President's Weekly Letter, Champions SoCal BNI

Woooooooo CHAMPIONS!! (watch above for the inspiration for our meeting opener)

Well today, I felt like "flying the plane" (running the BNI meeting) was on auto pilot! For the first time in three weeks, the meeting seemed to flow and the Champions were out in force! The room was filled with visitors, the EC moment was smart and pointed, the 30 second SMMs were timely and contained great asks, the keynote presenters had great content to share! The rain outside cast a gloom and snarled the SoCal freeways but the Champions were radiant inside!

Visitors:

We welcomed five visitors this week: Maurice Herron from Stratus Building solutions returned for his second visit and commented during the Stand and Deliver "our enthusiasm caused him to demand his boss write the check for application". Douglas Luchansky of ACI, visited for the second time and commented that "he had an intro to a company from an ask of two weeks ago!" Jack Charles from Alpha Property Inspectors visited and commented that "the enthusiasm was contagious!" Joseph Davis, an estate attorney, visited for the second time and commented that "he couldn't wait to become a Champion!" David Hibbard from Dialexis had several VERY complimentary things to say about our chapter. WAY TO WELCOME THOSE VISITORS!!!

EC Moment:

Jim Sando delivered a well rehearsed and informational EC moment with conviction on the importance of an agenda when networking. Know the who, what, when , where, and why that you want to accomplish before you network. GREAT JOB JIM!

Spark Plug Award:

To Robert Perez on his tireless efforts in video taping our meetings! Way to Go!!

Membership:

We have four New Apps and four Renewal Apps!

Keynotes:

Clay Colwell spoke on residential appraisals and Aric Gless recapped access issues relating to ADA compliance. Clay's years of experience persuaded him to recant several "war stories" about square footage discrepancies, under and over values, and probate matters. Aric creatively forwarded to all of the chapter members the following reminders about his keynote...a VERY well timed reminder indeed!

1. You don’t need an elevator

· The California Building Code states that the first floor above and below ground level is not required to be accessible by a ramp or elevator.

o But every activity that happens on those levels much be available to be held on the ground level.

2. Retrofitting existing buildings has its limits

· It’s only required when construction happens.

· Only the path of travel from the street to the area of work has to be upgraded for accessibility.

o Spaces outside of this path & area, even if in the same suite don’t have to be touched.

· The Building Code “cost threshold” determines the amount of retrofit.

o If total construction cost is below this threshold, only 20% of that cost must be used for accessibility.

3. There is a total exemption for certain scopes of work

· The California Building Code states that certain limited scopes of work do not trigger accessibility work.

o Projects limited to painting, flooring, doors, windows, electrical, air-conditioning do not require accessibility retrofit to be done.

o But each of these installations much be fully code compliant in themselves (e.g. doors must be right size with right hardware)

Next week, Bo Lowe and Patrick O'Kane will be speaking. This is Patrick's first keynote as a Champion! Good luck Patrick!

Growth and Retention:

Our GRC committee reviewed the process of entering visitors on the SoCal BNI website. Remember, Stack Day is November 16th and we are trying to fill three important categories...Business Attorney, Merchant Services, and Hair Stylist!

The meeting was adjourned with an action quote: "Our mistakes will not irreparably damage our lives, unless we let them." by James E. Sweeney The action is to forgive your self for a mistake that you have made!