I have been in business since August 1999, for the first 4 years we ran the business as a part time business. I decided there has to be a better life. I was right for the first two years of going alone we relied on our network of customers and there word of mouth that we had built up during the businesses part time period but there is only so far your own network can run you need to access/leverage other businesses networks.
Leverage is the key to any successful business. A friend of mine who ran a family business suggested a network group, where only one person from any industry can join, and they only pass quality referrals not leads, and they meet weekly in a structured meeting to do all this.
BNI (Business Networking International) was the group he told me about I have now been a member for more then 18 months and business generated from leveraging off other peoples businesses has generated a 35% increase in our revenue and more then doubled my customer base. It has also created several key corprate cleints that will be alone worth more then my current operating revenue, you never know who people know till you ask. All I can say is hit the pavement and spend some face time with your customers it goes along way to building a relationship. Anyway check out
www.bni.com and go check out a meeting near you they have 92,000 members world wide and 4,200 chapters to join so you should find one near you.