Small Business Meetups

I went to a Denver Entrepreneur networking group last night.

As you may or may not know, I am starting a new business. I have tried this before, with a minimal amount of success. The business paid the bills, but it was not quite the business I wanted it to be. I suppose I could blame the economy like everyone else. I could easily say circumstances beyond my control were at fault. In reality, the business wasn't as successful as I wanted because I didn't put the right effort into making it go.

My big issue last round is the same issue a lot of people face as a small business owner. Heck, they even face it as an employee working for another person. People work an hour in order to get paid a dollar. This behavior pays the bills. It puts food on the table. It even brings about moderate amounts of success. But it is no way to run a business. I fell into that trap last round and I'm going to avoid it this time.

I failed to grow the business by failing to do three things: 1) Use networking to find leads and grow sales. 2) Use outside resources to tap available resources to help the business grow. 3) Hire people to do the work.

Last night I met like-minded people. I met small business owners who want to grow their own business. I met a CPR instructor. I met a Shaklee nutrition product salesperson. I met two photographers and a small business lawyer who focuses on I.T companies.

Well, I have been looking for a lawyer to make sure I stay clear of any legal problems and now I have a lead for one that may be a perfect fit for my business!

The networking event was really a pleasant surprise. I was expecting hard sales with the stench of used-car salesman. Instead, it was a bunch of really nice people who were really interested in what they did. The speaker was an expert in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and he was also a small business owner. I met the speaker and another obvious contact that may be useful down the road. He says he gets people in all of the time looking for companies like mine and doesn't have a place to send them. Now he does. Not only that, his presentation was truly informational and useful for me as an I.T. professional. I learned new things last night and wasn't expecting that walking into the room.

Best thing about the night was that it was free. That’s it for now. Next time I will talk about another small business resource I will be using to help grow my business.