If I’m an online marketing company why would I be networking at the Torrance Chamber of Commerce? Shouldn’t I be getting all my business from the internet or social media? I’ve asked myself this question in the beginning and thought it didn’t make sense because I should be using the internet… since it’s an internet marketing company. That thinking quickly went away and I found a lot of positives with networking at the Torrance Chamber of Commerce.
If you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, or an outside salesperson that works from home, it’s good to have alternatives to meeting new people and businesses. Being a Small business owner can be very lonely, you start to isolate yourself from the world if you work from home, you don’t need to interact with people in person, it’s all virtual.
For me, the main reason I join the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce is to get out of my comfort zone. I’m a pretty quiet person and I don’t care to say too much or put myself out there. So this was the perfect way to get me out there and get in front of potential business.
In the last 3 years that I have been networking, I noticed that people especially business owners prefer to meet someone in person. More so when it comes to internet marketing, the longer they know you and build a relationship with them the better.
Here are some Benefits of the Chamber and networking in person:
- People get to know you and see you.
- It’s easier to trust someone you meet.
- Meet new people.
- It’s easier for people to refer you when they have met you.
- They know you won’t disappear. This one is true for SEO and Website Developers, for some reason they’re notorious for disappearing.
Here are some negatives:
- Time – it takes time to get to each event (driving, networking, meetings)
- You might not meet a good connection and every event.
- Physically tiring – Driving in Los Angeles sucks so it takes time, and then you have to get into the networking mode.
- Cost – For some events, you need to pay for, then you have to pay for Gas, Clothes, and food.
Those are just some of the Positives and Negatives of networking at the Chamber or other mixers. As with any type of networking it takes time to build a relationship, most people won’t trust you right away so it takes some time to build that. I highly recommend any new business owner or entrepreneur to sign up for their local chamber (just make sure they have a lot of events), also get out there and network at mixers, events, meet ups… just get out there.