Idea Napkin No. 1

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?

-  I am a full-time employee, mother, and wife, but am a professional who is very driven to succeed. I welcome change and adventure. I am always trying to grow and find new ways of creating financial freedom. I am a Marketing professional and really enjoy the networking, meeting new people, events, and promoting my current company. My dream would be to have freedom over my own schedule so I could do all the things I want to do in my personal life, including being involved with my sons school and other activities (field trips, sports). Working for a company, they always have you under their thumb in one way or another. I could see starting my own business (as I have done this before), and promoting it well. These are some of my strengths. I love working with people and think that my concept goes well with my skills. The business would probably be my bread and butter until it stabilizes, then I could probably back off a little and run it while opening my next venture.

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

- The service I am offering is a water taxi and shuttle/excursion service in Fort Myers, FL. It will be in the FM downtown area/Cape Coral canals, FM/Sanibel Beaches, and possibly in the backwaters of Bonita Beach. This will solve the issue of drunk boating/driving, boring transportation while visiting the beautiful Southwest Florida area, give people an opportunity to get on the water and explore areas they were previously unable to access, or take to places they never knew existed. We will offer on board refreshments, including adult beverages.

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 will be tourist and area natives, residents and their visitors, and anyone looking to enjoy a ride under the stars or in the waves. The one thing they all have in common is a want to be on the water. 

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.  

- They will pay for the service because they may not have a boat of their own and want to enjoy the waterways, or they have been drinking or plan on drinking but want a more exciting ride than in a taxi. They might not know the area or hidden gems and we will take them there on excursions. Perhaps, they just want to spend an evening drifting up and down the river for a sunset cruise with drinks. This is an experience that noone else offers in this area, but I have seen be wildly successful in places such as Key West and in the East Coast of Florida's intercoastal.  

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

- My entire service is something that noone (in the SWFL region) offers. It is unique in itself. In order to get the same experience, you would have to drive a minimum of 2 hours from here. 


My belief is that all of these aspects work well together. My concept seems to have some good feedback from potential customers. It isn't perfect, however. As my interviews have pointed out - from a consumer stand point, yes, this is a good idea. They all want to use my service and find it to be something fun they would pay to do. BUT, from an owner standpoint, it could be very costly to get up and running and to maintain. The overhead of repairing and maintaining boats can be high! As well as potential insurances, permits, and just purchasing the fleet itself. There is still a lot to work out, and it may end up not being feasible in the end, but there is definitely a market for it. So, as of now, I am staying positive.