Someone walked out of a networking event after ten minutes because two attendees had business practices they couldn't stomach. They argue that compromising your values for profit erodes self-respect and will haunt your reputation, even when the money is tempting.
I walked into a major networking event recently, and I left within 10 minutes. Now let me tell you why. One of the things I'm really conscious of is who I do business with. And I walked into that networking event, and I saw two people there that I would never ever be seen dead with. And because we just don't share the same values, I don't respect the way they do business, I don't respect who they are in terms of business people, and they seem to take advantage of people more than they do anything else. So I just made that conscious decision that day to be like, you know what, I'm walking out of this event. If these people do business with those kind of people, I don't want to be seen in this event. Because at the end of the day, when you compromise your values, you compromise your respect for yourself. When you respect yourself, you make decisions in your business, even though they might be difficult, you make those decisions because it's the right thing to do. Yes, you can make a ton of money. Maybe that group I could have made a lot of money with. But if they do business with those kind of people, those two people that I saw there that I absolutely detest the way they do things that don't share my values. They don't do good for people. In fact, I know people that are taken advantage of. I was like, you know what, I'm not here to sell my soul. I'm leaving this event. I'm gone. I'm done. And I walked out. Make sure that everything you do in your business is in line with your own values, who you are, and never compromise because it will come back to haunt you.
