Happy New Year! I’m severely delayed in announcing this but for the last year I have been serving as the Vice-President of my Business Networking International (BNI) Chapter in Manhattan. I’m in BNI Chapter 29. From time-to-time, I get questions from lawyers on how to build their law practice. I highly recommend joining a BNI chapter near you (if one exists) no matter your practice area. For those of you who aren’t familiar, BNI is a referral and networking organization that only allows one person per profession. To illustrate, I’m the “Food, Farm and Family” lawyer in my chapter. We also have a real estate lawyer, immigration lawyer, personal injury lawyer, etc. What is great about BNI is that it also has nonlawyer professions; thus, we have an accountant, real estate broker, website designer, professional mover, etc. The philosophy of BNI is “Givers Gain.”
Why am I sharing this with you?
- For my lawyer readers who are wanting to grow their private practice, this is what has worked for me.
- For my food entrepreneur clients, please don’t forget about the power of BNI and networking to help you grow your business. Perhaps it can be a New Year’s resolution!
- Selfishly, I want to recruit for my BNI chapter. We currently need a bankruptcy lawyer, workman’s compensation lawyer, chiropractor, and business coach (among other professions).
For those of you who are interested in learning more about BNI: here are some great books by Dr. Ivan Misner and I’m a regular listener to BNI Podcasts,