Last and Final Post

So, everything has to come to an end and its the time for  "A Taste of Sweets on the go" blog to come to a close.  I believe that through this class, I have learned about what goes into making a successful business within the technological field.  I think that I have had some good idea but at the same time, it was sometimes challenging for me to pin point how to connect everything we learned in class to my business.

When we had a discussion, a lot of people had some great ideas.  I completely agree that making this food truck business at night, when most of the restaurants are closed.  This would definitely attract a lot of people considering who doesn't like desserts late at night when they are starving, for a pretty cheap price.

I now know how to work with colors, security, social networking and so much more.  All of the aspects that we have gone through is knowledge that will definitely come in handy.  I also enjoyed reading other student's blogs.  I felt like they all had some really great ideas, from food, to sports, to entertainment.  Everyone has such great entrepreneurial ideas that it really did impress me.

Ta ta.

http://zachmeagherist195.blogspot.com/  Zachary Meagher
http://baconflip.blogspot.com  Terry Li
http://cine-mate.blogspot.com/  Eric Charles

Week 7: TechCrunch

This week, I looked into well known bloggers within the technology industry.  I found a blog called TechCrunch which is currently the third most popular blog out there.  It was started in 2005 by Michael Arrington as just a blog talking about dotcom starts up in Silicon Valley but as the days and months have gone on, has erupted into something that no one had seen coming.  Currently though, it has become into a website more than a blog for people to find all they need to know about the technology industry.  Arrington went through various entrepreneurial jobs before landing with TechCrunch.  Basically, if you look on the blog, there are people who post almost every hour.  People blog about anything to do with technology.  They are able to go on and post new updates, come up with an article on their own or articles which they find are important.  Of course, people who work for the blog are the only ones who can actually post blogs.  This blog is well organized and split up into various categories as well.  It is the perfect place to go to get that update that you might want about technology.

http://techcrunch.com/

Week 6: digital color

Due to my computer crashing last night, I was unable to write on the blog before midnight.  I am now back in action though!  My advice, do not get a dell but that's just my opinion.  This past week, we learned about digital color.  We learned about the difference between rbg and cmyk.  Basically rbg is composed of three colors, red, green and blue.  These are the primary or what we can call additive colors.  When you add all of these colors together, you get white.  On the contrary, cmyk are used in the print world and consist of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.  These are called our secondary or also known as subtractive colors.  When you add all these together, you get black.  When you mix any two primary colors, you will get the secondary color.

This is important when looking into my business, for pr purposes.  If I want to get a certain color for a poster, for my truck, or for any publicity signs/commercials, I will want the perfect color.  It is important to know how to combine the colors to get what I want.  We know that red is FF0000, green is 00FF00, and blue is 0000FF.  With that, we can make the colors darker or lighter, and combine them as well to get other colors.  For example, if I want a yellow truck, it would be FFFFOO which is the combination of red and green.  Of course, this may be confusing but once you get the hang of it, I will be able to make every color imaginable.  I also want to make my business "pop," in order to attract all different crowds.  Color is the one thing that really catches the viewers eye.

Week 5: Bits/Bytes

This past week in lecture, we learned about bits and bytes.  Basically, they determine the amount of space you have in an electronic device such as a computer.  For my business, I will divide my computer up into different folders and sections for each part of my company.  One folder will be food ordering, one will be the budget, one will be any expenses, and one will be miscellaneous.  I will then be able to see how many bits/bytes each folder and section of my business takes up.  Organization is key and if I run out of space, I should know how to fix it within my computer.  That is why staying on top of how much space I have left is very important.

Being organized connects straight into my food truck.  I need to organize my food truck just like bits/bytes organize a computer that I will be keeping my information in.  Having my business succeed is based on how organized I am with my food truck.  The money must be kept in the proper place as well as the food and anything else that I may have in the food truck with me to run my business.  I know this is a pretty abstract way to think of connecting bytes to my food truck business but it was the best I could do.  Any better ideas?  

Week 4: Radio Frequency Identification

This week in class, there were two topics that I felf could be helpful when it comes to the success of my food truck.  First, we have this thing called Radio Frequency Identification.  This is basically a little chip that can be put into anything you want so you can keep track of its location at all times, through the use of radio waves.  Considering I will be a moving food truck, why not put a RFID in my truck so people are able to find out where I am located at all times?  This will not only make my life easier but it will make the lives of all my guests easier as well.  All they have to do is call a number, find out where I am (the people who are tracking me), and then come and find me at that location.  In my opinion,this will help my business a great deal.

Once the guests arrive at my truck, individuals may not automatically have cash on them.  In order for me to save time with swiping cards instead of taking cash, guests can use good wallet.  This is basically a system that is faster than bluetooth.  All that these guests will have to do is scan the barcode to the barcode on the truck and be able to pay within seconds.  This is a free service that I think people should use.  It is safe if they lock their phones with their credit card information.  They just need to tap a button, pay, and then save.  This will be much more time efficient all together, and will benefit me a great deal when it comes to time management.

Both of these ideas will help me increase my revenue and also help me to publicize my business. 

