Blog #9: A Year of Networking
Around a year ago I joined 4networking, this gave me the chance to meet people I wouldn’t normally meet and help me expand my business.
Going into it I had no idea what to expect and was a bit reluctant to join especially when faced with the joining fee after my first meeting. Having had no business background I hadn’t even heard of networking before going to up my first meeting so I’ve really had to learn most things on the job whilst running Red Book Productions.
I originally thought that it would help my business grow over night, and although everybody at the meeting warned me that this wouldn’t be the case, me being me I thought I’d be the exception. Obviously I wasn’t, sadly the world revolve around me, no matter what my Mum’s been saying for 23 years. Granted I met some interesting people early on but I wasn’t inundated with orders from people screaming, pleading for videos for their websites.
It wasn’t until I grasped the idea that a lot of work goes into it, you have to be a regular member, be seen at other networking events hosted by different people, actually show examples of work at the BUMF table (BUMF, interesting word, I looked up what it meant:
1. Printed matter, such as pamphlets, forms, or memorandums, especially of an official nature and deemed of little interest or importance.
2. Toilet paper.) It was then that people started talking about me behind my back, and in a good way…mostly.
I realised that networking is a bit like planting a seed, you’ve got to nurture the seed over time, not pull it up every five minutes yelling at it to grow.
It’s only in the last few months that networking has started paying off for me and it was all through people that I met at and didn’t really pressure into any commitment, they knew I was there they were just waiting for the time to be right for them. There have been times when I went in too heavy and lost their interest because of it. I’ve learnt that it’s far better to just gently remind people you’re they’re now and again by keeping in touch, maybe send over a blog or video that you think might be of interest, recommend them to somebody, DO NOT appear desperate, even if you are desperate and crying yourself to sleep at night.
Staying positive is the key, there have been times over the past year that I’ve wanted to kick it all in and run off to live the high life in Rio, but I’m really glad I’ve stuck with it, I know there is still A LOT of hard work to go into this business lark, but seriously that is one of the most enjoyable parts, and when the testimonials come in it is defiantly worth while.
P.S I’ve also learnt that whilst networking you’ll never have to buy a pen again, there’s always a mug of pens on the toilet paper table, so that frees up your budget for other more important things like food and rent.
Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment and or share this blog.
Mark