Showerthought: Local meetups vs online groups for real leads

I spent 3 months hustling in a local entrepreneur meetup in Austin and got maybe 2 lukewarm contacts. Then I joined a niche Slack group for our industry and landed a solid referral in 2 weeks lol. Anyone else find online networks way more useful than in-person ones?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles5818d ago

Oh man, I used to be all about shaking hands and handing out business cards at local meetups! Thought that was the only real way to make connections. But honestly, the online Slack groups and Discords have been way better for me too. I joined a small industry Slack last year and got three solid leads in my first month just by being helpful in the chat. Meanwhile I was going to those Austin networking breakfasts for like six months and mostly just exchanged awkward small talk with people who weren't really in my lane. The online groups just feel way more real and focused.

brooke4753d ago

Three solid leads in a month from just being helpful in chat? That is seriously impressive. Did you go into that Slack with a specific plan, like answering questions or sharing resources, or did you just jump in and let things happen naturally? I feel like being helpful online works way better than those awkward breakfasts because you can pick the exact moments to jump in. No forced small talk about the weather or someone's boring side hustle. I bet you could even track exactly which conversations turned into those leads.

carr.brian8d ago

Heck yeah @miles581, I ditched local meetups months ago and got way more traction in a tiny Slack group too.