RA's Blog

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. What are the behaviors that you have used (or developed) to keep up with the requirements of this course?  Some of my behaviors that I have used come from 2 sources. First, my last 3 years in Valencia Community College in Orlando and obtained my AA in Business with a minor in IT. In many ways, I've wished  I might have continued my education  at Valencia to obtain my BA. I did most of my classes on-site and had an amazing experience there. The staff, Professors, class mates were all fantastic! It was definitely a positive "succeed type of atmosphere. My second source was my past entrepreneurship of starting restaurants over the last almost 30 years. It will make a man or woman out of you real quick. The work never stops ! One thing I've had to adapt to is how the assignments for the week are split up timeline wise. I'm more of a roll up my sleeves and lets get this done kind of person.  2) Tenaciou...

1) You read about an entrepreneur:   I chose Elon Musk from the selection of entrepreneurs. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance What surprised you the most?  What surprised me the most is that money is not the driving force behind his endeavors and determination. He actually makes a lot less then I thought. I would add, to the fact that he was programming at the age of 9. What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?  I admire his resilience especially concerning Tesla. He's had so many roadblocks, faulty equipment, missing deadlines, dealing with stockholders, the list goes on and on , he just keeps going. He is the true meaning of the phrase  "don't giving up." He makes a fortune starting PayPal and takes all the profit and dumps it into another startup, a car company. Probably one of the riskiest startups you can possibly do. I am also a longtime hybrid car owner. So Ive always l...

Segment - Demographics focusing on age and marital status. Person 1 - Ashley age 34, is a wife and a mother of three. When - Ashley has the need for delivered pizza and wings on a Friday night, aka “Pizza Night.” How - Ashley and her husband have this need because they are pizza and wing lovers and work hard all week. The couple and their children consider this a treat as they don’t have to cook or do dishes. They make a point to always ask for paper plates when they place their order. Where - Being on the go all week, they have the need for pizza and wing delivery at home instead of fighting the traffic and busy waiting lines that most restaurants deal with on a Friday night. Ashley’s comment was “I’m around tons of people all week at work, the last thing I want is to go stand in line at a busy restaurant.” Ashley admits to doing Google searches for coupons and specials.  Person 2 - Jack age 67, is a retired mailman and married for 42 years.  ...

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?  Richard Alfonso - Restaurateur with over 34 years experience in all aspects of the business from design to management to location prospects.  Hands on Restaurateur/Mgmt front & back of House / Staff build All daily responsibilities / Ordering front & back of House/ Accounts Receivable Product build and design Florida Real Estate License Former Atlantic Artist with over 36 years of musicianship touring/production/performing/recording/writing My aspirations are to continue my success in building Alfonso’s Pizza & Sports Bar model into the Colorado area with multiple locations with possible growth into a buy in franchise.  Playing a role in my life - Although I consider myself well versed in what t...

9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2 Who: Are there certain people or certain businesses that, although they share a lot in common with the others in your opportunity, nevertheless fall outside the boundary? Why? Businesses that are similar to my Sports Bar Pizzeria concept are everything from major chains such as Dominos Pizza, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut to other Sports bar chains such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Miller's Ale House , Dave and Busters to small mom and pop restaurants in the local area such as Anthony’s Pizza, Wing Shack, Wings&Things, Boardwalk Pizza, NYPD Pizza. Having a full liquor bar and live music can be the variation or “fall outside the boundary” with many competing businesses. In my experience, most chain pizzerias or sports bars don’t supply live music or have the entertainment built in their budget.  What: At what point does the need you identified differ from another need? (Is thirst the same as hunger? Or is the desire to appear fashionable the same ...

Sports bar Pizzeria with Live music is opening a new location in Fort Collins, Colorado Location, location, location! Part of the solution to my problem would be in finding a thriving location that is still affordable. Having a high traffic draw close by such as a Starbucks, grocery store, or even a Walgreens such as my first location in College Park. This solution enables my main goal to serve the locals my award winning authentic Brooklyn pizza recipe and Buffalo Wings while giving them a great place to catch the game or live music.  As previously stated and proven since 1997, my concept caters to everyone in the family from kids night, face painting, and birthday parties to the singles on a date night during a Friday night that want to have a drink at our full bar while catching their favorite local band. Special events such as UFC fights, March Madness, and of course the Super bowl with TV’s everywhere you look. 

The Who: Sports Bar/Pizzeria with live music catering to locals and college students in the Fort Collins, Colorado area The What: Although there are both concepts in the Fort Collins area, (Sports Bar/Pizzeria) none have both combined with live music. As with all Pizzerias, we will also offer delivery, a must in today's restaurant market. The Why: Combining my already proven concept with award winning recipes in Orlando, FL with live music is something Fort Collins doesn’t offer. Testing the who:  Consumers still rate pizza as one of their favorite foods and usually places #1 as Americans favorite food in most publications, hence the old saying about “pizza is like sex,” when it is good, it’s really good, and when it’s bad...it’s still pretty good. So yes, there is always a need for pizza. And compared to the average restaurant ticket price, it's still the cheapest way to feed a family of 4. Add wings, the hot game for the evening, and live music to fill out the atm...

Economic trends (2) Housing and Construction https://www.vistage.com/research-center/business-financials/economic-trends/20191209-economic-trends-impacting-business-in-2020-and-beyond/ My Sources were in my usual places such as Business trade magazines and an avid CNBC watcher. Some great info also came from the link posted above.  My Belief is the housing and construction markets have been at their highest levels in years with opportunities on all levels, literally from the ground up. The housing market is so strong that certain cities such as Reno and Minneapolis have passed ordinances created to push multi-family type housing. Some states such as Oregon have placed moratoriums on rent increases.  On the construction end of the spectrum, home building is so strong employment stats have reported labor shortages and increasing demand with higher wages. 2020 Construction growth projections are expected to be a 1.7 percent increase. Home prices are up...