20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert:

1) Veterinary office employee; in charge of boarded pets. Has worked at the local veterinary office for many years. 

2) Domain expert

3) I have known this woman from taking my pets to the veterinary office for many years. I contacted her by calling the office she works at.

4) In our conversation, I asked on statistics of how many pets on average are there each night, and when the busier times are. I also questioned about how many hours are dedicated to the boarded pets. Lastly, I asked what the routine for taking care of the boarded pets is. She was more than happy to explain these things as I was a student and a loyal customer. 

5) Having this woman in my network will be beneficial to my business as she gave me valuable information, and someone to refer to if I ever come across an issue. She informed me of how popular the market is for pet services and it really gave me and idea that the opportunity is present. 

Market Expert:

1) Neighbor. Interviewed a man who has a family, including pets, and frequently vacations.

2) Market Expert

3) I know them as I have lived by them for many years. I contacted them over the phone.

4) The favor they did for me, was giving their honest opinion on their thought about my business idea. I also asked them where they usually put their pets when they vacation.

5) By adding this person in my network, I have gained a customer as they said they would take their pets to my business. They said it was a really great idea fro families like theirs. He explains they are always looking for the safest place to keep their pets as the vets office does not do them justice. I think his opinions definitely led to an opportunity for me to go forward with my business.

Supplier:

1) Petco employee. The younger female I spoke to is the manager at Petco, but has also worked in the grooming and sales departments.

2) Supplier

3) I locally shop at this Petco. I called the store to speak to the manager.

4) I asked the manager at Petco where the access all their supplies from first. Then went into detail about the grooming department and other specifics such as quantity. Then I asked if they do bulk orders for business or vets offices.

5) I learned from this manager that a lot of planning goes into picking up all necessary supplies needed to run a business. She explained to me how she has to reach out to many companies to acquire all the different products in the store. She also says that they do sell bulk products of many items. I think talking to someone who manages and supplies products to people was very informative and she seemed to enjoy talking to me about her products.

Reflection:

I would have really liked to do it in person, since this is still new. Due to certain circumstances, all the contacting was done over the phone for safety measures. I think talking to more than one person in each category would be beneficial, but I still gained valuable information about my business and really think there is an opportunity present.