20A Growing Your Social Capital

A. Domain Expert B. Market Expert C. Supplier

1.A. James Murphree: Investopedia Newsletter Writer

2.A. Domain Expert; Robert provides traditional stock investment advice through a newsletter in a subscription model similar to my potential business.

3.A. I searched through the Investopedia website to find the contact information of the primary writer for the Investopedia Newsletter and reached out to Robert through email.

4.A. I told Robert that I was aiming to create a cryptocurrency-based service similar to Investopedia’s news subscription model. In exchange for answering several of my questions about customer retention, I agreed to recommend Robert’s service to any of my future customers that reach out to me for traditional investment knowledge.

5.A. Including this person in my network will give me tremendous insight into the buying behavior and turnover rate for my target segment of customers.

1.B. Perianne Boring: President of the Digital Chamber of Commerce

2.B. Market Expert; Perianne is in charge of an association of companies that handle digital assets or services within the blockchain industry.

3.B. Perianne is a UF alumni who maintains regular contact with certain tech-based UF organizations. I reached out to a friend in one of these organizations and asked if he could put me into contact with her. I received her email address and began speaking to her through that medium.

4.B. Through our emails, we discussed her progression to President of the Digital Chamber of Commerce from her graduation at UF. From there we discussed the various types of companies that she typically works with. In exchange for promising to register my company with the Digital Chamber of Commerce, Perianne gave me invaluable advice on how to reach out to other businesses in the industry to collaborate on promotional events.

5.B. Including Perianne in my personal network greatly strengthens my ability to connect with other organizations and provides me a point of contact for questions about promotion.

1.C. Palveshey Weber: CEO of Protonode Strategies

2.C. Supplier; Palveshey runs an established company providing a blockchain investment service.

3.C. Through my contact with Perianne, I received the email of Palveshey Weber, the CEO of a new business providing a very specific type of service that sets up masternode investments.

4.C. Speaking with Palveshey was an enlightening experience because, like me, she was a new entrepreneur within the blockchain industry. In exchange for teaching me how to overcome certain obstacles with kicking off a new business, I agreed to user her service for a personal investment.

5.C. Including this person in my network gives me a direct contact to reach out to when I run into a challenge of legitimizing my business within this sector.

Reflection: This activity has shown me the extreme importance of networking. I now have a powerful arsenal of tools to use to make my business an effective player in the blockchain industry. I will try to put myself out there more by signing up for new networking events.