Watching out for Scam Artists

When I started out as an entrepreneur there was a lot I didn’t know about (then again, there still is a lot I don’t know about).  The one thing I kept running into were the so-called scam artists.  You hear about it a lot in anything but I was a bit oblivious at the start since I felt I needed to learn every piece of knowledge from anyone and sadly it came from the places and people that I really don’t want to do business with.

You know the guy.  He is a very good talker, has a lot of confidence in what he does and convinces you that you need his services.  Now there isn’t one single person that I dealt with that I am talking about as there were quite a few but they all can be lumped into one group.  I never liked the way they did business and they thrived on taking advantage of those that just didn’t seem to have the confidence in themselves or they were in desperate need of assistance to get their business going before everything went south.

One individual used to hold regular seminars and events throughout the city and it was always a different topic.  He loved to take others under his wing to milk them for all they were worth until they had no money left and no business.  I’ve seen computer companies partner with him to the point where they faced lawsuits because they got caught up in the behaviour all the way to turning good people into bad.  I never did get caught up with this person since my spidey sense kicked in and I avoided them at all cost.

But once I ridded myself of that person I quickly found myself caught up with another.  I look back now and boy did I feel like fresh prey to these guys.  They saw a young guy who was starting a business and they wanted to get in there as much as possible.  The second guy managed to get some stuff out of me since I felt there might have been long term benefits (it’s been over 4 years as I write this and believe me, no benefits).  But as I quickly realized how it wasn’t good for my business, I got out.

Most of these guys tour the business networking groups in Calgary and some start their own networking groups.  I’ve been in many networking groups and I’ve found some that work and others that simply don’t.  It all depends.

So now this all leads me to a dilemma I have during this present day.  I don’t trust anybody that’s a “consultant” as I think back to when I was burned over $9,000 or these guys that managed to be good talkers and pulled a fast one on me.  I have trust issues and I know it.  If you ever get into a job interview for my company I will flat out tell you that I don’t trust you and you need to earn it.  I’m currently exploring bringing on a business coach right now and there is a couple of individuals that I’ve met that have “systems” and they do scare me off.  I love systems, heck I run a computer / IT consulting firm, but it is just I didn’t like the first one and I find that some of it is quite expensive and useless.

But we will see.  I’m waiting to see who can gain my trust since the whole scam artist thing really through me for a loop back in 2008.  One thing you find out as an entrepreneur is that you will make mistakes, there’s no doubt about it.  What really matters is how you respond to those mistakes and learn from them.  My problem is learning to get past some of the mistakes.

Tags: consultants, networking groups, scams

Hanging the “Open For Business” Sign – It doesn’t work.

During the starting days of my business I remember thinking how wonderful my business plan was and how there was no way nobody would not want to do business with me.  I knew it was bullet proof.  I would launch a website and they would come.  I put up the open for business sign.

Nobody came.

The first few weeks were extremely quiet but I did manage to meet another start up business owner who introduced me to my first customer.  I had met this person by chance when he found my website and wanted to meet over beers.  He was a really nice guy, formerly from a local bank, and he had decided to go into business and provide financing and advice to small businesses.  He had brought along several of his clients from his days at the bank he had worked at and he figured he could help them achieve better financing options through his own business.  Although he would end up ending his business venture months later he did introduce me to my first client who is still a client to this day.

What I learned from this was that people were not going to come to me.  I was going to have to start building my network of people to help provide me with leads to help grow my business.  To this day I’ve grown an extensive group of contacts and it is amazing how you can sit back and draw a flowchart on the connections I’ve made from one client to another.

So how does one really setup a network?  Well, the way I started it out was to reach out to people.  The first thing I need was sign up for several groups through Meetup.com.  I then approached a couple of business networking groups to start building my network with other business owners.  You have to be careful about the networking groups that you connect with though as many of those people are also looking for business.  Many are not looking to spend money.  But that’s the trick.  They know people who can spend money.

With networking groups you need to attend regularly and show your face to people.  You will eventually gain their trust and appreciation as they get to know you.  The best way to also gain this is to offer up referrals from your growing network to show that you are committed to the groups.

When you’re a small business owner just starting out, your network is critical.  It’s all about who you know and what they think of you.  I’m by no means an expert in this field and it is something that I’m continually working to improve on, especially when it comes to retaining my network contacts.

So a couple of tips when you started your business:

1. Before you start your business, start building out your network of contacts.  Go to your local chamber, meet with other business owners and simply get yourself out there.
2. When you open the business, be aggressive in becoming a connector.  A connector is somehow who is constantly connecting people for their mutual benefit.  This comes back in a big way for you down the road.  Plant the seeds.
3. Marketing is important but it isn’t the biggest thing at the beginning.  Pick your battles but focus most of your energy on make yourself known.

Tags: contacts, meetup.com, networking, networking groups, sales, selling