Any article about entrepreneurship includes advice to surround yourself with people who have been successful and learn from them. One of the biggest challenges, however, is finding those successful people and placing yourself under their tutelage. Here are 7 ways to do so:

1. Attend Events. Depending on the size of the city you live in, you may find it quite easy to find business events related to your product or service. Keep an eye out for them and attend whenever possible. Look for flyers at bookstores, libraries, and check out advertisements in the newspaper or other local publication. Many of these events are free to the public, which is an added bonus.

The events will not only be motivating to you, but they’ll also give you the chance to meet other people with interests similar to yours. There are excellent connections to be made if you keep your eyes and mind wide open.

2. Read, Read, Read. You may not be able to meet an entrepreneur in person, but have you tried reading his or her books? This is a great way to surround yourself with success, to be inspired, and to get motivated. But don’t stop with books. See if you can find snippets or interviews on YouTube.

3. Meet With Your Peers. One of the most difficult things about entrepreneurship is that it’s a lonely venture. More than anything you need a support system made up of other businesspeople who can help you get motivated and give you great ideas for your business. When you’re looking for a group to join, make sure you’re not the smartest one in the room. You want the chance to learn from other people. Also make sure that the group is structured and not just a free-for-all. If you can’t find a peer group in your local area, find one online to join.

4. Attend Conferences. Whatever your business, you can always find relevant conferences. Do your homework before you arrive and have good questions prepared for any keynote speakers that interest you. Be sure to talk to them before their presentations instead of after since that’s when everyone else will try to corner them and talk to them.

5. Help People Out. If you’re serious about connecting with someone whom you greatly admire and whom you believe will be able to help you out, find a way to help them out first. Keep up with their business using Google Alerts. Using the information you get from Google Alerts, think of offers you can make, ways you can help, or services you can provide. This will help them remember who you are and will make them more likely to help you out next time you need something.

6. Surf. The internet is full of great places to connect with others in your business and in your demographic. But remember that it will take some time for you to figure out whose advice to take and whose counsel to seek. So be patient as you weed out those who aren’t serious or successful while at the same time finding those who can help you out and hold you accountable for your business. Let your online community help you set goals, and then let them keep you accountable for your goals. Report your successes and failures and use the support you find to your advantage.

7. Keep Your Eyes and Your Mind Open. You are surrounded with people who can give you good advice and good help. You just have to be willing to see those people as resources. When you’re in tune with your needs and desires as a small business owner, you’ll be surprised by the opportunities that present themselves—some that you didn’t even know you were looking for!

Get connected with a community that can support you and help you! You’ll be glad you did!

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Holiday season is just around the corner and you’re probably busier than ever. But take some time to do some extra-special holiday marketing in anticipation of your customers’ holiday generosity and enthusiasm. Even Scrooge will love these great ideas for sprucing up your small business marketing during the holidays.

1. Scratch Their Backs and They’ll Scratch Yours. Examine your business and see what opportunities you have for allowing your customers to get a reduced rate on your products or services by participating in the process. One mechanic told his customers that he would change their oil at a discount if they would bring in their own oil. What are some ways that you could run with this idea?

2. Fancy Up Your Logo. Google does this for every major holiday and event, so why not follow their lead? It’s fun for you and your customers will definitely enjoy it. If you use Twitter, consider sprucing up your Twitter background at Twitterbacks. Once you’ve created a new background, submit it to the Twitterback gallery. Not only will you have a nice-looking background but you’ll get your name out there as well.

3. Customize and Personalize. Use postage stamps with your picture or your company logo. Don’t stop with using these stamps on your own correspondence but also use them for all communication with customers. Get M&Ms or foil coin chocolates with your logo printed on them for holiday parties. You could even bake cookies for your customers, wrap them in cloth bags, and seal them with stickers featuring your company logo.

4. Build on the “12 Days of Christmas” with “12 Days of Your Service.” Feature a new product or service every day during the holiday season. Think about how successful fruit-of-the-month and wine-of-the-month clubs are. This is just another approach to promotion. If you’re a consultant or trainer, consider providing customers with additional newsletters or webinars.

5. Customize a Holiday Greeting. If you simply must send out holiday cards, commission an artist to create a cartoon other image. Once the image is created, you can easily use online card-marking software to finish the job.

6. Make a Holiday Cookbook. Ask your customers to submit their favorite holiday recipes and include them with recipes submitted by your own friends and family.

7. Create your own Holiday Book. Take some pictures around your office, commission a writer, and create your own book for the holidays to send to your customers and potential customers. Make your story light and humorous, but use it to focus on your company values. You might even consider using a case study. Again, make it light and fun.

8. Send out a Digital Picture Frame. Take pictures of all the teams within the company and send each of your customers a digital picture frame full of pictures of the team with whom they usually work. If you have pictures of the customer at a customer appreciation party or other event, include those pictures as well.

9. Send a Video Card. YouTube is so easy to use that it almost seems criminal not to. Get your team together and sing a holiday song complete with shameless product placement that will make your customers laugh out loud.

10. Send Those Holiday Cards. If you really insist on doing this, find a good holiday greeting card template online, create your holiday card, and send it out on heavy, high-quality paper. Do the same for invitations to holiday parties.

Use the holiday season to your advantage by: choosing low-cost gifts or original creations to reach your customers. Whatever your price range is, you can easily find something to charm them, impress them, and keep them coming back for more. Get the ball rolling now, while there’s still a lot of time left and keep your name in front of your customers as they’re getting ready for the holiday season!

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