Blog entry #001

I have a hypothesis: People have a good idea on what they should do in order to improve their lives.

• I went around and asked people.
  
• Anyone would do, but I would rather people with money making experience.
• At my first interviews, I did not have set questions beforehand.
• It felt organic and simple in a way. There is a noticeable lack of tension felt when asking the participants of the interview.
• The downside is that there may not be enough data gathered from the interview.
• I after the 2nd interview, I changed my tactic. Starting by writing my questions beforehand:
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• From these questions, I choose which ones are appropriate. 
• Appropriation is determined by the relevancy of a certain question based on the data given by the participant. 
• It's expected that at least 40% of these will mostly go unanswered. 
• I remind myself that these questions are not designed to create the answer. 
• They are designed to lead to a conclusion.
• I have no expectations regarding their answers to the questions.
• What I do have, however, is an idea that has been brewing up within me for the past 3 years.
• Question time!
• 1st interview:
• The first participant has a sari-sari store business. She also handles payments for internet services. Link to the interview: 
• First interview
  
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• I asked a question:
• Is there an inconvenience in your business that you would wish to be easier?
• She replied:
• None at all come to mind. She believed that the current status quo is okay. 
• Maybe when there is enough ambition to grow larger. Maybe then, there will be inconveniences in the process that she would wish to be easier.
• The question I had was a litmus test. People who are really happy with their methods are often very eager to share their methods to others.
• 2nd Interview:
• This individual is in charge of a "karenderya" service. It was 2 hours before lunch. Link to the interview: 
• 2nd interview
  
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• I asked a question:
• What are the usual problems/inconveniences in your business that you would wish to be easier?
• He replied:
• There must be a POS (point of sale). The "karenderya" is manual.
• Basically inconveniences regarding payment. 
• It could be simpler, especially in peak hours. 
• There must be a way to optimize work. 
• Less effort; More productivity.
• They have tried going outside the confines of their location via foodpanda
• In line with the hypothesis, I noticed that there was a comfortable air of "business is normal, let's keep it that way"
• 3rd Interview:
• The third interview, this time, I had a set of questions. This was a nuts and bolts business handed down from parent to child.
• 3rd interview link
  
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• They faced major problems because of the pandemic and the kapa scam.
• It has been in business for about 13 years.
• They had pricing issues because of the usual capitalist environment. 
• Suppliers increasing prices and more competitors.
• One of their difficulties is being a parent. Can't be everywhere all at once.
• They can't hire an employ because they can't really afford it
• It was good before, but the times are different now; It's harder, basically.
• When they order specific parts and stock, it's become harder. Deliveries have become more demanding. It's now hard keeping the price reasonable.
• They don't use apps or tools to help them with their business. This is mostly because they prefer a physical ledger. Their reason: The business is small; There's no need for such.
• In line with the hypothesis: What I noticed was that there was hardship, and there is perseverance. But must one persevere through hardship forever, without trying to ease the hardship? 
• 4th Interview:
• The fourth interview in particular was a bit difficult to negotiate. She says that she doesn't really have a big business. Rather, she's a careerwoman. She multitasks every day along with her husband (A Canadian national).
• 4th interview link
  
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  • I was not allowed to record faces, but was allowed to record audio.
• At first she stated what her perspective on what is a business
• When it comes to business, you have to know what is in demand.
• When you're going to put up a business, consider the location, demographic and etc.
• Business depends on the day. Keep on moving




• She has been working a year in her online business because it's her passion.
• The salary is good  at being an online teacher.
• Her problems are usually from her client variation.
• She has been specifically picked by this company as an employee.
• She has been very satisfied with the platform that she has been given.
• Overall, she's already satisfied with what she has.
• In line with my hypothesis, I am starting to think that people are really okay with stability. But surely, there has to be something that can be improved. People don't actively share their problems like that. So the interviewer is left often with a facade.
• 5th Interview:
• The fifth interview comes from a restobar, Jbugz was the name, 
• I used to work part time there, so it was easy asking for an interview with the supervisor.
• part 1:
• part 1
  
• Part 2: 
• part 2
  
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• JBugz is a restobar located in Batangan, Valencia City. 
• Built in november 18 2021.
• Personal note: I have seen this restobar grow in real time.
• Main challenges as of now:
• Catering.
• Logistics.
• overall efficiency.
• Teamwork and interconnectivity of the employees could be improved.
• They use loyverse as a POS(Point of Sale) system >>>loyverse.com
• Loyverse gives very needed advantages. Useful especially in peak hours.
• Even gives out sales patterns.
• If there were a product that could help a business, it would be some sort of employee assistant app. A system that recommends actions to the employees.
• They sometimes have issues regarding person accommodation. And the location is not really ideal for an open air configuration. The tables get dusty too easily.
• In line with my hypothesis. What I did get from this, influenced by my time as an employees at the business, is that businesses grow well when they take everything into account. From the employee-customer relations to the last bottle in the fridge. JBugz is still growing fast.

What did we get from this?

• The key takeaway I had with my interviews, is that people live their lives not recording their days.
• We can consider the human being as a system unit.
• This system unit may or may not be blessed with good internal memory storage. 
• It is unreliable. The solution was to create a system of recording  and storing information, language.
• As such, written language has helped humanity be more than troglodytes.
• It would be logical to conclude that when a human being records their daily life, they can notice patterns and behaviours they may see as improvable.
• Businesses can operate the way they do because they record their transactions.
• Society can function because it has the ability to read and write.
• Therefore, the path to one's self improvement relies on recording their daily routine.
• People do not know what their problem actually is most of the time. And the knowledge of the hidden problem might be essential in improving their routines. They may say that they know their problems. But the concept of knowing what to do to solve these problems is often ignored in the background because it has not been recorded

• The entrepreneur holds a mirror that shows people what their problems are in one hand. And their patented solution in the other.

• So we have a problem of people not knowing their good problem. Or so it seems, but let's look at it in another angle. 

• What is a "good problem", rather?
• A good problem is a problem that benefits the one having it, and the one solving it of course!
• And what is the problem we're having here?
• Conclusion based on findings: People do not know what their problems are. Or rather, they seem to be comfortable in their safe zones. I say life is good, but it can be better.
• Imagine what you could do with your life when you know what parts of your routine requires improvement!
• Imagine if we had some sort of AI assisted daily planner app that analyzes our day-to-day activities by making the user participate in a routine of writing what goes on every 3 hours.
• By the end of the week, the app would give out results. 
• Based on the user's answers, the app will give suggestions and create an optimized weekly schedule based on what the user's current schedule is along with a list of suggestions to improve that aspect on their life.
• I call it, DELEGATOR.
• So what did the team decide?
• Our team did individual researches. which led to different hypotheses
• The downside of my hypothesis and proposal seems to be that it's too "ahead". 
• Meaning that a mere group of 5 students cannot make this feasible.
• The entrepreneurial opportunity is there. But the investment may be too much for mere students.
• setting up an app that's for the cmu marketplace. A sort of shopee/lazada for the sellers in the cmu market