Growing Social Capital

Industry Expert: Financial Management Firm Owner (57M)

My first expert contact I received from my family connection to a wealth management firm in Miami, and I was able to receive contact with the owner of the firm, Mr. Jack. Mr. Jack began his career as a orchestra specialist, helping to manage the logistics of funding a moving an orchestra through different venues across the country, but eventually pivoted later in life to finance work, using his logistical understanding to build a well-running financial firm that caters to the wealth needs of high income individuals. With over 30 years of experience, Mr. Jack is a clear domain expert in the industry, and knows how to adequately plan to solve his client's financial needs and retain their business. I was able to have lunch with Mr. Jack earlier in the year when I was in Miami, and I was able to use that social goodwill that we built to contact him via email to briefly ask about the viability of my product. I think having Mr. Jack in my network will give me access to information on how traditional wealth management systems are formed, and I can use that information when informing my system development.

Market Expert: J. Crew Group, Inc. Manager (45F)

For my marketing specialist contact, I chose to contact a manager at J. Crew, a company that sells clothing retail products in the mid-range of prices. I chose this company because I believe that those who are able to purchase at this price point are those with a fair amount of disposable income, but not so much that they go for the more expensive brands like Ralph Lauren or Gucci. Thus, someone who manages a branch of this company would have expert knowledge about how to target this income range, like what advertisements to run and where to station them. I found the manager for a local branch of the company by searching online, and I offered my contact information on their 'Contact Us' page, as well as a desire to contact in the future to discuss their marketing strategies. I think including a marketing expert from an established brand in my network will be highly valuable to ensuring my product will adequately reach my desired customers, and that any advertising campaign I purchase will have resources allocated in the most effective manner.

Supplier: IT Technician (32M)

My final expert is an IT expert from Orlando, as a robust IT support system would be a necessary input for my system to run effectively. I was able to contact this person through a connection from a family member, who is a graduate professor at UCF studying nanotechnology. I received an email contact from this family member and sent the IT worker my personal contact information, a description of what my product is, and a asked the favor of meeting for a 30 minutes to talk about what I should look for when setting up my system to have it run with maximum efficiency, as well as who to hire to make that a viable possibility. I hope that the return information I receive from this contact will help me expand my networking in the IT professional community, so I can hopefully find quality IT workers to help manage the day-to-day requirements of my virtual product, and develop a robust web service able to manage a heavy load of clients without errors.

Reflection:

This assignment was my first real networking experience dealing with any product I was attempting to sell, and at first I found it very daunting, as I did not feel proficient or qualified enough to ask for feedback on my product idea and how to develop it. However, as I progressed through my expert contacts, receiving information from family connections and using online resources, I realized people are more willing to give you valuable contacts than I thought, as long as you remain polite and humble in your exchanges. I hope to use these experiences in future networking events to help bolster my access to valuable experts and future business partners, especially when concerning future internships or jobs.