20A - Growing your social capital

1) Who they are and what their background is.

The first person is Keith who is a domain expert in foliage plants. He has been in the plant nursery business for over 30 years. He was owned his own nursery for this whole time and has grown many different plants. 

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 the domain expert slot with this person. Keith has lots of experience in knowledge in this field so I believed he was a good fit. 

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

 I stopped by his nursery because it is close to my house. I met him and talked to him.

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

He gave me some advice on my idea. He thought it was a good idea as long as you did not to many varieties involved. It said it would be difficult finding a bunch of different varieties and would not be worth the hassle.  

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Keith is a valuable contact in my network, he has experiences, knowledge, and lots of contact in this industry. I hope I can keep gaining knowledge from him. 

1) Who they are and what their background is.

The next person I met with is Bryan, who is a analysis/marketing for a large plant nursery. He has been working in the nursery business for about six years now.

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

Bryan is filling the market expert slot. This person fills the spot because he knows the market very well since he looks at it every day. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. Bryan is my cousin. I went to the nursery he worked at and met him at his office to ask him questions. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? He was more than happy to help me and answer my questions. He thought there would be a large market for my service. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Adding Bryan into my network helps me because he understands the market and people want from nurseries.

1) Who they are and what their background is. 

Matthew is a supplier in this field. He has been working for four years in the nursery business. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. He is a supplier and he sells plants to larger nurseries who retail them.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found this person through my cousin. I called Matthew on the phone and talked to him.

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 him questions about how supply works in this industry. 

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

Including this person in my network helps me out by being able to ask questions about supply and get help

This was a good experience for me to meet some many people who had experience in this industry. I believe it will be very helpful down the line in having these contacts. This experience did not really differ from my other networking experiences.