BNI Business Attractors - Meeting 3/10/10

This week's BNI Business Attractors meeting was a lot of fun.

Guest and prospective member Roxanne Shurcliff of Mona Vie extolled the virtues of that product




Guest of London Williamson of Easter Seals UCP was a substitute for member Scott Schmidt of Carolina Creations, Inc.




Bookkeeper Terri Andress (who also keeps the books for the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce) was substituting for Vice President Ken Schiess of HdVest.



Member Mimi Kronkowski from AFLAC didn't duck her 10-minute presentation duties but gave us the lowdown on some new AFLAC products.



We meet every Wednesday at 8AM at Antonio's in Leland, NC. The coffee's free and guests are always welcome.

BNI Business Attractors Visitors Day - We Had a Band!

So what other breakfast business networking group has live entertainment? All right, we start early and rock on with Kathy and Jack Henderson of Side by Side Duo at the Leland BNI Business Attractors Visitors Day on March 3rd. Kathy and Jack are Leland residents and can be found on Gigmasters at this link.



Kathy and Jack setting up.


Early arrivals Mimi Kronkoski of AFLAC, Ken Schiess of HdVest, Linda Nipper of EcoQuest, Kerry Kasotsky of Health Choice One, and Eddie Hughes of ATMC.


Monica Clark of Cape Fear Business Consulting and Mary Ameling of Ashcraft Insurance.

Kerry and Eddie.


Kathy and Jack Henderson (that's Kathy on the left!).


Eddie iwth Suzanne Piccolo of Neonexus Corporation, Marge Brown of Quantum Results Coaching and Ron Pezzote of Cape Fear Technologies.


Dr. Matthew Bradshaw of Leland Health Center.


Mary Ameling and Linda Nippper.

Scott Schmidt of Carolina Concepts and Ken Schiess.


Roxanne Shircliff of Arbonne and Mary Ameling.

London Williamson of Easter Seals UCP and Jayce Schmidt of Taste Graphic Design.


Marge Brown withToby Baccante of Mid-Atlantic Printing.




Kathy, Jack and Ron.







We had a great meeting, thank you guests, and thank you Kathy and Jack Henderson of Side by Side Duo for the entertainment.

Leland, NC BNI Business Attractors Visitors Day March 3rd

Looking for some early morning business networking and great entertainment?

On Wednesday March 3rd the BNI Business Attractors Chapter is holding an open Visitor's Day from 8AM till 9:30AM at Antonio's Pizza and Pasta Restaurant at 1107 New Pointe Boulevard in Leland, NC. And you're welcome to attend. - That's the early morning business networking part.

BNI is a structured business networking group that meets weeks with one member per industry. There are 9 Chapters in Southeastern North Carolina with several startup groups, which are called "Core" groups.


On hand at the Visitors Day will be Leland residents Kathy and Jack Henderson, also known as Side by Side Duo. They play, they sing, they entertain - they're a good time. So that's the great entertainment part!

Here's a short video from the Side by Side Duo ribbon-cutting with the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce where they played for dancing Chamber of Commerce members and staff - which was entertaining all by itself!


For more information about BNI, Business Networking International, click this link.

For information about the Leland Business Attractors Chapter, see this blog.

This is an open BNI Visitors Day so even if your industry or business is represented by someone on the membership list (viewable on the blog), we'd still like you to come.

BNI Business Attractors Meeting 2-3-2010

Our weekly Wednesday 8AM BNI Business Attractors meeting is held at Antonio's Pizza and Pasta Restaurant in Leland, NC. We had a several guests yesterday (and you're welcome to come visit, too, just call me, Bruce Brown, at (910) 297-8753 to let me know you're coming.

In the photo below are member Brad Hodges of Primary Capital, guest Brian Finegan of Handy Husbands for Hire, and member Scott Schmidt of Carolina Creations landscaping design company.


Chapter member Dr. Matt Bradshaw of the Leland Health Center gave a great presentation on stretches anyone can use (but especially people who spend a lot of time driving, sitting, or working on computers) to stretch their lower and middle back and legs. In the two photos below he demonstrates simple stretches with chapter member Eddie Hughes of ATMC.




Guest Melissa Hewett and member Eddie Hughes, both of ATMC.


Guest Randy Larson of East Coast Staging, member Marge Brown of Fat City Cards, and member Dr. Matthew Bradshaw.

A good meeting, thanks to you all. Oh, and we're going to have a huge event on March 3rd, so start gathering your business cards. In the meantime, you can come to any meeting, any Wednesday at 8AM. Call me.

BNI Business Attractors Meeting - 11-18-09

We had another lively meeting of the Leland BNI Business Attractors. We started by playing Frisbee and ended with a drawing. Oh yeah, and had some good networking, an interesting presentation by Aflac's Mimi Kronkowski, and guest Scott Schmidt. A bunch of strong referrals were given as well. Good meeting, folks.

What is up with this "Freight Train" nonsense?

OK, so here's the deal. I put the nickname "Freight Train" in my e-mail signature in early January. Why?

On January 1st during the early shift (which for me is 4-6AM EST) someone, I think perhaps my Twitter friend and Internet Marketing Trainer and Business Coach Victoria Player (twittername: @victoriaplayer, website: http://www.victoriaplayer.com/), asked the question: "How are you feeling right now about the start of the new year?"

My reply was immediate. I wrote (or more accurately, I Tweeted), "I feel like a freight train of energy is pushing through me I'm so excited about 2009!" And that was that.

The following week at our Wednesday morning BNI meeting we met for the first time in 2009 and we each talked about our plans for the year. It struck me to say, "This year I'm going to use the nickname 'Freight Train' because of the massive amount of energy I feel about this year." And everyone laughed and said it fit and the meeting was soon over. And I thought that was that.

But, later that day a guy who had been a guest at our BNI meeting, the very likeable Brian Matkze from Logos Direct (which is an awesome company, BTW) called me about something and addressed me on the phone as "Freight Train." Shortly after that I got an e-mail from our group's Chiropractor Dr. Matt Bradshaw, and he started the e-mail with "Hey Freight Train, . . ". Later on I was talking with someone else from our group, I think it was Brad Hodges from Equity Services, or maybe Bernadette Hayes of N2 Publishing, and one of them suggested I add "Freight Train" to my e-mail signature. So I did. And I thought yet again that was that.

Except now I get questions quite often from people I've known for a long time (even my sister asked) as well as folks I've yet met, about what the deal is with "Freight Train." When our office had a transition luncheon for me, they gave me a toy engine with the words "Freight Train" on it.

So, I guess it stuck. So far most people I've met think it makes sense. What do you think? Anyway, that's the deal with the use of "Freight Train" in my e-mail signature.