What weāre about
WE WANT TO MEET YOU! If you're a business owner, entrepreneur, freelancer, or sales person, we want you in our network. Growing a business is all about who YOU know, and who knows YOU...and WE want to know you!
Welcome! This is a group for businesses of all types and sizes, looking to increase their customer base! We meet Wednesday mornings from 7am to 8:30am to network, share ideas, collaborative word-of-mouth referrals and professional support. We also offer educational workshops and training sessions on networking and how to grow your business. What makes us stand out different from other networking groups? We only accept one business professional per category (or specialty within a category) to eliminate competition from getting your referrals and our stellar education for members.
Who are we? We are **Orange BNI** , a dynamic group of Orange County's best local professionals and one of OC's oldest and largest BNI chapters. We closed more than $1.6 million in business last year from referrals passed member-to-member!
When can you meet us? Please join us any Wednesday from 7:00am to 8:30amĀ for a meeting of education and networking. We meet In-Person the First Wednesday of the month ($26 Networking Event Fee) and Online (No Charge Networking Event) the other three weeks. We recommend you arrive early to chat with members and exchange business cards.
What should you bring?Ā Your coffee and breakfast while we're still meeting virtually. Be prepared to tell us your name and one sentence about what you do...you may even get a full 30 seconds like the members to tell us about your business!
What can you expect? There's nothing else quite like a BNI meeting. We keep to a strict agenda even during Zoom and still manage to have fun! You'll hear from every member about who they want to meet AND what they have to contribute to other members. You'll hear interesting member keynotes and an educational moment about how to be a better networker. You'll probably notice what our members always comment about: we are friendly, welcoming, professional, dedicated to each other, and surprisingly energetic and fun (especially for an early morning gathering).Ā
Who else will be there? First, don't let the RSVPs fool you. Orange BNI has a strong membership of 40+ who attend every week, and some of us have been members for 5, 10, 15 and even 20+ years (no kidding...ask to meet them!), plus first-time and repeat visitors show up every week. It's always a full room. If you want to see our membership roster, view it here.
You're not sure this group is for you? You won't know unless you show! Even if you're a student, or you're currently unemployed and looking for a new opportunity, or you have a hobby or non-profit you want to promote, or you think you have a competitor in the chapter, or you want to meet trusted professionals you can partner with or refer clients to, or you're retired, or whatever...yep, no matter who you are, you are welcome at Orange BNI. Whether you visit us just once or decide to apply for membership, either way is fine with us. We just love to meet new people!
Do we sell in the room? You might find customers anywhere you go, including at Orange BNI, but we hope you'll look at this as the first step to building new relationships that pay off over and over. In fact, we bet you'll find partners in the room who (a) can refer you to THEIR clients and colleagues, and (b) are reliable, ethical, experienced pros you can refer to YOUR connections with confidence.
You forgot to RSVP on Meetup? Don't worry about it. Just hop over enter your information: https://socalbni.com/en-US/visitorregistration?chapterId=4833 . We'd love to "meet you" online before we meet you in person though, so please join our group and fill out your profile! We're looking forward to knowing you!
Want to know more about BNI?Ā Networking and relationships are the key to business success. We believe in the principle of GIVERS GAIN. If I help you grow your business, you'll help me grow mine. We're like a huge sales team for one another. And you know what? IT WORKS. In fact, BNI is the world's largest professional networking organization with 227,000 members worldwide who passed 9.5 million referrals last year resulting in $13.8 BILLION of business for our members!
