Understanding the power of networking

- Professional networking is a powerful tool for business owners. It's something that allows you to connect with other people and also grows your business at the same time. I cover this concept more in my course on lynda.com called "Building Professional Networks." If you're interested in the topic, I recommend you go to that to dive in deeper, but in this video, I just want to talk about some specific reasons why it's critical for entrepreneurs. First, rate yourself. On a scale of zero to 10, how strong of a networker do you consider yourself? Zero being horrible, and 10 being the best networker in the world.

No matter where you are on the scale, there's room for improvement, and it's important that you improve for many reasons for your business. Let's talk about a few of those. First, if you're a solid networker, you'll require less monetary investment to make your business succeed. That's because you'll be able to more effectively drive sales in your business. You don't need someone else's money if you're bringing in your own money through sales.

The best networkers are best sales people, and all business owners need to sell to some degree. Number two is that it's easier to get funding. Now, I just said you don't necessarily need funding. Well, if you have a business that you want to grow quickly, and you want to bring in angel investment or Venture Capital money, if you're a solid networker, you're going to find it much easier to connect with those people and get the money that you need on favorable terms.

Number three is that it's easier to find mentors. Mentors are people who have already had success, and they have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to share with you to help you succeed in your business. I can think of names and faces of people who have helped me succeed, and all of these people I met through the power of professional networking. Number four deals with employees. Now, whether or not you have employees right now, at some point as your business grows, you're going to want to bring in people to work for you.

If you're a good networker, it will save you lots of money and lots of time. This is because it can be costly to make job listings. It can also be costly to hire someone and just kind of test out whether or not they're going to work for your business. By networking, you can see how someone else works in another business, saving you the trial period. You can see them in action. Then, number five deals with luck. Now, I don't necessarily believe in luck, but I do believe in what Louis Pasteur said, which is "Fortune favors the prepared mind." In other words, if you're prepared, good things will happen to you.

When it comes to your business, if you've prepared yourself by making lots of professional connections, you're increasing the likelihood that good things are just going to happen. It's not necessarily because there was luck involved, but because you prepared yourself by creating those opportunities. Professional networking is a powerful tool, and I recommend that you invest some time and effort into becoming an expert at it.