Growing My Social Capital

Domain expert: Mike Farella

1) Mike is now owner and photographer for Exulting Images- but he has a long background in the dance industry. As a professional dancer himself, it has always been something very close to his heart. He has been a constant force in the dance wear industry, photographing and working with Dance Wear Corner (a popular dance wear store).

2) Mike fills the spot of the domain expert because of the number of years he has dedicated and continues to dedicate to the dance/ dance wear industry. He knows a lot about the ins and outs of dance, dance clothing, and dance shoes.

3) I actually had the pleasure of modeling for Mike, and that is how I met him. I contacted him via email.

4) Mike answered a lot of my questions about his life before photography (all of his dance experience that I didn't know about)! In exchange, I told him about my dance shoe idea by giving him the link to my Idea Napkin No. 2. He told me he thought it was a great idea, and would be really useful during photoshoots- a quick fix for if a shoe were to break during a shoot.

5) Including Mike in my network will enhance my idea tremendously. He has so many connections in the industry himself that with enough hard work my idea could actually become a reality.

Market expert: Collette Mruk

1) Collette is also a dance photographer, who has a wide range of experience in dance wear public relations and sales. She keeps up a blog and really knows how to relate to customers. She continues to get more and more involved with PR and dance wear in general.

2) Collette makes the perfect market expert because she knows how to communicate effectively with our target market. By responding well to messages, making the customer feel involved and up-to-date with sales, and engaging in social media in a way that best reaches our generation; she has an extremely well sense of our market.

3) Since Collette works at DWC, I contacted her via email, where she was nothing but sweet to me. She said she would love to have me come back and visit the store and do a segment on the old models (I used to model for the store).

4) Collette gave me a little insight into the things she does to truly connect and keep connections with their customers. She said they want people to keep coming back and buying more (whether in-store or online), and just how vital it is to build customer loyalty. In exchange, I showed her my Idea Napkin No. 2 also, so that she could get a sense of who I am as a person, and a little more about my idea.

5) Collette will be a great addition to my networking because she has a special talent for realizing what consumers want, and what will keep them coming back for more.


Supplier in the industry: Rosemary DeMott

1) Rosemary is a dance studio owner, past VP for Florida Dance Masters Convention, and part owner of the Orlando Dance Wear Corner. Her husband, Jon, was a business man himself and they took over building up the Orlando DWC. Her life has always revolved around dance- it is her passion and her business.

2) Rosemary would be the perfect help with supplying because she had to do it all when they built their dance wear store from the ground up. Having background in consumers, marketing, accounting, dance and so much more, she would know exactly how to deal with the supply aspect of my venture.

3) I knew Rosemary since my time modeling with DWC, and ever since I first met her she made a long lasting impression on me. I contacted her via email as well.

4) The nature of our exchange was cheerful and felt very good. She told me about some of the things she had to go through setting up a store, and I showed her my Elevator Pitch No.3 (even though it was embarrassing). She enjoyed my idea and thought it had a lot of potential.

5) Rosemary is an excellent person to network with because she has a lot of connections in the dance and dance wear industry. Her husband job has a lot of Business experience too, so that's a bonus.


Reflection:

By networking again with these people who are big figures in the dance wear world, my goals seem so much more achievable. This assignment also caused me to realize just how important networking is. When I network in the future, I will be much more forward and personal, so that I am memorable. I've never purposefully networked before, so I can't really relate this experience to my other networking experiences, but it was defintely a game changer. I now realize that networking requires communication and energy from both sides. Overall, the assignment was great for organizing my business concept and for learning a little more about the importance of networking.