Written by Yvonne Padgett - ReferMyHomeBiz.com

Have you heard about Meetup.com and what they have to offer ? I've talked about networking groups in another blog, but this one is unique for a few reasons so I wanted to blog about it separately.

The land of Meetup.com can offer you specialty groups for anything you are into as well as groups to help you with your business.

I'm involved in several. Some are purely social lunches once a month (15 women in the back room of Mimi's restaurant) to networking lunches where we all go around the table and talk about our businesses as well as pass out business cards, to meeting at Chick-Fil-A where there is a playland for the kids so Mom's can get together to network. Whatever the venue it's a great way to connect with other like minded people.

If there is not a meetup in your area, you can start one! There is a small cost to being an organizer so feel free to charge what you need to cover the cost or the cost of a restaurant meeting room if necessary. For most members that works out to be $1 - $5.

Just keep in mind that if you want to meet with stay-at-home Mom's during the middle of the day, there needs to be a playland for kids. And in that case, it's best to only have 5-6 in attendance so everyone gets a chance to talk and share and get to know each other a little bit. These are not about large groups, but small groups that really get an opportunity to connect with each other.

I was at a restaurant meetup the other day and we had a woman who had just heard about meetup groups the night before and her friend in another state was walking her through it over the phone and found our group and said, "they are meeting tomorrow!" so she showed up and it was great to meet her.

The groups do change members as people's lives get busy, so it's not always the same people.  But even if you do see the same people over and over, each meeting is a chance to learn more about them and their business and don't be shy about asking for referrals!

Another woman at the meetup the other day was involved with the same networking marketing business I'm in (which it's always great to meet new women who are new to the business), but she didn't want to build her business through friends, instead she wanted to do it online. Others feel the same in that they want to build it online but they don't want to call leads. She mentioned that she wanted to find another way to connect up with people who are attracted to her by her personality instead of by her having to say "do you want to hear about my business?". So she's the exact reason I started this website (ReferMyHomeBiz.com)! It's to help people like her, and all home based business entrepreneurs who are passionate about their businesses and want to find a way that works well for them to expand their business.

One of the things that I both like and don't like is that at the end of the meeting, I've got a handful of business cards to bring home (good) but  when I'm ready to do business with one of these awesome business owners, I sometimes cannot find their cards (bad)! So that's another reason I started this website was to give those business owners a place to post their information locally so I can find them again when I'm ready to either do business with them or to refer them!

At these groups, be sure to spread the word about how we can also help their business grow at ReferMyHomeBiz.com!