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BNI & The Power of One
BNI 773: The End of 2024!
00:19:33
In this last podcast of 2024 we discuss the importance of this time of year and what we should reflect on as we enter 2025!
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Welcome back to B and I in the Power of One. Thank you for joining me again today. This will be our last episode of 2024, which is kind of crazy to think about how fast this year went by. If you always hear it as you're growing up from adults, when they tell you, you know, the years go by quicker and quicker. It is, it is crazy. True. It's been an incredible year. I hope it's been an incredible year for you and I hope you're excited for the new year coming. The one thing I just wanted to kind of talk about today is the importance of these next two weeks that we have left in this year. Just under two weeks. It is obviously an important time for many to be around friends and family and to celebrate the new year, to celebrate all the different holidays going on and taking time to be with those. You know, I think this year has really just impacted me more. We've seen some just kind, kind of incredible stories of sadness and tragedy and stuff this year that just kind of reinforce the importance of this time to be with those that we care for and love. It's also an incredibly opportunistic time to be helping your fellow members and to be helping yourself when it comes to networking. This is the time of year when, where a lot of opportunity to find referrals for one another is going to happen. And it's the time of year where a lot of those opportunities are missed. And I would just continue, I do it each year, but I would continue to emphasize how important it is to be in touch with your members during this time. Weird year in the sense of the major holidays are in the middle of the week, right? Christmas, New Year's are on Wednesdays. So it really kind of kills a week even. I've always said don't skip your BNI meetings. You shouldn't skip your BNI meetings if at all possible during this time of year just because of the opportunity. But when it falls on probably the. It's either the most attended day, meaning it's. It's probably the most popular BNI day. If it's not, it's second to Thursday, it's Wednesday, Thursday, most popular BNI days by far. So a lot of chapters, you're obviously not going to meet on Christmas morning and you're not going to meet on New Year's Day. These are national holidays. Tuesdays, Christmas Eve, Thursday, the day after Christmas. I get those kind of things as well. But I would encourage you, if you can, to, to try to meet. But if not, if your Chapter is not meeting. At least be in touch with your members. And as a group, even if you're not going to meet, it would be highly strategic and highly beneficial for members to email each other. Hey, here are the key things to be looking for and listening for this, these next two weeks. It's the time of year where you know, where everybody's going to be, you know, who everybody's going to be seeing, what their environment's going to be. Kind of like the conversations that could be happening. And now's the time where you can really laser focus those triggers on what to look for, what to listen for, how to bring up a conversation unlike any other time of the year. You know, we know other holidays, I say this around like 4th of July for the Thanksgiving, but you got two weeks of those things happening back to back. So I would. Or two of those events in one week. I would really be making sure that you are seeking to learn from your fellow members. Hey, what can I be looking for? What can I be listening for? And seeking to teach each other that so that this opportunity is not missed. This time of year is also a great time to reflect. It's a good time to sit back and say, okay, you know, how did 2024 go for me? Was it highly successful? Was it as successful as I anticipated it be? Maybe more? Was it less? You know, what did we miss? What changed? What happened? What were the unforeseen circumstances that kind of came into play, and how are we going to react to those as we go into the new year? I think everybody really gets excited about a new year. The calendar flip, you know, the. The kind of cleansing of it is, if you will, of the new year. But that gets lost and dies away real fast if we don't spend some time planning and in lining up what our strategy is going to be in this new year. It's going to be a new world for all of us. It always is, no matter what. But you got different, you know, things going on between the stock market, between the politics, between everything that else is happening. It's really important to spend some time thinking about how are we going to move forward. And in order to figure out how you're going to move forward, you need to reflect on what's happened. What was 2024 really like, what worked, what didn't work, what needs more energy, what needs less energy throughout our business and our lives to be able to move to that next level. If we just go into each year doing the same things but expecting different or better results, out of it. We are by definition an insane person. So use this time. It's very. It's hectic, it's crazy. It can be really busy. But it does provide some opportune opportunities to. To kind of sit and reflect. I've been doing