Something different

Sep 27 2007

I tried something different yesterday. Every Wednesday morning at 7AM I go to a networking meeting with about 35 small business owners and professionals. I usually wear a dress shirt and slacks but yesterday I went in a T-shirt and jeans. When it was my turn to talk about my business, I said:

“It looks like I’m not trying very hard this morning… But the funny thing about coming here dressed this way is that it really wouldn’t have cost me any additional time, effort or expense to dress appropriately. It’s the same thing with graphic design. It takes roughly the same amount of time, effort and expense to design a good business card or brochure as it takes to design a lousy one. In fact, your cost could very well be much more if you hire the wrong partner to do these materials. Consider the business I could lose if I went to all my business meetings dressed like this.”

Not that I’m a brilliant or compelling public speaker… I’m not. My real point here is that whenever any of us as small business owners get the opportunity to break through our own repetitive static and demonstrate the value of our businesses in a new, memorable and meaningful way, we should take full advantage. I know that my audience will probably remember that one-minute pitch a lot longer than any of the dozens of others I’ve given. And I’ve got something that I can build on over the next few weeks.

Break the mold and do something different every once in a while. Networking meetings are also low-cost, low-risk environments for experimentation. Try something a little wild with your networking group and if it works, you’ve got something great you can take to a bigger audience. But if it flops, all you’ve lost is one networking function with a group of professionals that you probably see regularly; a forgiving audience.