It has been a real busy 12 weeks for Dave Bisbee and I. We have spending over 200 hrs in meetings hammering out the change in direction the Business Golf Country Club is making. But..it is all worth it..here is why.
Fuel Up
We were notified in April by NING of their change to no longer offering a FREE service for networking groups which caused quiet a stir. In hindsight, this dilemma forced us to think things out for the future of Business Golf and reevaluate the club’s strengths and weaknesses. This placed us in a position of taking a look at where the club is, where it has gone and where it should go to best facilitate its purpose. The word PURPOSE came coming up in our interviews with members, with potential sponsors, with business gurus and within our camp.
What we were finding out was the economy was a larger factor in everything the BGCC affected. We found out many people who were playing golf last year now say in order for them to continue to play golf..or afford golf..there is going to have to be more PURPOSE to playing golf than a ‘seemingly frilly recreation’. Well, Dave and I hear you and we got to work developing a Greater Purpose. It also Purpose does come with some costs.
Putting Business Back on Course
We immediately placed into action more emphasis on offering the BGCC members more opportunities to develop new business and play more golf related to developing business. The new slogan..Putting Business Back on Course was adopted for the club which stated our focus on business golf.
The most logical thing for us to do towards accomplishing our goal was to move forward in implementing the Chapter Club so members could step out of the online environment and get face time with other members.
Along with the chapter clubs we started strengthening our relations with SSI and the iMap programs that offer very unique approaches to getting people to think about their business plan.
A Home for Golf Professional
Dave and I have already felt there really was no place where Golf Professionals could join and mingle with real golfers who are real people. That moved us into thinking that we need to open the door to the PGA and LPGA golf professional. Once they join the club we help them learn the roads to effective social media and connecting them with members in their location. That lead me into placing Dave over the PGA/LPGA relations for the BGCC. Who else can speak to golf professional than another golf professional?
We also have a number of programs for golf professionals that Dave will facilitate.
Need A New Home
In order to get all of this to work we had to look at getting a new home for the BGCC..a New Site. While checking out what options from CMS business networking platforms we received the NING announcement of their move to premium service. It seemed the NING service was the least expensive direction for us to take at this time so we decided we would stay on the NING site to such time we have the monetization phase of the BGCC ready.
Sails Set
With the BGCC site decision out of the way, we can now set sail to offering the members of the BGCC things we have not been able to offer before. One of the first things we will be able to offer is the unique opportunity a few of the BGCC members have previously asked about and that is placing an ad on the site for their business. Well, now we can and the revenue generated from the ad placement goes to paying for the premium service the BGCC now has to pay to NING. We hope the members will see the value of advertising to the network they are a member, plus the value of all the social media generated and endorsed by the BGCC staff. If you are interested in placing an ad on the BGCC site..let us know.
Team Building
As you saw in the previous announcements sent out a couple of weeks ago, with all that is going on with the BGCC there was no way that Dave and I could manage it. So Carl Brandt and Reggie Alcos expressed an interest in helping the BGCC out. So we placed them on the BGCC staff managing the Chapter Clubs being launched in Phoenix and New York. Also, Carl and Reggie are now part of the advisory board of the BGCC.
Over the Horizon
Yes, there is more coming and what is coming is more services and programs to help BGCC members with their golf, business and business golf. Once we get things hammered out we will set up a release. So stay tuned.
