June 17, 2025 • 44 mins
Season 1 - Episode 7 - BNI The Perfect 100 Podcast with Tammy Zurak
🎙 GUEST: Michelle Honnen - Sales Manager and Owner of Covenant Graphics
🌐 Website: https://covenantgraphics.com/
Contact: https://covenantgraphics.com/contact-us
CliftonStrengths: Michelle Honnen
In this episode of The Perfect 100, host Tammy Zurak interviews Michelle Honnen, a BNI member and printing business owner. They discuss Michelle's journey in BNI, the importance of networking, and how to effectively engage visitors. Michelle shares her experiences with the CliftonStrengths assessment, emphasizing the significance of understanding personal strengths in business and leadership. The conversation also covers strategies for growing a business, differentiating oneself in a competitive market, and future growth plans for Michelle's printing business.
🎯 Topics Covered:
Why building relationships—not sales—created lasting business success
How BNI helped her find confidence and business consistency
The power of showing up authentically in a networking environment
Lessons from growing a business while raising a family
Embracing a people-first mindset to stand out in a crowded industry
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🔗 Websites: https://bnitheperfect100.com/ ; www.tammyzurak.com
📩 Coaching Inquiries: tammy@theperfectonehundred.com
💡 Free Resources: www.tammyzurak.com
🎯 Book a Zoom to discuss Strengths and Coaching: Book a Strategy Chat
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🔗 LinkedIn: Tammy Zurak on LinkedIn
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Guest Background
02:28 The Power of One in BNI
05:34 Referrals and Networking Strategies
08:35 Challenges in Visitor Engagement
11:26 Strengths and Personal Development
14:26 CliftonStrengths Insights
17:39 Encouragement and Mentorship in BNI
21:31 The Importance of Appreciation in Leadership
22:39 Building Connections and Community
24:12 The Role of Belief in Business
28:57 Complementary Strengths in Partnerships
32:58 Understanding Your Strengths for Business Success
34:21 Networking: The Key to Business Growth
37:10 Differentiating Your Business in a Competitive Market
40:38 Innovations and Future Growth Plans
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:30):
Hello and welcome back to the perfect 100.
I'm excited to bring you my guest today.
Michelle Honnen.
She is in the Bartlett chapter, which I am a chapter success coach for, but she's going totell you all about herself.
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Good evening everybody.
And hi Michelle.
Hi, how are you guys doing today?
I'm excited to be here.
(00:51):
I'm excited to have you.
So we're going to jump right in.
Tell me how long have you been a BNI member?
I already mentioned your chapter is the Bartlett chapter in Tennessee and what seat do youcurrently hold in the chapter?
So I've been a member for a little over two years.
I hold the printing seat in the Bartlett chapter and I absolutely enjoy every Wednesdaythat we get to get together.
(01:19):
I am not even a little bit surprised, because I've seen your CliftonStrengths.
We'll talk about that later more, but first we're going to start with your 45 seconds.
I'm going to go ahead and put the timer up and when you are ready to start, going to go, Iwill start it and you go for it.
Okay, so my name is Michelle Honnen and I'm with Covenant Graphics.
(01:40):
So we print large format, which is like banners and backdrops, things like that.
We also specialize in small format, which is like postcards and business cards.
But we also do apparel.
We have tons of different custom apparel that we offer multiple different decorationoptions.
So we're really set up for the small business.
(02:02):
We also have, you know, large business customers,
don't have minimum orders on a lot of things which makes us different than a lot of yourother printing and apparel places.
So at Covenant Graphics, if you can think it, we can ink it.
And now laser it too.
Awesome.
I love that.
All right.
So this is called the Perfect 100 because it's it starts with for BNI members, the powerof one.
(02:27):
So we're going to go ahead and dive into the power of one.
So you are in the green.
Congratulations.
And for those of those that are listening and not watching, some of some people arewatching on YouTube, others are not.
So I'm going to go ahead and read it from left to right.
So you have a total score of
70, your attendance points are 20.
(02:50):
Your referrals per week are 10, which is in the red.
Your visitors per week are 0.04, which is zero in the gray because it's a six month rollup.
So doesn't mean you don't have any.
just means it's not registering enough for the points to reach a color.
And then one to one's 20 and CEU's 20.
(03:13):
All right.
So when you look at that, what is the easiest thing for you?
What do you enjoy most that gets registered on the Power of One?
definitely always enjoy being there and being present at my meetings.
I am the visitor host coordinator, so I'm always getting there early, welcoming everybody.
(03:37):
I absolutely love that part.
Obviously visitors is a struggle for me m As far as I am continually inviting peoplebecause we have a lot of different Customers that are coming into our office and I'm like,
hey if you want to grow, know Here's an opportunity you can come to this meeting atsuch-and-such time I even tell them that they can go on the BNI website and find a
(04:00):
different time if our time doesn't work for them and you know that I want to help them andtheir business grow and it's just that I'm
return on people actually showing up.
But you I think you have to be a certain level of hungry to be excited and show up forBNI.
(04:21):
You know, got to be really ready to work your business.
um
and people that are just doing it as either like they're starting it as a side hustle orsomething like that.
They're not, they're not BNI ready yet, but hopefully they'll get there and pretty soon myvisitors is just gonna explode.
They're all gonna like get it together and you're just gonna all show up.
(04:44):
yes.
Well, Leslie, will you roll over to the Palms report?
So let's go through that.
So um the Palms report is a breakout of six months.
I've added a couple of weeks just to get us through the middle of where we are today,which is June.
So all of your attendance looks great.
You have referrals given inside to referrals given outside.
(05:09):
See if I can see that without my glasses.
Gonna have to start wearing the glasses, I think.
18, your referrals given, let's see, let me just make it bigger so can see it myself.
There we go.
Your referrals received inside is 33, referrals received outside is 19, visitors won, oneto one's 41, and this is a 24 week.
(05:34):
report at the, I've pulled up 24 weeks.
you've doubled pretty much your one-to-ones, which again, I'm not surprised.
um And then thank you for closed business given is $6,449.
So lots of good stuff to talk about in there.
uh Referrals given, so a total inside and outside of 20.
(05:54):
Are you, but a lot of them are outside the chapter.
So is that, and I know the way the buttons are in the app, sometimes people don't realizethat it's inside or outside and just don't switch it.
Is that the case or do you have an outside referral partner?
So because I've visited some different BNI chapters and some of those chapters They don'thave a printer or they may have a printer that does large format and don't have one that
(06:18):
does small format or they may have Somebody that prints all large, but they don't doapparel.
So I've got a few different referral partners um that are in other BNI chapters as welland
Perfect.
been able to work really well and that's why I love how BNI is set up is because likejust, you know, yes you have your core group but you can still be an excellent referral
(06:44):
partner to somebody else in a different chapter if you make the effort to go meet them.
Yes, that's amazing.
People don't hear this all the time, which is why I asked, is I was curious if you wereactually, sometimes it's just a button issue, but a lot of the times you actually have
taken the step to go and visit other chapters.
(07:06):
And when you have a unique business that isn't in every chapter, that is an excellent wayto grow your business.
In our market here locally, we have 500 plus members.
if you're visiting the variety of different chapters, there's, you know, 499-ish otheropportunities.
Now, obviously we have a few printers in some of the places, but even to get a seat at thetable is sometimes is the, you know, as a portrait photographer, when I worked, when I, my
(07:36):
first go-around in BNI, I was, there were other portrait photographers and I would justwanted an opportunity, right?
I just wanted to be able to see.
just to have somebody present me as an option.
know, if you give me, if, and I look at it this way, when I'm giving my clientsopportunities, if they, know I'm a resource, I'm a connector.
(07:58):
So if they say to me, Tammy, who do know that does this?
I will give them maybe one or two or three, depending on what the profession is, is it'snot up to me.
to for them, you know, it's they should decide who fits best for them, not me.
Right.
As I these are two people I know, like and trust and you decide who fits best for you is agreat way to go.
