michelle de Saussure, the owners of Arden's consider themselves lucky to have survived the pandemic this long. For a little, they thought their trouble were over when Jacksonville's Mayor, Lenny Curry decided to reopen restaurants at 25% capacity. However, Mayor Curry decided to not include buffets in this order because the FDA recommends that they remain closed. Now, Arden and Michelle fear that they will not be able to keep Arden's open much longer.

1d) The main problem in the story is that some restaurants are unable to open because they were not included in Mayor Curry's order. Even when buffets can reopen, many owners feel that they will not get much business because customers will not be comfortable eating food that is out in the open. In all, buffet owners fear they will have to close down because of this.

1e) The people affected b y this are restaurant owners who provide self-serve food services.

2a) Judge rules against Florida on felons paying fines to vote

2b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200525/judge-rules-against-florida-on-felons-paying-fines-to-vote

2c) Apparently, there is a law in Florida that states if you are a felon, you must pay a fine ion order to regain your right to vote. Recently, a Florida judge called this unconstitutional. Former felons across the state of Florida now have the right to vote in the state without having to pay a fine. The article says that the law took the right away from close to 774,000 people. The article ends with a quotation from the ACLU.  They call this judgement a "tremendous victory for voting rights".

2d) The article also addressed how this could have "deep ramifications in the crucial electoral battleground". The author says that many of the former felons are African American and presumably Democrats. This could be a problem for Republicans and Independents who are trying to get elected in the state. This judgement swings future elections in favor of Democratic candidates.

2e) The people who are going to have a problem with this are the Republicans and Independents who are trying to get elected in Florida. The state just gained 774,000 voters, most of whom will vote for Democratic candidates.

3a) NOAA predicts another busy hurricane season

3b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200521/noaa-predicts-another-busy-hurricane-season

3c) Hurricane season is just around the corner and the NOAA is expecting between 6 and 10 hurricanes to form. This marks the fifth consecutive year where we are expecting above-normal activity which means that the chance of a hurricane making landfall will increase. Many scientist attribute this increase in the amount of storms to climate change. The article ends by saying that the upward trend in number of hurricanes is going to be the new normal.

3d) The problem addressed in the article is that we will see more hurricanes making landfall in the future. Within the last couple of years, we have seen more and more category five hurricanes like the one that hit Puerto Rico, and the one that hit Panama City two years ago. Hurricanes destroy everything in their paths and this is a worrisome sign for people who own homes in coastal cities.

3e) The people that this affects the most are people who live in cities that are along the coast. Hurricanes can destroy homes and having more of them could raise insurance rates for homeowners. Overall, this is very bad for those living in coastal cities.

4a) UF survey: Coronavirus has decimated some Florida farms

4b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200521/uf-survey-coronavirus-has-decimated-some-florida-farms

4c) When Governor DeSantis decided to close down the state, people and businesses decided to change their buying habits, and this change has negatively affected farmers. The IFAS found that some growers lost close to 90% of their business during this time. Luckily, many farmers are receiving Federal aid in order to offset some of their losses. The state has also created a website where farmers can sell directly to consumers. Many farmers fear that they may never be able to recover from this, but with help from the Federal and local government, they just may be able to continue their farms and businesses.

4d) The problem addressed in the article is that many farmers are facing tough times because of the change in consumer habits. Farmers across the state are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because of this. For smaller farms, losing this much money could mean that they have to close their farms down. Luckily, the government is offering aid to keep farms across the country afloat.

4e) This primarily affects farmers, but it could also affect consumers as well. Many farmers will not have the money to grow crops or raise livestock, so we very well could see a shortage of food in our grocery stores. Hopefully, the government's actions will help offset some of this.

5a) Oh deer! New baby born at Jacksonville zoo

5b) https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200525/oh-deer-new-baby-born-at-jacksonville-zoo

5c) The Jacksonville zoo just welcomed a new Pudu deer to its family. The fawn was born today in the Pudu deer exhibit but removed shortly after with its mother. The zoo hasn't released anything about the fawn (name, sex, etc.), but the zoo and zoo-goers will be happy to have it when the zoo reopens at full-capacity.

