
I’ve been wanting to join my local BNI (Business Networking International) chapter for a while, but in my community—Grand Island, Niagara Falls, and the greater Buffalo area of New York—the spaces for shippers and printers were already filled. One of my dearest mentors, Norman Froscher of Espresso Mail in West Palm Beach, Florida, as well as the former Board Chair of AMBC (Association of Mail & Business Centers), is a very active BNI member and he often shares the amazing value in the networking organization. I knew being a BNI member would do great things for my family’s business, Island Ship Center (ISC), and so I waited patiently for an opening so I could become a part of my local chapter.
Recently, I got my chance. There was an opening…and I jumped to fill it, invited by other local BNI members in my community who also had been waiting for years for an opportunity for me to join and represent the industries I and my team serve. The results of my first couple of meetings and the personal and business growth that it has precipitated have already been worth so much!
At AYM High Consultants, one thing we reinforce often with our clients on our coaching calls is the importance of local networking. It’s imperative to “show up,” as we often say, and be visible to your community through volunteering, committee participation, local chamber of commerce membership and participation, and through networking groups like BNI. Growing business to business (B2B) contacts, contracts, and relationships, as well as community-wide partnerships, is exponentially assisted by simply showing up—to meetings, to events, to charity functions, to fundraisers, and to work projects. It’s incredibly important to be visible out in your community and not just wait for people to find you by happenstance.
There are seven core principles that BNI holds closely and they are very much in line with my family and team’s own core principles at ISC: Givers Gain®, Building Relationships, Lifelong Learning, Traditions + Innovation, Positive Attitude, Accountability, and Recognition. I’ll share a BNI information sheet here that expounds a little bit on each of these points.

What are you doing to be visible in your community? To network? To show up? If you’re just sitting in your business and hoping that some creative ad will get new guests to visit, then you’re really missing out on a lot of opportunities. You need to get outside of your four walls to truly grow and build relationships that will pay off in time—personally and professionally—with patience and persistence. I promise.
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Fahim Mojawalla is the Motivation and Mission Lead at AYM High Consultants. He loves what he does and would love to show you how to make 21st century sales and marketing easy, simply by being authentic, appreciative, respectful, responsive, empathetic, collaborative, and all-around awesome. Along with his wife Seema, he is an effervescent co-owner of Island Ship Center, the Spa of Shipping. #FahimFix