Networking

How Do You Know When It’s Time To Take Your Hobby Online?

You’ve been crafting most of your life. You absolutely love what you do, but you’ve gotten so good at it that you now have a house full of parts, a garage full of finished product and weekends that are filled with travel to local flea markets and craft fairs. The weekends that you’re not away doing a show or a fair you’re at home working out the latest modification or changes to your product.

There comes a time when your hobby becomes more than just a hobby. If you spend more than a couple of hours a day doing an activity it qualifies as more than a hobby. Isn’t it about time that you started earning something back for all of the time you’ve invested? Besides, when it’s something that you love to do, you don’t consider it work.

Therein lies one of the keys to success in business; make a living doing something that you have a passion for and you’ll feel like you never worked a day in your life. It may mean learning a new skill set in order to sell your goods more efficiently or to a wider audience. Your potential audience is what will determine the future of your business. If you restrict yourself to only those fairs and flea markets that you’ve always gone to, you’ll limit yourself as to how much money you can actually earn while you’re there.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with getting out into your community and meeting the public that makes up your clients or customers. It’s a great way to network with other entrepreneurial minded folks and seek out resources and relationships that are mutually beneficial.

Ideally, wouldn’t you love to have a constant flow of your product going OUT of your door? If you had a system set up to sell your doll clothes or whatever your particular craft or skill may be, it would free up your time. You’d then be able to use more of your free time to network with other WAHM’s (work at home moms) and learn the business side of your “hobby”.

Sometimes all it takes is for just the right person to come across your website that is looking to fill the inventory of his stores with the exact item that you’ve been producing and “hoarding” all this time to make your life a true success story. But stories like this can never come true unless and until you make it possible in your life. Seek out opportunity. Network with like minded people. Work WITH your competition to mutual benefit, not AGAINST them (everyone suffers).

If you don’t already belong to on-line communities that focus on your hobby, niche or product, seek them out. Find out who’s making money doing what you’re doing and how they’re doing it.

Once you’ve made the decision to move (all or part of) your business on-line there are some things to consider. You can either “do-it-yourself” or seek out help. You have many options to consider. We’ll touch on those things in our next article.

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Is Social Media The Answer For The Offline Business?

There are many tools available for an offline business to use to become more visible.  When offline advertising staples, such as newspaper advertising and direct mail, are not giving the best bang for the buck,  consultants are often called upon.  They are required to help transition the client onto the Internet for increased exposure.  Usually the first and most effective methods are the inclusion of the local business details in regional and metropolitan web portals that specialize in businesses on the local or regional level.

Another popular way that business can become more visible to its public is by trying to use the potential of Social Media.  There are a large number of ways that these tools can be used, but a careful evaluation of the needs and directive of the business must be undertaken.  Besides the huge potential for profit, there is just as large a possibility that it could become a disastrous situation.

The Social Media has been designed to promote networking and the formation of “cliques” and groups.  Here like minded people get to explore their common interests.  More and more, opinions are being driven through the various sites that become powerful forces in product selection. Consumers are finding the opinions of peers in their network just as powerful, if not more important than the information provided by the companies that physically manufacture and distribute the products they are interested in purchasing.

The strength of peer pressure and opinion offers a huge opportunity for the consultant to bring a client’s offline business into the spotlight.  The glare of public scrutiny can also cause serious problems if the approach is not upright and ethical.  For instance, some businesses have sent a “ringer” to join a number of groups to see what the members are thinking about various products.  If they are there to promote and push their make or brand, it will probably be identified.  The negative resentment of being made to be stooges by big business (no matter how big in actuality) can cause a drop in sales as people simply boycott out of principle.  The danger here is that sometimes a boycott can spread faster virally and cause serious damage to a bottom line.

If a business is going to join in the discussion, it should do so honestly and above board.  When a corporate representative is available to identify trends and help solve problems, there is a lot of good will generated. Word of mouth is strongly generated from such corporate involvement is usually quite positive.  There are even large multi-national companies monitoring the Social Sites on a continuous basis.

