Independent Component: Week 1 of "Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship" course in Coursera

I don't know what I was thinking, but I really put the course off until the weekend. As a result, whatever was remaining of this particular Saturday (which is usually overtaken by my mentorship) is also dedicated to Senior Project. Blargh.

I watched all the videos of the course and viewed some of the slides for further references. Took the quiz and got a 8.2 first time round. Being the perfectionist I am, tried it again until I got a 10.

Total time: 3 hours and 43 minutes

Blog 18: Third Answer

• EQ

What is the best way to profit as an independent music store?

• Answer #3

One way some independent music store can profit is to be specialized and unique.

• 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

Specialized stores have a special appeal to them that would attract customers to them instead of large chain stores. For example, Matt's Boutique, a store that was talked about in one of my resources listed below, began to get more sales when they started to focus on providing high-end boutique guitars.

Specialized stores can better provide specific products then the general music store.  A store specialized in drums most likely have more drum products than the general music store.

Specialized and unique stores can benefit by being individualistic. A store with its own unique identity can be charming, as Kinney from my resource below said.

• The research source (s) to support your details and answer

Kinney, Shane. "Tips for Interior Retail Display." Musical Merchandise Review Jan. 2014: n. pag. Print.

Kailus, Katie. "Boutique Expert." Music Inc Mar.-Apr. 2014: 34-38. Print.

• Concluding Sentence

A store with a unique identity, or in addition to a specialization, can have a charm that attract customers and increase sales, therefore profit.

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. What should a music store aim to do?
2. What is the most important in running an independent music store?
3. What kind of employees do we need to successfully run a music store? 
4. Where can we find such employees?
5. How can we best work with our employees?
6. What kind of customers should we expect in an independent music store?
7. Should there be a certain demographic to aim for when running a music store?
8. How can we appeal to customers?
9. How can we best work with our customers?
10. Should we work with our community?
11. How do we work with our community? / What are the ways we can work with our community?
12. How do we best advertise?
13. How do we compete against large chain music stores?
14. Is our only option to find a special niche? Could an independent store that only sells various instruments with no focus on certain types of instruments survive?
15. Is it important to 'keep up with the times' as a music store? Or is a music store a type of business with  basic, ageless information?
16. How do we 'keep up with the times' as an independent music store?
17. How important is it to be a musician ourselves when owning and running a music store?
18. How important are music lessons to the livelihood of an independent music store?
19. What kind of people should we network with?
20. What is the one thing that a music store should absolutely never do?