by Elizabeth Ducie

Created on: February 17, 2008   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

In any business, from the smallest mom and pop outfit to a multinational corporation, there are only three things to be done: get the customers, do the work and get paid. Everything else is fluff.

In the case of a start-up business, it's often the first of these that causes the problem. You have your unique selling point sorted out, you know what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. You have your systems in place for taking the money when it starts rolling in. All you need are the customers and that's where it all comes to a juddering halt. You sit at home waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for people to find you. But nothing happens.

For people to find you, they need to know you are out there they need to know that you are worth looking for. And that's where networking comes in. Networking is the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with potential clients and/or customers. In other words telling people you are there.

There are a number of ways in which you can network. This article looks at the more common ones:

* Social networking
* Business networking
* Referral organizations
* Networking on the Internet
* Being visible

Social Networking

This is the easiest one to start with. It requires no memberships or equipment. You simply talk to everyone you know and ask them to talk to the people they know. Tell everyone you meet you are starting a business and briefly what you are going to offer. Try to describe your business in one or two sentences. You don't want to bore people or put them off.

You may think you don't know many people; well, think again. Write down a list of all the people you talk to in a week: friends, family, the bus driver, the petrol pump attendant, the waitress in your local diner, the guy that stamps books in the local library (although you may have to whisper to him). With very little effort, I'm sure you could come up with a list of 30 people of more.

Now I can almost hear you saying 'but none of those people would be interested in my new business'. That may well be true but each of these people has their own network as well. Do the math. If each person in your network also has a network of 30 people, that's 900 people that might hear about you.

Supposing you are setting up as a virtual assistant. You mention this to the woman serving in the deli. Later in the week, one of her customers complains that he has so much administrative work to do, it's getting in the way of his real work - if only he could find someone

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