Whilst not really on the subject of teaching your employees to network, since I am a “one woman band”, I would like to comment on the power of networking, which I have recently discovered!

I have been in my own buiness for almost 8 years, working from home and relying on 3 or 4 big corportaes to keep me going, much like the young man you mentioned in your blog. I manage to keep my head above water, and needless to say, when my big clients were quiet, I went into panic mode! In essence I was just plodding along until I discovered BNI! Whilst I am not making millions out of networking (yet!), I cannot tell you what a huge difference BNI has made in my life!

To this end I wrote a blog which I placed on my fledgling website (launched about 6 weeks ago and designed by a fellow BNI member), and I would like to share this blog with you…

BNI – A new dimension in my life

It was my lucky day when Neil from Computer Troubleshooters came to look at a problem I was having with my computer. Not only was he able to fix a problem which had baffled 3 other techies, BUT he asked me if I had heard of BNI.

I hadn’t! So he proceeded to tell me that BNI stood for Business Network International and that it was an awesome networking organisation, especially for small business owners like myself.

He invited me to attend a BNI meeting as a visitor and decide for myself whether I wanted to join.

BNI is divided into Chapters or branches, situated worldwide and the one that was closest to me was the Masters Chapter in Rosebank. As it happened, although Neil is a member of the Fourways Chapter, his colleague Arjen is a member of the Rosebank Chapter and he welcomed me with open arms.

One meeting and I was sold!

Not only have I made a lot of valuable contacts and generated some additional business, BUT I have made a lot of friends, and attending the early morning breakfast meeting every Tuesday has become one of the highlights of my week!

As luck would have it, I joined just prior to the BNI annual conference, which was awesome. I picked up a wealth of invaluable tips on networking and marketing and made even more useful business contacts! And, I had a lot of fun and won a fabulous prize too!

What a combination – making money and having fun!

You can’t beat it.

Check out the BNI website at http://www.bni.co.za or ww.bni.com and if you have any queries, just shout. I would be happy to fill you in.

Joy Dembo
Masters Chapter
Johannesburg
South Africa