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BNI & The Power of One
BNI 832: Business Matters 124 - It Is Half Time!
00:21:41
We are officially half way through 2025! We discuss what we need to be focused on for the remaining half.
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- [00:26]
A
Welcome back to the business matters part of the BNI and the Power of One. Tim Roberts, with me, Michael Martin. How are we doing?
- [00:34]
B
Good. Good morning. Doing great.
- [00:37]
A
Not live. And in person via. In person via Zoom again, back to our normal roots.
- [00:42]
B
Back to the normal roots. After a couple busy travel things for you and then me.
- [00:50]
A
Oh, for you. And then mine's coming up.
- [00:53]
B
So you got another busy schedule coming.
- [00:56]
A
Up, but July is a busy time. But it's all good.
- [01:00]
B
Yeah. Well, it's already the back half of the year, and despite the fact that we're in the heat of summer here on July 2nd, when we're recording it, the days are getting shorter.
- [01:11]
A
Yeah, I know that's kind of crazy when you think about it. We. We have a lot going on, obviously, in the B and I world, but we figured we'd talk about just that. We are back now into that second half, third quarter has started, which is kind of just crazy. Crazy how fast that happens on you. And looking ahead, you know, we run into this time of year, especially this week, it's. I get that it's a time of relaxation, family, all that. The Fourth of July. It's all good. I'm traveling a lot in July. But it can become a distraction where you, like, you take so much time off or you just disengage because of, like, holidays and stuff. We have chapters that skip meetings on Tuesday or today when we're recording, because, you know, the 4th is on Friday and it's kind of like, right, right. What a missed opportunity. That it is important to realize, you know, we are in that third quarter and start reviewing the year, how are we on pace, how are we doing and what needs to be done, not only for the rest of 2025, but looking ahead into 2026, even, because some of the things you might need to do take time and won't take effect until.
- [02:18]
B
Yeah, yeah. You know, we've always talked about. We've talked about process a lot on this podcast, and when. And timing is. Is very critical to achieving, you know, your goals and. And reaching levels of success beyond where you've been in the past. And we've kind of not done it for a bit.
- [02:35]
A
Yeah.
- [02:36]
B
You know, but I think it's always good. Q3 is starting, and by the end of this quarter, you should be well on your way of being able to accurately predict that by the end of the year where you're going to finish up, but also have the pieces in place for getting yourself set up for success in 2026. It seems like it's a long way off. But that's the procrastinator's reasoning, right? It's we, you just teed it up. Can't believe Q3's already started. I can't believe we're already. Six months have already gone by.
- [03:10]
A
I know, it's insane.
- [03:11]
B
Like I don't know where the time has gone. And I think that's the thing that, you know, everybody running a business needs to make sure they don't get caught up in that kind of work whirlpool of procrastination and, and not using every opportunity right now to make sure you're, you're meeting or exceeding your goals. And especially in the summertime when you know it may be time for vacation, you got the fourth of July, you got Labor Day, you got those things coming up. But those are also times to network, Talk about yourself, talk about your business, find new customers. You just really can't take your foot off the pedal. And even if you are on pace, if you've done all the things we've talked about, you've set the goals, you're, you're tracking your goals, you're spending time, you know, preparing your business, whether it's hiring people, putting people in the right position, selling your story, even if you're on track to meet your goal, there's no better time than try to exceed or set yourself up for something bigger next year.
- [04:12]
A
Right? And it's actually kind of funny. We've talked a lot about hiring and stuff and the fear, you know, I mean, like when you make that upfront investment, getting ahead, like trying to hire ahead versus hiring late or out of desperation. And so we just went through that a bit. So we just. This will, this will come out later today, but by the time some people hear it, we have hired three new full time staff members in different roles. So we hired an operations person in the back end here. We hired a new area director in our Central Florida region because we've grown and starting to see where that's going. We hired a new market development manager in New Hampshire. All these roles, like this month, this is like a big, like, all right, this is a big investment and you've.
- [04:57]
B
Shifted some things around, right? With existing people, right? Part of the, part of your plan.
- [05:01]
A
Move some people's focuses. It freed up time for other people to do more of what they should be doing. And it was a little nerve wracking because you're talking a very significant increase to a, to a expense line on, you know, and when you Hire. It's not just salaries, it's the taxes, it's the benefits, it's all that stuff that goes with it. But funny enough, like when you do that stuff, all of a sudden new opportunities seem to arise, right? So like new opportunities where you're like, oh, wait a minute, we're better prepared to capture this thing that maybe I wasn't a month ago, or maybe I wouldn't even have thought of having the conversation a month ago or looking into this thing a month ago or two months ago because we didn't have the staff. And so we just went through a lot of what we talked about around the, you know, we're really, we were doing very well in terms of growth, but we were kind of like comfortable in our operations. And you fight that like, well, I could stay where I'm at or I could double down and make the investment and see where we can really take in. And that's the path we took, just like we've been advising. And it's crazy, I can't talk about some of them right now, but the opportunities that have opened up at the same time or just kind of like.
