Like many, I attended a few BNI meeting before I jumped in with both feet. The great thing is that I have had the opportunity to meet and fellowship with some great people. As a retired US Marine and Program Manager of larger organizations and contracts I was use to a level of support. However going it on my own was a bit different. BNI has and is giving me a support team and a good one.

I recently got a referral to a major corporation this was and is a great opportunity that was possible because a beautiful and very intelligent young lady gave me a great referral. Thanks to her and others for having the faith in me.  That was very powerful. Not just for the size of the opportunity but for the high level of trust and respect that was given to me by that person.

It is an honor to be a member. Each day I will do my best to honor and respect you all as well. Let’s all work together to make this a better world. If I can be off assistance to any of you let me know.

Keep this in mind — we are not only representing ourselves we are also representing those that have referred us. So 110% is required all the time. Givers Gain and win!

Semper Fi,
Zurriane Bennett, CWO, USMC Retired
To Mighty Montclair VA BNI – (Z)
www.izigg.com/zsuccess

As a Chapter, we all bond well together. We have all put a lot of hard work into the launch and really want this Chapter to thrive. I have personally introduced five members into our chapter of 26 members. I have been on all bar one of the training courses. I have been top referral giver, most money generated for the chapter, and one who brings most visitors in too. This has helped raise the Chapter’s profile, and given me 100% score in the Membership Traffic Lights. I am not just the top member within the region I am the top member throughout the UK.

So why would a sane person do this….. for free? I don’t, it is a lot of hard work at times, but BNI is not just a meeting I have to attend once a week.  BNI is now my business. The BNI training is not the issue, it keeps me focused. The one-to-one meetings are my clients and my sales force. I can see massive potential from BNI and massive potential for my business.  I am now starting to reap the rewards with the referrals I receive.

I should have joined BNI years ago.  The question is why wouldn’t I do this!

But, it is, is it not?

We all are so, so limited.

To understand why, and how, let’s take a view from above, from what I am calling the Top.

See from the Top your business, your activity, the work you do, and the work you don’t.  See the pattern formed by all the movement, this way and that.

See it all.  How prospective customers arrive at you office, your store, your warehouse, your website.

See what happens inside, as they enter, as they do what they typically do, indeed, what you do, typically, when they do this, when they do that.

Count the different ways your world works, your business works, the functions within your business work, the pattern of it all.

Don’t stop, we’re not done yet.

Don’t allow yourself to become confused.

We’re not done yet, not by far.

See what works, and what doesn’t.  How would you measure if it works, if it doesn’t?  How would you think about “Yes it does!” or “No it doesn’t!”?  Simply by seeing when a transaction is concluded?  Concluded?   What does concluded actually mean?  Does it mean that money changes hands?  Is that the only conclusion that matters?  What other conclusions are there?

Well, I would say that most of the conclusions are internal, rather than external.  Most of the conclusions come in the form of a thought, of a feeling.  A thought within your prospective customer, your customer, your client, your previous client.  A feeling within your salesperson, a feeling within your accounts receivable clerk.  A feeling within you as you close the door behind you at night.  When you open the door the next morning.

There are so many thoughts and feelings that permeate your business, every moment of every day.  All of which you can see from the Top.  If you look closely.  If you’re interested.  If you’re capable of transcending it. If you’re capable of transcending yourself.

From the Top it is almost as if your business is alive.

A living organism.

No, not almost as if, but exactly so.

Can you feel the energy within your business?  The movement of the yes, of the no?  The challenges of understanding it completely, or even incompletely?  The frustration that arises within you, even there, at the Top, where your feelings should be so far beyond the muddle and the mix of it?

Can you feel the frustrations of being helpless, even as you witness it from the Top, helpless to alter the behavior of everyone down there, as they come and as they go, and as they work, and as they question why in the world they have chosen to be there, in your business, rather than someplace else, doing something else, something more meaningful, something more important, something more compelling, than doing the accounts payable, or the accounts receivable, or the sales?

Can you better understand what’s missing in this picture, as you look down from your comfortable place there at the Top?   Can you better understand why this is such a difficult world to live in?

Can you better understand why I started this question about a special view from the top?

Because it is special, is it not?

Because it has been interesting, has it not?

Come back and see me again next month.  Perhaps we’ll have something else special to talk about.

I’m Michael E. Gerber, speaking to you from Carlsbad, California. The land that God created, just for you, and just for me.

Michael E. Gerber has been named by INC magazine as “The World’s #1 Small Business Guru.”  His NY Times Bestselling E-Myth books rank among the top ten business books worldwide for all time.  His Michael E. Gerber Companies have coached, mentored and trained tens of thousands of small business owners in 145 countries to transform the way they work and grow.  His mission is to transform the state of small business worldwide. Read more about Michael Gerber here.

Shared Goals and Objectives

In a smoothly functioning team, everyone is clear about what the team is expected to accomplish. The goals of the team are shared and discussed by everyone. Each team member gives his or her ideas and input about how the goals and objectives can be best achieved. Each person feels like a part of a larger organization.

