Real Live Networking

Napa Valley Register:

What do a massage therapist, handyman, and health juice distributor have in common?

They, and about a dozen other small business owners, break bread together twice a month and help each other’s business by passing on potential customer tips.

They are members of Professional Business Networks (PBN), a “tip organization” that, unlike similar clubs, operates as a business itself.

Founder Ken Ryan, owner of Pacific Sierra Investments, got the idea when he owned half a dozen Subway stores in Colorado.

“I was inundated with work and needed help finding people to work for me,” he said.

He found somebody to do the search for him. “It gave me a little bit of peace of mind knowing I had somebody I could trust to give me people who were trustworthy.”

Basically, he said, he had networked with a third party.

When he moved to California, “I was beside myself … not knowing the people in the community.”

Remembering how networking had helped with his previous ventures, he started PBN, based on the concept of one business person helping another. “I got to know the community better,” he said.

A core group of people joined the new organization, and soon Tod Bechtol, one of the charter members, showed an interest in coordinating activities.

Members of PBN have a financial stake in the organization. There’s a $400-a-year membership fee, but prospective members are told if they don’t double their amount of business, the fee will be refunded. Bechtol said the fee serves as “a financial incentive that often times drives things.”

“Networking has been wonderful,” Bechtol said. “How has it helped my business? Tremendously. Almost every member in our group has tried my product.” Bechtol is an independent contractor for the sale of XanGo, a health juice.

Networking is the key to success, he said. Group members often become each others clients. Sometimes a member will become a subcontractor for another member.