After a few months (and about $1500 in dues paid), I realized I had made a grave mistake. I knew I had failed to keep in mind a few essential thoughts as I evaluated appropriateness of renewing membership dues to various groups as a way to build my business. Here's what I've learned:

1. Determine your professional association dues budget for year before joining anything. I foolishly just kept paying membership dues, without giving consideration as to total picture of what I'd spent in dues for year. Set your spending limits and stick to those and in a year evaluate if it's worth your time and money to continue participating in group.

2. Assess true amount of time you have to fully participate in a group. As I was thinking about going to group meetings, I only factored in actual monthly meeting--not networking time, not committee time, not special event time. You may determine that you have much less time than you think.

3. Make sure target market of your business is represented in group. I joined one group thinking that it would be full of women business owners, as that had been my experience elsewhere. The Little Rock chapter was filled with women who were happily employed for someone else--not a good match for my needs in terms of building my business.

4. Visit group maximum number of times you are permitted to do so as a guest. Instead of doing this, I based my joining decision on one visit and impressions of group I had gleaned from other areas of country. You really need to assess whether this group in this location will meet your needs, as each chapter within an association can be dramatically different. The local members really do make or break a group.