Research events before you commit to attending.

The internet and social media are your best tools here. Don’t waste time at events where you are not likely to run into the right customers or colleagues.

Use your higher-level listening skills.

Don’t be satisfied with an exchange of business cards. Find out the burning issues that are top-of-mind for people. Ask questions about what people are doing and why.

Aim for the one-on-one follow-up meeting.

Perhaps you can close a deal in a crowded room, but most of us cannot. Getting a meeting after the event gives you a chance to build a closer relationship and discuss your business in a relaxed manner.
The other mark of high-value networking is that it helps you to grow as a person. You can do this in part by connecting with people who share your values. Business does not happen inside a vacuum. We run our businesses from our core values—using our moral compass as a guide. High-value networking helps you to meet and potentially collaborate with people who are committed to the same ideals. Whether it’s a desire to mentor minority youth or to create sustainable businesses, networking can put you in touch with people who can help you move forward in areas beyond simple sales.

Of course, the other side of personal growth is learning from those who are not like you. Make an effort to attend events with diverse attendees. An open world invites new ideas and makes you a better entrepreneur and person.

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However, there are three additional questions to consider before making the decision to become an entrepreneur.

Can you make peace with sales?

Sales are the lifeblood of business, and this can be tough for people without a background in sales. In addition, many of us have memories of interactions with salespeople that were less than stellar. Can you ignore all your personal baggage about salespeople stereotypes? You are going to have to pitch your product or services with enthusiasm. To keep your business in good financial health you must be able to ask for what you’re worth and do it with a smile.

Are you willing to scrap ideas that don’t work?

In the writing world, we call this “killing your darlings” – a rather brutal way to describe cutting out useless bits from a manuscript. Successful entrepreneurs must be willing to practice the same tough methods in business. This means dumping products that customers don’t want, ditching ads that don’t connect with your audience, and abandoning systems that waste time, no matter how enthusiastic you were about any of these in the beginning. Flexibility and adaptability separate prosperous entrepreneurs from the ones who almost made it.

Do you realize that self-care is serious business?

Launching a startup is hard, no matter how much you love your idea. Pure enthusiasm can only carry you so far. Eventually, you are going to need a lifestyle that allows you to compete in the marketplace while maintaining a healthy mind and body. Are you committed to getting enough sleep, adequate nutrition, and appropriate exercise? If not, you might not last through the launch process.

Look beyond the traditional questions to see if you are really ready for the entrepreneurship adventure.

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When I was in high school we learned to type business letters using standard form templates and mastering the art of carbon paper. Communication today is faster, more effective and sometimes trickier than spending the day crafting the perfect letter. After all, we often discover a mistake after clicking “send.” How can you get the most from your business communication now that we’ve moved on from paper?

Email has taken the place of memos and letters in many organizations. Email and list building is also a pillar of sales strategy for many entrepreneurs. In an effort to stand out in a crowded inbox, some writers resort to questionable subject lines. Phrases designed to shock or offend, intentional typos to gain attention, and wild claims cannot make up for a poorly written email and are unlikely to tempt me to open your message at all. Write subject lines that are honest and clear. We’re no longer as formal in business as we once were, but readers deserve respect.

Respect shines through in the way you write and how you share. Social media is for connection and not confidentiality. You can find new clients from around the world, and have conversations on important issues across time zones thanks to social media. Posting, following, clicking and commenting can help you discover your tribe a’ la Seth Godin or just give you some relief from the isolation of working in a home office.

Millions of potential new contacts are just a finger tap away. Yet, once you do connect it’s time to exercise some caution. Working out your problems and venting your frustrations should happen in closed groups and secure platforms. When in doubt—don’t post information you don’t want all the world to see.

Text messaging and social media posting are addictively swift, but not always the best choice. Whether because of driving or a busy day, your contacts may not be able to reply right away. Don’t always expect or give instant responses. Repeated texts and nagging for a reply smacks of desperation and can cause people to shun your messages and business.