5d) The article didn't really address a problem, but you can kind of infer that the zoo is struggling like any other business during the coronavirus. As of now, the Jacksonville zoo is operating at half-capacity and is most likely hurting because of it. I'm sure they receive enough money in donations to care for all of the animals in the zoo, but they will not be able to improve the zoo without bringing in as much money as possible.

5e) The people most affected by this are the people who work at and own the zoo. Like I said, they can probably care for all of the animals at the zoo but they will not be able to improve the zoo until they can operate at full-capacity.

Forming an Opportunity/Belief

My Belief/Opportunity

1) I believe that opportunities exist everywhere in the United States, especially in the very trying time in which we are currently living. The coronavirus has forced all businesses to sell online, which is not a problem for corporations but a struggle for small businesses. Approximately, 46% of small businesses have no online presence at all, causing many of them to close down. This is not necessarily an easy fix for many small businesses because many don't have the money, or technological savvy to create websites, manage social media accounts, etc. An affordable way to get some sort of internet presence could be the thing that saves a small business from closing down.

2) Given the current situation(the coronavirus), many small businesses are closing because they do not have an online presence. Not all small businesses are facing this problem, but a large portion: roughly, 46% of small businesses. This was a problem for small businesses prior to the pandemic,  but now it is even more of a problem because people are not allowed to shop in person. The pandemic has made it where you can't sell anything unless you have an online presence. Most small businesses are trying their best to adapt to this change, but many do not have the money to maintain this presence long term. If there were an affordable way to provide these businesses with an online presence, many of them could survive the pandemic and remain competitive as e-business becomes more and more important. I am 99% sure that this opportunity exists because many local governments are requiring businesses to temporarily close. This means that you are not able to sell to people if you don't have an online presence. For many, their business is their livelihood, and if they are not able to sell to people, then they can't feed their families. I believe many business owners would be glad to see an affordable way to gain an online presence and keep their business open.

Dale Templin

3a) One person who might need an affordable way to reach customers online is someone who manages local retail stores. These stores are being hit hard because they can only sell to customers if they walk into their store.

4a) For this, I talked to my mom. She has a lot of experience managing stores and restaurants in Tuscaloosa, Alabama during the 1980's and the 1990's. She acknowledges that she has not been a manager in a while, but said that she has noticed how important e-business has become in recent years. She believes that it became important for most businesses to have an online presence during the 1990's when e-business started to take off. However, most small businesses don't really need to have an online presence because most of their business comes from people who live in the area. Ever since the pandemic started, she believes getting an online presence should be a top priority for all small businesses. She explained that the walk-in business that these store were once getting is now gone, they are making absolutely no money, and they still have to pay their fixed expenses (rent, insurance, etc). My mom believes that small businesses should try their hardest to gain some sort of online presence during this time because it could be the difference between making some money and making no money. I asked her if she still managed a business, would she consider paying someone to create and run a website, manage social media accounts, manage your search engine optimization strategy, etc. She said that she would consider it if it were an affordable option.

Sean Savage

3b) Another person who might need an affordable way to reach consumers over the internet is someone who manages a restaurant. Restaurants are going through tough times right now: furloughing employees, losing sales associated with dining-in, etc.

4b) For a while, I worked at a restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida called Burrito Gallery. My employer and general manager was Sean Savage. I first asked him how Burrito Gallery was doing during the pandemic. He responded by saying that they were having to furlough wait staff and that they were relying entirely on take-out sales. Currently, the mayor of Jacksonville is loosening up on restrictions regarding dining-in and Sean believes this will help turn around their slow start to the year. Just because dine-in eating will be allowed doesn't mean that take-out will stop happening. Sean acknowledged that take-out is becoming a more and more important option to offer, especially in recent years when the portion of take-out orders have been increasing. As of now, Burrito Gallery has a website where you can place take-out orders and people can place orders on Grubhub and Bite Squad. Sean says their website is doing a good job meeting their take-out needs, but other businesses might find it useful to have an affordable option to gain an online presence.

