20A - Growing Your Social Capital

1.     I interviewed Marty, a study edge expert. He went to UF and graduated with several math degrees and an engineering degree. He does various tutoring videos for Study Edge so students understand their class materials. Marty fills the domain expert slot because I feel that he knows a lot about the tutoring service industry given that he works for a tutoring service as a tutor. I found him because he actually has helped me with my Matrices class, so I asked him during study hours if I could speak to him. The favor that he did for me was sitting down to answer questions for this class. He didn’t expect anything in return. I think that having Marty in my network will help because he sees the behind the scenes of how study edge works and sees how to successfully run a tutoring service for UF students

2.     I interviewed a manager at the UF bookstore in the Reitz. I felt this person filled the supplier slot because the bookstore sells a lot of Smokin Notes packets which is another tutoring organization. I found this person by walking into the bookstore and asking to speak with someone that would know a little about the products they sell, and the employees referred me to the manager. They did me a favor by speaking with me about selling Smokin Notes, but they didn’t expect anything in return. By including this person in my network, I could potentially try and partner with the bookstore to sell my tutoring materials if I were to create this business.

3.     I interviewed Zach from Study Edge. He is a cofounder at Study Edge. I think the fills the market expert slot because he is targeting UF students with a tutoring service that he had a big hand in creating and bringing to UF, and Study Edge is one of the main tutoring resources for UF students. I have been to many of his tutoring reviews, so I spoke to him after one of the reviews to ask him questions. The favor he did for me was speaking to me about how Study Edge became so successful. He didn’t expect anything in return. I think having him in my network will be good because he can serve as a mentor for a successful business model.

This experience really made me get out of my comfort zone. I think because of this exercise, I will be a lot less timid with future networking events because everyone that I spoke to was very willing to help. The networking experiences I had in the past were with other students, doing interviews or asking them how to succeed in a class that I was taking. This time around I was interviewing actual experts in the tutoring field, so it was cool to get a professional point of view.