11A-Napkin Idea

1. I am the son of a man who taught school for 39 years. At a young age I was taught the importance of education and what it means to care about others. I am extremely athletic and for 15 years played baseball and basketball. I love being outdoors as well as doing anything that involves water. Being a good husband is a skill I strive to improve on each and every day. I have been fortunate in experiencing many different cultures. At the age of 16 I traveled to Germany, Austria, France, & London. It taught me to really appreciate the way other people live and how much things differ around the world. I am studying Telecommunication Media & Society due to my love for radio. I hope to actually get into sports broadcasting once I graduate from UF. I have always enjoyed building things and so access ramps were a easy concept for me to come up with. I grew up skateboarding and would constantly build new wooden ramps. This business would play a large role in my life because it would be time consuming as well as something I would put all my effort into. I would have to jump into this 100% in order for it to be a success and I believe that is the case in any business.

2. I am offering these customers a high quality access ramp. These ramps will be made of wood due to cost. However, the wood will be very high quality and extremely smooth. The reason that the ramp has to be very smooth is because many customers will be using wheelchairs and other devices to help them get to their entrance. I cannot have any cracks or little chunks of wood within the ramp or that could cause a customer to fall or stall them from moving forward. The product will also be made custom to fit the exact specifications of the customer's home. Hand rails will also be put in place for the customer to give them that extra bit of security.

3. I've spoken about this in previous posts but the one thing that all of my customers have in common are that they are senior citizens who have decided to age at home. (Age 65+) These seniors will have trouble with mobility and climbing the steps to enter and leave their home. In Jacksonville there is a quite large demographic of seniors. We have over 110,000 so the market is large. It will take starting in a specific area and working from there. These customers either have a mindset that makes them uncomfortable while trying to walk or move around. I want to change this and let them have peace and feel confident when they enter and leave their home. As the company grows I would begin to look at other markets such as people with disabilities that requires them to use a device to move around as well as businesses that need ramps in order to help customers.

4. The reason customers will care is because they have already expressed this need. According to the AARP 77% of seniors who have decided to age in place want a product that helps them enter the home without having to use steps. Senior citizens are at risk of injuring themselves in the case of a fall. Not only will the fall hurt them but it can also cause other health complications that have been known to lead to death. Many seniors do have the finances to afford a large company that produces metal ramps or something of that nature. My opportunity comes because due to my low cost in materials I will be able to charge them less for the labor and overall cost of the product. I also think as we age we begin to worry more about our health and things that can cause it to worsen. Seniors are very health conscious for the most part and need peace of mind. The more peace of mind someone can have the higher quality of life they will achieve. Knowing that it will not be dangerous or a extreme task to leave the home will allow seniors to gain the confidence so many are lacking.

5. What sets my business apart from a lot of other access ramp companies is price and overall quality. Many companies will set up a website and show off these ramps that look like they are done beautifully. When the ramp is actually set up at a home it is done sloppy and you can tell the owner was only out to make a profit. Also senior citizens are a big target for people wanting to take advantage of them. I am not in the business of doing this, I want to obviously make a profit but I want to make sure that my customer is completely satisfied with the product and feels safe while using it. If I would not let me own grandmother use the ramp then I would not allow another senior to use it. If you stand by integrity in all that you do then the quality of your product will speak for itself. I want to build a ramp that can last years and years for seniors.

I think all of these aspects work really well together. Each one of these separate elements complete the pieces to the puzzle. I wanted to create a plan that allowed elements contributing to one another. I truly do not believe there is a weakness in the plan. The closest part I can see if trying to compete with the larger more known companies. Starting off the company will be a bit of a challenge but I believe after a handful of jobs the quality will be seen and word will get around. Once I can jump the initial hurdles I think the opportunity can be out the gate running.