Local Networking Events - How To Connect With Like-Minded People To Achieve Your Business Goals

By Connie Ragen Green

Attending local networking events can do wonders for your business and for you own self esteem. Having a strategy for this will be crucial to your success, and you'll want to think about your goal for what you wish to achieve, the kinds of groups you will attend, and what to do after you have made the connections that will help your business the most. Let's look more closely at each of these.

You must ask yourself why you are attending these local events and what you hope to achieve before you ever set foot outside of your house. Your goal might be just to meet new people who understand what it's like to have a business they run from home, to learn new things from the training and speakers that will be presented at the meetings, or to meet new prospects that could be converted into clients over time. Make a list of your goals and decide what your intentions are in attending.

There are so many groups that meet regularly you will want to pick and choose before you agree to go to any meetings. Service organizations such as Rotary and Kiwanis are excellent for meeting people who are active in your community and also to build your confidence and self-esteem over time. There are also groups like BNI and the Chamber of Commerce that may offer training on a variety of business topics.

Meetups have become more common even in small cities, and you can start your own group if there isn't one already available on the topic you are interested in. If you are a women, know that women's business groups are more popular and active than ever before, and this could be of interest to you as well.

Once you start meeting people in person at these local networking events, what do you hope to achieve? If you run an online business you may want prospects to join your list in order to stay in contact with you over time. You may also be interested in starting a mastermind group to discuss business strategies and to get some feedback on projects you are working on currently. Or, if you do coaching you may want to meet the people in person who would be interested in having you coach them for their business goals.

You can see that local networking is an excellent way to connect with others, find new prospects and clients, and to further your own business goals in a more personal way than simply on the Internet.

Remember that the reason to start an Internet business is to give you the time and money to live the life you choose. Download a free teleseminar on building your online business and a Special Report on 21 tips to make huge profits from a tiny list by visiting Build Your List to learn how to make huge profits with an online business through relationship marketing.

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