Switched from facebook groups to a local chamber and it's night and day

I spent 6 months posting in Edmonton small business groups on facebook and got maybe 2 real leads. A buddy convinced me to join the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce back in February. First networking breakfast I went to, I landed a contract worth $1,200 just from chatting with a guy at the coffee station. The quality of connections is way higher when people actually show up in person. Has anyone else found in person groups way more useful than online ones around here?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_torres17d ago

My buddy runs a small moving company and he was about to quit the Chamber after three months of nothing. Then one morning he sat next to a property manager who handles twelve buildings downtown. That one handshake turned into a steady stream of tenant move-outs every month. He jokes now that he almost skipped that breakfast because his truck needed an oil change. Sometimes it just takes one random conversation to make all the early mornings worth it.

emery1991mo ago

A thousand two hundred bucks is decent money, don't get me wrong. But I've also seen guys at those Chamber breakfasts spend way more on coffee and muffin runs trying to "network" than they ever make back from it. It's just as easy to blow a whole morning talking to someone who's just there to sell you payroll software and never actually needs your service. Online groups are a drag, sure, but at least you can filter out the nonsense without having to put on a collared shirt and make small talk about the Oilers for 45 minutes. Maybe you just got lucky, or maybe in person is actually that different for certain industries.

bennett.vera1mo ago

What industry are you in though? I feel like that makes a huge difference in whether in-person networking is actually worth the time. Like if you're running a landscaping company, maybe the Chamber is gold because you're meeting actual homeowners. But if you're a graphic designer, aren't you better off on Dribbble or Instagram where people are already looking for that stuff?