garage to global

Garage to Global ® – Another Four Lessonsstring(48) "Garage to Global ® – Another Four Lessons"

January 27, 2020
, , , Culture, Garage to Global, vision

I literally built my business from operating out of my garage to a global enterprise with over 9400 BNI chapters in more than 70 countries all around the world. Overall, I have twelve lessons for you that I’ve learned from taking my business literally garage to global. I’ve covered eight so far in previous blogs.

Here are the final four lessons on how I took BNI literally from my garage to global organization

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

I think culture is the secret sauce to a successful organization. Your organizational culture is critical to your success. If you are part of a company that has a horrible culture and an amazing strategy, you’re not going to do well. However, if you are part of a company with an amazing culture and a really good strategy, you are going to be the industry leader.

Know your mission.

Get really clear about what your mission is. The mission of BNI is to help members increase their business through a structured, positive and professional referral program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships and referrals

Work in your flame, not in your wax.

Do the things you’re passionate about, and hire people to the stuff you hate doing. When you’re in your flame you’re doing things you love to do. When you’re working in your wax it’s taking all your energy away. There are times we may have to work in your wax. However, as soon as possible, you will want to hire somebody who your wax is their flame and they’re excited to do that.

Share a vision that everyone is striving towards.

BNI has dominated its industry in almost every market for decades because of a shared vision and a shared implementation of that vision. Vision is where you want to go and your mission is how you want to get there. BNI’s vision is “Changing the Way the World Does Business”.

So, these are the final four of my twelve lessons on how I took BNI literally from my garage to global organization. If you missed them, here are the links to the first blog and the second blog in this series.

garage to global

Garage to Global ® – The Next Four Lessonsstring(49) "Garage to Global ® – The Next Four Lessons"

January 23, 2020
, , , Garage to Global, Who's in Your Room 2

35 years ago, I started BNI literally in my garage and in a small room above my garage. I am truly an example of taking a business from a garage to global company. I am sharing this month twelve lessons that I’ve learned from scaling my company and making it grow globally. These are things that I did not necessarily learn in college to take my business literally from my garage to a global enterprise.

Here are another four lessons on how to scale your business.

Know your numbers to go from Garage to Global.

You must get really good with your numbers and you got to have those kinds of numbers. I’d recommend weekly reports that you want to make sure to generate so that you can eyeball how you’re doing. You cannot hit a future goal if you do not know how you’re doing today. The key numbers that will determine whether you’re going in the right direction or in the wrong direction.

Do six things a thousand times, not a thousand things six times.

If you want to be successful in business, focus on doing six things 1000 times. In BNI, it’s what we call “three plus one.” It is adding members, adding chapters, filling chapters and telling stories. Those are the key performance indicators for chapters. New BNI members should work on their networking education by reading books, watching YouTube videos, and having 121 meetings with people you really trust. Be a dog with a bone because persistence is a superpower.

Surround yourself with great people.

Look for the people who have values that are congruent with the values that you have. I’d recommend my book, “Who’s in Your Room?” It’s all about understanding your values and surrounding yourself in your room with the right people. If you have someone working for you who is not the right fit for you and your business, you’ve got to be able to let them go quickly.

Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.

As a new business, hire people with a great attitude and teach them. I prefer to hire somebody who is coachable and excited to be working for me. It’s okay to find ignorance on fire and coach them on how to do their job. When you do that, they will become very loyal to you because you’ve spent the time, mentoring and coaching them.

So these are another four lessons in how to take your business from “Garage to Global”. If you missed it, here is the link to the first blog in this series. This is all part of the garage the global material from a recent BNIpodcast that I’m working on right now for a future book. There’s more to come next week.

Garage to Global

Garage to Global ®string(19) "Garage to Global ®"

January 20, 2020
Garage to Global

I am introducing today a concept I am calling garage to global. I literally built my business from operating out of my garage to a global enterprise with over 9400 BNI chapters in more than 70 countries all around the world. How did I do that? Well, first and foremost, I created a plan that I applied over the past 35 years of consecutive growth in the organization.

