My BNI Story - MCRA Presentations on success
Jody Johnson
ActionCOACH
South Beach BNI
Hello I'm Jody Johnson and I belong to the South Beach BNI group. I joined BNI in September 2006 shortly after opening my business 3.5 yrs ago. Inside the structure of doing a 1:1 weekly I got to know the members of my group and in the spirit of givers gain we have a policy of offering a complimentary coaching session to everyone we meet with. We have had an AMAZING return on our investment of time and money. The 1st year in BNI I personally had a 7000% return on my dollar investment.
That was year one.
From then till now our firm has generated $475,964.00 between myself, my partner Doug and our team. By December 31st 2009 this year it will be greater than 1/2 million generated by our participation in BNI.
Needless to say the impact of that kind of return has literally made our business a roaring success. We have won national and international awards within the ActionCOACH community directly related to our participation in BNI.
This year alone we generated $179,870.00 by December 31st that will top $200,000.00 representing 43% of our business revenues in 2009.
Interestingly enough $35,000.00 of that is from a gentleman that attended a visitor day one time. He walked up to me that day and said I need you, we got started about 3 weeks later and I'm still working with him and his team.
Now even though the dollars are important and they are, for me personally I have met some of the most extraordinary people up to great things in their lives and communities. I have made lifelong friendships and have had the privilege to help transform businesses and lives.
If you want to know how we got these kind of results be sure you do one on ones and listen, listen for what is needed and wanted then give that.
Be of service, take on a leadership role.
Give first and give freely.
Thank you South Beach BNI you are dear to my heart. Thank you South Florida BNI what a great community to be a part of. Lastly thank you Jeff Stay and Ivan Misner for giving me the opportunity to fulfill my mission of transforming the economic landscape in South Florida through the vehicle of your courage and vision.
BNI Co-Opetition
By Lissa Nirenberg
Hello everyone,
It is an honor to be here and let you know how BNI and co-opetition have affected me. Co-opetition is when you look at others in your profession as people good to network and share business with and not like competition.
My friend Jane Kaufman and I graduated acupuncture school, and she told me she had joined a chapter of an organization that would help us market our new practices and told me I should join a chapter near my office. Co-opetition started to enter my mind and later became a part of my life.
A couple of years ago, my chapter (south Miami BNI) had a litigation atty. put in an application. As a long time member, someone asked if I minded that his wife was also an acupuncture physician. I said he is a lawyer and will give referrals to others in the chapter and benefit his sphere and beyond, and who knows he may end up as my best referral source, as he already understands what I do. The member who was concerned did not get it, is no longer in BNI, and no longer benefiting from it. He thought I was being unrealistic. Well, of course not, I was just being open to the possibilities.
I got to know this atty. and he said his wife wanted to stay home with their child and when she gets a call for acupuncture they will send it my way. I thanked Bruce for the connection to his wife to try to get the group to understand co-opetition in the testimonial section of the meeting, as there is business for all of us, in any profession. It turned out even better than I thought, as she had friends telling her to look for a place to work part time to keep her skills up. It turned out they were friends we had in common, who did not know I had space available. Next, I met her at our holiday party and realized who she was and we hit it off quickly. My clients are happy to be looked after when I am not in town, and happy with the quality of who is seeing them, and my office also benefits from her being there when she wants to be, as she went and had another child recently and is busy at home, probably waiting for me to say I am going on vacation.
If I went looking for another person in my field to be in my office I could not have found the Caliber of practitioner or a person who doesn’t want their own office in a few years. Of course my husband, a bni member, wanted me to find someone, so I could travel without worrying about my patients and their care. He is as happy as I am with the choice, as we also have new friends in Bruce and Michelle.
Thanks for being part of BNI along with me,
Lissa Nirenberg
Doctor of Oriental Medicine
Dr. Robert Bueso
The Valuation Group
Good Morning! I am Dr Robert Bueso, President of The Valuation Group, Inc a seven office economic consulting shop, specializing in business valuations. Right after I had been formally approved and become a member of the Pinecrest BNI chapter, my sponsor, Rich Bragassa, private investigator, encouraged me to go to the official Miami Dade BNI website and post all my information.
I was skeptical of the level of importance this would have, as I was focused on meeting the Pinecrest members, and trying to create a bond with them.
Not quite convinced but willing to learn, I placed my information on the \website, saying to myself, ok, this wont hurt…..but, within a few weeks, I received a call from a California-based BNI member who had been looking for a valuation expert, and he relied on BNI’s websites to find us! An investor group wanted to buy a software game from Atari, and they wanted to know the value of the game, as well as what the first offer price should be.
This would be a mega-million dollar transaction, and my company received a six-figure contract to estimate the precise value of the game.
The assignment was interesting, and profitable, but more importantly, it opened my eyes to the huge BNI worldwide network, and its ability to generate referrals for us from every corner of the world. BNI is an efficient worldwide marketing model!
Ed King
Ed King Pop Art
My BNI Story
Good Morning from Ed King Pop Art! I create beautiful, vibrant neo-pop artwork which people purchase from all over the world. It sounds simple, but it's not...most of my time is spent in meetings, none more important than my weekly BNI meeting.
South Beach BNI has been critical in the success of my business. It's as simple as the American Express marketing campaign: membership has it's privileges.
In 2006, I was working at a day job as a graphic designer. I worked a regular 9 to 5 job with a cranky boss and a lack luster pay check. I was lucky to have a great friend and supporter of my business, Dena Willman, working with me in the same department. She had recently joined South Beach BNI and invited me to come as her guest.
Within 9 months of joining BNI, I was making the equivalent of my salary and was afforded the opportunity quit my job. Really, I quit their job - The day I resigned was when I really started working at MY job.
What Dena did was remarkable. Instead of focusing on the general categories for BNI like real estate, accounting, insurance, or others, she took a chance on inviting an outgoing person with an uncommon category - Artist. This category is so uncommon that I am the only artist that I know of in all of BNI Miami-Dade.
Thanks to the quality of my chapter, I have never seen a dip in revenue over those three years. The members of my BNI group give me great referrals and often purchase my artwork -- it all adds up.
So, what was my biggest referral? I was given the opportunity to forge a relationship with Miami Children's Hospital to be the artist for their Piggy Bank fundraising campaign.
Not only were they my biggest client financially, but my artwork was used for their direct mail, email, internet campaigns along with a billboard that was up this past summer -- all of this thanks to a dedicated BNI member who had the vision to forecast success from this unique category.
I'd like to leave you with a challenge. Take a fresh look at your contacts, your associates, friends, and family. Find the uncommon category and invite them as a guest.
The strength of BNI is in the diversity of our membership from chapter to chapter. The x-factor of BNI are the friendships that are formed.
The support of BNI members has been amazing! When you think of uncommon categories, think of me, Ed King Pop Art and the amazing opportunities I've experienced! You really can make a big difference for someone's business.
Ed King
Contact Jeff Stay, Executive Director, Email
If you have questions or suggestions on this web site, Click here.
Copyright © 2000-2007 by BNI, Miami Dade. All rights
reserved.
|
|
Members Only
