Assignment 24A – Venture Concept No. 1 - Affordable Haircuts at Your Convenience
1) Opportunity
While on deployment here in Australia, I identified an unmet need of my fellow Marines. We must get haircuts every week per our commanding officer’s orders. Here in Australia, haircuts are very costly and inconvenient to get. Marines must get together in groups of four or more and split taxi expenses to and back from the mall. They must also pay the outrageous price of about $35 for a haircut from the local barber. Overall, it costs Marines approximately $50 every week to get a haircut. In addition to that, it takes about three hours’ time to go to the mall, get a haircut, and then head back to base.
I identified the unmet need for cheap haircuts at a convenient location. I have the skills necessary to give in regulation fades and decided that I will begin to give fades to my fellow Marines for $20 per haircut. The interviews that I conducted confirmed my belief that this opportunity does exist. This window of opportunity will be available for the remainder of deployment. It will no longer be available after deployment when Marines can get top-quality fades for as cheap as $8.
2) Innovation
This entrepreneurial venture required little innovation. My idea of cutting hair is nothing new. Other Marines on base do cut hair also; however, they are unable to meet the overwhelming demand for haircuts. I will make money by charging $20 per haircut. My expenses to start and continue this venture will be minimal. I will purchase $60 clippers from the local Big W, a $10 cape, and a $5 spray bottle of clipper lubricant.
3) Venture Concept
My innovation to meet this unmet need provides a convenience to my customers. They no longer must spend several hours to go out in town to get a haircut. They can get a haircut at the convenient location of our own haircuts. In addition to this, they will save approximately $30 per week on haircuts. Customers will pay for my services because it is the rational thing to do. I have friendships with many of my future customers, and these friendships will help to increase the demand for my services.
My competitors, who are not Marines, cannot compete with the convenience that my services offer. This is due to their inability to get on base to cut hair. Fellow Marines can provide similar services to me; however, there are not enough other people exploiting this opportunity to take away from my opportunity.
4) Three Minor Elements
My most important resource in pursuing this venture will be my work ethic. I am willing to spend significant amounts of my free time cutting hair rather than doing other things. My work ethic is very valuable, rare, not easy to imitate, and there is no substitutability for my work ethic.
Cutting hair and charging $20 per haircut will be the extent of this venture. I will not pursue cutting hair after deployment due to the overwhelming competition back in California. Marines in California can get better haircuts than I can give for as cheap as $8.
This venture will allow me to increase my income and my savings per month. I will be able to use the money that I make from this entrepreneurial venture to pursue future entrepreneurial ventures. I will continue to identify unmet needs that are worthwhile to exploit and that I am capable of exploiting.
Monday, 15 October 2018
Sunday, 14 October 2018
23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage
Assignment 23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage
List of Resources in my Venture
1) Financial capital necessary to pursue this venture
Value- To pursue this venture, it is necessary to have the financial capital. Therefore, the fact that I do have the financial capital is valuable in starting up this venture.
Rarity- Having the necessary financial capital to pursue this venture is not very rare. It only will cost me about $100 to pursue this venture and most people have $100.
Imitability- The imitability of using financial capital to pursue this venture is very high. It is not very hard to imitate what I am doing.
Non-substitutability-It requires financial capital or to have access to the resources in another way to pursue this venture.
2) Outgoing personality, ability to socialize with clients while giving haircuts
Value- Me having this human capital is very valuable.
Rarity- Many people are outgoing and good at socializing, so this capital is not very rare.
Imitability- It is easy for most other people to act in this manner also.
Non-substitutability- There’s no substitute for being outgoing and social. You either are or you aren’t. If you are not outgoing and social, your services will be missing that part of the “experience.”
3) Ability to give fades that will pass regulations
Value- It is necessary to be able to do so to pursue this venture. My ability to give fades that will pass regulations is very valuable.
Rarity- Not a whole lot of people are able to give fades that will pass regulations, so my ability to do so is decently rare.
Imitability- It is not very difficult for someone to learn through YouTube and practice. The potential for imitability is high.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute to giving in regulations fades other than having the ability to do so.
