Assignment 20A Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1. Who are they and what their background is:
• Shawn, Landlord of an off-campus apartment in Gainesville, FL
2. How is this person is a "domain expert":
• He owns an apartment complex off campus at the University of Florida and owns a parking lot located across the apartment complex in which residents can purchase a parking spot.
3. How I found & contacted the person:
• I found him because some of my friends have a parking spot in his lot that he owns so I got his contact information from them.
4. Nature of the exchange:
• I explained to him my service idea and he told me that he had not heard of any companies around this area at least that were offering the same service that I was working on. It was a good interaction and I felt that he offered some helpful feedback.
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
• He told me that it would be difficult to start from the ground up as far as gathering suppliers and consumers in the beginning and that obviously there are some kinks that need to be worked on as the service becomes more advanced. I think that including Shawn in my opportunity would allow me to gain some of his respectable reputation that he has among his customers. 

Market Expert:

1. Who are they and what their background is:
• UF Parking and Transportation Services
2. How this person is a "market expert":
• Since this market for providing the service of parking garages that I am offering was limited in the Gainesville and college area I decided to find a company that I know is an expert when it comes to knowing just how large the supply and demand chain is for parking, especially at the University of Florida. 
3. How I found & contacted the person:
• I looked up on Google "UF Parking and Transportation Services" and then clicked on their website, found their business hours, and then dropped by for a visit. 
4. Nature of Exchange:
• It was informative and they helped me understand just how large the parking demand is at this school. The front desk people that provided me with insight told me that they could see my service being very beneficial to the people of this town.
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
• Including them might not have a tremendous impact on my opportunity but it does help me gain insight as to how many students would be living off campus next year and to get a more statistical look at just how many students there are at UF specifically compared to the amount of parking available. 

Industry Supplier:

1. Who are they and what their background is:
• Steve Hooks
2. How this person is a "industry supplier":
• He owns a family owned construction company. Steve serves as the manager and owner of Hooks Construction Co. He often works on larger industrial projects such as buildings, restaurants, commercial buildings and other miscellaneous projects. 
3. How I found & contacted this person:
• He is one of my friend from high school's father
4. Nature of Exchange:
• I explained my idea to him and he said that this would be a large investment to offer to companies and suppliers but that he knows of some people who would be willing to take on this project due to the return that it would have. He was very willing to give me those peoples contact information and answer any of my other questions as far as construction supplying. 
5. How will including them enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity:
• Including Hooks Construction Co. in my opportunity will help me by learning how to reach out to suppliers and establish relationships with them so that I will be able to begin finding companies that will work for me when I would need parking garages built. 

Reflection:

• Participating in this targeted marketing was a little bit tasking because I had never performed in an activity like this before. Though it was intimidating at first to have to establish contact with and reach out to these people and companies, it ultimately paid off because now I feel more confident in my ability to do targeted marketing and to perform interviews. Not to mention, this gave me more confidence on my service opportunity and presenting it towards other people. All of the feedback that I received from each person that I interviewed was very helpful because it made me realize that this could actually become a reality, my parking garage service.