From the Founder
"Net-Working" from Home
By Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder & CEO, BNI

In the early 1980's, I was occasionally invited to the home of an entrepreneurial couple who would invite business-minded people over to their home to talk about life, relationships, business, but most importantly — the future.

One night after a particularly interesting discussion, the husband invited me into his office and showed me a large hard-plastic box. It had a very small, 5" screen on it. He turned it on and it lit up with bright monochromatic characters flashing on the screen. He said — "It's an Osborne!" "An Osborne?" I asked. "An Osborne computer," he said.

My host turned to me and said, "Ivan, this kind of technology will change the world and the way people do business … it will allow people to do business anywhere - even at home!" He continued, "Look at the trends: more people are working or wanting to work from home. This kind of technology will make that happen. Whole new industries can be created as a result of this technology."

This was a prophetic comment if ever there was one.

I should mention I was in the home of Paul and Sarah Edwards, later to become the authors of the landmark book, Working From Home (among many others on the subject), and who are the world's leading experts on working from home.

Paul was right about technology changing the face of business. Not long after our conversation, I was one of those people who started a full-time business out of my home.

For a total of eight years I ran two different businesses from home. So I know working from home has its own unique rewards and challenges. During those years I learned a great deal about the pros and cons of home-based businesses and how they impacted networking efforts.

Most networking techniques work for any business, even those based out of the home. However there are at least two important issues that apply to a home-based business more than any other.

Don't advertise that you work from home
The first issue encompasses how you introduce yourself to others in networking environments. I don't recommend you share you are a home-based business - initially. I believe this characteristic is a "neutral to negative" feature of your business. That is, mentioning that you "work from home" has either a neutral or a negative impact. Either it doesn't matter to your contacts, or they are not impressed.

I open with this issue because it is something I see done to this day. At networking functions I often see at least one person stand, say what they do, how people can refer them, and then add at the end that they run a home-based business. This information rarely impacts people positively.

Please note that I never hid the fact that my business was home-based. I simply didn't bring it up until after I had an established business relationship with the individual.

Avoid "Cave-Dweller Syndrome"
Secondly, home-based business owners have more difficultly breaking out of the Cave-Dweller Syndrome. I have found many home-based business owners seriously suffer from this affliction (to read my complete article on Entrepreneur.com click here.) Here is how the Cave-Dweller for the "NON" home-based business suffers from this syndrome:

They get up each morning in a large cave with a big-screen TV called their home. They go out to their garage and get into a little cave with four wheels called their car. They go to another really big cave with plenty of computers called their office. At the end of the day, they get back into their little cave with four wheels and drive back to the large cave with the big-screen TV, and they can't figure out why no one is referring them.

For the home-based business owners, it is FAR worse because they don't even leave their cave with the big-screen TV to go to the cave with the computers. They are one and the same!

Get visible and active
For you home-based business owners who want to build your business through word of mouth, you must be visible and active in the community. Get out of the cave by joining organized networking groups and/or professional associations. These kinds of groups include: casual contact networks (like your local Chamber of Commerce), business development networks (like BNI), professional organizations (almost all professions have one), and service clubs (like Rotary). For a complete listing of these and other networks see chapter six of my book The World's Best Known Marketing Secret.

Look for other ways to be very visible in your circle of influence; for example, be active in your child's school PTA or your place of worship. Keep your eye open for opportunities to be involved with groups of people who come together for a common cause.

These opportunities will afford you the chance to build relationships and that is what social capital is all about. Visibility leads to Credibility which, in turn, leads to Profitability. (See another article of mine regarding the VCP model here.)