Lesson 27: Creativity
Today is the last day of my internship with T. Rowe Price as an equity research analyst, and I am glad to announce I found a great business for investment. No - it is not publicly traded nor did I find it on the job. The business is a laundromat.
Each Tuesday, I got off work and walked three blocks from my hotel to the laundromat to wash my dirty clothes for $3.75 and dry them for $0.50, As I watched my clothes swirl in the dryer, I thought, “Owning a laundromat is a great way to have passive income.” The only problem is there are few ways to differentiate your “product” in this business, and unless you differentiate you will lose business as soon as another laundromat opens with cheaper prices. Businesses differentiate their product through creativity.
As I mentioned in Lesson 25: Fitness, the ideal company for Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition has enduring profitability. Whereas owning a laundromat could produce profits consistently, there are few ways to differentiate your product so customers choose you over a competitor.
My goal is to acquire a trade school and become CEO once I graduate with my MBA, and I see an opportunity to offer a differentiated product compared to the competitor. According to the Salesforce Connected Student Report, only 34% of students report having a great experience in higher education. This means there is a group of people looking for a better learning experience than currently offered in the marketplace, and I plan to offer one at our school.
One example of a differentiated learning experience is Culturally Relevant Science. This is an online platform designed to provide STEM education resources for underrepresented minorities. Two high school teachers, Meagan Naraine and Tamir Mickens, created the platform for students like theirs to better engage with their learning material. Their creativity produced a successful business. I envision a space for teacher creativity to thrive as we imagine better ways for students to learn both on campus and online. This is how you remain focused on the customer experience.
Business owners must be creative as we focus on the customer. Keeping the customer in mind aligns with my values: love, humility, and wisdom. These values are naturally customer-focused, and leading a trade school will require creativity to curate a great experience for our students.
Creativity is Lesson 27. Next week, I will share Lesson 28: Creativity.