that a lot this week amongst all the chaos and everything else been. We've been traveling for BNI like crazy. Got some family travel coming up next week, and I plan to use that time, some of that time to really just. Just to think, right, that family vacation during some of the quiet times, just to think, the long plane rides, just to think, write notes down, come up with some, you know, adjustments on the goals I've set. You know, a lot can change in December. We talk a lot about the importance of setting your 20, 25 goals in like October, November, so that you can spend time really strategizing. Well, some things adjust. You got to adjust them now based on what happened in November and December. Are you adjusting budgets? Are you adjusting strategies? Are you adjusting those goals? So it's an important time here on. On all kinds of variables. It's not just about how important it is to be with loved ones and friends and family and all that. That obviously is true. But it is also an important time to really be planning and thinking about this upcoming year. We've done. I did the math earlier. I already lost it. We have done about. I think it was 200 was just under three podcasts a week this year, which was a new record for us. I believe in terms of that we have goals for doing more. We are at episode 773, which puts us in line. If we do more. If I can do more to possibly hit a thousand episodes next year. Next year, as you know, and for those who listening, we've kind of got that. That goal to be the first to a thousand that will be. This is kind of the thing I'm doing, just to give you an example. That would require an average of more than four episodes a week. So we're talking about almost doubling up what we have been doing and in order. So then I start thinking about, okay, what do we need to be able to do that? Well, I'm going to need to be more consistent in scheduling time to do it. I won't be able to rely on, hey, I've got a free moment. Let's do a podcast like, we've done a lot of this year because it's going to need to be scheduled so that we can better prepare for when the travel enters. There's Always travel throughout the year for work and family and everything else. So how do we better prepare and be ahead of that? It's going to require more engagement from you. The listeners continue to bring in your questions, your topics, your weekly presentations, those kind of things so that we have things to really be hammering on and talking about and to be helping you with. We're looking at should, and this is. I'm saying this out loud just so you can hear some of the thought process, but also so you can give feedback. We're considering. Do we need to do a video format of it? Should the podcast be on YouTube as well? Would that be beneficial for members? Is that a way that some more members will be able to engage with it? I'd love to hear your feedback on that, whether that's something we should pursue. Are there other topics? Are there other focuses? So right now, you know, we generally are doing about three episodes a week. We just missed that number this year. But in a normal week, we would do a B and I specific podcast, a business matters podcast, and a weekly presentation coaching episode. If we were to do that through all of next year, we will not hit a thousand next year. We'll hit a thousand the following year. And maybe that's okay. I mean, there's no like requirement to hit any number. Is that enough? Is there something missing? Again, looking for feedback from all of you. Is there other focuses that we could do that would help you as a BNI member or is it more, you know, just general training? Maybe it's. We have to do a. We do a podcast where we answer a submitted question. We do a podcast on a specific training topic around bni. We do the business matters and we do the weekly presentation. I don't know, looking for feedback on that. So a lot of. Just to reflect on. I continue to be extremely humble. For anybody listening to this, it's been an amazing experience to meet a lot of people who have been, to hear from those who have been. It's incredible that it's as global as it is. So my only request is continue to interact, whether that's through Apple Podcasts, Spotify on the website. However, so that we. So that I know where we can add value to you. If you're finding value in the topics, let us know, leave a review, leave a comment, something like that. So we know, yes, this is something we. That's good. And if not, if it's missing the mark, then we need to know that as well. I do value that, that feedback to continue to push forward. So anyways, I'm there wasn't really a dedicated topic to this. A little bit of rambling around, easy CEU for you as you move into the new year. But I'll end with this part with bni. Reflect on what worked this year. Look at your membership, look at where you've invested your time and ask yourself, how do I move the needle forward? Where are the different areas that I can improve on? Right, Right. So how if I want to make more money in my word of mouth through referrals next year, the one thing you can't do is stop networking. Okay, so the answer is never, I'll just quit. Or even, even if you had a horrible year, if you didn't really get anything out of it, I could tell you the solution to that problem is not necessarily be like quitting. Right. You still need to