You’ve heard the saying, ‘treat something like a hobby, it will pay you like a hobby’. If networking is going to be one of your strategies to growing your business - treat it like a strategy!  Don’t be an amatuer…

BNI founder and chairman, Dr. Ivan Misner, leads the world’s largest referral organization for business owners, and professionals.  It’s sole purpose is the referral network strategy.

The key to networking? You MUST set obtainable goals and objectives.  Often times, people attending a networking event will set the objective of ‘what time am I going to leave…’  Well, your results will reflect that - so make a change!  Be specific, put some measurable numbers to it…how many events will I attend per week, how many people am I going to meet, what type of contacts am I looking for.

In a recent interview with Dr. Ivan Misner, he reveals the top 10 traits of a master networker;

10.  Dedicated to working in their network; be an expert and effectively work your network.

9.  Sincerity; be completely sincere and connected with the people in your network.

8.  Helpfulness; enact ‘givers gain’ or ‘the law of reciprocity, be willing to give before you receive.

7.

Gratitude;

be in integrity and full gratitude at all times.

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At the recent BNI International Conference in Los Angeles, almost one-thousand small business owners gathered to learn new revenue generating strategies, network with other like-minded entrepreneurs and create strategic relationships geared towards growing their business.

The special guest presenter, Brian Tracy, spoke on business building topics such as doubling your income and achieving financial independence.  And as much respect as I have for the brilliance that Mr. Tracy brings to the business and sales world, I couldn’t help but think that he was not presenting any new ground breaking material…there was no rabbit in the hat, no magic blue pill…though as I looked around the room, all I saw was big eyed optimists looking for the ‘Answer’ to solve their problems, to get them focused, to generate more business and money than they could ever imagine.  And as I continued to listen to Mr. Tracy present the importance of how the 80/20 rule relates to your daily activity and the overall results you are getting in your business, I noticed a strange act among the small business owning participants.  In unison, they were nodding their heads up and down, they were taking notes, they were turning to the person next to them to say things like; ‘yes, he’s right’, or ’so true’.  Now I understood.  It wasn’t the fact that the information was not new.  It was the unfortunate reality that small business owners are NOT doing what they are supposed to be doing on a daily basis, to generate the desired results that they truly want in their life and their business. The average small business owner is overwhelmed, unfocused and wearing al the hats!  They know all of this stuff, their just not doing it.

What does this mean?

Well sure, it means that to increase revenues and profits and grow your business, you cannot allocate the same amount of time to all of your business management activities.

And of course, the secret to running a successful business—whether you have $1 million or $1 billion in annual sales—is to find out what you should be doing and hire, barter or outsource people to do everything else.

But this information alone is useless…you must TAKE action!  You have to DO something about it!!  If you choose to download this worksheet, promise me you will commit to taking action.

Change your ways, change your results

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