Growing your business is all about networking events and handing out business cards, right? Actually, no. Growing your business — one that is sustainable — is more about growing a community. Change your mindset on networking and instead think of it in terms of “building your community.” In a community those who “live” there help each other out, provide referrals and are generally there if you need a helping hand.
How can you build your community?: Here are my thoughts:
When you meet new people aka prospects, be engaging and engage with them. If you’re meeting people you already know you also want to make sure you are at the top of your game. Ask how they are, how the family is, how their business is and if there’s anything you can do to help them thrive.
Don’t isolate yourself. The more people you know, the larger your community. When you look at the numbers on LinkedIn that show you how many people you’re connected to because of your individual connections, you can see how easy it is to actually build a community.
Be a volunteer. Not all networking events need to be about sharing what your business does. If you volunteer your time with groups that support the missions and visions you believe in you will become known as a giver and will also grow your community of like minded individuals.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going, right? Or do the tough give up? There are certainly times in your life when it’s difficult or seemingly impossible to put one foot in front of the other, to simply wait for inspiration and motivation to strike. Take heed. This may not happen. You need to push yourself past your limits, find your inspiration and keep moving forward.
What can you do to pressure yourself toward achievements? Here are my tips:
Take charge. If you’re working on a team project that’s stalled, step in and take charge. Reinvigorate it with your new ideas and enthusiasm.
Become a role model. If you’re in charge and you’re not taking steps to move a project forward, your inertia could be holding everyone back.
Go the extra mile — whether it’s in a a project for a client, a promise you made to a family member or in any aspect of your life. Give just that little bit extra than your competition and you’ll likely come out ahead.
To be successful you need to push yourself, pressure yourself toward greatness and achieve your goals. What steps can you take today to pressure yourself?
Networking, both in person and online are great ways to build a business. If you’re a new business owner wondering how to go about spreading the word about who you are and what you do, I have some advice.
Here are some of the strategies I share when working with coaching clients:
Credibility matters: Build credibility through word of mouth referrals. If you’re new to entrepreneurship, you will have to prove your credibility through your work ethics.
Visibility counts: Once you sign on the dotted line with a client then the real work begins: be available and responsive to questions and concerns. Being visible with potential clients means you need to get out of your office and shake hands because nothing beats a face-to-face meeting.
Experience shows: Why should potential clients work with you and why should current clients stay with you? Because of the expertise and knowledge you bring to the job you do for them. How do you show this? By educating your clients, keeping them up to date with trends in your industry and letting them know how it impacts them.
Whether you’re a job seeker or an entrepreneur, there are effective ways in which to network and there are ways in which your networking efforts will falter. Once you’ve honed your elevator speech, shaken hands and exchanged business cards, what next? Do you talk about the weather? Politics (not usually a good idea)? What comes next? Having some conversation starters can certainly keep the networking efforts moving along and here are a few tips for your next meet-and-greet:
Understand your reasons for having attended the networking event. Is it to find a job? Uncover new opportunities for your business? Simply to get out of the office and see new/different people? Hone your personal and professional skills? Once you know the reasons you can formulate a plan.
What kind of topics do you want to discuss? If you’re meeting someone one on one, why did you plan the meeting? Was it information gathering? To use their service? To offer yours? Also, don’t forget to have some ice breakers on hand. Consider talking about books, movies, sports or even just asking them why they are attending this event, what they hope to get out of it. Ask the person with whom you’re speaking what they like best about the work that they do. Be genuine in your interest.
Make certain the conversation is a give and take. You don’t want to monopolize the entire conversation but then again you don’t want to walk away having said nothing about who you are and what you do.
What are your best tips for making the most of networking events?
If you sign up for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn you will automatically be found, build your friends, followers and likes and your business will take off, right? Stop. Take a breathe. Relax. Social media is more of a “slow and steady wins the race” marketing tool. You need to have a strategy in place. You need to know where your clients gather, ie. if your demographic would never be caught on Facebook, then that is not the social media platform for you even though “everyone else is there.”
