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Networking With Others, How Important is it To You?

by EJ Lear
11 replies
I've given very little time and effort to network with other business people in general and I'm starting to think that I've not done a vital piece of the business pie. Not just for selfish reasons, but I genuinely want to help folks out and enjoy meeting other people and seeing things from their perspective, but how do I start?

Is networking important to your business? How much time do you spend chatting with other folks regarding business? Where do you even start?

Thanks for your tips and advice Warriors, I need to get busy doing things that are productive, honestly I spend a lot of time coding and little time conversing with others and I NEED to change. The sad part is the mindset that doesn't consider this 'being productive' yet it seems to be a vital part of a thriving business!

Your thoughts?

Peace,
EJ
#important #networking
  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Originally Posted by EJ Lear View Post

    Is networking important to your business?
    Not particularly. I do a lot of paid advertising. In a business model like that... if you're buying traffic from a reputable company like Google or Bing/Yahoo... you don't need to network and interact with them. If you're buying solo ads or running joint ventures.... make it a point to become really good friends with your supplier. With social marketing, networking is key but... it doesn't have to be a main focus of your business. You can interact with your customers through emails when they reply to your autoresponder messages.
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    • Profile picture of the author EJ Lear
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      Not particularly. I do a lot of paid advertising. In a business model like that... if you're buying traffic from a reputable company like Google or Bing/Yahoo... you don't need to network and interact with them. If you're buying solo ads or running joint ventures.... make it a point to become really good friends with your supplier. With social marketing, networking is key but... it doesn't have to be a main focus of your business. You can interact with your customers through emails when they reply to your autoresponder messages.
      Thanks for your response Randall, this is kind of the thing that I do too, but I just realized that living in Detroit there are probably 200 businesses within 20 miles of me that need exactly what I do. With that in mind it's very important to keep up the online part of business as well.

      Thanks again!

      Respectfully,
      EJ
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  • Profile picture of the author LoraG
    EJ Lear, I cannot imagine any bussiness without networking, honestly, this is all about people, it is very hard to run anything alone, you are totally missing out the great opportunities!
    And online chatting is not an option here, especially talking about men.
    My first aquaintance with networking happened when I attended a bussiness course on insurance. And one the intrepreneurs told us about running his huge corporation and how he had an idea, how he started to find people, talk over the plan and step by step there occured a very profitable company. But on every step there were like minded people with the same goal.
    I suggest you to do something like that
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Good question.

    IMO, most people that are just starting online (which seems to be the majority on the forum these days) don't think about networking. They are too busy setting up their web site, funnel, selling system, and on and on. It takes time to get traction in any new business, and rightfully so.

    Networking can be very critical to a business or it can be incidental - I believe it all depends upon your niche, your business model, how you plan to drive traffic, and whether or not your business is "self sufficient" or maybe it depends upon other people in order for it to be profitable.

    Networking is a two-edged sword. It associates you with those in the network . . . but that can be either a good or a bad thing.

    If you decide to get into networking, the best advice I can give is to be watchful and discriminating about who you decide to be networked with. It is sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author 3wCorner
    If you want to get more clients, get social and build your networks. Marketing your business involves a lot of quality time building your performance for your business. I suggest use free tools first before applying for any paid networking accounts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
    Banned
    We all should include people in our networks that are smarter than us.

    The challenge is why would they feel the need to network with us.

    So the key is to make yourself appealing to this crowd. Some ways to do that is to know who you are talking to what they offer how they offer it and maybe even how you can expand their empire in ways they may not have considered.
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  • Profile picture of the author EPoltrack77
    You can't grow and learn without networking. It's who are you networking with that matters most. Are you spending time with action takers or complainers and no doers. When your at the bottom the network is very large but as you grow and climb the triangle the network becomes smaller but much more powerful and really in the end I suppose it's large. scratch, scratch
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  • Profile picture of the author SCrafted
    Banned
    It is really important to network with others... JV on WF is a great place to start...
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