Fiona is a very talented real estate photographer. Her photos can turn a plain and ordinary house into something that looks as though it’s the product of an award-winning designer. When agents post her photos on a real estate website they know that the phone is going to start ringing within minutes.
Fiona’s work diary has been full of appointments for months as more and more real estate agents discovered what she could do for their sales. But as the global financial crisis has begun to bite gaps have been appearing in that diary. Even in the seaside tourist town where Fiona lives and works things are getting a little tough.
Then one day her phone rang and it wasn’t an agent … it was a resort owner who needed some quality photos to go with a new website he was having a local web design company build for him. It came as something of a surprise to Fiona for she had no contacts in the local tourist industry at all … she had focused entirely on real estate.
So she asked the new client who had suggested that he use her services and was surprised to find that it was the web designer who had suggested that Fiona’s photos would enhance the new website. Fiona and the owner of the web design company had been acquaintances for a while but nothing more. Yet it was this acquaintance who had been only too happy to recommend Fiona for the job of photographing the resort.
That was the start of a whole new area for Fiona to work in and before long the local resort owners had filled all those empty spaces in her work diary. It was also Fiona’s introduction to an informal business network that the web designer had been quietly building for several years.
It’s a network made up of small businesses that all take pride in their work and offer a great service at a reasonable price. As times became harder that network has helped the members to pick up enough work to more than just survive.
One member of that network is a search engine specialist and he’s given several in the group advice on how to improve their search engine rankings. Fiona has been able to use her real estate contacts to help several builders in the network pick up work that they would have otherwise missed and a computer technician in the group has kept them all up to date on the latest Trojans and computer viruses and how to avoid them.
Those things might sound like little things that don’t amount to all that much but put them all together and the impact on the people on the network has been amazing. While others businesses in town that are outside of the network are struggling to survive this small group of business people go on helping each other to grow and prosper.
I suppose that all sounds like a bit of a fairy tale but it’s reality and I can guarantee that it is because I’m part of that network. There’s nothing very social about it … although a few people in the network do get together from time to time for a meal … and there’s nothing very formal about it either. It all happens because the members of the group look out for each other and phone or email each other when they hear of something that might be of interest to others in the group. The message might go through two or three different people before it reaches the person it’s intended for but then that’s just a part of networking.
That’s how informal a group like this can … and probably should … be. Networking shouldn’t take up a huge part of your time but it certainly can help you to survive tough times like these and even give you the edge in the better times too. I’m not even sure that everyone in our network knows everyone else in the group but that doesn’t mean that they’re not connected to the group. Knowing just two or three people in the network is enough to ensure that everyone gets the messages that move around the network.
Our network operates on a very informal basis and messages pass via phone calls, conversations in the street and occasional emails but there are other ways that business networks can operate. Some of the social networking platforms that are out there, such as Twitter and FaceBook, are great ways to network with others who are outside of your local area.
There are some very informal networks on Twitter that involve people who are spread all over the world. Despite the distance they can alert each other when something happens that affects their industry. They can share news and information in real time and that can save other people in the network hours of work and considerable amounts of money too. They also share information about jobs in the industry and contracts that some members might like to compete for.
So how do you find these networks? Basically the way to find the networks and become part of them is the same regardless of whether the network is in your local area or spread across the world. You look around and start talking to people who share common interests with you.
Some people will rebuff you and some will just plain ignore you but don’t be put off. Keep on working at becoming part of the network you want to be a part of and it will happen.
Once you’re part of that network you and your business can enjoy all the advantages that come from networking with good people who want to help you survive. But always remember, networking is a two-way street and you only get out as much as you put in.
