Happy New Year!

It's amazing what a few weeks away can do for the soul. Not only our individual souls, but the actual soul of the group. The feel of the meeting and the members therein. We switched around our leadership team a bit and now I think we have a solid team. Since nothing particularly exciting (of any importance) happened today, I will share with you the hilarity that went on in today's meeting.

We have been having a problem with the restaurant and people ordering food off of our "special" menu. We are no longer allowed to do that. So, we had to discuss changing the menu today. We realized that both cheeseburgers and patty melts were listed on our menu of 6 items. There was an actual vote in the group as to which people preferred more, cheeseburgers or patty melts...after the vote was unanamous for cheeseburgers, our past VP stands up and announces that he wants his patty melt. This got to be so ridiculous that half of us were literally laughing out loud. Finally we decided again to 86 the patty melt and offer a soup and salad combo instead.

The other funny part was that we had a few visitors from other chapters who were laughing for other reasons...they were laughing because this conversation happens at every chapter and its so silly that it's funny...

Is Next Week Really Thanksgiving?

Yes, yes it is. I can't believe it. Where did this year go? Ok, moving on to the meeting.

Today's meeting went pretty smoothly. There were no inappropriately long discussions. We passed 8 referrals today. The chaos was kept to a bare, bare minimum. Almost everyone showed up.

But, of course, there are just a few things that I wasn't thrilled about.

1. The first 15 minutes of every BNI meeting is reserved for "open networking." That basically means that everyone is standing up, milling around talking business with the rest of the members. It's important that everyone is standing because it keeps the energy up in the group, visitors can see that everyone is engaged with each other, and if those two reasons aren't enough, it's just one of the rules. Having said all of that, I find it quite disrespectful when I ask seasoned members who definitely know better, to stand, and they ignore me. The worst part was that these are people who, when they were on leadership team 2 months ago, made sure that everyone was standing. Now, for anyone reading this who is not a current BNI member, go to a BNI meeting, any meeting. You will see how important those first 15 minutes are in building rapport with members, discussing common clients, and starting off the meeting on a positive note. There are some BNI rules that I disagree wholeheartedly with for various reasons, and this was one of them until I realized the effect that standing vs. sitting during open networking has on the rest of the meeting.
2. I'm trying to come up with a second issue, but really, that was the big one that stuck out for me today.

In a completely unrelated matter, I need to start writing down the faux pas and freudian slips that happen during the meeting. Here is a list of various comments taken out of context that have been said over the past few weeks. And I will update this list as things come up.

~~~~~~ I need something soft to lie on. What's your wife's name?

~~~~~~ When we are done, you will feel all creamy.

Ok, so it's not a long list. I don't have a great memory. I'm going to keep a post-it note pad next to me from now on because the lines that I'm missing were too funny not to document. :-D

Well, I wish everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

A Member Minute: Cliques are not a good idea and lead to problems. Lots of problems. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done about it because most people do not even realize that they are a part of one until it is pointed out to them. But, if you happen to not be in a "clique" please don't be passive agressive about it. Everyone went to high school and remembers being the odd one out. But, unlike high school, feel free to say something about it. People are in BNI, in theory, because they are looking to network, which requires being social and being able to communicate. Bottom line, don't be a clique. If there is a clique that you feel excluded from, say something because 99 times out of 100, it is not intentional and you will be invited to join the conversation.

Proof that BNI works

Good morning dear readers (whoever you are...why don't you drop me a line so we can get to know each other a bit?) Anyway, I do have some exciting news to share. Thanks to BNI, I am in the process of purchasing my first home. What does BNI have to do with it?

1. If it weren't for the sales I have made (and will continue to make) from the referrals from my chapter, I would not be able to afford it.
2. Through BNI, I have a network of professionals who I trust to not only handle the needs for my friends, family and clients, but also for myself personally. Real estate agent, mortgage broker, etc etc etc.
3. And finally, as I have said in many a BNI meeting, if it weren't for my chapter, I don't think I'd still be in business and I'd probably be back in retail...not making enough money to buy a house in California.

As you would imagine, I am very excited about this milestone in my life. I'm also extraordinarily overwhelmed, frusterated and freaking out. I'll let you know how move-in day goes. :-)

A Member Minute: I like how that sounds much better. Just because you were the prior president (and we are friends) does not mean that you can be an energy leach in the meeting. Your negativity is bringing down the group and really needs to stop. You, of all people, should know that we really don't need that right now.

So much to say and so little time

Hi Everyone!

Your very own BNI Member is back to talk about those things that we don't talk about during meetings. Member drama. Well, let me start that the first month of my term as Vice President has come to a close. Amazing how time flies. Let's see if I can list for you the drama that has gone on in a month.

• We had a member so upset about the membership committee not approving a prospective member that he filed a complaint and didn't show up for almost a month.
• We lost a Membership Committee person because they could not be bothered to go to training.
• We auction off plants.
• We spent a half hour discussing holiday party plans.
• We may very well be losing two members because of a miscommunication.

