Building A Business on Bacon and Eggs E-Book

Terence O'Hallorann

• Herausgeber: Life Publications
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 148

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Person to person networks in the UK have grown over the last 10 years fuelled by the many middle management unemployed caused during the recent downsizing of many international corporations.Self employed people need to network, in the harsh environment of today’s modern job market. Networking is a ready source of employment, and a chance to meet skilled fellow workers to help build teams to complete projects that would otherwise stretch their own skill set.Outside the hours of the working day but inside a framework that people can relate to Breakfast Meetings provide them with rewarding opportunities. This book helps ensure you know how to meet the right people and kickstart your business.‘Building a Business on Bacon and Eggs’ is packed with tips and lists of how to set up thriving networking events and enables the reader to gain the most from any meetings they may hold, it includes checklists for everyone involved in the organization of events, real life stories to illustrate the theories presented as well as what to offer sponsors and how best to achieve the goals of all concerned.The book illustrates evidence of this in the comprehensive checklists throughout the book and summaries at the end of every chapter. If running breakfast meetings is your job, or if you merely wish to learn from the business experiences of other people, or you want to expand your own knowledge to gain the most from the business breakfast club environment this book provides a unique insight through the minds of its three very successful writers. To this end, ‘Breakfast on Bacon and Eggs ‘ is an essential addition to any Book Shops business section.

Leseprobe

Building a Business on Bacon & Eggs

The Work Copyright copyright 2005 rests with the Authors

The rights of Andy Lopata, Terence P. O’Halloran and Stephen Harvard Davis as authors of this work has be asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form whatsoever, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing to the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design and layout by Lemon Front Cover artwork by Lemon

Life Publications Limited St James Terrace 88 Newland Lincoln LN1 1YA

web: www.lifepublications.co.uk E-mail: [email protected]

Foreword

“As the president of a very successful global Internet Consultant franchise company, I have learned from our consultants just how crucial networking meetings are to the growth of their businesses, regardless of where they relocated. Almost two-thirds of our consultants have told us that networking is their most successful sales lead generation method. None of the other typically used sales generation methods such as mail, telephone or e-mail run a close second.

Having been a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) for almost 20 years, I have learned how important regular attendance, active participation and most of all leadership in the running of a successful meeting can be to personal and corporate success. Each meeting is an opportunity to showcase yourself and your business - done well it is a catalyst for even greater success. That is why a book that is designed to help business leaders better utilize meetings to build their business is needed not just by our 1000 plus Internet Consultants worldwide but others looking to grow personally and professionally. “

Ron McArthur President WSI Internet Consulting and Educationwww.WSIcorporate.com

Contents

Foreword by Ron MacArthur

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Why it’s worth getting up in the morning

Getting out of your cave • Why attend a network meeting?• The perfect environment • A chance to leave your comfort zone• A chance to interact • Like-minded people • Different people• Be heard • a A personal development tool • And think of allthose contacts • Expand your potential • Far-reaching benefits • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 2 – What is a business breakfast?

Breakfast is booming • It’s about networking isn’t it? • What is networking anyway? • Strength from diverse skills • The Scrummies principle • Types of networking event • How muchand how good? • Types of networking organisation • A chance tohear a speaker • Part of your plan • It doesn’t happen overnight • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 3 – Who should be in your team?

Getting it off the ground • Who will run it? • Who will be on your start-up team? • Organising a committee • Delegation is key • The Chairperson Chairman’s role • The Treasurer’s role • The Membership Co-ordinator’s role • The Programme Co-ordinator’s role • The Publicity Organiser’s role • The Secretary’s role • The Webmaster’s role • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 4 – When should you meet?

When should you hold your first meeting? • It’s all about timing• Start the day off well • How early? • Which day? • Avoid clashes • How often? • And when should you call it a day? • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 5 – Where will you meet? Will your golf club do?

Getting the venue right attracts members • Choose the rightlocation • Hotels are not the only choice • Choose a venue withthe right facilities • Take a closer look before you decide • Negotiate with the venue • Guaranteeing numbers • Paying forit • Give members value for money • Agree all the terms inwriting • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 6 – How to get it all organised

Keep your head and your focus • How long? • Meeting structure • … and if you have a speaker • …but if you want to be informal • What to charge • Collecting the money • Bank accounts • Choosing a bank • The chequebook • Cash only • Under-attendance • Over-attendance • Time to tell everyone • Setting out the room • Welcome people and money • Badges • After the meeting • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 7 – Someone worth hearing

The importance of having a good speaker • Finding a speaker • No fee is a good deal • Dealing with speakers • Home-grownspeakers • Promote your speakers • Introducing speakers • Insummary • Checklist • The advantages of a regular sponsor • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 8 – Other people’s money

