Dec
5
Written by:
Nick
Monday, December 05, 2011 2:46 PM
You never know who you will meet at business networking events and this week I had two firsts.
On Tuesday, I had the great pleasure of attending the first Stirling Business Connections networking event which was very well organised by Raimonda from Maxi Cleaning Services and hosted by Patrik at the rather splendid Mediterannea restaurant in Stirling.
There was an excellent turnout and I was delighted to meet many new people and hear about their businesses.
My first, first was when I met a Funeral Director. The very charming Willie Chrystal from Chrystal Funeral Services and I very much enjoyed our chat and finding out a bit about Willie’s background and career path.
My second first, was on home turf at Let’s network Perth when I met Helen Grant who is a crime novelist. We didn’t manage to chat for long but I hope to find out more in due course and hopefully read some of Helen’s books.
Coincidentally, Helen’s husband Gordon and I were at school together in Edinburgh for a few years. When we met at Let’s network Perth in September that was the first time we had seen each other in 40 odd years. Neither of us had changed one bit of course….well Gordon hadn’t….
Meeting a Funeral Director and a crime novelist, who is married to an old school friend, got me thinking about the range of people I have met over the last three years on the networking circuit.
I must have been to hundreds of meetings and events and met well over 1,000 people.
In addition to the IT people, Marketers, Financial Advisers (and Promotional Products people!) some of the more unusual people I have come across include, in no particular order, a Brewer, a former Editor of a national newspaper, a Casino Manager, a CEO of a Governing Body of Sport, a Police Chief Constable, two MSPs, and two Football Managers.
And I have heard many inspiring stories from well known entrepreneurs such as Michelle Mone, Ruth Badger, Shaf Rasul, Doug Richard, Fraser Doherty and Kirsty Henshall.
However, the story of how Gordon Fraser from Gordons Cleaning built his hugely successful business, with his wife Jill, from quite literally nothing is hugely uplifting and takes some beating.
Many of the events and meetings I attend are low cost and some are free. If you haven’t tried business networking or don’t go very often, I would urge you to get out of the office and get involved. You learn so much and meet many new contacts.
It is an essential part of growing your business, it has certainly been an important part in growing Legends Promotional Products.
As the title of this blog says: You never know who you will meet!
Copyright ©2011 Nick