Assignment 20A – Growing Your Social Capital
Social capital, as we all know, is the economic/productive potential of strong, trusting, cooperative relationships. It is crucial that entrepreneurs never undermine the importance of building social capital. Who you know can often be just as important as and sometimes even more important than what you know.
Part 1
1) I confronted a barber in the local mall’s barber shop. I did not record his name, which is something that I probably should have taken better note of to help establish social capital with him. I figured that this barber would be the perfect domain expert since he has been cutting hair for almost eight years now, as I found out when I inquired as to how much experience he has. He is able to give just about any haircut that a male client may request.
2) This barber is a domain expert in my industry. He has much experience and as a technical expert when it comes to cutting hair, this barber is the perfect fit to be my domain expert.
3) I made a trip to the mall with three of my friends. When we got there, we all had to get haircuts. I was the first of my friends to be served, and I attempted to establish social capital with this man while he was cutting my hair.
4) I explained to the barber my situation. He seemed somewhat pessimistic that my idea was a good business idea; however, I am not discouraged by his appearing to feel that way. I asked him what goes into cutting hair that I may not be aware of or think about. He stated that for him, it is important to have the environment around his barber chair neat so that his clients recognize his professionalism. He also pointed out that it is crucial to clean and oil the clippers after cutting the hair of each client. He uses a spray that both sanitizes and lubricates his clippers. Until he pointed this out, I had not thought of this important aspect of cutting hair.
The favor that he did for me was simply providing technical advice for cutting hair. He explained some of things involved in the process that I had not thought about. The only return expectation that he had for me was that I paid him for the haircut. Tipping is not customary here in Australia, so he did not even have the expectation that I would provide him with a tip as a token of appreciation for his expert advice.
5) Although I may not have successfully included this man into my social network, I still learned from the experience. What I learned will help me to exploit the opportunity that I have identified. I did not get his name or contact information, but I could go back to the barbershop if necessary and I do believe that he would remember me. I learned the importance of remembering a person’s name and getting their contact information. Doing those two things is an important part of successfully establishing social capital through networking.
Part 2
1) The second person that I interviewed was the receptionist at the barber shop. Rebecca’s responsibilities at the barber shop include greeting customers, maintaining the wait list, cleaning up around the shop, receiving payment for haircuts, and selling hair products. Although she may not seem like a super skilled expert on the barbering market, I believe that she is to an extent.
2) Rebecca is my market expert. She oversees the selling of hair products such as shampoos, conditions, and gels within this market. Rebecca is an expert in the sense that she recommends the best hair products for her clients on a personal level. She knows which products are best for which kinds of hair and which products are best for clients based off how they style their hair. She also pointed out to me that the barber shop charges more for haircuts on the weekends. This is largely due to that the shop pays its employees more on the weekends than weekdays.
3) I contacted Rebecca and established social capital with her as I was paying for my haircut. She was a friendly girl and happy to answer all of my questions.
4) Rebecca expanded my knowledge on other aspects of the hair market that I know little about. These aspects primarily have to do with hair products. Although she did do me a favor by providing me with this information, she was also just doing her job as the shop receptionist. She expects nothing in return.
5) Including Rebecca in my network enhanced my ability to exploit the opportunity I have identified by increasing my knowledge as to other aspects of the hair market. I asked her if she would be able to provide me with discounts if I were to buy multiple hair products; however, she said no. I was hoping that I could also exploit my social capital with her by getting discounts on hair products and reselling them to my clients.
Part 3
1) The third person that I spoke with was a gentleman named Marcus. Marcus works at Big W, a discount store here in Australia. He’s been working at Big W for about six months now and doesn’t know where he sees himself 20 years from now (a question that I asked him).
2) Due to having limited transportation here in Australia, I was not able to go to a store that specializes in distributing products in my market. Big W sells hair clippers and various hair products. As a Big W sales representative, Marcus is essentially a supplier to my industry.
3) After spending about five minutes looking at hair products, Marcus approached me and asked if there was anything he could help me with.
