I am an assistant for the President of a company that works with concrete. While it is not exactly in my job description, sometimes I am tasked with finding industrial equipment like concrete batching plant(planta de concreto) for the team. This is not always simple since I am not well-versed in this particular industry, but I can say that I have always strove to do my best.
This past month, the boss came to me and asked if it would be possible for me to find a continuous asphalt mixing plant. I am not sure why he needed to find this type of business, but I did not question him at all. I focused on the task at hand and started searching. The first place I looked was Google. This had to be the starting point since I had no idea what in the world he was actually asking me for. As any good assistant will tell you, it is best to conduct your own research instead of asking far too many questions.
One thing I noticed when searching is the fact that this is a subject that is very confusing for the average person. I was so confused by all that I saw in the results that I was more perplexed than I was at the very beginning of my search. I saw right away that this is probably not the best way to approach the situation. I sat back and tried to come with some other method of finding this information.
The next thing I did was call my brother. He is one of those guys who knows a little bit about everything in the planet, so I figured that if there was anyone out there who could help me then it would be him. After trying to explain a few things to me about the concrete business(negocio de concreto), he had to be honest and let me know that he actually had no idea what it is I was supposed to do at this point. He basically kept me on the phone for a couple of hours while he rambled on about things that were totally off topic.
I got to a point where I felt like throwing in the towel, but then I remembered there are forums out there for everything. I did a little digging and found one that is filled with people in this particular industry. The best thing is that I actually found people who knew exactly what the boss was looking for. By the end of the day, I was able to go back to him and show him what I had come up with.
This is something that everyone should remember when they are on the hunt for information. You should always look where the experts are. It does not matter if you are looking for something that is really common or something that is industry specific(industria específica), the point is that looking around and finding people who know lots about things in that niche will make a world of difference.