|
|
|
Networking
is the cornerstone for any business. When you put
yourself out there and meet new people this will spread
word of mouth for you. It is imperative whether you
are offering a B2B service or a retail product.
The two
easiest ways to network are with Social Media and joining
a Local Group.
Social
Media involves joining online communities and forums to
promote your business and meet other entrepreneurs. The
advantage over in person groups is you can meet people
in different cities, states and countries.
Joining a
Local Group involves meeting in person once a week or
month with other entrepreneurs. One advantage over
social media is meeting people face to face and
connecting with local customers.
Do you want
to grow your business using Collaboration and Reciprocal Business
Practices? Check out the Groups below to find
complimentary entrepreneurs to partner, trade or barter with.
You can Join a Referral Network, such as BNI,
www.bni.com/
Referral Key
www.referralkey.com/index.php
or Create Your Own
Referral network with other Entrepreneurs.
Looking for
a Mentor? Or would you like to be a mentor?
Click Here
|
|
Have you ever been to a message board or
signed up for an email group, posted a bunch of messages
solely to promote your business and waited to see what
would happen? What did happen? Not much? I'm not
surprised. Some may call this networking, but I'm not to
sure about that.
One thing I do know is that this is not what I call
Strategic Networking. Strategic Networking is a
fantastic way to build your online business and best of
all, it's free. Sure, it takes a bit of time getting the
ball rolling, but once you do, your efforts will pay off
threefold. What is Strategic Networking? The foundations
of this idea are truly partnering with other business
people. It's about finding an opportunity to work
together that will benefit not only you, but the person
you're partnering with. If you are solely looking out
for yourself, you will not form true partnerships and
your results will be limited. However, when you work
just as hard to promote someone else's business, while
promoting your own, the results can be amazing.
Starting Strategic Networking Sometimes it is difficult
to find those strategic partnerships, but begin with a
few simple steps that will help establish you as a
supporter of home based businesses.
1. Join a few home based business groups or message
boards and start to develop your relationships. Use this
opportunity to help others, receive advice when you need
it and to become a part of this community. Remember,
many of the people in the community will already know
each other. You need to give them a chance to get to
know you too and not just your business.
2. When you need to purchase a gift, need help with your
web design or are looking for a new web host ~ look to
your community members first. This doesn't mean spend
your life savings. If you were already going to make the
purchase, you should support your community members. You
will find that this support will come back to you. It
may not be instant, but it will happen.
3. If you are going to join a business opportunity, sign
up with your community member. If you're not sure if
anyone in your group is part of the business opportunity
~ ask!
4. Check for messages in your area of expertise and take
the time to answer those questions. Not only does this
show you to be a supportive person, it also establishes
you as the expert.
Beyond the Basics: Establishing Viable Partnerships Once
you get to know the members of your community, you are
ready to start analyzing how you could mutually benefit
from business partnerships. Partnerships can be
something as simple as link exchanges, but you need to
do more than that. Here's a few ideas:
1. Find someone who sells products or services that are
complementary to yours. Offer to sell one another's
products on your websites. This could be a page
dedicated to your partner's products or you could
incorporate your partner's products right into your own
catalog.
2. Swap services to help your businesses. Is a community
member a whiz at the search engines, while you are the
expert writer? Why not exchange search engine
optimization for writing services?
3. Share advertising costs with like businesses. You
sell bath products and a fellow message board member
sells bathroom decor products. Set up a page on one of
your websites that fully describes both your products.
You can also do this with someone who is offering the
same business opportunity as you. Set up an email
address to accept all the inquiries and then split your
leads amongst your co-operative advertisers. By
combining funds, you might just be able to afford some
high profile advertising that would otherwise be beyond
your budget.
4. Share your expertise to write an ebook together. This
could be a free publication or a publication for profit.
Are you a crafter? Why not gather together a number of
crafters, each with a different area of expertise, and
have each crafter submit an article to be included in
the ebook. Everyone receives a credit and a subtle plug
for their business. Then the ebook is either given away
or sold on all of your websites.
This article was written by Alba
Henderson of i-Virtual Assist and
iVision
Pathways
|
FAQ
and Contact Page
Press
Advertise
|
|
For the latest updates and free
offers on IIW. Sign up for the Monthly
Newsletter.
|
| Save Time and Money
by hiring a Virtual Assistant. |
AVON is a respected retailer that helps women
achieve their entrepreneurial dreams! Build your business on
Priscilla's team! http://pcortez.avonrepresentative.com/
Performance Plus
Join me, and I'll teach
you how to make income on the side, and replace your current
income, as an independent business owner, affiliated with a
global leader in health, beauty and home products. Online
office, training, and a free personal website is available
for less than $100!
www.perfromanceplus.biz
Use ReferQuest to find
what you need by offering a reward to
help speed searches for services or products.
It's
free and totally risk-free to post... only pay when you've
found what they're looking for.
Look for
"Welcome Investing In Women!" in the top left corner when
you register.
|
Click
on a Banner Below to learn about New Career
Opportunities |
|
