Taterthoughts

SCHOOL BLOG - things I am into and my works

[potatosandra]

Blog #4

Like what we did last week, each of the members were tasked to interview customers from different households. We have formulated a new hypothesis and laid out questions to test the hypothesis. It is important to know and understand the choices of the customers as they are one who will use our service.

Hypothesis:

Customers are willing to use Juan Stop Manong payment system.

To test our hypothesis, we laid out four questions directed to the customers:

Q1. How do you feel about online banking/online transactions?

Q2. What do you think of paying workers through online platforms?

Q3. What method of payment do you prefer do you prefer or the most accessible for you?

Q4. Have you ever tried paying through online banking? If so, how was it?

Based on my interview, here are the responses I got.

Interviewee #1

It's safe for money transactions. 

It's alright for me. 

Online Banking 

Yes, it was fast and the payment is made with complete receipts.

Interviewee #2

Fast and easy.

I think it's convenient.

Online Banking

Yes, quite confusing at first but once you know how to navigate the app, it gets simple and quite easy to use.

Interviewee #3

Confusing

Might be a little hard especially when I don't use such method in paying my bills and the language or instructions might be difficult to understand.

Paying through Remittance Centers

Yes, however, it's not accessible for me because it still needs an internet connection and the app language is quite confusing.

Interviewee #4

Very time convenient. We don't have to go to banks physically, especially in this pandemic.

It's okay for me.

Online Banking

Yes, it was excellent.

Interviewee #5

I think it is very reliable.

I have no conflict with that.

Online Banking

Yes, I make most of my transactions online, especially during the start of the pandemic when everyone is restricted to go out. I will say it is very convenient and safe to use.

According to the interview, most customers have used online banking and liked it for it’s fast and reliable service.  However, there are still people who are reluctant to use it because the app language might be too hard for them to understand, or it’s not very accessible for them since it needs internet connection, and some just prefer to pay through Remittance Centers.

PREVIOUS WEEK’S DECISIONS

Last week, we discussed about payment method or payment system for workers. And we decided to let the workers have a bank account as a requirement for applying to Juan Stop Manong. 

OPTIONS 

Well, before concluding our payment method, we have discussed several options, one of these options is paying the workers face-to-face. However, we did not come to an agreement with that since it’s still the pandemic and not very systematic.

LESSONS

This week, we had some serious discussion about the payment method and everyone has different ideas, ideas which do not necessarily coincide with each other. However, we learned that we have to widen our perspective and consider the thoughts of everyone. We learned to wait before we speak up and be respectful to each other. The realization that we had is that we shouldn’t take opinions personally, rather, we should take it as an opportunity to grow and improve our own idea. Because if you put too much emotion when doing business, it’s not really good because you won’t be able to think objectively. That is why open communication is very important in a team.

DOCUMENTATION

Responses from other interviewees done by my team

[potatosandra]

BLOG #3

Each of the members were tasked to interview five workers (carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc.), however, due to the lack of availability of workers in some areas where the members reside, we were only able to interview 18 workers.

First, we formulated a new hypothesis based on the suggestion of our instructor made during the Venture Proposal.

Hypothesis:

Workers are willing to accept payments sent to their accounts.

To test our hypothesis, we laid out three questions directed to the workers.

Q1. Would you be willing to accept payments sent to your bank account?

Q2. How often can you check your bank account?

Q3. How often can you go to the bank?

Based on my interview, here are the responses I got.

Interviewee #1

Q1. Yes

Q2. It depends if I have a transaction (withdrawal and such).

Q3. Anytime.

Interviewee #2

Q1. Yes

Q2. Depends on the payment check out.

Q3. Maybe once per week.

Interviewee #3

Q1. Yes

Q2. Not Sure.

Q3. Anytime.

Interviewee #4

Q1. No

Q2. Not Sure.

Q3. Maybe once a month.

Interviewee #5

Q1. Yes

Q2. Often.

Q3. Not sure.

Including the other 13 workers interviewed by the group all in all, 7 out of 18 workers said no when asked if they are willing to accept payments in their bank account, however, 10 workers said yes, and 1 worker answered not sure. For question two, the majority of the workers said that it depends on various reasons, some answered that they are not sure, and some answered often. Lastly, when asked if how often can they go to the bank, all their answers vary from each other, some are not sure, some said anytime, and some said it depends on the purpose of going to the bank and other various reasons.

PREVIOUS WEEK’S DECISIONS

In the previous week, we had an online presentation for our venture proposal. After the presentation, we decided to change the payment method for Juan Stop Manong as prescribed by our instructor. The team agreed that the customers should send their payment to the official bank account of Juan Stop Manong. After receiving the payment, the workers will automatically receive their work fee on their own bank account. This way, we can avoid scamming and make the payment method more systematic and easy to track. We also agreed to make it a requirement for workers to have their own bank account.

