Thursday, July 16, 2020

20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1.) Domain Expert
  • Who they are and their background: I interviewed my friends mom who owns a jewelry kiosk in the mall. Although this isn't a clothing store, it is in the retail industry so I felt like it would give me some insight.
  • What makes them an expert: she has been successful in her business for many years, and can manage inventory really well.
  • How I found this person: friends' mom
  • Nature of exchange: I simply asked her for her time over the phone, i explained to her the business idea i have and wanted to get a perspective of working in the retain industry. 
  • How this person will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity: including this person in my network can help me understand the factors that go into starting a business
2.) Market Expert

  • Who they are and their background: the girl i interviewed owns a small online clothing boutique 
  • What makes them an expert: although i don't know the profits of her business, i know she has a great platform and followers
  • How I found this person: i got in contact with her through instagram 
  • Nature of exchange: at first i didn't think she would even reply, but was surprised when she was so helpful and nice. I explained to her I am a student and the assignment. In exchange I just shared one of her posts in my story.
  • How this person will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity: including this person in my network can provide me with great contacts. She has been in this market for a while and can give me helpful advice
3.) Industry Supplier
  • Who they are and their background: the person i interviewed buys clothes in bulk and resells the pieces online
  • What makes them an expert: she has been doing this successfully for 2 years
  • How I found this person: on campus, through a friend
  • Nature of exchange: i just texted her and asked if she could answer some questions 
  • How this person will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity: including this person in my network can help me build my business by giving me advice.
4.) Reflection: finding and asking these people questions was a bit challenging because it was out of my comfort zone. The ones i was already acquainted with was just a matter of asking for a favor which can be scary, but it showed me that the worst that can happen is them saying no.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Isabella, I like the layout in which you presented your answers. I believe that having these contacts will help you greatly in your social life but mostly in business life as well. It is important to reach out to new people and stay in contact as this is the way to gain trust. It may be hard because personally I am also shy but it will be a benefit to us in the long run!
    Thanks for sharing

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  2. Hi Isabella, thank you for sharing! I think that you chose really great people to talk to and building these connections could help you a lot in the future. I think that you got great insight from talking to all of these people. I also knew the people that I talked to and I think that the assignment allowed me to know them better as people in my professional network.

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