Digital communication is fast, flexible and free—provided you use it well. We still need careful thought and attention to detail in our business messages, even without the piles of paper.

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Keep your promises

If you say you’ll go read someone’s blog, view their website or download their free ebook, then do it. By doing so you not only learn more about them and how to deepen your connection, but you demonstrate that you can be trusted to do what you say you’ll do. This is a quality we all want in potential contacts. Leave a comment or send an email about what you found interesting or useful.

Don’t start by pitching

Unless you’ve been specifically asked to do so, don’t make your first post-meet-and-greet email a sales pitch or plea for a favour. Instead thank your new contact or send some information of interest and value. Follow through on “let’s get together” chats with a specific invitation.

Get social and digital

Spend time exploring your new contact’s online presence. Follow them on mutual social media platforms and continue your initial discussion by engaging them there. Do a bit of research. You may find accomplishments your new connection was hesitant to mention like awards or publications. Show genuine interest.

Trust your instincts

Sometimes we meet folks who pass out their business cards like candy. They have no real interest in deep connection and haven’t yet learned that networking is not a numbers game. When you sit down after an event to do your follow-up, don’t be afraid to throw away some cards. An entrepreneur’s time is limited, so aim for quality connections and not a card collection.

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It’s a well-known, but dangerous maxim that entrepreneurs need to “wear all the hats.” Often the founder is the person who sweeps up and takes out the trash, especially in the start-up phase of a business. However, the goal of smart entrepreneurs is to spend as much time as possible operating in their own personal sweet spot of talents and passing on other duties.  Entrepreneurs who try to do everything alone and without support end up burned out and frustrated. In order to stay in the sweet spot we need to be able to do two things: delegate and access professional advice. Both tasks have unique challenges.

Early in an enterprise, we’re often reluctant to access professionals for advice or services because of cost concerns. So we answer our own calls and emails, clean our own offices and run our own errands. For some functions however it is far smarter to go to a professional. Hiring professionals, especially in areas that require special training or licensing gives us better results and keeps our businesses out of trouble. Attorneys, accountants, copywriters, web designers, architects, and other specially trained experts provide our services and guidance that it might take us years to create on our own—if ever.

When you are seeking a professional service provider, look at three R’s: reputation, rates and responsiveness.

Reputation

Look for someone whose performance is known to be excellent.  A good reputation is worth paying for, but this doesn’t mean hiring those new to the marketplace. Even without years of experience, a truthful and hardworking professional can be a wise investment. Consider character.

Rates

As an entrepreneur, you should always be conscious of costs and quality. Make sure you’re getting a good rate, ask for breakdowns of costs on invoices, and don’t be afraid to barter when appropriate.

Responsiveness

The smartest expert in the world is useless to your business if she or he doesn’t listen to you or respond to your needs. Conversations that leave you feeling confused or disrespected mean you need to keep shopping for the right professional.

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Wouldn’t it be great if enthusiasm and passion could protect us from failure? Eventually, it happens to every entrepreneur—a setback. Maybe a new product line didn’t sell, or perhaps an emergency drained your cash reserves. Before you can step up after a setback you must accept that missteps, mistakes and messiness are part of the entrepreneur experience. This is especially important for many women entrepreneurs who tend to let perfectionist or people pleasing tendencies lead them to unrealistic standards and harsh self-judgments.

If you already have a mentor, now is the time to reconnect with them. If you don’t have a mentor yet, you can begin the search for one. Take advantage of technology as online networks and entrepreneur forums devote a lot of space to “lessons learned” kinds of stories. A different perspective may help to unearth problems and solutions you’ve failed to notice. Be on the lookout for some of the classic setback situations:

• Natural disaster, economic meltdowns, and other things totally beyond your control: in these situations don’t waste valuable energy brooding over what’s happened, but instead focus on how you plan to react and recover as this is the only part where you have control.
• Selling a product, service or solution the public didn’t want: if you fall in love with your idea to the extent that you neglect or ignore market information, setbacks are inevitable. Make a commitment to gather and use customer feedback.
• Trend timing issues: unless you’ve got the cash reserves and infrastructure to move quickly, stick to your long-term objectives and avoid trying to cash in on a fad. Keep your ultimate goals and vision in mind at all times.