4) I proceeded to experiment with how I might be able to establish social capital with Marcus and whether he would even be a good person to add to my network. Our exchange was rather informal. I determined that Marcus wasn’t very knowledgeable regarding the hair products and clippers that he is supposed to promote and help Big W sell.
5) Unfortunately, including Marcus in my network will not help me to exploit the opportunity that I have identified.
Reflection
This assignment did indeed require me to do a little bit of targeted networking. I learned that establishing social capital in certain markets is more difficult than establishing social capital in other markets. With my past entrepreneurial ventures, I have found it rather easy to network and establish social capital. In this assignment, I did not do a very good job of establishing social capital; however, I did still receive some beneficial feedback and information through this networking.
In the future, I will consider the importance of social networking in a market that I desire to exploit. If social networking is important in a market but it is very difficult to establish social capital in that respective market, the market may not be as easy to exploit as it appears.
Sunday, 14 October 2018
19A - Idea Napkin No. 2
Assignment 19A – Idea Napkin No. 2
Please note that my answers to the first five parts of this assignment will be very similar to my answers in Assignment 11A – Idea Napkin No. 1. The feedback that I received from Assignment 11A was in alignment with my answers, so there was little to no need for adjustment to my answers.
1) Me: My name is Reece Porath. I am 20 years old, and I am a rifleman in the Marine Corps infantry. My current profession is as a rifleman, and I am very proficient at it. I have experience in entrepreneurial adventures as a teenager. Prior to joining the military, I bought military surplus/memorabilia, knives, old coins, and anything else that I could then resell for a worthwhile profit.
It is my aspiration to one day own my own company. I want to work for myself, not for someone else. I aspire to have employees under me, and I feel that by providing jobs to hard-working Americans, I will be giving back to the community. I also aspire to be financially independent. Although I don’t believe that money is anywhere near the most important thing in the world, financial independence is something that I strive to actualize in my life.
I have experience cutting hair/giving fades to my fellow Marines in the past. I have given approximately 150-200 fades and am fairly proficient at it. I see this business as something that I will profit from in the short term, while on deployment. I expect to make approximately $400 per week from giving fades. Cutting hair is not a passion of mine so I do not wish to pursue it as a source of income after returning from deployment. I simply saw the opportunity to make money from cutting hair while on deployment and decided that I want to capitalize on this opportunity.
2) What: I am offering haircuts to customers for $20 each. By offering haircuts, I am offering a convenience to my customers. By having me give them fades instead of the local barber, they will save time. They will also be saving a rather significant amount of money. In conclusion, I am offering a convenience to my customers and the opportunity for them to save money.
3) Who: I am offering this service to my fellow Marines and the Australian soldiers, whom are on the same military base as me. These men are looking for an alternative to having to spending 2-3 hours to go out in town and spend $40-50 on haircuts every week or every other week. I am providing this time-efficient and cost-efficient alternative. The vast majority of these guys only care that the haircut I give them is within regulations and don’t care if it is a perfect fade.
4) Why: My customers care about my service. They care and are willing to pay for it because it saves them money and time. There are not many worldly things that people value more than their money and their time, and my service allows them to save on both.
5) Core competencies: One of my competencies is my ability to cut hair. Not a lot of people are able to give in regulation fades. One very important core competency that I have is my work ethic. I am willing to spend hours of my free time every day providing my service to my customers. There are some people who can cut hair, but not a lot of people who can cut hair well and are willing to spend the time doing it.
I believe that these five elements fit together very well. My service is only available because of my core competencies. My service meets the customers’ unmet need, and they are willing to pay for it. I have a large demand for my services and can choose my own working hours. The major weakness of my business concept is that my business is a solution to a temporary problem. After returning from deployment, it will not be worthwhile for me to continue pursuing my business concept, unless I am able to find a way to make adjustments to my entrepreneurial venture that will make it worthwhile to me.
Feedback Memo
The only feedback that I received was from Sean Pruitt. His feedback was as follows:
Reece,
I think financial independence is a dream of everyone that will be joining the workforce in the future. While there are some people that are able to be a leader in the business world, some aren't fully equipped to being one. I think with your entrepreneurial experience and ability to give up your free time to pursue it that you could be a great business owner.
