How to Build a Strong Social Network for a Young Entrepreneur?

Here's a little tip that I just recognized today. Look up all the business/entrepreneurship organizations you can, go to all of them. In the average big city, you'll find a couple groups where they complain about why bad things happen to them (inventor clubs strike me as tending towards this), you've find some dead clubs where nothing is happening, and you'll find clubs that promise you fame, friends, success ... in the exchange for something.

But then you'll also find a hand full up clubs where people aren't complaining and where things are actually happening. Furthermore, (and this is how you can tell you've found the right groups) there will be overlap in the membership of these clubs because the members will have already done their homework too. So, upon finding these, you have found the people you need to be friends with... the next step is to actually make friends with them. The best way to do this, of course, is to offer them something that they need but can't attain easily by themselves (I'm learning web design). An alternative is to have your wife offer them Japanese baked goods... but you can only do this if you have a Japanese wife like me, (and of course she better be a good cook!).

MITH - Make interesting things happen.

It means it is all up to you. If you stay in bed noone will come to you. Move, meet ppl, go to every event near you and, of course, use social networks,

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Tweetups
• Meetup.com
• Start a blog
• Read books and blog about what you learn
• Read about 'personal brand'
• Research who you want to meet and why
• Return phone calls and emails
• Grab lunch or breakfast with someone new regularly
• Start something social. A group breakfast, lunch or happy hour
• Read 'Never Eat Alone'
• Chamber of Commerce Meetings
• Volunteer

1. Go to Startup Weekends, Chamber of Commerce events, lectures, anywhere that might gather the types of folks you need to meet in one place and meet people.

2. After you go home, follow up by emailing/calling, adding them on social networking sites you both use, etc.

3. Stay visible by blogging, participating in IRC channels, MLs or forums where your target audience hangs out, etc.

4. GOTO 1

Having something that you created - even a small project - that you can point to and say "I shipped this" will go a long way towards being taken seriously, especially when you are young.

1. when you talk to people be an active listener
2. find someone who has already done what you want to do they are great mentors and often very happy to help the next generation
3. use LinkedIn get people you have worked with to write recommendations for you

Google is your friend here, at least in the very beginning. I found every possible entrepreneurial organization in town that I could, I created a list ranked from most to least beneficial, and I have been slowly moving through that list since that time. The groups that I have found most helpful are local professional groups in my field of interest and the local business school groups.

Where ever you go, be likable and friendly, and genuinely interested in the people around you. Identify needs that either you can solve or that others you have met can solve and then pair needs with solutions. When reasonable make your solutions freely available. When you do make a connection, be sure to follow up on that connection (otherwise you'll just end up with an extensive collection of business cards). And whenever you follow up, have something interesting and/or useful to share.

Be a good person. The world is a very, very small place.

Find people who know people..

I guess if you don't know a lot of people yourself, then it makes sense to find mentors/well wishers/partners who are well connected.