The Fear of Being "All Hat & No Cattle": Why New Entrepreneurs & Struggling Business Owners Don't Network More

My short interment in Texas entitles me to use the phrase “All hat and no cattle”.  I don’t think I’ve ever used that phrase until now, but I’m breaking it out to talk about why entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t network nearly enough and the many ways in which it hurts them.

In Texas the phrase “All hat and no cattle” is used to describe someone who makes big promises but can’t deliver.  He’s a faker, a sham and a blowhard.  No good businessman wants to be any of those things because good business has everything to do with making promises and keeping them.  

This desire to bring something exceptional to the market prevents new entrepreneurs from networking at all, and prevents those with products and services that are a struggle to sell from networking with any frequency. No one wants to enter the market empty handed or with a poor offering . . .

But the truth is, even before you have a product to sell, you should be networking.  Because the best products and services are designed with real customers in mind.  The happiest product launches are to waiting audiences filled with friendly people who are ready to try something new because it comes from someone they trust.  That means networking should happen long before you have a product or service to sell, and that your first step in building a great product or service should probably be finding people to sell it to.

If you are a struggling business owner with a product or service that is really hard to sell, chances are good that your product is at fault.  I can tell you from personal experience that some products just fly off the shelves.  The first Harry Potter book had a small launch, but each and every copy purchased sold others.  One of the best ways to get a great product is to look for the kind of people you want to sell to and find out what kinds of things they want.  Networking allows you to solicit feedback about your products and services that you can use to improve them so they sell themselves.

If you are a new or struggling business owner and you haven’t been dedicating ten hours a week or so to active networking, it’s time to start.  

• Play an active role in groups on and offline. LinkedIn and Meetup are great places to start many networking endeavors. If you can’t find a group you really want to join, create one.
• Help people in your network get the information and resources they need and ask them for the kind of help they can easily provide.  
• Be straightforward in describing where you are at any given time.  “I’m thinking of starting a business and I’m contemplating what kind of product or service will best serve the market” is a great way to explain that you don’t have something great yet, but some day soon you will.
• Use a Customer Management System to track the people you’ve met and worked with. If you’re networking ten hours a week, you’ll find you don’t remember who you know as time goes by.  Having them in a database makes it easier for you to ask them for help, and easier for you to connect them to one another in a fashion that’s beneficial to everyone.

Every entrepreneur and small business owner needs to network even if their business is nothing more than a sparkle in the eye.  

If you aren’t networking ten hours a week, start.  I think you’ll find that in a month you’re a “happy rancher” with a hundred more opportunities and ideas than you have now.

By the way, if you live in the North of England I hope you'll check out the MADE IN 48 HOURS Bootcamp.  Its an accelerated course designed to make your business much more profitable by using the web to radically increase sales.  I hope I see you there.