1) My first main takeaway from this feedback is that everyone desires to have financial dependence, but not everyone is willing to work as hard as they need to in order to achieve financial independence. As Sean stated, it’s a dream of everyone. Although it is a dream of everyone or near everyone, not everyone actualizes that dream.
2) My second takeaway is that there are different ways to achieve financial independence. You don’t have to be a leader/entrepreneur in the business world to achieve financial independence. When reading his feedback, that is an idea that came to mind. Before I was thinking that being an entrepreneur is the easiest way to achieve financial independence; however, that is not always the case.
As stated at the beginning of this post, I incorporated his feedback by making minimal changes to this idea napkin. His feedback was supportive of my first idea napkin, so I saw little and almost no need to make any changes to my first idea napkin. Sean’s feedback encouraged me that I do have what it takes to me a successful entrepreneur and business owner.
Please note that my answers to the first five parts of this assignment will be very similar to my answers in Assignment 11A – Idea Napkin No. 1. The feedback that I received from Assignment 11A was in alignment with my answers, so there was little to no need for adjustment to my answers.
1) Me: My name is Reece Porath. I am 20 years old, and I am a rifleman in the Marine Corps infantry. My current profession is as a rifleman, and I am very proficient at it. I have experience in entrepreneurial adventures as a teenager. Prior to joining the military, I bought military surplus/memorabilia, knives, old coins, and anything else that I could then resell for a worthwhile profit.
It is my aspiration to one day own my own company. I want to work for myself, not for someone else. I aspire to have employees under me, and I feel that by providing jobs to hard-working Americans, I will be giving back to the community. I also aspire to be financially independent. Although I don’t believe that money is anywhere near the most important thing in the world, financial independence is something that I strive to actualize in my life.
I have experience cutting hair/giving fades to my fellow Marines in the past. I have given approximately 150-200 fades and am fairly proficient at it. I see this business as something that I will profit from in the short term, while on deployment. I expect to make approximately $400 per week from giving fades. Cutting hair is not a passion of mine so I do not wish to pursue it as a source of income after returning from deployment. I simply saw the opportunity to make money from cutting hair while on deployment and decided that I want to capitalize on this opportunity.
2) What: I am offering haircuts to customers for $20 each. By offering haircuts, I am offering a convenience to my customers. By having me give them fades instead of the local barber, they will save time. They will also be saving a rather significant amount of money. In conclusion, I am offering a convenience to my customers and the opportunity for them to save money.
3) Who: I am offering this service to my fellow Marines and the Australian soldiers, whom are on the same military base as me. These men are looking for an alternative to having to spending 2-3 hours to go out in town and spend $40-50 on haircuts every week or every other week. I am providing this time-efficient and cost-efficient alternative. The vast majority of these guys only care that the haircut I give them is within regulations and don’t care if it is a perfect fade.
4) Why: My customers care about my service. They care and are willing to pay for it because it saves them money and time. There are not many worldly things that people value more than their money and their time, and my service allows them to save on both.
5) Core competencies: One of my competencies is my ability to cut hair. Not a lot of people are able to give in regulation fades. One very important core competency that I have is my work ethic. I am willing to spend hours of my free time every day providing my service to my customers. There are some people who can cut hair, but not a lot of people who can cut hair well and are willing to spend the time doing it.
I believe that these five elements fit together very well. My service is only available because of my core competencies. My service meets the customers’ unmet need, and they are willing to pay for it. I have a large demand for my services and can choose my own working hours. The major weakness of my business concept is that my business is a solution to a temporary problem. After returning from deployment, it will not be worthwhile for me to continue pursuing my business concept, unless I am able to find a way to make adjustments to my entrepreneurial venture that will make it worthwhile to me.
Feedback Memo
The only feedback that I received was from Sean Pruitt. His feedback was as follows:
Reece,
I think financial independence is a dream of everyone that will be joining the workforce in the future. While there are some people that are able to be a leader in the business world, some aren't fully equipped to being one. I think with your entrepreneurial experience and ability to give up your free time to pursue it that you could be a great business owner.
