Where Should I Network?
All right, so I love this question and I especially love flipping it on its head. Honestly, you shouldn’t be asking me where you should be networking, you should be asking your target client where you should network. Be real, you are not trying to network with me, you’re trying to network with your target client, so you need to ask your target client where they at! What conferences are they going to? What podcasts are they listening to? Who do they follow on Instagram? It’s important to get into the habit of asking our target client, anytime we have a question about our business, what they want, and what will help them the most. Here are some examples of the questions you should be asking your target client:
What type of services should I offer?
Where should I go and network?
I'm thinking about doing a webinar, should I do topic A or topic B?
Look, I can come to your webinar, but I’m not your target client, so you don’t really need to know my answer to these questions. My answer can’t give you strategy or next steps because it's not going to be as thoughtful as it could be when you ask your target client. I can tell you what conferences I go to. But if you're not targeting multiple six-figure, on their way to seven-figure, edu-preneurs who are Black women, my answer is not going to help you.
Now I know this can be a little intimidating, so I want to break it down for you. If you are a highly effective educator, you are already doing this in your classroom. You know your students. If you're leading in a building or district, you know the people you’re serving so deeply and intimately that you’re likely using their feedback to inform your leadership and your practices. It’s the same for your business, but instead of directly serving your kids or community, you’re serving your target client.
Now you may be wondering how exactly to get answers from your target client. There are a couple of ways that you can do this:
Social Media: If you have a presence on social media, put a question or poll on your Stories. You can make a post and then put options and say, "Let me know in the comments, your thoughts."
Survey: You could create a survey to get more answers from your target client. You can send it out via email or text.
The important thing is to gather data on your target client and what they truly want to gain clarity on your services and how best to support them. This question of “Where should I network?” can be best answered by your target client by just putting the question out there. If you’re hesitating on this, just think, you can put the question on social media to your target audience and get an answer (or 10) within 24 hours, as opposed to sending it elsewhere and waiting a week or a month (or never hearing back at all) from an industry professional that is not your target client anyways.
So this question has a hint of fear around it, and I want to honor and acknowledge that. But I also want to say that sometimes our fear will have us seeking permission from the wrong places when really, we just need to do the damn thing! Just do it, and get some data back to inform your next steps.
Now I know that I didn't directly answer the question of where to network, but I'm giving you strategies on how to find the answer, because I can’t answer the question, only your target client can!
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