Have you worked on establishing or strengthening network connections today? Do you believe creating a strong network is crucial to growing your small business profit? Can all your networking needs can be met online?
Warning: You are stepping mousing over profit every day!
Debbie the Distractor has led you astray. By mesmerizing you to stay online rather than disconnect and meet people IRL (in real life), she siphons off potential profit and success.
Learn Three Profit Driven Reasons to Put Down the Mouse and Head out the Door
This post is part of the fun, insightful, and potentially disruptive small biz world carnival. Read all the posts by this month’s experts on Rediscover the Real World: Unplug, Unwind, Unleash.
Reason #1: Not Everyone Networks Online
What was that? Did the Earth shake? Did your reality tilt? Only backwards sasquatches are afraid to network online! Right?
Nope. Many people use in person networking as their first round of vetting potential service providers. Consider how easy it is to pretend to be something you’re not online (I’m convinced I have a couple of early adopter squatches who follow me online but pretend to be from Nigeria).
While it’s still possible to con people in person, it’s much
harder to pretend to be something you’re not.
Meeting in person establishes you’re human (I know, humans can be so xenophobic), are known by others in the group, and are capable of speaking like you blog. After a face-to-face connection is made, your prospect will turn to social media and your online presence to learn more.
Without that initial contact made in person, this group of prospects would never cross your radar. Why would you willingly walk away from an easy way to meet well suited potential clients?
Reason #2: Thought Bombs and Unexpected Catalysts
Thought bombs are not weapons of mass destruction. They do have the potential to be weapons of mass profit.
Online we can fall into a routine of visiting the same websites, reading the same blogs, and learning concepts just at the edge of our comfort zone. Even when I do challenge myself to try something new, join a new LinkedIn group, or pop into an intriguing Google Community, it can be hard to get involved.
Events held in person often have networking and establishing new contacts as one of their goals. While you can’t expect everyone to treat you like a long lost sister, many will be searching for fresh faces. These new connections, with their new perspectives, can evoke unexpected ideas.
Humans are the ultimate thought catalysts.
A few times a year I attend an event that’s far outside my usual sphere. Pushing yourself to attend something which on the surface appears completely unrelated forces you to view the world differently. These events are the ones that produce potentially profitable thought bombs. Try it.
Open mind + completely different perspective = mind blown.
Reason #3: Even Introverts Need Human Contact
We need to remember why we do what we do.
We need to remember who we like to do it for.
We need to remember life is more than a mouse.
Even sasquatches need human contact (otherwise they would they hide better, like the Loch Ness Monster). So get out there and meet a few people.
Final Thoughts on Why You Should Ditch the Mouse Today
If you want more profit, then you need to thoughtfully try new ideas. Putting down the mouse occasionally, and venturing out in person, is a low risk / high reward strategy. Where will you go? Share your ideas, experiences and thought bombs below.
Attending an event that’s outside your normal purview is definitely a great strategy. It’s actually how I “stumbled” over the idea of creating Prosperity’s Kitchen — if I hadn’t attended that conference, I would’ve never heard that presentation on gamification. So even though I didn’t really connect with anyone there (long-term), I still came away with a HUGE innovation. Great tips!
I remember you sharing about that conference which led me to also create some cool new stuff. The ripple effect is truly amazing.
Excellent tips, Nicole. I especially like the part about making unexpected mental leaps via in-person meetings – serendipity!
Great minds think alike, right Sharon?
I used to attend a Meet-up group for Internet professionals. Some of it went waaaay over my head (Objective-C programming? No clue!), but most of it was interesting and entertaining to a website-building newbie. Really, the best thing I got out of attending *was* being the odd duck in the room. People would ask me what I do, and as a result I got quite a few lucrative copywriting jobs from website developers who were sick of writing all their own copy. Pushing yourself outside your comfort zone can definitely be a good thing sometimes!