4) Work ethic to meet the large demand for my services and spend much of my time cutting hair rather than hanging out with friends or watching Netflix
Value- My work ethic is very valuable, as it will lead to my success in this entrepreneurial venture.
Rarity- This is a very rare quality. Not many people are willing to spend significant portions of their free time doing something like cutting hair, even if they are profiting from it.
Imitability- My work ethic is very hard to imitate. It would take most people a very long time to successfully obtain a work ethic similar to mine.
Non-substitutability-There is no substitutability for work ethic. Without work ethic, the demand for haircut services will not be met and profits will not be maximized.
5) Ability and willingness to receive feedback from my customers on how I can improve my services
Value- Their feedback will be valuable to how I continue to operate but will not be the sole difference between whether I succeed or fail in this venture.
Rarity- There is a medium-level of rarity to this ability/willingness of mine. Some but not all people are willing to receive such feedback.
Imitability- It is relatively easy to imitate this. All that one must do is start asking for feedback and act upon the results.
Non-substitutability-You can’t really substitute this ability/willingness; however, there wouldn’t be much need to substitute it in the first place.
6) Ability to provide my services in the convenience of my customers’ own barracks
Value- This is very valuable to my clients. As I learned in this interview, my clients were thrilled by the idea of not having to go out in town to get a haircut.
Rarity- Every person on this base has the same ability to cut hair in the convenience of my customers’ barracks. People off-base do not have this ability. I would say the rarity is at a medium-level.
Imitability- It would be easy for someone on base to imitate me in this.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute for people off-base. Only military and other authorized personnel can get on base and are able to offer this convenience.
7) Friendships with many of my future customers
Value- These friendships are valuable. It will make my services much easier to market, since I have already established a level of rapport with my customers, whom are my friends.
Rarity- These friendships aren’t very rare. Everyone has their own friendships and the same opportunity regarding this aspect.
Imitability- Friendships are easy to make for most people. Therefore, others have the potential to make friendship and exploit those friendships in the same way that I will.
Non-substitutability- Other forms of relationships, such as professional/work relationships could substitute friendships. These other relationships would provide the same opportunity to increase a customer basis.
8) Ability to give low, medium, and high fades
Value- The value of my ability to give fades is approximately $40-50 here in Australia. I will only be charging $20.
Rarity- My ability to give these different fades is rare. Some people can give one or the other, but not many people can give any of the three.
Imitability- Anyone can learn how to give low, medium, and high fades so the potential for imitability is decently high.
Non-substitutability- The substitute for my ability to give low, medium, and high fades would be another person only offering one or two of those fades. The substitute would be less valuable than my ability to give all three fades.
9) Ability to give “parts” in my clients’ hair
Value- Giving “parts” only takes about two minutes and the value of these parts is low. I could maybe charge an extra couple of dollars; however, I will offer free “parts” with my services.
Rarity- The rarity of this ability is very low. Even many people, whom cannot give fades, are able to give parts.
Imitability- Potential for imitability is very high. Within a matter of minutes, almost anyone can learn how to give a part.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute to this ability. A person either can or can’t give parts.
10) Flexibility of my schedule as to when I can give haircuts
Value- My schedule flexibility is very valuable. My customers will request haircuts at all times of the day and night. My ability to meet these requests is valuable. I can give haircuts at times that barbers out in town are not offering haircuts.
Rarity- The rarity of this flexibility is high. Very few people have a schedule as flexible as mine.
Imitability- This imitability is at a low-level. Not many people have a flexible enough schedule to imitate this. Most of those, who do have a flexible enough schedule, are not willing to imitate this.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute for my flexibility of schedule as to when I can give haircuts. If a customer requests a haircut, I have a better flexibility of schedule as to when I can than do my customers.
Conclusion
After conducting the VRIN Analysis for all 10 resources, I have determined that my top resource is as follows:
4) My work ethic to meet the large demand for my services and spend much of my time cutting hair rather than hanging out with friends or watching Netflix
Although the other nine resources are wonderful resources to have, they all matter very little without work ethic. My work ethic will allow me to exploit this opportunity to the fullest and maximize on profits. My work ethic is very valuable, very rare, very hard to imitated, and there is no substitute for it.
