My first goal that I think I could accomplish would be finding a mentor. This all important mentor will guide me through the start up process, tell me about his or her mistakes and help he grow as an entrepreneur. Everyone needs someone to look up to and business owners are no exception. I believe that I could find and establish a relationship with this mentor within the following 5-6 months although I don’t really like to think of finding friends on a schedule. I am already at a point where I know several entrepreneurs and perhaps it is just a matter of deepening a relationship with one of these candidates.

The next thing that I think I could accomplish would be to work towards implementing a Market Research project. I have just taken a class on market research and it has shown me that learning about your market is very important. It can help you from making mistakes before you act. It seemed to me like market research is kind of like being psychic in the business world. If done correctly you will find out what exactly are your customer pains and how THEY want it to be solved. Through a series of focus groups and surveys I could reveal the hidden secrets of my target market and in the process, develop a competitive edge while deepening the relationship I want with my target market. I wish to know them all by name if at all possible….(Kidding!) The project on market research that a group and I conducted for class took an entire semester so a realistic time frame to execute this goal would be with in the next year just because I know that I am prone to making mistakes, learning something new about my market then having to rethink my whole concept…I can’t wait.

After thoroughly conducting research on my target market I would analyze the industry. How saturated is the industry, who would be considered my primary competitors, my secondary competitors, what are their price points, what should my price points be, what is the industry average, how successful have ventures similar to mine been in the past. There are so many questions that not just stir up my imagination but also are essential to figure out before entering a financial risk like the this one. Because there aren’t exactly eco-friendly nightclubs on every street corner, I will have to infer many conclusions and estimate to the best of my ability. How long will this take me you ask? I would say about 6 months and it would be after or during the market research step.  Realistically maybe within the next 1.5 years.

With information about the industry, my market and a mentor that is helping me along the way, I think I would be ready to begin on my business plan. At the moment I am not quite sure how to do this…”Luckily”, I will be writing one for a class next semester. After I gain some practice doing this and master the process I will feel confident in my ability to carry one out myself, well with the help of my mentor of course. I will put all that I learned about my market and the industry in a consistent and cohesive matter. This will probably take me another 6 months to finish and can be done only after I have finished my research (is that ever really done?). I would say that within the next 2-2.5 years I could finish this business plan and move on to my fifth goal.

What is the last goal that I think I could accomplish within the next 3 years? I believe that at this point I should evaluate and assemble my resources. I need to figure out where all the things that I need will be coming from. I need capital of course, human resources, a location…and the list goes on and on. Being a student at a university I feel that I have an advantage. I have friends and contacts in virtually all fields of study including the all important engineers. As for money…bootstrapping, here I come. I will have to put forth the 100 dollars from my savings account and then reach out to my friends, family and fools. At this point I think I would not just need help from angel investors but from a “guardian” angel investor. I confess, this part makes me the most nervous because it takes me furthest from my comfort zone but I know that with hard work, long hours and a river of blood, sweat and tears, I can assemble everything I need to succeed. It is one of my philosophies that I like to live by, that if you ever need something, there is always help, you just need to know where to look.

What were your impressions when the Ipod was introduced?

” I thought it was something cool. I hadn’t ever seen anything like that. I wasn’t sure if I would need something like that since I’ve had gone this far just switching CD’s in my walkman. The idea of having more than 20 songs at a time sounded great and I wanted one but they were so expensive at first.”

What made you want one?

” I started seeing people around school with them. Especially on field trips, they didn’t have a backpack full of CD’s anymore, just this cool looking thing that would play tons of music. It looked really convenient. And for people on the go, you wouldn’t have to make sure you didn’t tilt your walkman anymore so it wouldn’t skip the music.”

When did you finally get one?

“Once they started coming out with different versions and the older versions were getting a little cheaper. It was all I asked for months before Christmas, only because I knew it was something that my parents could afford.”

What was your reaction when you took it for a test drive?

” WOW, it was one thing checking out someone else’s but it was so much better to have your own. I was surprised with how much you could customize it to your liking. From music to pictures and videos, it was like a media haven! I would show all my friends pictures from it, let them hear this new song I discovered or videos from last weeks party.”

Would you have bought it earlier if they had been cheaper?

“Yeah definitely, I usually like to be a trendsetter. But I’m a college kid in the struggle so price is really something I have to take into consideration.

Because of the nature of my idea, I find it more efficient to focus on the early adopters, early majority and the late majority. Theoretically the innovators spend the most money because they tend to be more wealthy and are the first to buy your product or service but my intended target market consists of college students and young professionals who generally do not tend to be wealthy and are frugal with their money; therefore, I would not want to focus as much energy into this group. I would also not focus as much attention to the laggards. This would be simply because this group is the smallest section of the market and the hardest to convince. Besides that, I think that word-of-mouth would be a greater influence on these almost non-believers.