OPTIONS 

However, before making these decisions, we first had a discussion about the payment options. We thought about utilizing our Maramag office for payment method, in which the workers will deliver to us physically the payment they got from the customers. We will get our cut-off and give back the service fee to the workers. We also thought of putting the payment method in the app, so the customers can send to us their payment before each service, however, at that time, we have not thought of ways on how we can send the service fee to the workers yet. So, we incorporated the decision we made after the presentation and the in-app payment method that we thought. Hence, this is how we come up with our payment method.

LESSONS

The team realized the importance of teamwork, communication, and time management. So far, we haven’t had any arguments yet since all the members are very good at communicating their ideas. We also set deadlines in which each of us strictly follows. I am just so grateful to have them as my team.

Also, the team learned the importance of protecting our idea or Intellectual Property and making sure that we did not copy our work. We had a discussion about this and we are still yet to decide on what’s our next step gonna be. 

We also learned how important it is to have diverse people in the team. Fortunately, all members of our group have their own skill that are very much needed in the group. 

And lastly, we learned how to value opinions and communicate properly. We had a discussion that if we have an idea or something that we disagree on, we should talk about it and respect each other’s opinion. We learned that in order to improve our business, we need criticism and if anyone receive criticism from their ideas, we should not take it personally but rather as an opportunity to learn and improve.

DOCUMENTATION

Making of PPT and rehearsal for the online presentation

Presentation Day

[potatosandra]

BLOG #2

Coming up with solutions to real-life problems is not easy, especially if we're trying to profit from it. However, nothing in life is ever easy. Fortunately, I was grouped with brilliant people who have great ideas and can work efficiently. We have made a lot of progress from the past two weeks and developed good teamwork. Now, this blog is a narrative of the things we have research, decisions we made, the hypothesis we articulated, and more about the things we have accomplished for the last two weeks.

ABOUT THE PROBLEM

Originally, our project design was suggested by one of our team members. Other members found it to be relevant and later did research about the problem. After some research, we found out that launching our application will be very helpful to Filipino households, thus, deciding to pursue the idea. 

We found out that it is hard for most people in urban areas to look for carpenters, plumbers, electrician, and other engineering-related workers especially in this time of pandemic where it’s hard to make new acquaintances. So to make the life of customers easier, we proposed a solution through making an app called Juan Stop Manong. It is an application where people with problems related to engineering can use to look for legitimate engineering-related workers near them. By using this app, we the creators hope to make the life of the customers more easier when looking for workers for engineering-related problems.

HYPOTHESIS

1. Engineering-related workers will use Juan Stop Manong to find a job nearby.

2. Household consumers will use Juan Stop Manong to look for engineering-related workers.

Based on our interview, the customers and workers agreed to use Juan Stop Manong. However, it was only an informal interview and not yet full-blown. We will make sure to conduct a much larger survey in the future to test our hypothesis.

RECAP ON PREVIOUS WEEK’S PROGRESS

Our group also scheduled a meeting to talked about the groups progress and decisions we have agreed on so far. 

In the previous weeks, we discussed our mission, vision, app features, target market, problem and opportunity and solutions, method of earning, and app logo. The biggest decision made by our group last week is about our app features. We discussed how the app will work and the way to reach out to the customers. First, the app will serve as a platform for service-workers to provide engineering-related services. They can posts their previous works, etc. The customers will look for service-workers near them by turning on location. They can contact the service-workers via app. They also have the choice to give feedback to the service-workers through rating. Lastly, the payment method was discussed. However, everything discussed is still subject to change and improvement.

OPTIONS AND DECISIONS

OPTIONS

App Name – All members agreed to use “Juan Stop Manong” as the app name since it’s very Filipino-like and we usually call our service workers ‘Manong’ and ‘Juan’ represents Filipinos. APPROVED

Payment Method –

Credit/Debit Card - APPROVED

Online Banking - APPROVED

Bank Transfer - APPROVED

Money Remittance Centers (Palawan, Cebuana, etc) - DECLINED

Earning Method – 

Advertisement -  APPROVED

Sponsorships -  APPROVED

Partnerships -  APPROVED

Percentage deals to the users -  APPROVED

App System –

Online – APPROVED

Offline - DECLINED

Customer-Worker Communication Method –

Communicate through the contact info on the service-worker’s profile. – APPROVED

Call or message in the app (one of the app feature is you can directly message the service worker in the app) - APPROVED

DECISIONS

After 2 weeks of discussions and meetings, the team arrived to the following decisions:

Payment method from the customers to the workers will be through online banking, over the counter, and money remittance centers. We have decided that whatever is accessible to the customers and workers. However, every transaction from customers and workers should be done through the app, any violation to the service shall result to the void of service and contract.

