Growing you social Capital

Domain Expert on Industry

1. The expert in the tobacco and smoking industry that I could meet was my pledge brothers dad, Gregory Melone who owns a smoke shop in Miami and was one of the first shops to bring in Juuls and Pods. Because my idea of a Juul pod vending machine dispensaries is so new , there is no specific industry for it besides the nicotine and smoking industry. Melone owns various smoke shops in south Florida, and was the first one that hopped on the Juul train in Miami. He's born and grown up in Florida and studied at the university of Michigan. 
2. Gregory Melone takes the Domain expert spot in the nicotine and smoking industry. He was the biggest fish I could get into contact with that owns smoke shops who sell Juul pods.
3. My pledge brother, Nick , always has told me about the smoke shops his dad owned in south Florida, so when looking for someone in the nicotine and smoking industry, I knew I had to get nick to get me in communication with his dad. Nick called his dad and explained my assignment, and gave me his dads email. I emailed his dad with the prompt and asked what time I could call him to interview him. 
4.  Gregory Melone gave me a lot of knowledge about the tobacco and smoke industry that he has come to know from years of working in the industry. He gave me tips on how to know which products to get, where to get them from, how to keep them stocked and how to manage the shops in these industries. Melone did a huge favor for me, and gave me valuable knowledge that normally takes years to learn. Greg Melone did this interview for his son, and bestowed this knowledge on me because Im pledge brothers with his son, and even told me he had no intention of getting a return from me, but that he wanted to help me out. 
5. Having Gregory Melone in my social network will give me the connects I need to be able to buy large amounts of Juul pods , and other smoke products. Beside that by knowing him, I always have someone in the industry to call for business advice. 

Expert on the Market

1.  For this interview, I had to find someone who was an expert in the Juul industry, who was also trying to provide these customers with Juul pods , and was an expert in the customers. I decided to interview the owner of one of the only smoke shops with Juul pods in Gainesville, Modern Age smoke shop. I finally got in contact with Greyson Henderson, who is the owner of modern age smoke shop, the smoke shop with the most variety of Juul pods and the best consistency. Greyson grew up in California, but moved to Gainesville, after attending the University of Florida. 
2. Greyson Henderson is filling the expert on the market slot of my interviews.  He fills this spot because he has the best smoke shop in my area with the most Juul pods and best consistency, so his expertise on the Juul pod market and customers is the best in my area. 
3. Trying to get in contact with Greyson Henderson was a little tougher then I'd imagined it to be. Most of the employees would not give me any type of information about the owner, and were clearly not experts on the field. I found out that Greyson is actually the manager on certain days, just Wednesdays, and tracked him down. I explained to him how I needed his interview for an assignment and he said he was willing to help me.
4.  The conversation I had with Henderson proved to me that my prototypical customer was correct, and that indeed this need is felt by a lot of college students. Greyson explained to me how a lot of college students complain about how far his smoke shop is from college, and the hassle it is to buy Juul pods. Greyson interview showed me the real customers looking for Juul pods, and what the customers need the most. This interview also gave me a lot of knowledge from the industry that would of taken years to learn first hand.
5. Knowing Greyson can help me by asking for his advice on what the customers want especially what flavors and brands they want. This expands my social network by giving me another opinion of my intended customer base for my economic idea.

Important Supplier

1. For my last interview, I had to find a major Juul pod supplier , someone that supplied the Juul industry with pods. I decided to call customer support and try to get in contact with a marketing director. After about an hour talking on the phone with customer service of Juul, I finally got transferred over to the head marketing director of Juul for Florida, Georgie and Alabama. Elias Smith is the marketing director of these 3 states for Juul, he grew up and attended The University of  Alabama.
2. Elias Smith fills my Important supplier interview spot, He is the main director of marketing for Juuls for 3 states. He personally is in charge of selling Juul, and Juul pods to smoke shops and gas stations in these states. 
3. I was having trouble figuring out who to contact for my major supplier interview, and finally realized that I had to get in contact with a high enough employee in Juul. Since my idea is built on these one type of pods for a smoking device , I had to talk to a supplier of this company to be able to talk to a major supplier. After various emails with no response, I called their customer service, explained my assignment and after an hour on hold, finally got passed through Elias line. 
4.  The conversation I had with Elias was very eye opening, and showed me why some gas stations consistently have more pods and availability of pods then others. Elias explained to me, how consistent old clients have a set number of pods sent in weekly to make sure they're always supplied, while other companies not so sure of Juuls try to order each order individually. Elias showed me why their is this lack of pods in college towns, and explained how to me to be able to consistently have Juul pods.  I believe that Elias saw some potential in my idea, and might hope that I become a future customer of bulk Juul pods .
5. Having Elias as a contact in my social network now is a huge benefit to my business idea. Elias is the supplier who would be able to supply the pods that I need to make my idea a reality, and having him in my social network now is a great opportunity. 

Reflection

• This activity based on targeting network, actually taught me a more then I thought it would. First, it showed me how important it is to take advantage of the people you already know through your friends, like their parents who could be very important people. To continue, It showed me that even thought it is tough and can be uncomfortable to make new contacts, it comes back as a blessing in the end. This experience differed from my experiences in the past because most of the time id be interviewing for a Job, not meeting new people based on an economic idea that I have. 
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