5 Reasons Why a Strong Networking Community Matters in Building Your Business

Guest Post by Liz Rachel Rowland & Liz Russell

1) Camaraderie. It can be hard to build something new from scratch. Working from home, being part of a small team, or operating as a solo-preneur can also be quite isolating, especially in light of the recent pandemic. Building a circle of supporters who can help you through your lows and celebrate your highs can be a profound catalyst for motivation and growth as a business owner.

2) Feedback. Honest constructive feedback can help transform your writing, marketing, and other aspects of your brand to be their best and targeted toward your ideal audience. Imagine a community from all walks of life and business who can share their knowledge and expertise with you.

3) Confidence Builder. Repeatedly practice your pitch with a trusted community and soon the nerves will dissipate! Your group will also be rooting you on and providing feedback along the way. This positions you to tackle client interactions and sales pitches with ease!

4) Social Media Booster. Often your business family will be following, liking, commenting, and interacting with your social media to help defeat that pesky algorithm. As an added bonus, when they share your posts or tag you, you're getting exposure to their followers. It's a great way to get your name and face out there. 



5) Referrals. Become the trusted expert in your field amongst a group. Then they are likely to refer you out to friends, family, and clients or better yet, purchase directly from you themselves!

Rachel Rowland & Liz Russell, Co-Founders of Eastside EntrepreneuHERs

A community built of women business professionals seeking support and opportunities for growth and connection on the Eastside of Seattle.

Liz and Rachel now lead two chapters on in south Bellevue/Issaquah area and the north Bothell/Kirkland areas. I value this networking group and the others that I am a part of. I do highly recommend every business owner finding their ideal networking group(s). That maybe an official BNI, or it may look something like these groups that are a lot less strict but still amazing or your ideal group may even been very informal. Find what works best for you!

No two networking groups will ever look the same. I tend to go to a lot, because I gain so much value and they fill my cup being around other amazing female business. Yes I do prefer woman centric networking groups, that is just my personal preference.

If you're not sure where to look for networking groups to try out and join, ask other business owners you know. Try searches in any local business Facebook groups your in or search in Instagram under location specific networking hashtags. Most memberships networking groups will have a chance to try out the group before you fully commit. Some networking events aren't memberships so you can attend at anytime. Also do make note that many do cost some fee, not all, sometimes you can find smaller coffee shop meetups for free.

Lastly if you willing to travel to the Tacoma to Marysville areas, you can reach out to me and ask for any networking recommendations from me, I can point you towards a few that are in your area.

DO YOU WANT TO BE FEATURED ON GUEST BLOG POST?

I'd love to have more ways to help my own clients, I'm not the expert in everything! I want to have more experts featured in my blog posts that can help business owners in their business. I want to share your zone of genius with others. For me it is all about community and creating connections at all points. If you'd like to write a guest blog post and your local business relates to helping other business owners with social media, copywriting, email marketing, website creation/design, coaching... I know there are a lot more business types that I'm forgetting or not evening thinking of. I would love to get on a call with you, connect and plan what you could write and share on my platform.