The foundation of your business and community is built on integrity.

When I speak to integrity as the foundation of your business I am referring to adherence to moral and ethical principles, moral character and honesty. Integrity and your reputation go hand in hand. How you interact with your online community is just as important as how you interact with people that you come into contact with each and every day . Integrity and transparency can not be part time employees that you employ when you feel like or when you feel like no one is looking. Integrity can’t be faked. The true measure of this is what you do when you think people are not looking. Trust me when I say people are always looking.

I believe that professional networking is just as important as the networking I am doing online. It is about building relationships, trust and community. I recently decided to take all the knowledge I have gained over the years in the areas of social media and web design and go into business for myself. So here I am. One of the best ways to grow your business profile is professional networking. I decided to join a local Business Networking Group called BNI.

I did my research and noticed that their was a local BNI group 2 blocks from my house. Since I believe in communities, I wanted to start in mine and meet and network with other local business owners. This group did not have a web designer, so I figured that this would be a perfect fit. The meeting time was perfect, the location was perfect, most importantly I could network with local business in the community. If you have never attended a local chapter of BNI I highly recommend it.

When I arrived and to my surprise, I met Caitlin who represented Artinum inc a local web design firm and to top that off she had just joined the group. The thing you need to know about BNI is that only 1 vertical or focus can be represented per chapter. Talk about a surprise. That being said  I wanted to introduce myself  to her and to also talk to her about my intentions for joining the group.

I told her that I wanted to be respectful of her membership status and also let her know that I would focus on social media and how business owners could  leverage their small business presence. I felt that we could compliment each other and not step on each others toes. After the meeting  I reconnected with Catlin and asked if we could set up time to have a one on one meeting, so that we could discuss my membership more and see if their was a way to form a professional referral relationship.

We met for coffee, had a great conversation and more importantly I had her blessing to join the group. I had every intention to join the group and decided to join after the next meeting. (BNI allows you to attend two meetings for free.) As luck would have it I had some unexpected car repairs and needed to postpone my membership for a few weeks.

Lets now fast forward to today, March 23rd, 2011. I was excited, I arrived at BNI with membership application, and registration fee in hand. I handed it to one of the chapter presidents and looked forward to the meeting. I found a place to sit, put my business cards and cell phone  in front of my seat and went to grab a cup of coffee. I talked to a few people at the coffee station and made my way back to my seat. When I arrived back to my seat I noticed that someone had placed her coat on my chair. “I guess she didn’t see my personal items on the table in front of the chair“. I decided to grab my items and find a different chair, I don’t like being rude. As I collected my personal items I was fortunate to to have the opportunity to meet her. I introduced myself to her and quickly found out that we did the same exact thing training small businesses how to incorporate social media into their business.

I don’t mind competition at all, I think it is healthy. That being said I also believe in the age old adage that if you cant say anything nice don’t say anything at all. For purposes of this post let’s call her “Social Sue”

I told “Social Sue” that Caitlin did web design and that I just handed in my application for the social media vertical. she replied “oh”, started to gather her belongings and then said “I didn’t realize you were sitting here.”

Before she left I asked her for a business card and said maybe we could figure out a way to network together. She handed me a business card but actually refused mine. The meeting went on as scheduled. When you attend a BNI group everybody gets 1 minute to pitch their business. When it came to my turn, I spoke about the perfect referral for me and some facts about Twitter and incorporating it into a small business. After I had my pitch it was now “Social Sue’s” turn. In my opinion this is where Social Sue could have acted with integrity and grace but decided not to.

Sue’s one minute consisted of mentioning that she designed websites for small business which was Caitlin’s vertical then she went on to talk about social media, my intended vertical. Actions speak louder that words and Sue’ lack of integrity really shined through. After stepping on my toes and Caitilins, Sue decided to submit her application knowing full well that I had submitted mine. One of the guiding principles of being a member of BNI is to act with integrity. I guess “Social Sue” figured out no-one was looking. It will be interesting to see who the membership committee is allows to join the group.

I recommend, loosing gracefully,networking smartly and most of all acting with integrity in anything that you do.