Today is going to be one of those days: when my BNI networking meeting mixes with kids. I’m the President of our Mission Possible BNI chapter, here in Southern California. We meet for lunch every Wednesday - and it just so happens to be the day our eldest son gets out of school early - and we only have one car. So, how do I manage to be in two places at the same time? Normally, I would either get a substitute, in which a fellow BNI member from another chapter, or a former client that lives in the area, would come to the BNI meeting for me, give my elevator speech and in return they get a free lunch and the opportunity to network with other business owners. But today, I also happen to be speaking on our web design businesses: Blaze Interactive and Indra Successful Coach Marketing.
BNI networking has many benefits for the Entrepreneur: free or low-cost sales and networking training, the ability to be the exclusive provider of your service/product in your BNI group, an organized networking group that gives real referral results, and the opportunity to talk for 10 to 15 minutes to your BNI group to let them know: why they should send referrals your way, what kind of referrals you are looking for, and keywords or phrases to listen for when talking with others in order to recommend you. Depending on your group size, you may get many opportunities to speak, or just a couple per year - so it’s important to be there when it’s your turn!
So, how am I going to swing this? Well, I have several options:
1. Have my husband drop me off, then go and pick-up our son, then come and pick me up after the 1 1/2 meeting is over.
2. Get a taxi - but this feels silly in Southern California.
3. Ask a fellow BNI Mission Possible friend to pick me up from the office and drive me to my meeting.
4. Take the car and hire a Concierge service to pick-up and drop-off our son at home. (You will need to give advance warning to the Concierge service and also check-out the references before you do this. Chrissy, with Carefree Concierge is great for the Southern California area.)
5. Barrow a car from a stay-at-home parent, and promise to watch their kids on the weekend in return for their kindness.
Today, however, we happen to be watching a friend’s house while they’re on vacation, and we can use his car - problem easily solved for today. But, it’s always good for Entrepreneurs juggling family and kids to have a back-up system.
If you want to learn more about BNI, and where a local chapter might be, go to www.bni.com. Happy Networking!
Tags: blaze interactive, bni, entrepreneur, family, indra successful coach marketing, kids, mission possible, Networking, networking groups, school, southern california