Our way of earning will be through a percentage cut-off from the wage of workers for every customer transaction. The percentage breakdown was already discussed on the first blog. Getting a cut-off is only right because they are using our platform to connect, earn money, and find workers. The percentage cut-off will be like the payment for our service or platform.

The app could only be maid online since turning on location or GPS required internet connection. This feature allows the customers to find workers nearby.

The communication method of customers and workers should be done through the app. We have also decided to put messaging and calling one of the feature of our app. In this way, we can record every transaction and check for problems like scamming or poor work. However, the worker will still have the option to post their contact information for their convenience. 

To avoid getting customers outside the app, for example, getting a customer in the app for the first time and then for the next transaction they decided to just contact each other without the use of the app, we will ensure higher payment and more benefits for them.

LESSONS

The team realized that starting a business is not an easy task. Looking for problems in the community and finding for solutions is easier said than done. It is a very hard task since it requires a lot of research, critical-thinking, and understanding. However, we also learned that through teamwork, brain-storming, and discussions, our work could be made easier. 

Starting a business is not a one man’s job. That is why collaboration within the group should be encouraged and practiced. In our case, we had great chemistry so far. We talked about our suggestions, things we don’t agree on, and the things we hope we can improve. We also learned that understanding and putting limitations is very effective for good teamwork. Putting aside our friendship and speaking without sugar-coating words really helped us see what can we improve more with our project. We also agreed to accept corrections warmly so that we know where we went wrong and what we could do to improve and make the best out of our brains and creativity. We decided to be honest with each other and to always communicate to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings. However, jokes are still very much welcome! Too serious is too boring, a little bit of fun is always good.

SOME INTERVIEWS

We asked some customers and workers questions about our problem and here are some of the answers.

Electricianhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1jJCG51QhHlQyTb6PxhDPqlsRxQwObcm-/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jJCG51QhHlQyTb6PxhDPqlsRxQwObcm-/view?usp=sharing

Customers

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WzJpcRQzsNIJjI5mTsWUEoWj-tdXHrd9/view?usp=sharing

[potatosandra]

Here’s my output in one of my classes, The Life, Works, and Writings of Jose Rizal. I hope this gives you an idea about nationalism and nation-state <3 

Please do not download without asking permission. Happy learning!

[potatosandra]

BLOG #1

Lemme share with you a bit about my class called The Entrepreneurial Mind. Following the new normal, we attend classes through google meet. Reading from the title, it's a subject about entrepreneurship.

What I learned from the introduction is that entrepreneurship is a process. You have to generate ideas first, identify problems, find probable solutions, look for an opportunity to grow, form a team, and pursue the opportunity regardless of the limited resources. I also learned that a good entrepreneur is a person who does not only hope for personal profit but also the good of the people.

My instructor also tackled technopreneursip and how it changed the norm and improved the lives of many people. As an introvert, I really abhor going out just to buy what? clothes? Pfft. Now, I can just shop without stepping a foot outside of my house. I can literally buy whatever I want in just a click. Isn't it amazing? It's brilliant! Whoever thought of the idea of online shopping is a genius. You see, a lot of us can benefit from it. It saves us time and effort to go out. My realization is, technopreneurship has really made our lives easier and safer.

Now at the end of the lessons, we were instructed to form a team. And I am no less than proud of my groupmates. I met them during the first semester and learned a lot from them. Though this may sound sly, I was also kinda observing them from the start. Because you know, it's harder to trust people you've never met in person (lmao to my trust issues). And what can I say, my groupmates are amazing people. They are efficient at their work and they all have something that they are good at. For example, Kuya John is good at communication, he knows what to say and when to talk, Carlos is very logical and good at writing, Racil is also good at deduction and finding accurate terms, Chris is good at lay-outing and computer stuff, and me, who has a good sense of art (or so I think lol XD). Overall, I think we make a pretty diverse team and I hope we can continue going along in the future.

[potatosandra]

Welcome to my Blog! 

I am Julie-ann Boñol, 19 years old, a civil engineering freshman in Central Mindanao University. Although my real name is Julie, I prefer when people call me Sandra. I was a math Olympian and a student-researcher in high school. Now, I enjoy reading science fiction and watching anime in my free time. I also love joining in online discourse and debates about things I’m into and some relevant issues. 

If you have questions, feel free to message me! 

And have fun reading my blogs :)