What's Your Secret Sauce?

Unique Human Capital:

1. Focus: I have the ability to stay on tasked and realize when something is accomplishable, persisting in the completion of a task to realize the goals as quickly as possible.

2. Solo-Improvement: In many situations, I have had to teach myself many things either using the internet, books or experience. Coming from schools which didn’t have the best teachers, I had to learn how to teach myself a lot of academic material and as a result learned a vital skill, learning through research, action, and self-thought.

3. Self-Analysis: I have always loved meta-cognition and thinking about situations from a third-person perspective. This allows me to view my own actions, analyzing them, realizing my mistakes or ways to improve my actions. I always wanted to be self-aware, so I would focus on my thought process a lot in primary school, knowing how you came to a conclusion is just as important as the conclusion. I have focused on this so much, that the majority of the time when I think back on something, I automatically remember it in the third person.

4. Critique Building- I love it when someone gives me criticism no matter how vicious the critique may be. You must be open to what other people say. If you only listen to yourself, then you will only know what you know and see what you see. Alan Watts, a fantastic eastern philosophy speaker, has a segment where he explains when all you do is think then you will be left with only thinking about past thoughts. Similarly, if all you do is talk, you could only talk about past things you talked about. I take criticism open-heartedly, otherwise, that would mean I would be doing something that is not worth paying attention to.

5. I can easily change my state of mind. As funny as it may sound, one of the things I love doing is getting in touch with my emotions. I love to see how sad I can get and see what thoughts arise, as well as how happy I can become. I can get myself in zones when needed and calm down as well when necessary to recover. I use my emotions to drive me actively.

Responses:
People saw me relatively similar to how I saw myself with the other main difference being that 2 people told me I was extremely patient, and not at all quick to be tempered. They said that they have never seen me be angry in a situation that is serious or has seen me become overwhelmed by the situation.

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

From the perspective of the government in water treatment, there aren’t many alternative choices. They primarily use already established treatment plants. This is part of the main issue. Many of the plants that are being used are not the most ideal for the standards of current living situations. Citizens don’t focus on which plants are being used, they mostly only care about having the availability of water. Governments just want the cheapest solution, most times changing the infrastructure is not cheap. Price is king in government spending. The only time infrastructure is changed is when the change is necessary. Purchase of this nature, as a result, is usually financed, or either paid as a service, meaning the company would own the means and the service, being the treatment of water would be paid on a timed or unit basis. As a post-purchase evaluation, people would focus on the availability of the water, and whether it was of a quality that they expected. From the government's position, this would be through happy citizens.

14 Halfway Reflection

I have learned to properly prioritize assignment in the course in order to have ample time to research and get on track with blog posts, as well as identify the important topics discussed in a lecture which may be on the cupcakes. 

One semester when I was dealing with insomnia I thought about just dropping a programming course that I had out of fear that I would not be able to keep up. I stayed in the course since it was still early in the semester, and while I didn’t do as well as I could have I ended up passing the course, allowing me to stay on track with my major. I was going to just do my best and learn as much as possible so that if I needed to retake the course I would have already learned the majority of the material.

Tips:

1. Simply start working. Don’t worry too much about a certain assignment, a lot of time I would overcomplicate something and it would prevent me from starting it.

2. I enjoy the phrase, “you only fail if you stop trying”. Just because something isn’t working out in your favor at the moment, doesn’t mean you can’t recover, when you do tumble, learn to walk it off and not worry about it too much.


3. Learn to juggle assignments. Sometimes when a specific assignment is giving me trouble I set it aside and start on another one. A lot of times, when I come back with a fresh mind I am able to finish the assignment more easily.

Reading Reflection No. 1

Book: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance

What surprised me the most about Elon Musk was the sheer determination that he has to accomplish the goals that he has set out and his childhood experience. It was surprising to me that in his childhood he was beaten up by bullies to the extent that he had to be hospitalized. Once again, I admire his determination, which is clearly portrayed and elaborated through the various quotes in the book by other people describing Elon Musk, going as far as comparing himself to a samurai. At times though this determination has been to the adverse effects of others, criticizing the work ethic of his workers at times. The book has a quote was Elon Musk replied angrily to a worker who missed an event in order to see his child be born. The adversity that he faced as a child caused him to become more introspective, which aided him in his philosophical perspective to problem-solving. Elon Musk is very capable of seeing opportunities that could be used to better the future of humanity. If I could ask two questions to him they would most likely be, what his schedule usually consists of and how long he spends not “working” and just relaxing a day, if he accounts specific time for it, or if he doesn’t really find the need to. I agree with his opinion of hard work, just to a lesser extent. It may just be that I haven’t found the motivation to fulfill something like he has. His outlook on finding that driver does give me hope that anybody can build that intense work ethic all you have to do is ask the right question.

12. Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

Segment focused on: Populations Currently experiencing water problems (i.e. residents of California during water restrictions, Cape Town)

I interviewed 2 residents of California who experienced the water restrictions as well as my roommate’s, relatives who live in Cape Town. I learned that before learning about the restrictions they hadn’t thought of water as a resource, it was such a simple thing in everyday life that they didn’t realize that some shortages could happen or restrictions would have to be implemented. When the restrictions did take effect they researched why the restrictions were being implemented as well as for how long the restrictions would be for and the future of the water resources locally. This industry is somewhat difficult to enter as people didn’t begin their information search and need awareness until the need was no longer met. The people are not actively looking for this need to be met, they primarily only want this need met when they no longer have it, but it is still an important need, that the governments are making sure to have at all times. As climate talk increases and people become more wary of the environment in the future people become more cautious about these needs. It is an everlasting industry that increasing environmental awareness will enter public awareness more in the future.

Napkin No. 1

1. I am Jonathan Lopez, a student at the University of Florida studying computer science. I have experience in constructing an idea for a business and presenting the said idea, having participated in UF Catalyst. In even my group and I won 2 awards including people choice. With my idea specifically, I wish to better the current infrastructure of water treatment plants in order to make them more efficient, preventing public water shortages in the future.

2. I am offering an increase in available clean water through the treatment of otherwise unusable water.


3. Offering it everywhere that imports the majority of their water, to increase self-sustainability.


4. Many places around the world have begun to experience water crises or water scares resulting in some people worrying about the availability of water in the future, especially since water is a necessary resource for modern survival.


5. I am competent in presenting ideas physically as well as have the previous history in the beginning stages of a business idea.

Me being confident in my presentation abilities as well as having some background in business creation have good synergy with my idea, however, computer science does not have a big benefit when it comes to creating a more efficient water treatment facility. My idea most likely will not be a radical change, but rather an improvement on already existing institutions which will likely deter some people from thinking that the product would be of enough worth to transfer.

Testing the Hypothesis

People interviewed: California residents and people who frequently visit relatives in Cape Town.

The problem I focused on was the increasing amount of water crises and shortages around the world.

Who:
Many people around the world have begun to face water shortages, the two most recently notable, in modern societies, being Cape Town, South Africa, and California. The respective governments and residents of these locations are the ones that are affected by the water shortage. If the country which experiences a shortage is a water export country as well, then all the countries that import water from there would also be affected.

What:
There are variable differences in water shortages around the world. In established societies, it has only gotten to the point of water restrictions needed to be passed. Water does serve many purposes from daily use to agricultural. Imported water is not the primary need we are addressing. I am attempting to address the loss of local water found primarily in aquifers.

Why:
Most needs are for daily use and are experiencing shortages due to either the demand surpassing the supply or environmental factors such as droughts.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Residents who are in countries with water shortages	Residents of countries with ample supply of water
Increase in usable water for public use	Increasing importation of water to outside countries
Water usage is increasing and environmental factors are limiting supply	Water supplies beginning to run out and countries restricting the use of newer water sources.

8A-Solving the Problem

The problem that I wanted to focus on is the availability of clean water for drinking or other use as many locations around the world have begun or have announced that they may experience restrictions in the availability of water. One way that the solution to this problem could go is through the production of cheaper and more efficient desalination processes in order to utilize sea water or other sources of salt water for public use. The product would gather water from various different sources such as sea water, lake water, and process the water to be prepared for daily use. The product will primarily be used as a secondary measure in the event that water availability becomes scarce. Another route that water cleansing could follow is by focusing on the recyclability of wastewater. By focusing in this route many countries would be able to become self-sustaining rather than depend on imports which could fluctuate and result in a dependent country on one of, if not the most, important resource in modern society.