I ended the year of 2020 with a humorous graphic on my social media that said:
“I don’t want any trouble from you. Just come in, sit in the corner, don’t touch anything, and keep your mouth shut”.
2021 is now half over. We are moving from ‘The Great Pause’ to ‘The Great Acceleration’.
What are your takeaways from the first half of 2021? What was something positive that you learned so far? Give some thought to this question and write down your observations. I believe that this type of reflection will help us all to recognize the good that took place during a tough year. #2021
During the summer of 2013, while spending a week on Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson, I had the opportunity to discuss his “B Team” concept in depth with him. The B Team is a group of internationally renowned business and thought leaders that seek to accelerate the implementation of Plan B, an equal commitment to the planet and people, as well as profit. When I interviewed Sir Richard, he said, “We can’t leave every problem to government — non-profits alone cannot solve the tasks at hand. We cannot continue to do ‘business as usual”.
Plan A
Plan A for business has traditionally been to focus only on making the largest profit possible. You know that adage, “He who dies with the most toys wins?” That is how I have personally seen most people in business approach their corporate and personal success. Now we are seeing more and more successful businesses giving back in order to make the world a better place.
Conversations are taking place in the marketplace that reveal this shift happening. Books like Conscious Capitalism by my friends Dr. Raj Sisodia and John Mackey, and We First by my good friend, Simon Mainwaring, have become best sellers. It is encouraging to see that a new focus has reached critical mass and is rapidly moving toward the tipping point.
Plan B
As I interviewed Sir Richard about the B Team and Plan B, he began to inspire me question what it would look like within my own company if we were to seek to implement Plan B. Then my thoughts led me to consider what it would look like in our communities if not only my company implemented Plan B, but many others did so as well.
Four ways businesses can engage in their own Plan B focus
1. Create a nonprofit arm of your company.
While you may feel that it is too costly or needs a lot of administration to create your own nonprofit charity, that’s simply not true. Most cities and even states have community foundations in which you would be able to create a donor-advised fund. When my own company, BNI®, started to really become successful, we chose to start a corporate charity with a focus on children and education. The BNI Foundation awards grants to teachers who can’t secure funding from their school districts or states for the resources they need so badly.
2. Get to know the nonprofit organizations that are working hard to support life-changing and environment-sustaining causes.
For the BNI Foundation, that means learning what we can about organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs, and Junior Achievement. They need resources, like computers and tablets, consultants and mentors, as well as host businesses so students can come in and learn about business — to find the inspiration to press through their challenges in order to graduate from high school or even to dare to dream that they may one day go to university. They also need community members to be involved on their boards and with their fund-raising efforts.
In order to reach in and help out, you have to know what the needs are. Keith Ferrazzi, in his book Never Eat Alone, encourages us to use our lunch breaks as power meetings with others with whom we want to network. You can set aside one lunch per week (or more, as your time allows) to have with the organizers of charities you want to get to know better. This is a great way to develop relationships with the people who are pouring into the causes that matter to you.
3. Bring your employees and clients along with you.
Show them how they, too, can help out. Consider holding a staff volunteer day at a school site that needs hands-on help. There are many ways your company can work together to address the many needs these schools have.
Without our help, inner-city high schools will continue to experience the average drop-out rate of nearly 40 percent. This is certainly not good for business! We need a strong, well-educated working class in our country. As we have implemented our call to action and are getting to know the educational support organizations in the major cities of our nation, we are learning that students who are able to access mentoring from the business community have a high-school graduation rate of between 95 to 100 percent. The BNI Foundation is starting an initiative we are calling Business VOICES to let entrepreneurs know what needs are out there. You can start something similar as it relates to your company’s cause or join us.
Business VOICES:
Values
Our
Inner
City
Education &
Schools
4. Host a Get-Acquainted Meeting for a nonprofit that is having a positive impact in your community.
You can be a gatekeeper for the organizations which need support. You might have space at your office to host a gathering there. If not, consider underwriting a get-acquainted meeting at a local establishment. Some of these organizations have regularly scheduled get-acquainted meetings and would benefit greatly from your support in sponsoring one or several of these events.
These are just some of the ways you can plug into Plan B and help make a difference. Charitable activities are an important part of building a powerful personal network. Things will change for the better when small companies adopt local issues and bigger companies adopt national issues and global companies adopt international issues. I believe business can be noble and change the world in thousands of positive ways!
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.
As you know Hurricane Harvey has decimated a large part of southern and eastern Texas. What you may not know is the hurricane has dramatically impacted nearly 1,400 BNI members and their families. As a result, BNI® has launched a fundraising effort called “BNI Cares: About Texas”. Its sole purpose is to help BNI Members get back on their feet and back to business.
