The message and culture of BoB Clubs
Richard Frazer
Managing Director @ West Mercia Networking Limited | Business Networking, Leadership
Why are BoB Clubs UK wide and growing?
They are a practical solution to finding business. Unlike other networking environments they make a point of asking the membership drop their egos at the door and adopt a common-sense business mentality.
The clubs want a membership that will simply knuckle down and work with each other, roll up their sleeves and get creative finding opportunities.
The clubs themselves assist in promoting you and providing resources to each business to make networking easier.
There are no medals, there is no hierarchy, we don’t even have committees to run the clubs. The members run the clubs for the members and often the more you work with each other and get creative the more you get out of working with each other. Success in your business comes from being there for the other members and in return the members being there and spotting the opportunities for your own business.
Each club has a unique culture as it forms around the membership and what they uniquely want and enjoy; however behind the styles of each club the mechanisms are always there.
All members are coached to understand how to spot opportunities better and to create them within the networking environment. The only part of a BoB Club which is managed is the culture of the club. Each club must be uplifting, engaging, not cliquey, business orientated and focused, and have a strong culture of helping one another. There is a focus in each club to support the resident charity and to help the community. Being connected to the community is often key to a business success, but also businesses tend to connect better when working actively with a charity in the community. The roots of a business are very important and can often define the direction and marketing.
BoB Clubs are a practical and no frills resource and are intentionally a relaxed and ‘imperfect’ professional environment designed to be welcoming and safe to grow your businesses skills and resource.
Going ONLINE was a massive challenge!
Business over Breakfast clubs in Worcestershire and Birmingham Central were the first clubs in BoB Clubs to go ONLINE and were amongst the very earliest of networks to do so too; very few other networks have done the same at all. Even the biggest networks are still working on their systems and trying to roll them out. Advice from government was continuously indicating that this would be a long and slow path, and it seemed obvious that although people were avoiding saying it, we would be in this new challenging environment for months and not days or weeks. We needed to take steps to support the community that would see the clubs feel safe and supportive.
Why have we done it and how did we achieve it so quickly?
We achieved it quickly because we wanted our members to have a resource they could rely on in these difficult times. Hours of work have been put in to test systems and adjust them to be robust and repeatable for each club. We have had as many as 50 people in one meeting and as low as 15. However, we know as it settles, so will the membership.
Which clubs are ONLINE in BoB Clubs community?
BoB Clubs meet every two weeks and we currently have the following clubs ONLINE. You can come along to any club if you wish providing that they do not have a business covering your skill-set. You will be welcomed. We would prefer you to focus on your local club to get the best out of the network as you do need to be able to link up with all members when this challenging environment allows:
ONLINE Club
Birmingham Central - Tuesday 31st March at 8am - Birmingham Central ONLINE Link
Wyre Forest (Kiddy) - Wednesday 1st April at 8am - Wyre Forest ONLINE Link
Droitwich - Thursday 2nd April at 7:30am - Droitwich ONLINE Link
Worcestershire J6 - Thursday 2nd April at 9am - Worcestershire J6 ONLINE Link
Redditch - Thursday 2nd April at 10:30am - Redditch ONLINE Link
Worcester - Friday 3rd April at 8am - Worcester City ONLINE Link
Coventry - Friday 17th April at 10am - Coventry FLAG ONLINE Link
Malvern - Tuesday - 24th March at 8am - Malvern Hills ONLINE Link
Solihull - Wednesday 25th March at 8am - Solihull ONLINE Link
Hereford - Wednesday 22nd April at 10am - Hereford ONLINE Link
Pershore - Thursday 26th March at 8am - Pershore ONLINE Link
Knowle - Thursday 26th March at 10am - Knowle ONLINE Link
Tewkesbury Friday 27th March at 8am - Tewkesbury ONLINE Link
If you choose to attend any of the clubs above do contact Richard Frazer on 07494 328 042 or [email protected] to get the password into any of these clubs.
Visitors who are considering a club will be fully welcome to join the members online twice to see if the environment works for them and they can see there are opportunities and will enjoy being part of this business community.
Why are BoB Clubs ONLINE FREE attendance currently when they charge for face to face meetings?
It is a reasonable question that is being put forward. Why are they free? Are we not a business?
We certainly have an overhead cost and our time is precious especially in this difficult environment.
However, the value that we all get out of the networking environment, the opportunities that are created, the relevant news that surfaces and the support from experienced club members is invaluable. The value of making sure that all the members attend and keep the lights on is immense.
We truly believe that the companies that do manage to emerge well from this challenging time are the ones that manage to connect to each other and practically support each other.
Attendance in BoB Clubs has always paid directly the venues that hosted the clubs and the clubs have traditionally opened up in a room in the same way a band would, or an entertainment hired by the venue/the attendees in effect. This meant any excess money from the meetings over the past year has been taken into MEMBERS account for the clubs. As long as we can support the businesses and give back to them, we will.
ATTENDANCE IS FREE while we can do it and will remain so as long as we can for VISITORS to experience the environment of networking.
Visitors to BoB Clubs – We need them, and they need us more than ever!
Business leaders all over the region have a new reality to deal with. No one knows what the new market is or what it will look like in the coming months. Few people know the skills they need to move their businesses into a safer environment in the new challenging environment.
BoB Clubs will still remain as a point of focus for businesses and allow them to seek advice and opportunities from other business leaders. There is always someone who has answered a challenge or taken a successful step in the right direction in every activity a business needs to take. Ask that person in a safe environment and move your business forward. In a BoB Club everyone wants to help.
I hope that is useful and gives you some insight into the BoB Clubs culture and what we are trying to achieve. Be successful and stay safe :)