If you really want to start your own business, forget business cards. Forget a great website. Forget building a list.
Build a network.
Nothing will help build a business with clients you love more than a network of people that love you.
Converging On Portland
Each year, I go to a conference in Portland. It’s not a web designer conference. It’s not a yoga conference. It’s a conference for people who are like me. People who have the same philosophies. Not people whose work I like, but people whose souls I love.
That’s an important distinction. Building a network is your most valuable asset when starting a business – hands down, for sure. But, going to a conference full of people who do the same work as you is like attending a conference with your competitors.
Sure, sometimes the pieces you love and hate about your work inversely match up with the pieces someone else hates and loves about the work. This creates a beautiful union of companies. But, networking is more about building a bond than it is about building a portfolio.
No. I say find yourself networking events and conferences full of people like you. Even if you get no work out of it, you meet amazing people – and people keep it all together.
The reality is, people like working with people they like. People like working with people they know.
Build a big network and work comes in. Bonus: that work is coming in from people you like. Even referrals from those people will tend toward other people you resonate with.
Karma
I don’t love doing web design work, but I do love helping people. Networking gives you the opportunity to help – to give to – people and projects you believe in, without the need (emotional or financial) for something in return.
In yoga, it’s called seva. In everyday life, it’s called being a good person. In business it’s called providing value. No matter the term you use. You have talent. Use it.
The opportunity to do work for someone you believe in is just as valuable as doing work for people who can pay your prices.
Attending this July’s conference gave me the opportunity to build a site for a coach I believe in, on top of just meeting a really cool guy. I sure didn’t make a ton of money on it, but I did make a strong solid connection with a strong, solid person. More importantly, it’s a reminder of that being the type of person you want to be is as simple as just doing it. That’s better than money in the bank.
…and networking to find people who are like you gives you the opportunity to be who you truly are.
Cool Kids
The people that think you’re cool are going to want to support you. They may not need the product you sell. They may not know anyone “in the market.” But, they will surely share your links, re-tweet your stuff, and like your posts.
They’re not doing it expecting something in return. They’re doing it because they want to help you out.
That’s the difference, right there. You’re not going to networking events to make a sale. You’re not going to meet that guy that’s going to introduce you to that other guy. You’re not going to find someone that will exchange-promote your work. You’re going to make friends.
Remember how your business starts with friends and referrals from friends? It keeps humming on those.
Build a group of people that want to help you succeed, not a group of people hoping to leverage your success.
The Beautiful People
Each year, your network grows. Going to the same conference year after year builds on your current network. Each year, we see many of the same people, strengthening our connection. Each year, we meet new people, too, to add to that network.
It’s kind of like the adult version of high-school, only instead of ostracizing the new kid, you welcome them with open arms. Remember in high school, where you had you had a bunch of people always congregating in the same place… and interacting? It’s A LOT like that, only after the conference is done “congregating in the same place” becomes the Internet.
I now see two of my very best friends only once every year. I’ve met people who live so close to me on the other coast, it’s a day trip to hang out. I’ve had these newly made network friendships be the foundation of travel to places I never would have thought about going.
It’s really tough as an adult to “make new friends.” It’s difficult to sit in a cube all day trying to talk to people that just don’t understand what you’re saying. You need to change that dynamic. You need to build a more supportive community – a network.
Wisdom
I’m upping that group this year by attending an additional conference in February. When you’re planning your budget, make sure you add in the cost of a good networking conference each year.
Or two.
You know, most of the people I’ve met at the Portland conference over the past four years haven’t directly added to either of my businesses’ bottom lines. But, they have filled in little pieces of my soul that were missing.
