Two things I wish young professionals and start Founders did more is to focus on networking with each other and doing business with peer company's .
I honestly have created more value in terms of revenue and business opportunity by having linkages with similar sized businesses, whom I can accommodate their needs and they can accomodate mine more naturally without an element of bullying or looking down upon each other capacity.
what i have seen is because we have grown together there is typically more mutual respect, your payment is taken more seriously, the peer company CEO is a colleague etc .
As opposed to punching above my weight where my business 5 years old trys to do business with a company with a balance sheet worth more than $50Million + , they have almost 100 years in business etc .
Whilst yes it sounds sexy to say I do business with this listed company , I often release I can't access their CEO on a one on one, im not a priority vendor etc which makes us a mere stastic within their business and not a partner.
By creating a network of multiple homogenous businesses, their CEOs and the network effects of that I have seen more value
This doesn't mean work with only small businesses but an example is a company whose into Fuel distribution we work with. initially they needed just one rental vehicle as a pool car , as they have grown in size they have needed even 5 rental cars as pool cars and because we have done felixible terms with them, discounted them etc they respect us and we respect them , and I easily can watch a rubgy world cup final with their Chief Executive.
The second point is also on networking , I often see young professionals and even older people targeting the big name as a contact as opposed to a peer. typically again for the reason of focusing on what it sounds like ...... " I know the CEO of this listed bank " and when you asesse the net value of that relationship its typically $0 in value and just an Instagramable moment. The CEO of listed X bank probably has a multitude of service providers in your category, some they have done business with for years and aren't actually going to break off that relationship because of you!
and yet my company doesn't have a cleaning company as yet , doesn't have an official Insurance broker yet , doesn't have a payroll consultant as yet , but you skip me and my 50 other colleagues because we don't have a celebrity name and you want to target CEO of X listed company.
These are my thoughts on a Monday morning at 2:22AM
Farai Marisa Kasese , Founder and CEO of Markase Consultancy.
Nyasha Mudzamba , Founder and CEO of iHarare
Yarutso Car Rental
Yarutso Adventure
Honored to be recognized! Can’t wait to share my journey! MJ 💪🏾❤️