Networking is a crucial part of business. Whether you started your company a long time ago, or you are just starting out, networking can be a powerful tool when it comes to learning, growing and setting up plans for the future. It’s a great way to meet new clients and suppliers, as well as people that could become a support network and boost your business in other ways. It’s a great chance to learn more about emerging and existing methods and tools and to learn from other people in your industry. If nothing else, it’s an excellent chance to make new friends and to speak to people who truly understand what you do.
Planned networking events are the ideal places to make these connections. But, they aren’t all equal. Sometimes, we come home from supposed networking events feeling as though we’ve wasted a day, we’ve lost money, we’ve learned nothing and met no-one that will have any impact on our businesses or our lives. These events can make you wonder if it’s worth attending in the future. Sometimes, the best way to ensure an event is worthwhile is to organize it yourself. Here are some tips to help you to make sure any event that you plan is worthwhile and helpful to everyone that attends.
Find the Right Venue
The venue can make or break an event. Do you want dinner? Drinks? A conference type feel? Will it be a formal sit down event, or do you want people to mingle as much as possible? The venue needs to be right to meet your requirements. But, it also needs to be in an easy to access location, and have parking and facilities. When you’ve found your venue, register for online event registration to make everything easier for you and your guests.
Invite the Right People
Remember, the whole purpose of a networking event is meeting new people. So, don’t make the mistake of only inviting people that you know, or that you have worked with in the past. LinkedIn connections are a great way to move outside of your direct circle. Or, ask your invitees to bring someone that will be interested along with them.
State the Events Purpose
The very best networking events, the ones that you come out of with new connections, new knowledge and new ideas, that leave you feeling excited and eager to get back to work, are the ones with purpose. They aren’t just general business dinners or meetings. They are events with a focus, where the guests share what they want to get out of the experience. Or, they fit a tight niche. Everyone attending is involved in a specific field or area. Think about what you want from the event, and make sure you advertise the purpose when you invite people.
Get Introducing
There’s nothing worse than an event where no one talks. Where everyone sits or stands nursing a drink, making small talk with people that they already know. As the host, it’s your job to introduce people. Even those you don’t know. You invited them. You need to make the first move and facilitate introductions between guests.
Your business is your pride and joy. You’ve spent years building your brand, cultivating a base of loyal customers, and building a team that manages to surprise you with their dedication and ingenuity every day. But the curse of entrepreneurship is that you never get to sit back and say that you’re satisfied. You’re always searching for new ways to innovate. To bring greater motivation to your employees and greater value to your clients. And making operational changes that improve efficiency and productivity.
A big part of this involves knowing when you’ve reached the limits of what you can achieve with your current infrastructure, whether that’s your technology, your personnel or your physical premises. There may come a time when you need to move to a new premises with better transport links, more space or (for retailers) a more prime location with better footfall. While we’ve looked at managing the logistics of a business move, here we’ll look at some ways in which you can cut the costs, improve your cash flow and prevent the move from putting a dent in your margin…
Carry out an equipment inventory well in advance
In some ways our business premises are just like our homes. We can accumulate more and more stuff over the years which eventually ceases to be useful and becomes clutter. Take an inventory of your equipment well in advance and ascertain what you need to take and what you can do without. You may find that there’s a significant amount of equipment left that can be auctioned, offsetting the cost of your move. And the less equipment you’re bringing, the more affordable your move will be.
Consider the timing
The timing of your move can also lead to significant savings. Like most enterprises, movers have peak seasons. Move in the spring or summer when conditions are warm and dry and you can expect to pay slightly higher rates. If you can defer your move to fall or winter, you may find that you’re able to make significant savings.
Insure your valuables
If this is your first business relocation you may assume that movers are liable for damage to your delicate IT equipment, furniture and other items. However, this is rarely the case. Moving companies are legally within their rights to exclude certain liabilities from agreements with the companies that use them, and may reject responsibility for damages incurred to your goods. That’s why it’s vital that you ensure all of your equipment for the move.
