What Makes You So Special?

 Resources in my venture

1. Experience: my venture is essentially a modification of a project I am currently working on. I am currently producing and designing business “competition guides” as workbooks for DECA Inc. My venture is essentially the adaptation of these books to a more curriculum focused workbook that can be used outside of DECA to teach courses. 
1. This resource is valuable because having created a similar product before, I know what appeals to educators, students, and how to create this product. For example, when I began I didn’t know about dpi or design quality or icon licensing required for publishing, printing, and selling. Now I’ve gained this experience to use in my venture.
2. This resource is rare because the infographic-style workbook is unique to DECA Inc., and a unique form of information dissemination across educational media. 
3. This resource is inimitable because in creating the workbooks, the knowledge I gained about the product itself is knowledge that nobody else has access to.
4. This resource is non-substitutable because through this experience I learned how to produce the guides most effectively and efficiently, which will ultimately allow me to be more successful as I launch this new venture. 
2. InDesign proficiency
1. This resource is valuable because after teaching myself InDesign in order to create the original workbooks, I was able to produce the product at a higher quality. This knowledge is a valuable way to not only aid in creativity, but also to ensure the high resolution and quality of the product. 
2. This resource is rare because although many people know how to use InDesign, everybody has a different design style. I learned through multiple sources and experiences in the past year, so my style allows me to more efficiently produce my work. In addition, many tools and data from my original files are saved on my InDesign, which will be helpful for my new books.
3. This resource is inimitable only because of my work with InDesign specifically correlated to my current workbooks. I have been using the program for several content marketing internships. However, the tools I have integrated into my program are available only to me and will be useful resources for my future guides. For example, the settings are already established. 
4. This resource is non-substitutable because InDesign is the primary professional program to create for-print works such as printed materials and books. It is necessary in order to produce workbooks with proper CMYK coloring, high resolution dpi, and professional graphics. 
3. Personal creativity
1. My personal creativity is extremely valuable because the creativity behind the infographic-style design of the lessons in each workbook is what makes this concept so unique. Rather than delivering my information in 100 pages of text, I’m using a creative and artistic medium. I need this creativity in order to produce the infographics and effectively pull off the design.
2. This is rare because it requires a specific mindset to be able to make you own designs, especially to be able to take boring information and integrate design elements in order to make it appealing and more effective.
3. This is inimitable because everybody has their own different style of design. My design style is different from another person’s, and it is my design style that has been proven to work in business concept workbooks.
4. My creativity is non-substitutable because it is extremely difficult to copy somebody’s style of design and personal creativity. People can design educational workbooks, but not with the same type of creativity that I do currently. This may prove to be a problem if I am the only person that can produce the product. However, I will be taking steps to create tools that will allow other designers ease of access to my icons and graphics with standard templates in order to make each lesson more consistent. 
4. Business acumen
1. My business acumen is valuable because through years of business study, I have an understanding not only of how to start and grow a business, but also the fundamental concepts necessary to teach students about business. through this business knowledge and the knowledge I gain through study and research, I can enhance my workbooks and create more comprehensive business guides. 
2. My business acumen is not rare alone, but through all of my experiences and research, it is the aggregation of everything I have learned that is rare. By learning as much about business as possible, I have a much more vast knowledge base to share with other students. 
3. My business acumen is inimitable because much of my knowledge has been gained through experience. The accumulation of my experiences is something that cannot be replicated by any other situation or textbook. 
4. My business acumen is non-substitutable because all of the information I have is relevant to and necessary for each lesson within the workbooks I’m writing. 
5. DECA Advisors 
1. Through my experience with and work for DECA as both a student, member, and colleague, I have gained mentorship and friendship with several DECA Advisors (business teachers) at home. They are valuable resources not only because of their mentorship roles, but also because they are the market I am targeting. So, as I produce products, their feedback allows my to analyze if I am meeting my customers’ needs and what I can do better.
2. Having the DECA Advisors as a resource is rare because I find it unusual for students or alumni to have such a close connection with their teachers, especially after they graduate. However, I speak to my DECA Advisors on almost a daily basis. In addition, not many people have as close a connection with their target market, especially in a B2B market. 
