As an entrepreneur you face many challenges and obstacles. Seek opportunities to improve your skills and move yourself closer to your goals. Some actions might address several issues at once. One strategy you might employ is to join a chapter of BNI – Business Network International.
There are several benefits to joining. The primary reason for most is to develop a network with other local business people. Chapters exist in many towns in our area. Some chapters may be better organized, more proactive or more professional. The first step is to contact the local chapter or perhaps a member of the chapter that you know.
At your first visit you will have the opportunity to observe the workings of the group and how the members interact. Try to get a sense of how you will fit in and if joining is worth the commitment you must make.
You are not automatically qualified to join BNI. Generally each member must come from a distinct profession. There can only be one accountant, one lawyer, one baker, and one candle stick maker. However with approval of the chapter a lawyer that specializes in probate matters could be in the same chapter as one who specializes in personal injury cases. The member who was there first is generally asked if he or she considers the potential new member a competitor or not.
The monetary costs of joining are small in relation to the amount of additional business you might receive from joining. The chapter keeps track of how much referral business is generated between members. If you have a chance to talk to a current member they might indicate 20 to 50% of their current business is coming from BNI referrals.
The time commitment in terms of how much and when is ‘not bad’ and ‘oh boy’ respectively. While the meetings are fairly short they are in fact held at 7:00 a.m. The meetings are weekly but can vary on which day of the week and at what specific time depending on the site’s availability.
One of the key benefits in joining is an opportunity to develop your marketing and leadership skills. Each member must get up for 5 minutes and present information on how their business is doing and address what they are doing to improve. This is a great compulsory way to develop your ‘elevator speech.’ You must put together your thoughts on your business. While it would be best to have a written business and marketing plan, this short speech will push you to develop some of the necessary ‘talking points’ that you would need to include in these more formal documents.
Another benefit is the opportunity to learn from other business people what they are doing about some of the same challenges you face. They may address issues such as taxation, regulation or simply how to attract more customers. For some this is a better venue for learning business strategies than pouring over business journals and management books.
One item to evaluate during your first meeting is the makeup of the group and how the other businesses might generate referrals for you. If you are a local builder, then joining a chapter with an architect would be a positive. If you are an accountant, then joining a group with a small business lawyer would be a positive. However, if you are a small retailer, you might not get a lot of referrals from a chapter that only has construction trades and financial professionals in it.
In summary you should consider joining a local BNI chapter. Your decision would ultimately depend on your current needs. If you would like to receive more referral business, improve your speaking skills, share business strategies, then joining might be something to consider. And get a good alarm clock.