Motivation Tips for Entrepreneurs: Start Networking

by Wayne Liew on April 15, 2009

in Entrepreneurship

Motivation has an direct impact on productivity. Although most entrepreneurs are passionate about what they are doing, they can sometimes succumb to the evil clutches of laziness and boredom just like any other human beings.

Motivation and Determination in Arm Wrestling

In this blog post on motivation tips for entrepreneurs, we are going to look at why networking with fellow entrepreneurs can provide the much needed motivation while running our own ventures.


Why Networking Helps to Motivate Entrepreneurs?

There are a lot of reasons why entrepreneurs should network among each other to help in self motivation. The following are reasons why networking will help to motivate entrepreneurs.

Comparison of Performance

Although I want you to make business competition irrelevant, you should be looking at your competitor’s performance from time to time and compare their results against yours.

Take this blog for example. I always measure my traffic against estimated traffic of Small Biz Bee and Retire at 21. Matt and Michael are my buddies and competitors at the same time. It is the level of traffic that they are getting that push me on in terms of producing good content and spending time on marketing for this blog.

Keep Up with Each Other

Entrepreneurs are rare and if you are one, I am sure that it has been really hard to find like-minded people unless you are studying an entrepreneurship course or working with entrepreneurs like me frequently.

The last motivating words that an entrepreneur would want to hear are those that come from people without the entrepreneurial mindset. Doing something alone is boring. Without the right support, you tend to give up easily. Thus, if you want to get to your entrepreneurship goals, start networking today!

Sharing Resources

Just like anyone, we don’t have every resources or skills necessary to run a successful venture. Often times, it is the lack of resources, be it funds, knowledge, experience or advice that are pulling back entrepreneurs from starting out.

Again, networking with fellow entrepreneurs help to patch these holes. For example, I have been sharing a lot tips for small business owners and marketers through Twitter while I get a lot of feedback on things that I am unfamiliar with such as journalism, online retailing, small business funding and many more!

How to Network with Other Entrepreneurs?

With the reasons above, the next thing that should come into your mind is how are you going to connect with people who share the same entrepreneurial thoughts as you.

Social Networking Platforms

Social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter connect people all around the world together. Apart from using these platforms to find new people to connect with, keeping the relationship going can also be done easily with the incorporated functionalities.

I highly recommend Twitter for this because the 140 characters limitation makes it much easier for you to approach people that you have not spoken with. Keep this in mind though. You are trying to build a network and develop relationships, not to pitch your product or services to someone else.

Emails, Instant Messaging, Phone Calls

The above means of communication happen on a more personal level. For example, my instant messaging clients are normally used to discuss personal agendas other than business such as studies, current issues and thoughts on self improvement and productivity with other entrepreneurs.

Mobile Phone Keypad

Attending Events and Conferences

Attending trade events and conferences is a must do for me this year as I am trying to connect with more local small business owners and entrepreneurs. When it comes to networking, nothing beats a face-to-face interaction.

You will be much comfortable dealing with a person that you had met with him face-to-face. Before you shortlist and start attending events and conferences that are relevant to you and your business, make sure that you have read Trade Show Attendance Tips.

Apart from trade events and conferences, local Chamber of Commerce meetings are also popular in some places for small business owners to meet up.

Connect with Me

If you are already following me on Twitter, you will notice that I love to ask questions, reply to other people’s tweets and follow active Twitter users back because I love to network and interact with people.

Start connecting with me today. I don’t mind whether you are trying to ask me a question, pitch me or just to make friends. Feel free to use any of the following means:

Are You Connecting with Fellow Entrepreneurs?

What are some of the ways that you prefer to connect with other small business owners and entrepreneurs? Do you think networking with like-minded people can motivate you in getting things done as well as achieving your business goals?

Share your thoughts and your own tips in the comments section. Hearing from you is priceless.

If you like the tips above, feel free to subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com Newsletter for more premium content by submitting your first name and email address using the form below.


