Wedding anniversaries traditionally have gifts associated with them. 1 year is paper, 40 years ruby and 50 gold. A 10th anniversary is celebrated with tin, but more contemporary sources suggest giving diamonds. This may be because 10 years doing anything these days deserves a special gift and tin doesn’t really cut it.
10 years in an organisation or role is even more unusual these days. Our pace of life and changing times makes longer-term responsibilities to anything less usual and more important to mark.
With BNI having been established in New Zealand since 1999, there are now a number of members throughout the country who are celebrating 10 years – or longer – in our organisation. When these members first walked through the door as visitors to a chapter meeting, they probably couldn’t have imagined reaching the decade mark as part of BNI.
Recently a single chapter – BNI Wine Country – marked 4 of its original members reaching 10 years in their chapter. Being founding members, Anna Murphy, Christine Sheppard, Kerry McIntyre and Michael Lawson have each in their own way helped to build their chapter and its solid growth is a credit to them all.
Networking successfully never happens overnight. By creating a strategic long-term relationship with BNI these members have enriched their chapter and of course grown their own businesses. When chatting to the members it was interesting to hear how each of them had a personal story that showed how they had gained something different for their time at BNI.
Kerry says: BNI has been a support during tough economic times. He says, “During my time with the group I changed employment and thought that I would have to exit BNI. However, they came to me and asked me to stay on. It was very humbling to see people investing in me personally rather than just the business. My clients stayed with me because of the trust that was developed through BNI.”
Fellow founding member Michael echoes Kerry’s sentiments about the strength of business relationships developed through BNI. “About a quarter of my business now comes directly or indirectly from BNI,” Michael says. “When I first joined BNI I worked for a different company, but after about six months in the group I had the opportunity to set up my own company, Lawson Valuation Ltd, and BNI was very beneficial in establishing my business.
Christine notes that BNI is excellent for personal development as well as improving brand recognition and improving credibility in the community.
Anna says through weekly meetings and the 60 seconds she has gained insights into her own business as well as improved her public speaking.
Small business is a dynamic part of the economy. NZ statistics from 2014 note that 35% of enterprises with 1-19 employees are 5 years old or less compared to 18% of larger enterprises. This reinforces how significant reaching the 10 year mark in BNI is.
Congratulations to those who have achieved this important milestone – here’s to the next 10!