List of Resources in my Venture
1) Financial capital necessary to pursue this venture
Value- To pursue this venture, it is necessary to have the financial capital. Therefore, the fact that I do have the financial capital is valuable in starting up this venture.
Rarity- Having the necessary financial capital to pursue this venture is not very rare. It only will cost me about $100 to pursue this venture and most people have $100.
Imitability- The imitability of using financial capital to pursue this venture is very high. It is not very hard to imitate what I am doing.
Non-substitutability-It requires financial capital or to have access to the resources in another way to pursue this venture.
2) Outgoing personality, ability to socialize with clients while giving haircuts
Value- Me having this human capital is very valuable.
Rarity- Many people are outgoing and good at socializing, so this capital is not very rare.
Imitability- It is easy for most other people to act in this manner also.
Non-substitutability- There’s no substitute for being outgoing and social. You either are or you aren’t. If you are not outgoing and social, your services will be missing that part of the “experience.”
3) Ability to give fades that will pass regulations
Value- It is necessary to be able to do so to pursue this venture. My ability to give fades that will pass regulations is very valuable.
Rarity- Not a whole lot of people are able to give fades that will pass regulations, so my ability to do so is decently rare.
Imitability- It is not very difficult for someone to learn through YouTube and practice. The potential for imitability is high.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute to giving in regulations fades other than having the ability to do so.
4) Work ethic to meet the large demand for my services and spend much of my time cutting hair rather than hanging out with friends or watching Netflix
Value- My work ethic is very valuable, as it will lead to my success in this entrepreneurial venture.
Rarity- This is a very rare quality. Not many people are willing to spend significant portions of their free time doing something like cutting hair, even if they are profiting from it.
Imitability- My work ethic is very hard to imitate. It would take most people a very long time to successfully obtain a work ethic similar to mine.
Non-substitutability-There is no substitutability for work ethic. Without work ethic, the demand for haircut services will not be met and profits will not be maximized.
5) Ability and willingness to receive feedback from my customers on how I can improve my services
Value- Their feedback will be valuable to how I continue to operate but will not be the sole difference between whether I succeed or fail in this venture.
Rarity- There is a medium-level of rarity to this ability/willingness of mine. Some but not all people are willing to receive such feedback.
Imitability- It is relatively easy to imitate this. All that one must do is start asking for feedback and act upon the results.
Non-substitutability-You can’t really substitute this ability/willingness; however, there wouldn’t be much need to substitute it in the first place.
6) Ability to provide my services in the convenience of my customers’ own barracks
Value- This is very valuable to my clients. As I learned in this interview, my clients were thrilled by the idea of not having to go out in town to get a haircut.
Rarity- Every person on this base has the same ability to cut hair in the convenience of my customers’ barracks. People off-base do not have this ability. I would say the rarity is at a medium-level.
Imitability- It would be easy for someone on base to imitate me in this.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute for people off-base. Only military and other authorized personnel can get on base and are able to offer this convenience.
7) Friendships with many of my future customers
Value- These friendships are valuable. It will make my services much easier to market, since I have already established a level of rapport with my customers, whom are my friends.
Rarity- These friendships aren’t very rare. Everyone has their own friendships and the same opportunity regarding this aspect.
Imitability- Friendships are easy to make for most people. Therefore, others have the potential to make friendship and exploit those friendships in the same way that I will.
Non-substitutability- Other forms of relationships, such as professional/work relationships could substitute friendships. These other relationships would provide the same opportunity to increase a customer basis.
8) Ability to give low, medium, and high fades
Value- The value of my ability to give fades is approximately $40-50 here in Australia. I will only be charging $20.
Rarity- My ability to give these different fades is rare. Some people can give one or the other, but not many people can give any of the three.
Imitability- Anyone can learn how to give low, medium, and high fades so the potential for imitability is decently high.
Non-substitutability- The substitute for my ability to give low, medium, and high fades would be another person only offering one or two of those fades. The substitute would be less valuable than my ability to give all three fades.
