Growing My Social Capital

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry. This would be someone who's engaged in the same type of business activity as you would like to be. They may own the same kind of company that you would like to own, or they may be a technical expert who knows a lot about the kind of product or service that you would like to produce.

1) Who they are and what their background is.  My contact in industry works in exactly what I wish to market myself in, cooking seafood at local festivals. 

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 domain expert in this field as he has been successful with catering to this market.  He has been asked back to festivals just because of his business practices.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.  I knew this person through work, but he also works festivals in the same way I want to… On the weekends.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? He did not do a favor for me. However, I might possibly try to work for him to help build a business model.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Knowing this person that will be working in the same market will help when I first start up the business.  Once the learning curve gets better, I will be able to operate more efficiently.

2) One person must be an expert on your market. This would be someone who is targeting your market with similar products services -- or knows a lot about conducting customer research in your area -- or represents a major piece of your market (this might be most applicable with B2B markets).

1) Who they are and what their background is. This is the same person I met with about being a domain expert.  He operates, and markets his own business.

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

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I know this person from work that also has a business doing exactly what I want to do.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation?  He did not do me a favor other than talk to me.  He always has time for questions.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?  Getting his advice will be instrumental in starting my business.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry. This would be someone who is selling products and services to other organizations/firms in your industry. 

1) Who they are and what their background is. I went by the local seafood wholesaler in my area.  They would be most important as suppliers go as this would really effect the price of the product.

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

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found the person through the internet.  I went to the business to talk to them.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? They did not do me a favor, but did enlighten me on how much shrimp can cost.  Basically, the more you buy, the cheaper it is per pound of shrimp.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?  Building report with a potential supplier is always key.  Becoming a customer will usually bring discounts later.

What constitutes 'contact'? Social capital exists in the "potential goodwill" that exists between two people. For you to establish "potential goodwill" for this exercise, you need to have obtained feedback from each of these people on your business idea so far. For instance, this could include meeting with them to show your elevator pitch or your idea napkin.

This exercise really helped me get another step closer to opening my festival tent.  I am really considering taking on this challenge because of the research I have done for these projects.