Shared Values and Principles

In excellent teams, there is regular discussion about the values, principles, and behaviors that guide the decisions of the team. The leader encourages values such as honesty, openness, punctuality, responsibility for completing assignments, quality work, and so on. Everyone discusses and agrees on what they are.

Shared Plans of Action

In this phase of team building, you go around the table and have each member of the team explain exactly what part of the work he or she is going to accept responsibility for completing. At the end of this discussion, each member knows what every other member is going to be doing and how his or her own work fits in with the work of the team.

Lead the Action

There must always be a clear boss or leader in any organization. Democracy is a fine concept, but it goes only so far in business. Someone must be in command and take charge. And that someone is probably you. On a good team, everyone knows who is in charge. The leader sets an example for the others. The leader becomes the role model.

Continuous Review and Evaluation

In this final phase, the team regularly evaluates its progress from two perspectives. First, is the team getting the results that are expected by its customers or other in the company? In dealing with customers, does the team set up mechanisms to continually ask customers, “how are we doing?”

Bringing the Team Together

One of the most important things you do in building a peak performance organization is to hold regular staff meetings. Bring your people together weekly, at a fixed time, to talk, discuss, catch up on progress, learn how the company is doing, and generally share ideas, opinions, and insights.

Action Exercise

Conduct a values clarification exercise with your entire team. Then mutually agree to live and work by the common values.

Brian Tracy’s Free PDF report Discovering Your Talents.

Life is too short to feel unfulfilled and uninspired by what you do.  If you’re not spending most of your time doing what you love, and you’re not making the money you know you deserve, then chances are, you’re not exploiting your natural talents. You’ll learn how to do just that when you read “Discover Your Talents.”  To download this amazing gift click here!

1. 3 Screen Tip
2. Critical Thinking
3. Website Conversion

A 30-year-old Hungarian sportsman, Gabor Rackonczay, set a world record crossing the ocean in just 60 days. He arrived in Antigua on March, 26 2012, 20 days prior to his planned arrival date. His 25-foot-long canoe, nicknamed “Vitez,” which means “valiant” in Hungarian, was specially designed for the 3,500-mile crossing. Rakonczay is no stranger to transatlantic crossings, having rowed across the ocean with his wife four years ago.

Wowed by the couple’s commitment, Hungarian BNI members decided to help him towards his dream. It didn’t mean just fundraising for the project, BNI member businesses helped in many ways, providing a broad variety of services and products. Givers Gain has – again – proved to be very powerful.

A celebrity in an instant, he has been captured by the press in pictures beside his BNI canoe. The expedition’s press event took place at the Hungarian BNI center on April 5, 2012.

Some online news pieces:

The Telegraph

Royal Canoe Club

Daily Mail

To purchase a gift card from the BNI Members’ Store, visit the “Promotional Items” section in the BNI Members’ Store and click on the gift card denomination you wish to purchase ($10, $25, or $100 USD).

Upon purchasing the gift card, you will receive an e-mail with a unique code that you (or the recipient of the gift card) will need to enter during check out.  You will receive separate e-mails for each gift card purchased.

To check out and use the gift card code as payment for items in the BNI Store, the gift card recipient will click on “shopping cart,” scroll to the bottom, and enter the code in the “Coupon / Gift Card” field.

Both the BNI Members’ Store and the BNI Directors’ Store automatically keep track of any monies remaining on gift cards after each use–easy breezy!

CLICK HERE to check out the BNI Gift Cards in the BNI Members’ Store.

“Dave Goetz doesn’t simply think like a marketer; he thinks like your next prospect.  Read this book to take your business to new heights of success, year after year, regardless of economic or marketplace fluctuations.”  Dr. Ivan Misner

In this book for entrepreneurs, Goetz writes that prospects are like natives. They speak a foreign language, different from yours.  Prospects need a translator.  They need help to connect their story to yours.  Native Tongue, a primer on messaging strategy, will help you begin to write a compelling story for your prospects.

 To purchase Native Tongue, hardcover or the ebook, go here.

My story of joining BNI is one-of-a-kind. After I purchased everything necessary to start up my business, I was clueless about what to do next. On the first day, I drove aimlessly—not knowing how to drum up business. Suddenly, I saw a doughnut shop in the corner and decided to go inside. I bought a cup of coffee, and while I was drinking, an older guy came to me and said, “Son, you look very puzzled and lost. May I help you?”

I told him my problem and he asked me to go and buy a local daily newspaper. After I handed him the paper he opened it up immediately and circled a section on the newspaper and told me to go home and rest for a couple of days. He told me to go to the address that he had circled on Wednesday at 6:30 am. He told me I would find my way around a lot sooner than what I would have expected.

That place was BNI. I am very grateful to BNI—and the stranger who pointed me in their direction.

Are men and women really so different. . . or do we have a tendency to focus on what makes us different instead of how we are similar?

As it turns out, men and women are alike in many ways. They just seem to get to the same place using different roads. But if men and women could understand some fundamental points, they certainly could be more successful when networking with the opposite sex.

CLICK HERE to read the full article for tips about networking with the opposite sex.