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After freelancing on my own for the past year and a half, I have realized that one of the biggest obstacles to college entrepreneurs is a fear or apprehension to sales. As a computer science major trying to sell my services, I discovered very quickly that I had not been prepared for the difficulty of learning sales. Sales get a bad rap and very often is the last thing that young entrepreneurs want to try, but the reality is that sales is oxygen to a company and a required skill for an entrepreneur. Due to this, I compiled all of my knowledge into an e-book for young entrepreneurs starting out to learn how to open up a conversation with a prospect all the way to closing them on the phone. Instead of starting from scratch like I did, college entrepreneurs can learn the bare basics of selling their own services, even if they are terrified of sales and what it entails. In this e-book, there are tips that I have learned to deal with my anxiety about sales such as taking the pressure off of yourself and prioritizing listening more than pitching. Instead of trying to teach sales expecting people to be natural sales people, this e-book takes the approach of helping entrepreneurs that are terrified of sales and show them how they can cope with this fear and still close a client. In the future, I hope young entrepreneurs will have access to more resources that handle this fear and make it much easier for them to learn it by themselves. This e-book is the first step.
ContributorsMead, Kevin Tyler (Author) / Sebold, Brent (Thesis director) / Kruse, Gabriel (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Millions of people every day log onto their computers to play competitive games with others around the world. Each of these players has their own unique personality and their own reasons for playing. To explore the relationship between player personalities and gameplay, this study asked participants to report their Myers-Briggs sixteen personality types and complete a survey that asked them questions about their behavior while games playing competitively online including their preferred in-game archetype and questions about how they interact with other players online. The survey also included the Grit Scale test, which which was intended to explore players' perseverance. Nearly 700 people participated in the study and all responses were analyzed based on their Myers-Briggs' personality type. While this study revealed that Myers-Briggs' personality type alone cannot determine a player's mindset while playing online, it was found to be an indicator of how they feel about socializing with others online. The implications of these results are discussed in this paper.
ContributorsKeyvani, Kurosh (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis director) / Chavez-Echeagaray, Maria Elena (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This paper presents the design and evaluation of a haptic interface for augmenting human-human interpersonal interactions by delivering facial expressions of an interaction partner to an individual who is blind using a visual-to-tactile mapping of facial action units and emotions. Pancake shaftless vibration motors are mounted on the back of a chair to provide vibrotactile stimulation in the context of a dyadic (one-on-one) interaction across a table. This work explores the design of spatiotemporal vibration patterns that can be used to convey the basic building blocks of facial movements according to the Facial Action Unit Coding System. A behavioral study was conducted to explore the factors that influence the naturalness of conveying affect using vibrotactile cues.
ContributorsBala, Shantanu (Author) / Panchanathan, Sethuraman (Thesis director) / McDaniel, Troy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The main objective of this thesis is to describe and analyze Clippr, an ASU startup founded by four students: Adam Lynch, Eric Gottfried, Ty Sivley, and Thomas Carpaneto. This paper will describe the formation of Clippr as a business, analyze the work and reasoning for dissolving the business, and suggest three pivots that could increase the chances of success for the future of Clippr. These three pivots are: mini salons, a concierge service, and an online resource. The idea for Clippr came from Sam, the team's friend's experience within the cosmetology industry. Sam graduated from cosmetology school in Phoenix and started his career as an assistant, which is the most common entry level position within the industry. Assistants do not get to work with clients and primarily do chores around the salon so he was not gaining any valuable experience. Eventually Sam found a position at a salon in Flagstaff. Unfortunately, he was not scheduled enough hours to pay his rent which forced him to travel back to Phoenix to cut his friend's and family's hair to make ends meet. Sam is not alone experiencing these issues within the industry, they are a common trend throughout the cosmetology field. It was found that there is a clear problem that affects every stylist: they struggle to reap the benefits of their self-employment. Most stylists become independent contractors where they are constrained by the salon's management. They are generally forced to work during the salon's hours of operations, promote specific products, adhere to a dress code, and forfeit their clients information. On the other hand, freelance workers outside of salons do enjoy greater freedoms within their work but with significant hurdles to overcome. They have a much harder time building a client base and face prohibitive start-up costs that make it harder to break into the industry.
ContributorsGottfried, Eric (Co-author) / Lynch, Adam (Co-author) / Sebold, Brent (Thesis director) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Consumer automotive vehicles have been an essential part of daily life for many over several decades. Many people also find that the multimedia screens found in the center consoles of many modern vehicles are robust enough to complete a certain number of tasks, such as navigating to a destination, playing music, or taking a phone call. As a result, it is important for designers to look into their decisions and how they might affect the overall experience a person has while interacting with multimedia screen as they are driving a vehicle. This study aims to look into how existing design decisions present themselves in the multimedia screens of modern vehicles and which principles of design users favor when interacting with the systems. With 188 participants and three vehicles tested, including the 2019 Toyota Highlander equipped with native software, the 2019 Hyundai Sonata equipped with Android Auto, and the 2020 Hyundai Elantra equipped with Apple CarPlay, it was found that design principles found in Human Computer Interaction, such as Gestalt principles, are relevant in allowing for a more positive, enjoyable experience in completing tasks such as navigation, playing music, and taking a phone call.