(08:20):
So I love that you found that.
And it looks like that's a reciprocating, you know, uh opportunity because you're you'rereceiving back also operating, getting referrals from outside the chapter.
So it sounds like that's also been a great channel for you.
Would you say that's true?
Awesome.
OK, great.
So the visitor challenge that you have, and it's not a challenge really, if you're, youknow, you're visiting or you're asking people, which is great, I was just gonna say a lot
(08:47):
of people have that, right?
It's a lot of people are having a struggle to find, they do invite people, but they don'tshow up.
um And they have to write, you have to hit them at the right time, right?
So I wanted, when you were saying that, my thought was, was, how did you get to BNI?
Okay, so how I got to BNI.
(09:09):
So once we opened our business, I was literally just Googling different networkopportunities because I wanted to be able to, you know.
get our information out there, let people know that hey, we exist.
know, so I literally just search engine and found it.
And then I showed up at the Lakeland meeting and I was just absolutely blown away and bythe givers gain.
(09:39):
uh
principle and idea and if I took hundreds of thousands of notes at every meeting because Iwas trying to absorb everything I could because I could tell how wonderful it was and I
was just so excited that this was a possibility for our business and it really has made ahuge difference in our business being able to be connected in BNI.
(10:06):
So you were proactive, you were looking for how can I get the word out?
So, and that's the difference, right?
So the interesting thing about that is you're doing printing a lot for businesses, right?
I'm sure you have others that are not businesses, but I'm guessing a big part of yourbusiness is for other businesses.
So they're coming to you for a need and they're not in the mode of necessarily growingtheir business or thinking about that when they're coming to you.
(10:36):
the success I've found, I am a constant flow of visitors for my chapter.
And I think you've hit on something interesting there because you're catching people in amoment where they're not thinking about it.
Where I have the most success in finding visitors is going to other events where peopleare looking to do networking, right?
(10:56):
If they've already showed up at a Chamber of Commerce or they've already showed up at someother business related type of I'm trying to grow my business, meet new people uh kind of
event, they're far more likely to want to come to a BNI meeting.
And when you give them a professional option that sounds to them, when you say, I'd loveto introduce you to my uh network of business professionals, they're like, sure.
(11:25):
Yeah, sign me up.
Where do I go?
That's a great idea.
So for you, it's probably more challenging because they're not in that mode necessarily.
So you have to figure out maybe there's a different question that you could ask that, youknow, because they're coming in and I know you're in a high speed kind of lot of turnover
kind of opportunities when people are coming because I've been to your place.
(11:47):
We've done business and I've come to your location.
There have been people there.
So it's not necessarily an opportunity to dive deep with people, but
Perhaps there's a, is there, can you use your, we'll ask you later what your strengthsare, but are there any strengths that you have that you think you might be able to apply
to that?
Yeah, I think my,
(12:10):
which one is it called the the woo I love that one the winning over and positivity andwe'll definitely um be able to make a difference with that because honestly there's no way
for me not to be positive about BNI because of you know how much fun it is and
(12:33):
the business networking part, like yes, it's great to be able to bring more profit to yourbusiness.
But being able to meet people and hear their stories and have a desire to watch themsucceed is definitely one of the best parts.
And having that backup is really great.
(12:56):
Right, yeah, so we'll dive more into the strengths here in a minute.
And I'm actually gonna come back and ask you that question after we go into that, becauseI have a few more ways we might be able to move that needle.
Because I think that this is a common problem.
A lot of people have, they wanna grow, they wanna help people, they wanna bring morepeople to their chapter, but then they're asking, they're just not getting people to show
(13:19):
up, and that's a very common thing.
So we'll come back to that.
So what's the biggest win that you've had through BNI since you've been a member for twoyears?
The biggest win I think that's honestly really hard to quantify and There's not been likesome huge landslide moment or anything like that, but it's been uh the continued
(13:40):
positivity the continued encouragement and the Building those relationships for peoplethat are gonna cheer you on uh You know if your business is struggling, they're gonna be
even more you know
to getting your information out there.
And so I would say that that is the biggest win because it's not one big huge thing.
(14:04):
It's a continued string of positivity for your business.
Awesome.
Yeah.
And it doesn't have to be a great big win, right?
The big win is you show up every week and you have a family of BNI people that supportyou.
And that's amazing.
And I know that's important to you because now we're going to pivot to thatCliftonStrengths.
(14:25):
I would love to help people understand how to maximize what their strengths are in usingthem, not only for BNI, but also for just business in general or life in general.
(14:52):
So I'm going to go ahead and
Name them off for the people that are listening.
So Michelle's number one strength is developer.
You recognize and cultivate the potential in others.
You spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from evidence ofprogress.
Number two is positivity.
You have contagious enthusiasm.
(15:13):
You are upbeat
and can get others excited about what they are going to do.
Number three is communication.
You generally find it easy to put your thoughts into words.
You are a good conversationalist and presenter.
Number four, belief.
You have certain core values that are unchanging.
Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for your life.
(15:33):
And number five, which we alluded to was woo, which is winning others over.
You love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over.
You derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with someone.
So when you...
took the assessment and got the results back, what was most surprising to you?
honestly don't think any of it was surprising, but when I read through it, I was justlike, oh yeah, okay, yeah, that's me, okay.
(16:05):
And I really love the part that says the developer, in the first paragraph of where it'sdescribing that, says that they naturally recognize others' capacity to change for the
better.
And they're drawn to people for this reason.
I absolutely love how
people, figure out what their best qualities are, being able to see the positivity in thembecause the world is such a negative hard place.
(16:33):
If you can have somebody that will speak life to you, it can make all the difference insomebody's future.
So I always want to be that person that highlights the positive for somebody and helpsthem refocus on the good things that they're doing and that they can do.
Yeah, that's, again, every time I get one of these assessments back when I know someone,you know, I've met them before and had interactions with them, I'm never surprised.
(17:05):
I'm very rarely caught off guard by, wow, I didn't know they had that, because, you know,it becomes very evident.
The interesting thing about humans is we all have our own set of things, right?
And they kind of, it's very challenging to stop those things from coming out because theyare who we are.
You know, I teach branding and when you look at your brand in general, the very firstthing that makes your brand is you.
(17:31):
And you know, the things that you bring to the party because you, know, whatever it is youdo, there are other people that do it.
And the difference between that one and you know, the next one and the next one in you areyou.
You know, what you bring to the business, what you bring from the personality, what youbring, all the things.
(17:51):
come from who you are and your strengths are why you're successful or if you're not usingthem fully, you might be holding yourself back back.
So there's opportunities for growth, which is why I love coaching around this stuffbecause people often intuitively know, you knew you were a positive person before you got
(18:13):
this assessment back, right?
Yes.
Okay.
if you didn't know, everybody else knew, because I'm sure, you know, if I were to pullaside five or 10 or 20 different people that were in your chapter and say, you know,
what's the number one thing that you get from Michelle, positivity would be it.
So, you know, that's an interesting, I just kind of oozes out, which is great.
(18:35):
The developer piece for me, I have you thought about
How you apply that in your chapter?
I know you're the visitor host and you bring amazing vitality first thing in the morningto that position.
Have you thought about how you might bring developer to your chapter?
(18:56):
Hmm well, so basically just continuing to affirm people in m what they're doing and m youknow a lot of us need to understand that hey you're doing a good job and you know usually
whenever I have the Just feel the need to say that to somebody.
(19:17):
It's they're always like wow I really needed that today, you know and m
Because I know so much as starting a business and oh being in the very beginning of it andjust having all your wheels spinning, all these different directions, trying to figure out
what you're supposed to answer.
Just have somebody take a second and tell you, hey, you're doing a good job.
(19:42):
Yeah, yeah, it's so.
do good job.
So I think I can be even more encouraging to people.
So that is now my new goal, to continue to encourage people more.
