April 2007
Art of Networking
No Dummies Needed
Self-employment may be just your ticket.
The coolest career may be the one you create for yourself. And while there are mountains of books guiding entrepreneurs to successful self-employment, the best advice revolves around five basic concepts …
Getting business to come to you.
Network and schmooze at professional and trade association meetings and through formal networking groups like linkedin.com and BNI (www.bni.com), with chapters nationwide. Even social networking sites such as match.com, facebook.com, and youtube.com can be used for business networking. In your profile, describe what you do, with enthusiasm.
Read this article.
Dr. Ivan Misner Discusses BNI with Biz Link RadioBiz Link Radio, a weekly podcast featuring entrepreneurs and top business executives, recently interviewed BNI's Founder & CEO, Dr. Ivan Misner.
Listen to this informative podcast to hear Dr. Misner give insight into word-of-mouth marketing, BNI, and much more. Find out more here.
Online Networking Not Intended to Replace Face-to-Face Meetings
That tried and true method of networking to build your contacts and help land the perfect job is taking a new twist. Online business networking websites are booming, meaning face-to-face networking is just one way people are expanding their horizons.
"If you have too much technology, you could start to lose touch—so it's really the balance between high-touch and high-tech," says Kelly Gustafson, executive director of Business Network International's southern Alberta franchise.
Read the article.
BNI India Featured in the Economic Times
Following our Big Breakfast, the Economic Times featured BNI India on February 16, 2007. (This is the equivalent of the Wall Street Journal in the US or the Financial Times in the UK.)
The article states, "The best bet for many young entrepreneurs often is to participate in forums that are provided by business networking professionals like Business Network International (BNI)."
Read this article.
BNI Is Serious About Providing LeadsForget six degrees of separation.
A flourishing group of small businessmen and women has refined networking to a science. In the world of BNI, there are but two or three degrees of separation between the network member and that next sale.
"It's like having your own personal sales team," said Leon Collins, a member of R&B2U, one of 13 BNI chapters in San Antonio that meets each week to share referrals and familiarize themselves with each member's area of expertise.
Read this article.
Give and You Shall Receive
"Since only a small fraction of job opportunities will ever be advertised, it pays to network," says John Shattock, Auckland-based PR and marketing consultant. But Shattock says there is more to networking than trying to meet someone who might give you a job.
"Networking may be more than just an introduction for your next job. Some people are starting to view networking as a core competency," says Graham Southwell, national director of business BNI.
Read this article.
Introverts May Hold Networking Advantage
Dr. Robert Nakisher knows he must promote his West Bloomfield dentistry practice to grow business. The problem: That's difficult to do when you're not a natural-born networker.
But the silence of introverts, who may find themselves under more pressure to step out of their shells and pitch their companies to total strangers in the current economy, may give them a leg up in networking situations, according to one expert.
Read this article.
Face-to-Face Contact Puts Power in Networks
Ruth Papernick joined a Greensburg networking group nearly seven years ago to help her family's Mt. Pleasant-based optometry business expand.
Most of her husband's patients came from the immediate vicinity. "We just wanted to get out of that and branch out, and this has done that in every respect," said Papernick, who serves as the practice's office manager. Papernick had joined the Greensburg chapter of BNI.
Read this article.
