19A - Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? Specifically regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

The writer Annie DIllard stated, “I am no scientist. I explore the neighborhood.” That’s true of my identity— of who I am. I have a talent for going out into nature and not simply seeing, but connecting the dots in nature to the dots in natural history literature. Connecting the dots gives a person a broad understanding of what one finds themselves paying attention to in life.

I have banded birds with Ball State researchers. I have spent time with a Purdue university professor looking at giant silkworm moths emerge from their winter cocoons. I’ve spent many hours participating, learning and even teaching at local state parks and libraries about many fields that fall underneath the umbrella of natural history. The study of birds, trees, geology, entomology, to name a few. 

My next educational opportunity is spending time connecting people with nature (specifically moths and insects) at a local Earth Day event hosted by the city parks department. 

I hope to continue finding ways to connect people with nature as well as creating content such as stories and podcasts that people can enjoy about local flora and fauna.

My business, which seems to be transmogrifying into a naturalists’ field club does not , it appears, require an economic engine. It therefore will be a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting people with nature right here at home.

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs). 

75% field trips, 25% lectures/seminars/Q&A

This is the idea, dishabille. 

I am thinking about 2 to 3 times per month where an outing is researched and planned that involves a hike at a local property that focuses on a particular subject. 

One outing might be spent on birding at a local marsh. Another might be learning about geology and geomorphology at a local limestone rock outcropping. Another looking at moths attracted to ultraviolet lights at dusk.

Lectures with also be curated towards specific topics, open to anyone interested and a Q&A. To follow afterwards. 

Hikes and lectures will be led and given by local subject experts.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

My customers all have a curiosity and interest in natural history and the natural world right within their own community. For more details on my grandmother who does yoga in the morning please see my earlier post on the subject.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe its valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service. 

I think anyone can find educational resources that are very relevant through books, television, and even places like YouTube. But there’s something about a local community of learners that share the same interests that is inimitable from said educational resources. 

People really enjoy learning together. They like showing off their knowledge, values, interests, and skills to others. They like telling stories and hearing others’. Bringing a community together to do just that all while enjoying the great outdoors is why they’ll find value in this field club.

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has? 

Well, according to Pryor I have nothing different than all 1300 of you. Except for a little lump on my right shoulder. That’s different. 

I guess I might take a stab at it. Look at Pryor. One of the things that he stated makes him an authority on his subject is that he has the 30,000 foot view of entrepreneurship due to studying the literature. Lots of it. 

I’ve done and am doing just the same. Something, I don’t know what, drives me to study the literature of natural history going back 80-100 years. I enjoy learning about libraries that catered to naturalists, naturalist societies of yore, erudite and common texts on natural history subjects. 

The history of natural history is of seemingly endless fascination to me. This allows to glimpses and insights into the lives and work of people that most naturalists have no idea about. This doesn’t make me better or smarter, but simply gives me more perspective (AKA useless knowledge) on natural history in general. 

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others. 

The assignment does a great job at paring down the idea to its bare bones. It helps the student to answer critical questions that can point the student in the right direction, or even inform the student that the idea has some major flaws. It helps one to look at their ideas realistically from a feasibility standpoint.