Contributed post
If you have a business or even a good idea and you ’re looking for good ways to boost your budget that are a bit different from the usual advice of investing or starting a side hustle (both of which are actually good ideas, but quite well-worn), then look no further than networking.
We all have various social networks made up of friends, family members colleagues and other business contacts, depending on who we are and what we do and these networks can be used to generate greater amounts of money that you may have thought possible.
If you can attend or even throw your own networking events, the planning of which you should learn more about if that’s the route you want to go down, you can convince more people than you might imagine to give you money or buy the stuff you are selling. Here’s how:
Build Networks
Obviously, the first step to turning your networking efforts into cash is to actually build up lots of strong networks. So. build up your social media presence, attend conventions, conferences and social parties, throw a few yourself and be sure to see and be seen. If you don’t have a large network of people to draw upon, then you are unlikely to make much money from their investments.
Choose the Right Groups
Of course, it’s also important for you to choose the right groups of people to mingle with. If you’re looking to raise just a few thousand dollars for a new startup opportunity, then you can afford to mingle with small-time investors and other startup-minded individuals but if you’re looking to raise a million dollars for that big idea that you know will be the next big thing, then you need to think bigger, you need to attend galas and events where the high rollers will be. Not only that, but you also need to ensure that you network amongst people who are interested in your niche. If you’re a tech startup and you’re networking with fashion entrepreneurs, you’re going to find it a whole lot more difficult to convince them to invest than the people at the tech conventions and clubs, for example.
Everywhere is a Networking Opportunity
It’s also worth considering that wherever you are, you have a networking opportunity, and you should never be shy when it comes to talking about your ideas and plans or offering investment opportunities to those people you meet who seem genuinely interested in what you have to say. Sure, you’re probably less likely to find investors when you’re enjoying coffee at the local place you love, but the more people you network with, and who know about your projects, the better when it comes to raising money and making things happen.
Set an Intention
Before you head out to do some networking, you should always have a clear intention of what it is you would like to achieve. Do you want investors? Do you want to convince that big business that your products and services are better than the competition’s and that they should buy from you in the future? Work out what you want, and then you can work at targeting the right people and coming up with the perfect pitch to sway them to your way of thinking.
Build Genuine Relationships
If you have been reading up to this point and you think that networking is all about using people to your advantage, it’s easy to see why you might think that’s the case, but it really is not. Yes, you go out with the intention of meeting people and converting them into customers or investors, but if you want to get anywhere at all, you need to treat people as you would like to be treated and wherever possible strike up genuine relationships with people. If you just use them for what you can get, word will get around, and no one will want to work with you in any capacity, and you will undoubtedly struggle to make a success of your life. You need to put out what you want to get back if you want to get anywhere with this process in the long term.
Don’t Have a Single Pitch
You absolutely need to have a pitch or message if you’re trying to network your way to success; something that tells people what you’re about and what your big ideas are likely to achieve. However, you should not create a standard elevator pitch for your idea and use it on everyone. You see, everyone is an individual, and they have different buttons that will light up or not depending on the way you present information, For example, some people may be purely interested in figures, while others will be focused on the process and others will be interested in the social benefits of a project, for example. That means you need to be able to tailor your message to the people you’re speaking to at the time; you need to be able to hook them to get time with them and hopefully, ultimately, convince them that you’re worth investing in.
This means that you need to know your business/money-making scheme/etc. inside out. Only by knowing everything there is to know about your opportunity can you hope to speak to each person you approach on their level. This mighty sound like a lot of work, but actually it’s a good thing because it will enable you to work out the kinks in your ideas and come up with solutions to every conceivable problem.
When you put all of the above into action, you will find that your networking efforts really start to pay off in terms of the number of people who are willing to go out on a limb to invest in you. You just have to work hard to ensure that they don’t regret it by taking their investments or their business and turning it into a way of making even more money.