The road of self- employment can be a tricky one. One of the deciding factors can be your inability to interact with others. As an example, I once knew a talented engineer who decided to open his own consultant office. His resume was loaded and the talent was there. He even had the client base to start working. Now comes the hard part the selling. As most salespeople know it is about the relationship not the product or knowledge. For some this can be a problem. I have crossed salespeople with limited knowledge of their product able to sale anything because they know how to build relationships.
Before going on your own I will suggest getting out and mingling among people in different cultures and away from our comfort zone. Most towns have networking groups or social events for professionals. Now keep in mind that you are not there to necessarily make a sale but to get your name out there amongst other professionals trying to do the same thing you are doing. That is growing your business and getting your name out there. These events can have the equivalent effect of a commercial.
I was always told that you needed a 30 second commercial. This format basically being 30 seconds to tell people what you have to offer to them. After a few years of trying this I found that the people whom I met were more interested in my hobbies and life story then what products I had to offer. Overtime this led to a working relationship and eventually coming to me about their concerns when they had questions that related to what I did. Some business happened in a week some a year later.
The moral of the story is not to rush things and build relationships with people. Technology today allows you to keep in touch with people by a variety of means. Cell Phone, email, etc. all of those are a good way just to drop a note. Some experts say that eye too eye is needed to show passion. It never hurts to be able to sit down and talk with a center of influence but in a time of everyone's time being stretched a quick email note is not a bad idea. Use the technology too your advantage, don't abuse it.
Now get out there, do some socializing out of your circle and see what comes of it. I make it a challenge to myself to make 20 new contacts a month. Now I did not say customers I said contacts. You want people who know a lot of people to have the information about what you do. Word travels fast. Good luck in your networking.