Invest in infrastructure to get back up and running quickly
When moving to a new premises, you need to not only consider the cost of the move, but the expense caused by a lack of uptime as you get your new premises fit for purpose. Partner with a networking specialist like Richmond Communications Group, Inc.. They can help you to get your telecoms infrastructure up and running faster so that you can resume business as usual and provide a seamless service for your customers.
Moving to a new premises can bring out the best in your business. And when you’re proactive about the cost, you can prevent it from eating into your margins and impeding your cash flow.
If you’re the kind of person who loves to stay in shape and spends a lot of their time thinking about their diet and workout routine, you might feel as though you want to be able to share that passion and knowledge with the world. Of course, no one wasn’t to give their expertise up for nothing, so if you were going to do that, you’d want to get paid for it, right? Well, the good news for you is that there’s a pretty simple way to do just that: become a personal trainer! Personal trainers are able to help other people achieve their fitness goals and reach their full potential. Of course, becoming a personal trainer is no easy task. Here are some things that you need to start sharing your passion for fitness with the world.
Qualifications
You can’t just decide that you’re going to be a personal trainer and that’s that. You’re going to have other people’s health and well-being in your hands, which means that you need to have all of the right skills and knowledge to help them reach their goals. Because of that, there are particular qualifications that you need to be able to work as a personal trainer. If this is your career goals, it’s a good idea to start working towards them right now. This is something that can take time, but this is one step that you really cannot skip. For one thing, clients are far more likely to trust your abilities if they can see that you are fully qualified.
A unique selling point
There is no shortage of people out there looking to make a career as a personal trainer. This means that you have to figure out as many ways as possible to make yourself stand out from the crowd. There are plenty of ways that you can do this but one of the best starting points is to try and make sure that you have something that makes your service unique. This could be something as simple as focusing your SEO on the specific location where you work, or it could be trying to offer something that you feel as though your competitors aren’t offering, like online training sessions, or the ability to be more flexible around the needs of your clients. The truth is that you need a unique selling point in any business and personal training is no exception to that rule.
Networking skills
If you’re going to be a personal trainer, then you need to be able to network effectively. The reality of your day to day life as a personal trainer is that you’re going to be talking to and working with people on a near-constant basis. You need to be able to engage with them one-on-one in a way that creates a bond of trust between the two of you in order to be as effective in helping them reach their goals as possible. Networking is an essential part of running any business but for something as face-to-face as personal training, it’s something that you simply cannot afford to ignore if you want to succeed.
The modern world that we live in is pretty much entirely dominated by the internet. Because of that, you need to have a website to connect with your customers. However, it’s not just a matter of having a website; you need to have the website possible if you really want to find the customers that you want. If your website is badly designed and difficult to navigate then people are going to click off immediately, assuming that you’re going to be just as amateurish. You need a website that shows the world just how professional you really are.
The right resources
Your website isn’t the only thing about the modern world that you need to be aware of when it comes to making the most of your career as a personal trainer. There are so many resources out there that can make a huge difference to your business and you need to not only be willing to use them but also to understand which ones can really help you. Things like the right personal training software allow you to train more clients with better results and to use your time far more wisely. Not only that but you need to be sure that you have all of the equipment that you need. Everything from mats to weights. Your clients are likely relying on you to provide a full service that goes beyond just guiding them with their workout and it’s your duty to provide that for them using the best personal training software.
The ability to connect with people
Speaking of what your clients are expecting from you, one of the biggest mistakes that a lot of aspiring personal trainers make is that they forget that they will be working one-on-one with people every single day, so it really pays to be a people person, literally. If you’re not willing and able to connect with your clients on a personal level, that’s a problem. A lot of people feel very vulnerable when they are trying to become more healthy and it’s your job to try your best to set them at ease. Not only that but if you’re able to connect with your clients on a personal level, you’re going to have a far better idea of how you can most effectively help them to reach their goals.
One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of aspiring personal trainers make is to assume that, just because they love keeping fit and working out, that it’s going to be an easy job. The truth is that, just like any other job, there are going to be challenging days and days where you’d rather just stay home and relax. However, doing something that you’re truly passionate about is going to make it so that those days are incredibly few and far between and the rest of your days are fun and satisfying.
