Community and network

I find it interesting to "analyse" how community or network can change the rule-set. And not only your network of known nodes, but your network in the bigger picture. I mean if you are interested in opening up a kiosk there is a lot of knowledge around you.

First of all you may have someone running something similar in your network, you can ask a lot of questions from this person. If you ask an entrepreneur how many customers they have per day and similar questions they will know. Why? Because they have done a business-plan for their business, they know pretty well their market and it is the numbers they use for their own business.

So then it's super important to know someone which runs a similar business? No, actually not, or that is not really true, the better answer is: "You already do". In this example we are looking at a one-to-one service sale, by service sale I mean that it's more an administrative, meaning no one is actively selling. It is different in other business but generally if you want to sell stuff to people you do know someone with a business. In Sweden we have Pressbyrån in more or less every subway station, you probably have some 7eleven, or the equivalent in your country around the next corner. If you aren't a patron of these stores perhaps you visit some coffee-shop or other lunch restaurant. My point being is that you probably do visit some place regularly enought so that you feel secure enough to ask: "May I ask you, how many people do you have on average per day?" It's more or less all you need. So let's summarize: You can get an answer to this type of questions if you find someone to ask.

Sounds simple enough right? Well it is, and in all honesty to keep the entrepreneurial mind happy, at least I need inspiration every day, I need visions of my venture coming alive and one great way to do so is to talk about it, to think about it, to talk about stuff related to it. I listen to a pod-cast produced by Venture Cup. It keeps me inspired.

Quite short and specific thoughts on network and lack thereof, all I am really saying is that seeing people and asking questions is a great way to both keep engaged and a great way to gain knowledge which is otherwise hard to get by. One of the most difficult things is to find specific information about prices, so go to someone having a similar business, ask what they pay ask from whom they buy, and bring a notebook because odds are that you will be getting answers!

What I've done is that while working on my business-plan and budget I have a to-do list where I constantly put anything down which I need answered, then I find someone which can answer the questions and this way I can do a much more thorough market research. *I hope*

Thanks for reading, and do share :)