Okay, I'm talking to myself here. I admit it. I hate networking.
Well maybe it's more that I'm intimidated by it. Those horrible early morning breakfast clubs of bright eyed, bushy tailed people are my worst nightmare besides dreaming about snakes crawling on me. (Funny, they both give me a creepy crawly sensation)
However ----
Most of us do more informal, unconscious networking than we realize. Time to reframe the creepy crawly feeling, and optimize these moments to help us stay in business.
My favorite form of unconscious networking is to be an active, helpful participant in several online communities. There are multiple opportunities for using this tactic:
- membership forums and topic specific discussion boards
- Yahoo groups and other e-lists
- social media -- post questions, links to resources, compliments to others, not your daily activities
- blogs -- yours and your comments on others
A second form of unconscious networking that doesn't involve breakfast is the random sharing of info and resources on a personal basis. Whether a tactic for staying in touch with former clients, or cultivating new ones, you can:
- pass along links to online resources of interest
- forward notices of others' events
- send new tips sheets of relevance
- recommend books, services, workshops
- ask for their opinions or help
And third, make a point of meeting influence leaders in your niche for lunch or coffee. Ask for their help in understanding the concerns of their friends, colleagues, or clients (as relates to your specialty, of course). Use the information you gain to develop a tip sheet, and send it back to them with your thanks (and your card!). Request that they pass it along to everyone they know who'd be interested.
There. Now isn't that easier than trying to get a word in edgewise at 7:15 am that's coherently self-promoting?
One of the most frequent things I hear from counselors, coaches and naturopathic doctors is how overwhelmed they feel with the sheer volume of marketing tasks they perceive it takes to build a successful practice.
And it's true -- there's a lot to do in the beginning and most of us were never trained for exactly how to do it. We quickly end up feeling like we're operating in the dark.
Here's the advice I give my clients:
1. Start with only the strategies that fit your personality.
That is, if you're an extrovert, capitalize on your outgoing networking skills.
If you're an introvert, develop a dynamic web-presence.
2. Get your basics in place as soon as possible so they can run on autopilot.
That is, do first all the things that need to be done just once (get your website up, list on locator directories, get give-aways loaded into an autoresponder feature or email link to you, design and order business cards, develop a brochure or promotional flier, etc).
3. Set aside dedicated time every day to keep yourself moving forward until all the basics are in place.
Optimal is 3-4 hours every day. Realistic for those with families, or another job, may be 3-4 hours a week.
Schedule it as an appointment with your business, as if your business were a client.
Perhaps put this on your schedule as an appointment with someone named Business Self.
Enlist others to help you keep this time commitment, because it's vital.
4. During your Business Self appointments tame overwhelm by:
- having a plan to guide your efforts each week
- being clear about your daily task goals
- getting instruction or examples to calm the uncertainty
- doing the easiest tasks first
- recognizing your signs of creeping overwhelm
- taking short breaks -- get away from your desk
- avoiding second guessing yourself
- letting go of perfectionism
- asking a knowledgeable friend or colleague to give you feedback
- working with a coach to avoid reinventing the wheel
- postponing the marketing tasks that require repetition* until the basics are done
- taking a week off once your basics are in place
*Examples of tasks that require repetition:
- blogging
- social media
- attending networking groups
- approaching referral sources and following up
Becoming systematic is the key building a successful private practice, and that includes having a method or system for your marketing as well.
You can do this.
Many years ago a successful colleague said to me that he had learned to stop doing things that didn't make him money. From my perspective trying to operate on a shoestring budget, that sounded good to me.
Turned out it's harder than I thought to know when what you are doing is making money for you, or is just a waste of time.
Oh sure, you can get into tracking conversions, quantifying return on investment, monetizing web traffic and audience attention, and split testing, and other bean counting. But that's not my style. And I bet it's not yours either -- few of us learned how to do all that between classes in psychopathology, naturopathic therapeutics, and advanced coaching methods. (But that's definitely something to outsource to a virtual assistant or bookkeeper)
Any solopreneur business is a game of trial and error. Making errors is important because they provide juicy information.
For example, years ago I spent a trial period of about 15 months doing the conventional networking thing, joining business groups, making the rounds of meetings, collecting business cards, doing the follow up. I got one client from that effort.
One.
On the surface it would seem that that was a colossal waste of time. An error in judgment to think that my introverted personality would be magnetic enough to cause business connections to flock to me for therapeutic coaching, like I was a Northwest version of Dr Phil.
But over the years, that one client became a good referral source. She sent me a dozen or more clients who I never would have met without her intervention.
Moral of this story is: even when you can't see the return on investment of schlepping to another breakfast meeting, don't underestimate the potential money-making value of making a good impression.
(And I'll say more about ways to maximize that initial good impression in a future post)
Posts
