My Beef with BNI

But today I went to a BNI (Business Networking International) meeting in Tallahassee (www.bni.com to find a chapter in your area) and was reminded that even the world's largest and most profitable networking organization can have drawbacks.

Note: I did have a good time at the event and made some great connections and appreciate the invitation from my friend June Townsend with Isagenix! June is a fabulous networker and generous soul (like most of the people at the BNI event).  So be sure to read my full blog post before you think "oh, she just doesn't get it!"

The three "beefs" that I have with this particular BNI experience...

1. Early morning meetings. That's why I became an entrepreneur - to set my own schedule and not feel like I have to be in the "rat race" with the rest of the world. I'm sorry, folks, but at 7:45 a.m., I want to be eating my oatmeal, reading the newspaper and petting my cats. I don't want to be out shaking hands with bright eyed bushy tailed folks looking to shove their business cards in my face. Which leads me to my next point...

2. "In the next 5 minutes, go get as many business cards as you can." THIS approach is why networking has such a bad name! UGH! And I have to say, I was shocked that such an activity would take place at a BNI meeting! BNI is all about passing qualified referrals - building long term relationships - so why they would condone a business card passing activity such as this, I have no clue.

3. Competition, competition, competition. I heard this word three times during the meeting. There was a lot of talk about "locking out your competition" and "filling your seat" so that others in your profession can't "get it." I get, in theory, why this works in a structured group like this. But even when I was a BNI member years ago, if I knew 3 writers and only one of them was in my BNI group, when passing a referral to a colleague or client of mine who was looking to hire a writer, I would always give them the 3 writers and let them decide who they wanted to work with.

But contrast is clearly the spice of life. So to look at the bright side (since I always love finding the learning in a situation) here are my three gems:

1. Freedom! I will continue to relish the fact that as an entrepreneur, I get to set my own work hours and choose when and where and with whom I want to do business. It feels great to have this freedom. So for now, I'll stick with my Chamber Leads group that meets at lunch!

2. Quality not quantity of contacts is what matters. I will continue to ask people's names and shake their hands first before ever exchanging a business card. I admit that I fell into the activity trap and actually did that - the dreaded business card swap - with a few folks (I felt dirty afterwards!). But the few folks that I stopped to talk with - those are the people I will follow up with and build a relationship with.

3. Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate! This is what I will continue to do throughout my career. I love working with Deanna Mims (www.marketdone.com) on our quarterly TEN (Tallahassee Entrepreneurs Network) meetings where we teach people the skills of good old fashioned networking (um, doing the biz card exchange is not one of the tools that we teach!) Our next workshop will be in Aug/Sept - will let you know the date soon.

Lastly, I will celebrate the fact that I have initiated a meeting regularly with local coaches for lunch.

Gasp! But they're my "competition"!

Ah phooey!