20A- Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1) Dr. Samuels, a general practitioner, is the head doctor at one of the medical centers near my house. He has been my doctor for years and has helped thousands of people. He stays informed on many public health concerns and suggests certain routes of actions to all of his patients. 

2) Dr. Samuels is a domain expert as he has an extensive medical education and is practicing doctor who is heavily involved in research and public health organizations and news. 

3) Dr. Samuels is my local doctor. I took the opportunity to interview him quickly during my routine annual checkup this week. He had no problem helping me as we have known each other for years and it was below 10 minutes. 

4) Dr. Samuels and I are very humorous and crude people. Since we've known each other since I was 5 years old we have developed a repertoire of progressively funnier inside jokes an nuances. He helps solve any of my medical needs and educational curiosities. In return, I brighten up his day as I am typically one of his more energetic, joking, kind, and educated patients and I typically show curiosity into his personal life. 

5) Having Dr. Samuels in my social network helps in the sense that I know I can turn to him for practical and complex medical advice and recommendations. He also started his own private practice, so he may be able to offer me insight on the business aspect of being a doctor. 

Market Expert: 

1) Michael is the store manager of my local publix. He has been the store manager of this publix for about a year and a half.

2) Michael fills the slot of market expert as he runs a grocery store during the time of Corona. He is exactly the target market my business would try to service. He helps implement safety precautions into a store that has heavy daily foot traffic. 

3) I was grocery shopping this week and took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, and asked if I could speak to a manager, making sure they knew it was for a personal educational interview as to not create panic. I waited for about  5 minutes and one of the employees had him come out and he sat me down in his back office and let me talk to him. 

4) It was a pleasantly surprising exchange. Michael gave me the information I needed for this assignment and he turned out to be a great guy. In return, I think I surprised him by breaking the monotony of his job and do something he has never done before. We had pleasant conversation and we'll probably have friendly short conversations if we are to see each other again at Publix. 

5) Michael is useful to have in my social network since he is the sort of branch manager of a large corporation. He knows what it is like to take orders from upper management and in turn, knows how to implement the COVID guidelines set out for him into his local branch. He knows how to mobilize people and complete a task of that sort of nature. He may be able to tell me how he had his employees trained as well. 

Supplier Expert:

1) Carlos is one of the sales managers of Home Depot by my house. He is in charge of customer relations and selling to major business in bulk. 

2) Carlos fits the supplier expert spot as he sells many of the products and services to companies that we would modify to sell to small businesses. This includes air purifiers, AC filtration systems, and even masks. 

3) I called my local Home Depot and ask if I can interview a someone in the sales department. I was on hold for about 15 minutes. A woman named Laura picked up the phone and then transferred me to Carlos. I asked him if I could speak to him for 10 minutes as I needed it for a project for UF. 

4) It was a decent and short exchange. He seemed busy. He provided me with the experience I needed and even gave me his phone number if I needed to use it later on. He seemed eager to help and liked feeling needed. 

5) Carlos is useful in the sense that if I were to start this business, I would be doing a lot of business with Carlos as I would have to buy many of the store products in bulk and would try and capitalize on our relationship by getting certain discounts and saving on money or even instillation fees. 

Reflection:

This has helped in the sense of easing my anxiety and helping me learn how easy it is to network. It takes a little research and maybe a couple of phone calls or emails to create a relationship with someone who is willing to help you. Most people are willing to meet others and help them out. You can practically force yourself into a relationship with people in your social network. Before, I would typically just wait for networking to happen by pure chance of meeting others and having conversation with them. Now, I know I can go out there and essentially just decide I want to meet and have a conversation with someone, and they become a part of my network.