Attracting sponsorship • Help with money • Finding a sponsor • The advantages of a regular sponsor • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 9 – Writing the rules

Compiling your rules • Rules of responsibility • Do not drive people away with complex rules • Committees • Membership fees• Making payments • Absentees • Breakeven • Belonging to alarger group • Paying speakers • Handling disputes • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 10 – Burnt bacon & eggs

When you’re the boss and things go wrong • The root of all evil • Get the price right • Get the money up front • Avoid arguments • Maintain a good relationship with the venue • Getbuy-in from the venue • Keep adding value • In summary • Checklist

Chapter 11 – How to be an active member

Get involved • But what could I do? • Be a linchpin • Make agood first impression • Prepare for meetings • In summary • Checklist

Appendices

The day before the meeting

The day of the meeting

After the meeting

Example of a meeting agenda

Membership information sheet

Speaker’s booking form

Building a Business on Bacon & Eggs

Introduction

It's not about bacon and eggs

Some people, like Andy Lopata, who is the Managing Director of Business Referral Exchange (BRE) Networking, are employed to run breakfast meetings. Andy has made a business out of helping others to build their business over a plate of bacon and eggs. As a result, he spends his entire working day focused upon and building a community of strong contact breakfast groups, which meet weekly around the UK.

Andy is not just focused on ensuring that each of BRE’s groups meets at the designated time and place each week, but also on putting into place a national infrastructure of training, communication and marketing to support every member and help them to achieve their goals from the meetings.

Terry O’Halloran, on the other hand, is busy running a Financial Services Practice where he is Senior Partner. Only a fraction of his time is devoted to running the local breakfast club for which he is responsible. It took him three years to get his club started a little less than 18 years ago. Today he runs six breakfast meetings a year on the very successful format he has devised.

Time management is the essence of a good organiser. And the exceptional time management skills shared by Terry and his personal assistants during that time (Pam, Louise and Nick) bear testimony to the fact that once you get the right people involved and the organisation and time management right, then the breakfast club format delivers cost effective benefits for all participants.

Stephen Harvard Davis is a Business Relationship Specialist who began his working life training at the Savoy Hotel in London. Later he managed hotels that accommodated up to 600 guests and which regularly hosted conferences for up to 1,000 delegates. He is now the Managing Partner of The Business Relationship Consultancy, which advises individuals and organisations on how to increase profits through their business relationships.

A significant part of his working practice consists of getting people together. The breakfast meeting is just one of the tools that he uses. With his experience in organising large and small business meetings for others and his understanding of the mechanics of hosting a meeting, Stephen brings to this book his expertise for organising a successful business events. You can see evidence of this in the comprehensive check-lists we have added throughout the this book and as well as at the end of every chapter.

Whether running breakfast meetings is your job, you merely wish to learn from the business experiences of other people, or you want to expand your knowledge, the business breakfast club should be, in these three writers’ minds, an essential part of your business strategy.

‘Building a Business on Bacon & Eggs’ is not about eating a cooked breakfast, but it does help us to remember that the pig is committed and the chicken merely contributes. In addition, while bacon and eggs may at first seem to have nothing in common, together, they are both a feast and a catalyst for great ideas.

Whether you are a committer, and you take on the running of the operation and organisational side, or you are a contributor (and please don't just be a taker), you can gain much from what is in this business book from the diverse experience of its three authors. This book must be part of your self-development rather than shelf development programme.

The authors have combined to produce a book that shares their collective insights into making the most of networking meetings.

Nowhere will you find a more concise pathway to business success than in the pages of this book, encapsulating, as it does, the experience of its authors and the Aladdin's Cave of the breakfast club itself.

Success is a journey and, wherever you are on your particular journey, this book will help take you on to success's more rewarding levels.

Andy Lopata, Managing Director, Business Referral Exchange,www.brenet.co.auk

Terry O’Halloran, Managing Partner, O’Halloran and Partners,http://www.lifepublications.co.auk/

Stephen Harvard- Davis, Managing businesspersons Relationship Consultancy,www.busrelcon.com

The Internal Breakfast Club

Large companies still have small problems and in fact many are like a community buzzing about day in, day out, in their own little domain but do they interact with their fellow beings?

The answer is, no.

Okay, there may be the annual conference, there might be the department get- together, there could also, of course, be the external and internal training sessions but do they get dialogue going?

The Breakfast Club does. CEO's from different parts of the group, managers from different areas of work could get together six times a year using the small breakfast club format. It works, it's cheap, it's effective and that is why we don't use it - it is just too simple a concept.