So we have a position in BNI that's very encouraging and helps win them over to how to dothings well and it's served well by someone who's positive and a developer.
(20:06):
Can you think what that would be?
Starts with an Because one of the things when you look at developer, one of those thingsis in several of the things that you have together, mentoring is something that often
comes up, right?
(20:27):
Have you thought about that role in your chapter?
No, I haven't, but I mean, you're right, that would play to my strengths.
Yeah, there's a lot of, think that you would find potentially good satisfaction out ofhelping people from that beginning, right?
You said, you just said all those things is, you know, making them feel good when theyneeded it, encouraging them.
(20:50):
Developer likes to um take little things and move them forward, right?
And when you're in BNI, when you very first start out, it's very overwhelming.
So, or in your business.
And I'm imagining you have, you have several employees, don't you?
Yes, we currently have two employees, other than me and my husband.
(21:12):
Okay.
uh Well, and I feel like a developer might be something we do to our spouses as well, Butthat, I'm imagining that plays out in your business some also, would you say that these
kind of role, do you feel like you're doing that in your business as well?
Yes, definitely.
(21:33):
We have a couple of great ladies that work for us and we are constantly letting them knowthat they're appreciated and um that we're really glad that they're there and whenever
they do something great, we're quick to tell them because I know how important that is asan employee to hear that.
(21:54):
So, and this may be similar to the question that I just asked, but how do your strengthshelp you lead?
How have you in BNI, whether it's in BNI, your business, what of those things do you feellike has really contributed to your leadership in whatever it is you do?
I guess they all kind of play into it.
(22:17):
I'm also the Women's Ministry Director at our church and being able to like, absolutelylove going up to women that I haven't seen before and letting them know, hey, you're
welcome.
Hey, we're doing this.
Please come and join us and hang out.
(22:37):
You're invited.
Because so many times, you know, people think if they're not plugged in whether it's withbusiness or with BNI or with church They don't think they're wanted if they're not invited
You know, so I always want people to know that hey, you're special.
You're important.
We want you here with us
(23:00):
Yeah, that's a, you know, and that's an interesting thing too, because you talked aboutvisitors for BNI, right, is that's the same thing, is we're very interested in helping,
and that's the one thing I love, not the one thing, there's lot of things I love, but Ienjoy helping people grow, right, and that's, and you love winning people over, so the woo
(23:21):
is, but you also rolled in belief in there, I think, is you probably have some core valuesthat,
contribute to what you just said in the ministry, but uh in communication, you're a dynamoof things that are just knowing you.
You're a whirlwind of, let's do all the things, let's get together.
(23:44):
uh
and let God work out the rest.
Yes, So when you think about because belief is a set of core values, that it's how youlive your life.
How does that play out for you?
What are the things that that roll into you?
(24:04):
Because you own a business, you're trying to support many different things.
So how does belief play itself out for you?
Well, so my husband and I, we chose the name Covenant Graphics because we want everythingwe do, whether in business or personal life, to honor God first.
(24:26):
so belief is a huge part.
is everything as far as who we are and what we do because everything is...
built on top of that foundation for us.
I mean, a lot of times it does make questions easier to answer and uh it definitely givesyou the strength to have the wherewithal that we're not in it alone that we can rely on
(24:55):
God and God has continued to bless us with so many different things and people in our lifethat have been great, encouragers like you Tammy.
I mean, I never thought that I
be cool enough for you to want to talk to me.
So I mean, this is pretty great.
Stop it.
You're amazing.
(25:16):
Who are you talking about?
What are you talking about?
Well, you know, it's interesting.
I when I got your results back.
So you're guest number seven on the podcast.
And it's it's so interesting to me to see who has stepped forward to.
So for those that don't know me locally here, I've been.
(25:38):
talking about the podcast and encouraging people to come and tell their stories and havethe assessment and find out how wonderful they are.
But what's interesting is of the seven people that have been on so far, four of the sevenhave developer, three of them have positivity, four of them have communication, three of
(26:00):
them have belief, and five of them have woo.
uh So you all are, and I was starting to wonder to myself, I wonder if this is, you know,I said something to my husband about it, I'm like, this is so interesting that they all
share, know, we've only had, well, mine are different, Laura's, if you heard Laura'sepisode are a little bit different and she and I share similar ones.
(26:20):
But I started to wonder if the people willing to step forward to do something new havethese traits, right, is they want to, they want to.
They believe in the things and all the positivity is definitely what they want to getinvolved.
And communication obviously is something that is of essence to doing something like this.
(26:43):
So just thought it was really cool to see a profile starting to emerge.
But I feel like everyone, when I look at, so I have my chapter and there are, there'sprobably I think now 11 or 12 of us that I have a profile for.
(27:15):
And those of you not on YouTube, I'm holding up a piece of paper that is a team grid.
And it has just from, you're not going to able to see what all the different strengthsare, but there are different colors and there are blocks that are marked under each of the
strengths.
So what is great about this.
So, and this is what I do with clients is show them how their team is made up.
(27:37):
And if everyone were exactly the same,
we might have a problem in a BNI chapter, right?
Or in your work or whatever organization you are a part of, church, know, sports, none ofus, if everyone had exactly the same top five things, nothing would get done because if
you look at yours, so your top two are blue, which is relationship building.
(28:02):
And then communication is orange and woo is orange.
That is influencing.
And then
uh Belief is executing.
themes that make things happen.
uh You don't in your top five have strategic, but that doesn't mean you don't havestrategic.
It just means it's not in your top five.
And there are a full 34.
So uh if you look at, this is my, again, for those that are not on YouTube, I'm holding upmy uh assessment and you're not even gonna be able to see that with me just holding it up,
(28:31):
but there are a variety, you you're gonna play out in different colors, which are thethemes across the board.
I have a variety in my top five.
And then when you get the full report, if you choose to do the full report, you get abigger picture, so to speak.
So these are just the main ones you like to operate in on a regular basis that you don'teven think about.
(28:53):
Would you say that's true?
You just are those things?
Yeah.
So it's fun to understand that.
You need other people.
So do you have people in your business that are have that you feel I know you haven't hadeverybody had taken the the CliftonStrengths, but do you feel like you have people who
compliment you in your business or in your chapter?
(29:16):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So my husband would definitely fit that strategic thinking box.
You know, I make him a little bit more fun and he keeps me, you know, a little morecentered.
Yeah.
So yeah, but I am missing that part.
(29:40):
I am very on the creative, exciting part of the brain and the part that has to deal withall the numbers and making everything make sense.
So, you know, I am really glad that we have each other to work together.
Because if it was up to him, he wouldn't go out and talk to anybody.
(30:00):
They would have to find him.
You know, it's good that we're partners in the business because together with ourdifferences, we can make it work.
Yes.
Yeah, it's great.
And I've talked about this on a previous podcast, but my husband's the same.
(30:22):
Some of the strengths we have are similar.
we actually, I hired a coach to work with us, a CliftonStrengths coach, because he, at thetime that we did the assessment, he was in transition in his life, what he was doing with
his job.
And so he did the assessment, I did the assessment, and she offered to do a session withus together, which was really eye-opening because things that might make you crazy about
(30:47):
how other people do things are because it's their strengths.
But when you understand what those strengths are and why, more importantly, they do them,then you have an understanding and you have more patience around why, you know, I probably
make him crazy because...
you know, he comes to me with challenges about whatever the thing and uh I have highideation.
(31:09):
My number one is strategy.
So I'm already thinking through what about this and what about this and what about thisand what about this?
And he's like, whoa.
He's a thinking theme.
know, he has high, uh, intellectual and analytical.
He wants to go lock himself in a room, do some research, think about it, you know, andcome back to me.
So it's okay.
(31:32):
Yeah, so, but it makes for good business, right?
Is when they're your business partner, they that sort of the balance and of havingsomebody, you know, the other side of things that make you better, right?
If you're trying to run your business and you only have your set of things and you don'thave, you know, I'm a solopreneur, I'm the only one in my business.
