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Entrepreneurial Mind: The Journey

Final Pitching Experience

Me and my teammates presented our business called LivInn for the final term, with the tagline “accommodation made simple,” on April 30, 2024. We at LivInn didn’t expect that we would be presenting our business first since we picked the number one spot by luck. Our presentation started when one of our members, Ms. Muñez, presented our business proposal, and overall, it was presented very nicely and smoothly. After that, the panelists then asked some questions for clarification, especially on the financial part. Like, how can we profit from this business, how can we attract customers, and what are the odds that our business will be successful. And we answered all of their questions. If we compare it to midterm pitching, we can say that in this term, it was a little bit easy and fun, especially since the panelists are very easy to talk to and very understanding. And if I were to rate the final term of pitching, I would give this experience a 9.5 out of 10.

Lecture Series

I was a little bit late since I went home to our town in Malaybalay because I was taking care of some important documents. Then I immediately traveled back and went to UCC to listen to the lecture series on this subject. At first, I didn't quite understand because, of course, I had just traveled, and I was still a bit dizzy since I'm not used to traveling yet. I took a short nap to ease my dizziness and nausea. After a few minutes, I woke up and went back to listening. The lecture series was actually fun because of the energy from the guest speakers. After another few minutes, I went outside because it was kind of hot inside. Then we went inside back again, and when the clock struck four in the afternoon, we left the lecture series to make our project, which is due tomorrow that day. Overall, the lecture series is fun.

Entrepreneurial Mind Journey

Hearing this subject way back in midterms, I actually expected that we would sell foods, snacks, or things because it was our entrepreneurial subject when I was in grade 12. But I was wrong. We were tasked with creating a solution to the on-going problems that were encountered by students here at CMU. And the idea that came into our minds is the problem that students outside Bukidnon encounter, which is the difficulty in looking for a pad or boarding house that is near here at CMU. And after thorough discussion, we then decided to create a website that will accommodate the needs of the students, which is LivInn. In our LivInn team, my role as a member is to do layout and editing stuff. I was tasked with doing our logos, our presentation, and the promotional video, since I was known to do layouts and stuff. In our logo, I was actually amazed that I came up with an idea quickly of what our logo would look like. When I read in the chat that our business name would be LivInn, I immediately imagined that the logo would be a form of a house. I created the logo using MS PowerPoint, then shared it after an hour of making it, which my groupmates approved.

For our promotional video, we were given a month to prepare it, but we didn't do it right away for the reason that there were other tasks whose due dates or deadlines were ahead of schedule compared to the promotional video. When there was like a week left, I immediately created a script and plot for our video. We then shoot our video, with Ms. Eballe as the camerawoman, Ms. Sibay as the actress, and me as the director, video editor, and voice actress. Overall, it was outstanding. I really like how my members cooperate.

They said that this subject will be a test of how strong your friendship bond is. They even said that many friends have been tested and are broken because of this subject. But for us, this subject made our bond stronger, for we saw how we would handle and do our parts responsibly and faster. Thanks to this subject, we've seen each other's flaws, so we know each other's limits. And if there’s one of us who needs help, we will then help each other because that’s what groups do; that’s what friendship is for.

Thank you, Entrep!!

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Improving LivInn

Business Presentation

On March 5, 2024, my groupmates and I presented our business, which is a website called LivInn, with the tagline “Accommodation made simple." We began to present our business around 2:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon. Although we had some difficulty at first due to the extremely slow internet connection in the room, the presentation went smoothly. When we started to present our business, they questioned our presented BMC because all of the contents on our paper were incorrect even though we had only followed the example sheet. But when the internet connection was stable, we immediately presented our beta version of our website to the panelists. They were amaze on how simple and organize our website was. At first, we really thought that the panelists were intimidating since we felt an energy towards them. But they were actually nice and open to all questions. Even though our BMC was all wrong, they helped us and suggested a lot of things on how to improve our business. They also helped us understand some things that were not taught. And they also fixed our BMC. If I were to rate the pitching experience, it will be 9 out of 10. It was almost perfect.

