Networking 101 in traffic

I spent 15 (yes, 15) hours Friday (6am to 9 pm) with three good friends. Oh, what fun we had. We drove to Chicago to attend a wholesale jewelry & accessories show. On the way back, we took the Skyway, thinking it would be quicker than our normal route. Boy, were we wrong.

There's is MAJOR construction on the Skyway which of course we didn't know about. It took us 2-1/2 hours to get from O'Hare Airport area to the Indiana state line. But there wasn't a dull moment.

I know all of these women because of my consignment store:

Kate, who is a shopaholic, wandered into my first store almost 10 years ago and we became friends quickly. She makes her own jewelry (exotic, one-of-a-kind, not the simple bead stuff). She goes to the show to buy high-end fine jewelry for herself and to buy beads and other findings for her business.

Betty owns a wonderful consignment store in Perrysburg and we've been good friends for at least 6 years (see a previous post about how unusual - and delightful - it is to have a competitor for a friend). She goes to the show primarily to buy designer fragrances and gifts for friends.

Sandee and her sisters used to own consignment stores and I met her through Betty. She goes to the show to buy for herself and her friends and large family.

We all are talkers - and laughers. Oh, how we laughed - quick wits and funny stories (no jokes, just true stuff that's happened to us) abounded.

None of these women belong to any of the formal networking organizations that I do. (Of course, any group is an informal network.) I was asked why networking has worked so well for me. Why do I belong to so many (4 at last count) and why does it help my business?

My answer was about the value of developing relationships and the concept of "Givers Gain." How you just give and give and give and you are bound at some point to benefit.

The example I gave was a woman who is producing a maternity project in September. I met with her (she indeed was wondering, "Why in the world does this stranger want to take me to lunch?"), found out what she needed, and subsequently sent out e-mails to over 350 people who might be able to help her, offered to help financially support her project, took her to a networking event and introduced her to people who also have committed to help her on the day of the project.

So one of my friends asked if she's been to my store yet. I said, "Not yet. And she might never. But she'll remember how I helped her. She knows that I'm someone who walks the walk and the talk."

I think it was hard for my friends to understand this concept. How I 'gave' but didn't yet 'get.'

How could I explain this better to people who are not networkers in the traditional business sense?