I want to share twelve lessons with you that I’ve learned from scaling my company and making it grow globally. These are things that I did not necessarily learn in college to take my business literally from my garage to a global enterprise.

Here are the first four lessons I learned to go Garage to Global in this video:

Learn to work on your business, not just in your business.

You have to learn how to work on your business, not just in your business. The difference is when you are “working on the business”, you are managing it strategically. When you are “working in the business”, you are doing all the work yourself. You have to learn how to be an entrepreneur. I was there, “working in the business” for a long time, but the quicker you get to be “working on the business”, the more successful you are going to be. Please read “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber if you’re not familiar with this concept.

Create systems and write them down.

One of the secrets, I believe, to the success of my company was creating systems. You have to create systems processes, and then you have to write these systems down. Finally, you have to teach others what you have written down. Because learning is a leaky bucket process, stuff leaks out, unless it’s written down and done consistently.

Reverse-engineer your goals.

First, you need to set goals. You cannot hit a target you are not aiming at. I set my goals at three different levels. It’s a great technique to use when creating goals. I think goals are extremely important. But what we are often not taught in school is the importance of reverse engineering your goals. If you have a goal for the end of the year, where do you need to be at the end of each month between January and December?  Finally, you should review your monthly goals at the end of every month. This comparison will tell you right away, how are you doing? Are you “on track” or “way off.” And that’s way too late. And so the reverse engineering your goals is a critical element of scaling your business.

Delegate both responsibility and authority.

You have to learn how to delegate effectively. We tend to only delegate responsibility but we don’t delegate authority. That means someone who is responsible, but they also have the authority to make the decisions. Everyone you delegate should have 95% authority in that position. Don’t worry if people make a mistake. They will. It’s inevitable. You just need to be prepared to coach and guide them when that happens.

And so that’s a very short lesson on how I took BNI literally from my garage to a global organization. This is all part of the “Garage to Global” material from a recent BNIpodcast that I’m working on for a future book. There’s more to come. I will be posting the second and third blogs of this three-part series later in the month.

uncommon application of common knowledge

Success is Uncommon Application of Common Knowledgestring(51) "Success is Uncommon Application of Common Knowledge"

June 7, 2018
, , Garage to Global, Success

Have you ever wondered what it is you need to do in order to be successful? I have found that many people are looking for some mysterious and ever-elusive secret to success beyond what they already sense to be important. The truth is, there is no great mystery. In fact, very often “success is simply the uncommon application of common knowledge.”

When I was interviewing average business owners and entrepreneurs for my book, Masters of Success, I asked thousands of them what they felt the “secret” to success was. Everyone I interviewed or wrote about regarding the secret to success – from Buzz Aldrin to Erin Brockovich, from average businesspeople to undergraduate college students – gave me virtually the same answer. They generally told me things like: vision, goals, passion, persistence, and systems. So if we all know what it takes to be successful, why is it that we aren’t all as successful as we’d like to be?

Click on the graphic below, or click here, to see this video. Learn more about my definition of success.

 

Garage to Global

This is a part of what I call the “Ivanisms Series”: all of my personal quotes and phrases and why they have worked for me.

In another short video, I talk to Roger Green about how I came up with this idea and explain why I’m such a firm believer in the concept.

What’s your take on the secret to success?  Is your recipe for success the same as mine or do you have different ideas about how success is achieved? 

Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

LCD's

Lead with Your LCD’sstring(26) "Lead with Your LCD’s"

May 31, 2018
, , Classic Video, Garage to Global 1

When planning your weekly networking presentations, lead with your LCD’s.

It is very important to be prepared to introduce yourself by breaking down your business into your LCD’s (Lowest Common Denominators). Each week, create a business educational curriculum to train your sales force to focus on just ONE aspect of your business.

