20A - Growing Your Social Capital

My Network:

1. BCBA: Domain Expert
• This person is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst at a center that provides ABA services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Has a background (Master's degree) in Special Education and a Doctorate in Applied Behavior Analysis
• I happen to work under a few behavior analysts at my job so it was relatively easy to catch a quick minute with them to talk about this.
• The favor they did for me was taking time out of their day to talk about this with me and there wasn't really a return expectation. As BCBA's and supervisors, they are very open and willing to discuss further career paths and answer any questions we may have regarding our services and growing in the field.
• Including this person in my network would enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity because of their expertise and information they can relay to me about the field.
2. Caregiving services: Market Expert
• Care.com or Bambino
• I emailed someone who worked for the website/app to get in contact with them about my idea napkin.
• This person took time out of their busy day to read and reply to an email sent by me when they didn't have to.
• Including this person in my network would give me insight to what already up and running applications like Care.com are like and get a business perspective on my idea to implement a similar product/service.
3. Software developers: Supplier
• I got in contact (over the phone) with a friend of mine who graduated a few years ago in Engineering and is currently working at a software development company.
• We talked about my idea napkin and how we were to implement different features into the app if I were to actually get it starting up.
• I think if I had him/his company as my supplier, they could be the ones to help me create the app and implement all its tricks.
• Including him/the company he works for into my network gives me an opportunity to learn about getting my app and services started if I were to try to make it and put it on the market.

Reflection: This experience shaped how I would go about reaching out to people in other networking events and if I needed or wanted to in the future to further my career or business idea. I think putting my foot in the door now really set me up for branching out and getting my idea out there and even if I don't follow through with the app/service in actuality, I would at least have the experience and network around me that would be a great asset to growing in my field. I think I went into this networking project a little more confident than other times I've tried in the past and I think that has to do with my current knowledge about the field I'm in and what I would want to do with this busines idea. I think also because this is something I'm passionate about, it makes it all the more easier to talk about and start conversations with others about it.