These Are The Best Businesses To Open At The Beach

When it comes to opening a business at the beach you need to consider some very specific things including how you will deal with seasonal-only work. However, despite these challenges beach-side business can be very profitable, and a great investment. To that end, if you are considering opening a beachside business check out our top suggestions below. 

Gift shop 

 

Think back to the last time you were at the beach. Do you remember those shops that sold a mixture of souvenirs, inflatables, snacks and drinks? Well, those are gift shops and you can certainly make a lot of money by running one on the coast. 

 

Gift shops are a good investment because people like to take home a memento of their trip when they visit the coast on vacation. They are also likely to be less strict about their budgets as they are there enjoying themselves. Lastly, many people bring their children and grandchildren to the beach, so there is plenty of potential to sell toys, inflatables, and treats to them. 

 

Fishing tours 

 

One of the best options for a business by the beach is to offer fishing tours. This is where you hire out your boat, and yourself as a guide to the tourists, taking them to the best spots to fish in your local area. 

 

To run successful fishing tours you will need to have the right equipment such as rods and tackle and you will need a safe boat in good condition. You will also need to find some secure boat storage in which to keep your boat during the off-season. This is because you won’t be allowed to moor it on the beach without permission, and even if you do you’ll risk it incurring expensive damage in the poor off-season winter weather. 

 

Dinner Cruises

 

Another option for those with a boat is to offer dinner or sunset cruises. These provide an added experience for people visiting the area, helping them make extra special memories. The most successful dinner cruisers will combine good food with great views, and even a chance for some drinking and dancing once dinner is over.  

 

Restaurants

 

Also on the theme of serving food, running a restaurant in a beachside location can be a wonderful way of making some good money too. The good news here is that there are many different types of establishments to choose from. For example, you may want to offer takeaway or sit-down fish and chips or upmarket seafood like Oysters, which are always popular at the coast. However, it’s also totally possible to make a good profit from other types of food such as Italian, Mexican, and Chinese, as long as you are in a place where people come to stay and visit more than just a single night. 

 

Beach Bar

 

If there is one thing that people love to do at the coast, it’s to sip a chilled drink when the weather is hot. That means our last suggestion for a beach-side business has to be a bar.

 

Of course, you’ll need to get your drink offerings right to run a successful beach bar, but also make sure to think about the theme of your bar, the decor, and the music you play. 

 

Different Ways To Upgrade Your Business

When you start your business, if you don’t have a large lump sum to get you going, you may start with secondhand items or renting out different spaces without having anything of your own. However, once your business starts taking off and your profits are getting bigger and bigger, you can start thinking about investing that money back into the business and upgrading it to make it even better. There are different ways that you can upgrade your business and it depends on what type of business you’re running whether it’s a factory, a small shop or a café. No matter what your business is, you can always put some time, effort and money into upgrading it to make it better. It would also help you stand out against your competitors as well, by continuously improving the business.

 

Look At Getting New Equipment

 

When you are looking to upgrade your business, you may also want to get new equipment. This could be wanting to upgrade the equipment to a better version or getting something which could streamline the business into being more efficient and productive. One thing to do when you’re looking to upgrade things in your company is to speak to your staff. They are working every day in it and they are aware of what can be streamlined and what sort of things are failing the business so you can focus on replacing them. You may want to look at a new, more technological Piece of equipment to help your business run more smoothly and you can do some research into things like what is CNC milling or finding an automation system to help you book appointments for your clients. These different things will help your business grow and look better to staff customers.

 

Think About Your Staff

 

When you’re looking to upgrade your business, you may find one of the things you can do is hire more people. If you have a bit of money to be able to put back into your business and you find that sort of things aren’t progressing as you would like, just simply because you don’t have enough manpower, then you could look to Get an assistant or get a new employee to take on some of the workloads or you could even outsource some tasks to a freelancer or different outsourcing companies to free up your staff time to do the important things. A good way to upgrade your business and make it more efficient is by having happy staff. If you have a happy workforce, they are more likely to work hard for you and Want to contribute towards the success of your business rather than dragging themselves to work all day and doing the bare minimum for a paycheck. Get them excited about the business, get them involved and make sure they’re happy. There are little ways you can show your appreciation by taking them out for meals, buying them breakfast occasionally and just praising them and appreciating the work they do every day.

 

5 Necessary Business Reinvestments to Make

There are a few necessary business investments that provide huge benefits to the company moving forward. And there isn’t really any excuse since money that is reinvested into a business is tax deductible. From new equipment to employee training, here are some suggestions.

