We’ve all heard the phrase before. Good fences make good neighbors. Boundaries are important to keeping good friendships and other relationships. This is even more important when you have friends that own businesses. If you are always out there as a potential client or customer for someone, you have to be able to clearly state if you are interested or not interested in that business at this time. If you may be interested in the future, tell them. Be honest – because you don’t want that person to follow up with you and not know what to do. If you are going to be interested next year, or when your business is doing better, or never – tell them. If you say you aren’t going to become a customer and they never talk to... [Read more]

If you celebrate Halloween, you’re going to be wandering the town with your kids letting them run to doors and get some candy. Or you might be taking your kids to a town party where they have a safe, indoor Halloween environment for the kids to enjoy candy and games and music. Either way, if you’re around other kids…you’re around other parents. That means you can network. The best part is on Halloween you don’t have to worry about small talk. Halloween costumes make for phenominal small talk. You can start by complimenting their kids’ costumes. Compliments go a long way to break the ice and this is an easy time to make that happen. Take your kids, take a pillowcase for collected candy, but don’t forget... [Read more]

We talked about how to network in summertime, when less people are networking. Now we’re into the Fall season and by golly, people are ready to drop kids off at school and get down to business. How can you benefit? Make a new plan for networking. Write down all the events that are going on during the month (start with your local Chamber of Commerce website) and then pick at least one event a week to attend. Image Source: 13dede [Read more]

If you’re looking to meet friends of your networking friends or expand your network, host a party! It could be a simple BBQ in the backyard or you could ask one (or a few) of your networking buddies that do direct sales (like Partylite, etc.) to come by and you could have “Networking by Candlelight” – supporting a local business while having great ambience for a party. Image Source: korionov [Read more]

People love customized t-shirts. They love wearing them and love reading them on others. But is a t-shirt a good way to help your networking efforts? It depends. If you have a fun t-shirt that says something fun and interesting, yes. If you just have a t-shirt with a business name and list of services…not so much. Testimonials could be fun, but anything beyond your logo and company name will not be as professional, so make sure it’s worth the trade off. [Read more]