Episode 528: How Many Networks and How Many Hours? - a podcast by Dr. Ivan Misner

Synopsis

We have two similar Ask Ivan questions today. Diana asks “What’s the best way to grow and optimize my network, and how many networks are too many?” Justyna asks “How much time does it take to create strong visibility and credibility in the BNI organization, and how do you go about doing that?”

How Many Networks?

Dr. Misner advises belonging to one of each of these four kinds of networks, rather than multiples of any one of them. Go deep and build relationships in each of them.



* Casual contact networks (like chambers of commerce)

* Strong contact networks (like BNI)

* Community organizations (service clubs like Rotary or Kiwanis)

* Knowledge networks (professional organizations)



How Long Does It Take?

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, it takes a certain amount of time before people have confidence in your business. To be above average, you want to spend about 8 hours a week on networking.

Expect it to take at least 6 months to establish confidence–and also expect the number of referrals you get to increase every year if you invest time in networking and 1-2-1s.

You can find more about both these topics in Dr. Misner’s books Networking Like a Pro and World’s Best-Known Marketing Secret.

Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube.

Complete Transcript of Episode 528 –

Priscilla:

This is part of the Ask Ivan series. If you have a question for Ivan, we have created a new link on the podcast web page.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, which features Dr. Ivan Miser and many other networking experts. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where are you ?

Ivan:

I am on my way to Miami for a couple of things. We have a couple of regions that have done a membership drive. They have a BNI event on a cruise, so I am headed to a cruise out of Miami and then I am going to stick around for a day and do a BNI event out of Miami.

Priscilla:

That all sounds really fun.

Ivan:

Yeah. It is a great way to meet members. Love it. It is a fun part of my job.

Priscilla:

What is this topic that you have brought up here?

Ivan:

This is an Ask Ivan podcast and we have two questions that are really somewhat similar and I thought I would talk about them. The first question is from Diana. Diana asks, “What is the best way to grow and optimize my network, and how many networks are too many networks?” Great question, Dianna.

Justyna – I hope I am pronouncing that right – asks, “How much time does it take on average to create strong visibility and credibility in the BNI organization, and how do I go about doing that?”

So I have kind of narrowed that to how many groups and how much time? [These] are basically the questions that I am going to address.

First of all, let’s deal with Dianna’s topics. How many networks are too many networks. I recommend you go to a couple of different books, one of these two. Either Networking Like a Pro or The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret. You will see in both if them that I talk about the different streams of a netwtork.

There are four of five streams. Let me mention four of them today: casual contact networks, strong contact networks,

Further episodes of The Official BNI Podcast

Further podcasts by Dr. Ivan Misner

Website of Dr. Ivan Misner