napone naptwo napred napblue

1) You. 

I am a 3rd year marketing student. Since I'm not too experienced in that field, most of my wisdom in life thus far has come from communicating with large groups of artists online. Despite these not being in person, I've actually gained a surprising amount of people and leadership skills from this.

As for aspirations, I would love to tie my business major into an art-related industry. Video games need marketers, too! I'd like to get some experience with a large firm before starting my own projects and ideas, such as this one!

2) What are you offering to customers? 

I am offering a new, modern, socially acceptable website for artists to gather on and use as a form of social media as well as a platform for their creative endeavors. All in one place that was meant for them. (Some social media websites such as Twitter and Tumblr can be difficult to post artwork on due to quality, size, and file restrictions.)

3) Who are you offering it to? 

Young, tech-savvy artists who carefully craft their online image as a way of personal branding.

4) Why do they care?

Again, personal branding. My only competitor is considered outdated, corrupt, and known for being home to niche, socially unacceptable artwork. A good chunk of my market use their art as a source of income and get work through the internet, so having pretty profile pages on shiny new websites matters to them.

5) What are your core competencies?

To reflect on last week's assignment, I'm really good at relating to people, as well as possessing leadership skills and innovative tendencies. Thus, being a part of my own market gives me maximum relatability. #likeliterally #canteven

she reflec

Basically, I think I can make something people want due to my own insight. Due to this product being for a niche audience, I believe that gives this product strength, as the whole 'one size fits all' marketing scheme went out of fashion a while ago. As for the pieces fitting together, I feel that I could still make my market stronger. It consists of both hobbyist artists as well as professionals, but I'm not sure which one there is more of. This could potentially matter, as hobbyists tend to be much more casual.

Feedback

One of the main pieces of feedback that I got stated that catering to the digital artist community is a smart idea. Honestly, since so few people do, I can't help but agree! It's part of the reason that drove me to do this business idea for this class. I mentioned the niche audience thing earlier.

In my first idea napkin, I stated that switching costs would be my greatest challenge. However, after interviewing several people and learning that many are already pretty fed up with my main competitor, DeviantArt, I think people would be more than willing to switch to a new website, especially if it's pretty and easy to use. To get there, I'm gonna need some more coding knowledge beyond HTML and Java, though.

Custom avatar

When I picture my prototypical customer, I immediately imagine a college student who spends their weekends drawing and being on the internet. They're probably more meme-savvy than most of their peers and extremely liberal. In their spare time, they like to watch anime, read webcomics and manga, and visit cute cafes (especially ones with boba tea!) Racially diverse as this is an international crowd, with especially strong presence among the Asian-American and Asian communities. Very artsy people who would probably pick Gravity Falls over Riverdale. They are probably well-versed with the [toxic] fan culture of Tumblr that they regrettably spent years of their early teens on, and have written or read fanfiction. Dungeons and Dragons are a familiar topic, though not all have tried it before.

Through this assignment, it's especially evident that I fit right into this demographic. Since I'm also an artist who can be kind of a shut-in compared to most people my age, there is no coincidence here.

and the krabby patty secret formula is

Five ways that make my human capital unique:

1. My sense of humor. It's always been a useful way to make friends, diffuse situations, and add entertainment value to my life.
2. Ability to relate. Empathy? I attempt to be open-minded and understand everyone's viewpoint in attempt to be humble. People behave a certain way for a reason, and usually it isn't because they're crazy.
3. Creativity. Even if some people find me weird because of my ideas, I choose to embrace them anyway and just go to town with my passions or ideas. Being a normie won't get you anywhere in entrepreneurship, where you're supposed to not be like everyone else.
4. Genuineness. I honestly don't have much of a filter and am pretty transparent, which makes it hard to feign excitement or affection for someone. I've learned to mend this by thinking more positive thoughts in general, but my passion for something always shines through because of this. I definitely try to come off as someone with no ulterior motives.
5.  Optimism. I've come to realize that focusing on the negatives hurts my productivity, so I try to focus on the best in people and my situation (while taking note of anything problematic so it doesn't harm me in the future) to keep a genuine persona.

I recorded these interviews using the voice memo app or another recording website, so I had to upload these as audio posts onto my ancient Tumblr account.

Erica Audio

I'm a good listener with an "otherworldly" sense of humor. When she comes to me to talk about something, she ends up laughing about her problems and always feels better. Erica also said I'm a strong, empathetic person who can pick herself up from rejection and throw herself at the next hurdle in life. Also, she thinks I have good time management (I'm so flattered my god

Chase Audio

I'm a good, empathetic leader that he thinks of as a role model (awww!!!!). I'm a quick learner, people-oriented, and pleasant to be around. I am articulate and good at relating to others, creating a positive atmosphere. This boy called me the life of the party!!

