Vindco, as fate would have it, was not started in L.A. It does not have offices in N.Y. As a matter of fact, Vindico has only one office and that’s in my basement, and my basement is in St. Louis. If I had to wait till I could afford to move to one of those cities to start a company, then I would probably never be in the music business.

It would be nice to be able to have lunch with a record exec or set up a meeting at an A&R’s office but the truth is………it’s not necessary. The Internet has provided us with enough opportunity to network with millions of other people without ever seeing them. Some of my strongest relationships are with people I have never seen, and that’s okay for now. There will come a time, where I can do lunch meetings or office meetings but until then I can still get an enormous amount of work done.

In this day and age most everyone is connected to the Internet by more than just email. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Youtube are just some of the many examples of the social networks that people are plugged into. When you are starting your own company, it is more than likely, that there are people out there who know more about your claimed “area of expertise” than you do. Don’t be afraid to scour these networks for those people who are already connected in the business and create relationships with them. Make it a point to find other people who do what you do and see what types of relationships are important to them. There will be many who reject you and many who will never respond but if you keep your nose to the grindstone, you will begin to grow your contact list onto names of people you can do business with.

One week I had emailed 300+ entertainment attorneys only to hear back from 10-15 of them. So remember, networking is not a five-minute chore that you cross off your list early in the morning. It’s something you need to be doing at any chance you get. Think about the types of connections you need in order for your business to succeed and focus on building those relationships. No business can thrive if they don’t network and develop relationships.