Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Who: I conducted my interviews at two different locations. Luckily, I went to the shooting range during a week day, without surprise was filled with older gentlemen, who were veterans. This was a good place to start my interviews. After interviewing five individuals about my facility for senior citizens, all which I thought had the unmet need, yet for some reason they didn’t, I was able to draw the boundaries of this opportunity belief;

• Gentlemen #1 (Vietnam veteran): He seemed to think that such a place would be for weak men. “Only old weak men would go to a place to play bingo”. I explained the amounts of activities provided which his response to was still a hard “no”.
• Gentlemen #2 (Korea Veteran): “I would like to attend your water sports class. It will remind me of my high school swimming days”. He was offset by the membership financial aspect of it, since “I already pay a membership to shoot here, why pay to go swimming”.
• Gentlemen #3 (Gun enthusiast): He looked at me with joy as I told him about my idea. He stated that I should try to “bring a fresh young feel to it”. He explained that a lot of locations set for servicing “old people” were “depressing and smelled like old people”. So, if its was like that he would never go.
• Gentlemen #4 (Vietnam veteran): He said he would never attend a place like mine because he would be too busy. He helps his son run a small local business and he “would have better things to do then jump around”.

After running out of interviewees, I quickly had to change scenery. I proceeded to Publix where I found an older couple shopping for groceries.  

• Older couple #5: They seemed interested in my idea from the beginning of the interview. After explaining the aspects of it, they were on board. “I would love to take all your different classes and the rehabilitation is great”. The gentlemen explained that he had sustained an injury which required rehabilitation and a local business would not provide transportation for his wife, as company and moral support, since she was not the affected party. So, if transportation wasn’t provided he would rather not attend.              

   
What: I believe that my facility can provide a combination of activities and physical therapy that most places do not combine, while providing a fun environment. A lot of rehabilitation centers have older individuals live in house for some duration which can be tedious for some. This can be solved with great transportation. I believe my opportunity belief of this facility is different from anything out there available right now. Yet these folks feel otherwise and have every right to do so, it wasn’t built for everyone.

Why: These people are outside my boundary right now, that’s not permanent, in the future with growth and popularity, they could reduce their skepticism.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is In: Older individuals that are retired and need something to fill their day, others that have lost a love one and need support. People who have been injured.	Who is Not: Folks with high standards of what social interaction should be like. Proud older individuals that prefer to be alone. Older semiretired individuals.
What the Need Is:  the need is anyone who is over 65 that is lonely or need their days filled with activities and socialization. A community that can support each other through what their peers only understand. Also, Older people that are required to attend physical rehabilitation due to injury.	What the Need Is Not: Harden by life’s hardships and can’t seem to allow themselves to lower their guard.  If they cannot seem to retire or open their schedules.
Why the Need Exists: the need exist because of human nature. It is human nature to surround ourselves with people who understand us. The older one gets the more susceptible you are to loneliness, either due to a lost of a love one or rejection form family. Injury is a inevitable factor of age, with time bones become weak and brittle, and this is something we as humans will always experience.	Alternative Explanations: Being old school? Doing things their way, stubbornness? A natural rejection to new things. Plain ole disinterest.

The demographic is restricted, however there’s still a market for it, we should go forward with this opportunity. Finding a way to accommodate transportation and form a clean and comfortable environment is key. Keeping staff happy can essential make this happen, while providing a good brand name within the urbanized senior citizen community. The more I expanded my interviews into rural Gainesville (shooting range) the less of a market I saw, so staying in urbanized communities is where my market is based.