Week 3: Identity Theft

Who would ever want someone going into their own personal account and stealing money from you? Not I.  In my opinion, its a little eary that individuals in the world today find it so easy to steal a person's identity from them. Identity left seems to be more and more common to us as the years go on.  Did you know that 18-29 year olds account for almost 30% of all identity theft complaints?  I am 21 so I should be in high alert at all times.  The last thing that I want is someone increasing their accounts through the means of stealing from me.

I am going to take you through the ways of how you should try to avoid identity theft.  I know that this doesn't completely relate to my business, but if you do happen to get your identity taken from your while at my truck, it becomes my business.  Do not use debit cards, never disclose your SSN unless you absolutely need to on a form, do not provide bank account or credit card info unless you made the call, check all of your monthly statements carefully to look for weird stuff, minimize what's in your wallet at all times, and memorize your pin as well.  The last two are very important.  Try to never keep a lot of cards, money, and information on you at all times. It is better to be safe than sorry in the end.  Also, memorize your pin and cover it up when you are standing at an atm.  In my case, if you are standing outside my truck, make sure to take caution and cover up your pin with your hand when you are typing it.  Trust me, stuff happens and you do not want it to happen to you!

Take caution and be careful.  You want to keep your identity to yourself!

Week 2: Excel

Welcome to the wonderful world of excel!

We are going to switch gears a little and look into a program that could not and will not hurt my business.  If anything, it will help it excel in ways I could only hope for.  When looking into the program excel, I can use graphs, data, charts, and various tools to keep track of my truck's success.  Dealing with food costs and trying to control those food costs, using excel is most likely a necessity.  To help my business succeed, I will start off by making spreadsheets off all my food, costs, and revenue.  I want to make sure that everything is recorded and I can make sure that my revenue is matching up with all my purchases and utilities.  Since I will be selling from a food truck though, everything will be cheaper considering I am not serving people in an actual restaurant.

First off, I will use graphs to show my success over every month, then over an entire year.  I will plug in my data which I will already have recorded on a spreadsheet in the program.  As well, after every day's sale , I will test out if I reached my goal or if I did not.  An important aspect within the restaurant industry, it to know if you beat your sales of the year before.  Considering I am hoping that this business will blossom, I am banking on keeping track if I "passed" or "failed" for that day.  This will be an easy way to see if I sold as much of food all together and to see if the total cost passed or failed to beat last years sales.  Doing this connects with the program in excel called "conditional formatting."  Excel will allow me to manage my own rule when keeping track of my balances within my business.

A side note: I took a class on cost control and if you ever want to work in the restaurant industry, excel will become your best friend.  You may be thinking that you don't believe me, but just wait and see for yourself.

Because I will be using excel to make A Taste of Sweets thrive, my business has no reason not to succeed.  Organization is a key factor and I will have that through the use of this program.  The only thing I need now are some guests who are hungry and some food/beverages. 

You just wait...

Week 1: Social Media

     There is one essential aspect in every person's life which they just cannot live without.  Any guesses? Well, food is the word.  No matter who you are, you need to consume something in your human body to maintain a healthy and stable life.  When coming up with an entrepreneurship idea, I wanted to relate it to my life and my interests.  Being a senior at Syracuse University with a major in Hospitality Management, I have come to the conclusion that if I could pick, I would be around food for the rest of my life.  What better way to do this than to open up my own Food Truck business?

     Food Trucks are thriving.  Whether you realize it or not, you cannot go to any major city and not bump into them at every other street corner.  Some of you may have seen The Next Food Truck Race on tv, or are one of those individuals who jump with joy at the sight of a food truck.  For me, I want to create a unique truck which is solely to please a person's sweet tooth.  I want to sell savory, sweet, sour, and salty sweets from homemade breads to chocolate cannolis.  To try and make this as successful as possible, I plan to use social media as the first step to accomplishing my aspiration.  When I refer to social media, I am going to be focusing more on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and GooglePlus.

     This social media revolution which we are consumed by almost every minute of everyday is the number one way right now to publish my business.  How many of you use social media at least five times a day?  I can say that I most certainly do, and most of the times more.  Some individuals choose to use certain social media websites over others.  When it comes to looking at what I use and most of my fellow peers, we tend to be mostly involved in Twitter and Facebook.  For my business, I will try and get as many followers on Facebook as possible.  I want to make sure that pictures and my truck finds people who are interested in it.  Looking into twitter, I will use this link to find people who have common interests as well, and even for people looking for jobs.  Making sure I am open to people's ideas and suggestions will be very important to me.  If you have a good idea to help my business, I want to hear it! Do not be shy! Taking everything into consideration is something I want to make sure I will do.  Who knows where it will get me?

     My primary goal through the use of social media is to make sure that my followers and fans are following me for a reason.  Why wouldn't I enjoy having the 200 million users on twitter to be following me and my Taste of Sweets food truck?  Although this would be absolutely lovely, I want these followers to read what I have to say for a reason.  To have people interested and intrigued to see my business thrive as much as possible, just like me will be a very rewarding experience.

Until the next time...Taste of Sweets is on the go!