The Twenty Percent

1) Find a business owner and talk to them about their customers. Who do they think their target customers are? What are their customers' unmet needs? Where do they find their customers? What are their customer's demographics? What kinds of media do their customers consume? Etc.

For this assignment, I interviewed Nam Diep of Lollicup. Lollicup is a boba tea cafe business located on 34th street near the Kangaroo. They have various flavors of tea and is a prominent study location. Nam said that his target customers are those who like to drink boba tea, find a place to hangout and socialize, and study. For awhile, Lollicup was the one of the few businesses dedicated to selling boba tea in Gainesville. He relies on two major forms to find his target market. He advertises in coupon books and sponsors many local events. However, one major way he finds most of new customers from, which he doesn't have direct control of is word-of-mouth. He finds that mostly college students, Asian American, and travel in groups for his main demographics. He also finds that his demographics frequent Facebook and Instagram.

2) Next, go and talk to 3 'target customers' -- using the demographics/psychographics the entrepreneur described. Ask these 'target customers' the questions in the paragraph directly above.

3) Reflect. Does the entrepreneur adequately understand their customers' problems? Where are the differences? Why might these differences exist.

I felt that Nam's analysis of his 20% is spot on. Knowing that he has been a business owner for over a decade, sticking to his tried and true formula, he has narrowed down where his sweet spot is. Nam is a true entrepreneur, he truly engages his customers and make a relationship with them. He is an ardent supporter of local events be believes in giving back to the community. I wish him much success in the future when we have small business owners like him being the backbone to successful communities.