The Power of One

Givers Gain 4 Life BNI Chapter has attracted and retained quality members who fit our chapter culture. Over the years GG4Life has interviewed many quality people applying for seats in our chapter. Our membership committee is tasked with vetting those who best fits our chapter culture and givers gain philosophy.

We believe developing deep relationships with other business professionals that you meet up with regularly can be very advantageous. Having one to one meetings to learn more about their business creates a culture of trust. As you build social capital and develop an understanding of how they operate their business, the easier it becomes for you to refer them business.

One of Givers Gain 4Life critical core value is personal accountability. You are responsible for your attitude and your decisions. The Power of One. Each member must be willing to put in the time it takes to become a better business referral partner. BNI will provide you the training, structure and success system to take your business to the next level of profitability. 

Givers Gain 4 Life BNI Charter Members March 2011 

Member Success Program

One of the best kept secrets in developing your networking skills is the BNI Member Success Program. Jerry Williamson http://www.teamworxproductions.com/ is the facilitator of the Member Success Program for BNI North Alabama for a very good reason, he does an excellent job. I walked away from Jerry's training session with several profitable ideas to immediately increase my social capital and networking skills.

I learned in the Member Success Program that growing a successful BNI Chapter requires a team effort. Our Givers Gain 4 Life group was assigned Sherman Rockwell the Chapter Development Director BNI of North Alabama to grow our Givers Gain 4 Life pre-core group into a chapter by putting the right people in the right place for the right reasons in order to grow a successful team.

Our Givers Gain 4 Life team efforts in diligently inviting quality people to our meetings is paying off. We have attracted quality business professionals and business owners who heard the buzz about the Givers Gain 4 Life newly forming group and actively joined us in this incredible journey of growing a successful BNI Chapter.

Entrepreneurs like Brian Bates of B&B Electric, Robert Hall of Hall & Sons Construction, Kevin Caudle of World Class Renovations Home Improvement, Willie Elliott of Elliott Professional Painting, and Greg Orr of Allied Home Inspections http://www.alliedhomeinspectionsal.com/, all were able to lock out their competition from joining Givers Gain 4 Life core group because of two key benefits. Each BNI Chapter allows one person per classification and the sole purpose is to pass business.

Successful BNI Networking

After meeting Dr. Ivan Misner and seeing his "Networking Like Pro" presentation. I returned home with a burning desire to start a successful BNI chapter in North Alabama. I clearly remember Dr. Ivan Misner asking me a question. Michael, do you know what the secret to success is? He than answered his own question, "Hard work, that's why it's a secret".

Dr. Ivan Misner recommended I get in contact with the North Alabama BNI Executive Director, Meaghan Chitwood http://www.bnialabama.com/ he also indicated that Meaghan is a great Director for BNI and I totally agree. Meaghan owns the North Alabama BNI Franchise and she became the youngest BNI Executive Director in the nation in 2004. When I emailed Meaghan, she quickly responded to my email, welcomed me onboard, gave me her blessings and invited me to attend a BNI Chapter meeting.

I attended my first BNI Chapter meeting Wednesday March 31st, 2010. The Business Builders BNI Chapter is one of twenty-four BNI Chapters in the North Alabama Region. The Business Builders BNI Chapter meets every Wednesday at the Station in Bridge Street Town Center at 11:30am. Kim Oliver http://www.anpac.com/ is the Business Builders BNI Chapter president. My first BNI meeting gave me several ideas of the unlimited potential of a well run BNI Chapter. The Business Builders BNI Chapter annual goal is to generate $750,000 of referral business for its members. I understand that starting a successful BNI Chapter is a lot of hard work, but the benefits are enormous.

Meaghan also introduced to me to Mary Wimbs http://www.decaturtransit.com/ a North Alabama BNI Region Ambassador. Mary is an awesome BNI Ambassador, she immediately begin to coach me own how to develop a successful BNI Chapter. Mary is high energy, highly motivated and very knowledgeable on the BNI culture. She brings value and inspiration to anyone who desires to join or start a BNI Chapter. Mary is instrumental in getting the Givers Gains4Life core group up and running.

Quickly after holding only two meetings, we could no longer hold interest meetings in my office http://www.battsandassoc.com/ because our conference room could not hold all the people interested in visiting our group. Mary generously offered us a much larger meeting room in her company building to hold our interest meetings. I continue to believe if our core group invite quality people to our meetings, share our givers gain philosophy and asked them join the world largest networking organzition we will build a successful BNI Chapter.

Networking Like Pro

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On March 18th, 2010 my mother's birthday I had the incredible opportunity meet the Father of Modern Networking according to CNN and the Networking Guru according to Entrepurneur Magazine Dr. Ivan Misner http://www.bni.com/ the founder of the world's largest networking organization.

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Would you like for me to sign your book? I had just registered for the "The Networking Like a Pro" presentation by Dr. Ivan Misner for the Northern California Region of BNI http://www.bnicv.com/ Standing 12 feet behind me stood Dr. Ivan Misner and John Lisle the Executive Director for the Sacramento & Central Valley BNI Chapters. As I turned to walk away John Lisle approached me introduced himself and Dr. Ivan Misner to me.

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During Dr. Ivan Misner Networking Like A Pro presentation he spoke about the importance of leveraging your social capital (I did'nt know I had social capital) and new networking ideas to help you expand your business. When he discussed the four streams of networking it really resonated with me. http://tim24-7.blogspot.com/

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In this blog I will share many of the networking concepts I learned from Dr. Ivan Misner. Over the next several months visit my blog often, as I begin this incredible journey of forming a new BNI chapter here in North Alabama. I plan to blog about implementing these networking concepts into my own business practices.