(31:54):
So the beauty about BNI is that if you are a solopreneur, you're the only one.
doing all of the things, then you can find others that can balance you, right?
They can become your partners.
And that's where I, you know, I love, even just looking at the chapter, the reason Iwanted to put the grid together is we're, I'm in, I have to toot our own horn.
(32:16):
We're in the number one chapter in there, Aiden.
um
Yeah.
And why that is, is because we look at stuff like this, right?
As they happen to have, I happen to be in the chapter and I have the ability to look atthese things.
But even without this, I know we have a good balance of people and we look for people whoare going to contribute.
So how you grow your business, how you grow your chapter, how you grow your church, howyou grow your community, how you grow, whatever it is you're interested in is by having a
(32:46):
strong
group of people that can work together and knowing what they are is one thing, but howthey apply it is another.
I just think it's so, you know, I just love all this because that's obviously why I'm acoach in it.
All right.
So what would you tell a fellow business owner now that we've just talked about all thesestrengths that has never explored their strengths?
(33:08):
Why does it matter?
Why do you think it matters now that you've seen it?
Is there anything that you got out of it that you think would be applicable to a businessowner that would help them?
I think it's really important that you know who you are um because when you're sellinganything whenever you're running a business and You're not selling what you're selling
(33:34):
people are buying into
the opportunity for your success because people they're not buying your vacuum or yourlipstick or my prints.
You know, they're buying into because they can get those things wherever right but they'rebuying into the idea of hey, I want to invest in your company.
(33:56):
So I want to do business with you and really doing this Clifton Strengths test.
It helps you really identify and it gives you some confirmation on hey, this
is who you are.
This is how you can play into those strengths and help your business grow.
Awesome, love that.
So what is something if you, so you've been in business, how long have you been inbusiness?
(34:19):
You've been in BNI for two years, how long have you been in business?
We've been open since 2017.
Okay, so what is a good, what's the best advice you would give somebody trying to growtheir business?
Definitely don't be afraid to get out there and network.
That's really where it's at.
Start out at chamber events and continue to show up.
(34:44):
Show up to different, like we have ribbon cuttings.
You can join multiple different chambers.
And if you choose to become a...
you if you want to apply for BNI, that's kind of like the next level, I think, becauseit's really more in that building relationships phase of networking people that, you know,
(35:04):
you can count on and that you really, really know, because there's more time invested inBNI.
But I would definitely just tell them, don't be afraid to get out there and network.
that's hard for some people, You said to your husband and I said, Mom, without us, they'reprobably not going out to do that, right?
And I am a mentor in a big photography group and there was a question, it's a privateFacebook group and there's people all around the world in it.
(35:32):
And somebody wrote a post yesterday that said, how do I grow my business without going outto networking events?
And I was thinking to myself, you don't.
Yeah, like, I don't know.
Good luck with that.
oh
Like you can, people do it and you can spend lots of money on advertising.
(35:55):
can build it on social.
You can build traffic.
You can build opportunities.
But for me, and the other caveat was quickly.
And quickly to me isn't...
the online strategy.
I mean, it can be, it depends on what you sell, you know, what your business is.
But for me, the fastest way to, and which is for probably most of the people listeninghere are BNI people, but we have people that are, they're going to be not BNI members.
(36:24):
But for me, the fastest way is connecting with people, right?
Is because once people meet you and they understand, even what I do is somewhat nebulous.
People don't understand when I,
say I'm a business coach, that can mean anything, right?
As I'm really, my husband said to me, you're a performance optimizer.
(36:44):
You help people take what they have and make it better.
that's transformation is also a key word for me, right?
Is helping people take that next level, whether they're good and they just wanna make itbetter, or they have that side hustle you mentioned earlier and they wanna make that their
full-time hustle, ah that's a different thing.
So if you're not talking to somebody,
(37:06):
to their face, you know, they're not getting that.
You know, it's much more challenging.
It takes much more time.
There's a lot of noise on the internet.
So hard to do that.
So I'm 100 % with you.
All right.
So how about what makes you different from other competitors?
(37:27):
What would you say has been in the time you've been in business, the biggestdifferentiator of what you do to people in your same space?
Okay, I would definitely say the fact that we don't have minimum orders on a lot of thingsbecause my husband was in the print industry, he's not been in the print industry for 30
something years and he's seen a lot of small businesses just either not be able to meetthe minimum requirements or they do meet the minimum order requirements of other, you
(37:55):
know, larger companies and then they end up going under because they've got way too muchexpenses.
And em how we're geared is we want to help the small business grow.
We want to be there for them and to be able to encourage them.
So yeah, it means a lot of our tickets aren't as big as some of the big companies, but thereward we get from seeing the small businesses grow is fantastic.
(38:20):
um To get somebody who comes in with an idea and then I can design their logo that they'vehad just kind of floating around in their head for a while and they can see it and it's
then a reality, that is the best joy.
So I think that's really what makes
this different.
Yeah, I love that too.
And there's a uh space for everybody, Is when you're deciding where you're going to be inyour business is who do I want to serve?
(38:47):
know, who are those?
And that's an important differentiation because, you know, I actually serve two differentkinds of clients.
I, potential clients is I serve the small business person or somebody trying to be a smallbusiness person, try to help them get to what does that look like?
You know, how do I actually, I've worked with tons of
(39:07):
Small people, small business people who are, they're just starting out.
They want to get out of that corporate, you know, grind, which is what I did.
I was corporate for 26 years and then started my own business.
So I've walked that path.
Or they're corporate people or just bigger, you know, mid-size or bigger people who wantto make things better for their people.
(39:28):
They want to encourage growth and have a happy workforce and all of those.
So those are really two different types of clients.
You have to decide.
and then you have to be very laser focused, right?
And so you've decided, I'm sure you'll take, I'm sure you do take and want to take biggeropportunities, but there's a niche there that you've zoned in on that if you can serve the
(39:49):
niche no one else is serving, you've now made a big difference, right?
Because even I know we've used you, my husband's business has utilized your services forthings that other...
people won't, it's either too expensive because they won't take that opportunity to workon the onesie twosies or they won't even entertain it at all because it's not a bulk
(40:11):
order.
So um it's great that you were able to figure out, and it's not just because you werefocused on that as a business, it's just who you are.
You want to help people in that regard, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Awesome.
All right.
So what's up next for you?
How do you want to grow next?
What do you what's working on?
(40:32):
You know, what are you working on personally, professionally?
What are how you're trying to show up in the world?
Okay, so our next phase of growth has already started.
We have this big honking laser machine which you see behind me.
Well, of course, this is just the drawers full of random stuff.
um But We are...
um
(40:53):
learning how to, we can now laser on acrylic, glass, um tumblers, um wood, um alldifferent thicknesses of paper.
So that's gonna be a new additive thing that we can do.
um Also, we're gonna start selling uh DTF, um which is direct to film transfer.
(41:16):
It is um a print that is for apparel, um but we are going to have the best machine in theindustry.
going to be the best of the best.
So in about a month and a half it'll be in my shop and so we'll be able to be a resourcefor other shops that have been you know ordering this product online and having to wait
(41:36):
two or three weeks for it to show up and you know we'll be able to get things turnedaround for them the same day.
It'll be able to handle a large volume with not a lot of maintenance which is reallyexciting for me because you know
analytical thinking is not my jam.
I just want to make it pretty and keep going.
uh Right.
(41:58):
So our next phase is how we've chose to invest in our business to continue to support ourcurrent customers and to be able to add more customers.
And also we have set up a new software and I will.
let everybody know and be an eye when it's going to launch.
But we're going to be able to set up personal web stores for your company, your, like ifyou're doing a fundraiser event or let's say you work at a painting company and these are
(42:31):
your uniforms.
So instead of your HR person having to chase that person down, what size do you want?
What color do you want?
Blah, blah.
You know, they can just go to their web store and click, click, click done.
So those are the next big things that are currently in the works.