- [06:08]
B
Oh wow, just in the last few weeks.
- [06:10]
A
Really, really interesting on how that happened.
- [06:12]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because, and, and now you have the bandwidth to act. And I think, you know, it's, it's, it's hard for some people to wrap around it. But I've always talked about, and I was taught as a young executive that, you know, think of business as a long term annuity that pays dividends over time. So when you do that, you kind of make more long term investments so you'll invest more up front in kinds of people, protocol, operations, you know, equipment, capital investments, things like that. You, you can't expect the payoff to be like day one, right? But you're doing these things to get the payoff down the road. So in order to really think of it the right way, you've got to have a plan in place. So I know that because you and I talked about it a lot off, off pod way prior to you making these actual hires and things like that. But a lot of that was your vision for 26, 27 and beyond, right? And what you wanted to attain. And you're only able to do that if you give yourself the time to think about those plans.
- [07:17]
A
Right?
- [07:18]
B
And you know, we've always, you know, tried to caution people that listen to the podcast, like, be, be careful that you're not just looking at the hand in front of your face from two Inches out. Because although things can get super busy and it can seem like, you know, you're underwater all the time, you have to be able to have the discipline to kind of step back and make sure that you have a plan. Make sure you communicate that plan. Whether you're a solopreneur or not. You have to understand it. Your team has to understand it, if you have a team. And then you have to take steps to kind of execute towards that goal. And you know, in the beginning that goal might be, how do I get to next month? And that's okay because in a beginning business, a lot of times that's what you got to do. You just got to try to make payroll sometimes.
- [08:00]
A
Right.
- [08:01]
B
But as time goes on and you get that discipline, you have to be planning out. So I think the people that are listening to this now that have been with us for all these years are probably at the point where the reminder needs to be, hey, second half starts now. The end of year holidays are going to be here real fast.
- [08:17]
A
It's crazy.
- [08:18]
B
Yeah, really fast. Because it doesn't stay. I'm not talking about like, you know, like December holidays because now everything seems to start kind of like the end of October and then all of November and all of December and the first half of January. If you've got kids and they're out of school or they're home from college or on break, you know, like all these things kind of get in the way. So when you really think about your productive time, if you're not going to use those, those times the way we say, which is network, network, network, things get in the way. They're just busier. You really only have three and a half, four months left to attain your year end results. And if you're not positioned to like really have everything in place by the, you know, beginning of September or so, you might not be able to get to your goals by the end of the year. Yeah, it's not necessarily your distractions. If you've got a team of people, they're all going to have their own distractions. So, you know, you're herding cats at that point.
- [09:13]
A
We talk a lot in bni, like how this is the time of year where, you know, with vacations and kids home and all the distractions, it's easy to stop doing a lot of things. And I always push the, like it's your activity in the summer that's going drive your fall results because in networking there's always a lag. It's the same for all of Us though, throughout, you know, any part of your business. Right. Like if you kill the momentum, it's very hard to get restarted. And so if you just, you gotta take the vacations, we've talked about that, you gotta do the recharging, you wanna do all the life things too. That's not to say. But when those times come, it becomes even more vital to be a more productive in the time you have. So you gotta be more locked in, like, okay, if I have less time to get the same amount of stuff done, I gotta be more productive and you know, time management and all that stuff in your office. But b, be looking ahead to be asking yourself, what do I need to do today to produce that result three months from now, what do I need to do? And ask that question. That's the process I went through with these recent hires was just kind of like, okay, because it was, again, there was the nerve wracking part of like, we're making a massive investment here. And you're looking and you're like, is this going to help me take the step forward or not? There's a risk that it doesn't. Obviously there's a risk that one or two or whatever, it doesn't work out. But yeah, like you said, it was looking into not just as we had the momentum, I think to hit where we want to be at the end of the year, but it was like, how do we escalate so that we carry the momentum into 2026 so we can repeat again in BNI world? And I bet this is true for a lot of business. But we see reports, you see like what the other franchises are doing. Dry bar, they do the same thing and you'll see but in BNI in particular, like these massive ebbs and flows where people have really great years and then the next year they're, they're just not as strong and then the third year they'll come back and then it's these peaks and valleys. And I've always been asking and pushing like, all right, how do we make sure that we're just not valuing? Like how do we keep that momentum going? And we've done a good job the last three years, but that was the look ahead of like it wasn't so much about 2025, it was this. These are all moves are like 2026, you know, I mean, how do we make sure that we're really lined up? Like they, because some of these roles will need momentum. Some of the, like one of the roles I hired, it's a Three, four month investment before they really start producing what you want them to be getting into. Because there's a learning curve, there's a build up curve, there's like these, some of it's like some of its operations get in, take time off plates, some of, but some of them are like, you know, you're not going to see the value of this role for six, seven months.
