Growing Your Social Capital

1. Jason:
              Jason owns a small apparel store that focuses on Florida Gators gear. He is a domain expert, as he is involved with the sale and distribution of sports jerseys everyday. Jason has been in the business in some manner for the past twenty years, only recently starting his own business. I stumbled into this meeting by chance, as I happened to be shopping for a new Florida hat in his store when I thought to approach him regarding this assignment. I told Jason about my idea-a jersey-rental service- and he was mostly curious about the logistics of gaining members and the acquisition of jerseys. Jason was a huge help, as he explained the difficulties of breaking into the apparel market. He mostly discussed how the majority of his business is done through his online website, and he finds himself shipping a lot of apparel around the country. Getting to meet Jason is helpful as I now know someone who has dealt with many of the barriers I will deal with further down the line in the apparel business.

2. Taylor:
               Taylor works for Amazon, in their new clothing-rental sector. For those who do not know, Amazon Prime members are able to order clothing to their home, try them on, and keep what they like. They then send back anything they don't like and only get charged for the clothes they keep. This is groundbreaking because of the idea of shipping an item back and would be costly for anyone besides a tech giant like Amazon. Therefore, Taylor is a Market Expert. I met Taylor through a family friend and contacted her specifically for this assignment. Taylor was happy to explain to me the logistics of her work and the general infrastructure of the clothing industry. I learned a lot of new information about how distributors communicate with suppliers, and how Amazon priorities efficiency over pretty much everything else. This is a valuable contact to keep as I may need more advice down the road with developing my idea.

3. Brian:
              Brian works for Russell, the athletic company that produces everything from jerseys to helmets and cleats. Although the merchandise varies across multiple sports, his line of work is primarily focused on the production and distribution of officially licensed apparel. Therefore, he is a Supplier. I reached out to Brian through LinkedIn and we started communicating over the phone from there. He told me about how companies such as Russell, or Nike or Adidas, become licensed distributors of professional gear through the NFL, NBA, and other leagues. Although it is difficult to initially break into this industry, it becomes pretty easy to communicate once you're in. Brian liked the idea of renting jerseys as opposed to purchasing, as he said that only 20% of people are actually likely to purchase a jersey. His advice will help me in planning how to approach a professional league in getting permission to use their brand.

Reflection: This activity helped me develop new ways to meet people and communicate with them. I did not enjoy the actual activity, as I don't seriously plan on going anywhere with this idea. I do see the overall lesson here and am glad to have experience it.