Lisa Spahr Spahr Consulting I returned to Pittsburgh in June of 2007 to start my business, life coaching. As a new business owner I spent a great deal of time examining the business networks in the area. I visited with several referral networks before choosing BNI. I chose BNI for the structure, frequency of meetings and personality of the particular chapter I was joining (after all you should like the people you are sharing business with!). Within two weeks of attending BNI meetings I lined up qualified referrals that paid for my BNI membership fee eight times over! Although life coaching can still be a blurry profession to many people, I found that working with my BNI team helps give clarity to what the profession is and what it isn't. I encourage everyone to join a BNI chapter- no matter what profession they are in! Thanks BNI. I'm looking forward to many prosperous years ahead! Lisa Spahr is a member of the BNI SSO Chapter.

Ron Morris The American Entrepreneur Radio Show The American Entrepreneur is Western Pennsylvania's only weekly radio talk show devoted entirely to the entrepreneurial experience. Each Saturday from 9 AM to noon on AM Newstalk 1360, Ron Morris puts over thirty years of entrepreneurial experience to work answering your business questions, solving your business problems, and bringing you all the latest information about everything that is happening on the entrepreneurial landscape. On June 16th, Deanna Tucci Schmitt and Bob Schmitt, appeared on the show to present a check to NIFTE, collected as a result of the proceeds from International Networking Day, February 6, 2007. Shown in the picture are (l-r) Jerry Cozewith (Executive Director, NFTE Greater Pittsburgh), Ron Morris (Host, The American Entrepreneur radio show), Deanna Tucci Schmitt and Bob Schmitt. Click here for a radio clip

Eddie Lesoon Asia Carpet Co. I have been a member of BNI for going on 5 years now. I can honestly say that BNI is responsible for about 45% of my business. If you use the BNI system and the concept of Givers Gain, BNI really works and works well. It is like having your own sales force working for you all of the time. A couple success stories that I would like to share are, first off, about a referral I got from a member of our chapter for re-carpeting the corridor of her building where her office is located. She overheard the building manager talking about getting new carpet and asked him if he would be interested in getting another price. Long story short, she set up the meeting and soon after I not only carpeted the main corridor, but all five floors, as well as over twenty office suites in the building! So one hallway turned into practically the whole building and there is still more to do! The next success story, or soon to be success story, is the fact that I have had the opportunity to bid on the biggest job in my 16 years of business! The gentleman that does carpet cleaning in our chapter approached a large corporation in Pittsburgh to give pricing on cleaning the carpet. It ends up that the carpet wasn’t worth cleaning so he asked the building manager if he would be interested in getting a proposal and then recommended me. The building manager was expecting my call and was actually delighted to have a reliable new contact for his flooring needs. I submitted a bid last Friday and have a very good chance of being awarded the job. Keep your fingers crossed!! The bottom line is that the chances of me meeting these people and getting these opportunities would be slim to none if I didn’t have my BNI connections. We have a great chapter with a great bunch of people. I assure you that if you become a member you will be pleasantly surprised at how much money you can generate just through “word of mouth advertising” and “givers gain”. Thank you! Eddie Lesoon Vice President Asia Carpet Co., Inc. BNI Allegheny Valley Chapter

Pauline Connelly web design + emarketing At my BNI meeting this morning, I was a happy to give a referral, but also to give a heartfelt testimonial. This was not to any one in my group, but to the BNI organization. I have been a member a mere 3 months, and BNI has transformed my business. How has this worked? Not only through the referrals - although these have been wonderful - but by the education and training BNI has provided that has transformed me. I quit my job and went out on my own less than a year ago. It took about 9 months before I realized that while I may be a talented web designer, I didn't have a clue about running my own business. I knew I needed help, and on the recommendation of a friend, I joined BNI. "The man with the clear head is the man ... (who) looks life in the face ... and feels himself lost. As this is the simple truth - that to live is to feel oneself lost - he who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look round for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order into the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked." Ortega y Gasset, Revolt of the Masses, 1930 I knew I was lost, and when I "looked around for something to which to cling" I found BNI, which has indeed brought "order into the chaos of (my business) life". I jumped in with both feet, and tried to follow all the recommendations, including frequent one-to-ones and attending as many of the training sessions as I could. These have been mainly taught by David Holzer and Weston Lyon, and each time, I left with my head swimming, but a whole arsenal of new tools and an enhanced vision of how to build my business strategically. I loved the analytical ROI thinking David and Weston added to the BNI experience - and they way they broke it all down into a manageable system with predictable results - I could see that if I followed the system it would pay off. And it has. When I joined BNI I had a handful of clients - I now have 3 x that and at least twice as many as that in various stages along the pipeline. The amazing thing is that, while all this has happened since I joined BNI, only about half of these are actually through BNI. David and Weston (and the whole BNI methodology) taught me an entirely new way of thinking about growing my business that I have been able to apply outside of the BNI network. I have been truly amazed with the results, and it is at the point that if even a fraction of those pipeline prospects come through, I may be faced with the necessity of hiring my first employee. I could not be more delighted!!!!! I want to thank David and Weston, and the leadership of the Mt. Lebanon BNI group - this is truly a special group of people, led by Michael Hornick, JoAnn Hall, and Chad Bragg. Each personality adds something special to the group. I did check out other networking groups before joining BNI and none had the energy and spirit of friendliness and support that I experience every Thursday with my Mt. Lebanon chapter. Excellence always starts at the top, and although I have never met you, I know this could only have come about through your leadership. Thank you! Pauline Connelly web design + emarketing connellyp@mac.com http://www.connellyp.com