Robert Templin

3c) A person who does marketing might also want to find an affordable way to reach consumers over the internet.

4c) My brother has worked in marketing research for three years and is currently working on his MBA in Marketing. I asked him about how important having an online presence is for small businesses. He responded by saying that it is very important. He says that having something as simple as a social media page or a website can be extremely useful. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from having an online presence because they can receive helpful criticism to improve the business. My brother says that marketers have used the internet to help businesses pretty much since the internet was created. He claims it to be one of the most used ways that businesses receive feedback. He continued by saying feedback is very important for small businesses because they need to continually improve in order to stay relevant. My brother says that businesses without an online presence rely on people who come into the store to provide feedback and most people usually don't give unprompted feedback. Additionally, people may not be entirely truthful when they are talking to someone who works at the business. He believes that businesses get the best feedback when they have a website or social media. My brother believes that it is very important for businesses to have an online presence, and if there is an affordable, then they might be able to make the necessary adjustments to stay in business.

5) My one takeaway that I learned from talking to all three prototypical customers was that the internet is becoming more and more important as time goes on. The internet is used in everything from shopping to research on how to improve the business. One thing that really surprised me was how much more the internet is going to be used in the future of restaurants, mainly when it comes to take-out and delivery. When I worked at Burrito Gallery, I don't remember seeing that many take-out orders come in, maybe 10 to 20 each night. Sean told me that the number of take-out orders is supposed to increase in the future, making it even more important to have an online presence. He said that younger generations order the majority of their meals over the internet (60% of meals ordered by Millennials are take-out). This really surprised me because it means that restaurants are going to have to put more focus on their website's ability to handle traffic, and on their search engine optimization strategy.

7) I think my original opportunity is still there. I think this pandemic has changed the landscape of business. I don't know if it changed it for good, but as of now, businesses need to have an online presence in order to be competitive and to stay open. I feel that my idea is accurate in terms of whether businesses need help getting an online presence. As of now, the 46% of businesses that do not have an online presence are really struggling. Once the pandemic ends, there might not necessarily be as much of a need to have a website, social medias, etc. I think it is very important for entrepreneurs to change their opportunities based on feedback. I think many people take offense when people give feedback on their ideas but you have to realize it is not a criticism of you. If you separate yourself from your idea, and take their feedback to heart, your idea might come to fruition.

My Entrepreneurship Story

An Example of Entrepreneurship in My Life

One time when I was exposed to entrepreneurship was when I watched Dave Chappelle accept the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In his acceptance speech, Chappelle talked about the direction comedy is heading in today's world; comedians are being canceled and ridiculed because they make "offensive" jokes. Chappelle believes this to be detrimental to comedy as an art form because comedy is all about making light of difficult situations and sharing your weird interpretations. In his speech, Chappelle says something to the effect of "comedians always feel like they are telling the truth when they get on stage, even when they know they aren't. When comedians are cancelled, we are obstructing what is true about the art form". To me, Dave Chappelle is an entrepreneur because he stands up for what comedy truly is. He wants comedians to have the ability to share their truth without having to fear for their careers. Dave Chappelle isn't just a comedian but an entrepreneur for comedy as an art form.

Why I Enrolled in ENT 3003

The original reason I decided to enroll in ENT 3003 was because it met the upper-divisional elective requirement for the business school, but after watching the fist lecture, I realized that I could gain much more than just four credits from this class. In the first lecture, I learned what it takes to be an entrepreneur. I think this will be very helpful if I ever decide to open a business, and I hope to learn more about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and to open a business. 

Bug List

I am happy to say that not many things bug me, so for my "Bug List", I will be grasping at straws for many of my "bugs".

Bug List

1. Not being able to go back to my apartment in Gainesville, where I can be an independent person.

I am not able to go back to my apartment because of the pandemic that is affecting the United States right now. My parents wanted me to come back home while UF is closed. I have enjoyed being at home, but after a while, I want to go back and be independent.

2. My inability to make good food, other than sandwiches and cereal.

During my Sophomore of college, I found that I had only cooked one real meal (chicken tikka masala in my Instapot). It tasted ok, but it required me to put in a lot of work for little return. I think my problem is that I do not have good recipes. If I find good recipes that require very little work, I won't have to eat sandwiches and cereal during my Junior and Senior years.