Okay, very cool.
(42:51):
somebody listening, we have people listening to this that are not all right here in ourarea.
Do you ship also?
Absolutely, we ship all over.
I mean if you want to pay for customs, we'll ship out of the country.
Hey, it's no problem
Yeah.
Well, there's 300,000 people in BNI worldwide.
So you never know.
There might be some new opportunity.
(43:16):
All right.
Well, thank you very much for being a guest here.
I wanted to say, if you are a BNI member, how you will help other BNI members potentiallyis to listen to this podcast is by subscribing on the button below.
You know, they want me to say, what is it?
smash the button.
(43:36):
Michelle's pointing below.
em So do subscribe and please comment if you heard something interesting that youresonated with because both of those things help from a visibility to people on YouTube
when they're looking for something to listen to.
em And this was all about BNI and all about Clifton's Strengths.
So hopefully people will get some good value out of listening to it.
(43:58):
So thank you again, Michelle.
We're going to leave it there for the day and thank you everyone for listening to ThePerfect 100.
Hello and welcome back to the perfect 100.
I'm excited to bring you my guest today.
Michelle Honnen.
She is in the Bartlett chapter, which I am a chapter success coach for, but she's going totell you all about herself.
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Good evening everybody.
And hi Michelle.
Hi, how are you guys doing today?
I'm excited to be here.
(00:51):
I'm excited to have you.
So we're going to jump right in.
Tell me how long have you been a BNI member?
I already mentioned your chapter is the Bartlett chapter in Tennessee and what seat do youcurrently hold in the chapter?
So I've been a member for a little over two years.
I hold the printing seat in the Bartlett chapter and I absolutely enjoy every Wednesdaythat we get to get together.
(01:19):
I am not even a little bit surprised, because I've seen your CliftonStrengths.
We'll talk about that later more, but first we're going to start with your 45 seconds.
I'm going to go ahead and put the timer up and when you are ready to start, going to go, Iwill start it and you go for it.
Okay, so my name is Michelle Honnen and I'm with Covenant Graphics.
(01:40):
So we print large format, which is like banners and backdrops, things like that.
We also specialize in small format, which is like postcards and business cards.
But we also do apparel.
We have tons of different custom apparel that we offer multiple different decorationoptions.
So we're really set up for the small business.
(02:02):
We also have, you know, large business customers,
don't have minimum orders on a lot of things which makes us different than a lot of yourother printing and apparel places.
So at Covenant Graphics, if you can think it, we can ink it.
And now laser it too.
Awesome.
I love that.
All right.
So this is called the Perfect 100 because it's it starts with for BNI members, the powerof one.
(02:27):
So we're going to go ahead and dive into the power of one.
So you are in the green.
Congratulations.
And for those of those that are listening and not watching, some of some people arewatching on YouTube, others are not.
So I'm going to go ahead and read it from left to right.
So you have a total score of
70, your attendance points are 20.
(02:50):
Your referrals per week are 10, which is in the red.
Your visitors per week are 0.04, which is zero in the gray because it's a six month rollup.
So doesn't mean you don't have any.
just means it's not registering enough for the points to reach a color.
And then one to one's 20 and CEU's 20.
(03:13):
All right.
So when you look at that, what is the easiest thing for you?
What do you enjoy most that gets registered on the Power of One?
definitely always enjoy being there and being present at my meetings.
I am the visitor host coordinator, so I'm always getting there early, welcoming everybody.
(03:37):
I absolutely love that part.
Obviously visitors is a struggle for me m As far as I am continually inviting peoplebecause we have a lot of different Customers that are coming into our office and I'm like,
hey if you want to grow, know Here's an opportunity you can come to this meeting atsuch-and-such time I even tell them that they can go on the BNI website and find a
(04:00):
different time if our time doesn't work for them and you know that I want to help them andtheir business grow and it's just that I'm
return on people actually showing up.
But you I think you have to be a certain level of hungry to be excited and show up forBNI.
(04:21):
You know, got to be really ready to work your business.
um
and people that are just doing it as either like they're starting it as a side hustle orsomething like that.
They're not, they're not BNI ready yet, but hopefully they'll get there and pretty soon myvisitors is just gonna explode.
They're all gonna like get it together and you're just gonna all show up.
(04:44):
yes.
Well, Leslie, will you roll over to the Palms report?
So let's go through that.
So um the Palms report is a breakout of six months.
I've added a couple of weeks just to get us through the middle of where we are today,which is June.
So all of your attendance looks great.
You have referrals given inside to referrals given outside.
(05:09):
See if I can see that without my glasses.
Gonna have to start wearing the glasses, I think.
18, your referrals given, let's see, let me just make it bigger so can see it myself.
There we go.
Your referrals received inside is 33, referrals received outside is 19, visitors won, oneto one's 41, and this is a 24 week.
(05:34):
report at the, I've pulled up 24 weeks.
you've doubled pretty much your one-to-ones, which again, I'm not surprised.
um And then thank you for closed business given is $6,449.
So lots of good stuff to talk about in there.
uh Referrals given, so a total inside and outside of 20.
(05:54):
Are you, but a lot of them are outside the chapter.
So is that, and I know the way the buttons are in the app, sometimes people don't realizethat it's inside or outside and just don't switch it.
Is that the case or do you have an outside referral partner?
So because I've visited some different BNI chapters and some of those chapters They don'thave a printer or they may have a printer that does large format and don't have one that
(06:18):
does small format or they may have Somebody that prints all large, but they don't doapparel.
So I've got a few different referral partners um that are in other BNI chapters as welland
Perfect.
been able to work really well and that's why I love how BNI is set up is because likejust, you know, yes you have your core group but you can still be an excellent referral
(06:44):
partner to somebody else in a different chapter if you make the effort to go meet them.
Yes, that's amazing.
People don't hear this all the time, which is why I asked, is I was curious if you wereactually, sometimes it's just a button issue, but a lot of the times you actually have
taken the step to go and visit other chapters.
(07:06):
And when you have a unique business that isn't in every chapter, that is an excellent wayto grow your business.
In our market here locally, we have 500 plus members.
if you're visiting the variety of different chapters, there's, you know, 499-ish otheropportunities.
Now, obviously we have a few printers in some of the places, but even to get a seat at thetable is sometimes is the, you know, as a portrait photographer, when I worked, when I, my
(07:36):
first go-around in BNI, I was, there were other portrait photographers and I would justwanted an opportunity, right?
I just wanted to be able to see.
just to have somebody present me as an option.
know, if you give me, if, and I look at it this way, when I'm giving my clientsopportunities, if they, know I'm a resource, I'm a connector.
(07:58):
So if they say to me, Tammy, who do know that does this?
I will give them maybe one or two or three, depending on what the profession is, is it'snot up to me.
to for them, you know, it's they should decide who fits best for them, not me.
Right.
As I these are two people I know, like and trust and you decide who fits best for you is agreat way to go.
(08:20):
So I love that you found that.
And it looks like that's a reciprocating, you know, uh opportunity because you're you'rereceiving back also operating, getting referrals from outside the chapter.
So it sounds like that's also been a great channel for you.
Would you say that's true?
Awesome.
OK, great.
So the visitor challenge that you have, and it's not a challenge really, if you're, youknow, you're visiting or you're asking people, which is great, I was just gonna say a lot
(08:47):
of people have that, right?
It's a lot of people are having a struggle to find, they do invite people, but they don'tshow up.
um And they have to write, you have to hit them at the right time, right?
So I wanted, when you were saying that, my thought was, was, how did you get to BNI?
Okay, so how I got to BNI.
(09:09):
So once we opened our business, I was literally just Googling different networkopportunities because I wanted to be able to, you know.
get our information out there, let people know that hey, we exist.
know, so I literally just search engine and found it.
And then I showed up at the Lakeland meeting and I was just absolutely blown away and bythe givers gain.
