Where do you go to meet other small business owners?

This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Over the years, I've learned that literally 100% of IRL "meet to bounce ideas" is a euphemism for trying to sell me useless shit and services, where I get harassed non stop via email phone and showing up at my office. God forbid they see me in public, running over screaming about how long it's been we need to have lunch etc etc etc

Chamber Of Commerce

Local Rotary clubs are a good place to meet local business owners as well as other like minded individuals

I go to youtube and search for the exact questions I think I need/want to ask other business owners about

95% of the time the videos are way more informative and accurate

Cigar lounges

I’m an African-American woman and I’ve recently come across two groups of professional women groups that are awesome. Both women groups are mostly business owners. I didn’t know they existed. They are a great support and share services all the time.

I do not want to deal with myself, let alone others like me. Is this a thing? A small business owner get-together? Probably chamber of commerce. I always hate those things. It is usually a bunch of struggling small business owners hoping to make sales, selling insurance, or whatever.

Edit: Just read the other comments, see I am not the only one.

I would like to meet someone or some couple that I enjoy hanging out with that has kids the same age and some money to go out from time to time. Trouble is, it is so hard to make the time.

SBA SCORE. Small Business Association

Industry events if your industry does that.

Over the years I have come to the realization that most relationships are not give and take. I tend to associate with those up (customers - owners) and down (suppliers - owners) my stakeholder chain. In those relationships there tends to be a mutual and vested interest to help each other. Most others are driven by self interest and take rather than give. I’m getting to old to develop those relationships

Trade associations (networking meetings), small business meetups, trade shows/conventions, also pitch conventions or pitch competition events are good places! Also, business incubators if you’re a part of one.

I joined the accelerator for Entrepreneur's Organization (EO), and it's great.

You have to have 2M+ in revenue to join EO.

The accelerator is for companies doing 250K-2M in revenue, and it's meant to get you past the 2M/rev number so you can join EO proper.

EO puts together accountability groups of business owners and hosts talks, events, etc. EOA has quarterly educational seminars and a monthly accountability group of similarly sized businesses they connect you to.

I host a weekly business mastermind

We meet up once a week on a group zoom call

We solve problems as a group, set goals hold each other accountable, learn from experts in different areas, members share tactics / strategies that are working for them, and we push each other to win together.

There's different levels, from people just starting out to people running big 8 figure / year companies.

We also have a private networking group to chat between calls.

If you want some info to check it out let me know

The bar

Chamber events, BNI, Meetup Groups. I usually pick things that spark my interest, so that I can learn while networking. There is a local Cyber Security meetup near me that always has great presentations. I am trying Alignable, but so far the folks I am meeting there have not been the greatest or most meaningful connections.

I don't. I have no desire to and my business keeps me plenty busy.

I just don't crave what they have to offer.

I volunteer my time once a month on a committee at the County 911 Center.

Many industries have trade associations (national and regional) that business owners can join. Benefits include networking, educational resources, cooperative buying, trade shows, etc.

Many industries also have internet forums on Facebook.

I go to seminars and mastermind events. Anything local everyone is too guarded.

You can look into BNI, they have local groups in most major cities.

I’ve heard some good/bad things out of it. They do charged like 1k a year, but it gets you in your local group and they limit how many categories are in that group.

I have tried the Alignable platform. Looks promising, made some good connections there. I wonder if there is something similar besides LinkedIn to make good contacts with other business owners.

I've been running my own businesses for almost 10 years now. I've joined a couple chambers and networking groups where the same people tend to show up. This is how I know who's worth my time because they're consistent.

It sounds like you want to be in some sort of mastermind group-I've never seen one that was useful. Most of the time most business owners are too business running their business rather than finding groups like these.

Better question is-WHO do you need to know? I have individual strategic partners for this purpose. For instance I run a backend business ops consulting company so I have an IT strategist, some HR folks, bookkeepers, a bunch if software reps, and some insurance people that work with small businesses. We stay I touch and send each other updates because I know they're skilled and they know I'll probably refer my clients to them for their business.

I have had success joining the local chambers of commerce and various other networking groups in my area, i.e., BNI, etc.

It is also worth poking around local Facebook pages and LinkedIn. Hope this helps. Good luck.

My industry (needlework) has a yearly wholesale show in Nashville every March. I get to see old friends, talk shop with other business owners, designers, manufacturers, etc. We go out to eat, or hang out after hours. It's a very nice group of people (primarily women, but some men, too). Everyone has different ideas and businesses. It's a great time for me to make plans with others in the business for promotions we can run together. I really look forward to it every year and have forged some great friendships!

the local Chamber of Commerce

Country clubs

I’ve gone to a marketing workshop for social media that happened to have many local entrepreneurs and part of the workshop was introducing yourself to others and exchanging 5 social media handles. I sensed it before I actually saw that many of these people didn’t bother to participate in the exercise and actually follow me on social back. It was actually refreshing to instantly see how disinterested or shallow some of these people were because other entrepreneurs watch everything you do but never repost or 🔥♥️ anything you do.

In my personal experience, I’ve met good people at markets or conventions. A genuine interest in others or anything they’re doing/selling is always an opportunity to introduce myself, compliment and support their business. I invite them to my vendor booth as well and usually genuine people worth your time at least stop by and have a look. At this juncture, I’ve probably already followed them on social because I find them interesting and these people always follow back and comment on posts etc etc.

You gotta be a friend to have a friend so if I’m intrigued, I repost their next events or interact on their posts. The good energy is always returned cuz it takes ONE second to repost someones event yet it’s a rare person that actually does.

I prefer a genuine connection and in time (cuz it’s a small world) we’ll see one another again at another market.

Discord! Mostly for the niche I operate in

Chamber of Commerce

I go to my accountant's poker game.

I typically talk to my customers. I have a handful that are around my age, and I bounce ideas off of them. It's good to talk to those in a similar age bracket that have come up in business with the same type of tech/challenges that I have.

I have some suppliers that I do the same. Most of them are older, so with them its more of a been there done that conversation.

Like others have said. If you put together a business owner, meet and greet, it will be 90% people looking for a sale and not conversation.