3. Not being able to see my grandmom because she is in a nursing home.

My grandmom is getting older and not able to remember as well as she once could. I want to see her as much as I can before her memory gets worse. Currently, she lives in a nursing home, which will not let my family come in because of the pandemic. The nursing home is taking the necessary precautions, but not being able to see my grandmom has made me and the rest of my family sad.

4. Why is The Irishman so long? There is honestly no reason it should be so long.

I love Martin Scorsese and most of his movies/documentaries. The one movie of his that I am not a big fan of is The Irishman. The story that the movie is based off of is a great plot, but the movie is just so long that I became disinterested after about an hour and a half.

5. I wish Netflix would have added more during the pandemic, because I have run out of things to watch.

During the pandemic, I have been watching Netflix when I have not been hanging out with friends, exercising or doing school work, so I have watched it for about two hours a day for the past two months. I have been watching comedy specials, Community, and movies every night. You can only watch so much Community before you get bored. If there was more on Netflix, I would be more entertained during this time.

6. I hate that the gyms are closed because I am not able to do the get the same quality workout doing bodyweight exercises.

I love going to the gym and lifting weights. When I bench, I max out at 235 pounds, which I consider to be the highlight of my weightlifting "career". When I do push-ups, which works the same muscles as bench press, I am lifting significantly less weight. I have been able to get more definition because I am doing more reps, but I feel that I am get weaker overall. I can't wait to get back to the gym.

7. I really need to get my hair cut and I am thinking about growing a mullet.

I made the mistake of not getting my haircut before everything got shutdown, so I have really long hair right now. The place I usually get my hair cut is still closed and I don't know when it will open, so I am thinking about asking my mom to give me a mullet. She does not know how to cut hair, so I very well could have a bad mullet within the next week. You know you are desperate/bored when you want to get a bad mullet.

8. I don't like how people are not taking the pandemic seriously(at least earlier on during the pandemic) because there are many people who would be considered to be a part of an at risk population in the United States.

Both my parents took the pandemic very seriously because they both work with at risk populations and if they were to contract the coronavirus, they could pass it on to someone who could die. I love to bike and when I would bike, I 'd see people in groups larger than 10 not social distancing. Even though you may not be affected, you may give it to someone who could die.

9. My family lives in Jacksonville Beach and at times, it can get very windy. When I ride my bike and the wind blows, it makes my ride that much harder.

I like to ride my bike long distances(usually between 20 and 25 miles every couple of days), so to figure out how far I have gone, I pick landmarks. It always seems like when I'm on the home stretch(a Marriott in Jacksonville Beach) the wind starts to blow hard for the rest of my ride. I'm exhausted by the time I reach the Marriott and it makes my ride that much harder.

10. My dog is getting older and starting to pee everywhere, including on me.

My dog just turned 10 last June, which is pretty old for her breed. Over the last couple of months, she has become more and more incontinent. I love my dog, and I understand that it is because she is getting older, but when you pick her up and she unknowingly pees on you, it can be hard not to get upset with her. My family is looking at some medicines we could give her that might help with her incontinence.

11. My family owns a "janky" lawn mower, which makes mowing the lawn harder.

Now that I am home, I do a lot of the chores around my house. I don't mind doing it, but when it comes to mowing the lawn, I hate it. We have a nine year old lawn mower, that cuts out every five minutes. Luckily, we don't have much of a lawn, so it doesn't take me very long, but restarting it three or four times is frustrating.

12. The neighbors across the street from me rent their house out to people. A lot of the time the people they rent to are very nice, but occasionally there are people who like to play loud music at night.

The music doesn't usually start until about 3am when all of the bars close, so I am usually sound asleep. My room faces the house and it wakes me up. I usually go downstairs to sleep on the couch when this happens. Most of the renters are just there for the weekend so there is no point in confronting them about it. I have accepted that this is just a part of living next to a rental house.

