Assignment 20A- Growing Your Social Capital

Assignment 20A- Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1. Who they are and their background: An old friend from high school who is currently trying to pursue his own entrepreneurial endeavors in real estate. He created his own real estate company and has been working in it for three years now
2. Slot: He is engaged in the same type of business activity as I'd like to be, which is selling housing to people from all over
3. How I found and contacted them: Somewhat kept in touch after high school and they invited me to like their real estate page on Facebook. From there, I used Facebook messenger to contact him
4. Nature of the exchange: He agreed to help me with my assignment and I promoted his real estate company page on Facebook as a thank you
5. Advantage of exploitation: I got to learn different techniques about selling in real estate and what different aspects of housing units different market segments look for (space is more significant for families, rent is more significant for single people, etc.)

Market Expert:

1. Who they are and their background: My uncle who has been working in management positions of different apartment complexes all over Florida for over fifteen years
2. Slot: He knows a lot about conducting customer research for this type of business and is also technically targeting the same market as I am
3. How I found and contacted them: I gave him a call since I already have his number and I cannot go physically visit him right now given the current situation
4. Nature of exchange: He did it as a favor for me because he's family :)
5. Advantage of exploitation: He gave me a lot of insight as to what kinds of areas in Florida I can expect to find different populations and where specifically I might want to begin my business and what areas need help that I can expand to. He is also a good reference to have if implementation of this idea ever were to happen so he can guide me on managing it

Supplier:

1. Who they are and their background: Associate from the leasing company that owns my apartment complex. They have been working with the company for six years now
2. Slot: The company they work for sells services to other organizations/firms in my industry
3. How I found and contacted them: I was able to contact the leasing office for my apartment complex and get the contact information for the actual company they work for
4. Nature of exchange: They helped me out as a favor since I'm already in a signed housing contract with them and am a current customer of theirs
5. Advantage of exploitation: They gave me a short review of how they began with the company and how they've managed to expand so much and essentially create a monopoly in the apartment complex industry in my area. They are a good contact to have for if/when I want to start my business venture in the future 

Reflection:

I felt like this assignment and doing the networking was significantly less intimidating than most social networking events I go to. In most that I've had experience with, I have to present myself extremely professional and speak one-on-one with recruiters. However, with this assignment, it was nice to be able to reach out to people I even knew to gain insightful information on how I would begin or manage my business idea. In the future, I think it would be helpful to seek out people I may know first, and then expand my network further after.