5A- Identifying Local Opportunities
1) School Vendor Paid after Billing Mixup
This opportunity is the result of a billing mix up by the Marion County School Board. The vendor was a specialist in early childhood training (mostly pre-kindergarden) and did work for the school board between 2016 and 2019. The school board hired her with the expectation that they would receive a grant to pay her with. The grant however, didn’t come in until a year after her services began. Only now was the board able to put together the money to pay her the $80,000 they owed her. The problem here is obviously that government funding isn’t consistent enough to pay for all the services at schools. This leads to over-spending and tense relationships between government officials and private businesses. The effected are the private business owners who are hired by the school board, the school board themselves, and even the students and teachers. These kind of mixups break the trust between government and business, and make specialists less likely to want to work with the teachers and students because they might not get paid.
2) World’s Greatest Baby Shower
In Ocala, a list of 30 or so service providers of early childhood products are coming together to educate parents and parents-to-be about childcare and everything that comes with it. These businesses sell baby products, host baby showers, and everything in between. They aim to bring people there by advertising games and fun events for attendees. The problem presented is not only the average person’s lack of knowledge about raising children, but also the sheer amount of vendors it takes to make it possible. If parents-to-be could get all of this knowledge and event-planning from a single business, it could be a lot easier to handle. I think that this problem is usually relevant to parents who are expecting, couples wanting to get pregnant, and people who already have kids.
3) Smart Home Package
A retirement community in town announced that to help their tenants with day-to-day tasks they would be installing a smart home package. This includes all kinds of smart appliances like Amazon Alexa, a lighting remote, a wifi-thermostat, and more. In total ten devices will be installed. These would make a multitude of tasks easier for these seniors and make life more enjoyable. I think that the problem with smart devices is that it is hard to know which ones to buy. They have to be able to interconnect and also be installed the right ways or they’ll be ineffective. They are also expensive, because they are usually sold separately, instead of a bundle. This solution is a very easy and smart fix to these traditional barriers to use. I think that many upper to middle class people have this problem. Especially older people, who sometimes have a hard time wrapping their heads around today’s technology.
4) Put the Brakes on Shady Claims
Florida has the third-highest auto insurance rates in the country. This comes as a result of the state’s policy that if you are in a car-crash and you weren’t at fault, then the insurance companies must pay (at most $10000) for any minor injuries you suffer. The insurance companies are punished for not processing claims quickly. There are thousands of injury cases, and many of them win because of this system. This leaves insurance companies to not only handle the injury converge, but also any court fees that come along with the case. This opens the door to scammers who fake injuries, and make false claims. There are doctors who have backed up a great deal of illegitimate claims, which is obviously illegal. The problem for insurance companies and the court system is identifying which claims are legit, and which are false. They hardly have the time to sort them all out though, because they are expected to be expedient about deciding on claims. This problem directly effects insurance companies and the court system, but indirectly effects everyone in the state who drives, because it raises insurance rates.
5) Florida Red Tide Episode Kills Record Number of Sea Turtles
The latest red-tide outbreak has been one of the longest lasting, and most impactful, of all time. Red-tide is a type of micro-organism that can have deadly effects when it’s numbers reach certain level. It kills native marine organisms, and has negative effects on the fishing and tourism industries. It’s causes are not completely known, but it’s thought to have a connection to pollution. This year it has killed a record number of turtles, as well as many dolphins, manatees, and fish. These dead animals further endanger the waters, and wash up dead on our beaches. These make the beaches much less attractive to tourism, and make fishing less productive because there is less to catch. This puts a dent in Florida’s economy. This lack of control over red tide effects commercial fishermen, vacationers, and anyone who lives on the effected coastline.
Hi Eric,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about local opportunities because many of the articles you picked were really interesting to me. I had no idea that Florida had the third highest auto insurance in the country. That definitely shows me that there is opportunity there for many different people and companies. Also, I remember seeing information about the red-tide outbreak on the news, but I didn’t realize what a major impact it had on not only marine life, but the overall economy.
I thought this was a great post Eric, I really liked all the opportunities you mentioned. They were all really informative and showed the diverse local opportunities that are present in our community. I really enjoyed reading your "Smart Home Package" opportunity. I think it would be a great idea to include all those innovative tech products for seniors in retirement communities.
ReplyDeleteHi Eric,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Smart Homes can be complicated and constantly need updating, which isn't great, but I feel that in a senior home where most occupants could struggle with remotes and other devices it might be super helpful. Additionally, I find it absolutely insane that the red tide is still causing problems. I remember hearing about it months ago and had assumed that it died out by now. Pretty sad to hear that something so damaging to Florida's precious ecosystems and tourism industry is still affecting things. Good work!