Is your network truly your net worth? Regardless, business owners and entrepreneurs are often on the lookout for networking tips, even more so those that belong to minority groups such as womenpreneurs; black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC); and women of color.
Our CEO and Head of Strategy, Ari Krzyzek, is one of them.
More than ten years ago, she immigrated from Bali, Indonesia to the States and started a business that is Chykalophia today. Along the way, she faced challenges that she had never imagined before — something that minority, women of color still face even today as entrepreneurs.
In his book E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work & What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber mentioned that a business owner usually has three distinct personalities:
- The entrepreneur: The visionary. The creative mind that brings the business forward.
- The manager: The organized character. The one that keeps the business running.
- The technician: The doer. The one that actually executes the business operations.
In Ari’s case, her technician self was a digital designer. Starting her career in Bali as a digital designer, she lacked the managerial and entrepreneurial skills to actually run our agency. A further challenge presented itself as Ari knew not a single soul in the industry to connect with, learn from, and make her way into the network she needed to establish our agency.
To add fuel to the fire, networking became even more difficult due to the fact that Ari is a minority — a woman of color, to be precise.
Why networking is crucial for women of color entrepreneurs
In recent years, minority-owned businesses only make up 18% of the population and women-led startups only received 2.3% of VC funding in 2020. So with less funding available, women of color and BIPOC entrepreneurs need to be extra creative in finding ways to grow their businesses.
One foolproof method to try is networking. And this is what Ari did in her early business days.
5 networking tips for women of color and BIPOC entrepreneurs
Below are five networking tips for women of color and BIPOC entrepreneurs that you can start doing today — tried and tested by Ari.
1. Start online
To help you get started, you can check online women of color groups like NAWBO, HeyMama, and The Entreprenista League. Or you can also look at these LinkedIn groups and decide which ones might be great for you:
- National Professional Women of Color Network
- Femtech & Women’s Health by Women of Wearables
- Hispanic Professional Women’s Association, Inc.
- Neythri: A Global Community of South Asian Professional Women
- Black Career Women’s Network
2. Attend one-on-one meetings
Instead of jumping into big networking events with dozens of participants, Ari recommends starting slow. Big events can be intimidating and exhausting if you know no one.
At this point, you should have connected with one person or two from the online groups or communities. Send them a message and invite them for a coffee or brunch where you two can talk more closely.
3. Refrain from hard-selling yourself
When seeing your new connection in person for the first time, don’t dominate the conversations. Ask your new friend how things are going, what they’re trying to achieve, if you can be of any help, and other topics along these lines.
Let the business talk flow naturally. And don’t limit your conversations to business talk only. Consider this meeting is for building friendships and not solely for work purposes.
4. Join a course or masterclass
By joining a class, you get to meet people with the same interests, who are at a similar learning level as you. Having all these things in common, it’s easier to make new friends while gaining more knowledge.
Some courses are conducted weekly, others twice a week, while the intensive classes can take place every weekday. Choose which ones suit your schedule and your investment budget.
5. Find a mentor
A mentor teaches you the best practices of your chosen profession and also guides you when you’re at a crossroads, on the verge of going off track, and can’t see the big picture.
Plus, your mentor has other mentees, not just you. Chances are he or she will introduce you when there are potential collaborations and opportunities, so you get new connections!
Networking tips don’t work unless you do
Ari didn’t really have any networking tips at the start of her career. She had to try things hands-on and experiment to see what worked and what didn’t. But you don’t have to do this the hard way like she did. Use these networking tips as a shortcut to establish your businesses and yourselves as women of color entrepreneurs.
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This 5 Networking Tips for Women of Color Entrepreneurs article was originally published on SheVenturesPodcast.
