Hot take: that $500 "networking membership" in Troy was the biggest waste of my year
I paid $500 for a year of a business networking group over in Troy, and I want to say plainly that it was not worth it. The promise was warm leads from other owners, but out of about 30 meetings I walked away with zero actual jobs. Most of the time was spent on people pitching their own stuff, and the one "referral" I did get was for a job 40 miles out past Novi that fell apart on price. I get that some folks swear by these paid groups, but for a small operation like mine the dues and the gas added up to real money for nothing. Has anyone found a decent free or low cost way to meet other owners around here, or is it just word of mouth at this point?