- [11:46]
B
Right. And I think it's important what you're saying about the value of the role because when it comes to hiring, and this is just general hiring practice, you're hiring a role that is supported by a person. So you know, sometimes, because you said a moment ago that you're not sure if some of these hires will work out and I think it's important that, yeah, you may need to replace the person, but the role still might have validity, right? So you have a good goal and you know, you need this role to attain that goal down the road or open yourself up for opportunity. You know, say it doesn't work out. This is the caution. It may not work out with the person you have in there, but don't throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water and get rid of the role because the person didn't work out. It just means that maybe the hiring has to be tweaked for the next go around. I think the other important thing to do is, you know, in executive coaching and leadership training classes. So if you ever get into those, one of the biggest things that they talk about is hammering through to business owners and business leaders that if you want to grow, you have to spend time working on the business, not in the business. Right. Or some, some play on those words. And I think the general thing is doing things that allow you to focus on growth opportunity rather than operating the nuts and bolts every single day. Now you still have to do that sometimes. And they're careful to say that you have to get in, you have to understand all those nuts and bolts facets so you can put a person or position in place to do that for you. But I think that's also part of it. And to your point, you know, you spent time thinking about, okay, what am I going to do? What do I really want to achieve for myself in the next few years? And you had growth plans and strategies. If I'm going to do that, I'm growing now. But man, if I really want to attain better growth, I can't just keep my current staff. You know, I have to do other things. I have to shift some people around to Marry up their strengths today and how they can supplement the business. And then I got to put new people in to help capitalize on future opportunity. So that when these things that suddenly arise come up, you know, sometimes they come up by chance, but sometimes these other people, these objects come up because people say, wow, they're really growing and making an investment in their business. If I want my legacy to be good, maybe I need to either talk to this person or just, you know, talk to this person about, like, a change of circumstance for me or, hey, what's your secret? What are you doing? Right, right. It's an opportunity for them to ask a question about your operation. But I tell you what, success attracts success, and so success attracts opportunity. So if, if you're growing your business, just by nature of increased revenue, you're going to get more business. And if you're growing your people and you're growing your footprint and you're growing your awareness out in the community, you're going to get more. So, you know, the people, you know, success is a big attractant, you know, especially in a networking, oh, 100%, you know.
- [15:00]
A
Yeah, I think it's, it's, it's been an interesting month for us in that sense. But it, again, one of the worlds in particular you're looking at, to look that far ahead. I didn't do that earlier on. It's one of these things that's like, had I thought this way 10 years ago, we'd be in a different place. But it is, but it is important and I think taking time. So maybe, maybe part of the conversation or way to wrap it up too, is with the downtime that comes around holidays. Right. This is a slower week. I think for most people, whether you're going on vacation or not, just, it's kind of. Everybody's just kind of slowing down. That's a good time to then sit back and, you know, sit with a glass of wine, get a drink, whatever, pull up the notepad and start thinking about, what is the next six months? What's 20, 26? What do I need to be doing? Am I on pace? Like, have that kind of conversation? And if you're struggling with it, recruit somebody to have it. There are in bni, there's a ton of great business coaches that are in chapters and members, you know, recruit somebody to have that conversation with you that can look at your business from the outside and say, well, what if, what if you did this? What if you did that to get those wheels? Because sometimes you get so stuck in it and in your way and in your like, path that.
- [16:14]
B
Yeah. You know, but I think it's important to know before you can even ask for help, you got to kind of know where you're at a little bit.
- [16:21]
A
Yeah.
- [16:22]
B
And so I like your idea, you know, grab, grab glass of wine or something. But you know, one of the things that I always do, I don't know if some people are morning people, some people are evening people, and some people just say they don't have the time, but you do. So I would say this. If you're, if you're fortunate enough to like take a few hours off, whether it's this Friday or sometime over the weekend, I would. If it's me, I'm waking up in the morning, I'm grabbing my cup of coffee, I'm getting a one page printout of my numbers.