For example, each week just focus on one LCD’s :

– A service
– A product
– A benefit

When you want to nail a presentation, start by explaining your lowest common denominators, or the most immediate, universal value of your business. Your LCD is your secret weapon. What are the various “keywords” others would use to search for you online? These keywords are your LCD’s.

Click on the graphic below, or click here, to see this video. Learn more about developing this training approach for your weekly presentations.

Garage to Global

This is a part of what I call the “Ivanisms Series”: all of my personal quotes and phrases and why they have worked for me.

Richard Branson

What Can Business Do About It?string(30) "What Can Business Do About It?"

May 24, 2018
, BNI Foundation, Collaboration, Garage to Global, Philanthropy, Social Responsibility, Video Blog

A friend of mine once said, “If we could get every single business person in the world, every single entrepreneur, to play their part, we could get on top of most of the world’s problems.” That friend was Richard Branson, and I took his message about his Plan B Initiative.to heart. It made me think about what I could do through BNI to make an impact on the globe and sent me on an introspective journey about being a business owner and the responsibility we had to serve not only our customers but society as a whole.

What I came up with are four ways to help your business find direction and purpose in helping others, whether it be in your local area or in the global community.

Garage to Global

In this video, I discuss how businesses can give back to the community. This is a part of what I call the “Ivanisms Series”: all of my personal quotes and phrases and why they have worked for me. Therefore, please watch this video to understand what Richard Branson means.

Can Your Business Serve the Greater Good?

All of us are in business to make a profit. But if that’s the primary driving force in business, we become mercenaries to that process.  I believe that I should serve a greater need than simply to make a profit. I believe that business can be honorable.  It can make a difference in individual lives as well as communities.

Business can be honorable. It can be something that improves people’s lives as well as supports and helps local communities. It can do so, by not only helping to generate more business for one another, but by giving back to the community, mentoring others, immersing in a culture of shared learning, and by collaborating with others.

The BNI Foundation

When corporations have a vision bigger than their profit and loss statement, amazing things can happen. BNI, the world’s leading referral organization, is one such corporation. Started by Ivan and Beth Misner in 1998, the BNI Foundation has been supporting children and education in the United States and around the world by mobilizing resources to give kids everywhere a quality education. The focus of the BNI Foundation is to help the youth of our community to find the path to productive and successful lives. For us, the mechanism to help with this shift is by investing our time, treasure, and talent to assist in education where we can. http://bnifoundation.org/ 

What is Business Voices ™?

The BNI Foundation has a long, proud legacy of helping out where schools have needed extra funding for projects not provided for by school districts or state funding. A pivotal factor of our philanthropic work was the creation of the Business Voices™ initiative to provide even more to the schools which have with the greatest needs.

Our initiative pairs BNI members and concerned, engaged and motivated corporations, service clubs and community groups with schools and educational organizations. The goal is to help them find the resources they need to have maximum impact on the kids of our communities.

your competition

Why Partnering With Your Competition Could Be Your Key To Successstring(65) "Why Partnering With Your Competition Could Be Your Key To Success"

May 17, 2018
, , Classic Video, Competition, Garage to Global, Profitability 1

How intelligently collaborating with your competition can vastly improve your business.

While counter-intuitive, partnering with your competition may be among the best ways to grow your business. By intelligently creating a partnership with someone who you would otherwise work against, you can combine your client bases and maximize return on your investment. However, you never know what kind of positives can come from what may otherwise seem like a negative.

Watch this video

In this video, I discuss how to deal with competition in business. This is a part of what I call the “Ivanisms Series”, all of my personal quotes and phrases and why they have worked for me. Therefore, please watch this video to understand what Ivan means.

The value of collaborating with your competition

I was doing a seminar about how it is possible to increase your business by cooperating with your competitors.

A man sitting in the audience argued passionately about not consorting with the competition. We were having a pretty lively debate when an older member of the audience stood up to weigh in.

