Last night one of our local Chambers of Commerce held an event for members and non-members called No Business After Hours. While of course business is discussed, the idea was to mix and mingle while not being completely business focused and intent on prospecting or selling. There were 1500 people who pre-registered for the event. I thought this number was quite staggering for our town but when we got to the location of the event it didn’t feel that “crowded”. The organizers did a fantastic job. The event was great, some money was given to local charities and some big prizes were given away. The community came together for 3 hours on a Tuesday night all in the name of “business”. I tell you this story to preface the rest of this post.

My business is not currently a Chamber member, primarily our main business unit is focused on work in other states. However, as with most Chamber events, you can participate as a non-member, you just pay a little more for each event.

What I really want to write about it the value of connections and networking to your business. Over the last few years even though I am not a member, I have attended many Chamber and local networking events. I did this primarily to get to know others in my community, whether they can help my business or not. I want to encourage you to do the same. While it might not be called a Chamber of Commerce, your community will have some type of get together for business people to meet and mingle.

And when you go to these events remember to ask about the other person – it’s about them, not you. You’ll get your chance to share what is going on with you but be generally interested and you’ll find that people will be more interesting.

Bottom line: People need people. We need to cultivate that sense of community that gets lost when we just go to work, go home and don’t interact with our neighbors because we’re so tied up with our own lives. We can help each other daily. Sometimes it is by doing business with each other, sometimes it is more than that. Sometimes, the business connections you make will turn into your closest friends, you just never know.

Networking is more than just business. It’s about connections.