During the introductions I took about 5 seconds to let everyone know that my partner and I started a Record Label and handed business cards to everyone there. That 5 second intro spawned conversation about the music I make and how/where it can be heard. I was able to draw attention to our label by plugging our business and promoting what we had to offer. It was easy and effective.
As a bonus we met two other entrepreneurs who have their own financial planning business and the connection was felt instantaneously. Our mutual friend Shaqueasha told us all about them and it was great to finally to put a name to a face. Through our brief conversation we decided to meet up again with in the next few weeks to exchange ideas and put our heads together to see how we could help out one another.
Eric and I are both interested to see how it plays out. One great idea they mentioned is for us to have an album release party for my first release; DanceBiology; available on iTunes with in the next 2-4 weeks. We thought it was an awesome idea. They seemed pretty interested in exploring the idea with us and assisting in was to better promote and manage our business.
On a side note, one of them has a cousin who apparently has an exceptional voice and comes highly recommended. It's kinda funny because you expect family to always defend and support family. But I actually felt that their passion for their cousin's voice was legit and genuine. Who knows where this relationship will take us but it was pretty incredible that friends of a friend could potentially lead to a great professional and even personal relationship.
The moral of the story is to never be afraid of what you have to offer and never doubt how many people out there are interested and willing to support you. Networking is a simple, free, and effective way to promote your business without much effort and a high rate of success.
Keep it moving....
P.S. Always have at least 3-5 business cards on you. You never know who you'll meet. (See GotPrint.com)
I also think the moral of the story is to post great blog posts like this. To me that is the fastest networking of all time. I have meet millions of cool people doing and thinking the same as me, through networking online. I own and run a manufacturing company that services a ton of indie labels ( see how this works) If you need any advice in terms of just coming out the gate with digital or physical release's then drop me a line. Be glad to help. James@unifiedmanufacturing.com
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