The story he told made a believer out of everyone else in the room:

I’ve been in the investment business my entire professional career. A few years ago, I was courting a company for an investment package that included retirement and more. It was huge — one of the biggest projects I had ever worked on. Spending weeks getting to know the client’s intricate needs and putting together a comprehensive package, the client told me they were going with someone else.

Therefore, I was just gobsmacked, completely shocked. After I caught my breath, I asked him who he had chosen. It turns out he was giving it to a competitor in his mid 20s. This kid had no experience and yet, here they were giving him this monster project. I felt like I had spent enough time with the client to ask him why he would choose this person over me and my package. He looked at me and said, “You want the honest-to-goodness truth? It’s my brother in law, and my wife will go crazy if I don’t give him the business. However, I do trust him, but I know he hasn’t got the experience you have.”

In my entire professional life, I had never done what I did next. In my area of business, it’s usually dog-eat-dog, but I called the kid and congratulated him. I told him I knew a lot about the company and if he ever needed anything, I was happy to help.

The kid’s voice literally jumped out of the phone. He said, “I’m from a wealthy family, but I really have no idea how to manage a project this big. I’m connected and I have four more deals just like this one, and I don’t know how I’m going to get it all put together. Could we partner up? In conclusion, I know I can get even more deals like these, but to manage it well, I could really use your help.”

We did just that: partnered up. And that kid is a rainmaker. We have worked on so many deals, all of them the same size or bigger than that original one I thought I lost. Therefore, I made more money than I had ever made before by calling up my competitor and offering goodwill and advice if he ever needed it.

Therefore, as you might suspect, the young man in my audience had a change of heart after hearing this story.

Will this happen every time you try to work with a competitor? Of course not. But it will never happen if you don’t reach out.

What are some effective ways you’ve been able to collaborate with competitors? Let us know in the comments below.

 

competitors

How To Deal With Competitorsstring(28) "How To Deal With Competitors"

May 7, 2018
, , , Classic Video, Competition, Entrepreneur, Garage to Global 2

My solution on how to deal with competitors is simple: Don’t pay attention to competitors. Success in business is about constantly improving your product or service, team, and culture. If you focus on these aspects, you’ll improve your position in the marketplace.

Focus on the fundamentals of your business. Keep up with metrics and constantly share your organization’s core values. These are a few ways that you can improve your business. But whatever you do, don’t obsess over what competitors are saying about you. If you keep bettering your own business, you’ll have no need to fear your competitors.

“The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.” – Henry Ford

Watch this video

In this video, I discuss how to deal with competition in business. This is a part of what I call the “Ivanisms Series”, all of my personal quotes and phrases and why they have worked for me. Please watch this video to understand what Ivan means.

dog

A Dog With A Bonestring(17) "A Dog With A Bone"

April 30, 2018
Classic Video, Entrepreneur, Garage to Global

In business are you a puppy with a ball or a dog with a bone?

The lesson here is I never give up.

I am absolutely a dog with a bone. I may not be the smartest man in a room or I may not be the most talented man in a room, but I am almost always the most determined man in a room.

Watch this video

When you are in business, you need to be like a dog with a bone. This is a part of what I call the “Ivanisms Series”, all of my personal quotes and phrases and why they have worked for me. Please watch this video to understand what Ivan means.

Excellence is not a single act. It’s a habit.

If you want to be successful, think things through and then act on that like a dog with a bone. Often times, the more successful you are, the more failures you’ve had. If you believe in your objective, keep going. One of the reasons for my success is my persistence, tenacity, and doggedness in dealing with challenges. There are things that I have let go, but when I feel certain when I have great information and feel confident in my vision and my goals, then I am a dog with a bone in my focus in not giving up.

Hyperconnectivity and the Rise of Constant Partial Attention

Hyperconnectivity and the Rise of Constant Partial Attentionstring(60) "Hyperconnectivity and the Rise of Constant Partial Attention"

April 26, 2018
Garage to Global, Video Blog

Where is your cell phone right now? For many of you, you’re reading this blog post on it. For those who aren’t, it’s probably within arm’s reach. However, we are always connected to our jobs, our families, our outside lives. All thanks to that little ringing device we carry in our pockets and bags. Therefore, this state of hyperconnectivity leaves us often dividing our focus. Rarely are we 100 percent paying attention to any given thing.

