BNI: The Strategic Allicance chapter, a weekly networking event has been great for my bussines. In fact las year it accounted for more than 30 % of my income. I started the Strategic alliance group almost three years ago, and I still love the energy that I pick up when I leave the meeting.
But today I want to talk about another networking event that I started right around the same time three years ago. THE TIDEWATER ENTREPRENEUR: We meet once a month and every month we get new people come through. We have some regular members, whom I appreciate very much. In this meetings I set up a speaker to come and talk on business related subjects.
In the past year we have had the following speakers:
-Francisco Sossa speak about print and direct Marketing,
-Mickey Boyer partner of HR Sandler Training office who talked about making the first 5 minutes count and creating the 30 second commercial.
-Sandy Crocker a "Certified Life success Consultant" who spoke about goal setting and achieving them
-Ashley Lewis who talked about business strategies in a difficult market.
-Dr Michael Vanella of Vanella Chiropractic, who spoke on the posture of sales. Image is everything in business
-Patti Robertson, Why Join a Franchise Vs. Doing It on your Own?
-Martin Crenshaw was our last speaker, and he was so awesome that he came back for an encore.
As you can see, I try to get as many different speakers as possible. Devie Robertson is the Assistan Organizer. He is CEO of Robertson Global, Executive Travel Specialists. Some times he arranges the meetings, and takes over the running of things.
These meetings are very informal and we meet at "El Desorden" the Colombian restaurant I have mentioned in the past. We are served breakfast for $7.00 plus tip. The breakfast is different than most people are accustomed to, but every one loves it.
Last month we had about 18 people come to the meeting and I promised them that I would link my blog to their websites. Unfortunately, not all of them have websites, so this month Naoma Doriguzzi will be talking to us about Social networking and the importance of having a presence on the Internet.
Please check out the following businesses. You will be surprised of how different our businesses are, so we have very interesting meetings. Every month as I said we have new people, so if you are in town and are not looking for a weekly commitment, but want to meet other business owners come and join us.
Kathy Arnaud, Certified Massage therapist.
Gerrie Beck with Home Staging and redesign
We meet the second Saturday of the Month at 9:30 AM.
El Desorden, located at: 665 Newtown Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 23462
BNI: A weekly networking event. The Tidewater Entrepreneur: A monthly business networking event. By Tere Rottink is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
