Growing Your Social Capital: Assignment 20

Person 1: Domain expert

He is an app developer who went to school at UF. I went to high school with him and I was able to facetime him to pick his brain. I wish I had been able to take him for coffee, but COVID-19… I asked him about the process of creating an app and he gave me a lot of insight! There was a lot about it that I didn’t know so learning about the whole process was great. He’s still new at his field, but he was the closest thing that I could find to an expert.

 

Person 2: Market Expert

            I talked with an old employer about how to market to college students. I used to work for a property management company at a leasing office in Gainesville and their main target market was college kids. They brought up an excellent point that marketing has exploded on social media: Instagram, Facebook, and even Snapchat. I offered to help during the upcoming leasing season during move-in/ move-out (the busiest time of the year for them).

 

Person 3: Supplier

            I talked a coworker that is worked for tech start up last summer. This was the best “supplier” that I could get in touch with. He’s currently a UF student, but he had a lot to say about the company he worked for. It’s similar to my product, even though it’s a supplier, because they try to market their new technology and compete against current sellers. I let him know that if he ever needed my help with anything or needed me to cover a shift to let me know!

 

Reflect

It was interesting to focus on specific experts when networking. I usually think of networking as meeting as many people in a given industry, but this activity helped me see that it’s beneficial to target specific individuals. Networking is a very valuable skill and I hope that I can continue to improve my networking skills. In the future, I will think more about the bigger picture. It takes all these various experts to make a business idea successful.

Comments

  1. Isabella PeixotoJuly 20, 2020 at 1:34 AM

    hey Chaplin,
    I liked what you mentioned about targeting specific individuals in your network. I didn't really think of that even after I completed the assignment but agree with you that the value that people bring should be greater than just the amount of people. I liked how you described each individual and how they could help out. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jackson GoreJuly 20, 2020 at 10:15 AM

    Hi Chaplin,
    Even though your experts do not have as much experience as industry veterans may have, it seems like you received a lot of helpful info about your business concept. Hopefully you can stay in touch with these experts and they can help you with your business concept down the road. I am also trying to market to college students for my concept and I did not even think about reaching out to a leasing office. Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 20, 2020 at 10:34 AM

    Hey Chaplin,
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts with all of us. I think you did a great job of explaining how you went through this whole networking process. It seems like you had a really good grasp of who you wanted to choose for each category of person, and they all seemed to match up very well with what we are looking for. I really enjoyed reading your reflection and it seems like you have a good idea of how these people will benefit you and your business. I agree with you that it takes all different types of people to make a business successful.
    Great job and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
    -Morgan Mowery

    ReplyDelete

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