By listening and participating in  the discussions, they are in a much better position to understand  the trends and concerns of the consumer in a wide variety of areas.  The size of the company is not relevant.  The small offline company can join in the discussion and promote their products or services easily, but as mentioned, do it honestly and upfront, otherwise the chances of being burned are rather strong.

Some Social Structures like Twitter can be used to offer press releases, 140 characters at a time.  Depending on how the structure is set up, a Twitter account can be interactive with the consumers, or it can be strictly used as a one-way blast to all the followers with no responses offered.  Although this is a cheap way to offer product announcements, this works best when there is a real person also online. They must be identified with vested interests, often through the actual user name,  Their purpose is to identify trends and problems as they are voiced.

Some larger  corporations, with the resources to do it, will even approach a disgruntled consumer after they have been identified.  They take the time and effort to help move them to a corporate Customer Service platform where their issue can be properly handled and solved.  This in turn often results in happy testimonials about the way a company has gone out of its way to provide satisfaction being voiced back to the original group.

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How To Use The Chamber Of Commerce To Your Best Advantage

First and foremost, by becoming a Chamber member you’re exposing yourself to the owners of most, if not all, of your area’s largest companies. If you properly cultivate and nurture professional relationships with these movers and shakers, you’ll assure your maximum exposure and influence.  You will become an asset that they will remember and turn to when your expertise is required.

Be sure to attend as many sponsored events as time and budget allow. By becoming more involved in your local Chamber you’re expertise and fields of specialty will be highlighted to more people.  Always hae a good supply of business cards that reinforce your services, and don’t be shy to hand them out.  You never know when someone will need to get back in touch to demand your services.

Volunteer to speak at as many member meetings as they’ll let you. By educating your peers (other business owners) about what an improved web presence can do for their business, you create a need.
You’re also educating them as to just how much they need you and your services to attain those benefits.

Always have more business cards than you think you’ll need when you attend events. Use the 3 foot rule at these events for sure. For those that don’t know, the three foot rule says that you should introduce yourself and give a business card to anyone who comes within three feet of you. By doing so, those people will have a reference when they hear your name again or need your services.

If you have the aptitude or inclination, run for office of your local Chamber. There’s no better way to give highlight to your business than by being the leader of such a respected institution as the Chamber of Commerce.

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Start Your Own Local Small Business Interest Group

If you feel like it’s not going to be feasible for you to break into some of the existing networking groups available in your area enough to make an impact, you should consider starting your own group. We’re not talking about trying to compete with the Chamber of Commerce or BNI®. This is more about starting a “special interest” group where you can educate small business owners who will ultimately be your clients.

Be creative. If it is impossible to gather many assorted business owners together in face to face meetings, take advantage of the online tools that are available.  It is very simple to offer virtual seminars or “webinars”.

By using direct mail in combination with some efficient phone strategies, you can assure yourself that you’ll have attendees interested in what you have to say and offer. Always provide high value free content and/or education in these webinars or seminars.  Attendees will perceive you and your business from the proper perspective; one which sees you as being able to help them maximize their internet exposure and profits.

When offering face to face meetings, look for free or low cost meeting spaces. Many of these are offered by local libraries and even banks.  Another popular location to source a low-cost meeting room is a local community center or even a YMCA or YWCA.

Many hotels have meeting spaces for small to medium groups. An advantage of using hotels is that you can get basic catering, often at very affordable rates. In many areas a room with coffee and donuts for up to 30 people is well under $100.

Check Craigslist ( http://craigslist.org ) and/or Kijiji ( http://kijiji.com ) and use them yourself to reach out to your local community. There are appropriate areas on both of these websites for you to offer your services and do some prospecting for free.

Use these ideas or a combination of them to find something that works for you. Don’t stop until you discover just which combination of educating and prospecting will keep your sales funnel and your pipeline full.