9) Ability to give “parts” in my clients’ hair
Value- Giving “parts” only takes about two minutes and the value of these parts is low. I could maybe charge an extra couple of dollars; however, I will offer free “parts” with my services.
Rarity- The rarity of this ability is very low. Even many people, whom cannot give fades, are able to give parts.
Imitability- Potential for imitability is very high. Within a matter of minutes, almost anyone can learn how to give a part.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute to this ability. A person either can or can’t give parts.
10) Flexibility of my schedule as to when I can give haircuts
Value- My schedule flexibility is very valuable. My customers will request haircuts at all times of the day and night. My ability to meet these requests is valuable. I can give haircuts at times that barbers out in town are not offering haircuts.
Rarity- The rarity of this flexibility is high. Very few people have a schedule as flexible as mine.
Imitability- This imitability is at a low-level. Not many people have a flexible enough schedule to imitate this. Most of those, who do have a flexible enough schedule, are not willing to imitate this.
Non-substitutability- There is no substitute for my flexibility of schedule as to when I can give haircuts. If a customer requests a haircut, I have a better flexibility of schedule as to when I can than do my customers.
Conclusion
After conducting the VRIN Analysis for all 10 resources, I have determined that my top resource is as follows:
4) My work ethic to meet the large demand for my services and spend much of my time cutting hair rather than hanging out with friends or watching Netflix
Although the other nine resources are wonderful resources to have, they all matter very little without work ethic. My work ethic will allow me to exploit this opportunity to the fullest and maximize on profits. My work ethic is very valuable, very rare, very hard to imitated, and there is no substitute for it.
22A - Elevator Pitch No. 3
Assignment 22A – Elevator Pitch No. 3
1) If I remember correctly, our last two elevator pitches were supposed to be right around 90 seconds (although 60 seconds would still be acceptable). This assignment was instructed to be 1-minute long. I did have to shorten and adjust my pitch slightly to get as close to the 1-minute mark as possible. I strived to ensure that I did not try to cram all the information into a shorter period of time. As we’ve learned, its better to talk a bit slow than fast!
https://youtu.be/yRTmpjkWd5w
2) At the current time of making my third elevator pitch, I have not yet received any feedback on my second elevator pitch; however, I am still taking into consideration the feedback I received on my first pitch. Sean Pruitt said that he liked how I directed my elevator pitch towards my target/prototypical customer, as identified in my previous posts.
As he noted, an elevator pitch is always dependent upon the situation that one is put in. I certainly took into consideration this feedback. I have continued to record pitches geared towards my prototypical consumer; however, his feedback caused me to start thinking about how I would give my pitch different to those, whom are not my target customers. That feedback was greatly appreciated and has further sparked my mental creativity with pitches that I will give while pursuing various entrepreneurial ventures throughout the rest of my life.
3) Many things have changed throughout my pitches. Things have changed as the result of both feedback and self-evaluation of my pitches. It took me approximately 10 attempts to create my first elevator pitch. It took me approximately four attempts to create my second elevator pitch. This pitch only took me one attempt. I certainly do feel much more comfortable in front of the camera than I did at first. I have memorized my pitch almost verbatim, although I do change it up on the fly sometimes to aid me in showing more enthusiasm during my pitches. As noted during bullet point number two, the little feedback that I have received on my pitches has still been very helpful. I am greatly looking forward to receiving more feedback on both my second pitch and this pitch.
1) If I remember correctly, our last two elevator pitches were supposed to be right around 90 seconds (although 60 seconds would still be acceptable). This assignment was instructed to be 1-minute long. I did have to shorten and adjust my pitch slightly to get as close to the 1-minute mark as possible. I strived to ensure that I did not try to cram all the information into a shorter period of time. As we’ve learned, its better to talk a bit slow than fast!
https://youtu.be/yRTmpjkWd5w
2) At the current time of making my third elevator pitch, I have not yet received any feedback on my second elevator pitch; however, I am still taking into consideration the feedback I received on my first pitch. Sean Pruitt said that he liked how I directed my elevator pitch towards my target/prototypical customer, as identified in my previous posts.
