How will you Kick-Start 2022 using BNI?

How well did you use BNI to achieve your business goals in 2021, and what will you do in 2022 to ensure you have your best year ever? What one thing will mean the difference in actually achieving your goals rather than chalking them up to yet another year’s unfulfilled resolutions? What can you do to enhance an aspect of your BNI journey that you’ve neglected in your single-minded pursuit of that elusive brass ring? Think about it.

We aim to get you thinking and inspire you to reach farther, go faster, achieve more than ever before. Does this prospect energize you? Or maybe a little overwhelmed? Then start small, focusing on just one thing you want to accomplish. Your BNI Membership is an investment of your time more than money, and when used following the basic fundamentals together with our Core Values, you’ll get astounding results.

We share some tips for you to consider together with a list of BNI Podcasts you may want to listen to or read – they are short, and you can action the learnings right way:

1. Write a letter or a note or email to three people in your Chapter who have helped you this year to let them know what they mean to you.
2. Build Value Every Day. Business is all about high-touch/ high-trust relationships. In this age of dramatic distraction, it’s especially easy to forget that. People do business with people they trust and people who make them feel special. Create a ritual that ensures you reach out to three possible or current customers every day. This isn’t about asking for the order; this is about adding value. The more people you help, the more profits you’ll see. Send them an article. Connect them with a business opportunity. Do something to help them close in on their greatest dreams. They’ll soon help you close in on yours – Givers Gain works everywhere, not just in BNI.
3. Practice the one-a-day principle. You can’t delight everybody all the time, but you can do something extraordinary for someone each day. Find a customer, colleague, relative, or friend each day and do something remarkable. Using the one-a-day principle will make your business and life remarkable. Be sure that there is at least one fellow BNI member each week amongst the people you delight in and ideally at least 3-4 members each week.
4. Find a Mentor in your Chapter. Someone in your chapter will have more experience than you in something you want to excel in. Remember, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
5. Write your top 10 goals for this year and post them where you can see them.
6. Refresh your network. Have a host of contacts you’ve lost touch with over the last few months? Pull up those numbers and refresh your network! Now is the perfect time to check-in and keep your network working for you. BNI is only one of many of your Networks.
7. Be a student of all you do. You must become an expert in your field. How? Read! Ask questions of mentors and peers. Attend training. Start today by identifying areas for improvement, looking for training opportunities in your field, signing up for seminars and webcasts, reading or listening to personal-development material, seeking out people you would like to emulate, and approaching those you’d like as your mentors. And the same applies to your BNI journey – here is a list of some BNI Podcasts which are perfect for listening to at this time of the year:

a. Episode 737: Creating a Life Plan (Classic Podcast) – Every year at this time, Dr. Misner takes time off to do some reflection. Since this is the last podcast for this year, Dr. Misner wanted to talk about creating a life plan. Create a list of what you hope might happen. Wherever you are in your life, this has value for your future. Here are the goals Dr. Misner had for each decade of his life when he first undertook this exercise:

This year Dr. Misner wants to set another thirty-year plan. So take a day and reflect on what you want to be doing and who you want to be doing it with.

b. Episode 607: Learning How to Say No – Dr. Misner shares material from his book Who’s in Your Room?

Whenever possible, you want to say yes to opportunities, but sometimes you do have to say no. Here are 7 points to help you do it without sounding like a jerk.

c. Episode 599: Are you Asking for Pennies? – this podcast is to help you get more specific in your referral requests. Your fellow BNI members and other referral partners are like genies: they interpret your requests literally. Ask for “money” and you might get a penny. It’s money, but it’s probably not what you were thinking of. If possible, ask for referrals to specific people by name. A little research will get you the name of the person you need to talk to at the company you want to work with. Once you know, ask your referral partners for an introduction. Ask yourself, “Who are the people who are talking to the people that you want to be talking to?” Find out who they are and ask for introductions to them. Set up Big Hairy Audacious Goals when it comes to referrals and be specific when you ask.

d. Episode 593: Growth Is Not the Goal – Tim Roberts, BNI National Director for the United States and host of the BNI & the Power of One podcast, joins Dr. Misner on the podcast to explain why strong contact spheres matter more than chapter growth. It’s easy to overlook the fact that most BNI chapters don’t offer an equal opportunity for success in their chapters. Each member’s referrals come from within their contact spheres. A member in a contact sphere of 10 has more opportunity than a member in a contact sphere of 2. When you set your chapter growth targets, aim to create contact spheres of equal size. Take a look at your chapter and see which contact spheres and power teams need strengthening. Concentrate your visitor outreach there to increase member retention and member success.

e. Episode 423: What is Success? – When he was writing Masters of Success, Dr. Misner asked thousands of BNI members what they felt the secret to success was. They mentioned factors like vision, goals, systems, passion, and persistence. Then he asked several highly successful people what they thought it took to be successful. They provided the same list. So did a number of undergraduates studying business–except that the college students also mentioned luck.

So if we all know what it takes to be successful, why is it that we’re not all as successful as we’d like to be?

There is no secret to success. Success is simply the uncommon application of common knowledge.

When you ask people the secret to their success, you rarely hear a secret. What you hear about is unwavering adherence to a system or a plan. Successful people focus on the goal and work through or around everything else. Success requires not just knowing what you need to do but doing it–over and over again.

f. Episode 406: The Seven Secrets to Work-Life Harmony – Finding time for family, business, leisure, and BNI is difficult. Forget about balance: it’s an illusion. We don’t, and shouldn’t, spend the same amount of time on each part of our life. Dr. Misner aims to create harmony, not balance. Here are seven simple techniques to accomplish as much as you can, both personally and professionally.

We hope you find value in this article and wish you an outstanding 2022. Most importantly, be safe!