Synopsis

Laura Hurren joins Dr. Misner to share a story that illustrates the difference between a scarcity mentality and an abundance mentality.

A new BNI chapter was launching in a small town in Italy. They held an enormous launch event and Visitors Day, attended by more than 100 visitors. The members of the new chapter went to extraordinary lengths to make it a great event.

But to Laura’s horror, when the visitors started to leave after the event, the leadership team stayed on stage taking selfies.When she tried to persuade them to go outside and speak to the visitors and invite them to join, they assured her that all was well.

When she went out to see what was happening, she found the members of another BNI chapter, who had come 28 kilometers to welcome the visitors, answer their questions, and get them signed up to the new chapter.

Laura had never seen anything like it, but BNI members in Italy are very focused on the community. The most recently-formed chapter helps the next chapter get started. The members of this chapter described it as a collaborative economy.

The BNI chapters in this region (Piemonte Sud) recognize that if they work together, they can build their chapters more quickly and more strongly than if they work in silos. This is a perfect illustration of the abundance mentality: there’s a lot of business out there, and if you work with chapters nearby, all of you are going to be more and more successful.

Chapters that support their fellow chapters and support each other’s members build the BNI brand, build business, and build BNI globally. These chapters also participated in the Business Voices program from their desire to support the community.

If you hear of a chapter opening up near you, volunteer to help them.

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

Complete Transcript of Episode 538 –

Priscilla:

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 today?

Ivan:

I am doing fantastic. Thank you, Priscilla. I have a guest who has never been on the podcast, but I have known her for many years. Laura has been an Executive Director and a Co-National Director. For over 20 years, she has been involved in BNI. Laura started when she was only 16 years old and she has been in BNI forever. She has been in the Founders Circle of BNI. She has been on the Franchise Advisory Board, which is sort of like a membership committee but for executive directors. I consider Laura a great friend, a long-time BNI Director, and she is also the CO-National Director besides coming from London and was also the Co-National Director in Italy. Welcome to your first interview on the BNI Podcast, Laura.

Laura:

Thank you, Ivan. Thank you for such a warm welcome.

Ivan:

It is awesome to have you on and I don’t know if I gave your last name. Laura Hurren. Laura has a fantastic story. She told it to me at the BNI Convention recently, and I asked her if she would share it in a podcast because it is an amazing story that I think shows the difference between a scarcity mentality and an abundance mentality. So why don’t you tell the story, Laura?