Episode 5
with Simone Douglas
In this episode of confident networker, Simone talks to Bob Gloyn from Bob Gloyn photography. Bob is from BNI A – Team.
Connect with Tom on his socials here: https://bobgloynphotography.com.au/
If you’d like to attend a Chapter meeting and meet Bob, you can book your spot here: https://bnian.com.au/chapter/bni-a-team/
Chris Irving 0:00
Welcome to the confident networker with your host Simone Douglas. In each insightful episode, she chats with one of the leading people from the BNI and business world.
Simone Douglas 0:12
Alright, so welcome to this week’s episode of the confident networker. And today I am joined by the very intriguing Mr. Bob Gloyn from Bob Gloyn photography. Thanks, Bob for joining me,
Bob Gloyn 0:24
Please, thank you for inviting me.
Simone Douglas 0:26
Now I say intriguing, I suppose because you’ve come from a really interesting industry and then landed in photography. So can you tell us a little bit about your business and a tiny bit about this amazing journey that you had to get there in the first place?
Bob Gloyn 0:40
I can. Yeah, a little bit about my business. Bob Gloyn photography nowadays is about corporate commercial and event photography. As the three areas of focus on this the three areas I I enjoy to to work in, and the three is I’m trying to grow corporate. By that I mean headshots people, the business, the the human side of it, commercial is more the products and the service, no matter whether it be a bottle of wine or a cushion, or whatever the product is so and events are as the name suggests this events functions were gathering significant birthdays and things.
Simone Douglas 1:19
What did you do before you had Bob Gloyn photography?
Bob Gloyn 1:22
Prior to Bob blind photography, I work for Caltex for probably close on 15 years, I think it was started there as commercial business manager for South Australian regional areas, predominantly on the peninsula. But then that grew to include a very large portion of rural South Australia. And with that, there was a lot of commercial business aspect of it where anyone that bought large quantities of fuel lubricants, that was my business to look after that to either convert them from an opposition brand or counter explained, or to get them to come on board to the cow takes delivery fuels and lubricants. That gave me a massive insight to how business really works. Prior to that I work for a small engineering firm in Iowa. Yeah, and to go to a national company and say our national company works and how it interacts with people.Just how that level of thing operates, really at my eyes up. And photography was always a passion that I did part time, even while I was doing it. And I did work for Caltex photography work for Caltex while I was doing that in some some aspects, and then that’s when that role came to an end, I had plenty of warning it was going to Yeah. And then we transitioned into boggling photography. And I thought that there was a stage in my life where I knew this is where I was comfortable. Where I wanted to go. That’s what I enjoyed is where my heart was, is where my passion was. And at that age in my life, I wasn’t looking to climb career ladders and things like that. Yeah, I’ve been there, done all that. And I felt successful in what I done and how I done. And so what, this is a great opportunity for me to go full time into photography and continue down. Well, that’s such a little sport as well. Now that’s like a corporate commercial.
Simone Douglas 3:19
So how long have you been in BNI? For?
Bob Gloyn 3:22
I joined BNI in 2000, the end of 2017. So, so you just four years, four years.
Simone Douglas 3:30
So that means that you’ve renewed at least three times?
Bob Gloyn 3:33
Yes.
Simone Douglas 3:34
So why do you keep coming back?
Bob Gloyn 3:37
I come back because it does work. It I do get business out and then the day it’s that is a minute to to grow my business. And it has done that I enjoy the people I enjoy the mixing with as much as any time someone this morning, as much as my job is with people. Yeah, you go in you do job you get to know them. You don’t know a lot of them become repeat customers. But you do it and you leave. If I didn’t have BNI. I wouldn’t have this constant contact with people and a growing network of people that you can pick up for it. I don’t just talk to him, or about photography work. Or about they were you just pick up the telephone talking about? Or how’s your kid’s birthday? How many kids started school last week? And you just have a chat about life as well. Yeah. So it’s created a whole heap of friendships as well as grown my business, Grandma network, and help other people do the same.
Simone Douglas 4:33
How important was your chapter and its members to you over the last 18 months with the pandemic and everything else. I’m going into lockdown coming out of lockdown and things like that.
Bob Gloyn 4:46
fairly important.Again, for someone that you know, everyone knows we’re locked down, you couldn’t leave the house, you couldn’t go away. You weren’t meant to do all these things. It just gave you a network of people that you could talk to and you had multiple interests, whether it was their business, my business, or you just wanted to talk about how terrible it was? Yeah, just how it was to
hang it on. It just created another group of people you can talk to about another group of things I thought was great.
Simone Douglas 5:18
Awesome. What is the best piece of business advice of BNI member has given you?
Bob Gloyn 5:26
This piece of advice?. You don’t go in there and think you’re gonna get joined today. Where’s my work tomorrow? Yes, credibility, I think is the biggest thing. And you do? Well, and it also sounds like a little bit cliche thing. But when you stop and you sit back, and you think, I’m not just going to give you business, I’m not just going to give this person but until you know that person. And credibility comes I think with when you get to know them inside and outside, not not just what they do as a business, but how they operate as a human being and how that if you’re not as a person, I don’t know interested in work, if you say I’ll pay you double, if you’re not a good person I’ve no interest in.And you get to know that by jusjust being with them and understanding and listen to them week on week. I’ll say.
Simone Douglas 6:15
Do you know roughly how much of your business comes from BNI Referrals?
