BIG Brisbane Meeting

Dear guys,

Details for our next exciting BIG (Better Investing Group Inc.) meeting!!!

When: Tuesday 26th of October 2004.
Where: The Construction Training Centre
460-492 Beaudesert Rd, Salisbury
Ian Barclay Building (Conference Room 2.2)

http://www.ctc.qld.edu.au/Our Location.htm

(Ian Barclay Building is the new building to the right. Enter through the front doors and take either the stairs or lift to the second level.)

(Look for the BIG Group Sign)

(UBD 199 Ref M6). Short walk from Salisbury Station.

Dress: Informal.
Time: 7:15pm for a 7.30pm start.
Cost: $15/singles or $25/couples. Or become a member for free entry to BIG meetings (Both monthly and cashflow meetings). (12 months membership: $120 for single $180 for couples.)

Speaker: John Black
Topic: “The Secrets to Increasing YOUR Power Wealth and Happiness”

The talk will include:
-How to increase your personal power;
-How to increase you energy;
-How to achieve your goals; and
-How to get what you want from life and living.

John is one of Rich Dad's success stories and is featured in Robert Kiyosaki's book "Success Stories - Real Life Stories from Real Life People Who Followed the Rich Dad Lessons". (Page 133.)

John has reached a state of personal sovereignty through investing and personal development.

John is a:

Life Architect
John is a special type of coach who assists people in finding and
achieving their prime dreams.

Successful Property Investor
John has a personal portfolio of passive income residential and
commercial properties including buy and hold, renovated and lease
optioned properties.

John also joint ventures with investors and locates, purchases, manages
and sells properties.

Stockmarket Trader
John specialises in low risk protected trading strategies.


-Close meeting for networking.

Everyone interested in property or the forum is welcome to come along. (Having an IP is not a pre-requisite, only a motivation to do so.)

Why don't you bring along a friend! (I am sure that we all know someone who can benefit in talking with other like minded people.)

(Remember networking is all about coming along and saying hello. Don’t be afraid to say hello to others there – You never know how it might help your IP journey. )

Hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Sunstone (Shane).



What is BIG?

“Brisbane’s first choice for investment property networking and information.”

BIG (Better Investing Group Inc.) is a not-for-profit group of like minded people who meet monthly to network and share information about property investment.

Probably should post this here as well.... damn the torpedos......

Well Ani,
Maybe I should, the BIG group started, as I understand it, from fairly inoculous beginnings.
However, apparently, we became *BIG* and we could not function at a get together level at a convenient pub or club or similar.
BIG now *charges* approx $125 p.a. per member to meet at somewhere on the southside, was a school, but I think we have progressed to a private office, obviously property related (!) that imposes a fee !!
However meeting points such as the SYD, CBR and MLB groups promote are still at no cost (let alone annual membership fees).
We obviously have something flash happening here that is worth a premium.
What ever happened to a get together of a few like minded people over a beer or two in a relaxed atmosphere ???
astro

Sunstone, if BIG is a "not-for-profit group", where does the $15 entry fee go ? Just curious.

astroboy said:

Probably should post this here as well.... damn the torpedos......

Well Ani,
Maybe I should, the BIG group started, as I understand it, from fairly inoculous beginnings.
However, apparently, we became *BIG* and we could not function at a get together level at a convenient pub or club or similar.
BIG now *charges* approx $125 p.a. per member to meet at somewhere on the southside, was a school, but I think we have progressed to a private office, obviously property related (!) that imposes a fee !!
However meeting points such as the SYD, CBR and MLB groups promote are still at no cost (let alone annual membership fees).
We obviously have something flash happening here that is worth a premium.
What ever happened to a get together of a few like minded people over a beer or two in a relaxed atmosphere ???
astro

Click to expand...

astroboy said:

your comment on state meetings

Sorry Sunstone,
I feel you and Asy's focus on the future of these meets have and will contribute to their inevitable downfall. The imposition of charges was a stupid desicion in my POV.
Sorry a common ground, as the other states have established, is much more condusive to a continuing body of like minded individuals.
I have been involved with very similar groups and see your group heading down the road to oblivion. Sounds like I am repeating myself.....
astro

Click to expand...

Dear Astroboy,

You are welcome to attend BIG, we welcome all new members. I understand however that you are yet to attend your first meeting despite having joined the forum in March 2003. (BIG’s meeting with DaleGG coming up especially from Melbourne was back in March 2003. –Planning in January 2003.)

Whilst Asy and myself were two of the original four co-founders (together with KieranK and Donna) we are only a part of BIG. BIG has 7 executive members who along with other hard workers, members and speakers contribute to making BIG the success that it is.

I am pleased to say that BIG is going from strength to strength. We now regularly have 60 people at our meetings and we are nicely growing.

