Business Opportunities Weblog

September 25, 2008 by Angela Shupe | 1 Comment

When you have a business to promote, sometimes the best way to do that is by networking with like-minded individuals. You’ll either find some great business contacts, or you’ll find yourself with a some new customers.

Alison Basson understands the importance of networking in business, as she has made it easier for all kinds of women in all kinds of business to get together and chat within a forum of topics, possibly picking up some advice along the way. Through her latest website, Business Women Unite, women from all areas of the business world are able to join into this welcoming community.

As I was interested in learning more about her approach, I recently asked Alison a few questions about her community and what she hopes to see come from it.

What is Business Women Unite? How long has it been online?

Business Women Unite is a free online community that connects women in business from around the globe and allows them to network, learn, grow, do business and socialise together. Women can promote their business, meet new contacts and get access to the latest business growth tools, experts and advice.

The site was only launched 10 weeks ago

What are some of the benefits received when someone joins? How does someone join your community? Any special requirements?

The benefits are huge when you join; everyone has access to the following

• A business page where you can tell everyone about you and your business, promote your products and services and drive TRAFFIC to your website/business
• Talk to other women in business and experts in our Discussion Forums.
• Access to business experts via our Groups Section
• The ability to position yourself as an expert – and help others to learn and grow.
• Access to our “Information Library” of business advice and experts
• Access to thousands of “friends” who are ready and willing to help you to grow your business – either through sales, advice or ideas.
• Regular “updates” with articles, blogs and forums to make sure your knowledge is cutting-edge and working for you.
• And much more

You also get to connect with thousands of business women who are willing to share, learn and promote with you.

We have no special requirements for joining Business Women Unite as long as you have or work in a business. We even have a few men on the site, who I have to say are treated very well by the women.

All people need to do to join is visit www.businesswomenunite.net and sign up for free.

Through my other business, Mums in Business I came across a lot of women who were not mums who didn’t know where to go to get help and support. I am extremely passionate about helping women develop their businesses. So that lead me to thinking maybe there is a way of creating a network for all women to be a part of. I do have to thank my web guy for finding this website platform otherwise we might not have got Business Women Unite up and going.

How many members do you currently have? What are some of the most common questions asked?

We now have over a 1000 members which is great in such a short period of time. Questions really do vary but mainly people are interested in finding out how to be productive, how to market their business, how to drive traffic to their websites and how to make more money. Our members are also looking for support and feedback from other members.

Do you have any long-term goals for your network? Where would you like to see happen for Business Women Unite in the coming years?

Business Women Unite is very popular and growing rapidly which I would like to continue. It would be great if the network could be the ‘place’ that connects business women from around the globe, kind of like a ‘facebook’ for business women. We have plans to expand the facilities on the website to cater for the growing requirements of our members and have some fantastic updates coming out in October.

Did you have any previous experience that you were able to bring with you into the process of starting and running the community?

I already have an existing business, Mums in Business, so I take my previous experience from starting and running that business. This was a great help as I already had a lot of the resources available to me and know where to promote Business Women Unite once it was ready, which is one of the reason we have over 1000 people in 10 weeks.

Having a good understanding of how the different processes of business fit together saves a lot of time and with creating a community like this really helps. For those business women out there that are wondering how I did it, we will have a section of the site where you will be able to discover some of the strategies I used.

Also the contacts I had made over the last few years really helped as well, as I was able to contact them to help with the community.

Would you ever consider starting more than one business community to fill other niche areas?

I think once you have done it the first time, it will be a lot easy to do it again. If there was a niche out there that was of interest to me and that required this type of community I would definitely look at it. In the next six month or so I will be putting something together so that I can teach other people how to create this type of community for their market.

What resource has been the most helpful during the start-up process?

I had a plan of what I wanted to achieve and by when was a great help, things didn’t always go to plan but it did help me to stay focused.

Having a great team of experts around me who I could outsource work to others was the huge resource. You cannot build something like this from scratch on your own so I am very grateful for the great team.

It also pays to have a strong belief and a lot of passion for what you are doing and I do. Also lot of patience when you create something like this helps as well.

What do you feel separates your community from other communities like it?

I think because I have run businesses prior to launching this site, I have a good understanding of what business women are looking for and we provide that to them. The site is also interactive, so members can give us feedback and help us to develop the site. Also a huge part of Business Women Unite are the amazing women that are joining the network. These are women who truly want to grow and develop in their businesses.

What other resources do you recommend business women check out when they’re looking start or grow their current business?

If you are looking to start a business I would check out your local government business service as most of them have information available to you about starting a business? Also on our Mums in Business website (please don’t worry if you are not a mum), we have a free eBook “So you what to start a business” which will give people a checklist of what to do.

You could check out Business Women Unite as you are able to talk to our experts and other business women who will be able to help you.

Also in October we will have a new section that will show you how to grow and develop your business.

In Internet, Interviews, Networking, Women | 1 Comment