Bob Gloyn 6:22
I would say, I don’t know the exact figure. But I’ll I should when I worked for Catholics. And one thing we got told day in day it was know your numbers know your numbers. And here I am saying the same.
Simone Douglas 6:33
I work for fosters my manager returning in?
Bob Gloyn 6:36
Yeah, but I would estimate it to be about 40 to 50%. Yeah, would come directly from ongoing referrals in people that have moved in and moved on, for whatever reasons, you still get work.
Simone Douglas 6:50
And I think that’s the advantage of you know,when you are a BNI member, and you’ve been a member for a long time, I was a member for seven and a half years before I like became the Executive Director.They are they become business family. Because you do you get to know that you build those relationships. And it’s not about what they can do for you. It’s about who they are as a human being.That relationship never goes away. So I always say, you know, we have all these amazing alumni who for whatever reason, whether they were getting ready to retire, or they moved, or their life circumstances change, and they change jobs, I still remember.
And yeah, I love keeping in touch with all of those people, because it really enriches your app. If you were givingsomeone of your generation advice. So obviously we have like, you know, a lot of millennials coming through and and people who are you know, like, let’s go. But you know, someone that is, you know, say over the age of 45, and quite settled in their business, and they’ve been invited to this BNI thing to come meet a whole heap of new people. Because that’s often you know, people don’t know what BNI is, until they landed in it.What advice would you give them?
Bob Gloyn 8:05
Firstly, just don’t go in there with any preconceived ideas. Just go in there with an open mind.Don’t look at it as you’re going to the cult. Yeah, you’re going to a group of people that enjoy networking. They want to network, and they want to share other people’s networks is yeah, just going with an open mind. And you might find it pleasantly surprised. Yeah. Just every visitor that visits BNI chapter become a member? No, no, no, no. And I don’t think it’s important that they do.You need visitors come along, so they can see what we do. Like I see another side of the world. Some my own family members that I thought pride when I joined, I thought would have known all about it didn’t didn’t matter. And when they get along, they can be so man, that’s fantastic. You guys pass all this stuff around money getting passed around referrals, you get on this relationships. And they just don’t know. Because they’re never we just assume maybe they’ve been exposed to it.
Simone Douglas 9:05
I like to say it’s Australia’s best kept business secret. If you’ve if you’ve let if you’ve come across, like a BNI chapter networking event, as opposed to like a chamber event or something else. You know, it’s usually because someone’s invited you. Yeah. You know, sometimes people get lucky and like Google networking, and it pops up. But it’s I love the fact that like as obesity you get, you know, this deck of business cards. Yeah, the members and you know that they’re bound by a code of ethics. You know, how you found them, you know, that’s where they meet every week. And it’s just, yeah, it gives, I think, as you know, definitely like when I’ve taken my mom to go visit a BNI chapter, it gives her confidence and if she wants to use the people in that room, she’s like, well, Simone knows them.
Bob Gloyn 9:56
So there’s comes a credibility straightaway, but why wouldn’t you usebecause my close friend or family or whoever it is they use them. It’s just common sense that you would rightly.
Simone Douglas 10:09
So what is the thing that has surprised you most of your four years in BNI? What has been your biggest pleasant surprise?
Bob Gloyn 10:20
Probably the most pleasant surprises why your people will accept you into their networks. And maybe if you give an opportunity to do some work for them, if you do it properly,it is people that have left for whatever reason, I still get work from a couple of people. Probably more work now. Yeah, I was getting when they were members. And that’s not because it’s only because there are circumstances.Maybe the kids are now at the age where they hadn a party. So they got a photographer or one of them got married. So that wasn’t happening when they were members, because the pleasant surprise was then moved on to three years down the road. They’re still on the phone to Mr. Eibach. And we get to come and do this. Yeah, last time before their relationship doesn’t go away.
Simone Douglas 11:05
No. Yeah, absolutely.
Bob Gloyn 11:07
Yeah, that was that’s always a pleasant nice feeling.
Simone Douglas 11:11
So if I, you know, in being a BNI podcast, if I was to put you in front of someone to have a coffee that could help you achieve your next business goal, or help you tick something off your bucket list in business or life, who would it be?
Bob Gloyn 11:33
Ideally, it would be a decision maker in a larger corporation that has a high turnover of staff, or has a high demand for corporate images. Yeah, that makes sense. So someone that if it’s, if they got high turnover, and they promote the, as an individual, some places might have a high turnover staff, but they just they do a job. They’re not necessarily shown to the public on websites. But if it’s someone that if you’ve got staff that you rely on their image to sell your product, then you need to have constant up to date images of them, or the service or the thing you that you make is a constant changing thing.The decision maker in that process, yes.
Simone Douglas 12:15
Okay. So for our listeners, if you happen to have been listening and you are one of those businesses or know someone that has a large organisation with lots of stuff, and I’ll give you another Hot Tip, if you look at your friends website, and I have a big team and their corporate headshots or bathroom selfies, that’s probably a good referral for Bob to then by all means, get on to the BNI Adelaide North website and look up BNI a team and come and join Bob for brunch because they meet at 10am on a Friday. Bob, thanks very much for joining me
Bob Gloyn 12:45
thank you Simone was lovely to meet you
Simone Douglas 12:47
my pleasure.
Chris Irving 12:48
Thank you for listening to the confident networker. You can find more episodes and information@bnin.com.au/podcast
Transcribed by https://otter.ai