Person 1: Scott Weber
Scott is a dispensary owner across 4 states. He oversees nationwide sales and distribution for his dispensaries. He also owns hedge shops and growing farms in New York as well as California. Scott is fulfilling the role of Supplier as he understands the process of moving the plant from farm to customer better than anyone. I have known Scott for a couple years through living on the same street as him in New Jersey, so it was very easy to contact him. Scott did me the favor of answering my questions about the industry, but we only had a brief conversation so he does not expect anything in return. I can now use Scott and his employment resources to further a career in the cannabis industry if I so choose.
Person 2: Justin Bradsworth
Justin is the manager of Scott Weber's hedge shop in Newark New Jersey called BYOB which stands for Be Your Own Boss. He runs the day to day operations of the store including managing the mixture of tobacco products and tattoo materials. Justin is my Market Expert as he understands the clientele of a similar industry very well. I found Justin through my connection with Scott and called up his store line to contact him. I asked him questions about the typical clientele that go into the store daily and what an average day consists of. I will include Justin's information when discussing future plans for my business.
Person 3: Mitchell Hakimian
While I do not know anyone else who is in the cannabis business, I did interview a smoke shop worker here in Gainesville. Mitchell works at Modern Age Tobacco on University and knows a lot about cannabis related products. Mitchell is fulfilling the role of Domain Expert. To find the person I just went to the store and asked the first person who I saw working there. Mitchell did me the favor of answering my questions about the cannabis industry and the related products. I'm not sure if i'm going to use Mitchell again in the future, but I am going to use his the information that he gave me when contemplating future business plans.
After this experience of targeted networking I believe that it will help me when approaching high ranking people in the future. Being able to talk to adults with real experience in this industry was helpful and I gained a lot of knowledge because of it. I've never reached out to people about this before because I never felt the need to, but now that I did i'm glad that I had the opportunity.
Hey Erik,
ReplyDeleteIn reading your post about growing your social capital, I think you did a good job of selecting people who can truly help you in your business idea. You really did a great job of targeted networking, and it will certainly help you in the future when you meet with business professionals. While this class is an online class, it provides a good opportunity for real-life development, especially regarding targeted markets and networking opportunities.