Check out this week’s video blog by clicking on the graphic below, or clicking here, to hear what I have to say about this rising phenomenon.

How many times have you been at a networking function and realized that half of the people there are paying more attention to their mobile devices. Therefore, they are not paying attention to the other attendees?  Worse, have you yourself been guilty of staying so glued to your phone or tablet that you have missed the opportunity to make a powerful connection with the person standing right in front of you?

Continuous Partial Attention

We are living in a world that is more connected than ever. There are some definite pitfalls in our hyperconnected world as it intersects with our business relationships and our networking.  One of these pitfalls is that hyperconnectivity can lead to a state of what I call ‘continuous partial attention.’

In this video, I introduce the concept of ‘continuous partial attention’. I also discuss the risks and repercussions which accompany it.  Watch the video now to learn how to avoid falling into a state of continuous partial attention and prevent it from wreaking havoc on your productivity at work and your ability to achieve your goals.

If you have any stories about how falling victim to a state of continuous partial attention has affected you or someone you know, I’d love for you to share your experience in the comments below.  Thanks!

Givers Gain®

Givers Gain® – The Videostring(31) "Givers Gain® – The Video"

April 19, 2018
, , Classic Video, Garage to Global, Givers Gain, Video Blog

In this video, I share the story of the philosophy of BNI: Givers Gain®. Understanding an important philosophy based on the law of reciprocity can make your networking far more powerful, but only when self applied.

Click on the graphic above, or click here, to see the video!

Givers Gain®

If you bring people into your network who embrace your core value, you will create an amazing network. Incorporating the philosophy of Givers Gain ® into my organization was one of the things that have really set BNI aside from the other networking groups. We have inculcated this core value into the fabric of BNI. Therefore, “Givers Gain ®” became part of the very DNA of the organization. That is incredibly special.

Givers Gain® is a philosophy based on the law of reciprocity.  In the context of networking groups, people who adopt this philosophy dedicate themselves to giving business to their fellow networkers rather than making their foremost concern getting business for themselves.  In doing so, other people naturally become eager to repay their kindness by sending them business in return.

Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast

Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast Videostring(41) "Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast Video"

April 2, 2018
, , , Entrepreneur, Garage to Global, Guest Blog, Guest Video, Video Blog

This is another classic video in the “Ivanism” Garage to Global series, hosted by Entrepreneur.com. I expand on common phrases I’ve used over the years. How can they apply to your business and referral networking style? Today I discuss the Ivanism, Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

Culture is a blend of attitude, beliefs, mission, philosophy and momentum. As a result, culture helps to create and sustain a successful brand. The way people interact with one another and the overall growth of your company is affected by culture. What creates organizational culture? Culture is key in an organization for long-term success. It is the most important thing in an organization and it applies at all levels, from the top of the organization all the way down.  Rules, regulations, and operating standards are important, of course, because you have to have systems in place to guide activities. But culture is the factor that stands above all others.

Strategy is often talked about in business schools, in fact it’s a primary focus.  Culture however, is less understood.  Culture involves a variety of contributing factors including a blend of attitudes, beliefs, mission, philosophy, and momentum that help to create and sustain a successful brand.  It represents the vision, norms, symbols, beliefs, behaviors, and traditions that are taught to new members of an organization.  Organizational culture affects the way people within an organization interact with one another and the people they serve.

There are many factors that go into building an organizational culture.  Each successful company has a different combination of factors that makes their culture successful.

The factors that go into building the organizational culture and will make your company successful are…

  1. TRADITIONS AND CORE VALUES
  2. VISION
  3. ENGAGEMENT

Please watch my video to learn more about these factors and share your comments below.

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