Networking PRE Side Hustle, Why It’s Important!

I love networking! Okay, I like networking or at least tolerate it as a necessary evil. You might be one of those people, a natural extrovert that draws energy from being around others and as such you probably do love networking. I, on the other hand, am a ‘practiced’ extrovert. What I mean by that is my personality is introvert but I work hard to get over my fear and loathing of large groups of people by forcing myself to go to networking groups.

If you’ve recently started your own business you’ve probably started to check out and maybe even attend a few networking groups. That’s great! You might even be at the stage where you’ve attended several groups and officially joined a few that you clicked with. You’re dutifully going and spreading the word about your new business. The contacts you’re making at helpful and most importantly you’re forming relationships and, as any business book will tell you, people do business with people they know, like and trust so there’s nothing more important than this.

If this is you, if you’ve already started your business, you can stop reading now. The rest of this article is for those people who haven’t started their business and might not even know at this point what that business is going to be. This is also for extroverts but particularly those ‘practiced’ extroverts like me.

I’m going to say something radical, yes radical. I want you to go to small business networking groups BEFORE you actually have a small business. I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t have a business, I won’t belong, people will be annoyed with me.”. That’s just not true. You have as much right to be there as anyone else and the truth is a person is a person whether they own a business or not. That is to say, business owners will want to talk to you whether you own a business or not because they recognize the value of relationships. So now you’re thinking, “okay, I’ll go, but how much good will it do me until I actually have a business?”. The answer to that is…tons!

Picking Your Business

First, let’s say you don’t yet have an idea for what kind of business you want to start. You know in your heart you want to be an entrepreneur but that’s about it and you’re struggling to figure out a direction. A networking event is full people with ideas for businesses and, if you’ve ever met an entrepreneur at heart, you know they’re more than happy to share ideas. You can hear first hand about existing businesses to decide what area might be right for you. You can take those existing business ideas and mold them into something that’s a custom fit for your passions. And finally, you can simply ask around what problems individuals are facing and then go about building a business around solutions.

Market Feedback

Second, maybe you have an idea for a business that’s not quite fully baked. You think it’s a good idea but let’s face it, everyone thinks their own ideas are good ones. Networking events are the perfect opportunity to test your potential market. You can tell anyone who will listen what service or product you plan to provide and ask them if that’s something they think them or their friends and family will want. This is a bit tricky as many people aren’t going to want to crush your dreams with a brutally honest answer so they may say yes to anything. But there’s also a large number of people who’ve been in your shoes. They know how valuable this type of feedback is and they’ll provide constructive criticism.  Just make sure you keep your ears and mind open. You may not get the exact answer that matches your plan and you need to be able to step back and re-evaluate the plan.

Practicing

And finally, networking events are the BEST place to practice being an extrovert. I’m not saying you need to learn to love them but I am saying the success of your business depends on your ability to talk to people. I used to make it a personal goal (and still do when I’m just not feeling it) to ask three people at an event what they do. Just three, you can do that. You’ll likely end up talking to more than three and go into deeper conversations with some but knowing that the initial goal is achievable is enough to get you in the door.

So go out now and find a networking event, they’re literally everywhere. Just google networking events near me. You won’t regret it!

Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/.  Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza, her husband, and their three pets live in Nebraska. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.