4A- Opportunity Belief

Assignment 4A- Forming an Opportunity Belief

         I believe that there is an opportunity for fuel to be delivered directly to a person's car whether that be at home or at a workplace.  The need for gasoline is constantly rising; however, the ability to go to the gas station has become more difficult with the complications of our daily lives.  This need would be beneficial to everyone in society such as: stay at home mothers who juggle a million tasks in one day, working people who barely have enough time to get coffee on their way to work, and college students (especially those who drive scooters) who do not have enough time to leave campus to get gas.  Additionally, this opportunity would provide safety and security for people as statistics demonstrate the high crime rates occurring at gas stations.  I believe that this is a new need as people currently take time out of their daily lives to drive to a gas station.  However, with today's technology, this opportunity is extremely possible.  Additionally, with this new opportunity, everyone will be saving time in their day for more important tasks.  In conclusion, as anyone in society can take advantage of this opportunity and as numerous companies seem to be entering this field of home fuel delivery as they also recognize this opportunity, I am 90% confident that this opportunity definitely exists.

#1 Female College Freshman

• Do you drive a car or a scooter?
• "A scooter to get around campus more efficiently."
• How often do you go to get gas?
• "About once a week to once every two weeks depending on how much I am driving throughout the week."
• Where is the gas station you usually go to?
• "About one mile from the edge of campus because it is the cheapest."
• When do you usually go to get gas?
• "Whenever I can find time in my day."
• Do you find it difficult to make time to go get gas?
• "Yes, I have a really busy schedule between my classes and extracurriculars so sometimes I find myself having to go to the gas station at the last minute before my tank is completely empty."
• Have you ever had to go to the gas station at night?
• "Yes. In my first months at UF it was hard to find time during the day to go get gas so I would go at night.  But whenever I went at night it did not seem safe at all and was really sketchy so I have been trying to remember to go during the day when I can." 
• If there was a way for gas to be delivered to your scooter at your dorm, would you pay for it?
• "Yeah for sure! That would be so convenient and my parents would probably feel a lot more comfortable that I am not going to a gas station."

REFLECTION: The prototypical customer includes people juggling intensely busy schedules (such as college students) who cannot find time within their day to go out to a gas station.  Additionally, this prototypical customer focuses on safety as gas stations are known to have increasingly terrifying crime rates.  

#2 Full time businessman 

• How many hours do you work a week?
• "About fifty hours a week.  Monday through Friday."
• How often do you get gas?
• "At least once a week because my job is forty-five minutes away from where I live."
• When do you normally get gas?
• "I try to go to the gas station on my way home from work or early the next morning on my way to work."
• Do you find it difficult to make time to go to the gas station?
• "Yes, it is definitely frustrating when I am on my way home from work after a long day and see the yellow gas sign light up.  After a day at the office the last thing I want to do is go out of my way to get gas."
• How far is the nearest gas station from your home?
• "It is about ten minutes away.  But I usually try to go to a different one on my way home because it isn't as expensive as the Shell by my house."
• If there was a service that delivered fuel directly to your home or even your workplace, would you be willing to pay for it?
• "Yes, I would definitely pay for that.  Getting my gas delivered straight to my car at work would save me so much time and allow me to go straight home after work.  Convenience is always appreciated. "

REFLECTION: People such as this businessman are the perfect customers for this opportunity because they have so many responsibilities to attend to in their daily lives and do not have time to spare on going to a gas station.  Most people do not realize the opportunities that exist in our modern world and the convenience that such opportunities can provide. 

#3 Mother who works from home

• Where do you live?
• "I live far back within in Parkland, Florida and although it is a suburb, some areas of this city could be considered rural because there are lots of areas with just grass as the city is still being developed."
• Where is the nearest gas station?
• "Believe it or not, the nearest gas station is about twenty to twenty-five minutes away from my home."
• How many hours a week do you work from home?
• "I work about thirty hours a week from home for my business and I work full-time for my children."
• How often do you get gas?
• "About once a week between driving my kids everywhere from school to sports and such."
• When do you find time to go get gas?
• "Never. I usually try to go to the gas station on the way home from picking my kids up from school.  But it is so far out of the way that by the time I get back home half of my tank is gone already."
• If there was a service that came to your home to fill up your car's gas tank, would you be willing to pay for it!
• "I would be willing to pay extra money for that! That would be extremely convenient and save me time during my work day at home as well as save me time with my kids."

REFLECTION: Busy customers such as this stay-at-home, working mother somehow make time for everything.  However, customers like this do not realize how much they accomplish in their day to day lives and do not realize how much time we can save them by simply delivering gas to their door.  By delivering fuel directly to them, we would be saving them time to complete their daily tasks.

SUMMARY:

Interviewing these three potential customers really opened my eyes to our society's current need for convenience.  Throughout each interview the word convenience became very pertinent.  People need services that will save them time and many customers are willing to pay any price for this extra time.  I believe that my original opportunity continues to be an extremely valuable and unmet need.  Additionally, I think that this opportunity has become more accurate because I now understand exactly what different type of people are looking for in this service.  This statement demonstrates that entrepreneurs should definitely adapt their opportunities within reason based on customer feedback because the customer is the one who will be paying for the opportunity and they essentially make the opportunity possible.