Join Beth and me in supporting BNI members in Texas impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Go here to support: gofundme.com/bni-cares-about-texas .
Hurricane Harvey has had a devastating impact on much of Southern Texas.
We are coordinating an immediate fundraising drive until Friday, September 15th to help BNI Members most affected by Hurricane Harvey to get back on their feet and back to business. If you would like to support BNI Members in Texas, please join us in [gofundme.com/bni-cares-about-texas] making a donation today. Times are especially tough right now for BNI Members in Southern Texas. The road to recovery will be long, but BNI will stand beside them at every step of the way.
What better what to celebrate a normal Thursday, than by putting on a red nose?
Trust me, it’s for a good cause–no–a GREAT cause.
Red Nose Day brings awareness and fundraising efforts to children’s charities across the globe. At the BNI Foundation, we support children in education, so this movement seemed like a great fit for us to support. Nonprofits such as charity: water, National Urban League and Save the Children will benefit from 100% of the proceeds raised through Red Nose Day.
Tonight, NBC will host a special featuring live entertainment from well-known celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon and U2, all while fundraising for children living in poverty.
Beth and I hope you tune in and donate to this very worthy cause. And meanwhile, enjoy this clip of us donning our own red noses!
What does it take to start a home-based business and turn it into a global organization? I am sharing the many lessons I’ve learned to do just that.
In 1985, I started a small business from my home in Southern California. Today, BNI has over 7,400 locations in more than 65 countries around the world (see the member growth chart to the right).
From business networking to management, scaling a business, and surrounding yourself with good people, I will be sharing with you the secrets for building a global brand.
Go here and subscribe to my new Garage to Global Channel (part of the Entrepreneur Network) on YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/garagetoglobal.
Share with me below what you think it takes to go from “garage to global” (but don’t forget to subscribe to my new channel. 🙂
I am honored to be able to introduce a very special guest to you today–MaryMargaret O’Neil.
MaryMargaret is the sixteen year old co-founder of the international, non-profit organization Kids Are Heroes®. I find this organization to be truly amazing and I absolutely love it! Kids Are Heroes is teaching kids across the globe about entrepreneurship and how to combine it with a cause in order to make a real difference in the world.
Watch the video now to hear MaryMargaret explain how her organization helps kids get involved in their communities to benefit people, animals, and the environment. This young woman is making a significant difference in the world, as are all those involved with the organization she founded.
I highly encourage you to sit down with the children in your life and explore the stories on KidsAreHeroes.org. The Kids Are Heroes organization is doing powerful things and I’d really love to hear your thoughts on it after you watch the video. Please leave your comments in the forum below. Thanks!
Watch the video now to learn about Martin’s ideas on how we can all focus on ten fundamental values and take small, simple, easy, concrete steps on a daily basis to mold our own life into one that mirrors our individual idea of heaven on earth in all aspects from business to relationships to personal purpose and more.
After watching the video, think about what one action you might take within the next 24 hours to move yourself forward with beginning to implement Martin’s strategy for improving your business and/or life in general. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas so please share them in the comment forum below. Thanks so much and, as always, thank you for watching!
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.
Small business is the engine that drives many of the economies around the world. Small business doesn’t have the resources of large corporations. However, if they network together – the sum of the whole becomes greater than the individual parts. Well-designed collaboration based on an effective system and strategy can lead to small business success.
However, in the final analysis, the true foundation for success rests in an organization’s culture. In fact, I believe that culture eats strategy for breakfast. An organization needs a sound strategy to succeed but, it needs a great culture to excel. For me, that approach has been about creating core values around a culture of collaboration.
Core values establish culture. It’s never too late or too early to think about your core values in business and in life. Here are my core values:
The Philosophy of Givers Gain®(What goes around comes around).
Building Meaningful Relationships
Lifelong Learning
Traditions + Innovation
Positive Attitude
Accountability
I believe that it is possible to make a good living while serving a greater good. The core values I have tried to apply in my life and in my business have helped to create a culture of collaboration within the context of building a business. This approach is not only a great way to get business, I believe it is an even better way to do business.
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.
I have a big hairy audacious goal (a BHAG) for businesses around the world. I believe we can “Change the Way the World Does Business” and we can do that by incorporating core values into our business that support collaboration and positive meaningful relationships.
We are coming up on the 30th anniversary for my company (BNI) and I believe that our focus on these core values, philosophy, and vision are responsible for our 30 years of consecutive growth. Through strong economies and serious recessions – my organization has grown year in and year out for 30 years without exception. Few organizations can say that. I think that is a testament to our approach to doing business.
Have you given thought to your organization’s core values? If so, share your company’s core values here. I’d love to hear your comments.
