getting yourself out there....

When you think about promoting your business, we are sure that the word 'networking' might have popped up a few times. Some people love it and some people cringe at the word. Sarah is the networking queen in the office (as she is the driving force for sales, it kind of makes sense!) but previously she had never done it, in fact she was one of the people who cringed at the word. Its strange that, when it is your own business, talking about what you do becomes more easily. There are lots of ways to boost your confidence too from getting a bit of 60 seconds training to practising in front of the mirror. Having our base in London does mean that there are a huge amount (in fact too many to list) of networking events, some a great, some are terrible but here is a list of Sarah's favs of the moment



http://www.sistersnog.com/ - this is women only, always full of interesting businesses meeting at interesting venues

http://www.bni.com/ - mmmm sometimes it can be a bit naff, a bit americanised but it works!

http://www.ozoneconferencing.com/network/index.php - you can network every week from home and meet lots of interesting businesses without the hassle of leaving home



And there are of course lots of 'online' netorking available too - these can be very timeconsuming and not always give you reward (ie being a source of new clients) but can be a good source of new suppliers.



Sarah's top tip is to choose wisely as it is all time consuming and you will need to devote time and energy to each one - its ok being a social butterfly but you need to be seen as someone of conviction, otherwise people wont trust to pass on business to you.