ContributorsHwang, Jaesang (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis director) / Chavez Echeagaray, Maria Elena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Victim advocacy is a free and confidential service provided to individuals who have experienced sexual violence. Due to the intense expectations associated with this role, victim advocates often suffer from mental health issues, including compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue occurs when individuals in helping professions become overly exposed to clients’ traumatic experiences and suffer from debilitating symptoms that impact their daily lives. Through this project, I identified aspects of the role that put victim advocates at a high risk for developing compassion fatigue. I then explored methods for mitigating the negative effects of compassion fatigue including The Accelerated Recovery Program for compassion fatigue, humor as a coping technique, Eye Movement Desensitizing and Reprocessing therapy, comprehensive training efforts, personal and organizational self-care, and social support. With an emphasis on the benefits provided by social support, I developed a resource guide about the prevalence of violence in our community, aimed to help create more open dialogue surrounding sexual violence.
ContributorsSagarin, Rosa (Author) / Sturgess, Jessica (Thesis director) / Soares, Rebecca (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This thesis examines the applications of the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence within small-to-medium sized retail businesses. These technologies have become a common aspect of a modern business environment, yet there remains a level of unfamiliarity with these concepts for business owners to fully utilize these tools. The complexity behind IoT and AI has been simplified to provide benefits for a brick and mortar business store in regards to security, logistics, profit optimization, operations, and analytics. While these technologies can contribute to a business’s success, they potentially come with a high and unattainable financial cost. In order to investigate which aspects of businesses can benefit the most from these technologies, interviews with small-to-medium business owners were conducted and paired with an analysis of published research. These interviews provided specific pain points and issues that could potentially be solved by these technologies. The analysis conducted in this thesis gives a detailed summary of this research and provides a business model for two small businesses to optimize their Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence to solve these pain points, while staying in their financial budget.
ContributorsAldrich, Lauren (Co-author) / Bricker, Danielle (Co-author) / Sebold, Brent (Thesis director) / Vermeer, Brandon (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Customers in the modern world are accustomed to having immediate and simple access to an immense amount of information, and demand this immediacy in all businesses, especially in the restaurant industry. Now more than ever, restaurants are relying on third party delivery services such as UberEATS, Postmates, and GrubHub to satiate the appetite of their delivery market, and while this may seem like the natural progression, not all restaurant owners are comfortable moving in this direction. Pain points range from not wanting a third party to represent their business or the lack of supervision over the food in transit, and the time it takes to navigate the delivery landscape, to the fact that some food just doesn’t “travel” well. In addition to this, food delivery services can cause increased stress on a kitchen, and dig into the bottom line of an already slim restaurant margin. Simply put, customer reliance on these applications puts apprehensive restaurant owners at a competitive disadvantage.Our solution is simple—we want business owners to be able to take advantage of the huge market provided by third party delivery services, without the fear of compromising their brand. At DLVR Consulting, we listen to specific pain points of a customer and alleviate them through solutions developed by our in-house food, restaurant, and branding experts. Whether creating an entirely new “delivery” brand, menu curation, or payment processing service, we give the customer exactly what they need to feel comfortable using third-party delivery applications. In this plan, we will first take a deep dive into the problem and opportunity identified by both third-party research and first-hand interviews with successful restaurant owners and operators. After exploring the problem, we will propose our solution, who we will target with said solution, and what makes this solution unique and sellable. From here we will begin to explore the execution of our ideas, including our sales and marketing plans which will work in conjunction with our go-to-market strategy. We will explore key milestones and metrics we hope to meet in the coming year, as well as the team which will be taking DLVR from a plan to an implemented business. We will take a look at our three year financial forecast, and break this down further to monthly revenue, direct costs, and expenses. We will finish by taking a look at our required funding, and how we will attempt to gain said funding.
ContributorsClancy, Kevin (Co-author, Co-author) / Sebold, Brent (Thesis director) / Clancy, Keith (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The question that always gets asked by college students in today’s world is how and where I am going to find that first real job out of college. Students struggle with finding the right connections and networking required to get that dream job they have always wanted after completing their degree. As students graduating this year, it is related to us in a big way that we create a website that makes the job easier for students and employees to connect and get the job they are looking for. Our group decided to create a website that will give these students an opportunity to show a little bit of their personality to employers along with their skills and attributes that they would provide to a company. The website also gives employers the opportunity to narrow the search for a candidate and get the employee they are looking for in their company. The goal is to make looking for a job easier for newly graduated college students that are starting their careers. We have also created a link from our website that can be used to put on your Linkedin or other various websites to promote yourself. With the addition of our video feature and other qualities about the person, we believe our website is unique and will help candidates get the job they are looking for.
ContributorsHightower, Dimetrius (Author) / Coleman, Ethan (Co-author) / Singh, Anjali (Co-author) / Bates, Noah (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Pierce, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
The Founders lab is a year-long program that gives its students an opportunity to participate in a unique team-based, experiential Barrett honors thesis project to design and apply marketing and sales strategies, as well as business and financial models to create and launch a new business. Initially, our team focused on creating a product that would provide those who have received basic genetic testing from services such as 23andMe with nutrition, exercise, and health/wellness educational resources. Over time, we transitioned our focus to creating a community forum that would also provide those resources to people who had not received basic genetic testing, but were still interested in accessing educational resources about the specific conditions that basic genetic testing services provide reports for. To accomplish this, we have produced a website that allows users to post content and interact with each other.
ContributorsUmana Fleck, David (Author) / Chapman, Isabella (Co-author) / Niu, Hardy (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Lee, Christopher (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2022-05