As he noted, an elevator pitch is always dependent upon the situation that one is put in. I certainly took into consideration this feedback. I have continued to record pitches geared towards my prototypical consumer; however, his feedback caused me to start thinking about how I would give my pitch different to those, whom are not my target customers. That feedback was greatly appreciated and has further sparked my mental creativity with pitches that I will give while pursuing various entrepreneurial ventures throughout the rest of my life.
3) Many things have changed throughout my pitches. Things have changed as the result of both feedback and self-evaluation of my pitches. It took me approximately 10 attempts to create my first elevator pitch. It took me approximately four attempts to create my second elevator pitch. This pitch only took me one attempt. I certainly do feel much more comfortable in front of the camera than I did at first. I have memorized my pitch almost verbatim, although I do change it up on the fly sometimes to aid me in showing more enthusiasm during my pitches. As noted during bullet point number two, the little feedback that I have received on my pitches has still been very helpful. I am greatly looking forward to receiving more feedback on both my second pitch and this pitch.
21A - Reading Reflection No. 2
Assignment 21A – Reading Reflection No. 2
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
1) The general theme/argument within this book is that innovation can be fostered and encouraged within an organization. Peter Drucker proposed three ideas. They are as follows:
Although these three ideas may appear to be common sense, Mr. Drucker proposed than an organization should focus on these three aspects. By focusing on these three factors, corporations can create an environment where innovation is encouraged. Every entrepreneur must grasp these three concepts. In his book, Peter elaborates on his third point. He proceeds to suggest that employees are not just organizational assets but that employees are an organization’s most important asset. Peter Drucker was undeniably a forerunner of today’s modern management.
2) As we all know, this class is geared towards entrepreneurship. This book is geared towards entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial concept of understanding and promoting innovation. Encouraging innovation within an organization is a major part of entrepreneurship, especially when attempting to expand or grow a company. Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker expands upon how one can apply the principles of entrepreneurship to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
3) If I had to design an exercise for ENT3003 based on this book, the exercise would involve having students notionally create an organization that fosters innovation. Their work would be graded off how well their notional company promotes innovation through its culture and other characteristics. They would have to describe their organization in depth and describe common practices/customs/procedures that show their organization’s high level of innovation.
4) My biggest ‘aha’ moment from this book was when I started thinking to myself about the importance of employees to an organization. I absolutely agree with Peter Drucker that employees are the most important asset of a corporation. The human capital and work ethic of those employees leads to organizational success. Innovation comes from all levels of employees, not just top managers. In my future entrepreneurial endeavors, I will be sure to recognize the value of my employees, whom I hire.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
1) The general theme/argument within this book is that innovation can be fostered and encouraged within an organization. Peter Drucker proposed three ideas. They are as follows:
- Corporations are human communities
- Customers are crucial
- Employees are an asset
Although these three ideas may appear to be common sense, Mr. Drucker proposed than an organization should focus on these three aspects. By focusing on these three factors, corporations can create an environment where innovation is encouraged. Every entrepreneur must grasp these three concepts. In his book, Peter elaborates on his third point. He proceeds to suggest that employees are not just organizational assets but that employees are an organization’s most important asset. Peter Drucker was undeniably a forerunner of today’s modern management.
2) As we all know, this class is geared towards entrepreneurship. This book is geared towards entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial concept of understanding and promoting innovation. Encouraging innovation within an organization is a major part of entrepreneurship, especially when attempting to expand or grow a company. Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker expands upon how one can apply the principles of entrepreneurship to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
3) If I had to design an exercise for ENT3003 based on this book, the exercise would involve having students notionally create an organization that fosters innovation. Their work would be graded off how well their notional company promotes innovation through its culture and other characteristics. They would have to describe their organization in depth and describe common practices/customs/procedures that show their organization’s high level of innovation.
4) My biggest ‘aha’ moment from this book was when I started thinking to myself about the importance of employees to an organization. I absolutely agree with Peter Drucker that employees are the most important asset of a corporation. The human capital and work ethic of those employees leads to organizational success. Innovation comes from all levels of employees, not just top managers. In my future entrepreneurial endeavors, I will be sure to recognize the value of my employees, whom I hire.
20A - Growing Your Social Capital
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.
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.
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