On a more positive note:

• We inducted two new members who seem to be very excited about joining and are ready to dive right in.
• The one membership committee member that we do have is fantastic and very eager to help grow the chapter.
• We have a president who is excited about her new position but I'm not sure she has the "IT" factor.

All and all we're doing alright. As I said on my first post, I absolutely love BNI and it has been invaluable to my business life, as well as some aspects of my personal life. And as much as you see of the negative stuff that goes on within my own little chapter, I love them all as well...well most of them.

I think I'm going to start going point by point and describing all of our members to you. This way, I can refer to specific people and you will all be acquainted.

Member's note: The meeting starts at 11:30. Be there by 11:30. Not 11:45. I swear to you that I will send everyone a letter who tries to stroll in after 11:35. It's disruptive, distracting and some other "di" word. You go to the meetings to network and to get referrals, not to have a 5 star dining exerience. Remember that.

Second Meeting as "Official" VP

Let's go back in time for a moment. For the past year, I have been (on) the Membership Committee. But, our VP was next to worthless, so guess who had to pick up the slack? Yep, that would be yours truely. I was glad to do it. As I've stated before, I do try to do all that I can to prove to the other members that I am not just a hotshot kid and I am responsible, yadda yadda yadda. Well, now we've got a new board. Our Secretary/Treasure is one of these tough New York types. I'm pretty much used to that. I have New Yorker in my blood. I can be a loud bitch if need be! :-) Anyway, she and I will work well together when we aren't butting heads.

And then there is our new President. Well, she's a sweet person and I know she means well. I just think she's waaaaay too boring and introverted and not excitng, inspiring or motivating. I hope I'm wrong and just being overly dramatic. Oh well. Having said all of that, I'm giving us about a month to start running like a well oiled machine.

Ok, onto the meeting. We had our managing director speak yesterday. And it was less of a speech and more of an audience participation group project that I really enjoyed. The jist was we were read a story about a couple getting married and their business and we had to come up with as many referrals that we could give from the list. My group went way above and beyond and got creative. Of course they needed a realtor, mortgage person, insurance person, contractor, bookkeeper, etc. But, we decided they needed a wedding planner, divorce attorney, janitorial staff, rental agency for handicapped ramps because the bride's mother (we/I decided) was in a wheelchair and wouldn't make it up the steps to the banquet hall. That part was enjoyable.

I just got off our monthly President's conference call. "But you're VP!", you may say. Yes, you're right. Apparently, I'm VP and get to be the bad guy with attendance issues, PLUS, I am the President's very own personal assistant. Amazing, huh?

I'm going to say this here and now, and I'm sure I'm going to reiterate this again in the future. I love BNI. I love my BNI group as a whole and 99% of the members in it. Yes, we have problems and drama and helmets (another story for another post in a little bit) and personality conflicts and cliquiness (sort of), but when all is said and I really enjoy the meetings and more importantly, I really respect and trust the vast majority of the members in the group. I have nothing but complimentary things to say for the most part, but when someone or something really gets my goat, I bitch and moan. And I have this blog. Really, I'm hoping that other members in other groups stumble upon it and eventually submit their own stories. I kind of look at the group as a family of sorts. Yes, we love our families and that goes without question. HOWEVER, each of our family members say or do or have habits that aggrivate, annoy, frusterate or otherwise bother us. And that's really how my chapter is.

Welcome to the first post of someone on the inside of the world's largest networking organization!

Welcome to my blog everyone! Before we get going, I just thought I'd give you some of the basics. I'm a professional twenty something in the great state of sunny California who loves her sales job. I can sell ice to Eskimos, a comb to Mr. Clean, and a razer to a Rabbi. In the very very beginning of my career, my very first boss told me that I should try to join a BNI group and that people get a ton of business from there. I had no idea what the hell he was talking about, so I Googled it. www.bni.com

I still wasn't really sure, so I emailed one of the directors for more information. It turned out that there was a welcome breakfast within days of my email. So, I went. I met a lot of people that day and decided to join. It was at this breakfast that I learned what BNI was all about. It's a wonderful networking organization designed to get a group of professionals in a room for the sole purpose of passing referrals to each other, esentially expanding everyone's sales teams. The thing I really liked is that there is only one person per profession in each group. No competition.

So, I signed up. A new group was forming and it was at lunch and not at 7am (I am sooo not a morning person!), so I gravitated over there. Finally, a couple of weeks passed and we had our first quasi-meeting. I began to question what my role would be in the group. I was clearly the youngest member and I was very concerned about not being taken seriously. But, weeks turned into months and finally we were an official chapter. I was getting referrals and closing deals and all was well.

And then I decided to sign up for committees. I was on our membership committee for a year or so. I was forced to learn the ropes of not only my role, but also that of the Vice President. And making a very long story short, here we are. Now, I am the VP.

The reason for this blog? Well, first of all, I can't remember a thing, so I try to document my life so one day I can go back and remember how I ended up whereever I end up. But, more importantly, I'm hoping that you find this blog interesting, entertaining and informative. I'll try to make it fun which shouldn't be hard considering the cast of characters I deal with officially on a weekly basis, but ends up being more like a daily occurrance.

Hopefully this post was not too dry. I'll try to moisten it up for the future. :-)