Finding the Best Talent

One of the most expensive tasks for any business, in terms of time and money, is finding the right employees. As such, it helps to use some of your profits to ensure you find the best people for the jobs you need filling. It is clear that paying more is the key to hiring top talent, according to Checkr’s new study. The budget should contribute to extra time for drafting job descriptions, advertising the role, and hiring professional interviewers to help with the key final stages.

Updated Tech and Equipment

Technology moves at a rapid pace, and not upgrading will ensure you lose out to competitors who use the latest advantages. Imagine if your competitor uses AI to rapidly assist with customer service while your services are based solely on phone contact. Or some of your equipment is deemed useless as it isn’t compatible with a newer version of a required operating system. Computers, software, and machinery must all be upgraded as and when it’s necessary.

Marketing Business Reinvestments

It’s almost impossible to compete these days without a marketing strategy. Print and traditional marketing will help. But most people use online gateways for interaction these days. Therefore, digital marketing should be a priority. Professionals such as Laurel Mintz of Elevate My Brand recommend that around 12% to 20% of projected revenue should be invested in your marketing efforts. Digital marketing agencies can help with SEO, PPC, and getting your SMB noticed.

Employee Training and Education

Hiring employees is only the start, and your business relies on a solid and reliable employee structure. It can be challenging to find a reliable hierarchy that works well and even harder to maintain. One of the key areas of reinvestment should, therefore, be your employees. Training and education can permeate your business and make it easier to retain top talent. Is there anyone better to fill critical roles than the people who understand the company inside and out?

A Business Emergency Fund

No business is invulnerable to emergencies. Anything can happen at any time, and recent events such as COVID have proven that fact. Many SMBs had to close because there was no emergency cash to continue paying bills, which didn’t stop just because the world did. It is recommended that you have around two to three months’ worth of operating costs stored in an emergency fund. This helps ensure your company can weather a storm when one hits.

Summary

Recruitment for the best employees possible is one of the best business reinvestments to make. It also helps to allocate up to 20% of projected revenue for any marketing efforts. And around three months’ worth of operating costs will help ensure you can stay open during a crisis.

 

Seamless Methods To Instantly Make an Online Sale

Your number one goal as a business owner is to encourage your ideal customers to say “yes” to the products or services you’re offering and make as many sales as possible. Sometimes just a few small tweaks and changes to the way you operate your online business can be the difference between a successful sale and a close call. Whether you’re trying to grow your ecommerce business quickly, or you’re hoping for a quick rush of sales during the festive season, here are a handful of seamless methods which will allow you to instantly make an online sale when you employ them consistently.

 

Be The First Option They See

 

When your target audience searches for a particular keyword on their mobile phone or laptop, you need to be a visible option to them, otherwise you’re going to struggle to make that all important sale. It may take some time to become the first option they see, but it’s definitely a possibility that you can work towards. You may want to explore the idea of seo for your online business so that you are leveraging the power of keywords and helping your business move up the ranks quickly and effectively.

 

Showcase High Quality Images

 

If you’re selling a particular product, handmade item or offering a results based service, you need to showcase high quality images on your website. This will not only serve as a visual aid for your consumers hoping to envision the product, but it also helps to add professional flair to your online presence. When your images are clear and sharp, your business reputation will come across as positive and polished to your target audience.

 

Make the Customer Journey Clear and Simple

 

This may sound like an obvious point, but is it explicitly clear where your customer needs to go next in order to move closer to the checkout page? When you are designing your website, you always need to have the user experience in mind, and create a customer journey that’s seamless, simple and very clear.

 

Write Persuasive Copy

 

The copy, or words, on your website have the power to tell a story and create a picture in your reader’s mind. Your goal is to persuade your reader to instantly take actions on your website and this can be done through the power of words. From calls to action, to emotional copy, there are so many ways to use copy to make regular online sales on your website.

 

As you can see, there are a whole host of different options when it comes to making sales quickly, smoothly and seamlessly. Many of these ideas won’t cause too many changes in the day to day running of your business, and they’ll be very easy to incorporate into your website. Whether you’re cleaning up your customer journey, enhancing your copy with a professional touch or delving deep into SEO so that your business is always at the forefront of your target audiences’ mind.

