Growing Your Social Capital

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry.

  • For my contact within my domain, I reached out to my next door neighbor, Bill, back in Tampa who is an electrical engineer for Busch Gardens.  He deals with all of the roller coasters and rides at the park, so I assumed he would be able to help me with my idea.  He said it is not impossible to do this phone jumper cables idea, and he needs to do more research into it to see if he can help me any further.  He will also reach out to some of his co-workers to see what they think.

2) One person must be an expert on your market.

  • For my expert contact, I reached out to a UF Cicerone named Jamie to get his thoughts on the market of UF students, and where it currently stands.  They see incoming UF students nearly everyday, along with many current students as they are very well-rounded individuals.  He thinks that this could be a big project to take on, but in the end he believes that many students will use this product.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry.




  • For my supplier contact, I reached out to a friend I made my freshman year in Warrington Welcome.  He is now a successful entrepreneur in his promotional business, and one of the items he has is a mini fan that plugs into the charging port of an iPhone.  I spoke to him about how this item went for people's phones, and if he could ever see my item being used as a promo item in his industry.  He could definitely serve as a supplier to big companies if he thinks this item could work.
Reflect:  Overall, this experience has allowed me to think more outside the area of UF when it comes to getting help from people.  I cannot believe I did not think to reach out to my neighbor Bill until now, and I will be sure to continue thinking of more people that I know outside of UF.  I think this assignment has brought me further in my process, and I hope to continue moving forward through the next ones.

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 5, 2018 at 11:58 AM

    Hey Sean,
    After reading through your choices in people for the different sections, I realized that our opportunities have a lot of overlap with the fact that we are both targeting college campuses, but also need some type of expert knowledge in order to make the opportunity successful. I liked how you decided to chose a Florida Cicerone as an expert in your market because I think that these people are very exposed to the attitudes and behaviors that are expressed by college students as they are giving them tours daily. Also, I liked how you connected back with business students that you met during Warrington Welcome not only because this person seems like a credible source, but also because it shows how your networking skills are a strength that is needed in completing this opportunity.

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  2. UnknownNovember 5, 2018 at 7:00 PM

    Hey Sean, I think that you did a very good job of talking to people around UF and also those who are not affiliated with the school. The biggest thing with this opportunity would be the mechanical parts of it and not the customers. College kids would be interested in this product it comes down to the making of the product and the engineering behind it. I think reaching out to your neighbor who works in that industry will be able to help work out the kinks with the project.

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