20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Iris

1) Who they are and what their background is.

Iris is a Venezuelan Baker who owns her little online bakery in Venezuela named ¨Ita´s Brownie¨. She has a lot of experience in the bakery field, especially with chocolate desserts. She manages her bussiness the same way I want to do mine bakery, she receives online and when the baked goods are ready the products are delivered to people or they can be picked up.

2) Iris is a domain expert in the industry since she has the same kind of bussiness that I want to own and she has been doing for around 5-6 years now. I consider that she has a lot of experience in the bakery industry and she delivers good products.

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

I know her a long time ago because she is a friend of the family. I actually got to taste her products because when she started her business I was living in Venezuela.

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

When I was in Venezuela she teaches me some basic and important steps at the time to bake certain things. She always gives me tips to create good products. Moreover, when I was in Venezuela I helped her when she needed extra help I learned a lot from her, and I had the opportunity to learn from someone that already had experience in the field.

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

Including her in my network would be a huge advantage because I can reach out for any advance regarding any recipe or any advance to improve a recipe. Moreover, because she has a lot of years of experience I can ask her how to interact with the customers and how she improves the business. 

Owner of Sugary times bakery

1) Who they are and what their background is.

Sugar times bakery is an online bakery that is located in Orlando, Fl. They have been in the market for around 2 years now. This bakery is own by a Venezuelan family they move here several years ago and started this bussiness in Orlando 2 years ago. They make different baking products but they specialize in cakes and cake decoration.

2) I consider them to be market experts because they sell their products to my target audience and they have similar products. They already 2 years in the market and they have been successful with their products. They sell a lot to people that are paying events such as birthday in the Orlando area.

3)  I found them searching on Instagram and I contact them through Instagram and make them some 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 asked them if I could talk to them because I was planning to start a bakery bussiness they were extremely kind and guide me through their history and how they manage their bussiness and their audience.

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

Since they already have experience in the market I can ask them for any advice if I have any problem or to solve a situation. Moreover, if they do not offer a product they can recommend my services. 

Elizabeth and Jose

1) Who they are and what their background is.

They are a couple that dedicates to create different Venezuelan baked goods. They are more toward the salty side than the sweet sides. Their specialty is baking bread and different salty Venezuelan bread and they sell these products to little retail stores in Miami, Fl. They work with large quantities

2) I am setting them as suppliers because they supply little markets in Miami with baked goods. They work with large quantities every week, so they have experience working with other companies. 

3)  Elizabeth went to college with my mom and they know each other since them. We have always been in touch and I have visited them in Miami a couple times. I called them and we spoke about their experience producing baked goods in Large amounts and selling them to other retail stores.

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

Even that I have experience baking salty goods or bread it is not my main strength in the baking field. They taught me some tips at the time of baking bread. Moreover, they gave me advice on how to promote my products.

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

Including them in my network will give me the opportunity to ask them for any advice on how to manage with large quantities of products because maybe in the future I would be able to work with large events. Moreover, if any day I have a large event they can come and help me with the production of the baked goods since they have a lot of experience.

Final Reflection

All of these entrepreneurs are from different places and have different experiences. The opportunity of having them in my networking will give me the opportunity to get to know more people in the bussiness from different locations and with different experiences. Learning from other entrepreneurs can help me to avoid any silly mistake, I can learn how to interact with clients and how to make good marketing to my products. I have done some networking in the past and it was small in-person events. However, due to the pandemic, I did not see anyone in person everything was online.