Do Givers Gain?

Any of you who have ever been to a BNI meeting will know where that title comes from but it is sparked by what I've been up to plus today's post and link on Google+ by David Laud of i2i Business Solutions LLP which makes interesting reading (http://time.com/18659/the-five-paths-to-being-the-best-at-anything/).

The article is particularly interesting to me in that the section on "Givers" says research shows that you are more likely to end up at the bottom in terms of satisfaction with your life if you are a Giver but you are also more likely to end up at the top. It seems the key to getting to the top as a Giver is balance - give but don't spend all your time giving, after all you have your own goals, ambitions and jobs to do. The other key difference between top and bottom is that successful Givers are surrounded by "Matchers", people who give in an expectation of receiving in return. If you are giving and surrounded by Takers you will plummet to the bottom.

Why is this relevant to me at the moment? Those who know my business will know that I'm a member of BNI, a business referrals organisation with the philosophy of Givers Gain. We work on the principle that by finding business for others that giving will be reciprocated. Each local chapter is populated by Givers though in reality we are also Matchers as we believe we will receive also.

Does it work? Certainly for me. We have done work for fellow members of our Chapter but also for their business contacts. Over time that will lead to doing work for the business contacts of those people and so our business network and client list expands.

But it's bigger than that. We had a regional training session last Tuesday with close to 200 businesses involved. I belong to a fairly new chapter so have not met most of those businesses but from the stats BNI keeps I know I am one of the top 10 performers in the region in terms of what I give to others in BNI. So that should mean I gain more without expecting anything in particular from it. At the regional gathering I was given the opportunity to tell all the other businesses what we do and the kind of client we are looking for. I was also used as an example of how to write a profile on BNI Connect (think BNI LinkedIn) and therefore had my profile raised even further.

Did I expect any of that - No. Did I ask for any of that - No. But the organisation is based on Givers Gain and those great opportunities were provided by others who get the philosophy.

Has that event generated any business for me? It has in that I changed what I ask for as business in terms of contacts and products we provide when I was talking to a bigger audience and that has led to a new and substantial piece of work for someone in my own chapter. More importantly, I have a new set of contacts who in some cases have connections with the next level of clients we want to talk to and who also offer services that would be of use to our current and future clients. I have already started meeting some of those to discover how I can help them and, of course, in return they will try and help me. I'll be arranging more meetings soon.

So onwards and upwards. I'm getting quite excited about the future possibilities for Tad Web Solutions Limited - the hard work may be paying off.