I’d be really surprised if you haven’t yet heard of the ice bucket challenge which has gone viral in social media and is currently sweeping the U.S. by storm. The purpose of the ice bucket challenge is to raise awareness and raise research funds for the neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. While the ALS Association’s rules for the challenge require either getting a bucket of ice water dumped on your head or making a donation, many people appear to be doing both and that’s what I have chosen to do as well.
I was nominated to take the ice bucket challenge by Frank De Rafelle, Paula Frazier, and Kimmie Umsheid so it’s something I just couldn’t ignore and, to be honest, I am actually more than glad to do it because I know firsthand what it’s like to get the news that you’ve been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness (I battled prostate cancer and now have a clean bill of health) and I’m willing to do anything I can do to help people in that position.
As the rules for the ice bucket challenge state that you must nominate three additional people, I am nominating Yakov Smirnoff, Lisa Nichols, and Jack Canfield. Not going to lie, I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing their ice bucket videos! Although, as the rules state, they can always simply donate $100 to help ALSA research for a cure for ALS if they don’t want to dump ice water on their head (I’m hoping, however, that they’ll choose to do both).
So far, the ALSA has raised over $42 million through the ice bucket challenge and I’m proud to be a part of that. If you’d like to donate, you can do that by hitting the easy-to-find “donate” button on their website.
If you have taken the ice bucket challenge, or if you have or know someone with ALS, I’d really like to hear about your experience. Please share your thoughts in the comment forum below so, together, we can help raise awareness.
When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer back in early 2012, I embarked on a journey to find a holistic way to treat it. Though it wasn’t at all easy to find natural ways of treating cancer, I was lucky enough to have my wife Beth by my side every step of the way and, as a certified sports nutritionist, she has quite a bit of knowledge in regard to nutrition and holistic health. With Beth’s help and the help of some very talented doctors, I managed to avoid surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy through a very specific diet plan. For me, the holistic approach worked and I am now in full remission.
My wife and I now share the diet plan which was responsible for my success in overcoming cancer via a website called MisnerPlan.com. Recently, someone who heard about the site responded with overt suspicion and asked how we are benefiting from sharing this information. “Yeah, but what’s in it for the Misners?” they asked. So, what’s in it for us, huh? Well, this video is our response to that question and in it we openly share exactly how we are benefiting from the Misner Plan and exactly what it’s all about.
After watching the video, please feel free to leave any feedback you have in the comment forum below. And, if you know someone who might benefit from the information on www.MisnerPlan.com, Beth and I would love for you to share it with them. Thanks!
One of the first steps toward networking your business is to become more visible in the community. Remember that people need to know you, like you and trust you in order to refer you. Volunteering can position you to meet key people in your community. It connects you with people who share your passion. It gives you opportunities to demonstrate your talents, skills and integrity, as well as your ability to follow up and do what you say you are going to do. It instantly expands the depth and breadth of your network.
People who volunteer demonstrate their commitment to a cause without concern for personal gain. Thus, you should be volunteering with organizations or causes for which you hold genuine interest and concern. If administrators or other volunteers perceive that you are in it primarily for your own gain, your visibility will work against you, and you will undermine your own goals.
Volunteering is not a recreational activity; it’s a serious commitment to help fulfill a need. To find an organization or cause that aligns with your interests, you need to approach volunteerism with a healthy level of thought and strategy.
Start by asking yourself the nine questions below.
1. What do you enjoy doing for yourself in your spare time?
2. What hobbies do you enjoy?
3. What sports do you know well enough to teach?
4. What brings you joy and satisfaction?
5. What social, political or health issue are you passionate about because it relates to you, your family or your friends?
6. Based on the answers to the first five questions, what are three organizations that you can identify that appeal to you? (Examples: youth leagues, libraries, clubs, activist groups, church groups, homeless shelters) Choose the one that most appeals to you, and research the group online and in the community.
7. Now that you’ve researched this group, will it give you an opportunity to meet one of your professional or personal goals? If so, visit the group to “try it on.”
8. Now that you’ve visited this group, do you still want to make a final commitment of your time?
9. Are other group members satisfied with the organization? (To learn this, identify three members of the group to interview in order to assess their satisfaction with the organization. Consider choosing a new member, a two- to three-year member, and a seasoned five- to six-year member to interview.)
Once you’ve done the research required to satisfactorily answer these nine questions, join a group and begin to volunteer for visibility’s sake. Look for leadership roles that will demonstrate your strengths, talents and skills. In other words, volunteer and become visible. It’s a great way to build your personal network.
Are you already an active volunteer? If so, what organization do you volunteer for and how has it helped you gain visibility within your community? I’d love to hear about your experiences so please share your thoughts in the comment forum below. Thanks!
er 7,400 locations in more than 65 countries around the world (see the member growth chart to the right).