Photo Credits: Randy Son of Robert and Milica Sekulic

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  • Sharing resources is so key. Don't try and keep everything confidential...guess what, whatever your doing probably isn't completely groundbreaking and requires a top secret lab.

    Share and work with others. This will not only help mold your business but will get it there that much faster as you form strong relationships with others.
  • Also, by sharing, you can get inputs that you might have missed out from others and this is another reason why the sharing will help you to get to your destination much faster.
  • Networking with others with a similar mindset is a great idea. While you may consider other entrepreneurs your competition, they can of course help motivate you! It's similar to finding a workout or study buddy- a friend in a similar situation can help you out. You can also brainstorm together, solving problems in unique ways you may not have though of alone. Two heads are better than one!
  • Exactly. No one is perfect in everything even though two persons might be in the same industry. By merging the skills and knowledge, the end value that a customer gets will definitely outweigh the value provided by just one person.
  • At least when I read this topic and I think I should do and work more.

    Thank you for sharing.
  • It's interesting. So many entrepreneurs are real "do it yourselfers" who don't have a natural inclination toward business networking. However, those who break out of that self-imposed limitation can learn a great deal while finding a lot of motivation. A great post! Thanks.
  • As long as there's humans involved, everything can be changed because we're all so different.

    Being an Entrepreneur myself, I'm happy to see that we have people like Wayne sharing stuff. 10 years back when I started being "entrepreneurish" - I don't get such good contents to read. :D
  • @ HankM
    I think there are still a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners out there that have the mindset that all the knowledge and skills that he/she knows must be kept to him/herself. The truth is, most knowledge are no longer a secret anymore with the openness created by the Internet.

    @ goldfries
    :mrgreen: It's never to late to learn, my friend. In fact, starting out without much resources can contribute to the development of your own natural intuitions, which is a good thing. ;)
  • This is wonderful! Networking is really important in building good working relationships and promoting healthy competition. Events, conferences, and trade shows are great means for people to network.
  • Nowadays, social networking has also become an important task in our life.
  • Networking really does help a lot. It is not just about developing business partnerships but it can also contributes to the establishment of peer network which can help in motivation and productivity.
  • Hey Wayne,
    Your post is very interesting to read. I must appreciate for writing such a brilliant post. I completely agree with you that sometimes entrepreneurs get diverted from there track even though they are passionate of what they are doing. They need proper motivation sometimes. Even I think that social networking is one of the best way. It helps you as well as your business.
  • I'm convinced that the only way one can become wealthy is to work for yourself. I've been working for the same company for ten years & my boss is LOADED, thanks to my 14 hour days. I believe that if I invested that same moxy in myself, I'd be loaded too. Entrepreneurs...what do you think? Please advise.
  • @ Chaitanya Sagar
    Thanks for the complements. :)

    Everyone needs to have adequate motivation in order to keep them moving, especially when being an entrepreneur is not easy and challenges pop up every now and then.

    @ Baby Boy Gift
    The question that I think you should ask yourself is whether you are ready to work for yourself, which can well mean exceeding the 14 hours that you have been working for your boss.

    Becoming an entrepreneur is not easy but anyone can become one as long as they are willing to dedicate themselves, their time and effort into their venture.

    Are you ready? ;)
  • Your thoughts are very much appreciated regarding Twitter and networking. I truly believe it's important that as we work to be good participants of Twitter, we must always remember to add value - and not to constantly pitch our products or services, as you mentioned. Otherwise - a following will not be developed, as nobody wants to be constantly sold and barraged with products.
  • Yes, this is why "social networking" and "social media" is being used for these platforms, not "marketing media" or "marketing channel". As long as you provide value to the community, you will definitely be able to build a following on these sites.
  • I just found this blog but it's got a lot of useful stuff. Looking forward to your next post.
  • We always want to do more for our business but we just don’t have the time.I am sure that you as an entrepreneur face the same problem of insufficient time as well.

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