Best student work for Spring 2006
I'm sorry to say that apparently none of my students this term will be rushing out to start businesses of their own. There were four business plans developed: three of them are simply too ambitious to be undertaken by college freshmen (two clubs for teenagers and a beauty salon); the fourth, involving personalized scrubs for medical personnel, is highly interesting but the idea-people here are a bit nervous. Even when you can start slow, develop a business in your spare time (as Juterphusion is doing), and grow it without a huge investment of early capital, young college students still see their primary job (as they probably should see it) as doing well in school -- and that of course includes having lives of their own (as opposed to the life of the business) while they are in school. [sigh...] For the scrubs I would've invested and served, as I have been doing with the other small businesses most often mentioned here.Anyway, the scrub-makers (called "Allica") had an interesting idea for a logo:
...the shape of a capital "A" made from a stethoscope would be cute for Allica. The "A" would be a good symbol of the company name, and then the stethoscope would show what the company deals with.I mentioned the great interest in clubs for teenagers. This is something cities should be looking at when they are serious about reviving a business district:
There is just nothing to do in Union City. There's a $2 movie theater that only shows movies that are already on DVD; and also a $5 theater that it is so poorly managed that someone can be eating Chinese food next to you or even changing diapers. There's a bowling alley, too expensive and not even worth it in the end; and the same goes for the billiard parlor located on top of a Laundromat, also too expensive.Even when students are not ready to start new businesses, that will not stop them from thinking critically about what they see others doing, and that might mean they will be better prepared when it's their turn:
Another concern I have about Juterphusion, though a small nuance, is the name of the business itself -- try remembering how to spell "Juterphusion" the next time you want to "Google it" (by the way, I think that the phrase "Google it" should be used in their advertising... then again, they really don't advertise at all, so scratch that).The thought of "Google It" as a tagline for almost any business -- except possibly Juterphusion :-) -- is intriguing, and I am giving this student a bunch of points for coming up with what may be the single best idea of the term. (Of course it's not new. But the idea that any of us can apply it is not one that comes to mind readily. At least, not until now.)
Finally, I like it when students think critically about customer service. I mean, really think about it, instead of simply complaining like most of us do:
Once last week I was standing at the bus stop by 10:48am, to catch a bus scheduled to leave at 10:50am. Usually the buses are pretty accurate in their arrival and departure, but this day it was a different story. The bus driver often sits for a short period of time before he leaves for his rounds and when he leaves it is exactly the time on the bus schedule. But that day I did not get on the bus until 11:50am. What went wrong? I cannot tell you. Did I miss the bus? I doubt it. If there was a previous bus, was that bus driver wrong for leaving more then two minutes earlier then he was suppose to? I believe so.
Labels: education
posted by Ron @ 8:04 PM
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