There are so many benefits to networking but here are my top three for you to get the most out of being part of a networking group and supporting your fellow networking in retur
- Ask for help
Have you ever thought of asking for help in your business when you’re stuck? Its so simple- Just ask for help. In business, we often feel like we have to do it all ourselves and even worse compare ourselves to others. At any stage in business if you’re stuck and don’t know what to do the easiest thing to do is to ask for help from a fellow business person. This can be someone in your industry or completely unrelated. The key thing is that we are all going through the same thing and someone that you reach out to might have been where you are now and can give you the advice and steps to move forward. Most of the time people are willing to give you their time for free as they want to see you succeed and this can be in any area of business whether it be marketing, finance, operations or sales whether it is their specialism or not- reach out to them and you’d be surprised at how willing they are to help you. There’s bound to be someone in or outside of your networking group that you can reach out to so why don’t you try it.
2. Outsource the things you’re not good at.
Have you ever thought of outsourcing to grow your business? Outsourcing the things you’re either not good at or are taking a lot of your time can actually help you bring in more business. As business people, we think that we need to do it all ourselves and many businesses fail because they don’t focus on the main thing – business growth! For example, if you’re no good at creating blog posts for your business- there are so many companies that you can pay to do it for you. This will mean that your content is of a higher standard and is likely to bring in more business. This then frees up time for you to bring in more business. Or you could be spending a lot of time doing admin rather than going out and finding new business again you can pay someone to take this off your plate so you can focus on what you need to do. Another thing that you can consider is a skills swap for example if you are an accountant that needs a copywriter for your website you could do the copywriter’s accounts in return for their services and that way you both benefit by using your skills to help one another do the things that you’re not good at. You’ll often find that the people who can help you in business are around the table at the networking group. and will also come highly recommended as other members of the group would have used their service. Not only are they helping you to get more done or whatever the case may be, you’re also supporting another business owner who would welcome the extra business.
3. Make strategic connections
Have you ever thought of creating strategic connections to grow your business? What do I mean by that? It’s a mutually beneficial business relationship where you form a type of partnership to better attract a similar client base. For example, a web developer with a copywriter. A client who seeks a web developer is most likely looking for content for their website and so the two of you can either offer a package to that client for both of your services or just refer each other business. You could also can host joint workshops. Another example could be a makeup artist with a personal stylist. Again, the client coming for their personal style to be revamped will probably be interested in having their makeup done too. So hopefully you get the idea and can start thinking of what businesses would be a great strategic connection for you and your business. Its all about working collaboratively not competitively and we find at every meeting that so many connections are being made to help each other in business.
Being in business is not so scary if you collaborate and seek the support of others so if you’ve never experienced an Athena Network meeting before why not give it a try. You’ll be surprised at how much fun you’ll have just from growing your business.
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