Early Adopters

Early adopters of a product or service are the customers who are known for being more educated, leaders, popular, and well respected with in social networks. They are really the ones that “drive the inflection point” on the curve of a product’s lifetime. I think that my idea easily caters to this type of customer. One of my core competencies focuses on developing an environment that is not only fun but eco-friendly. Being that early adopters are more educated, this aspect of the nightclub would greatly appeal to them if they are on top of current events. I may also be able to benefit off the fact that they tend to be popular and well respected. It would be easy to implement special pricing for groups which would greatly appeal to the early adopters because they are more than likely the ones with the power and inflence to gather people to do something.

Early Majority

The ealry majority is another groups that I would focus on. This is an important group because they promote growth of the product or service and constitute about 34% of the whole market. These customers are deliberate, are generally optimistic and have many informal social contacts. To attract this type of consumer to my business, I think that marketing the facts about my nightclub would be most important. After knowing the information behind the economic responsibility, what kind of music is played, price ranges of things like drinks, VIP and cover charge they will have a good base off of which to make their decision. Through facts and reasonable prices, the early majority will have an easier time when shopping around for night fun and hopefully this technique will deter them from the competition.

Late Majority

Another group that makes up approximately 34% of the market are the late majority. These consumers have many characteristics that are mostly driven by their socio-economic status. They are skeptical and cautious before trying something new mostly because their resources are scarce. Some features of my business that I know would attract these members of the late majority would again focus on price. I could offer getting in free before 11pm and very enticing drink specials. This would make trying my service practically risk free, the only thing that they would have to pay is their time spent.

1. First of all I need a market. Is there in fact a market for an eco-friendly night club? Let’s start with being eco-friendly in general. It seems as though being eco-friendly and going green is no longer just a lifestyle choice but is forcefully being integrated into our lives. Like laws regulating car emissions and recycling. Every kind of media that you tune into from tv to radio has promotion of some new green concept. The internet alone comes up with millions of hits on “going green”. So if going green is affecting even the everyday parts of our lives, who’s to say that it can’t affect the way we have fun.

2. Nothing is for certain but now that I’m pretty sure I have a market I can move on to other important things. You know that saying “With great greenness comes great responsibility” well with this great responsibility comes great technology. Is there available technology to help me with my needs, because everyone knows it’s not a party unless you have a million watts of music blasting five inches from your face. But how can I do this and run other parts of my business in the most efficient way possible? Well, I no longer have to wish upon the ‘energy star’…energy efficient models are available to do almost all jobs that regular appliances do from water heaters to AC units.

http://www.energystar.gov/ I visited the energy star website and found out that commercial green upgrades are truly at my fingertips.

3. But now I have a market and the technology but what about someone who knows how to work this stuff because I sure don’t. Yeah I can learn but I still need people to learn from. Finding the right people for the job and having them here as a resource to help me grow is such a valuable asset. What kinds of people would I need? Off the top of my head I can think of a contractor, computer programmer, and engineers galore. It’s a good thing I have connections with these fields, I have countless friends that have or will in the near future graduate from the college of engineering, I come from a long line of contractors and handy men. I’m sure I can find the right person for the right job but at what cost.

4. That brings me to my fourth resource, TIME. This is one of the harder resources to salvage from our busy schedules. I know I wouldn’t be making money right away so no one is going to want to quit their jobs to come work with me full-time with no pay, this is why I would have to work with everyone’s lives involved in making this happen and push for completion as well as push myself to make this a priority.

5. The last resource I feel I would need would be expertise and passion (ok, it’s kinda 2 things). We talk about this endless times in class and hear it all over the internet. And I’m not just talking about spending 20 hours a week for 10 years in nightclubs studying and perfecting the art (which is a sacrifice I would be willing to make…just kidding,  but not really). I feel like I have the drive and ambition but I still feel that need to expand my knowledge of the ‘green’ industry and learn everything about it. I don’t want to claim to be green then lose my credibility for something like getting caught using 3-layer toilet paper in the bathrooms and potentially starting WWIII-ply…haha. I know that with out the knowledge and passion on the subject/ industry I can’t and shouldn’t expect my business to grow into the vision that I have.

Acquiring these resources won’t be easy, in fact, my top five resources potentially will change as I delve deeper into my concept, but for now I feel that once I can get hold of these resources others will come later such as capital which would be an obvious place to start when thinking about resources.

The entrepreneur I chose to interview is a close friend of the family, Carlos Peralta. He is a Peruvian-American who, get this…went into the Japanese Express restaurant business.

