By Joe Smith
As a Director of UHY Haines Norton CQ and as President of the Gladstone Chamber of Commerce and Industry I cannot emphasise enough the importance of getting out there to networking and other events taking place in the region.
In recent times we have seen a reduction in numbers at networking events which is most likely due to the concerns of people regarding the COVID situation. However, I also believe that business owners have also got out of the habit of networking after the gap in events while restrictions were in place.
Central Queensland has been booming for the past two years and the time pressures on business owners and managers have also been a factor. Further to this I believe that there may also be an element of complacency involved as work just seems to be falling into the laps of businesses. However, it is always best practice to keep in mind that things may not always be this way, so it is important to keep getting out there to promote your business to ensure that the pipeline of work is still in place when the economy goes through a different part of the cycle.
Some people also don’t like to network due to a number of reasons. The best advice that I could give to these people would be to not think of it as networking and to think of it as building business relationships and connections. As with anything else in life it takes an effort to make something a success and a critical part of being in business it is building relationships and making connections.
To the people who may be a little shy and not keen on networking my advice to you would be to partner up with someone who is more outgoing and get along to an event. They can then do the initial introductions and then give you an opportunity to speak to people in a smaller group where you may feel more comfortable. And once you get out of you comfort zone you may actually enjoy it!
At UHY Haines Norton CQ we believe in building long term business relationships with our clients and business groups in Central Queensland. If you would like to work with business advisors who are passionate about the success of our region please call UHY Haines Norton CQ on 07 4972 1300 or email info@uhyhncq.com.au