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The Value of Networking for Entrepreneurs

By: Nan Hawthorne

Summary:

"No man is an island," and that goes double for small business owners. Building bridges -- networking -- is crucial to your enterprise's success. And here's how you can build those bridges.

No Business Is an Island

Getting Your Networking Started

Getting the Highest Value From Networking

No Business Is an Island

Everyone knows networking is the key to getting ahead in any career. It is just as valuable for small business owners as well. While the job seeker is trying to find good job possibilities, the business owner is on a never-ending quest for connections to customers and for tips about how to succeed in business.

Here are just a few of the benefits you receive by networking with other businesspeople:

You can find a mentor or mentors who will help you put your business on a sound track.
You will have access to areas of expertise you may not have developed yourself.
You will discover tools and resources that can help you.
You can get leads and referrals for sales.
You can do favors that others return.

On its own, each of these benefits is valuable, but, as an entrepreneur with a disability, you gain a value-added advantage by building bridges and making connections. When you network, you gain the trust of others as well as their "seal of approval." That makes your business stronger and more competitive in the mainstream marketplace. When the deck is already stacked against you due to your disability, you cannot have too many aces up your sleeve.

But, networking is a lot more than just grabbing business cards from everyone in sight, so to speak, and filing them in a Rolodex. It means initiating and nourishing relationships. A contact won't pull your name and face out of memory unless he notices and values you. To make an impression, you need to be as much a gold mine as a gold miner. You need to give as much as take. A bridge supports two-way traffic.

While, of course, this means a thank you note, card or gift is in order whenever someone helps you out in any way, networking goes beyond that. Networking is almost more a philosophy or way of doing business than just a practice. It requires your full involvement: your attention, your time, your creativity, your talents -- or whatever reason others have for networking with you!

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Getting Your Networking Started

Experts in small business networking recommend that you start by assessing your own strengths and weaknesses. That way, as you develop your network, you can focus on building bridges to those areas where you need help. For example, if you are weak in accounting and legal issues, you can look for contacts that can help you out in those areas. They will be looking for your help, too, because other business owners also have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Networking is not one of those areas where "less is more!" The only limit is how much time you have to network in addition to your more immediate business responsibilities. Every new contact is a potential source for connections. You never know who knows someone you want to know!

"Don't overlook less obvious but possibly helpful contacts, such as former teachers and friends of your parents," advises Entrepreneur.com. Having a point of reference, a connection, can start your networking on the best footing. Entrepreneur.com also calls this your "advocate list" and recommends contacting each person on it about every 90 days. You can cull your list, if anyone on it proves not to be a good source of referrals or help.

Building or strengthening a business is also not the time to listen to Mom's advice that "Fool's names and fool's faces are often seen in public places." Modesty has no place in networking. This is the time to build your self-confidence and blow your own horn. No one notices the wallflower at networking meetings. People assume that enthusiastic, cheery individuals are also successful and capable. Who knows, you just might start believing it yourself!

Find local business and civic groups and start joining them. If you want the advantages of "the old boys' club," you need to join one! Then go to all the meetings. Any networking expert will tell you that a huge proportion of the contacts they make and the revenue generated from contacts comes from these events. Be sure to join groups not directly in your line of work to broaden your own knowledge and access to opportunities. Look for ways to get involved in:

Chamber of Commerce, women's business alliances, neighborhood business councils and other business leader networks.
Professional organizations.
Neighborhood and civic organizations.
Volunteering, especially on boards and advisory councils.
Affinity groups, which can be political, hobby, religious, recreational, arts, family or other groups where individuals share an interest or value.
Clubs such as Toastmasters International and service clubs such as Rotary International.

Ask key people for informational interviews. Take them to coffee or lunch and pick their brains. They will love the attention, and the free meal won't hurt their feelings either. And be prepared to give these interviews, too.

Use your contacts as sources for further contacts. Whenever you can, ask them for ways they have used to effectively network. Learn their techniques but also get the names of people they have found helpful. Always get their permission before contacting these leads, especially if you plan to use your contact's name as an entr??e.

Entrepreneur.com also has some additional advice for those who are not as outgoing or mobile. "People with home-based businesses, or those with a less extroverted personality, find using the Internet an efficient, effective means of networking. (Carla) Gorman Newman (a communication consultant and owner of CMcC Communications in Dallas) surfs the Net to locate events she'd like to attend as well as join mailing lists and discussion groups, and she links her Web site with other sites, creating a whole new way to network in the 21st century."

The Internet was born to network -- no pun intended! Here are some good business networking sites:

There are several Internet resources specifically for entrepreneurs who are disabled, blind or visually impaired. They offer mentors and advocates who have "done it all before." These are great sources for advice and information and a must-do connection for any business owner with a disability:

BlindBusinessPeople
HOME-WORKERS, an online discussion group
pwd_self-employment

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Getting the Highest Value From Networking

The preceding gave you ideas about where to get your contacts, but just as important is how you win them over. The notorious side of networking is the behavior of pushy, self-serving and oafish people. Be one of the Good Guys.

Be genuinely interested in gaining a mutual benefit from networking. Don't just take; be prepared to give. The latter will do more good for your business than the former ever could. Especially as a person with a disability who perhaps is facing the low expectations of others, you need to put your value to others front and center.

Have all the information you need about yourself and your business easily at hand. This means attractive, professional-looking and informative business cards. But it also means having a succinct statement of what you do at the tip of your tongue. Nothing dashes confidence more than fumbling to explain.

Always be ready to network. In fact, I have a saying, "You are never not networking." This means never set foot outside your house without being well dressed and coifed, without your ready response to questions, and without your business cards and calendar. As a blind or visually impaired person, you are even more apt to be called into conversations while you're in line at the grocery store, sitting on a bus or waiting for your latte order. People are curious about blind people who are doing "normal" things. Comfortably and cheerfully answering questions and giving out information can be a lead to a sale as well.

From my own experience, I can tell you that nothing will help your business more than actively seeking leadership opportunities. Nothing adds luster to your reputation than being president of a business group. You need not start at the top, but, as your reputation grows as a get-it-done kind of guy (or gal), people will hear about you. You will not be judged "pushy," if you are willing to put in the time without complaining. This will take hard work, but, if you aren't cut out for hard work, you're not cut out to be in business.

Remember that one of the benefits of networking I listed at the beginning of this article was this: "You can do favors that others return." If I personally have any particular strength as an entrepreneur, this is it. I naturally do favors for colleagues I like and respect. Through the years, I've learned that these folks were at least as kindly disposed to me. I have received numerous favors in return -- favors that expanded my business and improved customer relations in general like I never would have guessed. Since I figured it out, I've been a chief evangelist for doing favors as a networking technique.

One by one, build bridges from your island to the next, and you will see your enterprise's traffic flowing right into your bank account!

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