Generosity



photo courtesy of SlocumStudio.com

 I can't emphasize enough how important it is to be generous in the business world.

None of us achieves success operating from within a bubble despite the belief of some people that it's possible. A professional in an online group of which I'm a member insists he's achieved success by NOT being a team player. All I can say is: guess how much more successful he'd be if he played nice, made helpful comments online instead of being demeaning and critical, and worked with others instead of competing against them all the time?

I visited with Matt Medeiros recently, who's a web professional and co-owner of Slocum Studio in Dartmouth, MA. I haven't seem in him about 7 years (although we've "chatted" online and befriended each other on Facebook, Linked In, etc.). When he was in college, he started his own business and I was his first client: the computer he built me lasted for 7 years!

We've been linking to each other's blog posts and websites, retweeting each other, and simply singing each other's praises (sincerely, folks, sincerely). Anyway, we met last week, shared details about our businesses, our plans, and our goals and we decided to partner in our efforts to promote ourselves and our businesses. We will probably also work together to present career development workshops in the future.

LESSON: Never overlook an opportunity to be generous or to help someone out. Cliches are so popular because they are true:  "What goes around comes around."

In what ways can YOU help other people promote themselves? How can promoting other people help you?