Dipa Audio

I find unique, innovative ways to connect with people online. I have artistic talent and am very good at finding opportunities and making them my own, putting my own twist on things. I am also very good at reading people and understanding them at a quick rate, and good at maintaining my emotions and mental health.

Mom Audio

I am a perfectionist with a passion for the arts. I'm a good listener and helpful friend. I enjoy doing difficult things for the sake of a challenge, and will not relent or give up.

Dad Audio

I love my family and am a good worker who will finish the job. I am also determined and passionate, but to a fault; if I'm not excited about something, my motivation and productivity are zilch.

Conclusion

I was so flattered by all of these interviews! I personally don't see myself as someone with a strong will or heavy determination since I'm not personally satisfied with my productivity, but it appears that others don't share that viewpoint at all. In my teens, I used to be very shy and quiet, so I'm happy to hear that people now think of me as more of a leader and someone who can thrive in center stage. I can't say all of these are completely correct, but I'm okay with that, since I know I can't stop hustling. Reflecting back on my first list, based off my interviews I'd maybe make things sound more strong-willed. Apparently.

the SECOND elevator pitch

I just can't catch a break with these video thumbnails.

Anyway! The thing I'm most concerned about regarding my pitches are making them comprehensible for everyone to be able to understand, so I updated some of my content to reflect my frustrations in a more humorous, relatable way. I updated my hook and closing to make them less clunky, and generally just tried to present this in a more natural manner. My feedback from my first elevator pitch was mostly positive, I was surprised that the pitch came through to people at all.

Reading reflection I

The book I chose to read was The Wright Brothers by David McCullough.

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?

I didn't realize that Orville and Wilbur Wright were in their 40s when they had their breakthrough flight and lived at home until they were in their 30s! That's usually what we call manchildren.

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

Their teamwork. As someone who had a project fail due to my partner falling through, I deeply admire the bond of the brothers.

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

While firm believers in their own product, it led to some arrogance. After their success, one of their plane models was malfunctioning and resulted in the death of several soldiers, but the brothers blamed it on pilot incompetency. Tt took multiple deaths for them to admit it was a mistake on their part.

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Yes. After the success at Kitty Hawk, the brothers attempted to sell their idea to the US government, but they weren't interested. Thus, the Wright brothers took their idea to France, where it was much better received and the US finally took interest after that.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

The two had already run a successful newspaper, print shop, and bike shop. They'd already demonstrated competency in entrepreneurship by the time they were making flying machines.

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

I wish the McCullough had included more in the reading about the brothers' childhood. They evidently had a strong bond with their father and their sister, and I would've liked to learn more about the roots. How a family was alright with letting their children live with them well into their 30s demands an explanation!!

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

Why did the deadly aspect of flight motivate you to to work on your own dangerous machines? Have you always been thrill seekers? Maybe I'm just lame, but you can't capitalize on your success if you're dead.
How did you stay motivated when even your own country wasn't interested in your success? Did you imagine there to be a market for flying machines? I imagine paying the bills was an important priority.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

Neither of them married and they were constantly stressed, so I imagine that their opinion of hard work was simply being a good, old-fashioned workaholic. While I strive to better my work ethic and I don't mind my projects infringing on relationships, I draw the line at risking my health. You only get one body!

Figuring out buyer behavior II

For my project, a website, the way I'd be making money is with premium memberships that charge a small monthly fee. The current largest website for artists, DeviantArt, also offers premium memberships, so I interviewed people who decided to purchase those.

Interview Summary

These purchases have all done online with a credit card, through DeviantArt's website. Of the different packages available, two of my interviewees went for a 3 month premium membership vs. the 1, 6, or 12 month options available (the third did one month). Their primary reasoning is that longer memberships were offered at a cheaper rate, like buying groceries in bulk. 

Besides buying their own domain for a website, there really aren't any other art-sharing websites that offer premium features, and none that are social.

The interviewee that bought the one month membership was only interested in the premium feature of changing their username, but did not buy again since they didn't think it was worth it. One interviewee was a professional artist, and valued the premium coding options to make their profile page more visually attractive and inviting. The last interviewee valued the additional organizing functions they could use for their group.

Conclusion

Once again, everything is about the aesthetics! While DeviantArt is extremely outdated, I think they use it in their favor. Taking advantage that they're the only major art website, they know people will pay in order to use modern coding, so why go ahead and update the website for everyone?

Halfway Reflection

ENT3003 is not necessarily difficult, but the workload can be tough to keep with on top of your other courses. I feel that the most important behavior is to simply accept and enjoy this course- it makes the workload feel far less strenuous, which it definitely CAN be after this hurricane Irma hustle. Don't fight it, the deadlines are non-negotiable anyway. ENT is easy to enjoy in my opinion, as the lectures are entertaining and you learn extremely applicable skills.

