Stay at Home Work is the Best Place to NetWork

By Bette Daoust, Ph.D., Southwest Bureau Chief          Bette's Bio

You may wonder about the title of this month’s column but it is intended to make people realize that even though many people work from home, they are often the ones that do the most networking. As you can well imagine when you are working from home, there is a feeling of isolation except when you get on the phone.

The phone is a great way to connect with others and literally network to increase your business. However, this can get old really fast unless you take the opportunity to mingle within your community or industry. This month in the southwest I want to talk about service clubs as an opportunity to network with local business owners.

Service clubs often get overlooked because of the reputation of being full of retired folk that have no interest in business or they simply just want to give back to the community by helping the disadvantaged. Yes...service clubs do work in the community and they also work on other projects for the betterment of mankind. But did you know that any one of these clubs, be it Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Masons, and so on are consisted of business people that not only give of their time but also their money? They also fund raise within the community to help support their projects. Make this an opportunity to not only give back but to form those crucial business relationships.

One caution, do not treat the service club as a networking club. If you join or give of your time and money, you will form those valuable relationships over time. Time is on your side if you are patient. People do business with people whom they know and trust. If you want to do business with members of a service club, you can join or simply sponsor events and projects. Whichever you choose, you will get recognition and over time you will be a trusted individual.

In the southwest, there are at least 5 service clubs in any one area. I know that Rotary usually has three to five clubs in various areas. Kiwanis and Lions also have several clubs in any one area. To find out more for your area go to Rotary.org, Kiwanis.org or LionsClubs.org – the more you get involved with your community, the easier it will be to form business relationships. And in the long run, your business will flourish. I know – I have been in Rotary for 16 years.

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Bette can be contacted at BetteD@TheNationalNetworker.com.