(09:39):
uh
principle and idea and if I took hundreds of thousands of notes at every meeting because Iwas trying to absorb everything I could because I could tell how wonderful it was and I
was just so excited that this was a possibility for our business and it really has made ahuge difference in our business being able to be connected in BNI.
(10:06):
So you were proactive, you were looking for how can I get the word out?
So, and that's the difference, right?
So the interesting thing about that is you're doing printing a lot for businesses, right?
I'm sure you have others that are not businesses, but I'm guessing a big part of yourbusiness is for other businesses.
So they're coming to you for a need and they're not in the mode of necessarily growingtheir business or thinking about that when they're coming to you.
(10:36):
the success I've found, I am a constant flow of visitors for my chapter.
And I think you've hit on something interesting there because you're catching people in amoment where they're not thinking about it.
Where I have the most success in finding visitors is going to other events where peopleare looking to do networking, right?
(10:56):
If they've already showed up at a Chamber of Commerce or they've already showed up at someother business related type of I'm trying to grow my business, meet new people uh kind of
event, they're far more likely to want to come to a BNI meeting.
And when you give them a professional option that sounds to them, when you say, I'd loveto introduce you to my uh network of business professionals, they're like, sure.
(11:25):
Yeah, sign me up.
Where do I go?
That's a great idea.
So for you, it's probably more challenging because they're not in that mode necessarily.
So you have to figure out maybe there's a different question that you could ask that, youknow, because they're coming in and I know you're in a high speed kind of lot of turnover
kind of opportunities when people are coming because I've been to your place.
(11:47):
We've done business and I've come to your location.
There have been people there.
So it's not necessarily an opportunity to dive deep with people, but
Perhaps there's a, is there, can you use your, we'll ask you later what your strengthsare, but are there any strengths that you have that you think you might be able to apply
to that?
Yeah, I think my,
(12:10):
which one is it called the the woo I love that one the winning over and positivity andwe'll definitely um be able to make a difference with that because honestly there's no way
for me not to be positive about BNI because of you know how much fun it is and
(12:33):
the business networking part, like yes, it's great to be able to bring more profit to yourbusiness.
But being able to meet people and hear their stories and have a desire to watch themsucceed is definitely one of the best parts.
And having that backup is really great.
(12:56):
Right, yeah, so we'll dive more into the strengths here in a minute.
And I'm actually gonna come back and ask you that question after we go into that, becauseI have a few more ways we might be able to move that needle.
Because I think that this is a common problem.
A lot of people have, they wanna grow, they wanna help people, they wanna bring morepeople to their chapter, but then they're asking, they're just not getting people to show
(13:19):
up, and that's a very common thing.
So we'll come back to that.
So what's the biggest win that you've had through BNI since you've been a member for twoyears?
The biggest win I think that's honestly really hard to quantify and There's not been likesome huge landslide moment or anything like that, but it's been uh the continued
(13:40):
positivity the continued encouragement and the Building those relationships for peoplethat are gonna cheer you on uh You know if your business is struggling, they're gonna be
even more you know
to getting your information out there.
And so I would say that that is the biggest win because it's not one big huge thing.
(14:04):
It's a continued string of positivity for your business.
Awesome.
Yeah.
And it doesn't have to be a great big win, right?
The big win is you show up every week and you have a family of BNI people that supportyou.
And that's amazing.
And I know that's important to you because now we're going to pivot to thatCliftonStrengths.
(14:25):
I would love to help people understand how to maximize what their strengths are in usingthem, not only for BNI, but also for just business in general or life in general.
(14:52):
So I'm going to go ahead and
Name them off for the people that are listening.
So Michelle's number one strength is developer.
You recognize and cultivate the potential in others.
You spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from evidence ofprogress.
Number two is positivity.
You have contagious enthusiasm.
(15:13):
You are upbeat
and can get others excited about what they are going to do.
Number three is communication.
You generally find it easy to put your thoughts into words.
You are a good conversationalist and presenter.
Number four, belief.
You have certain core values that are unchanging.
Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for your life.
(15:33):
And number five, which we alluded to was woo, which is winning others over.
You love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over.
You derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with someone.
So when you...
took the assessment and got the results back, what was most surprising to you?
honestly don't think any of it was surprising, but when I read through it, I was justlike, oh yeah, okay, yeah, that's me, okay.
(16:05):
And I really love the part that says the developer, in the first paragraph of where it'sdescribing that, says that they naturally recognize others' capacity to change for the
better.
And they're drawn to people for this reason.
I absolutely love how
people, figure out what their best qualities are, being able to see the positivity in thembecause the world is such a negative hard place.
(16:33):
If you can have somebody that will speak life to you, it can make all the difference insomebody's future.
So I always want to be that person that highlights the positive for somebody and helpsthem refocus on the good things that they're doing and that they can do.
Yeah, that's, again, every time I get one of these assessments back when I know someone,you know, I've met them before and had interactions with them, I'm never surprised.
(17:05):
I'm very rarely caught off guard by, wow, I didn't know they had that, because, you know,it becomes very evident.
The interesting thing about humans is we all have our own set of things, right?
And they kind of, it's very challenging to stop those things from coming out because theyare who we are.
You know, I teach branding and when you look at your brand in general, the very firstthing that makes your brand is you.
(17:31):
And you know, the things that you bring to the party because you, know, whatever it is youdo, there are other people that do it.
And the difference between that one and you know, the next one and the next one in you areyou.
You know, what you bring to the business, what you bring from the personality, what youbring, all the things.
(17:51):
come from who you are and your strengths are why you're successful or if you're not usingthem fully, you might be holding yourself back back.
So there's opportunities for growth, which is why I love coaching around this stuffbecause people often intuitively know, you knew you were a positive person before you got
(18:13):
this assessment back, right?
Yes.
Okay.
if you didn't know, everybody else knew, because I'm sure, you know, if I were to pullaside five or 10 or 20 different people that were in your chapter and say, you know,
what's the number one thing that you get from Michelle, positivity would be it.
So, you know, that's an interesting, I just kind of oozes out, which is great.
(18:35):
The developer piece for me, I have you thought about
How you apply that in your chapter?
I know you're the visitor host and you bring amazing vitality first thing in the morningto that position.
Have you thought about how you might bring developer to your chapter?
(18:56):
Hmm well, so basically just continuing to affirm people in m what they're doing and m youknow a lot of us need to understand that hey you're doing a good job and you know usually
whenever I have the Just feel the need to say that to somebody.
(19:17):
It's they're always like wow I really needed that today, you know and m
Because I know so much as starting a business and oh being in the very beginning of it andjust having all your wheels spinning, all these different directions, trying to figure out
what you're supposed to answer.
Just have somebody take a second and tell you, hey, you're doing a good job.
(19:42):
Yeah, yeah, it's so.
do good job.
So I think I can be even more encouraging to people.
So that is now my new goal, to continue to encourage people more.
So we have a position in BNI that's very encouraging and helps win them over to how to dothings well and it's served well by someone who's positive and a developer.
(20:06):
Can you think what that would be?
Starts with an Because one of the things when you look at developer, one of those thingsis in several of the things that you have together, mentoring is something that often
comes up, right?
(20:27):
Have you thought about that role in your chapter?
No, I haven't, but I mean, you're right, that would play to my strengths.
Yeah, there's a lot of, think that you would find potentially good satisfaction out ofhelping people from that beginning, right?
You said, you just said all those things is, you know, making them feel good when theyneeded it, encouraging them.
(20:50):
Developer likes to um take little things and move them forward, right?
And when you're in BNI, when you very first start out, it's very overwhelming.
So, or in your business.
And I'm imagining you have, you have several employees, don't you?
Yes, we currently have two employees, other than me and my husband.
(21:12):
Okay.
uh Well, and I feel like a developer might be something we do to our spouses as well, Butthat, I'm imagining that plays out in your business some also, would you say that these
kind of role, do you feel like you're doing that in your business as well?
Yes, definitely.