1) My first main takeaway from this feedback is that everyone desires to have financial dependence, but not everyone is willing to work as hard as they need to in order to achieve financial independence. As Sean stated, it’s a dream of everyone. Although it is a dream of everyone or near everyone, not everyone actualizes that dream.
2) My second takeaway is that there are different ways to achieve financial independence. You don’t have to be a leader/entrepreneur in the business world to achieve financial independence. When reading his feedback, that is an idea that came to mind. Before I was thinking that being an entrepreneur is the easiest way to achieve financial independence; however, that is not always the case.
As stated at the beginning of this post, I incorporated his feedback by making minimal changes to this idea napkin. His feedback was supportive of my first idea napkin, so I saw little and almost no need to make any changes to my first idea napkin. Sean’s feedback encouraged me that I do have what it takes to me a successful entrepreneur and business owner.
Sunday, 7 October 2018
18A - Create a Customer Avatar
Assignment 18A – Create a Customer Avatar
My “customer avatar” is a Marine, whom is stationed on the same base as me and is of the rank of E-4 or below. I have much in common with many of these fellow Marines of mine. We are all stationed on the same military base here in Australia, and none of us have cars here for transportation. Many, but not all of us, enjoy hobbies such as lifting weights and hanging out with friends. There is not a whole lot for us to do out here, so we resort to spending much time striving to improve our physical fitness performance. Some of the guys enjoy the consumption of alcohol on the weekends as a form of socialization.
I would estimate that 20% of my customer avatars are married, and about half of those whom are married have one or more kid. Often, those whom are married are especially concerned with saving money, making married Marines slightly more likely to be interested in my services than single Marines. These men range in age from 19 to 28 with the median age being right around 21. Due to the physical strain of our profession on our bodies, many of these men report feeling at least 10 years older than they are.
Wi-Fi is rather expensive out here and is paid for in correlation with the amount of data used, so guys do not watch quite as much Netflix as they otherwise would. Playing of video games, such as Fortnight, is also minimized for this same reason. Only about 25% of my customer avatars read for fun at least three times per week. That 25% enjoy reading primarily novels, historically-based books, and the Bible.
Although the political views vary among my customer avatars, the majority are Conservative. Naturally, there is a tendency among Marines to be very pro-military. They tend to desire having a large military force but a limited government power and for the people’s rights and freedoms to be preserved. I believe that most of my prototypical customers could be categorized as conservative libertarians.
As previously stated, I have much in common with my customer avatar. I am an E-3 in the Marines like many of my prototypical customers. I also enjoy lifting weights as one of my favorite pass-times. None of us have cars out here in Australia. Unlike many of my customer avatar’s I do not partake in the consumption of alcohol.
Upon the conduction of this assignment, I concluded that I would be my own customer avatar if I were able to cut my own hair; however, I do not have the skills required to do so.
My “customer avatar” is a Marine, whom is stationed on the same base as me and is of the rank of E-4 or below. I have much in common with many of these fellow Marines of mine. We are all stationed on the same military base here in Australia, and none of us have cars here for transportation. Many, but not all of us, enjoy hobbies such as lifting weights and hanging out with friends. There is not a whole lot for us to do out here, so we resort to spending much time striving to improve our physical fitness performance. Some of the guys enjoy the consumption of alcohol on the weekends as a form of socialization.
I would estimate that 20% of my customer avatars are married, and about half of those whom are married have one or more kid. Often, those whom are married are especially concerned with saving money, making married Marines slightly more likely to be interested in my services than single Marines. These men range in age from 19 to 28 with the median age being right around 21. Due to the physical strain of our profession on our bodies, many of these men report feeling at least 10 years older than they are.
Wi-Fi is rather expensive out here and is paid for in correlation with the amount of data used, so guys do not watch quite as much Netflix as they otherwise would. Playing of video games, such as Fortnight, is also minimized for this same reason. Only about 25% of my customer avatars read for fun at least three times per week. That 25% enjoy reading primarily novels, historically-based books, and the Bible.
Although the political views vary among my customer avatars, the majority are Conservative. Naturally, there is a tendency among Marines to be very pro-military. They tend to desire having a large military force but a limited government power and for the people’s rights and freedoms to be preserved. I believe that most of my prototypical customers could be categorized as conservative libertarians.
