1.    Why do entrepreneurs get in trouble with the law?

Generally, entrepreneurs get into trouble when trying to skirt the law either intentionally, or unintentionally. An example of intentionally may be not reporting income, or tax information properly, intentionally attempting to deceive customers/shareholders, or attempting to sabotage competitors through less than legal means. Unintentionally getting into trouble with the law usually comes from lack of research into legal matters, or pure ignorance; while not a valid excuse, it can be attributed more to incompetence, or lack of insight on the part of the entrepreneur.

2.    What does psychology have to do with marketing?

Psychology can make or break the marketing of a product. Essentially you have to convince people that your product is at least worth looking into or trick their brains into being interested. One example of a marketing trick is one that Coca-cola uses, the color red. Our brains associate red with desire, hunger, and wants (this is putting is very basically), so our minds se that, associate it with Coke, and many of us crave a coke after that. Noy only that, but fast food, and food commercials make the food look delicious, and use buzzwords like “fresh”, “warm”, “delicious” and the like, making us crave that product.

3.    What types of marketing sway my decisions?

I think for me, showing that a product actually works would sway me; I’m not so much an emotional consumer as I am a logical one. The demonstration videos of a cleaning product actually cleaning is what I want to see. I don’t really get the appeal of advertising like for example, Bentley did, where they had an attractive model showing off their new car; that’s so silly. I want to see the specs for the car, the miles per gallon, I want to see it on the road, etc. I need to see it works, and how it could help me before I decide whether I need it or not.

4.     How can I pitch ideas better?

I can probably pitch ideas better by appealing emotionally to people, or comedically to people. In one of the examples we were shown of product pitches, the person was making people laugh, and undercutting the competition to his candles, immediately grabbing people’s attention. Another way is I could appeal to people who have gone through hardships due to lack of, or the use of an inferior product, and offer them a product I made that is superior to it.

5.     What are my strengths and weaknesses in pitching?

I think my real weakness is that I’m too much of a realist, or too cynical when it comes to promoting a product. I don’t really believe that a product I’m associated with is the best, or is clearly better than another product, even if I had a hand in making it; I think it just depends on what you want personally. It’s hard for me to convince another person on a product if I can’t convince myself. As for my strengths, I can be funny when promoting something, and I do a lot of research into the logic of it. I look at if, and how it works, how well it works in certain categories and the like, and I try to report back on it to the best of my abilities.