Inside Business Warriors Our Forum

If you have never used a Forum properly before, it is hard to grasp quite how much value it can add to your life. When we first set this one up, the main goal was to be able to answer questions just once, knowing that others could find the answers later.

But we soon found the community using it in ways we had not thought of. Below are some examples of how this Forum has empowered a few entrepreneurs and their businesses. 

If you have a question that we have not touched on, please go to the Contact Us page and ask us.

Find Resources

Where do you start looking if you need a cartoonist, or an accountant, or a place to stay in Durban over Christmas, or a plumber, or even a very shy telephone number in Mauritius. These are amongst the thousands of similar questions asked in the Forum. 

Imagine how many people you know and trust. Then multiply that by 1000 - because that's how many folk the rest of us know. (And some of us have much bigger networks.)

The cartoonist question dates back to 2006, was answered by five Warriors within the hour, each offering some value. The cartoonist was  appointed within 90 minutes.

Some of us don't visit the forum often, while those of us who work in front of PC screens hover. Questions get answered pretty quickly.

Ask for Guidance

Where do you go if your PC starts doing something strange, or your latest employee takes three weeks off without asking (and, no, you cannot just fire her), or you've heard about SARS's new turnover related simple tax system and want to know if that might work for you, or you've just received a summons?

With more than 1000 members, we Warriors have a huge breadth of experience. Many of us are doing this business owning lark for the second, third, or fourth time! We've had that T-Shirt ripped off our backs. And we know how scary that can be.

It's not just the knowledge and advice that our members appreciate. It's also the empathy and understanding. Most of us have been in dire situations in the past. We know how many unknowns there are in this buisness life, and how many traps await the unwary.

The core principle behind offering advice in this way is that we know how few of us have the chance to know everything before we start this journey. Using the Warrior Forum gives us what we need, when we need it, in bite-sized chunks.

Find New Clients and Prospects

Why on earth would you want to give away knowledge for free? There are a couple of simple answers.

The first is that most of us Warriors understand that we too will need help one day (soon). By sharing now we build up respect that translates into a lot of help if we need it later.

The second is that it is a very good way to find new clients. Let me show how how that works. Tim Jackson has been a Warrior for ages. He gives away a lot of ideas. And he answers a lot of questions within his knowledge, even though they are not directly related to his business.

Tim also has a Forum signature that tells us what he does. This appears below every one of the 3668 posts he has made since 2005. (Tim sits in front of his PC most days and nights!)

The rest of us see what Tim does each time we see a post of his. (That's pretty often!) Who do you think we recommend whenever we bump into a person with a security issue, or whenver we need surveillance in our businesses? Tim!

No business can survive without sales. Sales are based on relationships and trust. What easier way to build that, than by adding a little value to the lives of others, while they get to know you very well.

I talk about the Online Networking aspect in a bit more depth here. 

Weekly Forum Digest

Even if you don't check the Forum often, we'll keep you in touch with what's happening online. Each week I email a summary of the most interesting threads from the previous week. (A thread is a question asked by one of the Warriors, or an idea suggested. A post is any answer within a particular thread. And that's about as technical as it gets.)

And if you are interested in any specific thread you can subscribe to it so that all subsequent posts are emailed to you as they happen. (Useful if you're looking for a cartoonist in a hurry!)