Growing My Social Capital

Domain Expert:
I have established goodwill with a family friend who owns store in various hotels. They understand how to own and grow a store, what to sell, and how to sell it. They have been in this business for almost ten years and the managers and owners. Since we are such good family friends, there really is no exchange for them giving me advice. They were excited to hear about my idea and thought it was a really good one! They know a lot of people in this field and have very good relationships with different clothing distributers.
Market Expert:
For this slot a chose someone who has raised girls, shops a lot, and has various experience in different businesses. She understands this market on a personal and professional level. I have known this woman for a few years and she is very willing to provide me with the information I will be looking for. This lady knows many shoppers and future clients that I would like to have. She is very influential and if she likes my idea, then her opinion can help drive the success of it.
Supplier Expert:
Because I wish to sell name brand items, establishing contact was the most difficult aspect of this assignment. I chose someone who communicates with suppliers on a daily basis. This person also owns her own store and has shown me how she went about establishing contact with different distributors and companies. When I do open my store and want to sell brands like Free People, Tarte, and Splendid, I will know how to go about business with them and how to get my foot in the door.
Reflection:
This experience opened my eyes up to all of the different facets of starting a business and of being an entrepreneur. A lot of people have said that opening a store does not mean you're an entrepreneur and I disagree. For one thing, I plan on opening a store with a product mix I haven't found anywhere before. I also think that whenever you have so many moving parts and you reinvent the wheel, you are an entrepreneur. I am excited for this journey and glad that I have these contacts to learn more about this idea.

There's My Week 10 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise to me in the reading was the financial glossary. I did not realize that there were so many technical words that all sound similar but mean very different things. Finances are not my strongest subject and I still found this concept of income statements and balance sheets to be confusing. Honestly most of this chapter was confusing since I have such little background in finance classes.
I would love the author to go more in depth in how to compile a balance sheet. If he could explain more of how you know something is a liability versus a credit I think that would also be very helpful.
There was nothing that I think the author was wrong about. Since I have such little current knowledge of finance and accounting, I wouldn't know enough to argue a point against the author. For the most part, I agree with everything he said and just wish he went into a little more detail.

There's My Elevator Pitch No. 3

Most of the feedback I received on my second pitch was very positive. One thing I was told ( and did in this third pitch) was to make more eye contact with the camera. My original thought was to not look at the camera and act like I was just talking to a bunch of people beyond the sense, but now I see how that could be confusing and come across as unprofessional. Another criticism I got was that I said "they" when referring to my business venture, so I was conscious to say "I" and "we". The last thing was to use less filler words which I also tried to do.