Erik Folker

I came from a very small high school with a very low minority population. There was almost no major cultural or ethnic diversity in my school, so I am not very accustomed to the  multicultural lifestyle that a person is likely to experience at a university such as the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. With that said, I have no problem relating to people of other ethnic backgrounds and races. I do not believe that a person must have experience with people of other races in order to relate to or interact successfully with them. I enjoy the company of different groups of people, and I think it is a positive and interesting contrast to the lack of diversity in my high school. Being able to work with members of dissimilar race is an important ability, especially in the globalized 21st century community. I have already met some great people here at Whitewater that are not ethnically white. I enjoy travel and meeting new people from other cultures and ethnicities. I think I will have many opportunities to interact with a diverse group of people throughout my careers as a college student, military officer, businessman, and whatever else I choose to do with my life. As entrepreneurs learning about marketing, diversity is an important issue to understand. Marketing to different ethnic groups is different than marketing to your own race and culture. In order to optimize the effectiveness of advertisement and marketing, ethnic diversity must often be taken into consideration. Diversity is an aspect of life that most people will have to deal with, so the better a person is at interacting with different groups of people, the better off they will be in life.

One of my favorite brands is Adidas. I like to wear Adidas athletic clothes and shoes because of the comfort and athletic style and appeal of their products. To me, Adidas is synonymous with quality athletic products, superior comfort and the most appealing designs available on the market for athletic clothing, shoes and accessories. My favorite pair of running shoes were Adidas ones. They had the best ankle support and most comfortable cushioning of all of the shoes I have ever worn for track and cross country. They were also very visually appealing, with an awesome grass green color on the shocks and soles, flashy silver trim on the top and sides, and black mesh. They were incredibly comfortable, allowing me to run longer with less foot pain and fewer running associated leg problems. Some of my best times in track were run while I was training in my Adidas shoes. This is an important connection that brands such as Adidas wantcustomers to make, is to draw a line connecting their product with success and happiness of its customers. This is one of the reasons I like Adidas products and why I use them for athletics on a regular basis. My favorite pair of athletic shorts is also from Adidas. Most athletic short that I purchase have flaws that bother me a lot. Either they are too long, too heavy, too slippery and fall-offish, and (most often) a combination of all of these problems. My only pair of running shorts that were ideal in every way possible are my current athletic shorts. They are durable, and made of a great material that are lightweight and not too slippery. They also fit me perfectly, so they do not slide down and fall off when I run and do other exercises in them. They also have a perfectly sized and located velcro pocket on the side so I can carry important items with me as I exercise, without being afraid that I will lose them. These are some of the factors in my personal life experiences that have led to my preference of Adidas for all of my athletic clothing needs.

Introduction to Our Business

Our business is called Milwaukee Ironworks. It will be a 24 hour facility that will offer everything you need to get into shape, for an affordable price. This business will be owned and operated by five different financial contributors, which consist of Zach Hill, Erik Folker, Ryan Lumsden, Dayton Yu, Josh Shobert.

It will be a hardcore weight lifting, boxing, and extreme fitness center.

Slogan: “We’ll whip you’re assets into shape!” We chose this slogan because it is simple, catchy, and relevant to our goal as a business, which is to help our customers attain their physical goals.

Mission Statement: Our fitness facility will be a one of a kind place where the young and old can come to work out. We want to train both the advanced and the novice lifters, offer better lifestyles to all customers, along with giving customers a chance to work out in a state of the art boxing center. Our objective is to maintain and grow our position as the best training facility in the Milwaukee area.

Personnel Plan: 2 Managers, 2 Assistant Managers, 3 full time workers

Product and Services:

• Weightlifting machines
• Free weights
  • Squat racks
  • Benches
  • Stair climbers
  • Tread mills
  • Olympic weight sets

Sub Items for the boxing training include:

• Heavy bags
• Speed bags
• Gloves
• Ring
• Jumping ropes
• Kettle bells
• Floor mats

Services:

• Boxing Trainers
• Weightlifting Trainers
• Extreme Fitness Trainers

Target Market: People that want to stay in shape, relieve stress, build confidence, gain energy, increase stamina, social networking, or the best training in the Milwaukee area. In addition, our target market is people that are 18 and above. The reason for this decision is that we want people that are actually serious about making gains and are not there to mess around. By having people that mess around, horseplay causes people to have a chopped up workout and they possibly and become hurt by another person messing around. We are aiming at both the recreational lifter and runner, along with the serious lifters and marathon runners. Since our company is new, we will try to target the younger generation first. That means people ages 18-30. This is because they will hopefully have kids that will want to train here in 15-20 years. We will also welcome middle-aged and senior citizens, because anyone can have a passion for training, and we will embrace that.