Interview with customers

We walked around the campus, at the college park, and in sampaguita to interview some customers, which are the landowners, landladies, and landlords. And 7 out of 10 of them want to avail themselves of and subscribe to our proposed business. Because, according to them, LivInn is:

Convenient

Because they don’t need to post it online and wait for the renter to pass by. A lot of them, especially some owners who are not capable of using gadgets, were struggling to find renters. And by availing of LivInn, the spaces that were available will be put in one setting, which is very convenient to them.

Accessible

This website is very easy to access. Their renters only need to tap the website and look for rooms that are suitable for their liking. They can also view or track the payables of their customers. They don’t need to go room to room to ask their renters about their payments. But instead, we can notify them and track their payables, paid or unpaid.

Faster

Students who are looking for available spaces will be using the said website since it is more convenient and faster. And because of this, the rooms that will be posted online will be displayed, and in just a few minutes, they will be rented.

But also, there were 3 out of 10 who are hesitant in availing our business. For the reason that;

It will cost them more.

They said that they were already paying a lot of bills, and availing of LivInn would only cost them more. If they really want to display their available rooms on our website with special offers, it will really cost them more.

It is inconvenient.

According to one of the interviewees, it is time-consuming and inconvenient because, at the end of the day, renters will still go to see the available space that they have rented online.

They are doubtful.

They are doubting if the website can really help them attract more customers. or it will just cost them more.

When doing business, we can’t really avoid that there were people who will disagree with your idea. Not because they hate you or they don’t want to support you, it is just that they are not sure if the business you were proposing will be successful. But there are also people who will support you no matter what. And that is the important thing that will keep us motivated. That will keep us move even though we failed a lot of times.

It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure -Bill Gates

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LivInn: Accommodation Made Simple

In this world, there are a lot of problems that circulate in our community. And we, people who are business-minded, have different opinions and ideas on how to solve it. Last time, we interviewed different students inside the university campus, and the problem that the students encountered the most was the difficulty of finding a place where they could live comfortably while studying here at CMU. And by doing so, we come up with a solution that will answer this problem. But first, I will tell you about our journey from preparation to customer validation of our business.

Venture Proposal

On February 12, 2024, we finalize our proposal. and I was tasked to do the logo of our service. It’s actually easy since I got an idea immediately on how to design our logo because of what’s our business name is and what's our business is all about. But it’s kinda difficult on deciding what will be the color of our logo is. I tried using maroon as it is the signature color of us engineers. I also tried navy blue since it is the color of our department. And I also tried other colors but it didn’t work. After like an hour, we decided to do it in blue since it is nice and not that painful to the eyes.

On February 13, 2024, we proposed our business, LivInn, with the tagline “accommodation made simple." This is a service that serves as a platform wherein students can book for a boarding house or dorm easily, either inside or outside the campus, without having to unnecessarily spend a huge amount of money or time. Its objective is to help students find a place to stay while studying for their dream course here at Central Mindanao University.

Proposing this business idea is very hard and tiring, especially since it’s very hard to explain your proposal to people who have different ideas or views on how to run it. But we, the LivInn team, believe that this business idea is great, so we didn't stop proving it by answering all the questions without difficulty. After all, it’s we who will run the business. 

After our venture proposal, we then proceed to the grandstand to celebrate our success and talk further about on how to improve our service. We also talked on what are the possible questions that will be asked by the future panelist.

Customer Validation

Before we will proceed in making this service, first we need to gather feedback and opinions from the potential customers to make sure that our service will help them accommodate their problems in finding a place to live in. So, we asked students around campus if they are willing to use our service.

There are 9 out of 10 students who are willing to use our service. For the reason that:

It is convenient;

It is accessible to all types of mobile phones or gadgets;

It is not time consuming;

It is faster; and

It is affordable.