(21:33):
We have a couple of great ladies that work for us and we are constantly letting them knowthat they're appreciated and um that we're really glad that they're there and whenever
they do something great, we're quick to tell them because I know how important that is asan employee to hear that.
(21:54):
So, and this may be similar to the question that I just asked, but how do your strengthshelp you lead?
How have you in BNI, whether it's in BNI, your business, what of those things do you feellike has really contributed to your leadership in whatever it is you do?
I guess they all kind of play into it.
(22:17):
I'm also the Women's Ministry Director at our church and being able to like, absolutelylove going up to women that I haven't seen before and letting them know, hey, you're
welcome.
Hey, we're doing this.
Please come and join us and hang out.
(22:37):
You're invited.
Because so many times, you know, people think if they're not plugged in whether it's withbusiness or with BNI or with church They don't think they're wanted if they're not invited
You know, so I always want people to know that hey, you're special.
You're important.
We want you here with us
(23:00):
Yeah, that's a, you know, and that's an interesting thing too, because you talked aboutvisitors for BNI, right, is that's the same thing, is we're very interested in helping,
and that's the one thing I love, not the one thing, there's lot of things I love, but Ienjoy helping people grow, right, and that's, and you love winning people over, so the woo
(23:21):
is, but you also rolled in belief in there, I think, is you probably have some core valuesthat,
contribute to what you just said in the ministry, but uh in communication, you're a dynamoof things that are just knowing you.
You're a whirlwind of, let's do all the things, let's get together.
(23:44):
uh
and let God work out the rest.
Yes, So when you think about because belief is a set of core values, that it's how youlive your life.
How does that play out for you?
What are the things that that roll into you?
(24:04):
Because you own a business, you're trying to support many different things.
So how does belief play itself out for you?
Well, so my husband and I, we chose the name Covenant Graphics because we want everythingwe do, whether in business or personal life, to honor God first.
(24:26):
so belief is a huge part.
is everything as far as who we are and what we do because everything is...
built on top of that foundation for us.
I mean, a lot of times it does make questions easier to answer and uh it definitely givesyou the strength to have the wherewithal that we're not in it alone that we can rely on
(24:55):
God and God has continued to bless us with so many different things and people in our lifethat have been great, encouragers like you Tammy.
I mean, I never thought that I
be cool enough for you to want to talk to me.
So I mean, this is pretty great.
Stop it.
You're amazing.
(25:16):
Who are you talking about?
What are you talking about?
Well, you know, it's interesting.
I when I got your results back.
So you're guest number seven on the podcast.
And it's it's so interesting to me to see who has stepped forward to.
So for those that don't know me locally here, I've been.
(25:38):
talking about the podcast and encouraging people to come and tell their stories and havethe assessment and find out how wonderful they are.
But what's interesting is of the seven people that have been on so far, four of the sevenhave developer, three of them have positivity, four of them have communication, three of
(26:00):
them have belief, and five of them have woo.
uh So you all are, and I was starting to wonder to myself, I wonder if this is, you know,I said something to my husband about it, I'm like, this is so interesting that they all
share, know, we've only had, well, mine are different, Laura's, if you heard Laura'sepisode are a little bit different and she and I share similar ones.
(26:20):
But I started to wonder if the people willing to step forward to do something new havethese traits, right, is they want to, they want to.
They believe in the things and all the positivity is definitely what they want to getinvolved.
And communication obviously is something that is of essence to doing something like this.
(26:43):
So just thought it was really cool to see a profile starting to emerge.
But I feel like everyone, when I look at, so I have my chapter and there are, there'sprobably I think now 11 or 12 of us that I have a profile for.
(27:15):
And those of you not on YouTube, I'm holding up a piece of paper that is a team grid.
And it has just from, you're not going to able to see what all the different strengthsare, but there are different colors and there are blocks that are marked under each of the
strengths.
So what is great about this.
So, and this is what I do with clients is show them how their team is made up.
(27:37):
And if everyone were exactly the same,
we might have a problem in a BNI chapter, right?
Or in your work or whatever organization you are a part of, church, know, sports, none ofus, if everyone had exactly the same top five things, nothing would get done because if
you look at yours, so your top two are blue, which is relationship building.
(28:02):
And then communication is orange and woo is orange.
That is influencing.
And then
uh Belief is executing.
themes that make things happen.
uh You don't in your top five have strategic, but that doesn't mean you don't havestrategic.
It just means it's not in your top five.
And there are a full 34.
So uh if you look at, this is my, again, for those that are not on YouTube, I'm holding upmy uh assessment and you're not even gonna be able to see that with me just holding it up,
(28:31):
but there are a variety, you you're gonna play out in different colors, which are thethemes across the board.
I have a variety in my top five.
And then when you get the full report, if you choose to do the full report, you get abigger picture, so to speak.
So these are just the main ones you like to operate in on a regular basis that you don'teven think about.
(28:53):
Would you say that's true?
You just are those things?
Yeah.
So it's fun to understand that.
You need other people.
So do you have people in your business that are have that you feel I know you haven't hadeverybody had taken the the CliftonStrengths, but do you feel like you have people who
compliment you in your business or in your chapter?
(29:16):
Absolutely, absolutely.
So my husband would definitely fit that strategic thinking box.
You know, I make him a little bit more fun and he keeps me, you know, a little morecentered.
Yeah.
So yeah, but I am missing that part.
(29:40):
I am very on the creative, exciting part of the brain and the part that has to deal withall the numbers and making everything make sense.
So, you know, I am really glad that we have each other to work together.
Because if it was up to him, he wouldn't go out and talk to anybody.
(30:00):
They would have to find him.
You know, it's good that we're partners in the business because together with ourdifferences, we can make it work.
Yes.
Yeah, it's great.
And I've talked about this on a previous podcast, but my husband's the same.
(30:22):
Some of the strengths we have are similar.
we actually, I hired a coach to work with us, a CliftonStrengths coach, because he, at thetime that we did the assessment, he was in transition in his life, what he was doing with
his job.
And so he did the assessment, I did the assessment, and she offered to do a session withus together, which was really eye-opening because things that might make you crazy about
(30:47):
how other people do things are because it's their strengths.
But when you understand what those strengths are and why, more importantly, they do them,then you have an understanding and you have more patience around why, you know, I probably
make him crazy because...
you know, he comes to me with challenges about whatever the thing and uh I have highideation.
(31:09):
My number one is strategy.
So I'm already thinking through what about this and what about this and what about thisand what about this?
And he's like, whoa.
He's a thinking theme.
know, he has high, uh, intellectual and analytical.
He wants to go lock himself in a room, do some research, think about it, you know, andcome back to me.
So it's okay.
(31:32):
Yeah, so, but it makes for good business, right?
Is when they're your business partner, they that sort of the balance and of havingsomebody, you know, the other side of things that make you better, right?
If you're trying to run your business and you only have your set of things and you don'thave, you know, I'm a solopreneur, I'm the only one in my business.
(31:54):
So the beauty about BNI is that if you are a solopreneur, you're the only one.
doing all of the things, then you can find others that can balance you, right?
They can become your partners.
And that's where I, you know, I love, even just looking at the chapter, the reason Iwanted to put the grid together is we're, I'm in, I have to toot our own horn.
(32:16):
We're in the number one chapter in there, Aiden.
um
Yeah.
And why that is, is because we look at stuff like this, right?
As they happen to have, I happen to be in the chapter and I have the ability to look atthese things.
But even without this, I know we have a good balance of people and we look for people whoare going to contribute.
So how you grow your business, how you grow your chapter, how you grow your church, howyou grow your community, how you grow, whatever it is you're interested in is by having a
(32:46):
strong
group of people that can work together and knowing what they are is one thing, but howthey apply it is another.
I just think it's so, you know, I just love all this because that's obviously why I'm acoach in it.
All right.
So what would you tell a fellow business owner now that we've just talked about all thesestrengths that has never explored their strengths?