What SEO Can Do for Your Business

SEO can do amazing things for your blog, business website, or even real-world store. Like magic, the elements that optimize your site for search engines work together to attract the right traffic and deliver results, from increasing organic sessions to boosting sales metrics. It all starts with a single page and some research, or you can pay for a specialist service. Either way, SEO is a valuable tool that every online and offline business needs, whether they know it or not.

Appeal to Your Core Demographics

One of the wonders of SEO is that you can use it as a tool to focus your efforts on appealing to core demographics. Why? Well, you don’t want 85-year-olds who sell hot yoga gear coming to your site. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, but your ideal customer would be women between 20 and 40, as these are most likely to buy. Any reputable web design company offers SEO services so you can get a boost in traffic using the right keywords in your content.

SEO Can Do Wonders for Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is the end result of good SEO. But what is it? Essentially, organic traffic is unpaid traffic, i.e., traffic that hasn’t come as the result of a marketing campaign such as pay-per-click (PPC). You need organic traffic to your site because you can then funnel those users to potential sales. This is an effective strategy that delivers most of your traffic since only around 15% comes from paid strategies, while around 53% arrives organically as a result of SEO.

Integration with Modern AI Systems

AI is everywhere now, and it shows no sign of going anywhere with the new advances in “AGI.” Whether you love it or loathe it, the fact remains that AI can be very useful, especially for SEO purposes. You see, it is possible to use AI for SEO research, such as finding the richest keywords for content. Of course, you must be careful when using AI because it can impede search ranking based on Google’s “EEAT” guidelines, but this relates specifically to content.

Offers Cost-Effective Marketing

You will love this one. SEO doesn’t have to cost a penny. This makes it the most valuable tool for marketing you have. If you get it right, it pays off big time, and it doesn’t touch your budget. Of course, it takes time, and that can be more valuable than cash these days. But this is what makes SEO an excellent tool for beginners and new sites. Yet, like anything, SEO can be boosted with paid-for campaigns such as backlinking, content, and edits via specialist services.

Brings Users Across Other Devices

Smartphone proliferation is at its highest ever these days, and it is hard to find someone who doesn’t own one or a tablet. Mobile devices are the most widely used for searching the web these days because of the convenience, so you must cater your site and SEO to these:

  • Include responsive elements in your overall website design.
  • Think about the user experience and test it as much as you can.
  • Only use popups when necessary, such as for email subscriptions.
  • Ensure the navigation elements are clean, clear, and easy to use.
  • Include image alt tags and meta descriptions across your site.
  • Focus on improving the load time to boost the credibility of your site.
  • Develop a separate mobile-only URL alternative for your site.

You will only lose out if your site isn’t optimized for SEO. Many users will click away from your site if it fails to load quickly or has elements that look bad on a mobile device’s screen. Further, Google will also decrease your SERP ranking if you don’t address mobile optimization.

Increases Local Visibility

There are various types of SEO, and each plays a specific role. One of the most overlooked is Local SEO. Local SEO is data that speaks to a search engine based on geographic location. This can be an excellent supplement for a website, but it will also improve your physical visibility. For example, when someone searches for a dog grooming salon in their local area, Google will display results based on closeness and reputation, and you will also show up on Google Maps. 

Helps You Beat the Competition

It is easy to assume that everyone uses SEO, but this isn’t the case. Not all business owners are aware of SEO, let alone what it can do for a business. Just by using on-page SEO (such as keywords) for website content, you are immediately in a more advantageous position than competitors who don’t include it and will, therefore, be ranked higher on a results page. So, of course, this leads to increased visibility and more awareness of your company and brand.

SEO Can Do Results the Right Way

All your SEO efforts are designed to deliver results. When SEO is handled correctly, the results can be astonishing. For example, services such as WebFX can deliver session increases of over 3000% by implementing a strong SEO strategy. Visibility is everything when it comes to Google and other search engines. But for a results-driven marketing strategy, SEO needs to be part of your business plan, given the relatively low cost and the achievements that can be made.

Improves the User Experience

A positive user experience is vital for a modern business. People won’t come back to a bad website or service. Google knows this, too. Back in the day, a solid SEO campaign would be all that was needed. But today, SEO delves into the experience, too, and Google will penalize a poor experience. To start, your site must be easy to get around, load quickly, and minimize annoyances such as banners and popups. But remember that content is always king.

Summary

Focusing on the customers most likely to buy is just one of the things SEO can do for your business. Another key fact is that SEO is very cost-effective and begins for free. With a solid SEO campaign, you can expect amazing results that deliver what you and your customers want.