As previously stated, I have much in common with my customer avatar. I am an E-3 in the Marines like many of my prototypical customers. I also enjoy lifting weights as one of my favorite pass-times. None of us have cars out here in Australia. Unlike many of my customer avatar’s I do not partake in the consumption of alcohol.
Upon the conduction of this assignment, I concluded that I would be my own customer avatar if I were able to cut my own hair; however, I do not have the skills required to do so.
Saturday, 6 October 2018
17A - Elevator Pitch No. 2
Attached is the video of my second elevator pitch. In this pitch, I took into consideration the advice that I received from my first elevator pitch. I didn't receive a ton of advice from my first pitch so it was hard for me to make adjustments to my work based off of the feedback. Any detailed feedback with regard to this elevator pitch will be greatly appreciated. Feel free to also compare it to my first pitch if you would like.
I hope that the way I recorded it is not considered as using a WebCam. I did my best to be dynamic with the recording as instructed.
https://youtu.be/PH1IwYql1aM
I hope that the way I recorded it is not considered as using a WebCam. I did my best to be dynamic with the recording as instructed.
https://youtu.be/PH1IwYql1aM
16A - What's Your Secret Sauce?
Assignment 16A - What’s Your Secret Sauce?
1) 5 ways that I have unique human capital
(a) I believe that my intense work ethic sets me apart from others. I am willing to put in the time and whatever kind of labor is necessary to achieve my goals. I like to think of my person who is not afraid to “embrace the suck.” Embracing the suck allows me to thrive during difficult times.
(b) I am in good physical condition. I can out-lift, out-run, and overall out-perform most others when it comes to physical activities. The reason why I can out-perform others in physical training is because of how hard I have trained to get to where I am today. I continue strive to better myself physically.
(c) I have experience globally and have visited and lived in multiple different countries. I have visited Colombia and Mexico both for extended periods of time. I have visited many other countries for short amounts of time. I have lived in Barbados and Australia for six months or longer each. Global experience and cultural awareness is a major asset to a person in the business world.
(d) I work well with others. When put in a group/team and assigned tasks, I naturally take charge and lead my fellow team members in accomplishing our goals. I act as a peacemaker and ensure that members of the group/team feel equally valued and get along.
(e) I thrive in times of adversity and uncertainty. When others panic, I remain calm, cool, and collective. Based off thorough analysis, I make rational decisions in a timely manner.
2) I interviewed my mother, father, and wife. Since they are currently in a different country than me, I had no choice other than to interview them over the phone, and I was therefore unable to record the interviews. The assignment was to interview the five people, whom know me best. In accordance with the assignment instructions, I decided that that took precedence over having those three interviews recorded. I did not want to lose out on receiving the feedback from them, the three closest people to me. I also interviewed two friends. Both of those interviews were recorded and the links to those interviews are pasted below.
(a) Interview with my mother: My mother indicated that I am a caring, kind person. She also noted that when I want to accomplish something, I work hard towards accomplishing it.
(b) Interview with my father: My father was caught slightly off guard about the questions that I asked him during the interview. After he collected his thoughts, he said that I am handy when it comes to completing maintenance-based tasks around the house. He also said that I am a positive person and don’t complain about things like my brother often does.
(c) Interview with my wife: My wife said that I am a kind, loving, sweet-hearted person. She also said that I am annoying sometimes but in a good way. I noted that my mother and wife gave me similar feedback.
(d) Interview with my best friend Christopher: Chris noted that I am well-known for motivating people at work. When we do things regarding work that are not fun, I stay positive and that positive attitude rubs off on others. He also noted that I have good morals and perform well physically.
https://soundcloud.com/user-670388815/chris-interview-16a
(e) Interview with my second-best friend Justin: Justin pointed out that I am constantly striving to better myself. One way that he said I do this is by taking college classes, while in the military. He also said that I perform at work and am constantly motivating people.
https://soundcloud.com/user-670388815/justin-interview-16a
3) There were certainly some notable differences between how I see myself and how others see me. In general, others typically pointed out my qualities such as that I am kind and caring. These could be referred to as “soft” examples of human capital. I tended to notice more “hard” examples of human capital, such as that I am in good physical condition. This can be explained by the simple fact that I perceive myself differently than others perceive me.
