Meaningful Friendships
What a pleasure it was to attend and speak at Affiliate Summit West last week. I have attended the east coast version, Affiliate Summit East, in Manhattan many times but this was my first time at the Las Vegas venue. The speakers at Affiliate Summit are top notch. I was fortunate to meet many of them at a cocktail hour the night before the show opened. Others I listened to and met after their talks. Everyone I met was willing to teach and share information about his or her various areas of expertise. They were also helpful with insights on how they run their businesses, how they got started and what technologies helped them the most.
The one thing they all had in common was that no one was there alone. Every industry expert I met knew, brought or had learned from someone else at the event. Most speakers attend every year and spoke about the others as family.
One of my favorite parts of the vent is their dedication to charitable work. Affiliate Summit donates to breast cancer research. Affiliate Summit has created a dailymile challenge. The organization donates $1 to benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer for each mile recorded by participants. Fitness for a good cause? Challenge accepted!
Last week affirmed the importance of networking for business. More importantly, it reminded me of the importance of make genuine meaningful friendships.