Five – Networking for Entrepreneurs

I looked at my phone the moment I stepped off the train.  It was half past five.  The next event at six o’clock was entitled, ‘how to move your business to the next level’.  My phone told me the journey time between London Euston and Charing Cross station was eight minutes.  This left me just enough time to grab a cheeky bite to eat, and walk to the venue which was close to The Savoy Hotel. The venue turned out to be a pub, and the event was well signposted.  In an upstairs room I found a total of five people chatting, exchanging business cards. 

‘Do you run a business?’ asked Tony, who later turned out to be the star attraction of the evening.

‘No, I don’t.  I’m in technology, and I’m interested in the connections between technology and business’. Now that I had done four random events, I felt that I ought to start to ‘man up’ and tell the truth.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only oddball in the group.  I was introduced to Helen who was a painter.  ‘I used to paint portraits’ she said, ‘now I specialise in flowers’.

I decided I needed a drink.

After a bit of chatter, Tony said, ‘are we ready then?’  He turned on a television which was used as a screen for a PowerPoint presentation.  Tony described himself as a serial entrepreneur.  From what I gathered, he managed to set up a legal advice company, which was then sold to a large blue chip company, apparently making him very wealthy.  He now did a lot of ‘consultancy’ work, which meant working with various businesses and speaking to different groups.

‘Why do you want to run your own business?’ he asked us all in turn.  ‘It’s because of the fun, right?  Because you don’t want to work for anybody else? Because you’ve got a good idea? Because you want to make a contribution to society?’  We were introduced to the fundamentals of cash flow and marketing, and the importance of mission statements and our ‘elevator pitch’; a short two minute presentation where we tell others about ourselves, our mission and our business.

Despite having an audience of four people, two of whom were not into business, and one other who was the event organiser, Tony gave an engaging talk.  He had a dry wit, and there was a part of his delivery style which said to me, ‘I’ve played to bigger rooms, but tonight, ladies and gentlemen, you’re getting a piece of me, and it’s going to be worth your while listening to what I’ve got to say’.  I have to hand it to him - he had charisma.

‘Do you think you can do sales?  Well, if you run your own business, you have no choice in the matter.  You’ve got to do sales.  I’ll tell you something… You’ve been doing sales ever since you were born.  You were selling yourself with your big baby eyes to your mother, forming a bond using the neurotransmitter oxytocin.  Sales is one of the most natural thing in the world.  Look, I can take someone who has had no sales experience, and within three years they’ll be okay.  A thing you could do, is take a course at RADA, the acting school.  Body language is important…’ 

He then told us that he was a psychopath.

‘I’m a good psychopath’ he said.  ‘I’ve got all the traits; I’ve had a brain scan, I match the pattern’.

One of his memorable quotes was, ‘do you know what the initials MD stand for?’  Everyone looked at each other, waiting for the answer.  ‘It stands for manic depressive, malevolent dictator and managing director’.

An hour and a half later, the presentation was done, and my pint was finished.  So, what had I learnt?  Did I want to go into business?  Did I have that slightly unhinged state of mind that accompanies a desire to be a malevolent dictator?  I don’t think I did.