They didn't have any suggestion for the reason that our idea is already great. They also said that they will support our service, and will advertise it to their classmates, friends, or siblings once the service will start.

Planning and starting a business is very difficult. But if you are really committed, then you are willing to take risk in order for your business to be a successful one. As what Mario Andretti said, "if you're so afraid of failure, you will never succeed. You have to take chances". That's why we, the LivInn team, are ready to take risks in order for this service to be a successful one.

-- Angela Fabre; BSCE1A

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Bridging Dreams Beyond Distance

    Have you ever wondered or asked yourself how hard it is to be far away from your family for the first time? That you're the only one responsible for everything you do and will do in the future? Because if so, is it difficult? Is it hard? Are you still coping with the changes?

    Ever since I started my freshman year, I have found it difficult to live far away from my family, especially since I will be responsible for everything that I do. But considering other students like me, I still consider myself lucky, for I can go home whenever I want since the distance of the campus from home is only 1 hour away. There was one time when we questioned ourselves, how did the students outside Bukidnon find a place to live considering that they would travel 6–8 hours in order to reach the campus from their homes?

     To answer our curiosity, me and my groupmates stroll around and interviewed some students around Central Mindanao University Campus, and a lot of them faced different problems. But to our concern, there are a lot of difficulties that the students encountered when they were looking for a house to live temporarily while studying here at CMU. So here are some of the problems that the students from outside Bukidnon encountered when they were looking for a house to live with.

Problems Encountered by Students

1. Distance

Students that live outside Bukidnon are struggling, especially since they don’t have any relatives or contacts here in Bukidnon. According to some, it is very exhausting to look for a house, especially since they need to travel for about 6–8 hours.

2. Time consuming

Visiting from one house to another is very time-consuming. According to them, they visit 3–6 houses just to find houses that are very comfortable to live in. also because they need to check every house and room to see if it is small or big and if it is comfortable or not.

3.      Not budget-friendly

Some students can afford expensive houses, but some cannot. Houses that have a great and peaceful environment, along with nice rooms and utilities, are very expensive and are not budget-friendly for some students since they have to fit their allowance for their next need.

4. Lack of details

Since social media is popular nowadays, landowners will post their houses and look for tenants. They will include inclusions, prices, and many more. but the only thing they lack are pictures of every room and how many people can live in one room. According to a student, he found a post where he traveled and visited the house, only to find out that the room is for 4-6 people, is very small, and is not comfortable to live in.

5.      Availability

There are a lot of houses that can be seen both outside and inside the campus. That's why it is very hard to differentiate and distinguish if that house is a boarding house or not. A student answered that she and her parents visited and asked a lot of houses inside the campus if they were available or not. And it took them half a day to find a comfortable, have a peaceful environment, and was near her college.

     After hearing the problems of the students in Central Mindanao University that lives outside Bukidnon, we come up a solution that will cater and solve all their problems in finding a house.

We will create an application where all the available houses near the campus can be seen. This includes:

Rent - to know if it is budget-friendly or not

Pictures - to know what the house looks like. this includes pictures both inside and outside the house (backyard, rooms, utilities, kitchen, etc.)

Measurements - to know if the house is big or not

Prices - to know if there are additional fees for appliances

Directions - to know the location of the house, and to know if it is near their college

Inclusions - to know the things that are included along with the payment (electricity, appliances, water, Wi-Fi, etc.)

Ratings - to know if the house is good or not

Payable features - to track the fees

 

Last Tuesday, we proposed our proposal to Mr. Menguito, our entrepreneurial mind instructor, and he commented that our idea on how to solve this problem is good but not unique. It lacks what he calls a "wow factor." It means that we still need to think about how to improve our ideas to turn them into a unique ones. In order to do so, we will again interview students and will ask them on any suggestion about our proposal on how we can improve it. And after that, we will do research, and then compile our ideas together to come up a better and unique idea.

-- Angela Fabre; BSCE1A