 

Improve Your Financial Future

My whole business model is built with the idea of inspiring you to have multiple streams of revenue. Even when your brand is successful, you should always be bringing it other forms of revenue. This can be done through so many ways! 

You can boost your earnings    and make your financial future more secure by doing some things.

Make A Good Budget That Enables Savings 

Having a good budget is another way to make the most of the money you already have. You might already keep a close eye on what you spend, but if you don’t, you should make a budget as soon as you can. Start with your fixed costs and see if you can cut any of them, like by switching service providers for some of them. Then, look at your variable costs and think about how much you spend on them now and if you can cut that amount. For example, there are frequently numerous ways to spend less money on food in order to save more money.

Make A Plan For Your Career 

Most people get most of their money from their jobs. You might just have a job to make money, or you might have a career that you want to move up in. Any field, like fast food, retail, marketing, or engineering, can be a field of work. Most of the time, as you move up in your career, you can earn more money. If you want to move up in your job, you need to make a plan to get there. Think about where you want your career to be in a year, three years, or five years and what you want it to look like. Then, find out what it will take to get there and make a plan for how you’ll get there.

Find Ways To Diversify Your Income 

You can think about ways to make money besides your main source of income. Think about how you could make different streams of income that could help you make more money and make your finances more stable. It’s something that a lot of rich people do. Bill Clinton made a lot of money from many different sources, like book deals and public speaking. Many other politicians, actors, musicians, reality TV stars, and others have done the same thing. There are many ways to find new ways to make money, such as starting a business, obtaining a part-time job, freelancing, and so on.

Consider your financial situation 

There is no point trying to improve your financial future if you don’t take stock of your current situation when it comes to money. Are their debts? Do you need to consider your future settlements? What goals do you have financially and does your current situation mean you can reach them? This is when it may be time to look at speaking with experts in financial hardships who could look at all of your options for you. Dealing with your current situation and budget now will only help you improve your financial future.

Look At Investing 

Putting your money into investments is another way to make more money, and it could help you get ready for the future. Investing is a great way to make your money grow over time, which is great if you’re saving for retirement. You can invest your money while you’re working and then use it to replace your income when you decide to stop working. You can figure out how much money you’ll need to live on in retirement to have the kind of life you want. This will help you set investment goals so you can make sure you have enough money to take care of yourself in the future. Investing can help you make more money in the near future, but it can also be used to help you make more money now.

When you’re making a plan to start investing, you should also decide how much risk you’re willing to take. Usually, if you want the chance of bigger returns, you have to be willing to take bigger risks. It’s also important to know that all investments have dangers, even if some are extremely risky compared to others. When you invest your money, there is always a chance that you could lose it. This means that it can hurt your income instead of helping it grow. It’s a good idea to look at things like a  dogecoin overview. I’ve been a fan of crypto for a while and continue to be, as long as you’re careful with what you’re investing in and not putting every penny of your savings into the market.

Remember You May Need To Change Your Plans

It’s smart to make a plan, but it’s also important to be open to change. When things aren’t going well or when things change, it’s not always smart to stick to your plan. So it makes sense to look over your plan every so often and see what you’re doing right and what you might want to change. You might decide to switch careers, reconsider your investments, or do something else that will change how much money you can make.

Make a plan to increase your income, and you could give yourself a more secure future. If you want to save money, just watch out for lifestyle creep.

Which Idea To Pursue?

There’s a common thread I find among aspiring entrepreneur’s and current business owners, and it’s the decision of which idea to pursue. Earlier this week, I spoke with Jake Kelfer who founded the Elevation Summit (click the link here to join the summit) and we both agreed that the special part about being an  entrepreneur is the way to the top, not the idea of what happens when you’re at the top. This journey is about the journey, not the end goal. If you’re an aspiring business owner and you don’t think like that, you may want to shift your thinking.

Jake Kelfer

The above graphic with 3 numbers is a graphic I’ve used when deciding what type of idea to pursue. If you can condense your ideas into one “Shark Tank” style sentence pitch, you’re on the fast track to success. If you don’t find any of your ideas are screaming to you (to the point where you wake up and go to bed thinking about this) then WAIT until you have that one idea I like to call the money idea. There is no one certain way to start a business, but there are certain steps you can take to get to that success we all want. 

Remember, you DO NOT need money to start a business! You need passion.

More business tips for choosing the idea to pursue: 

Conduct market research: Market research will tell you if there’s an opportunity to turn your idea into a successful business. It’s a way to gather information about potential customers and businesses already operating in your area. Use that information to find a competitive advantage for your business.

