A little in your face, yes, but that’s the tagline for a networking group I joined late last year. It’s called “biznik” and if you are looking for networking events where people actually want to know who you are, not just whether you are a good client for them, biznik is a great alternative to the networking groups that are speaking to fewer and fewer people these days.
Honestly, I have never joined a networking group before. But from what I have heard from clients and colleagues, most of them are run from a very corporate mentality and seem out of touch with today’s small business owners.
I’ve been not only impressed, but moved by the founders of biznik. Lara Feltin and Dan McComb, both small business owners themselves, resolved to start biznik after being involved with Burning Man, an 8-day festival of creativity that occurs once a year in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Their aim was to create an authentic community for independent business owners and now the group has gone international with over 3,000 members in just over a year. They are very involved and attend events weekly. They’ve proven time and again to me that they truly care and have started biznik for the right reasons. They also know, first hand, the pains and pitfalls of running their own businesses and have done everything they could think of to set up biznik as a community that truly empowers, emboldens and strengthens indie businesses and their connections to one another.
If you are looking for a place to connect with other business owners, find support, friendship, resources, workshops, events and to build your business, biznik is an excellent group to join. Unlike those out-of-date networking groups, biznik is easy and free to join and you don’t have to commit to over-priced 6am bagel breakfasts. (Don’t those other groups know that we are self employed so we can start our day a little later?)
Check out biznik by clicking on the biznik icon on the right sidbar of this page.
© 2007 – 2009, Karrie Kohlhaas. All rights reserved.
