Networking for Success

Principle 25 of Jack Canfield's book 'The Principles of Success' is titled 'Drop out of the Ain't if Awful Club and Surround Yourself with Successful People.' It begins with a great quote from Jim Rohn, a self-made millionaire and author. His quote simply states "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with."

Really think about who you spend the most time with - friends, family, workers. It really is true that you start to think and act like the people you are around most of the time. So, while I hope to see myself as someone who can help and inspire other women to achieve their dream of running their own business, I realize that I must also search out and find women who have already attained the level of success that I am aspiring to. It goes full circle.

I currently don't have anyone in my life that I can talk to about running my business. Any ideas I get are from searching on the internet or reading books. That can be so limiting and, truth be told, also lonely. I want to discuss ideas, get motivated, and share successes with women who are also striving to run their own businesses. I want to hear their stories, not just rehash my own in my head every day! :-)

There is a great website called Meetup.com. It advertises itself as the world's largest network of local groups. They make it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 9,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

The process is easy - you just enter your city and your interest. I entered Womens Business Networking and there were probably over 100 groups that showed up. While many did not fit the criteria I was looking for, I did find two that looked like they could be very interesting and beneficial for me to join. Both are geared to women entrepreneurs running their own businesses; meetings are created to network, provide motivation, and learn skills for succeeding in business - exactly what I'm looking for!

Over the course of the next 2 weeks, I will attend meetings for these two groups to see if this is something that will benefit me. I'm looking forward to getting out and expanding myself - a bit out of my comfort zone, but that's the only way to grow.

How do you get inspired and motivated in your business?
Do you have a network of business professionals to draw upon for feedback and ideas?
Have you tried to join networking groups? If so, did it work for you?