- [16:53]
A
Yep.
- [16:54]
B
And then I have a blank scratch pad next to me and I make my pros and cons list. And I kind of say, where am I at? And is it where I want to be? If I had a goal, what's the goal? Where am I at? My pros, my cons. And then I'm like, okay, what are three things I can do today? Now it may not be the date of the holiday, but the next day I'm in the office. What are three things I can do that I can execute that are going to have an impact immediately to get me to where I need to be? And if you can just leave, you're better off with one thing. If you can't come up with three, one thing is better than zero things.
- [17:26]
A
Right. Something move in the direction.
- [17:28]
B
And if you're eclipsing everything, certainly celebrate and toast yourself. But I would say if you're eclipsing everything, you probably set the bar a little lower.
- [17:40]
A
Yeah. Or you got to reflect on like what changed? Why did that happen? And how do you keep it going?
- [17:45]
B
Or, or how do I set my bar a little higher? So I finished the year much stronger.
- [17:50]
A
Well, that's where. So just the point in bni franchise world things, that's what happens is what happens is people, they'll have great years because they'll, you know, they'll be out there, maybe they start three, four chapters in a year in their area. And so you get some membership growth based off adding some new chapters and the business grows and it looks really exciting. But those might have started a year ago and just kind of came to fruition in, let's just say 20, 25. But if you didn't put any time and effort into. Or focus on how did they get going? And there's no pipeline. Well, once they're chartered and it's going well, now you're starting back. Right. And that's. So even if you. If that happened, if it was like a B and I executive director. Listen to. It's like if all of a sudden you started four chapters, you're having a great year. It's like you need to sit back and be like, okay, how did those four. How do I make sure I have four more going? How do I make sure that. Because otherwise it's like you're right back below the bar again.
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B
Right.
- [18:41]
A
And so that's part of our investment.
- [18:44]
B
That's the valley that you have to be careful of. And you know, people talk about, like, while plateauing is bad too. Well, plateauing is better than a valley because it's higher up. And, you know, as long as you have a plan to grow it. Plateauing for a little while. Like, you know, if you look at. In your case, just. And I don't know what your revenue numbers are, but if you look at your case, you might plateau in terms of revenue because you just had a huge outlay in personnel expenses. Right. So, like, not. I mean, like your net revenues might be plateauing, but you're doing it because you're expecting another peak right off the plateau. You're not expecting the crater. You're doing everything right. Yeah, exactly. Then it's even doubly worse than the valley trouble. Valley's a lot lower. But I guess, you know, it's one of those things that all of this is predicated on having clearly established goals. And, you know, I'm not a big fan of, you know, the under promise and over deliver without having a true baseline. Now, you can do that with the public world, with shareholders and all that kind of stuff. But the premise of under promising, like, if you're slaying your goals all the time, there's either. There's a couple things, one of two things that I think are happening. One, the goal was not high enough in the beginning.
- [19:58]
A
Yeah.
- [20:00]
B
Because, you know, it was just like a stab in the dark. And if you're operating under. Under promise and over delivery. So look at me. A behind that under promise is supposed to be a really true number to get to.
- [20:14]
A
Right? Right.
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B
So the over deliver part, whatever you end up with, should have been the baseline bar to begin with.
- [20:23]
A
Right. You're basically under promising. So you can just keep doing the same. Yeah, yeah.
- [20:26]
B
And eventually that gets sniffed out. But you know, again, either way, it's just a great time to kind of take a look at where you are, take a look at where you're going. Are you doing the things you said you were going to do? Is your team performing?
- [20:41]
A
It's halftime. It's just like halftime in any other in the sport. That's what they do.
- [20:45]
B
Make your adjustments and move ahead because the game's going to be over and not too distant.
- [20:52]
A
I mean, when you said it, it's true. And it. But it kind of hit me when you're like, you got three and a half, four months left of the six months. You're damn.
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B
Yeah.
- [20:59]
A
Probably accurate with holidays and everything else. Like, Jesus Christ. That's true. So.
- [21:04]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.
- [21:06]
A
Way to think about it. All right.
- [21:07]
B
Scary.
- [21:08]
A
Well, very good as always. Love to hear from you. Go to bnipowerofone.com the comments and stuff on Spotify, Apple podcasts, however you leave us reviews. If you get any topics you'd like us to discuss, you can leave it at the website and we'll talk to you soon.
- [21:22]
B
Have a good fourth, everybody.
- [21:30]
A
Sam.