Setbacks provide us with the perfect “excuse” to review, reorganize and revamp our businesses, and step up for more success. Talking with your mentor, or a mastermind group, can provide you with the emotional distance you need to shift from disappointment to problem solving mode during this time.

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Plan

Scrapping the customary business plan is very popular these days, but all entrepreneurs need to go through the planning process. Even if you never turn out a traditional type-written document, the planning process sets you up for success. Business plan research forces you to examine some key areas. It’s through this research that you become able to describe and then market to your ideal customer as well as learn the realities of cash flow for your business

Build

No matter how great your idea is or how long your list of talents is, entrepreneurs can’t succeed alone. You need a support network. To successfully build and nurture your connections you need to prioritize and schedule time each week for relationship building. In business this means budgeting time and money for networking events, attending with a real networking mindset and then evaluating events for ROI.

Test

Get your product or service out into the marketplace, gather information from your customer base and use it. Those first customers can provide you with priceless feedback on how you can better solve their problems, meet their needs and make them happy. Take this data early in your start-up phase and modify and customize your offerings. Don’t have a lot of customers right away? Use focus groups, and online surveys and tap into the network you’ve built to get responses to your product or service. Not only will knowledge from testing helps you improve early in your business adventure, but you will be able to start collecting testimonials—a crucial part of your marketing plan.

Once you’ve made the decision to launch an entrepreneurial enterprise, you owe it to yourself to lay the groundwork for success. These building blocks will require some investment on your part. Whether you are looking at business plan coaching, scheduling software, marketing materials or creating a prototype and sample products, smart investing at the beginning of the process can pay big dividends later. By planning your business, building your network and testing your ideas as the first three steps you are more likely to see results and avoid typical start-up pitfalls.

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Small business ownership, creating your own job, becoming an entrepreneur—no matter how you say it, controlling your own success is very popular and very tempting. Yet, is this the right path for you? Are you ready for entrepreneurship and all it includes? Find out by honestly answering these questions.

Do I have a great idea for a product or service?

If your answer is no, that doesn’t rule out entrepreneurship altogether. You might consider the franchise model, where you take your management and ownership abilities and apply them to a tested business. Do you find yourself saying, “Yes, I’ve got a great idea” or nodding along as you read? Wonderful. Now your next step is to think of how you might convince investors and customers that this offering is the best in the marketplace.

Do I need to have a steady and reliable paycheck?

If you have a lot of bills and debt or if you get nervous at the idea of unpredictable income, entrepreneurship may be hard for you. Consider starting a side business first while holding on to your “day job.” Got a lot of savings? Comfortable with variable income? If so, then starting a business won’t be too nerve wracking for you. However, remember to discuss your financial realities with your partner or family if this new enterprise is going to impact the household budget.

Do I depend on a boss to guide my work during the day?

If you need someone to plan your day or give you a steady stream of feedback, then you might find starting and running a business lonely. If you look forward to deciding what to do with your time, organizing your work and feeling independent, then entrepreneurship could be for you…especially if you’ve been dreaming of being the boss.

In the end, if you don’t yet have a firm business idea, hate the thought of unpredictable income and need the feedback of a supervisor or coworkers, you may not be ready to take the leap into business ownership. Consider opening a micro business or a side business while keeping your day job. Build up your savings and talk to a mentor about your options. However, if you’ve got a brilliant idea, nerves of steel about pay or a healthy savings account and can function independently for much of your workday, you might be ready for the life of an entrepreneur. Start sketching out a simple business plan and looking for a support team.

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