You’re not alone!

You’re not on a deserted island.

Everywhere around you are fellow tradesmen, fellow business owners to connect with and learn from.

You are a businessman now! Part of that is interacting and getting to know you’re local peers. Part of that is building AFFINITY NETWORKS.

I say “peers” and not “competitors” because when you’re EATING GOOD and DOING THE BEST—- you have no competitors. You have PEERS!

These are people you break bread with, joke around with and most importantly TALK BUSINESS with.

You better believe THE PUBLIC works together to find and control the contractor market! They use tools like NextDoor, Facebook and Google. They talk with their neighbors and friends. Those Google profiles—-those are consumers WORKING TOGETHER and COLLUDING with each other to find good contractors and ELIMINATE the bad ones!

Why shouldn’t contractors work together to do the same?

We can’t do that if we look at fellow contractors as competitors. We cannot work together to build our businesses if we have adversarial relationships.

Your greatest educational resource is the other contractors around you.

MAKE FRIENDS with your fellow LOCAL and INTERNET tradesmen/business owners.

How do we find our peers our new friends?

Here you go:

·         At the local supply shop. Hang out, when you have time, and meet the folks that buy locally.

·         Online. Start social media accounts and “like” and “subscribe” to local tradesmen accounts. If they’re not local, follow them too. I’ve gotten jobs locally from other tradesmen in Washington state and California because they recommend my company online and someone local sees that recommendation and acts on it!

·         Go on Google, get local business numbers from Google business and CALL THEM! Yup! Pick up the phone and introduce yourself.

“Hey, I’m John from John’s Carpentry. I notice you’re in my area doing the same thing I do. I just wanted to introduce myself and say if you need anything let me know.”

You may be surprised what comes out of that SIMPLE GESTURE. Even if NOTHING comes out of it, you’ve done some valuable INTELLIGENCE GATHERING and you may learn something about a fellow business’ system and process.

·         Business groups. There are local small business groups in your area. There are networking groups. These can be a great opportunity to meet people and form AFFINITY NETWORKS. BUT be careful with these, they can become a giant “back patting” waste of time! Or a more unflattering term, “a circle jerk”. Everyone congratulating themselves and blowing smoke up each others butts and nothing coming out of it. BEWARE of these groups.

·         Educational events. Go to manufacturer training events. You’ll see other people who care about higher education and doing things right. People that share your values. Hang out, learn and talk. You can make valuable connections at training events.

·         In the wild. Stop and talk to people at Home Depot. If you see a truck advertising about the field that you work in, TAKE THE NUMBER AND CALL. If you see someone that looks like a tradesman…walk up and START A CONVERSATION. What do you have to lose?

We are BUSINESSMEN NOW. Relationships don’t just flood in once you’ve print off a business card. You create these relationships with CURIOSITY and FREINDLINESS.

Walk up and introduce yourself.

Pick up the phone and introduce yourself.

Take a business card, call and introduce yourself.

Maybe that’s something you practice in the mirror. “Hello, I’m John from John’s carpentry. Wanted to say hello and see how business is for you?”

Smile, be kind and break the ice.

They ask you what you do…

OKAY. Now we use our ELEVATOR PITCH, a short introduction, to explain what we do- What, why, how, when, where.

I’ll talk more about the ELEVATOR PITCH later.

Open up that shell and start CONNECTING with other people in your space. Valuable relationships, valuable intelligence.

At some point in your friendship with your peers, you start inquiring about PRICING. Maybe working together to get your prices similar, if you’re providing the same product and service, so you’re not UNDERCUTTING each other. If you’re bidding against each other, for example, what’s wrong with checking in with your peers to see where their numbers are at?

The public does it EVERY SINGLE DAY. They call their neighbors to check on contractor pricing. They’re working together. We should too in order to build a better life and build up our business community!

You’re a businessman now!

This is how you THINK and MOVE!