Follow your vision and your path

Even if you have to unfollow a group.

Every week, I write an article to share my learning or discovery during my startup journey. Here is the link to my reasons for penning these articles for myself and many others like me.

This week I attended a networking event. It was organized by a group of entrepreneurs. They meet weekly to talk about their business and get some leads from other fellow group members. The objective of this group is great and fits well with the needs of any startup. After all, getting more sales is where most of the startups struggle most. When I first heard about such a group, I felt positive and thought of getting more information about it. It would also help in my startup, so I was looking forward to attending one of their meetings as a guest. Eventually, I did not join this group. Why? Because my customer experience with this group was bad.

I heard about this group from an acquaintance. Let’s name this person-A. Mr. A was in another city. This group has chapters (subgroups) across different cities in the world. Mr. A invited me to a group meeting happening in his city. As it was an online meeting, I could attend this on Zoom. Unfortunately, the day and time of this meeting did not suit me. I requested Mr. A to introduce me to another chapter and preferably somewhere in my city. Mr. A told me that he is a veteran member of this group and knows all the top shots across the country. But he refused to give reference to me for other chapters. He wanted me to attend the meetings in his group only, so he could introduce me to his group members. I found it very strange. If the group intends to help entrepreneurs in growing their network and their business, then why is Mr. A not helping me in introducing me to other chapters. Later I got to know that when someone brings a referral or add a new member to a chapter, they get some awards. This could be the reason for Mr. A being so cold towards my request for an introduction to another chapter. I had a genuine reason for not being able to attend Mr. A’s group meeting. I would have been happy to get Mr. A awards on my behalf, but I also find it very small thinking from a fellow entrepreneur.

In this digital space, one can google almost anything. So, I found a chapter meeting of this group near my place. I registered as a guest. It was an offline meeting this time, happening after a gap of 1.5 yrs. of online meetings due to covid.

When I reached the venue, I met a person at the registration desk, who added my name on a sheet. Just after 20 minutes, another person approached me and took me back to the same registration desk to fill in some more information. The meeting started 30 mins later than the usual time. Each member started giving an introduction about their business. They mentioned what business they have made or given to their fellow chapter members. The value of that business was small, mostly in thousands. This led me to think that, if I join this group, I will be spending my energy in getting and receiving business of this much value. I understand that every startup had to start from a small ticket business. But the problem is that this group looks very closed, the people are getting some business from this group, so they can look good in these weekly reports, i.e. to barter business of few thousands to others in the group. My business objective is not to nurture a group, but to solve a business problem. I want to create a team that can work for bigger business value with an open mindset. I do not want to confine myself to a boundary where I feel like an employee in an organization and my job would be to get more business or employees for this organization. By the way, these are just my thoughts. This group had many chapters across the world, and many happy members vouching for the usefulness of this group. I am no expert in judging this group. But yes, my customer experience has not been great. I feel their vision has become a bit shorter and has moved away from growing entrepreneurs to growing their group first.

Wishing everyone a great week and hope you find people/groups that align with your values and vision.

The next article will be published at weekly intervals. Simply send me some claps and feedback if you enjoyed my article.

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