Here is a record of my encounter with the man and family behind Tokyo Express:

1. Q: What type of venture did you and your family set out to start up?

A: We are owners of a chain of Japanese Express restaurants

2. Q: Why did you start this particular kind of restaurant, don’t you get a lot of questions regarding the fact that you  aren’t Japanese yet you specialize in that kind of cuisine?

A: YES! We do get that a lot, but the reason we got into this business because my parents had previously worked at a Japanese restaurant, they mastered the recipes and techniques and after leaving Peru, they figured it was a skill that they could make a living off of.

3. Q: So, was that their initial goal when they started the venture, to make a living?

A: I think so, at first it was so they could get by not having other skills better than cooking. Of course it changed little by little to something that they took care of and they got great satisfaction from since they didn’t have to report to anyone anymore, they were their own bosses.

4. Q: What kind of resources are needed to start a venture like this?

A: If you want to have a good restaurant you need to have good food. The biggest resource would have to be the knowledge on food preparation and cooking. If you have this, everything else will come easier. You could even sell food from your house, if it wasn’t for laws and regulations! You also need a good location and of course a following.

5. Q: Can you talk about the most recent site you are working on, I know you are starting this one up and running it on your own. What kind of resources did you need for this one in particular?

A: Yeah, the most recent one I have been working on has been a restaurant that is set to open soon in Sanford. Location was an important factor here. I looked online a long time to find restaurants that had gone out of business so I could take over their lease. I also had to make sure that the reason they weren’t getting enough business wasn’t because of its location. I’ve also had to invest in hiring a contractor to remodel the inside to my specifications. All in all, I have had to raise about $40,000. For the other 5 restaurants my family and I have always relied on other family and friends for start up money but this time, I’m using some personal investments as well as getting my first bank loan.

6. Q: Ok, so you have 5 other restaurants, where and what was your strategy on placing them there?

A: Tokyo’s started about 10 years ago in Loris, South Carolina just because that’s where my parents first came when they left Peru. Loris is a really small town so we decided not to put another one in the same area so we began expanding into surrounding areas slowly. We eventually got established in Florence, Whiteville, Elizabethtown, Aberdeen, Lumberton, and the 7th will be in Sanford.

7. Q: What would you say is the greatest satisfaction to owning and operating your own business?

A: I really like serving people, making sure they are satisfied and take a lot of pride in what I do. There is no greater feeling than working for yourself.

I really thought that Carlos and his family took a big leap of faith into this industry. I applaud them for stepping outside the box and going after what no one knew was there. I also saw a big emphasis on location, location, location. The first rule in real estate that obviously holds true for commercial property as well. The part that I found most insightful would have to be their taking advantage of the failure of other businesses in order to take over their lease. That was a way I don’t think I had thought of before. I love hearing about stories about how a business came along, I know this is just one of many heard and many more to come.

We are talking luxurious recyclables, renewable recourses and organic bliss. You’d think you died and went to LED heaven.

An opportunity that I would like to take advantage of would be joinning the world of becoming GREEN. People are realizing the impact that we are having on the planet and more and more people are opting for a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Every part of one’s lifestyle is affected by deciding to take on a green life, from grocery shopping to throwing out the trash so who said that it all has to be all work and no play. That’s where I come in.

Staying true with my passion for music, cultures, dancing and the magic of living a nightlife I would create an nightclub that would be somewhat eco-friendly. Of course there are limits to what one can do but every little thing counts.

The video below combines my dream of innovation and steps towards becoming self sufficient. Imagine the utility bill for a nightclub, now imagine that bill shrinking all with the busy steps of Latin salsa dancers or the jumping around of the ravers drowning in house music.

I began my academic career wanting to go into interior design but then discovered the passion I had for the business world; nevertheless, style and taste will not be sacrificed in the production of this work. There are many high-end, low energy alternatives now-a-days from low flow faucets to LED lighting and bamboo flooring, looks are no longer an excuse for not being “Green”.

Going green does however come with a nice little pricetag. Eco-friendly products usually cost more (if you don’t believe me walk through the organic section of your supermarket). Club owner and entrpreneur Jon Bakhshi estimated that most clubs in NY take about $1,ooo,ooo to start and his club “Greenhouse” which he is looking to get a LEED certification for cost him about $2,ooo,000 in order to upgrade to eco-friendly components (‘Green’ Nightclub Trend Comes to NY).

As you have probably already noticed, I am not the first to think of this idea, but I am inspired to make the idea unique and customize it to fit this area. This would bring something different to Raleigh, and with all these environmentally conscious students, I feel like this would be an ideal opportunity to pursue.

I found information on start ups and specifically how the green trend has already hit some major parts of the world:

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/green-nightclub-trend-comes-to-new-york/?apage=2#comments

http://blog.globalbx.com/2009/08/31/how-do-i-find-new-business-opportunities-in-my-area/