3. My access to DECA Advisors is inimitable because other people can’t replicate the experiences I’ve had with them, and nobody can be as loyal to them as I am. 
4. The DECA Advisors are non-substitutable because they are the perfect representation of my target market: busy and dedicated business and marketing teachers. In addition, they have had the experience of years of business education, which is a non-substitutable opportunity for mentorship. 
6. UF Professors
1. UF professors are valuable resources not only as mentors, but also because professors are the people who determine what books students will purchase. If a professor recommends or requires a workbook, it’s about to sell hundreds of copies. As a result, the goal is to give UF professors these workbooks for free, explain the concept to them, and when they see that it will help them as educators, they’ll use it for the course and tell students to buy it. 
2. This access to UF professors is rare because it is available only to college students at the school. 
3. This resource is inimitable because the relationships formed with professors by not only having them in class but also by interacting with them is not a relationship that can be replicated.
4. This resource is non-substitutable because it is necessary for educator to support or promote the product in order for it to be used in schools and ultimately make sales. 
7. Patience
1. My patience is a surprising resource. Or course patience is useful in any business. However, I believe my patience is especially valuable in this situation because anybody can aggregate business knowledge and design a workbook; but nobody has done it because they don’t have the patience to make the complex designs and take hours to design each page. It may take months to design one workbook. the patience to do it is what really makes it possible. 
2. This resource is rare because in a society that is becoming increasingly impatient with a need for speed, very few people have the patience to sit down and design this content. 
3. This resource is inimitable because it is very difficult to train someone to have patience, and it requires focus.
4. Patience is non-substitutable because without the patience to work diligently on each workbook, design, or page, the products would never get done. Or if they did get done, they would be very low quality.
8. Funding
1. Funding is extremely important. I unfortunately do not ahem ton of funding. However, through royalties form the DECA Workbooks, I have saved enough to prepare myself for launch. This business model is great because with the books, there isn’t a lot of overhead. In addition, the first few books may be expensive to print. However, bulk sales or many sales at the same time will allow me to generate revenue to pay for costs in a timely manner.
2. The money I’m receiving in revenue is definitely rare, because I am the only person DECA has negotiated a royalty-based contract with.
3. This resource is inimitable because not only is it generating revenue, but it is using my current experience (which will help me launch this venture) in order to generate fund for my new venture.
4. This resource is non-substitutable because money and initial funding is a necessary requirement of any business start-up.
9. Drive to enhance education
1. My personal drive to enhance education in schools and specifically within Career and Technical Education (CTE) is the motivation for creating these workbooks. This is super valuable because it will keep me and the company as a whole focused on this vision, which will keep me innovating in order to improve the product and stay ahead of competition.
2. This is a rare resource because many companies are often founded on the goals of revenue generation.
3. My drive to enhance education is inimitable because very few people besides the owner in a business truly connect with the foundation of motivation beyond making a profit.
4. This resource is non-substitutable because every entrepreneur needs motivation beyond making money in order to be truly successful. Using this motivation as a resource is necessary because it makes me determined and keeps me motivated.
10. DECA Members and Students
1. Through my continued involvement in DECA as a competition guide writer and as President of the state of Florida DECA, I’ve expanded my network and met not only officers at the national level and of other states, but also tons of DECA members and students. My relationships to these students is valuable because it allows me to gain insight into what their needs and wants are, and how I can meet those needs through my products. 
2. These relationships are rare because being the President of the state and working at the international level gives me access to a huge composite of students that is not available or taken advantage of by most people.
3. These resources are inimitable because the relationships you form with other people cannot be replicated. 
4. These resources are non-substitutable because having the relationships with the consumer, with business students, and gaining an understanding of that market is vital in order to successfully provide products for them.

Although each of these resources are extremely supportive to my venture, I believe the most valuable are my creativity and my experience creating similar workbooks with DECA. The experience lets me know that it is possible for me to create these workbooks and for them to be successful, because hundreds of workbooks have been printed and sold out at DECA Inc. already. It’s almost like a market test. I also believe my creativity is most valuable because what is enticing about the workbooks is not the information as much as the way the information is presented, and that is a direct result of my creativity and design making the infographic-style lessons and activities.