Assignment 20A

Growing your Social Capital

Noah

1. Noah is a tutor for the SAT test. He went to the same high school as me and majored in musical theory in college

2. I am considering Noah to be my "domain expert". He helps high school students learn by tutoring them, so he seems to be in my industry.

3. I found this person because he was my SAT tutor when I was in high school. I contacted him by calling him.

4. The favor that he did for me was talking to me about my business idea. He offered me advice and sounded very interested. I do not believe that he wants something in return, because this was such a small favor.

5. Including Noah in my social network will better allow me to exploit my opportunity because he knows students that care about learning and that have parents that are willing to pay for it. These are the type of people that I am targeting with my service.

Daphne 

1. Daphne owns a small business. She grew up in a small town and went to a medium-sized college. 

2. I am considering Daphne to be my "market expert". Although we will not be targeting the same market, I am looking to get advice on how she thinks I should target my market.

3. I did not "find" this person. She is my aunt so I have known her all of my life. I contacted my Aunt Daphne by calling her.

4. I asked my aunt what she thought about my business idea, and how she targets her market. She said that she liked my idea, and she offered me some advice about how I should try to target my market. She mentioned that I could start by looking up tuition costs at private schools in the area. I thought this was a good idea, as it would allow me to find parents that are most willing to pay for their kids to learn more effectively. 

5. Although my Aunt was in my "social network" I believe that our relationship changed a bit because I contacted her about my idea. Talking to her about my idea will allow me to better target my specific market.

John

1. John grew up in the northeast part of the united states. He went to UCF and majored in business.

2.  I am considering John to be my "supplier". John works for a tutoring service in my town as the manager. This means that he is providing a service in the same industry as my business idea is in. 

3. I found John by visiting the tutoring company that he works for. I asked to speak to the manager, which led me to John.

4. John did me a favor of offering me advice. I talked to him about how he started working for the tutoring service, and how he finds customers. Although he most likely doesn't expect much in return because he knows that I was talking to him for a school assignment, I may offer him a favor in return.

5. Adding John to my social network might serve useful in the future if I have any other questions that he might be able to answer.

Reflection

This social networking was not much like social networking I had done in the past. This social networking seemed focused and objective-driven. This has its benefits, but it also seemed less natural. At times, it seemed like I was only talking to the person in order to get the information that I needed. I feel like this should change in the future so the conversations seem more natural.