Write your business plan: Your business plan is the foundation of your business. It’s a roadmap for how to structure, run, and grow your new business. You’ll use it to convince people that working with you — or investing in your company — is a smart choice.

Choose a business structure: The legal structure you choose for your business will impact your business registration requirements, how much you pay in taxes, and your personal liability.

Do you have what it takes to be a business owner?

Conduct market research: Market research will tell you if there’s an opportunity to turn your idea into a successful business. It’s a way to gather information about potential customers and businesses already operating in your area. Use that information to find a competitive advantage for your business. Focus on your niche and build your marketing approach around that too. X Social Media legal industry experts can help you if you want to grow a legal firm, for example.

Get expert advice. Countless other entrepreneurs would’ve been in the same position as you, and it’s always worth hearing what they have to say. David Shulick is a great example of this. By listening to experts, you could end up learning more than a few things that’ll help you with your business.

How to Avoid You and Your Employees from Getting Sick in the Workplace

If COVID has taught businesses one thing, it’s that getting sick can be costly, like super costly. While at one point in time, there was this expectation that employees should still show up to work, even if they’re sick, thankfully remote work is a thing, or even just allowing them to take a day off, something that thankfilly more businesses are actually embracing. With that said, this still doesn’t really stop viruses like the common cold or flu from spreading, and these are usually pretty prevalent, especially in the autumn and winter months.  

 

But in general, all businesses need to play their part in keeping their employees safe and revitalized, and of course, focus on maintaining a healthy office environment since this is crucial for the well-being of employees (and the overall productivity of the workplace). Since nowadays there’s a better understanding of the ever-present threat of illnesses, it’s essential for businesses to take proactive measures to create a workspace that promotes health and hygiene. 

 

As a business owner with a team, what exactly can you do to make sure that not only do you avoid getting sick, but your team avoids it too, and no one gets sick? Well, here’s what you need to know!

Promote Regular Hand Hygiene 

Chances are pretty high that everyone is sick of hearing this since it was on repeat for a few years during the pandemic, but this is true, and it needs to be acknowledged. So, be sure to encourage a culture of regular handwashing by providing accessible hand sanitizers, soap dispensers, and tissues throughout the office. It’s simple, and just having these around usually creates the culture within itself to promote it, but of course, signs around the workspace could help out, too. 

There Needs to be a Cleaning Routine

It’s up to you whether you want to hire a qualified cleaner or implement a cleaning routine where all the employees clean up (since some businesses do this). But regardless of who does the task(s), this needs to be done right. So, be sure to establish a robust cleaning routine to disinfect commonly touched surfaces such as doorknobs, light switches, shared equipment, and office supplies- basically everything that gets touched everyday. 

 

Also, whoever is cleaning is, of course, going to have to do the regular cleaning of desks, keyboards, and communal spaces, too, since these can significantly reduce the transmission of germs. For the most part, it’s best to hire professionals to take care of this since it’s a lot that needs to be cleaned and disinfected. 

Encourage Remote Work When Necessary 

So, not every business is going to have the luxury to do this, but if you run a business where people can be remote, then it might be best when they’re sick. If they’re showing symptoms or just don’t feel well enough, why put the rest of the team at risk? It’s going to be your fault for making this sick employee show up to work, and then the risk is so much higher for everyone else to get sick.  In general, just keep in mind that remote work options can help prevent the spread of contagious diseases within the office and support employees in taking the necessary time to recover.

Consider the Air Quality

Since Autumn and Winter are the two biggest seasons where colds, flu, and other viruses spread around, it’s going to be best to look into the air quality of the workplace before one of these two seasons happens.  So, why exactly does the air quality matter so much?  Good ventilation helps dilute and disperse airborne contaminants, creating a healthier indoor environment. A lot of illnesses are usually spread in the air (more than what people seem to realize), so looking into the HVAC and even an air purification system can really help.

Create a Flexible Sick Leave 

Who actually benefits from forcing their employees to show up to work sick? They’re not going to be productive, and they’re increasing the risk of getting others sick. So, as a business owner, it’s honestly going to be in your best interest (and that employees) if you went ahead and implemented flexible sick leave policies that encourage employees to stay home when they are unwell without fear of negative consequences. 

 

Creating a supportive environment for sick employees helps prevent the spread of illness to colleagues, plus it’s going to allow them to recover way quicker. You need to think of this as a holistic approach because forcing employees to go to work when they’re sick is only going to make the business suffer in the long run. 

