Get out there for the good of your business and your health
by James Agate
The life of a solo entrepreneur can often be a lonely one particularly if you spend your days in your home office or garden study. It is vitally important for the sake of your business and your sanity that you find industry conferences, local meetups, networking events and even relevant social events to attend.
In my personal experience, networking and meeting new people has been some of the most productive time I’ve spent in my business – not only generating new sales but also meeting new people, potential partners and even discovering new opportunities.
It not only helps to push your business forward because of the new people you meet but also because it gives you time away from your usual workspace. When you actually think about it, rarely do you have that earth-shattering moment whilst sat at your desk, more often than not these ideas strike us when we are away from our usual work environment and out of our usual comfort zone.
Not only does getting out there help your business but it also helps you. It gives you a break and ensures you feel refreshed and ready to take on the world all over again. It can serve to break up the week, motivate you if you meet other people in your industry doing well and it helps to feed the social cravings that we all have from time to time.
Abraham Maslow, the motivational theorist, states that social is a hugely important part of why people do a job. Entrepreneurs can often lose this social aspect when they launch a new business and networking can really help to combat this.
J Billings is quoted as saying “Time is like money, the less we have of it the more we do with it” – you might feel like you are far too busy to attend a conference or networking event but I’d be willing to bet that you can easily squeeze the work you need to get done if you spent a little less time on Twitter or reading all those blog posts in your RSS reader.
I’m not advocating spending your entire working life out of the office because this isn’t productive either but finding the balance really is crucial.
Read our guide on how to network succesfully
Eventbrite.com is a good place to find events in your area.
