Growing Your Social Capital

Aaliyah
1: She is my girlfriends friend who lives in the Standard.
2: She is a domain expert, and knows a lot about the way traffic lights are put up and operated.
3: My girlfriend introduced me to her.
4: She just gave me advice, no return expected.
5: Now I know a lot more about the traffic light system, and it may be a little harder to exploit this industry than I had previously anticipated.
Jacob
1: He is an upperclassman in my fraternity that I actually hadn't talked to before this encounter.
2: He is a market expert, and has had many people answer surveys that he puts out through incentives.
3: He is in my fraternity.
4: He gave me advice on how to conduct successful surveys and in return I gave him a Chikfila sandwich.
5: I can now conduct more efficient surveys, as he has offered to help me.
John
1: John is a construction worker in Gainesville.
2: He is a supplier, and knows a lot about construction projects in the area.
3: I saw him doing construction on the road, and asked him about the traffic light at the intersection.
4: He told me it would be very hard to change the traffic light, as it would affect all the lights in the area, but he said it was worth a shot trying, as it really is an inconvenient light.
5: John provides me with a contact in the construction industry, and he gave me some pointers on how to best create this change.
Reflection
This experience was very beneficial. I am someone who loves meeting new people regardless, so to meet new people who can help me with my entrepreneurial idea is just an added bonus. It was different from other networking experiences I have participated in, as those have many people in a confined area just talking, where I had to explore the area to find my contacts. I am better prepared to tackle this change now than I was before this assignment.

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