Networking is important for every professional, not just the self employed. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you how to hook up your printer or create a home network. I’m talking about networking with people. Networking can help you in many ways, it can help you gain business, learn new skills, and get help with projects. In my experience word of mouth has worked better than any ad ever could. 90% of my customers heard of me through word of mouth. Word of mouth was so good that I could slack on my website and not feel it. (not that I should have). Some of this was from customers who liked my work and told their friends and colleges, while others were friends or colleges who when hearing someone needed help I could provide, offered my name and number (or email). While dumb luck at having that happen is nice, you can increase your odds by meeting more people.
Networking can help you stay ahead of the game too. If you are friends with people who work in similar fields, when something new comes out they are likely to tell you. By talking about work you can see how other people do things and simplify your process. Best yet, if you hit a stumbling block, you have a friend you can call that will give you good advice.
There are many ways you can network, locally I have attended several tweetups, meetups, and other local events where I might meet the community. This may not sound very business orientated but that’s the best part of it. Thanks to attending tweet ups I have been able to find some customers and meet many local business owners. I will admit the best benefits from this went to my volunteer work, but I still call that a win. I was able to help get donations for the organization, mostly non monetary donations, and even a big donation of web hosting, which made life very nice. These kinds of events are fun and you make connections that are useful later down the line. Just make sure you bring a friend so if you are nervous you have someone to talk to and don’t have to strike up conversation with strangers, the more outgoing the friend the better, but I went with an introvert and that worked.
You can also network online. There are LinkedIn groups that cater to almost any field, alumni groups, facebook groups (I belong to one that caters to women owned (super) small businesses, mostly women who are self employed like myself), and email lists. You can find groups that are great with advice on how to do things, groups that will help troubleshoot things for you (I belong to one that helped me figure out an audio issue for one project), and groups that you can vent to when you have hard days and cheer with when you have good days.
These groups could gain you customers, but they will also make you better at your job. Even introverts can network with online tools and a good plan.
What’s your favorite networking method? Do you have a good success story? Leave it in the comments.
