by Linda Hollander

As an entrepreneur, one of your most valuable business assets is your list. Your database includes customers, prospects and raving fans who can refer you to others.
 
More people on your list mean more sales. If you’re just starting your business, you’ll want to start building your database as soon as possible.



Right now, there are over 15,000 people in my proprietary Wealthy Bag Lady list, but as an entrepreneur just like you, I started out with zero, nothing, zilch, nada!
 


Here are some techniques for building your list.

•  Joint Ventures: Do joint ventures with experts who have an established database. You can leverage their database and credibility by doing teleclasses, webinars, referrals and web links. By doing a teleclass with a woman who had a tremendous fan base, I was able to increase my database by 500 people in one day.

•  Email capture on your web site: Have a way to capture people’s contact information on your web site. Offer an incentive for people to give you their contact information such as a free gift or special report.

•  Write books and articles: You don’t need to publish a traditional hard copy book. You could write an e-book, booklet, articles, special reports and tip sheets. These will give you expert status and grow your database.

•  Networking meetings, trade shows and your own event: People still do business with people, not faceless corporations. Nothing takes the place of meeting someone in person. At networking meetings and trade shows, have some form of lead generation such as a raffle prize. The ultimate way to build your brand is hosting your own event.

•  Public speaking: Speaking builds your platform and gets your message out to more people. Remember to collect the names of the people in the audience. Like most people, I was afraid of public speaking for most of my life. Then I learned to change my fear into excitement.

•  Media releases: My favorite sources are PRWeb.com and PRNewswire.com. Write a media release and submit it to online and traditional media about your business.

•  Social networking web sites: Facebook and LinkedIn have grown my database by leaps and bounds. Remember that with social networking web sites, blatant promotion of your business is frowned upon. Create relationships first. Then tell people about your business.