Good Roast: What I Learned at My First Networking Event
Before I started Good Roost, I knew networking was going to be a huge part of how I got clients. Maybe even THE way I got clients. I know networking matters. What I didn't know was that there's a right way to do it and a wrong way, and that the wrong way can still be a genuinely great event.
Well, I went to my first networking event, and it was not the right fit for me. Not a waste of time. I learned a lot, I met some really nice, great people. Here's some of it:
People are going to think the name is Good Roast and that I sell coffee
"Small business" can mean fewer than 250 employees
Real estate agents still love networking exactly as much as they did ten years ago
I love things that are women-only. I love how women build each other up instead of quietly competing to be the smartest person in the room. That was the best part of the night: a room of people sharing what they do and actually wanting to help each other succeed. I'd go back to this group for that alone.
But none of them are really who I'm targeting. Breweries. Bakeries. Farms. Boutiques. Outdoor gear shops. So now I'm stuck on a real question: should I be seeking out networking groups built around my specific industries, or is a room of warm, generous, unrelated small business owners just as valuable for referrals?
When I did freelance marketing, I went to networking events, and that's how I ended up doing marketing for realtors, a pillow company, a grout company, and a dentist, none of whom I would call a passion project, all of whom absolutely needed the work more than I needed to keep pretending grout was interesting.
Then I owned a bakery in Denver, and I never went to a single networking event. My networking was beer festivals, food festivals, farmers’ markets. I'd show up to brewery events and get to know the owners, mostly because I sold cookies in their taprooms and did beer and cookie pairings. That felt like networking. It didn't feel like networking.
So here's where I've landed, at least for now: I think I need both. The industry-specific rooms, because that's where my actual clients are. And rooms like this one, because referrals don't always come from people who do what your clients do; they come from people who like you and remember what you said you do. Even if what they remember is "coffee."
