Business philosophy- The power of networking
Today is BNI awards night and I am honored to be there as a member of Abundance chapter. This night is a meaningful night as 1 year into business, I start to understand why networking is so crucial in business.
The day begins late as I catch up with my sleep after a 5 day of battle in business. I thought it will be a good resting day where I could rest my mind and laze around until I realize that it is awards night today!!! In my mind came these thoughts "Oh it is another day where I have to meet business people and go around networking... again. It is a weekend for goodness sake... cant I have a rest after 5 days of business... " That was the immediate thought that came to my mind seconds after I realize that I have to go for yet another BNI meeting. Negative thoughts that will soon change by the end of the day!
The time comes and I head on down with my most relax attire in any BNi event. Dressed in a semi-formal collar short sleeve shirt and pants, I arrive at Le Meridien hotel, then came the night of philosophical realization. After entering the lift to the function room, the lift stop at mid-level and a lady came in. I immediately realize that this lady is from Infinity chapter and told her "Hi you are going to BNI awards night right?" She was in a semi stunt state as she didn't expect me to know her. Then we began chatting on our way to the function room. As I reach the function room, I was greeted by my chapter member and a mentoring director that I have spoken to long time ago. The mentoring director immediately recognize me and said "Hi James, how are you?" Now it is my turn to be stunt as I didn't expect her to remember me and further more remember my name! Then came a series of stunning events.
After the registration I began the normal business routine of networking. As I walk into the crowd, I start seeing many familiar faces and many people that I talked to before began saying hi to me. Some of which I had only vague impression and conversation with them but most of them remember me and my name =). I start to realize that I actually do know quite a number of people, and most of the mentoring director in BNI as they came and said "Hi James, how's business?" Throughout the event, I am seeing and chatting with new people, some heard of, some talked over the phone and some that I was shock that they still remembered me.
After the event is over, numerous thoughts start pouring into my mind. What a day this is! I start to finally see the result of my networking 1 year into my business. All along I thought that networking is a tedious chore and sometimes I felt really tired to start knowing different people anew many times over. But today at the Awards Night, I see the seed of networking sprouting from my 1 year anniversary of networking. The amount of people that I know during my 1 year of networking finally give me the result in physical form. That is recognition, exposure, friendship and definitely satisfaction as you realize the number of business people that you actually know in the world of business
If you are not networking then you are not working. This is more apparent to me after tonight. As my business grow and referrals came from numerous sources, I was asking myself why is that so? Today one of the major reason appears, that is, the number of business man you know dictates the amount of money you can earn. This is true as your contact sphere grows, the amount of business opportunities grow with it. As more business people say "hi, how's business?" to you in a networking session, the more your business will grow. I know that I am not an outstanding networker and in the Awards night itself, I seen these outstanding networker shine brightly among the crowd. These are the business man that will be noticed and have the numerous opportunities waiting for them!
25 years into my life and I get to see so much of the business world and know so many business people is really an experience I truely treasure. There are some who are of the same age and perhaps younger than me that have achieved much more than I do. But I know that I am already very fortunate to be able to sail through the business world to see the ups and downs, strategies and techniques, salesmanship and networking and many many more valuable learning experiences in business. I value all these business experience and after this particular night, I felt that my road to business success is once again clear as I have a new paradigm of thought on business that makes me take a new step nearer to success!
Having recruited the essence of networking, I have figured out a few things.
1- Go for more networking session and know more people. Be a better networker!
2- Know new networking venues
3- Felt more entrenched into the world of networking and business.
4- Faith is stronger and preserverence is paying off
5- The road to success will come!
Signing off as the night ends but a new day of surprises and opportunities begin another day. Ending with my personal quote,
"One could live 10 years and still be in the same learning curve in life 10 years ago, but all it takes is just one meaningful day or moment to make you mature 10 years in life experience"
The day begins late as I catch up with my sleep after a 5 day of battle in business. I thought it will be a good resting day where I could rest my mind and laze around until I realize that it is awards night today!!! In my mind came these thoughts "Oh it is another day where I have to meet business people and go around networking... again. It is a weekend for goodness sake... cant I have a rest after 5 days of business... " That was the immediate thought that came to my mind seconds after I realize that I have to go for yet another BNI meeting. Negative thoughts that will soon change by the end of the day!
The time comes and I head on down with my most relax attire in any BNi event. Dressed in a semi-formal collar short sleeve shirt and pants, I arrive at Le Meridien hotel, then came the night of philosophical realization. After entering the lift to the function room, the lift stop at mid-level and a lady came in. I immediately realize that this lady is from Infinity chapter and told her "Hi you are going to BNI awards night right?" She was in a semi stunt state as she didn't expect me to know her. Then we began chatting on our way to the function room. As I reach the function room, I was greeted by my chapter member and a mentoring director that I have spoken to long time ago. The mentoring director immediately recognize me and said "Hi James, how are you?" Now it is my turn to be stunt as I didn't expect her to remember me and further more remember my name! Then came a series of stunning events.
After the registration I began the normal business routine of networking. As I walk into the crowd, I start seeing many familiar faces and many people that I talked to before began saying hi to me. Some of which I had only vague impression and conversation with them but most of them remember me and my name =). I start to realize that I actually do know quite a number of people, and most of the mentoring director in BNI as they came and said "Hi James, how's business?" Throughout the event, I am seeing and chatting with new people, some heard of, some talked over the phone and some that I was shock that they still remembered me.
After the event is over, numerous thoughts start pouring into my mind. What a day this is! I start to finally see the result of my networking 1 year into my business. All along I thought that networking is a tedious chore and sometimes I felt really tired to start knowing different people anew many times over. But today at the Awards Night, I see the seed of networking sprouting from my 1 year anniversary of networking. The amount of people that I know during my 1 year of networking finally give me the result in physical form. That is recognition, exposure, friendship and definitely satisfaction as you realize the number of business people that you actually know in the world of business
If you are not networking then you are not working. This is more apparent to me after tonight. As my business grow and referrals came from numerous sources, I was asking myself why is that so? Today one of the major reason appears, that is, the number of business man you know dictates the amount of money you can earn. This is true as your contact sphere grows, the amount of business opportunities grow with it. As more business people say "hi, how's business?" to you in a networking session, the more your business will grow. I know that I am not an outstanding networker and in the Awards night itself, I seen these outstanding networker shine brightly among the crowd. These are the business man that will be noticed and have the numerous opportunities waiting for them!
25 years into my life and I get to see so much of the business world and know so many business people is really an experience I truely treasure. There are some who are of the same age and perhaps younger than me that have achieved much more than I do. But I know that I am already very fortunate to be able to sail through the business world to see the ups and downs, strategies and techniques, salesmanship and networking and many many more valuable learning experiences in business. I value all these business experience and after this particular night, I felt that my road to business success is once again clear as I have a new paradigm of thought on business that makes me take a new step nearer to success!
Having recruited the essence of networking, I have figured out a few things.
1- Go for more networking session and know more people. Be a better networker!
2- Know new networking venues
3- Felt more entrenched into the world of networking and business.
4- Faith is stronger and preserverence is paying off
5- The road to success will come!
Signing off as the night ends but a new day of surprises and opportunities begin another day. Ending with my personal quote,
"One could live 10 years and still be in the same learning curve in life 10 years ago, but all it takes is just one meaningful day or moment to make you mature 10 years in life experience"
posted by James at 11:38 PM
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