Growing Your Social Capital
1. Domain Expert
The first person I contacted was the chef for my fraternity. He has been a professional chef for 20 years and is well versed in the school foodservice industry. I put him as my expert because he knows how the school lunch industry works and has been around it for a long time. I found him through my fraternity and I talked to him in person. I told him about this assignment and asked him if he thought my idea was feasible. He thinks it would be difficult because I will have to go through the bureaucracy of a school board, but if the right people put the right amount of effort behind it he could see it being successful. Having him in my network is beneficial because I could use the expertise of someone who has been on the ground in this industry for so long to make sure I take the right steps.
2. Market Expert
The next person I contacted was a family friend who is on the school board of the county I grew up in. She has been on the board for more than 10 years and has dealt with all sorts of issues pertaining to elementary schools. I put her as my market expert as she would be the type of person I would need to negotiate with in order to get a school to agree to use my service. I have known her for many years so I called her on the phone. I told her my idea and asked for her feedback. She said it would be something that could be brought to the table at one her board meetings, but beyond that couldn't say if it is something her board would seriously consider. Having her in my network is an advantage because I could use her insight as a board member to tailor my pitch to something she says her board would accept, giving me a great starting point.
3. Industry Supplier
The last person I contacted was an assistant program manager from the Broward County Food and Nutrition Services. She is one of the people who is responsible for coordinating lunch food services for Broward County elementary schools; I put her as my supplier for that reason. I found her through my market expert mentioned above, and she provided me with her email. I told her about the assignment and asked her what steps she recommends to take for me to get my service off the ground. She told me that reaching out to her was a great start, and had my service been legitimate she would then pass my information along to her supervisor to get the process rolling. Having her in my network is extremely beneficial as she is the person I would have needed to contact anyway once I got my business up and running.
I thought this was a very productive assignment. One area that I personally struggle with is reaching out to new people, and this assignment was a good kick for me in order to practice doing that. Even though I don't actually see myself working in the school lunch industry in the future, this was great practice for me in trying to connect with people I don't know who can help me be successful in what I want to do.
The first person I contacted was the chef for my fraternity. He has been a professional chef for 20 years and is well versed in the school foodservice industry. I put him as my expert because he knows how the school lunch industry works and has been around it for a long time. I found him through my fraternity and I talked to him in person. I told him about this assignment and asked him if he thought my idea was feasible. He thinks it would be difficult because I will have to go through the bureaucracy of a school board, but if the right people put the right amount of effort behind it he could see it being successful. Having him in my network is beneficial because I could use the expertise of someone who has been on the ground in this industry for so long to make sure I take the right steps.
2. Market Expert
The next person I contacted was a family friend who is on the school board of the county I grew up in. She has been on the board for more than 10 years and has dealt with all sorts of issues pertaining to elementary schools. I put her as my market expert as she would be the type of person I would need to negotiate with in order to get a school to agree to use my service. I have known her for many years so I called her on the phone. I told her my idea and asked for her feedback. She said it would be something that could be brought to the table at one her board meetings, but beyond that couldn't say if it is something her board would seriously consider. Having her in my network is an advantage because I could use her insight as a board member to tailor my pitch to something she says her board would accept, giving me a great starting point.
3. Industry Supplier
The last person I contacted was an assistant program manager from the Broward County Food and Nutrition Services. She is one of the people who is responsible for coordinating lunch food services for Broward County elementary schools; I put her as my supplier for that reason. I found her through my market expert mentioned above, and she provided me with her email. I told her about the assignment and asked her what steps she recommends to take for me to get my service off the ground. She told me that reaching out to her was a great start, and had my service been legitimate she would then pass my information along to her supervisor to get the process rolling. Having her in my network is extremely beneficial as she is the person I would have needed to contact anyway once I got my business up and running.
I thought this was a very productive assignment. One area that I personally struggle with is reaching out to new people, and this assignment was a good kick for me in order to practice doing that. Even though I don't actually see myself working in the school lunch industry in the future, this was great practice for me in trying to connect with people I don't know who can help me be successful in what I want to do.
Hey Grant! Like you, I found it difficult to reach out to new people as well. I guess you could say it was because I felt out of my comfort zone, but after the interviews, I realized that people love to talk about what they do and are usually willing to provide feedback. It sounds like you learned a lot through your interviews with some really valuable people. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHello Grant,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job in finding people to grow your social capital. I like how you were able to use your existing connections to make new ones like your industry supplier. I think that the chef from your fraternity could have the biggest impact for your network because he knows how things work and could be someone you can work with.
Hi Grant,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job finding many individuals you knew personally to participate in you social capital. Each person that you described in your post are really impactful to your company due to the experience they have. I agree, I found it difficult to reach out to many people because I know that I can be shy sometimes myself. You did a great job getting out of your comfort zone and finding people to participate in the research. Great Job!
Kailtin