Behind the Scenes: Attending Business Expos

Part six of our Behind the Scenes series examines the many choices business owners face when it comes to using their time wisely.

When it comes to owning and operating a small business, there are often too many things to do and not enough time to do them. You are not just an owner - you are a web designer, marketing director, social media networker, sales person, and more! This means your time is valuable, and it can be hard to decide where your time and energy is best spent.

Yesterday, we attended a business expo hosted by our local Sarpy County Chamber of Commerce. We had attended one about a month ago hosted by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, but felt overwhelmed and did not receive a fantastic response simply because we are in a very competitive business where little guys are often overlooked. It was a difficult decision, and we almost decided not to go simply because we felt our time might be better spent working on some more online marketing techniques.

However, we decided to give it a go, and we are so very glad we did! We were greeted by a much smaller, more personal event and in the process were able to meet several key contacts that are sure to help our business grow. We were not looked down on because we run our business from a home office, and even had two offers to include us in their networking clubs as "the shirt people"! Though we spent only 2 hours at the event, we walked away with better networking and marketing than our online techniques could have provided us at this current time.

Since we are still trying to decide on where our chamber money should go (we have a local town chamber, the larger metro chamber, and the county chamber to choose from), this was a key event that showed us that we can still make a name for ourselves when presented the opportunity to work with a smaller group of individuals. This means we ruled out the metro chamber, and will now try to choose between our local town chamber and the county chamber.

What experiences have you had recently that made you glad you used your time on them?

Jess Buike is the owner of Java Jess Publishing. To find out more about her business, check out her store here.