Crystal Barr Mary Kay Cosmetics I was challenged by my National Sales Director to facial 100 new people between August 1st and October 31st. The chapter immediately started to come up with "faces" to help me out. Every week when I walked into meeting they asked me "how many faces are we up to?" They kept me excited and motivated to reach this goal! On the morning of October 31st I still needed 3 faces. They came up with 2 of them. Some called throughout the day to see if we were done yet and what they could do to help. At 9pm that night I finished my last face. 2 days latter I left for Atlanta, GA to enjoy my relaxing day at the spa and shopping that I won for completing the challenge. After all was said and done the Airport Chapter contributed 57 of the 100 faces needed for my challenge!!! Over half!! Crystal Barr Independent Senior Sales Director Mary Kay Cosmetics 724-375-4295 www.marykay.com/cjbarr November 2006

Judy Brinson Glass Doctor BUSINESS NETWORK GROUP – Judi (Gaskell) Brinson, Glass Doctor Franchisee I would like to share information with my fellow franchisees regarding the Business Networking Group (BNI), as requested by Mark Dawson which I shared with him. It is a group of small business owners/key employees that meet weekly to network and share ideas on how to improve and grow your business. Each week referrals are passed among the members. Each chapter maintains stats on how many referrals are passed, ideas, etc.. My particular group averages 45 referrals per month to each other. Each chapter only allows one type of business (one glass company, one insurance agent, one real estate person, etc.). This is great, and works really well for us because no other glass company can now join any of the three groups that we belong. Also, any individual person can only belong to one chapter. Therefore, I belong to one and each of my sales people belong to chapters in their respective sales territory. Since joining we have received numerous jobs from these groups, on average 2-3 per chapter per week! That is about 6-10 jobs per week directly from these 1-1/2 hour meetings! We anticipate this number to increase weekly since everyone has a vehicle, home or business that has glass! They also meet with people daily in their respective businesses and refer our name to those people. I would highly recommend this sales/referral technique to any franchise owner. If any other franchise owners are interested in joining they may go to the website www.bni.com to find a chapter in their state. Make sure they say that they heard about the group from me.

Linda Schumacher Schumacher Consulting, Inc. BNI Breaks Through Public Relations Stagnation The relationships I built through networking have proven to be crucial to the promotion of my book, Ready, Set, Succeed: How successful projects triumph over business as usual. Introductions made by my networking contacts have resulted in significant story placements in the media. A public relations consultant I met through networking in the Pittsburgh area launched my book tour, resulting in ten prominent and highly visible placements in newspapers, magazines, television and radio. The most exciting connection I made was when I attended an event at the invitation of BNI Western Pennsylvania Executive Director Deanna Tucci Schmitt. There, Deanna introduced me to the keynote speaker, Gladys Edmunds. A nationally known speaker, columnist and author, Gladys featured me in her Entrepreneurial Tightrope column in USAToday.com the very next week. The column was entitled Project consultants can be a big help for small businesses. (click here to read the column). This column also appeared in Gladys' nationwide syndicated column in December 2004throughout the country. Meeting Gladys was the most powerful connection I made during my book launch. BNI connections really paid off! Linda H. Schumacher, Schumacher Consulting, Inc., www.ReadySetSucceedBook.com. Circle of Excellence chapter, Western Pennsylvania

Rebecca Hooman, CFP Ameriprise Financial Advisors On the Move with BNI February 2005 Recently, three colleagues and I relocated our office. In the process, two additional colleagues joined us. We moved into a previously unoccupied space, installing all new office equipment and lots of new furniture. As we were getting settled in our new office and I looked back over the entire experience, I realized how much my BNI contacts, and those of my husband (also in the same office) had impacted the entire process. All of the following were accomplished through one of our two BNI chapters: Locate and lease office space Office design and layout Property and casualty insurance Mass mailing to clients and contacts with new contact information State of the art copier/fax/scanner/printer Conference room, reception, and individual office furniture Phone system Welcome flowers from several colleagues who had been previously introduced to BNI florist Glass protection for desks And I have probably inadvertently omitted something! Literally every service we had performed and every purchase we made happened through a referral—nearly all of them directly through BNI. BNI was the first place we looked for each decision we made. And although such an office move does not come without its glitches, because of the nature of the referral relationship, we were able to deal with issues much more quickly and effectively and with a greater comfort level than if we had dealt with businesses we had no other connection to. We often think of BNI in terms of the dollars in our pocket. This experience has reminded me of the value in terms of the services I can receive, creating a win-win situation. Thank you, BNI! Rebecca Hooman, CFP™ Ameriprise Financial Advisors Circle of Excellence Chapter

Ed Hall Padgett Business Services I am a founding member of the Circle of Excellence Chapter which is now four years old. This has been the best investment of time and money that I have ever made. I have definitely benefited from the BNI philosophy of “Givers Gain”. I track the referrals that I have given and those that I have received and I record the amounts spent and the income I have received during my membership. The result is, I am way ahead of the game financially and in many other ways also. The percent of my total income from BNI, for the past three years, has grown each year – 2003 = 26%, 2004 = 37% and 2005 appears to be on track for 40%. As one Assistance Director says: BNI = Better Net Income! Another benefit, that is almost as good, is that when I see that a client has a need or asks for help I have people I can trust to take care of that need. I didn’t have that before BNI. My accounting and tax service for small business owners now has 41 former chapter members and hundreds of chapter visitors who are an additional source for referrals. Knowing how important BNI is to my business is the motivating source for 49 months of perfect attendance at my Chapter meetings. None of the above would be possible if Deanna Tucci Schmitt had not brought BNI to Western Pennsylvania. Deanna leads by “GIVING” so much time to training members for success, by selecting superb assistant directors, by exploring new ways to improve chapter success and continuing to grow BNI this area. Thanks Deanna! Ed Hall Padgett Business Services (412) 366-8572 September 2005

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