BNI Action Partners Summer Social | Denver Wedding and Event Photographer

Back in April I joined a local chapter of Business Networking International (BNI), the Action Partners. It is a referral networking group, we have about 70 members and out of those 70 members, no business can overlap. So I am the only photographer! The concept of this group is Givers Gain. I give business to you, and in return you will want to give business to me. Now, I have to be honest… at first I thought, well, what if I already have an accountant? Do I have to switch to using the one represented in our group? No, you don’t have to. But you spend 2 hours with this group every week, and meet with individuals as well, so you begin to become friends with many of theses people and really want to participate in their success.

It was Memorial Day when I really found out what this group is really about. Myself and 5 others were headed to my best friend’s condo for dinner. When my husband and I got there she had no lights on, no air conditioning, and other than the stove and refrigerator everything was unplugged. Over the weekend her main breaker had been going out, so she could have 2 things plugged in… the refrigerator and one other item… and would periodically have to run outside to the main condo breaker and flip the switch. As her and I were cooking we kept blowing a fuse, and my husband would run outside and get the power going again. Finally I was like, you know, I know an electrician… do you want me to call him? And being the thoughtful, “I don’t want to bother anyone” person that she is, she says… no, it’s Memorial Day weekend. I ‘ll just take care of it this week. When it got to the point where my husband was running outside every 2 minutes to give us power again, I said… Let me just call Ed and make sure we are ruining your electric system. Ed Jueschke of SJO Electric answered the phone and I told him our situation and after asking my husband a few questions he said, I’ll be over in 20 minutes. We were running the risk of melting the main circuit breaker. He was over and he replaced a part to fixed her problem in no time.

In the 5 months since joining this group I’ve personally used our acupuncturist, plumber, painter, handy man, and purchased environmentally friendly cleaning products. Our psycho therapist needed Senior Portraits of her daughter, our Foreclosure Buyer/Expert needs images for her website, as does our Caterer and Personal Chef. And it’s not just because I am trying to drum up ideas on how to get referrals, my toilet broke! And I knew who to call. No research, no wondering if this person is going to look through my medicine cabinet, no searching for the best price. My Action Partners group has made my life easier and is helping to grow my business!

Here are a few images of us having a blast at our Summer Social! Thanks to Steve Lord of All-Inclusive Vacations for being a wonderful host, and to Norm Schryver of 9Pan Catering for delicious BBQ!