20A

Domain Expert:

1)         Who they are and what their background is.

- Sarah Kate Wilder is a therapist and counselor that specialize in post-traumatic events.

2) How is the person a domain expert?

- She helps treat victims first hand who have suffered traumatic events such as kidnapping and sex trafficking.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

- I looked up on google therapists who specialize in trauma. Then I was sent to her website and found all of her contact info. I reached out to her over email.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

- I went through and explained my product to her. I then asked her certain questions that she could help with because of her insight. I asked her if she thought that this product could help her patients feel safe? And if they would be potential customers?

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

- Having someone who is a professional with dealing with these certain issues is a great advantage when trying to find the prevalence of this issue. She said that in college towns there is a prevalence, however, she says this can happen everywhere and that I should broaden my focus.

Market Expert:

1)         Who they are and what their background is.

-  Amber is a student at UF who is in my sorority that has knowledge on the subject.

2) How this person is a market expert?

- She is a market expert because she has been very aware of this issue in Gainesville. She has been approached and in these types of situations before. Since this, she has developed an interest in researching this topic.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

- I found her because she is in my sorority and she is very open about talking about these issues. I contacted her face to face.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

- The nature was very appropriate, she answered some questions for me such as the type of people who approached her, the people who she sensed followed her, and we discussed the random texts that had strange links that were linked to sending people your location.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

- This enhances my ability to exploit my opportunity, because it makes me gain more knowledge on the topic which I can use to adjust my product to peoples needs.

Industry Supplier:

1)         Who they are and what their background is.

- Sales representative, Natasha from the Welman Group. She helps people get in touch with wholesale jewelry.

2) How is she a supplier?

- I originally wanted to get in touch with the creators of the NIMB ring my competition, but could not. So I found a jewelry supplier that could potentially help me create my product.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

- My mom has a close friend that recommended this company. Then I reached out to the contact info and asked them a few questions.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

- I explained to the representative that I was in a class that requires me to create a business idea. I then went on to explain that the business idea would need a jewelry supplier. I asked them the amounts they charge for different size orders. I also asked what types of personalizations and designs they had available. They gave me a ton of ideas to pick from.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

-  This will enhance my ability because it gives me real experience with talking to a supplier and I could potentially use them in the future.

Finally: Reflect. This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

-               I found this assignment to be pretty difficult. I think this experience definitely gave me an idea of how important it Is to have networking skills. Especially if you are planning on creating your own product and business you are going to need to network with people who are actually interested in your idea. I noticed that I wasn’t directly connected to these people, but I was able to connect through a different person.