How can you harness the power that social media can bring?
Being social is key. Build friendships. Involve yourself in conversations. Don’t use social media as a “free” platform for advertising your goods or services.
Find the social media platform that makes sense for your business. Perhaps LinkedIn makes more sense than being involved in Facebook — you need to know where your potential clients gather and go there to build relationships.
Be patient. Rarely is anyone an overnight success. Building relationships on social media takes time, dedicated effort and persistence.
Do you have any deals or free giveaways you can offer on social media to help spread the word about who you are and what you do? If so, offer it as part of your weekly social media posting.
What can you do to make the best use of your efforts on social media?
Courage is one of those topics where it seems all the reading in the world becomes useless the moment you are face to face with a terrifying event.
We have all heard how courage is not the “absence of fear” but the “will to move forward in spite of your fear”. But have you ever wondered how you might improve your courage or prepare for such an event in advance?
Some people are predisposed toward courageous acts, while others become trapped and even frozen in their fear. There are several reasons for this, but the main reason is so simple it becomes easily overlooked or bypassed as important.
I will show you a way to easily become more courageous, and also build a courageous team and family. It’s easy, it’s fun, and you can definitely do this!
Have you ever given careful thought to words derived from the word “courage”? Let’s take a look at two powerful words, one negative, and one positive, and see how they might affect us over time.
As we might expect, the negative “derivative” of courage will diminish courage. It can diminish your courage, and if used by you upon another it can damage their courage as well. The word we are speaking of here is “discourage”.
The word means – “to cause to lose courage, confidence or enthusiasm”.
In effect, when you say something that is discouraging to another, or even in “self talk”, you are causing the “loss” of courage. As we travel through this journey we call “life” we are all exposed to some level of discouragement, and some much more than others. Those who live a lifetime listening to and repeating discouraging remarks can actually reach a point where courage is so distant that they become frozen when confronted by fear.
Being “frozen” is an extreme reaction, and most of us can manage to act a bit more decisively than that, but it shows how much damage we can inflict through discouragement over time. The sad thing is that most people do this to both themselves and the ones they care for most.
Have you ever set out to accomplish something you hoped would be special but it ended up disappointing someone you cared about? What words did you tell yourself at the moment you discovered you had disappointed them? Many would silently say something like, “you stupid… you should have known better”… or the like. Over time, we either become afraid to try or we diminish the effort we give in trying to please another, due to the years of discouraging remarks we have stored in our subconscious mind.
The other side of the equation is “encouragement”, which is defined as, “to give courage, confidence, or enthusiasm to another”.
Wow! Do you get it! I hope a light just came on so bright that it never fades. We can actually “give” courage to another little by little throughout their lives by “encouraging them. This is very powerful and must not be taken lightly. We build or diminish courage in our “team” and or family through these simple and frequently used and abused methods.
To be doubly powerful, encouragement should be the foundation of all communication and discouragement altogether avoided… unless of course you are purposely trying to cause someone harm. (Not recommended)
Try this. Start your next day finding new ways to “encourage” others, and begin to be self-conscious of any “discouraging” remarks to remove them from your vocabulary and life.
It is important to begin with yourself and the way you speak to “you”. If you are already discouraged, then it becomes almost impossible to help someone else, but all is not lost.
Begin by writing five positive statements to yourself and repeat them out loud five times, three times a day, for three weeks
It is important to write the statements “positively”, like, “I will exercise strong character in all my decisions”, rather than, “I will not think negatively”. The very inclusion of the word “not” cancels out much of the value of the statement. When we are going “to do” something, let’s just say what it is we will do.
Remember the very wise words of Yoda, “Do, or do not, there is no try”. The power is in the “do”. The “do not” is doomed to fail.
May a life of powerful action and courage bless you all!