After hurricane Irma, we went from having 2 assignments due per week to 3 assignments due per week. The first two weeks were especially difficult to get used to, and I actually just skipped one of the assignments because I couldn't handle the workload. Now, on the last week of 3 assignments being due, I am handling it fine. I developed tenacity through good planning. Instead of not looking at the assignment until Friday afternoon, I now prepare for them throughout the week. I may not be directly working and typing out these assignments, but they're on my mind. So, by the time Friday rolls around, I already know what to do and it becomes fairly straightforward.

So you don't become a sad kermit, here are my three tips:

1. Watch the lectures and take notes. Go to the live lectures if you can. Learn!

2. Take the assignments seriously. You're going to put a lot of work into your desired project, so if you hate it this will be like pulling teeth. 

3. Use a calendar to keep track of all your work.

12A- Figuring out buyer behavior

Segment: The online roleplaying community of artists

For my segment, I've chosen online artists in the 18-30 range, mostly college-educated females who roleplay online. After running some casual polls on Twitter, I gathered that 69% have been in the community for over 4 years, 40% perceived the community as growing larger, and 68% desired a place where they could post art, chat, and roleplay, like the website I'm trying to create.

My Findings

Those who voted 'yes' on my poll asking if they were interested in my product ended up being the ones I interviewed, since I knew they would have an unmet need. What I found is people are primarily dissatisfied with the outdated features of the website they currently use to post art on, Deviantart, and they are reminded of this when the website fails them with technical issues. Because the website is over 15 years old and many are longtime users, they know at this point there's not much to really google- there is no hope. So, they take to complaining to friends and followers on social media. After a few years, DeviantArt added a function that allowed users to post drafted artwork onto a cloud server. It uses newer HTML coding, but when the user chooses to upload their draft, it gets converted to the old, ugly HTML the main site uses, leading to hair-pullingly ugly formatting.

Conclusions

Because my segment is young and millennial, they're interested in ethical, modern, visually appealing platforms, and what they've been given to work with is certainly not that. If I choose to move forward with my website, I'm 99% sure I'll need to consult with a graphic designer and programmer ( I actually already know a few in this community already!) to help not make this website an ugly baby. If I do end up charging for premium memberships, I believe allowing attractive customization options for one's profile will definitely sell.

Noteworthy Napkin

I've always been the visionary/day dreaming type, and I love to share my thoughts with other people. I think aloud. I'm strong in the arts, and I aspire to combine my career with them someday. This is what I hope to do with my website, targeted at young digital artists. My demographic is 18-25, majority female women. The career range is varied, though a good portion are in the arts. They all draw as a hobby, though, and are usually involved in fandom culture.

Because this is a website, members can join for free. I may make a premium option, though, allowing more features and customization to those who pay a reasonable monthly fee. I believe selling advertising spaces would be pretty easy, since any nerdy/artsy company would find a fantastic audience within my demographic. 

I feel really lucky that I've found this niche audience. It's been neglected by most major art websites, so by catering specifically to them and ONLY to them I already have set myself apart.

The website I'm working on is for an audience that I've been apart of since I was 15. This community has literally helped shape who I've become, so I feel strongly about this. Since giving back to the community is definitely one of my motivations, the making money aspect of this is a bit weak compared to the other elements. Setting this website apart from other alternatives and having its appeal outweigh switching costs will also be my greatest struggle.

last ditch elevator pitch

*Disclaimer: That is a belted dress.

after multiple exams and quizzes this week, i was unable to find the willpower to drag myself outside to film this. sry dr. pryor

My phone ran out of storage so you guys are lucky enough to witness awkward closeups, stumbling over my own words, and the world's most punchable video thumbnail.


transcript if u dont wanna see my face:

We spend precious time on hobbies because like loreal, we know they're worth it. Artists, of all people, are well-aware of how valuable their time is. So why do they continue wasting it?

As technology progresses, digital art has emerged as a cost-efficient medium for visual artists. Similar to the art galleries you see downtown, websites dedicated to sharing art have popped up online.

We're going to get nerdy. In their spare time, artists come together online and work on original concepts of fictional worlds, stories, and characters, which is called roleplaying. Basically, it's as if Game of Thrones was a collaborative effort. A a LOT of time and effort goes into this- but here's the issue. These art-sharing websites wasn't really made for this.

The ability to group artwork with a common theme does exist- but they were made for sharing fanart and not original concepts. The websites are also often outdated, barely work on mobile, and make users pay to use modern coding for their profile pages. Due to this, roleplayers end up switching between 2-3 different websites, resulting in wasted time that could be spent creating.

My solution is to make a website for the roleplay community that is modern and effectively serves as one, singular place to properly share info, concept art, and possess solid social features as well, such as chatroom and direct messaging functions.

Would you be interested in checking out our kickstarter?