20A– Growing Your Social Capital

AMIR BEN-ZION
1) Who they are and what their background is.
-This person is my father, a well-known Miami business man. He grew up in Israel and moved to New York around the age of 18. He has had experience in starting many businesses such as restaurants, cafes, hotels, clubs, and bars. My dad is an expert with personal projects and making them happen because he never went to college so his entire income is just based on personal projects that he takes on or projects that other people include him in.
2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
-Domain expert. He fills this spot because he has a lot of experience in the food industry and knows how to build a business based around the type of food ideas for a specific venture. Ever since I was a child I have seen him work on projects such as sushi, Chinese, and fusion restaurants along with cafes and bars.
3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
-This person is my father and I contacted him in order to help me develop my business idea and discuss the specifics about my market-type and how to go about starting the venture.
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 of the exchange was that I asked him to check out my elevator pitch and go over the general idea of the business with me at first and who my market is. This led to deeper conversation about what directions the business could go in and how to get it started.  There is not much of a return expectation since this person is my father.
5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
-My dad can definitely help me with the financial aspect of starting the business and telling me the first steps of the legal process while at the same time probably getting some of his team to help me with those aspects of it. 

ERIK GURU LIEUX
1) Who they are and what their background is.
-Erik is trained as a psychotherapist but has his own tonic line which is basically beverages with juices and herbs and spices to promote good energy levels and physical well-being. He is located in Miami and also puts on events and hosts cacao ceremonies.
2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
-Market expert, he fills this spot because he sells his "Shamanic Tonic" to businesses and consumers all over Miami and also puts on his own events. He tables at festivals and farmers markets. Since this is a very similar product to one of the products I would be selling at Got the Blues, he understand how to conduct customer research for this sort of "healthy" (yogi-ish) kind of market. He represents a big chunk of my market because the majority of people that are attracted to his product are super health conscious and into yoga and spirituality which I would probably attract with my use of natural and rare ingredients.
3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
-This person used to help my mom with her juicing and detox events when I was younger and then created his own business. About a year ago I helped him a bit in the kitchen, delivering his products to businesses and individuals, along with helping at events. It was quite easy for me to contact him since we used to speak frequently.
4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
-The favor Erik did for me was discuss possible directions I could go in regards to ingredients and menu options. He helped me realize what kind of things I could have on the menu and made me realize the difference between our businesses. His is more about the aspect of gaining energy and superfoods/superherbs while mine is going to have that, it will be more about the aspect of indulging in sweets, pastries, and milkshakes. 
5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
-Erik will enhance my ability to exploit this venture because he went through this himself. Having to start off at home, really small business, with mostly local and expensive ingredients and then having to market off to bigger ventures and projects. He then created more flavors of his elixirs and experienced some trial and error.  Now he actually has people that work for him. So Erik understands how to get something small up and running even if it needs to remain low-key for a little while to stay true to the mission.

DAVID "AVOCADO" WOLFE
1) Who they are and what their background is.
-David Avocado Wolf is a Health, Eco, Nutrition, and Natural Beauty Expert. He has a masters degree in nutrition, and a background in science and mechanical engineering. He is considered one of the world’s top authorities on natural health, beauty nutrition, herbalism, chocolate, and organic superfoods.
2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
-Supplier because he is the founder of Sacred Chocolate and Longevity Warehouse which is a B2B for other businesses to have access to natural chocolate and other herbs, etc. 
3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
-This person has been friends with my mother since I was really little and used to stay with us when he had events in Miami. Him and my mom have worked together on a few projects and they still consider themselves close friends. I have all his contact information because he has been in my family's network for a long time. 
4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
-The favor David did for me was talking over the general idea of the venture and making me feel really good about the idea. He obviously offered his businesses as suppliers (probably with the family discount!!!) and helped me think of realistic ways to go about getting natural ingredients in my area that his businesses would not be able to supply for me. He also gave me some other really great ideas for pastries and treats.
5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
- David, other than being incredibly knowledgeable on herbs and other ingredients that I could involve in my menu, will probably give me a discount if I order things from his companies for my business and he is incredibly well known. He used to have millions of followers on Facebook. If David would promote me in any way or post a picture on any social media platform advertising my business it would be incredibly helpful.

Finally: Reflect.
-This experience helped me understand that networking does not need to be by chance but can be done by thinking about what kind of people you know and what aspects of your business may need a little help. By doing this I realized how many people I know in this industry that can help me and how perfectly it aligns. In the future I am going to utilize the people that are already in my degrees of connection because I forgot that I am actually well connected due to my parents and personal experiences in Miami.