13. I find it very hard to lose weight, no matter what diet or exercise routine I try.

Freshman year of college, I started to take my physical health seriously. In the beginning, I started lifting weight and didn't really focus on what I was eating or the amount of cardio I was doing. Within the past year, I've wanted to slim down a little. I've tried everything from intermittent fasting to Weight Watchers. However, I think I found a good combination of diet and cardio to start losing weight. About three weeks ago, I started doing Keto and riding my bike a lot and now I'm seeing the results I've been after this whole time.

14. This isn't very topical, but daylight savings really bothers me, especially when it jumps forward.

Daylight savings bothers me because it switches the time up on me when I just got used to the previous change. For instance, I get used to the extra hour of sleep when it "falls back", but then I have to wake an hour earlier. I understand it has something to do with farming, but when you don't farm it is pretty useless.

15. Clothes that feel good when you wear them the first time but feel bad after you wash them.

Most of the clothes that do that are the shirts I work out in because they are that form fitting material. I find that the form fitting material shrinks a lot once you wash it and it clings to your body. Many of my workouts require me to move around a lot and the clingy material ends up feeling uncomfortable.

16. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a shortage of paper products. This is really bad when you're out of paper towels.

My roommates and I rely on paper towels in our apartment to clean up our messes. When we ran out of paper towels shortly before the pandemic, we decided to wait and get them later. This was a mistake because there was a run on paper towels once the pandemic started. Shortly, our apartment was a huge mess because we didn't have the paper towels or washcloths to clean up the mess.

17. Roommates who refuse to clean up messes they create. I could probably talk forever about this.

I love my roommates, they are some of my best friends, but they are messy. On is on the club lacrosse team and refuses to clean up the mess he makes when he gets back, they do not do their dishes, etc. I am usually the one who does most of the clean up. I tried to stand my ground and not clean up, but they had the same plan. We eventually got bugs because no one would clean up. I gave in and did all of the dishes, took out the trash, cleaned up our living room, etc. I will be living with them again next year, and I hope they have learned to pick up after themselves. Wish me luck.

18. Gnats that come into your apartment when your roommates don't clean up after themselves.

When my roommates refused to clean up after themselves, we got a pretty bad gnat infestation. I tried everything to get rid of them and nothing worked. I ended up getting this trap from Home Depot that is meant to kill them and it worked pretty well. Sadly, it did not kill them all because they reproduce so quickly. When we thought we got them all, there were probably two left that reproduced, which kept the battle between us going.

19. Mosquitos during the Summer months really bother me.

For most of my life, I lived in the north. I never had to worry about mosquitos because they were only a problem for about a month out of the year. When my family and I moved down to Florida, I got bit all of the time(I am type O, the type they like the most). During my first Summer down here, I found out that I was allergic to them. When I get bit, the bites swell up to the size of a half dollar. Other than the mosquitoes, I love living in Florida.

20. Speaking in front of large crowds is probably the thing that bothers me the most.

I believe that I am a pretty eloquent speaker when I am speaking to between 10 and 20 people, but when the crowd reaches 21 or higher, I just can't do it. For instance, my brother got married last Fall and I was the best man. It is tradition that the best man speak at the after party. I did not want to break tradition, so I agreed to speak. This was the largest crowd that I had ever spoken in front of, about 75 people or so. I went up in front of everyone, ripped up my speech and winged it. Why I did that, I don't know, but what I do know is that it was a mistake. I blew the speech. Luckily my brother and his wife were drunk and don't remember what I said, but the other 73 people do. This just reaffirmed my fear of speaking in front of crowds, and I hope it is the last time I have to do it.

Reflection

I found it pretty hard to come up with this list, it probably took me an hour and a half to come up with them all. I believe that I am a "go with the flow" type person. In some ways, this has helped me in life, but I feel it has also hurt me. This list is an example of a time that it has hurt me. Six of them did not require much thought to figure out, and I had to dig deep into my psyche to figure the other things that bother me. In all, I attribute the fact that I am so "go with the flow" with me not having many things that bother me. 

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My name is Will Templin, and I am a Junior finance major from Jacksonville, Florida. I look forward to a great semester.