Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends
1. https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666
The first economic trend I noticed was that the US is declining in global economic power. After googling, "US economic trends", this was the first result that popped up. My major is International Business, and I am focused mostly on Southeast Asia. I lived and worked in Southern Vietnam for 2 months this past summer, I took Japanese Culture last semester, and I am enrolled in Chinese Culture right now. In addition, I took 2 semesters of Mandarin Chinese here at UF as well. With this opportunity, I believe that the rising incomes of those in China, Vietnam, Korea, etc. leads to them having more disposable income on more luxury or non-necessity goods. With my knowledge of these Asian cultures, I can use this opportunity to my advantage and create a whole new market for companies or even for my own. I saw this opportunity because of my international knowledge as well as my top notch googling skills, and I think it will be relatively easy to exploit.
2. https://www.thebalance.com/us-economic-outlook-3305669
The second economic trend I noticed was that our economy is growing at a rate that is not really sustainable in the long term. I know I am not the only person to notice this trend, but my idea would be to invest in businesses or products that are typically necessities, and things that lower income people need, such as coin laundromats and the like. I think that even in a growing economy, these coin laundromats still are needed, and I also have watched a lot of youtube videos on them which I think may give me an advantage over others. I believe an opportunity will exist because when the bubble burst in 2008, it gave us a precedent which I am going to try to follow of which businesses stayed afloat. I think the opportunity will be easy to exploit, because it had been tested and works.
3. https://www.alligator.org/news/the-last-straw-gainesville-ban-takes-effect/article_5c6bb62c-3354-11ea-85b7-63c47c871247.html
A regulatory trend that I saw and have experienced is the ban on plastic straws in Gainesville. Plastic straws are also banned in the city of St. Petersburg downtown, and from experience I know how horrible paper straws are. There is a definite need for a better alternative to these paper straws besides the obvious of buying your own metal straw and keeping it with you at all times. I definitely am not the first person to have noticed this opportunity, but if I get something closer to plastic straws than our current paper ones, I believe it will be easily exploitable. The prototypical customer will be literally anyone who has used a paper straw because everyone hates them.
4. https://www.vox.com/2019/12/27/21039149/fda-officially-raised-age-to-buy-tobacco-from-18-to-21
Another regulatory trend that I have seen is the new law raising the age to buy nicotine from 18 to 21. In a college town, where around half of students are under the age of 21 at any point in time, this hits close to home. Now that I am 21, this doesn't affect me, (I dont buy nicotine products either way but you get the point), but it does affect countless students who want to be an adult and enjoy adult things. I am not the only person to have seen this opportunity, and I do think that is hard to exploit. If I could find an alternative to nicotine or find a loophole to where "underage" adults can legally buy nicotine products. If I can figure this out, I think it could be a gold mine.
The first economic trend I noticed was that the US is declining in global economic power. After googling, "US economic trends", this was the first result that popped up. My major is International Business, and I am focused mostly on Southeast Asia. I lived and worked in Southern Vietnam for 2 months this past summer, I took Japanese Culture last semester, and I am enrolled in Chinese Culture right now. In addition, I took 2 semesters of Mandarin Chinese here at UF as well. With this opportunity, I believe that the rising incomes of those in China, Vietnam, Korea, etc. leads to them having more disposable income on more luxury or non-necessity goods. With my knowledge of these Asian cultures, I can use this opportunity to my advantage and create a whole new market for companies or even for my own. I saw this opportunity because of my international knowledge as well as my top notch googling skills, and I think it will be relatively easy to exploit.
2. https://www.thebalance.com/us-economic-outlook-3305669
The second economic trend I noticed was that our economy is growing at a rate that is not really sustainable in the long term. I know I am not the only person to notice this trend, but my idea would be to invest in businesses or products that are typically necessities, and things that lower income people need, such as coin laundromats and the like. I think that even in a growing economy, these coin laundromats still are needed, and I also have watched a lot of youtube videos on them which I think may give me an advantage over others. I believe an opportunity will exist because when the bubble burst in 2008, it gave us a precedent which I am going to try to follow of which businesses stayed afloat. I think the opportunity will be easy to exploit, because it had been tested and works.
3. https://www.alligator.org/news/the-last-straw-gainesville-ban-takes-effect/article_5c6bb62c-3354-11ea-85b7-63c47c871247.html
A regulatory trend that I saw and have experienced is the ban on plastic straws in Gainesville. Plastic straws are also banned in the city of St. Petersburg downtown, and from experience I know how horrible paper straws are. There is a definite need for a better alternative to these paper straws besides the obvious of buying your own metal straw and keeping it with you at all times. I definitely am not the first person to have noticed this opportunity, but if I get something closer to plastic straws than our current paper ones, I believe it will be easily exploitable. The prototypical customer will be literally anyone who has used a paper straw because everyone hates them.
4. https://www.vox.com/2019/12/27/21039149/fda-officially-raised-age-to-buy-tobacco-from-18-to-21
Another regulatory trend that I have seen is the new law raising the age to buy nicotine from 18 to 21. In a college town, where around half of students are under the age of 21 at any point in time, this hits close to home. Now that I am 21, this doesn't affect me, (I dont buy nicotine products either way but you get the point), but it does affect countless students who want to be an adult and enjoy adult things. I am not the only person to have seen this opportunity, and I do think that is hard to exploit. If I could find an alternative to nicotine or find a loophole to where "underage" adults can legally buy nicotine products. If I can figure this out, I think it could be a gold mine.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI also selected an article regarding nicotine products because it is a very popular commodity at our age. I feel as though changing the age doesn't change anything because people are still going to find a way to purchase it. The 14 year olds whom they are concerned about weren't 18 in the first place and somehow still got their hands on it. I think that producing a product that could mimic the "e-cig" yet have no harmful chemicals like nicotine could be a huge success.