You need lots of different tools in order to build a flourishing small business but the connections that you have at your disposal can prove to be the most useful. For instance, if you have lots of young moms in your inner circle, you can easily run a business that caters to children and babies. Likewise, business owners who are able to flash their Yale class rings have various ways to utilize the connections that they made while in college. Call upon past professors for business advance and learn which of your peers are working in similar industries. As long as you maintain relationships with those that you interacted with at Yale you can take your business further than most.
Go to Class Reunions
It isn’t hard to call up your former college roommate every once in a while to find out how he or she is doing but remember that there are hundreds of other people that you went to school with who can help you with building your company. Get to know people who also attended your alma mater and you will automatically have a close connection. By going to your class reunions, you will see people that you had classes with for years but never had the opportunity to have a real conversation with before. Imagine what can happen with your business when you start building on connections that you already have in your back pocket.
Find Out Who Lives In Your Neighborhood
After college, you might decide to settle down just a few miles from your alma mater or set up your home on the opposite coast for business purposes. In any case, you won’t have to look far before you find at least a handful of people that went to the same college as you. In fact, you may find an entire enclave of former classmates who live nearby and work at the same company or operate in a related industry. If you can begin networking with them you will have a host of resources to use as well as personalized advice.
Follow Alma Mater News
Whether your college is having a fundraising event or is going to be honoring a recently retired president, be sure to show up to all related events. These outings should be announced well in advance and you can tailor your schedule to make time for these limited engagements. Since it won’t take more than a few hours of your time and they mainly take place at night or during the weekends you can keep building your business while gaining benefits from networking with past classmates.
While you probably have some student loans to pay off and some fun memories to think back on, your college experience doesn’t have to end with graduation. Business owners need to make use of whatever help they can get from more experienced individuals, especially in the beginning stages. So, pull out your yearbook, see who you can talk to about growing your business so that it becomes stronger and don’t forget about going to events hosted regularly by your alma mater.
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