It is also within reason to suggest that I have different values than those whom I interviewed, and I tended to notice the things about myself that I value the highest. For example, I value work ethic very highly, so I tended to take note of my intense work ethic. On the other hand, my mother and wife value kindness so my kindness may me a more important and noticeable attribute to them than my work ethic.
I do think that my interviewees were correct about me. Going back to part one of this assignment, I would have added more “soft” examples of my human capital. I would have noted that I am a kind, caring, motivated person.
1) 5 ways that I have unique human capital
(a) I believe that my intense work ethic sets me apart from others. I am willing to put in the time and whatever kind of labor is necessary to achieve my goals. I like to think of my person who is not afraid to “embrace the suck.” Embracing the suck allows me to thrive during difficult times.
(b) I am in good physical condition. I can out-lift, out-run, and overall out-perform most others when it comes to physical activities. The reason why I can out-perform others in physical training is because of how hard I have trained to get to where I am today. I continue strive to better myself physically.
(c) I have experience globally and have visited and lived in multiple different countries. I have visited Colombia and Mexico both for extended periods of time. I have visited many other countries for short amounts of time. I have lived in Barbados and Australia for six months or longer each. Global experience and cultural awareness is a major asset to a person in the business world.
(d) I work well with others. When put in a group/team and assigned tasks, I naturally take charge and lead my fellow team members in accomplishing our goals. I act as a peacemaker and ensure that members of the group/team feel equally valued and get along.
(e) I thrive in times of adversity and uncertainty. When others panic, I remain calm, cool, and collective. Based off thorough analysis, I make rational decisions in a timely manner.
2) I interviewed my mother, father, and wife. Since they are currently in a different country than me, I had no choice other than to interview them over the phone, and I was therefore unable to record the interviews. The assignment was to interview the five people, whom know me best. In accordance with the assignment instructions, I decided that that took precedence over having those three interviews recorded. I did not want to lose out on receiving the feedback from them, the three closest people to me. I also interviewed two friends. Both of those interviews were recorded and the links to those interviews are pasted below.
(a) Interview with my mother: My mother indicated that I am a caring, kind person. She also noted that when I want to accomplish something, I work hard towards accomplishing it.
(b) Interview with my father: My father was caught slightly off guard about the questions that I asked him during the interview. After he collected his thoughts, he said that I am handy when it comes to completing maintenance-based tasks around the house. He also said that I am a positive person and don’t complain about things like my brother often does.
(c) Interview with my wife: My wife said that I am a kind, loving, sweet-hearted person. She also said that I am annoying sometimes but in a good way. I noted that my mother and wife gave me similar feedback.
(d) Interview with my best friend Christopher: Chris noted that I am well-known for motivating people at work. When we do things regarding work that are not fun, I stay positive and that positive attitude rubs off on others. He also noted that I have good morals and perform well physically.
https://soundcloud.com/user-670388815/chris-interview-16a
(e) Interview with my second-best friend Justin: Justin pointed out that I am constantly striving to better myself. One way that he said I do this is by taking college classes, while in the military. He also said that I perform at work and am constantly motivating people.
https://soundcloud.com/user-670388815/justin-interview-16a
3) There were certainly some notable differences between how I see myself and how others see me. In general, others typically pointed out my qualities such as that I am kind and caring. These could be referred to as “soft” examples of human capital. I tended to notice more “hard” examples of human capital, such as that I am in good physical condition. This can be explained by the simple fact that I perceive myself differently than others perceive me.
It is also within reason to suggest that I have different values than those whom I interviewed, and I tended to notice the things about myself that I value the highest. For example, I value work ethic very highly, so I tended to take note of my intense work ethic. On the other hand, my mother and wife value kindness so my kindness may me a more important and noticeable attribute to them than my work ethic.
I do think that my interviewees were correct about me. Going back to part one of this assignment, I would have added more “soft” examples of my human capital. I would have noted that I am a kind, caring, motivated person.
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