It's About Who You Know - Growing Your Social Capital

Hello!

I'm on a mission.

The assignment?

Network with three strangers: a domain expert, a market expert, and supplier.
The questions?

1) Who they are and what their background is.
2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation?
5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

Be prepared for a long post.

Go!

1) Daniel Zimmerman, owner of Market Linen
2) Domain expert. He works in the linen business, producing and selling them on Etsy!
3) I found Zimmerman's business page online through Google, and contacted him through his Contact Me page.
4) Zimmerman gave me wonderful advice about the linens domain! I suppose my 'favor' in return will to be an honest seller if I pursue a business venture in the same domain as him.
5) Having Zimmerman in my network will enhance my ability because he can probably give me more advice in the future about the market.

Our exchange:

Hi,

I am a student at the University of Florida currently enrolled in an entrepreneurship course. Part of the requirements for this course is that I make contact with a professional entrepreneur who can give me feedback for a specific business concept that I have (which happens to fall under the linens industry!).

Specifically, my business idea has to do with an alternative to fitted sheets. I was wondering if you could give me some advice regarding the making and selling of linens.

How do you find your target base? Do you connect with hotels or other such businesses that use linens regularly, or do you generally aim towards the general population as opposed to businesses?

Also, where is it possible to purchase wide lengths of fabric for sheets?

Again, it is just a rough concept, but a line or two of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Mazal Fernandez

His response:

Hi Mazal, 

Sounds like an interesting class - I took something similar when I was in school. 

The making and selling of anything related to textiles can yield a high profit margin but only if you able to successfully entertain the correct population and if you are able to find a really good and reasonably priced source for your linen. 

I work as an interior designer and use informal methods to target a high end consumer. I sell linen as a luxury item to wealthy individuals who will pay a premium for handcrafted goods. My business model is closer to a luxury brand selling less items but at a high profit margin. 

I haven't tried businesses such as hotels etc as that would require large scale production and a significant up front cost. This would be a different business model (the Walmart model - selling many items at low profit margin) 

I find that the current marketing climate created by the explosion of social media works very well for my brand in attracting new clients. Most new clients come from publications in magazines and by being featured by sites like Etsy. Basically - in my world - if you are able to create really good photography and release it on Instagram and Pinterest it will be discovered eventually by editors who will publish the work this attracting my high end client. It's all about creating a story with the linen in photos. 

As far as sourcing of linen - this is what we would call a competitive advantage and I would never share my sources as that would invite competition. My advice is Google wide width linen and order samples from many sources to test quality, prices, and shipping rates. 

Hope this helps and good luck at school! 

Daniel Zimmerman

1) Julie from In-Weave, a fabric supplier
2) Supplier. Julie works for a business which wholesales fabrics of all lengths and widths.
3) I Googled extra-wide fabric on Google, found Julie's website, and contacted them through their online page.
4) Julie helped me make an informed decision about what fabrics would be best for making bedsheets.
5) Julie and her company would be valuable resources to buy from, because their websites sell the proper width of fabric I would need for my MagneFit venture.

Our exchange:

Hi,

I am looking to make my own bed sheets. What would you suggest to be the best fabric to work with? I think Percale would best suit my needs, but I was wondering if flannel or broadcloth would be good (comfortable) options as well.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance,

Mazal Fernandez

Julie's response:

Hi,

 

Percale would be the best. Definitely not broadcloth. Flannel would also be fine-but hard to find the extra wide flannel.

 

Thank you,

Julie

 

In -Weave

1) Anonymous employee from Maddak, a producer and seller of aids for daily living
2) This person fills the spot of market expert, because they focus their products toward people who benefit from household aids in order to live independently-- and Magnefit, my alternative to fitted sheets, would be such a household aid for persons with disabilities or the elderly.
3) Again, I Google searched a phrase (this time "products for people with disabilities" and stumbled upon their website; I emailed their customer service inbox.
4) The employee gave me good advice on working with people with disabilities and how to tactfully market towards the elderly or people with disabilities.
5) I plan to write back to the employee to get a name and properly network with them for more advice in the future.

Our contact:

Hi,

My name is Mazal Fernandez and I am a student at the University of Florida. I'm currently enrolled in an entrepreneurship course, and part of the requirements for the course is to develop a hypothetical business/product.

The product I've been designing for the class has to do with simplifying the bed-making process, and part of my target market would be persons with disabilities.

I need some advice about marketing toward persons with disabilities ( for example, being tactful with customers). Any suggestions in this regard would be very helpful.

Thank you for your time!

The Maddak representative:

"Hello Ms. Fernandez,

Thank you for contacting Bel-Art Products.

Marketing toward persons with disabilities can be challenging at first. It is important to use tact in your marketing, being sure to use non-offensive language in your advertisements or website. Euphemistic phrases are almost always frowned upon when it comes to marketing to this target market. 

It is also important to not make assumptions about your customer or his or her disability. If you are not sure about something, it is always better to ask for clarification than possibly embarrass yourself or your customer.

I hope I have been able to help you. Should you decide to pursue this venture, we would be more than happy to assist you with your product, its development, and its marketing. More information can be found on our website at www.Maddak.com, under the Inventor's Corner label, or at our Customer Service hotline at  1-800-423-5278.

Thank you for your continued interest in Bel-Art Products.

Reflection:
How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?

This experience definitely opened my eyes to new possibilities! It never crossed my mind to search out people and businesses and email them over the internet for advice, but amazingly it worked. This experience greatly differed from anything I've done in the past, because I usually meet people in person or through a friend; these were complete strangers on the internet! It was a fascinating experience, and I think it is a very good way to make possible networking connections in the future. My only question would be how to keep up with these relationships or make them mutual for both parties.