Financial Goal: The financial goal of our business is to be able to cover all the expenses by the money brought in through the memberships of the customers and the cost of training.  After our business has been open for the first year, our goal for the next year is to cover the expenses and to have extra money to set aside for any catastrophic  events that may occur.  In addition, we hope to save the money for future renovations.  After our business can prove to be successful, we could possibly add more luxuries to make it more desirable to the customers.

Cost of Membership: To lure customers to our facility, we will offer a one week free trial.  After the trial will expire, if the customers want continue their membership, they could have several membership option:

-One month:  $60.00

-Three months: $150.00

-Six months: $280.00

- twelve month: $500.00

Location:

Our location is Elm Grove, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. Known for its rich heritage and beautiful green spaces, the Village of Greendale consistently ranks as a favorite small town to visit and a great place to live and work. Residents continue to enjoy lush green spaces and thriving businesses. We think this will be a perfect location for our business because of these reasons. It will also invite those in Milwaukee to our facility for an excellent training experience.

Expenses:

Startup expenses for this business will be around $2,000,000. We estimate the building will cost $1,120,000 ($70 sq/ft x 14,000 square ft.), the property taxes

Projected Financial Data

What Makes Us Different?

Most businesses will usually offer either a variety of different but generic services or they will usually offer one service that is high quality.  However, our business is going to be a combination of a variety and high quality services.

http://www.building-cost.net/CentralCost.asp

Now that I have been here for a month, my current outlook and feeling towards Whitewater and the college experience is different than it was a couple weeks ago. I actually know people now, and see many familiar faces around campus. I have mastered my schedule and know the ideal times to eat, work out, go to bed, wake up, do nothing, and whatever else I need to do or feel like doing. I am completely familiar with the campus, its features and facilities, and I now know all of my professors and am familiar with the way my classes work. I have joined/gotten more involved in my activities and organizations since my first college transition blog entry. I decided to join the cycling club, and I still have to see/make up my mind on how long I want to stay in and how involved I want to get myself in that organization. I have not failed out of school yet, so mission accomplished in that respect. I am getting ridiculously over-involved in my other organizations as well. I get to do color guard for the football game this weekend for Air Force ROTC, and I was just appointed Academic Officer for Alpha Flight of AFROTC Det 925. Whatever that means. My computer is finally back, repaired and working the way it should. I look forward to a haircut, a long weekend with lots of sleep, and some good stress-relieving exercise. I am doing very well in my classes, unless there is something unfortunate to which I am completely oblivious in respect to my academic endeavors. I was nervous about all of my classes the first week or so, but now I am able to enter all of my classes with that big, bright, cheery smile for which I am known.

Drug and alcohol abuse is obviously a big problem in the United States, not only for high school or college age people as it is often portrayed as being, but also for older adult generations and age groups. Some of the biggest problems in the realm of drug abuse came about in the 1960s and 1970s with the hippie/ “Woodstock” generation. There are most likely many people from this time who still use illegal drugs, everything from marijuana to more potent substances such as cocaine and crystal meth. These drugs have been in the mainstream to some degree since the late 1960s and is still a problem for the younger generations today. In my high school, I know for a fact that many kids participated in recreational drug use, and that marijuana was a popular substance among those kids. I also knew many kids in high school who drank regularly and chose to use alcohol as a recreational activity, and for parties. This could have led to many tragic accidents, but luckily most of the people were caught and fined large sums of money instead, and hopefully they learned their lessons about alcohol abuse before they have a chance to cause a bad accident. Now that I am in college, I have met many new people who drink and party on a regular basis, I just hope that those people do so responsibly. I am not sure if any of the people I have met here at Whitewater are also into the use of recreational drugs or not, but obviously there will be some cases of drug abuse somewhere on our campus.

My transition into college life has already given me a variety of experiences and lessons. I actually managed to pick up the essentials of dorm life fairly quickly, and transitioning to college classes and homework has not been a problem so far, as I had initially expected. As expected, though, I enjoy my college schedule much more than I did my high school schedule. I think it is awesome having a maximum of three classes in a day during the middle of the week and only two early morning classes on Monday. I have much more time off to do homework, space out, and sleep than I ever did in high school. This extra time is very useful to me because as a cadet 4th class in the Air Force ROTC I have had to learn to adjust my schedule and manage time in a way that I never had to while in high school. My decision to do ROTC was possibly the best decision I’ve made in a long time. I think it is a lot of fun, my college is mostly paid for, and it gives me something with which to preoccupy myself from sitting in my dorm room and counting the creepy mold spots on my ceiling and from worrying about their close proximity to my face because of my ridiculously high bed loft. Waking up at 0400 on Tuesdays takes a toll on my ability to stay awake in the more boring classes, but that’s where all of my extra time comes in handy. Seriously, I think I slept continuously for the past two days on the futon with the tv on. I hope they don’t decide to charge me extra for the perpetual cable service I’ve been using (while sleeping). Anyways, college has been pretty fun so far and I definitely look forward to the rest of the year.