be networking to get the referrals. So now we got to reflect on how was I networking? First and foremost, look at your activity level. Were you active fully? Only you will really be able to hold yourself accountable to that. Nobody can network for you. Were you as engaged as you should have been? Were you as active as you believe you should have been? I can tell you with the podcast example, my answer there is no. No. I wanted to do three a week and I missed that. I did about 2.65 a week on average. So we missed the number. So I was not active enough to produce as many podcasts as I was hoping for this year. Right. We didn't do 156. That would be three a week. So that's first and foremost, have the honest conversation with you. Did you do what you needed to do? No. Activity wise, I didn't. Okay, next is where was I missing? And let me tell you, if you feel like, well, I was really, I was pretty active. You need more. One of the questions might be where was I missing activity? Even if I did hit my goal? Let's say your goal is to score 100 on the power of one and you did. Yep. I average going to my meeting. I averaged one one on one a week. I averaged all these things. Well, okay, do we need to do two one to ones a week? Is what your goal, the goal you've set for yourself, does it require two one to ones a week? Does it require three one to ones a week? Okay, so that's the reflection part of it going into what do I have to do differently activity wise, then it's all right. If I'm doing these activities, am I getting results out of it? Now you Might say, I don't know because you haven't been properly tracking each activity you've been doing and what results have come from that. So one of the changes for 2025 might be I need to have a clear understanding of what's producing what so that I can understand where am I lagging in results. And is that lag of results from a lack of knowledge base, a lack of strategy, a lack of whatever. So you know, in one to ones as the example, it could be I need to do more. It could be I need to do them more effectively. It could be I need to do them more strategically, right? So effectively and strategy kind of can be to get tied together. But are you using proper worksheets? Are you going in with a goal? Are you going in with a plan? Are you asking for referrals at each and every one? These are part of the strategy of getting. Am I strategically meeting with the right people? Right. Am I meeting with those in my contact spheres more often? So, so that we can really produce more results? That has to be part of the reflection. And then with the effectiveness, that comes down to, okay, what training do I need to take this year to strategically move the needle for me, Is it on my weekly presentations? Is it on my one to ones, Is it on my context peer slash power team development? Where do I need to seek more information to become more effective? And then in that where and when and how am I going to do that in the new year, right? You might be able to, you can easily pick up activity right out of the gate effectiveness, you gotta seek that information, take that information and implement that information. So what trainings will you take? What's available to you? How are you going to do that? This is what I would be sitting back and doing. You've, you hopefully have set your goal. This is part of the strategic planning around that goal. But just sit there and reflect a little bit. How is my year? And even if it was great, is that gonna mean if I do the exact same results as I had a great 2025, or am I looking to increase it? Maybe it wasn't great. Why? Be honest with yourself, Be brutally honest. What can you do to change that? And again, I just go to remember, quitting. Quitting's not the answer. Right. It's because. And if you do like, if you're like, I'll just quit or I'll just give up and you're giving up on all that time you've invested, so just walking away from that investment, it's often not the right solution. So anyways, well, I'm excited to be back. We'll be back in the probably the just after the new year. We'll be coming out of the gate ready to rock this 2025. I look forward to hearing from you feedback on what we could be doing more of what we could be doing better. Should we be adding things like I said, video these kind of things to it? Let me know. I'd be excited to hear from you. You can contact me just go to bnipowerofone.com and and I appreciate each and every one of you. I really do. Anybody who's listening that's getting anything out of this, I I hope it's helping. That's the only goal here is to help if it is helping. Like I said, share it right? If you found an episode that was really helpful for you for some reason to text the link to it to a fellow member. Encourage them to seek the more knowledge base your fellow members get, the more effective they're going to be in giving back to you. So and they will take your feedback. They will take your recommendation. They will take. They're far more likely to listen to a podcast if you tell them they should do it than if any BNI person tells them to do it. So you know, you want your members to be effective as well because their effectiveness will directly effect your results. I hope you had an amazing 2024. I hope your 2025 is even better. I hope you all stay safe and have an amazing Happy holidays talk to you in 2025. It.