The Rich Uncle Theorem (Or, The First Rule of Networking)

Running a web development/marketing business involves a lot of sales. Then again, running any business involves a lot of sales. You sell your idea to investors, you sell a product (even if free) to customers, you sell your culture to employees, etc. But let’s talk about selling a product to customers. In our case, we sell big web development or marketing projects. The bigger the better. But even if your company sels a $5 product, the following still applies to you.

I have found that the most important thing you can do to make your business successful is network your butt off. Tell everyone and their mother about your business. This attitude has been responsible for 90% of the customer leads we get. I like to sum it up in a theorem:

Everybody has a rich uncle who needs a website.

Well, not really, but you get my point. If they don’t have a rich uncle who needs a website, maybe they have a friend whose father does consulting for a company that just happens to be looking for a web designer. And that’s where your connection come in. If you constantly network with people (this includes friends, family, and random stranges) and can make an active effort to ensure that every single person in your network knows about your business, you are 100x more likely to succeed.

I have a habit of casually telling people, especially new friends/acquaintances, about our business. For example, at a conference in NYC back in December, I met a fellow attendee at the lobby of Citigroup’s headquarters. This conference had nothing to do with web design or the internet, mind you. He told me a bit about what he did, and I casually mentioned the fact that I run a web development firm. He said, “Oh, really? See that girl going up the escalator? She just told me her organization is looking for a custom content management system.” Bam. I waved at her and chased her down. We exchanged Skype information and emails, and three weeks later I had a new client, the biggest one yet. Turns out her project was pretty major, and we have an ongoing busniess relationship to this day.

You may be thinking I got extremely lucky in that situation, and that’s true, but it serves to illustrate the fact that networking works. Trust me, telling 10 friends/acquaintances about your business and how awesome it is gives you a better ROI than spending money on advertisement or a marketing campaign. If you can get just one client/investor/mentor/etc from a connection, the two minutes you took out of your day to tell them about your business have already paid off in a major way.

Remember, act as if everyone you know has a rich uncle who is dying to buy your product/service, give you valuable advice, or invest in your ideas.

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