20A- Growing your Social Capital

MARKET EXPERT

1) Who they are and what their background is.

Barbara and she used to sell lunchboxes and ice packs at her store.   

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

I am filling this slot with domain expert. She fills this slot, because she has witnessed       returns and people telling her that either the lunchboxes or ice packs do not work. They have returned them due to it not keeping food as cold as it promised on the description tag.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

This lady used to work with me at my old job. I called her phone number.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

She was happy to talk to me. She was more than happy to share the information with me. She offered no return expectation.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

This will help me by knowing that people do not believe normal lunchboxes and ice packs         works. Barbara let me know that there have been many returns on such items, which shows there is a market for it.

DOMAIN EXPERT

1)    Who they are and what their background is.

Justina and she is a hair stylist.

2)Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

I am this slot with domain expert. She fills this slot, because she knows how to attract customers into her business and keep them customers.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

This person is my hair stylist and I talked to her when I got my hair cut.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

It gave us something to talk about when she was cutting my hair and she offered not return expectation.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

She will be able to show me how to attract customers for my product.

SUPPLIER

1) Who they are and what their background is.

 A lady at REI. She works at REI.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

I am filling this slot with supplier. She fills this slot, because her store sells a wide majority of lunchboxes, ice packs, and coolers.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

I was looking at the coolers there and she asked me if she could help me with anything.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

I asked her if she sells a lot of coolers and lunchboxes at her store and she said yes. I                     asked what she thought the top seller was and she said the name brand Yeti. I asked her why people chose yeti over the other brands. She said that it was very popular to have and also it keeps your food and drinks very cold when your outside. She was happy to answer my questions and offered no return expectation.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

This person will help me know what is selling and what is not. Also, she helped me figure out what customers look for in coolers, lunchboxes, and ice packs.

FINAL:REFLECT.

This experience will shape how I participate in any future networking events by showing me how to talk to potential “networking” people. Yes, this experience differed from my past experiences. I used to not talk to people about ideas, but I have realized that having contacts will help make my idea become more of a reality or realize it is not something to move forward with.