4A-Forming an Opportunity Belief

I believe there is an unmet need for students to have the knowledge needed to live on their own in college. Throughout the country every year, hundreds of thousands of 18 and 19 year olds leave the homes and family's they have lived with their whole lives to go live completely on their own while going to school for at least the next four years. Year by year, students go through incredible amounts of stress from school alone, and many of them go to their dorms and/or apartments and don't even know how to take care of themselves. They don't eat as much or eat very unhealthy foods just because they have no idea how to cook anything for themselves. They will let their laundry pile up for weeks until their next opportunity to go home comes along and they will take it to their parents to do for them. Many students also have a hard time planning our their own schedules when they have to do it all on their own this time which usually leads to them mixing up important activities like class, work, study time, laundry, socializing, etc. As of now, most students are doing the bare minimum to take care of themselves which is one of the main reasons so many college students get more stressed, sick, depressed, and busy. Students could benefit so much from having a quick guide or course on how to start the process of living on their own or even an app on all things college kids need to know for living on their own with reminders and tips. College students need to have a way of being more aware of how to take care of themselves especially in their first year. I am 80% sure that there is an opportunity out there to make college students more knowledgable of how to be on their own and more independent. 

The Prototypical customer to this unmet need would be primarily first and second year college students who are still very new to living on their own and taking care of themselves.

Interview #1: Billy Butler- Freshman 

How has your lifestyle changed since you transitioned to college away from home?

"My lifestyle has definitely been different since coming into college. You spend your entire life with the same people and in the same places and then it all just goes away and you are on your own."

What was the feeling you had first coming into college, knowing you were on your own and taking care of yourself for the first time?
"I was really excited to be on my own and start a new chapter in my life and even though it has been challenging I still am excited because I know I will adjust to it all eventually."

Have you experienced any challenges in planning your own day to day schedule with things such as school, work, clubs, home responsibilities, etc.?

"It’s been a little hard to plan my days because I feel like there is so much more I am responsible for now, but I’ve figured out a schedule now that helps me accomplish all my tasks."

When did you first come across your first obstacle of living on your own? What was it?

"When it was dinner time on the first night and I didn't know how to cook myself the same meals my parents always made."

How are you adjusting to the large change in your life of being with family to being on your own? Have you had increased stress?

"I have definitely felt more stress with all the extra responsibilities I have now, but I slowly feel myself adjusting every day."

Would having a course on basic independent living or app with tips and reminders be at all beneficial to a first or second year college student? 

"It would definitely speed up the process of getting used to taking care of yourself because learning from experience every day can be very frustrating and time consuming."

Interview #2: Blake Lacey- Sophomore

How has your lifestyle changed since you transitioned to college away from home?

"Even in my second year it is still different, i've gotten better at a lot of things like cooking but there are always still things I struggle with."

What was the feeling you had first coming into college, knowing you were on your own and taking care of yourself for the first time?
"I was extremely excited but very nervous because I wasn't sure if I would be able to do everything on my own."

Have you experienced any challenges in planning your own day to day schedule with things such as school, work, clubs, home responsibilities, etc.?

"For sure, even though it gets better as time goes on I still always end up packing too many things together and leaving myself no time for certain things I need to do."

When did you first come across your first obstacle of living on your own? What was it?

"Probably the start of the first week of classes when I had no idea where to go or when."

How are you adjusting to the large change in your life of being with family to being on your own? Have you had increased stress?

"At the beginning I had a lot of stress, but now I have adjusted much more and been able to reduce a most of that stress."

Would having a course on basic independent living or app with tips and reminders be at all beneficial to a first or second year college student?  

"As a first year student yes, I feel it would definitely make the adjustment much smoother and easier."

Interview#3: Katie Robinson- Freshman 

How has your lifestyle changed since you transitioned to college away from home?

"My lifestyle has definitely changed since I’ve moved to college. I walk everywhere now and find that I have more free time to do things."

What was the feeling you had first coming into college, knowing you were on your own and taking care of yourself for the first time?
"My feeling when I first came into college was excitement. I was excited to be on my own and experiencing the college life. I’ve loved it so far!"

Have you experienced any challenges in planning your own day to day schedule with things such as school, work, clubs, home responsibilities, etc.?

"I have experienced some challenges planning my schedule for my day. I’ve found it to be somewhat hard to balance time to exercise, study, socialize and still get a good night of sleep."

When did you first come across your first obstacle of living on your own? What was it?

"My first obstacle of living on my own was when I had to set up my furniture in my room on my own... I didn’t have my dad there to help me put everything together but I was able to figure it out on my own."

How are you adjusting to the large change in your life of being with family to being on your own? Have you had increased stress?

"I’ve adjusted pretty well to not being with my family all the time. It gives me more independence and I’m forced to figure things out on my own which is good. But I enjoying calling my mom and dad to visit!"

Would having a course on basic independent living or app with tips and reminders be at all beneficial to a first or second year college student? 

"It would be very beneficial because it would help with the adjustment to college life."

Reflection: After the interviews, I learned that my opportunity definitely still exists and is possible. There are a lot of students out there that have the same problems and it really takes a toll on their stress levels and health coming into college. I do still believe students would benefit from some sort of program to help them adjust to the college transition. I was not very surprised by much about my opportunity besides maybe realizing there may already be small things that students use to help them transition but not anything efficient or reliable. 

Summary:

A lot of my original opportunity is still there I believe. I did realize that many students learn from experience pretty quick within their first couple weeks and start to adjust more and more each day but that still did not stop them from stating that having help to start the process would be very beneficial. As far as accuracy, I would say my opportunity is around the same as it was at the beginning, maybe a little less but overall in the same area. I think entrepreneurs should adapt opportunities based off of customer feedback because they are going to be the ones buying you product or using your idea which really in the end determines if you were successful or not. If the customers give great feedback then stay around where you are and if they give back negative feedback than you should maybe look at touching up on a few things in order to please the customer and be more successful.