Under Dominic Lambaria:
River Rouge Tour/Ford Museum/Mario’s Visit
On March 15th, 2014 Dr. Michael Witt, faculty adviser for Entrepreneurs Society, along with 12 members traveled to Dearborn, Michigan to embark on the River Rouge Tour and journey through the Ford Museum. Students witnessed Ford F150’s being assembled using lean manufacturing from parts to completion. This allowed for students to put their coursework into play; especially in operations management and logistics. The River Rouge Factory Tour was named one of the ten great places to be inspired by innovation by USA today, and the students believed that rang true. They were able to view the vast expanse of the ground-breaking roof, “The Big Green Roof,” which is taking going green to a whole new level. The group also watched a short synopsis on how Ford began and what innovations and insights were put into place that allowed for their current success.
Next the students ventured through the Ford museum where they saw various artifacts that document the genius of Americans as they imagined and invented. The museum is a single floor space with elevated 40-foot ceilings which covers nine acres dedicated to showcasing the finest collection of its kind ever assembled.
After a day full of applicable knowledge the studious group finished the day off with a taste of Italy. The group went to Mario’s Italian Restaurant in Detroit. This restaurant has been around since 1948 and provides a truly unique dining experience with table-side cooking, astounding service, valet parking and ball room dancing on the weekends. Dr. Witt recommended this gem to the group and we were astounded by the food, service, and overall experience. Thanks to his generosity, as well as the planning committee of Sean Tabor and Jennifer Wenzlick, we all left for home enlightened, educated, and satisfied.
Work/Live Project: Survey Guide
The University of Michigan-Flint Entrepreneurs Society has partnered with Habitat for Humanity in their Work-Live Project. Habitat for Humanity decided in order to spark small business growth in the Flint area that they would build a house that is both residential and commercial. The individuals living in the house would need to pay $400.00 a month for rent and would live on the second floor of the house. On the first floor of the house would be their business. Tyler Bienlein and Scott Hempel are the young entrepreneurs that presented the most thorough business plan to Habitat for Humanity and were chosen. In order to ensure that their business is a success U of M – Flint’s Entrepreneurs Society decided to assist Tyler and Scott with their business plan and market analysis.
We started by reviewing their business plan and critiquing the plan. This involved many stages for the entrepreneurs as well as us; we continually questioned their reasoning’s and assumptions. After their financials and the business plan were in order we embarked on the market research analysis. We created a survey that would measure their customer base, the amount of repeat customers to expect, and how to maximize revenue. This survey was then distributed to the students at the University of Michigan-Flint, Mott Community College, Baker College, and Kettering University. After we received the results we were able to analyze the results with Tyler and Scott. Properly preparing new business owners on what to expect after opening day is integral to their success. We can only hope that their drive and passion for their business continues to grow as they prosper.
- After going over the business plan in great detail, the individuals need to survey the market to get an idea of who they are trying to sell their products to and what exactly the individuals want.
- First sit down with the entrepreneurs and ask how their operations will run on a daily basis, what their plan to make revenue is, and who they are trying to target.
- Familiarize yourself with Qualtrics, the website that you will be using to design the questions, also create a username and password. http://umflint.qualtrics.com. It may be helpful to create some questions without predefined responses, to allow for more information from the students.
- Formulate questions: Create questions that analyze the different individuals that would be interested in their business, when it would be most convenient for them to go to the business, and what they would spend the most money on. In essence the survey should measure their customer base, the amount of repeat customers to expect, and how to maximize revenue. For an example of a previous survey follow this link.
- Send questions to the business owners for review: Before creating the survey on Qualtrics, make sure to speak with the business owners and see if they approve of the questions and if there are other questions they would like included. They may know what information they want but not how to formulate the questions, so you may need to assist with the translation process.
- Rework questions: Change questions to their liking; make sure they give you a final approval. This may require sometime.
- Create survey: Now use Qualtrics to create the survey
- Distribute survey to the University of Michigan-Flint students. This can be done via a mass email to all students on campus.
- Distribute to Kettering University: This can be done by contacting the faculty advisor for Kettering University’s Entrepreneurs club, his name is Dr. Massoud S. Tavakoli, and his email address is mtavakol@kettering.edu.
- Distribute to Mott Community College: This can be done by either contacting Tom Crampton or Carol Van Buren, who are involved with the Entrepreneurs Society at Mott. Tom’s email address is Thomas.crampton@mcc.edu. You could also contact Dawn Vanniman in their Student Life Department, her email address is dawn.vanniman@mcc.edu.
- Distribute to Baker College: You can contact Dr. John Cote who is the Chairman of the Board for Baker, his email address is john.cote@baker.edu.
- After giving the survey a couple weeks to receive input from all individuals, log into Qualtrics and create a report. Be advised that you may have to continuously check as more students may participate. The survey was first distributed in December and I still had individuals completing the survey in February.
- Analyze results from the report: form own opinions and assumptions based on the data to bring to entrepreneurs.
- Meet with entrepreneurs: Discuss ways they could improve their business model or change certain aspects to generate more revenue.
Pictures for Presents
The Entrepreneurs Society partnered with the Student Veterans Association Flint – Chapter, and Timeless Surroundings Natural Photography LLC in an effort to benefit Toys for Tots. The program was developed by member, Bryon Killin, who took lead on the project. The event was designed to help members of the community in a multifaceted manner, by offering a free portrait session and a small photo package, in exchange for a donation to the Toys for Tots charity.
The entire event was planned and executed in less than a month. The members involved worked tirelessly on a large marketing campaign. This marketing effort generated multiple radio advertisements, one on air interview with Lou Lobsinger on AM 1570, and various television advertisements on local news programs, including a featured spot on WJRT TV12’s MugShot promotion.
The turnout for the event was not what everyone involved hoped for, but the benefit was a complete success nonetheless. Total, over 50 toys were collected for Toys for Tots, and Timeless Surroundings processed 17 portrait packages.
To continue with this effort, plans are already being made for next year in an attempt to create an annual drive. Killin, and the members involved are taking the positive and negative aspects of this initial year, and learning how to make the next year bigger and better.
StrengthFinder Survey
Coffee Beanery Tour
The Entrepreneurs Society visited Coffee Beanery at its Headquarters in Flushing, MI. (http://coffeebeanery.com/). Kevin Shaw, COO (also, son of the Founders Julius and Joanne Shaw), was a charming and knowledgeable host, and is warmly thanked for his gracious hospitality.
Coffee Beanery is an international company with 100 US and 20 international sites. It serves consumers directly through its consumer franchise locations. It also delivers ground coffee to corporate customers.
Coffee Beanery carefully selects its coffee beans from growers and roasts the coffee in its Flushing facility. The aroma is fantastic and it is a must-see place. The flavor is the result of a great deal of experience, care and handling in the selection and roasting process. It is selected to be smooth and tasty, without the sharp, bitter flavors or barely noticeable flavors associated with some other company products.
Mr. Shaw also shared the small-town success story of Coffee Beanery, and traced the history over a 40 year period where his parents started with $75 and grew the company to a serious competitor on the coffee scene. Attention to detail, excellent customer service, and careful marshaling of financial resources have formed the basis for a stable and growing company.