{"id":1705,"date":"2017-05-25T11:40:17","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T16:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/?p=1705"},"modified":"2020-10-05T15:45:21","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T20:45:21","slug":"connect-peers-improve-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/connect-peers-improve-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Monthly Challenge: Connect More With Your Peers to Improve Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes when you start your own business, you can feel pretty alone. There is a lot of responsibility that falls on your shoulders, and it isn\u2019t always work you can ask others to take on. While this feeling can be isolating within the sphere of your own business, you are not alone. There are thousands of small business owners who share the same thoughts, feelings and experiences. Since they can sympathize better than most and may even have tips to overcome the same challenges you are currently experiencing, these peers can be a great resource to your business.<\/p>\n<p>How do you connect with these peers? We have a few great places to begin your search. Start collaborating now and see your business improve!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Slack Groups<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slack.com\">Slack<\/a>, a collaborative chat tool, houses many groups that could be valuable to you. Try \u201cOnline Geniuses\u201d for feedback, business-based ideas, marketing tips and more.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Quora<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.quora.com\">Quora<\/a> is a question-and-answer-based site that connects you with others who can answer your questions. Quora is an open forum where you post questions to begin a thread, which other users are free to respond to with potentially helpful tips. Search Quora with a specific question, or search by topics like \u201csmall business marketing,\u201d \u201cfinancing for small business,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Reddit<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Similar to Quora, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\">Reddit<\/a> is a discussion website (among other features), but with the added helpful quality of a voting feature. Users can \u201cthumbs up\u201d or \u201cthumbs down\u201d a post, which dictates the comment\u2019s rank on the page. The more positive recognition the post receives, the higher it is ranked. The remarks help reaffirm the quality of the response by other users. Unfortunately, there is no way to be certain about the credibility of the users themselves, but the more popular the post, the more likely the votes are to be accurate \u2014 just bear the uncertainty in mind when you use that information to guide your small business decisions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>StartUpNation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A site created for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, it\u2019s one of the most popular among small business owners. Free to join and full of how-to articles and forums, <a href=\"https:\/\/startupnation.com\/\">StartUpNation<\/a> is a wellspring of knowledge to many small business owners. Networking events are posted regularly, so you can take your online community connection offline as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Small Business Hub<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Information takes on all forms at <a href=\"https:\/\/thesbhub.com.au\/\">The Small Business Hub<\/a>. Users take advantage of different mediums to share information like videos, how-to articles, templates, guides and more. While the page itself doesn\u2019t have a discussion forum, there is a Small Business Hub group to join on LinkedIn for more specific feedback and collaboration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Facebook Groups<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>You may think of your Facebook page as a way to market your business or connect with friends. Think of what you can do when you combine the two! There are many groups available on Facebook for business owners. Look for groups particular to your area or your business type to get started.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If none of these communities appeal to you, don\u2019t be afraid to make your own! It may seem intimidating at first, or you may feel unwise admitting that you don\u2019t know something and need to reach out to others, but the truth is that there are many others out there just like you \u2014 otherwise these online communities would not exist! If you are looking for something more niche, there is sure to be some others out there looking for the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes when you start your own business, you can feel pretty alone. There is a lot of responsibility that falls &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[610,611],"tags":[272,271,155],"class_list":["post-1705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-growth","category-optimizing-your-small-business","tag-small-business-community","tag-small-business-networking","tag-small-business-owners"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Monthly Challenge: Connect More With Your Peers to Improve Your Business - Headway Capital Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do you connect with these peers? We have a few great places to begin your search. Start collaborating now and see your business improve!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/connect-peers-improve-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Monthly Challenge: Connect More With Your Peers to Improve Your Business - Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How do you connect with these peers? We have a few great places to begin your search. Start collaborating now and see your business improve!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/connect-peers-improve-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Headway Capital Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-25T16:40:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-05T20:45:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.headwaycapital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2017\/05\/17-00411-v1-1a01.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"848\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"428\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Barbara Davidson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Barbara Davidson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Monthly Challenge: Connect More With Your Peers to Improve Your Business - Headway Capital Blog","description":"How do you connect with these peers? 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