Thread: Business Networking : BNI

Originally Posted by achieve

Why not setup your own independant network or club. There are a couple of these in Galway. That's what we did. If you can get 3 or 4 committed members to start with / form a committee, off you go. I'm a member of Galway Business Club a vibrant network that delivers. However bear in mind that it isn't a one way street, and you need to "give" in order to "receive", and it does take time to bulid up trust with members. PM or email me if you want more info.

Sounds interesting but I don't think I'd have the time or the connections really to start up my own gig, in fact, I question if I'd have the time to commit to BNI at all. Last thing I need is endless meetings most of which aren't going anywhere.

The time commitment need not be huge, however there is a time issue with regards to setting up same, but once setup it runs fairly seemlessly. We meet once a week on a Wednesday morning at 8am over breakfast. I'm normally back in the office by 10.

I was a member of the Fingal Chapter for a number of years. As was stated here before, you end up getting leads only to find it is going nowhere.

For the first year I made money the second I broke even after that it was costing me money.
I got kicked out for smoking at a meeting

The little xxxxxx thought he was god by that point. Someone had just joined that clamed they could heal your ingrown toe nail by stuffing a magnet up your arse (or something to that effect) anyway, this person was only a member for 2 weeks and they upended the whole chapter.


As for your 600 or 800 fee.... That goes to the high priest of the order back in the states

May I ask, why the hell did any of you guys throw €600-€800 in the direction of something you didn't know where your money was going?

I wouldn't give a euro on the street to a charity without knowing where the money was going, never mind over €600 to a 'network' that had no rewards.

For that money, a community website could have set up, an SMS communications system of sorts and a forum to talk on.... and then one hotel or such could have been given free membership on the basis that they provide a room for 6 hours aggregate per week(and they coffee paid for seperately)...

Of course, that's just me spending money in my head, but surely €600 into a bucket with no base in it is crazy? For example, pretend that there's 40members, a number suggested above, and each pays €600 annually, thats €24,000 for a network.

....Or of course there's the Open Coffee Club's.... There was one set up recently in Mayo, and when it develops, imo, it'll be better than any other type of commercial network that could happen in Mayo.