19 Idea Napkin No. 2

1.     I am a business administration major with a focus in public health. I have been on both sides of the curtain, meaning I can look at issues from both the perspective of the patient as well as the physician. From my experiences I’ve come to realize how much efficiency is an issue in the hospital from admitting patients to keeping them in the loop to eventually when the time comes for payment. This service would definitely be something I would try to implement in my chosen career as I strongly believe it would streamline the process for both patient and doctor; with a special emphasis on making the patient feel better about the whole ordeal.

2.     I am offering a service in the form of an application downloadable to your phone or system that would allow individuals to research their symptoms and get real time help with identifying their medical issues and then advice with what to do from there. This would help individuals decide whether it can be taken care of quickly, whether it should just be brought up during the next doctor’s visit, or whether this is something better left to Urgent Care. The app, in the case that the patient does need to go get more help, would be able to send any vital medical information directly to the medical carrier so that the process would be streamlined, and less time will be spent in the waiting room.

3.     The average customer for my chosen segment would be a millennial, someone who doesn’t have that much money to spend and already has loans and debts to pay from college. This would ensure that they would be frugal with their spending and would benefit from the app as they would be able to get more information free of cost before they are forced to shell out money to the hospital for the many bills that would soon accumulate.

4.     Customers would definitely invest in this app because it would save them time and money in the long run, especially since living frugally can come with its share of health concerns.

5.     My app, though it provides a research service that can also be accomplished through simple web-surfing, makes sure all pertinent information is in place and also provides a more user-friendly approach with more reliable diagnoses than simply Google. These diagnoses also have the opportunity to be vetted by real-time professionals so you can get a more experienced opinion and get any questions answered by qualified individuals.

The feedback helped me discover that sometimes going to the Emergency Room is unavoidable, especially because some people simply do not want to take any risk with their health. This made discover an alternate use for the app, which would be incorporating an assistance service for the waiting room which would save people time regardless because of the information that the hospital would already have on hand. 

18 Create a Customer Avatar

The prototypical customer in my segment could be described as a millennial or someone who is either in or fresh out of college. They would not have that much money to fall back on and are on the lookout for a solid job that will help solve this problem of finances. They would live a low-maintenance lifestyle and would not spend that much money on things that are unnecessary. The typical customer would own the following: most probably a Honda civic or a Toyota Camry. They would be living in an apartment, with other roommates and would pay an average of 500-800 per month on their living situation. They might be in a long-term relationship at this point but could also just be living the single life at this point ( not looking for anything serious). An average customer would probably work at a minimum wage job or an unpaid internship in their field of study and would average an age of 19-23.

I have a lot in common with the customer avatar, being in college myself. I have a job at Dunkin Donuts which provides me with spending money but definitely is not going to be anything more than temporary. Everything else applies to me as well; I drive a white Toyota Camry and tend to live on a tight college budget. I do not think this is a coincidence actually. I believe that I came up with this service because being part of the customer segment, I’m better at relating and knowing what they want. I believe that being more attuned to this segment also gives me that advantage because I would be able to better tell where the demand would be and for what services. 

16 Whats Your Secret

In my opinion, the 5 things that make me unique are the way I meet new people, my confidence, my problem solving skills, my ability to empathize with people, and my public speaking skills.

·        Meeting New People: I’m very good at making people feel comfortable with me, even if we have just met. I hate when things are awkward and often try my best to surpass this stage of any interaction with someone new, because chances are they’d hate it as much as I do. I take pride in making people feel comfortable with me and free enough that they can be themselves with me pretty soon.

·        My Confidence: I take on situations with confidence, even if I don’t always know what I’m doing. I often take charge in team situations naturally, and I enjoy being a leader in both school and work.

·        My Problem Solving Skills: Whenever confronted with an issue, I usually think outside of the box. Though that seems cliché, I often find myself looking at non-original ways to solve problems in daily life. On a team of individuals working towards a common goal, I feel as though this would definitely set me apart from the rest.

·        My Ability to Empathize: I find that people often come to me to talk about their problems, because of how easy I find it to empathize with others. I’m a very emotional person myself, and often make decisions based on how I feel. This goes as far as how attuned I am with people around me; I am easily influenced by others’ moods and feelings. Though this can be dangerous, I’ve found that it helps relate to others in conversations and relationships.

·        Public Speaking Skills: Last but not least, my public speaking skills are one of my biggest assets. My ability to communicate an idea expressively has always been one of my strongest skills, as I’ve grown up giving speeches. I feel as though the purpose of my speeches are almost always to inspire because I love to bounce off the audience’s emotions and feedback. Most people really fear speaking in public, and dread giving presentations in class or for work. But I love it, and I think this passion is what sets me apart and gives me an extra boost compared to others.

The people I interviewed echoed more or less, the same sentiments as I did when discussing my major skills and attributes. 4 out of 5 people I interviewed were people that I met within the last 2 years, which says a lot about skills 1 and 4. I didn’t see a lot of differences between the way my friends analyzed me and my own analysis. I think that one thing that could be found common among all the attributes that I assigned myself was the passion I had for each skill. I feel as though the fact that I enjoyed having those skills, and using those skills sharpened those abilities. This just goes to prove what people often say about doing things that you enjoy because the outcome will just be that much better. 

15 Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

The factors that come into play when deciding amongst alternatives for the people I interviewed was price, time and finally what can only be described as fear. People are looking to minimize the time and money they spend on diagnoses and treatment, and sometimes fear can either stop them from or cause them to go directly to the Emergency Room.

