Sista-to-Sista: Online Networking Works!

After creating several blogs, forums, and posts about online networking I thought I would take a moment to share how it has actually worked for me in my business endeavors. I’ll start my story somewhere in the middle, when I randomly posted about my e-book for Black parents in a yahoo newsgroup. Shortly after the post, I was quite happy to find out that my Black Parenting Guide was featured in Black Woman and Child Magazine.

Of course one had washes the other, so I started plugging BWC on my sites and in my new web guide series Mahogany Momma. Shortly after creating the first few guides I was invited via email to purchase a vendor table at the solo mommy magazine Mother’s Day brunch. The price was right so I bought table, and boy am I glad I did. Though my profit return was not as great as I wanted in to be, my network return went through the roof.

It was at the solo mommy event that I met Lenny, host of the LMS TV Show. Lenny is a great guy and avid support of black authors. Shortly after the brunch, he invited me to a TV Interview for Authors at the Sister Uptown Bookstore, and what an event it was!

Apart from the being able to talk about my book on TV (A Better Today Brings A Brighter Tomorrow: Youth Programs for Minority Students) I got to network with more seasoned authors and sistapreneurs. The Sister Uptown Bookstore is both an amazing space and great networking hub for authors; the owners are so welcoming you feel more like family than anything else. If you are a New Yorker, I recommend you stop by and support the store.

Now at the TV/ Book Signing I also happened to meet several talented sistapreneurs like the authors of Get ‘Em Girls Guide, a Sassy Girl’s Cookbook – three lovely ladies whose partnership actually began from connecting online. I also met a new friend Tikka author of “Forever Autumn”.

As luck would have it many of us were going to be at the Harlem Book Fair 2007, so the Tv interview was also a great opportunity to talk about expectations and preparation for the fair, which also turned out to be a success. It was there that I met yet another sistapreneur, Audrey Bell-Kearney, author of 6 Figure Sister. Like myself, Audrey is in the Business of helping fellow Sistas of Color succeed, so she and I definitely will network further in the future.

Now, I’m going to stop this story here. It’s not the end exactly, but it’s just enough to let you know how one little post has brought me a wealth of new connections, event opportunities, and most importantly money. After all, at the end of the day we all want to get paid. Connecting with like-minded individuals and experts has helped me improve my business skills and expand my exposure to the public.

Hopefully my networking success thus far is just a taste of bigger things to come and a small source of inspiration for you to get out there and do some networking for yourself!

* Learn How to Build Your Black Business Online
* Want to find out all my favorite networking spaces?
Check out my e-book: 50 Networking Websites for Black Women

Oh one more thing! If you have a networking story to tell, please add a comment. I would love it if we could share stories of how networking is more than just an idea – it is real and it works.

Each One Teach One
-lhenry