Networking, networking, networking!

Okay, so my one New Year's resolution is to get out of my comfort zone and grow my business and what better way to do that than to network! I know that I have posted about networking before, but I can not stress the importance of it to small businesses such as mine (or any business for that matter). Word of mouth is the strongest advertiser there is!!!

I am currently planning the Spring Event Expo for this upcoming May, and in doing so I have met some very inspirational business owners. I consider myself to be a people person, but kind of reserved at the same time. I love to observe people before opening up (so why do i blog???). Anyway, I am learning so much from the people that I am coming into contact with, most do not even work within the event planning industry. This is very exciting to me, as I love to learn about anything, but when it is beneficial to my personal and professional growth it sends me to the stars. While networking with another business owner, I was introduced to a business social networking site. Like most people, I have a Myspace, Facebook, and LinkedIn page but I do not really log on and have found minor benefits to these sites for business- they're great for reconnecting and meeting interesting new people on a personal level. Well, this associate of mines introduced me to Ecademy. It is a social networking site for businesses. The interface is much more user friendly than LinkedIn and it allows other users to rate your business "good." My 1st day as a user on the site yielded 46 contact requests from other business owners across the WORLD. Now I must admit that some of the businesses are unique, but I am not one to knock anyone's "hustle." So if any of you fellow business owners want a new way to network and expand your contact, give this Ecadamy a try!