My segment, being more tech-savvy, appreciates the online version of this service. The theory right now is to cut costs completely, but in the case of some elements of the app requiring a small fee, it would be easier to link it to services such as PayPal for ease of use. However, everything would go through the app on their phone, which is the whole point. It’s like bringing the waiting room to your living room.

What would help them determine that the purchase was a good idea would be whether it ended up saving them the money that they would have spent going to the actual emergency room. Of course, as my interviewees explained, users of the app would feel more “right” when using the app for cases such as a cold as they might be more wary of going a non-traditional route with more serious medical issues.

 Based on this segment and the interviews conducted, I feel as though people within the segment are adventurous enough to try a non-traditional way of diagnosing medical issues, especially if it saves them time and money in the long run.

14 Halfway Reflection

1) Tenaciousness is a competency. The behaviors that really kept me on track with this course was planning ahead for assignments and keeping reminders for the different assignments and when they were due. It’s easy to forget things when you don’t write them down, and even while the due dates for this class are pretty routine, it’s easy to get caught up and forget. Time management is also key; you don’t want to spend too much time on a low-level task because you could be using the time and energy on something that actually requires more attention from you. Time is a limited commodity, use it wisely.

2) Tenaciousness is also about attitude. There were a couple moments, not only in regards to this specific class, where I felt like giving up. This usually entailed me looking at an assignment at the last minute and trying to see whether I really needed to do it to get a good grade or whether I could let it slide. What made me stop thinking like that was remembering that its easy to let a lot of little things slide, and eventually they add up. By that time, its too late to go back and fix things. I try to tell myself that its not an emergency and that I should save that margin of missed points for a time that I really can’t manage to come through. I definitely have developed a tenacious attitude during the past two months, and shallow as it may seem, seeing my points add up in the gradebook is what keeps me going.

3) Three tips.  Three tips that I would offer the next semester’s student to foster tenacity would be to 1. Plan ahead of time for what you know you have to do. 2.Make sure you practice time management in a way that makes you most efficient 3. Reward yourself after you complete a task as a way to reinforce your efforts and pushing forward.

13 Autobiography

Elon Musk

I had no clue that he was brought up in South Africa! That was really interesting to learn about. I admired how many companies Elon Musk had brought to success; I knew he owned Tesla but I did not know that PayPal was his own as well. He seems to have a bit of an air about him; however, this is probably common with his crowd of people. The competencies that I noticed was tenacity, experience, ability to read the public’s demand.  I would definitely ask him whether he ever thought he would be where he is today with all the success he has garnered. Another question would be whether he would have believed the world would be as advanced as it is today, back then. I’m sure his definition of hard work was one that spoke of remaining confident in what you have to offer the world even if you have to tweak it a bit. I agree with this; failure, daunting as it may seem, is one of the first steps any entrepreneur will have to deal with. 

12 Figuring Out Buyer Behavior

Based on the 3 relevant interviews I conducted, I gathered information that backed up my original opinion (that made me realize a need for this application) and reinforced the ideas that I had for the app.

After talking to the three, I realized that there is a very similar thought process when it comes to the emergence of any medical issue, especially in millennials. People usually google their symptoms and either freak out or just chalk it up to something mundane. Usually whatever choice they make is the wrong one. People end up going to the ER for things like a common cold while things like pneumonia are overlooked. They said that having a chat service attached to the app would be what would really draw them in, because talking with a real person, especially one with qualified experience, is the reassurance they would want in that type of situation. I also interviewed 2 individuals that did not have the need, simply because they either had the means to pay for any visits to the ER that turned out to be extraneous or because they had a mother or father than was in the medical profession and thus, could be on hand in case of any issues.  

11 Idea Napkin

1.     I am a Business Administration student seeking a career focused on Public Health. I’ve had experience both shadowing at a multi-specialty hospital in India but also on the other side of the curtain, when I was admitted to the ER for an abscess. Because of these experiences, I have gathered that there are a few issues concerning efficiency in the health field. I hope to, with this service as well as my career, eventually eradicate these problems so that getting treated or receiving medical attention is easier and more cost-efficient for everyone involved.

2.     The service that I am offering customers is an app that customers can download on their phones that will help them with diagnosis of their perceived medical issue while being able to get real time help from professionals on call, in order to decide whether it can be taken care of quickly, whether it should just be brought up during the next doctor’s visit, or whether this is something that Urgent Care should take care of. The app, in the case that Urgent Care is needed, will be able to send any medical information pertinent directly to the ER ahead of time, so that they already have your information by the time you get there, thus streamlining the process and avoiding the long, stereotypical waiting time.

3.     I’m offering this app to millennials especially, as they are usually the individuals who are looking to minimize expenditure, as they don’t really have a solid income flow yet.

4.     This will save them money long-term and also time, in the case that they do have to go to Urgent Care.

5.     My app, though it provides a research service that can also be accomplished through simple web-surfing, makes sure all pertinent information is in place and also provides a more user-friendly approach with more reliable diagnoses than simply Google. These diagnoses also have the opportunity to be vetted by real-time professionals so you can get a more experienced opinion and get any questions answered by qualified individuals.

I believe these elements do fit together in a way that would justify such an application being designed and built; however I am looking for more ways to distinguish this app from other existing services in a manner that will make it more appealing, and hence more profitable in the long run and over a wider target base.