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.