I was at lunch today with a local printing company and I asked the owner “How do you sleep at night printing all that paper, you green gremlin you?”

He said he’s doing everything he can to use recyclable or reusable paper. I’m impressed. He’s trying to help businesses get the word out and using alternative methods. I sure don’t feel that aware yet, or maybe I’m just discounting my progress.  Bottom line, my heart is green and for that, the green karma police probably won’t be flashing their red lights, pulling me over for violating principals of living green.

Then I really heard his green heart when he told me he went to a networking business event the prior night and was repelled by what he witnessed. This was no shock to me, but apparently, most networkers are all about taking and not giving. You can walk up to a stranger at any one of these events and if you’re at all sensitive to the act of  “Net-Working”, yes “Working” at building relationship, you stand out like a burnt hole in a blanket. My colleagues biggest complaint about networking is everyone is on a race to pass out as many tree cutting business cards as they can in 1 hour. I’m with my friend as I too see too many takers and not enough givers.

Furthermore he told me, “most everyone walks up to you, jams their business card in your face and starts their probe”. I know what he means. The takers at these events, which is ballpark 90% of the room usually, will ask you within a second of breathing on you, if you know anyone that might be interested in their service. Honest to God. I experience the same thing. Most everyone thinks probing me about who I know will somehow develop rapport. Guess what, it doesn’t WORK!

If I could help less awakened business professionals who complain that business is not going so well in these tough times, I tell them “Give a hoot about your customers, and apply your principals/values to your business fundamentals”. That’s right, next time you go to a network event do what I see amongst the new friends and colleagues I’m meeting in the green space across the world. They really get building relationship is a core value to living, sharing, and appreciated green. When you go green and intend live there and do what’s right, your life might look much more purposeful and deliberate. Mine sure does.

So I get on bended knee, head bowed, and fist clinched and admit I was a taker. I may even relapse. I have really come to appreciate social media and how it’s changing me and all the outcomes around me.  I’ll just keep these principals of social networking in my shirt pocket. Anytime I read one, I’ll remember how repelling it is to be taker.

The Basic Principles of Social Marketing

• Start building genuine friendships with the folks in your niche.
• Don’t do any actual marketing – just be a good friend who happens to have a related business.
• Give generously and sincerely; listen and help; connect other people to each other.
• Find out what the people in your niche want, and then provide the great content, products, and services they ask for.
• Generously link to, promote, and trade content with others in your niche.
• Step back and analyze where the majority of your traffic and profits are coming from; then put more of your time and effort into those channels.

Oh and one more thing. Only take 5 business cards to your next networking event and I’ll bet you if you go with intentions to genuinely build relationship, you’ll might have a couple cards leftover.