Yes I’ve been to a few events where some of it may as well have been in a foreign language. Yet I enjoyed it. I love how you bring up being different can help you stand out in the crowd and win business.
Oh. My gosh. You had me at “mousing over profits”.
1. Hard to believe, I know, but there are a TON of people who aren’t online. There is also a growing number of people who were, but opted out. The more I meet people in the world, the lower the percentage goes of people I know online.
2. Yup. Any time I (grudgingly) drag myself to yet another networking meeting I always walk away energized and thinking about my business. Even if nobody says anything brilliant, you just need that mindset to get going and that happens in a room full of business people.
3. True. And sometimes we even find a few people we like 🙂
Just found myself nodding along to this whole thing. Funny and smart and all so very true!
Thanks Carol Lynn, I must confess I am a wee bit proud of that one. The people who aren’t online, or only check after they’ve met you in person is truly astounding. I’m glad you enjoyed it, bobble head and all. 🙂
I am now inspired to actually try a networking out of the norm that I think would not be a match for me to learn new ideas and possibilities…LOVE THAT…Thanks for the ideas and inspiration.
Your welcome Michelle. Even as an extrovert it can be outside my comfort zone. I keep doing it because I’ve always benefited.
I’m with Carol Lynn — “mousing over profits” immediately roped me in. 🙂
Yes, I’ll admit it’s 100% possible to build your business online. Just grip that mouse and go for it! However, a word of caution is in order. It’s MUCH harder to develop relationships online versus in the real world and it takes a lot longer to make those initial connections online, as well. So if you’ve got nothing but time on your hands and you don’t care if it takes years to put some money in your pocket, no problem. Keep mousing!
But if you want to make money the smart way …
Get your duff out the door and start networking! Just one rock solid [real world] relationship can cause a ripple effect in the stream of profits. 🙂
Say hello to “Debbie” and tell her to go find something productive to do! LOL
I’m tickled that went over so well – I thought the Squatches would get all the attention.
You can build a business online, and that is how mine started. However as you point out it’s harder and the ramp up time is longer.
Poor Debbie… I’ll see what I can come up for her to do.
Haha, thank you so much for the good laugh. Such excellent points, too. I’m thinking about going to an event next week that involves getting up early (eek!) and meeting new people. I’ll try to leave my Sasquatch ways at least this once. 🙂
Early morning, blech. I’m an extroverted night owl. Those early morning sessions test my resolve as well. Yet just like the online and offline difference, times of the day draw different crowds as well. The Sasquatch thing could actually work in your favor, depends on the group.
You’re so right Nicole – it’s really easy to forget (especially for someone like me who pretty much grew up on the internet 😉 ) that meeting in person is a HUGE credibility booster. People can get a great feel for you and your services, see that you know others in the community…basically, everything you said. This is why I like to meet local clients for coffee even if they find me online. 🙂
Heck I remember when having your own email account at work was actually a big deal and *I* can fall into that trap. If the coffee meetings become too time consuming you can use gatherings that attract your right people to pet a few cats with one hand (that’s my PETA approved version of kill two birds with one stone).
Open mind + completely different perspective = mind blown.
Yes! There have been so many times I attend an event or talk to someone new and walk away with pages full of notes and new ideas to implement.
Thanks for tips as always Nicole! I aspire to be an extrovert like you. 🙂
I try to stay as far away as I can from face-to-face meetings for anything *except* brainstorming. You can create some really cool ideas with other people face-to-face, vet out new ideas, fact-check, and conceptualize a lot faster. You can also get everybody on the same page a whole hell of a lot quicker if you have a concept that’s somewhat nebulous.
I used to be an omnivert, but as time goes on I find myself becoming more and more an introvert. I can get what I need from a 5 minute conversation and disappear again until I’ve launched. Then it’s time for another round of 5-minute feedback.
Anything else just doesn’t make sense to me; I’m not doing the person sitting across from me any favors by checking my watch every 5 minutes or nodding along because I’ve tuned them out 10 minutes ago.