Growing My Social Capital

week 10

1. Dave Scott is the manager at Dough Religion and Oozoo Bar, a popular eatery located in the middle of midtown and downtown. It offers popular foods such as burgers and pizza, and serves late at night.
2. He is my "domain expert" because he runs a business with similar goals that I have for my restaurant B-fast in midtown. He has great insight on how to maintain good profit margins and how to run a successful business, due to their thriving success after being open only a few months.
3. I found Dave Scott through working at Dough Religion.
4. Dave helped me by giving me information. He told me the mistakes he made in the beginning so that I can avoid them and what he has done that has provided the greatest reward. In return, I will continue to speak nothing but highly of Dough Religion and will refer lots of business to him.
5. Dave can help exploit my business opportunity via his business insight and connections in the business community.

1. Ryan Prodesky is the marketing director for The Swamp Restaurant in midtown of Gainesville.
2. He is my "market expert" because he has great knowledge of conducting customer research in the area and targeting the same audience my business will be targeting, college kids(most likely drunk).
3. As a server at the Swamp Restaurant, I met Ryan across the street at Swamp Headquarters and set up a time to meet with him to discuss my business proposal and his thoughts.
4. Ryan helped me by teaching me to think outside the box to attract customers. He taught me various marketing strategies and how to affectively communicate to the community.
5. Ryan can help exploit my business opportunity via his business insight and connections in the business community.

1. Ron Evans works for Costco, a big time supplier company that happens to also supply my sorority house and The Swamp Restaurant with food.
2. He is an important supplier connection.
3. I found Mr. Evans unloaded supplies in our house kitchen and asked him some questions which he gladly answered.
4. He told me several of the places his company supplies in the Gainesville area and compared their prices to many competitor suppliers nearby. In return, because I know he is a genuine guy and works for a great company with fair prices, I will give him my business to supply my restaurant.
5. Having him in my network will exploit an opportunity of fairly priced supplies, on time, helping my restaurant run smoothly.

I have never really thought about who I would need in my network or who to search for to approach when starting a business before this exercise. I do not really have networking experience in the past besides previous employers for references, so this was a new and beneficial experience for me.