You’ve finished law school and done your time in professional legal practices. Now you’re wondering if you can use your skills and experience and go it alone. Becoming a freelancer or independent consultant could be the perfect way to take charge of your career and be your own boss.
If you’re wondering about how to set up on your own, the list below will help you to get started.
Decide on the services you are going to offer
You may have specialised in a particular area when you worked at a law firm. Often, there isn’t much chance to work in other areas. Now that you are your own boss, you can choose exactly what you want to offer.
As with all business ideas, research the market first, there’s no point in offering services that aren’t in demand or enter an oversaturated market.
Line up your support services
Running your own business can mean that you are often tied up doing other tasks and find yourself having less time to complete your legal work. Find as many ways as possible to free up your time and resources. Hire a virtual assistant, or an attorney medical record retrieval services to speed up record finding or a marketer to take care of your website and promotions.
Take care of the administration
There are a lot of dull yet very necessary administrative tasks out of the way.
Register yourself as a business
Open a business bank account
Accounting software
Invoicing and billing
Appointment scheduling
Document management
Time tracking
Create your online presence and marketing plan
People need to know that you’re out there, offering to help them with their legal problems.
Get yourself set up with a website and social media profiles and start marketing yourself. If marketing isn’t your thing, there are many specialist companies or other freelancers out there who can help you with this.
At a minimum, you’ll want to list your services, expertise and experience. Once you’re up and running, think about adding additional content such a blog.
If you are targeting a specific geographic area, then concentrating on local SEO and targeted advertising is a great way to put yourself in front of people searching for legal services.
Start networking
There are so many good networking events to choose from that cater to all sectors and services. Find ones that are close to you, that are attended by either potential clients or others who could refer your services. Don’t just go in with the hard sell though. Good networking is about building up genuine connections with others.
Once you’ve mastered this then you might find that a good proportion of your business comes from referrals from business contacts and other lawyers.
Key takeaways
No doubt, there are many hurdles to jump over on the road to becoming a freelance lawyer. Once you’ve made the decision and followed the basics in setting up your business, then you can find yourself embarking on an extremely rewarding career.
If you are starting a new business, you have probably researched and read just about every article on what you need to know. In business, there is a well-known phrase: it’s not what you know; it’s who you know. While you can’t make a success of a poorly planned idea just because you know the right people, you can secure your future if you have a reliable team of contacts around you.
The first contact you need on speed dial is a good accountant. This is someone able to advise you on all of the financial aspects of your company. They should be involved with your economic forecast, run an eye over all your budgets and be there to help you understand any tax implications you have. What is essential is you have an accountant that is willing to take off his accountancy hat and talk to you honestly. A good accountant will help you save money and not be afraid of telling you if you are heading in the wrong direction.
You should also get to know a strong PR professional—the reputation of your company matters. A strong PR will be able to prepare you for many situations from helping you out of a crisis to making the best out of going viral. The person you work with should know your company inside out. They need a strong understanding of how you want your voice to be and what you want your consumers to feel about your company.
Legal advice is always handy, whatever end of legal proceedings you are. If you are an employer, then you need to call an employment lawyer and build a relationship. This can help you to ensure that you are getting everything right when it comes to your staff. It also assists you if you find yourself in a tricky situation as you will already have a rapport with someone. A good lawyer will never be afraid to give you the hard facts, straight. But, they should also understand any loopholes if you need them.
You may not need any money injected into your business, but having an investor in your network is always a useful asset. There are times in every business when we need solid advice on money matters. You may even use them as a sounding board if you want to bring on some stakeholders into your company. An investor not only provides a potential source of money should you have a viable proposition, but they will also have good connections and banks or other financial institutes which will help you with loans or business finance.
Build a strong team around you by attending networking events. A little black book in the world of business is worth as much as gold. Just remember to help them in return wherever you can, recommend them to other companies or advertise them across your social media. Keep a tight circle, and your business could grow bigger and stronger than you ever imagined.
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