 

What’s The Best Attitude For A Business Owner To Adopt?

Modern business owners need to have their finger on the button. They need to be everything to everyone all at once, with plenty of network connections they can rely on. That’s what a good business owner is these days, right? 

Not at all. A good business owner simply has the right attitude. They’re also aware of their shortcomings and the gaps in their knowledge that need to be filled by someone else. So if you’re worried about your business’ chances for this year and the next, we’re here to tell you the future is brighter than you think!

Try to Avoid Panicking

 

When something goes wrong, it’s easy to think it’s all over. Your business is down the drain and you’re never going to recover. However, this is rarely the case. You’re just panicking, and that isn’t good for anyone! It’s best to try and avoid this reaction in the business world, as a more positive, practical attitude will always win out. If something goes wrong, your first thought should be about what you need to do to fix it. Then, what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. 

 

Respect Your Own Journey

 

You have your own story. That’s not a bad thing. No matter how you got your business idea or how your company was formed, respect just how much work has gone into establishing it. People like jonathan martin nfl are big advocates of this. 

 

Say your story starts with you being fired, and you were on the verge of being homeless. But then you decided to put your last few dollars into opening a website, and the rest is history. Let the world know about that – it’s relatable, and it proves you understand the need for your product. That’s an easily respectable attitude in the business world. 

 

Have Trust in Your Team

 

If you don’t trust your team, you’re never going to pull a proper business together. After all, it’s hard for one person to do it all alone. You can’t juggle everything yourself, and you’re also unlikely to have all the skills necessary for business success as well. So build a team that you can trust. Build a team you’re happy to delegate to and leave in charge when you’re away or off ill. Trust is king behind closed doors!

 

Let Your Creativity Shine

 

Anyone who opens up your own small business is going to have a sense of creativity about them. Let this shine through! Let your ideas fly, incorporate them into your marketing, and allow your own sense of color and style lead the way in your branding. Creativity can often be put aside for the traditional in business, but if you want to stand out, let it pull customers in with its sense of unique magnetism. 

 

The best attitude for business owners is a combination of the points above. Be creative, be honest, have trust, and respect where you’ve come from. And don’t let yourself panic!

How to Pull Off An Amazing Networking Event as a New Entrepreneur

One of the biggest challenges any new entrepreneur faces is being judged by the more seasoned business owners out there. Even getting a 5 minute call on the phone can be more difficult than trying to persuade a lion to swim in the sea. So, that’s why it’s a good idea to host your own networking event.

It might sound crazy and unachievable, but when you’re trying to build a name for yourself and some credibility in your sector, a networking event is the perfect opportunity to get everyone that’s important in your industry together. It’s a fast, fun and simple way of moving your social status from naive entrepreneur to a business leader that people listen to. You’ll be responsible for a cracking event that brought incredible entrepreneurs together to talk business, which is something only leaders can pull off. Plus, you’ll get a ton of exposure from the back of it, which is a win for your business.

 

Here’s some tricks to help you pull off your very own networking event:

Get early registrations

You’ll be inviting pretty much everyone in your industry that you can think of, but the truth is not everyone will be able to make it. By using a registration app you’ll be able to get a good idea of the number of people coming, meaning you can cater and plan even easier. Plus, they’ll get a reminder closer to the date, which means those that register are more likely to show up.

Choose an amazing venue

The venue you choose will make a difference, so take your time with this one. You’ll need to rent a space that’s easily accessible and has plenty of parking. An upscale hotel is always a great place to start, especially if you have guests making a long journey to attend. They can check in, attend your amazing networking event, and not have to worry about the journey home (especially if they’ve enjoyed a few drinks in the process).

Have guests check in

Whether or not you’re charging people to enter your event is up to you, but you should have your guests check in. While it’s useful for counting the number of attendees, you can also pick up email addresses and phone numbers to follow up with people after the event is finished. Once they know it’s you that planned and hosted the whole thing, you’re more likely going to be able to get that call you wanted.

Speak to everyone

Yes, absolutely everyone. Make yourself known. Welcome them to your event, buy cards and hand them out, and make sure they don’t forget who you are in a hurry. Ask questions and genuinely listen. People are more likely to remember you if you create genuine conversation.

Introduce people

Finally, while you’re speaking to people, take a mental note of what they do and introduce them to other people they may get on with or could do business with. By creating these connections people will remember you, thank you, and certainly think of you when it comes to their next big business idea.