Growing My Social Capital

1. Domain Expert
• Marguerite Ngyuen
• She has 15+ years experience in the seamstress business and is well adept on fabrics and measurement. Just For You Slidell, La.
• She fills the spot as a domain expert based on her experience and her profession as a seamstress.
• I found her through an online Google search for seamstress in Slidell, La. I have been unable to find too much competition for my concept so I figured an expert would constitute someone who knows fabrics well.
• Surprisingly there was not much of a quid pro quo. She asked that I keep her
  
  informed as to how the business progressed if it became something I pursued beyond this class project. She suggested I use cotton to repel dust but did note that it would be a heavier cloth than spandex. She said she would be willing to create a pattern for a fee of course to which we did not discuss details at this point in time as my mom would also be able to create a pattern for me.
• She could help me exploit opportunities as she has years of professional
  experience in the seamstress business. I would need someone to create a pattern and sew the fan blade covers. As I said my mom could do it initially but having Sophy in my network would allow me to possibly mass produce and also provide
  valuable and a potentially different insight into the product.
2. Market Expert
• Milan Embry

• She does marketing research for The Olinger Group in New Orleans, La.
• She fills the slot as that is her job to conduct marketing research and project management for various companies.
• I found her through an online Google search for market research in New Orleans. I filled out the online form and she was my initial contact.
• She explained her company's process of conducting market research in my area. She was not able to go into too much formal detail until I agreed to provide a payment. She did however suggest that I had a good concept but it could have just been to get me to sign up with her company.
• Including her would open vast information and personnel for my business concept. She works for a professional organization who is dedicated to providing insightful information to help align business with excellent marketing suggestions and strategies.
3. Supplier
• Kenny Buckley
• He is a licensed construction contractor in the New Orleans area. He has been doing construction for roughly 5 years now.
• He is a supplier as he has many contacts and he builds homes. I am providing a product which goes inside the home. 
• I found him through a colleague at work who is also getting started in the construction business and is seeking his contractor's license.
• I mentioned since he builds houses
  he would be able to mention to his customers my concept if it comes to fruition. This would help me garner more exposure and in return I would mention his name if I encountered anyone who was looking to build a house.
• He interacts with a variety of people daily and he is in the home building business. My product goes inside the home. Word of mouth will be extremely important for my business so just a mention will go a long way for my success.
  
4. Reflection
• This experience will shape my future networking experiences as it helped me to understand how to approach people from a different standpoint. This time it was not an approach towards potentially selling a product or deriving feedback but instead to build potential future partner relationships. It could also be construed as potential competitor relationships also which does make it a little more tricky in which a delicate balance must be achieved of receiving more information than giving out.
  
• This experience differed from previous experiences as I had to focus on actively seeking and targeting certain individuals. The previous experiences were random except for the assignment about the people who know me best. In this experience, I had to research and conduct interviews more from a potential partner or competitor standpoint as opposed to seeking potential customers.

Please participate in my poll below the comment box. Thanks in advance.