What about different people in the departments, so that the store's manager or supervisor can get to understand why the lathe operator operates the way he does and breaks so many of whatever he breaks, why can't the canteen supervisor organise a little get together six times a year, larger format perhaps and participate in what is going on. Speakers can be internal or external but the thing is that you get dialogue and interaction between individuals who can learn from each other and, in this book, learning means earning.

Once you drop the 'L' plates it is earning all the way. And you know what?

We never stop learning

and that allows us to earn more.

The internal breakfast club concept works as efficiently as the external. Are you willing to give it a try? I like surprises, and so will you, because you will be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

Chapter 1

What is a business breakfast?

Breakfast is booming

The business breakfast is booming.

Business people have been attending breakfast meetings for many years now. In recent times the number and variety of these meetings has increased dramatically and ‘networking’ has become the new buzzword in business. In many respects it has come to redefine the way we market our businesses.

It's about networking, isn't it?

With any new trend comes confusion. We become confused about why we do something, what we want to achieve and how we will get there. Sometimes we are not even sure what our objectives are in the first place. Ask many people about ‘networking’ and they assume it is all about generating sales. Ask others and they may even enquire whether you are referring to connecting computers or telephone systems!

What is networking anyway?

It is important to have a clear definition of ‘networking’ before you start, as this underpins everything we have the potential to achieve from running our own business breakfast meetings. The networking of computer equipment provides a strong model and excellent metaphor. Think of your desktop PC and what it was able to achieve when you first took it out of the box. Not much, was it? Then you plugged it in, added some software and were in business. But what happened when you started to network it to other devices?

You may have added a printer to get a hard copy of your work, then perhaps a scanner, an external drive and more devices still. And the more you added the more you were then able to use it for more purposes, adding further information and software as you went. The more you added the further you enhanced the value of your PC.

If you work in an office you may have connected your computer with the other PCs, so you could share information with your colleagues. The more connected you were the more information could be stored and be available to you all. Finally, by connecting your computer to a modem and a telephone line, you could access the Internet and share information with computers across the world.

This example illustrates how networking helps an individual to enhance his potential by sharing resources and experiences with others. And it’s just the same for people as it is for machines. By connecting ourselves to others and benefiting from their connections, their knowledge and their experience, we can achieve much more than if we were left to our own devices.

It is important to remember that this connectivity only works if it becomes a ‘two way street’ and is of mutual benefit. It is no coincidence that the Internet works on a network known as the ‘world-wide web’. A web consists of many different strands connecting to create a mass greater than the whole. Should one strand break then the web is not likely to function as effectively.

Strength from diverse skills

It is the combined forces of all of the strands that give the web its strength. Networking is about sharing our individual resources. This is what makes the business networking format so successful – groups of business skills are brought together for the benefit of all.

Members are expected to give to the group and know it is their giving that will make it succeed. Simply joining a group in order to take from it, does not work. Networking groups adhere to the laws of Karma – a belief in the fact that what goes around comes around.

The Scrummies (School Run Mummies) principle

To see networking in its purest, and perhaps most effective, form we only have to look at the phenomenon of the ‘Scrummies’. Anyone who has young children will be aware of the power of this network. Parents congregating at the school gates waiting for their children, will jump in and out of each other’s cars and approach each other with ease. They exchange the latest news, gossip and information whilst also arranging to help each other out and ask for favours wherever necessary.

There is no attitude of ‘What’s in it for me?’ here, but instead, an unspoken understanding that it is in everyone’s interest to help each other.

This approach to mutual support and encouragement must be the fundamental principle of a successful business networking group. Whether the group is meeting as an information exchange between peers, whether there is a clear focus on business generation or if the group lies somewhere between the two and has a social function, the group needs an altruistic attitude from its members to thrive.

But how does this altruistic approach fit in with the undeniable fact that most people invest their time and effort in breakfast meetings because they hope that they will bring a direct benefit to their business? Many people belong primarily because they seek direct sales or referrals from such groups.

Types of networking event

The answer to a successful networking group lies in providing as many people as possible with the results that they are looking for. Having a group of well-connected people creates its own group dynamic with a host of contacts that can produce the desired results.

There are, on the whole, two types of networking event:

Those that focus on the number of people at the meeting and the chance to make new connections.

Those that focus on the core of regular members and what they can do for each other.

How much and how good?

These quantitative and qualitative approaches to networking groups sit snugly next to each other in an effective strategy but can rarely co-exist at the same breakfast meeting. It is important to grow the number of people in your network but at the same time you need to be able to build trust and understanding with those people – trust in the service they offer and a strong understanding of their business and how you can help them. At the same time the members need to trust and understand, you, or whoever is organising the group.

Types of networking organisation

Not all networks are the same. Here are what we consider to be the main types: