20A – Growing Your Social Capital

1) Interview 1

I interviewed a manager of a scooter store and repair place. This person is my domain expert. I helped my friend drop off their scooter there to be stored while they were at home, and I asked to speak to the manager for class. This person took time out of their day to talk to me about what accessories they sell in their store and how well they do. He told me that it had been really slow since the Covid19 thing all started, so he was grateful that I gave him something to do. I told him of my idea and he said that he liked it, but that he wasn't exactly sure how well it would work in practice. He told me he would keep my helmets in stock if I did end up making the helmets, which was very kind of him. This opportunity will make it easy to get into the local market.

 2) Interview 2

The second interview I had was with an online retailer for helmets for scooters, bikes, motorcycles, etc. This person would be my supplier expert. I came into contact with this person by searching through google and ebay to find someone big enough that understood the business but small enough that I was able to contact them. I contacted them through ebay, and they were very open to talking about it. When I told them I was an aspiring entrepreneur, she made me promise that I wouldn't take his business if she gave me an interview. This person told me that the market is difficult to enter because of safety requirements, but that if I was successful in my pursuit and passed the safety tests he would be willing to buy some wholesale. I think that adding this person gives me an easy route to selling online, instead of having to set up my own website or anything.

3) Interview 3 

The third interview I conducted was with a different manager at the same scooter store and repair place. This person is my market expert, as he was in charge of the college kids who worked at the place. I found this person the same way as above. This person was in the same boat as the other manager, a little bored because people were leaving to go home. They agreed with my assessment that college students cared more about their image than they should, and that a cool helmet would encourage them to wear more. They said that even the people who worked at the shop didn't wear helmets coming into work sometimes. This person said that if I gave the store some helmets, they would give them out free to customers when they bought a scooter. By having this opportunity, its a great way to get my name out there for other people to see and hear about my helmets.

Reflection:

I have rarely if ever reached out to someone directly to network with them. I have been to networking events before, but reaching out to specific people was a little out of my comfort zone when I started this. I will be less afraid to approach others at things like career showcase moving forward.