(33:08):
Why does it matter?
Why do you think it matters now that you've seen it?
Is there anything that you got out of it that you think would be applicable to a businessowner that would help them?
I think it's really important that you know who you are um because when you're sellinganything whenever you're running a business and You're not selling what you're selling
(33:34):
people are buying into
the opportunity for your success because people they're not buying your vacuum or yourlipstick or my prints.
You know, they're buying into because they can get those things wherever right but they'rebuying into the idea of hey, I want to invest in your company.
(33:56):
So I want to do business with you and really doing this Clifton Strengths test.
It helps you really identify and it gives you some confirmation on hey, this
is who you are.
This is how you can play into those strengths and help your business grow.
Awesome, love that.
So what is something if you, so you've been in business, how long have you been inbusiness?
(34:19):
You've been in BNI for two years, how long have you been in business?
We've been open since 2017.
Okay, so what is a good, what's the best advice you would give somebody trying to growtheir business?
Definitely don't be afraid to get out there and network.
That's really where it's at.
Start out at chamber events and continue to show up.
(34:44):
Show up to different, like we have ribbon cuttings.
You can join multiple different chambers.
And if you choose to become a...
you if you want to apply for BNI, that's kind of like the next level, I think, becauseit's really more in that building relationships phase of networking people that, you know,
(35:04):
you can count on and that you really, really know, because there's more time invested inBNI.
But I would definitely just tell them, don't be afraid to get out there and network.
that's hard for some people, You said to your husband and I said, Mom, without us, they'reprobably not going out to do that, right?
And I am a mentor in a big photography group and there was a question, it's a privateFacebook group and there's people all around the world in it.
(35:32):
And somebody wrote a post yesterday that said, how do I grow my business without going outto networking events?
And I was thinking to myself, you don't.
Yeah, like, I don't know.
Good luck with that.
oh
Like you can, people do it and you can spend lots of money on advertising.
(35:55):
can build it on social.
You can build traffic.
You can build opportunities.
But for me, and the other caveat was quickly.
And quickly to me isn't...
the online strategy.
I mean, it can be, it depends on what you sell, you know, what your business is.
But for me, the fastest way to, and which is for probably most of the people listeninghere are BNI people, but we have people that are, they're going to be not BNI members.
(36:24):
But for me, the fastest way is connecting with people, right?
Is because once people meet you and they understand, even what I do is somewhat nebulous.
People don't understand when I,
say I'm a business coach, that can mean anything, right?
As I'm really, my husband said to me, you're a performance optimizer.
(36:44):
You help people take what they have and make it better.
that's transformation is also a key word for me, right?
Is helping people take that next level, whether they're good and they just wanna make itbetter, or they have that side hustle you mentioned earlier and they wanna make that their
full-time hustle, ah that's a different thing.
So if you're not talking to somebody,
(37:06):
to their face, you know, they're not getting that.
You know, it's much more challenging.
It takes much more time.
There's a lot of noise on the internet.
So hard to do that.
So I'm 100 % with you.
All right.
So how about what makes you different from other competitors?
(37:27):
What would you say has been in the time you've been in business, the biggestdifferentiator of what you do to people in your same space?
Okay, I would definitely say the fact that we don't have minimum orders on a lot of thingsbecause my husband was in the print industry, he's not been in the print industry for 30
something years and he's seen a lot of small businesses just either not be able to meetthe minimum requirements or they do meet the minimum order requirements of other, you
(37:55):
know, larger companies and then they end up going under because they've got way too muchexpenses.
And em how we're geared is we want to help the small business grow.
We want to be there for them and to be able to encourage them.
So yeah, it means a lot of our tickets aren't as big as some of the big companies, but thereward we get from seeing the small businesses grow is fantastic.
(38:20):
um To get somebody who comes in with an idea and then I can design their logo that they'vehad just kind of floating around in their head for a while and they can see it and it's
then a reality, that is the best joy.
So I think that's really what makes
this different.
Yeah, I love that too.
And there's a uh space for everybody, Is when you're deciding where you're going to be inyour business is who do I want to serve?
(38:47):
know, who are those?
And that's an important differentiation because, you know, I actually serve two differentkinds of clients.
I, potential clients is I serve the small business person or somebody trying to be a smallbusiness person, try to help them get to what does that look like?
You know, how do I actually, I've worked with tons of
(39:07):
Small people, small business people who are, they're just starting out.
They want to get out of that corporate, you know, grind, which is what I did.
I was corporate for 26 years and then started my own business.
So I've walked that path.
Or they're corporate people or just bigger, you know, mid-size or bigger people who wantto make things better for their people.
(39:28):
They want to encourage growth and have a happy workforce and all of those.
So those are really two different types of clients.
You have to decide.
and then you have to be very laser focused, right?
And so you've decided, I'm sure you'll take, I'm sure you do take and want to take biggeropportunities, but there's a niche there that you've zoned in on that if you can serve the
(39:49):
niche no one else is serving, you've now made a big difference, right?
Because even I know we've used you, my husband's business has utilized your services forthings that other...
people won't, it's either too expensive because they won't take that opportunity to workon the onesie twosies or they won't even entertain it at all because it's not a bulk
(40:11):
order.
So um it's great that you were able to figure out, and it's not just because you werefocused on that as a business, it's just who you are.
You want to help people in that regard, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Awesome.
All right.
So what's up next for you?
How do you want to grow next?
What do you what's working on?
(40:32):
You know, what are you working on personally, professionally?
What are how you're trying to show up in the world?
Okay, so our next phase of growth has already started.
We have this big honking laser machine which you see behind me.
Well, of course, this is just the drawers full of random stuff.
um But We are...
um
(40:53):
learning how to, we can now laser on acrylic, glass, um tumblers, um wood, um alldifferent thicknesses of paper.
So that's gonna be a new additive thing that we can do.
um Also, we're gonna start selling uh DTF, um which is direct to film transfer.
(41:16):
It is um a print that is for apparel, um but we are going to have the best machine in theindustry.
going to be the best of the best.
So in about a month and a half it'll be in my shop and so we'll be able to be a resourcefor other shops that have been you know ordering this product online and having to wait
(41:36):
two or three weeks for it to show up and you know we'll be able to get things turnedaround for them the same day.
It'll be able to handle a large volume with not a lot of maintenance which is reallyexciting for me because you know
analytical thinking is not my jam.
I just want to make it pretty and keep going.
uh Right.
(41:58):
So our next phase is how we've chose to invest in our business to continue to support ourcurrent customers and to be able to add more customers.
And also we have set up a new software and I will.
let everybody know and be an eye when it's going to launch.
But we're going to be able to set up personal web stores for your company, your, like ifyou're doing a fundraiser event or let's say you work at a painting company and these are
(42:31):
your uniforms.
So instead of your HR person having to chase that person down, what size do you want?
What color do you want?
Blah, blah.
You know, they can just go to their web store and click, click, click done.
So those are the next big things that are currently in the works.
Okay, very cool.
(42:51):
somebody listening, we have people listening to this that are not all right here in ourarea.
Do you ship also?
Absolutely, we ship all over.
I mean if you want to pay for customs, we'll ship out of the country.
Hey, it's no problem
Yeah.
Well, there's 300,000 people in BNI worldwide.
So you never know.
There might be some new opportunity.
(43:16):
All right.
Well, thank you very much for being a guest here.
I wanted to say, if you are a BNI member, how you will help other BNI members potentiallyis to listen to this podcast is by subscribing on the button below.
You know, they want me to say, what is it?
smash the button.
(43:36):
Michelle's pointing below.
em So do subscribe and please comment if you heard something interesting that youresonated with because both of those things help from a visibility to people on YouTube
when they're looking for something to listen to.
em And this was all about BNI and all about Clifton's Strengths.
So hopefully people will get some good value out of listening to it.
(43:58):
So thank you again, Michelle.
We're going to leave it there for the day and thank you everyone for listening to ThePerfect 100.
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