Code of Conduct

1. Honesty

• Represent your business accurately. Your industry classification, services, and "what you do" should reflect what you actually offer, not what sounds most impressive.
• Send honest referrals. Only refer another member's business when you genuinely believe they're a good fit. Don't pad referral counts or pass along low-quality leads to look active.
• Give honest feedback. If a referral didn't go well, or a fellow member's work fell short, say so directly and constructively rather than staying silent and quietly disengaging.
• Disclose conflicts of interest: a financial relationship with a referral, a competing interest, or anything else that could color your recommendation.
• Keep your profile current. Address, services, and contact details should be accurate; other members and the public rely on them.

2. Entrepreneurial Spirit

• Show up and contribute. Treat your membership as an investment in your business, not a passive listing.
• Champion your industry seat. Bring real expertise, real capacity, and real follow-through.
• Help other members grow. Make introductions and refer business even when there's nothing in it for you directly. A chapter that only takes doesn't last.
• Take ownership of problems. If something isn't working, raise it with your chapter administrators; don't just complain or quietly check out.

3. Referral & Business Conduct

• Every referral should be earned, not owed. Base referrals on the quality of a member's work, not obligation or reciprocity pressure.
• Follow up on what you're given. If a fellow member sends you a lead, contact it promptly and report back on how it went. A referral that's dropped without a word erodes trust for the whole chapter.
• No poaching. Don't go around a fellow member to their client, their vendor, or their referral source, and don't use information learned through the chapter to compete with a member directly.
• Handle disputes inside the chapter. If a referral goes badly or a member feels misled, raise it with the member first and escalate to your chapter administrator if needed, not in front of clients or in public.
• Don't double-dip on credit. Represent referral outcomes honestly when they factor into recognition, standing, or leadership eligibility within the chapter.

4. Meeting & Participation Standards

• Attend consistently and on time. Regular attendance is what makes a chapter's referral network reliable; chronic absence weakens it for everyone.
• Send a qualified substitute when you can't attend, if your chapter allows it, and give notice per your chapter's policy.
• Participate, don't just occupy a seat. Engage in meetings, chapter activities, and events; attendance without participation doesn't build the relationships referrals depend on.
• Meet your financial obligations: dues and fees on time, so the chapter can operate for everyone.
• Respect meeting time. Come prepared, keep your updates within the time given, and let others have theirs.

5. Professionalism & Member Relations

• Treat fellow members, applicants, and the public professionally, regardless of disagreement.
• Compete on the quality of your work. Never disparage a fellow member's business, undercut a referral in bad faith, or misrepresent a competitor, inside the chapter or outside it.
• Protect member data. Don't use the member directory, contact information, or anything shared in confidence within the chapter to build lists or pursue purposes outside the chapter's intent.
• No harassment, discrimination, or retaliation against any member, applicant, or chapter administrator.

6. Industry Exclusivity & Eligibility

• One member per industry, per chapter. This is the core promise of membership: a referral to you isn't split with a direct competitor in the room. Respect it in both directions: don't seek a seat that overlaps with an existing member's, and don't refer around the exclusivity by working with outside competitors of a fellow member's classification.
• Classify your business honestly. If your business spans more than one industry, work with your chapter administrator to find the right classification rather than picking whichever seat is open.
• Sub-contracted or overlapping work should be disclosed. If fulfilling a referral means bringing in outside help that overlaps with another member's seat, loop them in rather than quietly working around them.
• Seats are for active businesses, not placeholders. If you stop operating the business tied to your seat, that seat should be released for the chapter to fill.
• MLM and recruitment-based businesses don't qualify. Businesses whose primary revenue comes from recruiting a downline of other distributors, rather than selling a product or service to real customers, are not eligible for an industry seat, and members may not use chapter meetings, the directory, or referral relationships to promote MLM products or recruit fellow members into one. The exclusivity model depends on a referral meaning "a real customer for a real business"; recruitment-based compensation breaks that. If you're unsure whether a business model qualifies, ask your chapter administrator before applying.

7. Expectations of Ongoing Membership

Membership is evaluated on an ongoing basis, not just at the time you apply. In addition to the expectations above, members are expected to:

• Operate lawfully. Hold the licenses, permits, insurance, and certifications your industry and jurisdiction require, and keep them current.
• Deal honestly with customers, vendors, and staff. No fraud, deceptive advertising, forged credentials, wage theft, or exploitation of customers who are least able to protect themselves.
• Keep your chapter administrator informed of matters involving you, an officer or owner of your business, an employee or contractor, or a member of your household, that become a matter of public record, such as through a criminal charge or arrest, a civil lawsuit, a licensing or regulatory proceeding, a judgment, or a bankruptcy filing, when the matter is one a reasonable fellow member or customer would want to know about before doing business with you or letting your staff into their home or workplace. This isn't limited to matters connected to work performed for your business, and it isn't limited to matters that have been resolved. When in doubt, tell your chapter administrator and let them make the call rather than deciding on your own that it isn't relevant.
• Conduct yourself in a way that reflects well on County Connections. Because it isn't possible to list every situation in advance, business or personal conduct that a reasonable member would consider dishonest, exploitative, unsafe, or seriously damaging to the reputation of County Connections is inconsistent with continued membership, whether or not it's specifically named in this Code.

Raising a Concern

If you believe a member's conduct is inconsistent with this Code, raise it with your chapter administrator. Concerns are handled discreetly, and retaliation against anyone who raises one in good faith is itself inconsistent with continued membership.

Chapter administrators may look into a concern, ask the member involved for their perspective, and act within the discretion described under "Membership Standing" above, including warning, suspending, or removing a member. A member who disagrees with a decision may ask County Connections administration to review it; that review is at County Connections administration's discretion and its decision is final.

Providing false information on your member application, including falsely certifying agreement with this Code, is itself inconsistent with continued membership.