Sometime ago we had to make a decision. Either be a “social” club with limitations or become the most professional “not-for-profit” organisation that we can be helping others. Our previous venue whilst generously provided by the Salisbury State School, was rapidly outgrown and did not provide the facilities that were needed. (We have given regular donations back to the school. Currently our cashflow meetings are there and our latest donation was a cheque for $200.)

By taking the professional route this has enabled us to:

-Move into a professional facility:
-Seating capacity up to 130 people.
-DVD/Video facility; Dual microphones; OHP/data projector and whiteboard with printout facility.)
(Equipment critical for high level presenters.)
-Seating already laid out (No delay for members/presenters at the beginning of every meeting.))
-Disabled access.
-Easy toilet access
-Air-conditioning (More important in Brisbane. )

(Note at the old facility did not have any of this equipment, had toilets that were normally locked, had a large flight of stairs and airconditioning was by way of fans or opening non-screened casement windows.)

-Incorporation:
(A non incorporated organisation places at risk the organisers. In the case that any attendee of any of the other group meetings (Eg SIG/CIG/Melbourne one) broke a leg walking up the stairs then they would be personally legally liable. Incorporation is essential in taking out public liability insurance which we are legally required to do which protects the organisers and BIG.) There are initial incorporation and regular yearly insurance costs.

It also provides a serious foundation that will continue beyond the original founders.

-Speaker quality:
We have been fortunate with the speakers who have given their time freely at their cost (often paying for their own airfares). It is a fact that having quality speakers continues to bring more quality speakers and encourages us to continually improve BIG and give more benefits to members. You will get a different level of presentation/speaker in a “pub” situation than you will in a professional facility.

As more memberships join this gives us the flexibility to request more interstate speakers to present at our meetings (and other high level presenters) and at some point to facilitate that for the benefit of the members we may consider paying for their airfares. Without charging this would never be possible.

-Other benefits:
-Every meeting has a range of tea/coffee/milo and the like.
-We have negotiated some discounts with API magazine and various property related services that are available to our members. Currently we are working on growing this.
-Other ideas are being worked on as BIG continues to grow.

At our last meeting we handed out a survey to all of our members there to get their feedback on how they currently rate BIG, how we were going, and areas where we can improve. I am pleased to say that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and nicely highlighted that we are indeed producing the results that are members are looking for. We have also had some interstate members from SIG visit and compliment us on our professionalism.

I would like to take this moment to thank and congratulate all the great work that the BIG exec has done to date, to other hard working members, to Ian Somers being our patron with his ongoing support, and to the general support of members who come along monthly to our meetings.

Onward and upwards for BIG.

Cheers,

Shane/Sunstone
BIG Vice-President/Co-founder.

Sim said:

Sunstone, if BIG is a "not-for-profit group", where does the $15 entry fee go ? Just curious.

Click to expand...

Sunstone,
With regards to Sim's question, I was at the meeting where you told me that the entry fee/membership monies would go to getting a better cross-section of speakers, possibly from down south. I think what will end up happening with incorporation is that the money will get gobbled up in registrations, insurances, rents, public liability coverage, etc etc etc. I've got to agree with Astro that I think it will be the undoing of a good thing, I certainly hope not.
JIM

Firstly, let me declare that I am on the BIG Committee (Treasurer) so everyone knows my bias. Now that is out of the way . The following is my personal view as a paid BIG member.

The first BIG meeting (wasn't called BIG back in those days) was at the Brisbane Sheraton in January 2003 (from memory). IMHO, it was a disaster - band playing loud music, couldn't talk, couldn't network, etc, etc. My first thoughts were negative and to never come to one of these events ever again. Then I realised that everyone was feeling their way and I had the opportunity to provide positive input to this group.

The second meeting (March 2003) was in the Training Room at my office - DaleGG came up from Melbourne and it was a great night (myself and others put in a huge effort to make this happen - for example, I went to see DaleGG in Melbourne in Feb 2003 to check him out, amongst other things ). Professional meeting, great presenter, fantastic topic (Hybrid Trusts), etc, etc. Everyone I spoke to said it was a great night and we should do this on a regular basis - so the pressure to form BIG was on. We had a group of dedicated people but none of us really had any idea where this was going to take us. It was really "suck and see".

A little over a year ago, Andrew King presented to BIG (thanks to Ian Somers for pulling this one off). Andrew was/is the president of a similar group in Auckland (over 300 paid members) - during his presentation, Andrew repeated a number of times that BIG must go professional if BIG wanted to survive. Andrew made BIG very aware that, unfortunately, this costs money and BIG would have to charge fees.

So, this is exactly what BIG did. Every major decision BIG has made regarding its formation/future has been put to the vote by its members. For example, the decision to incorporate was passed unanimously. Some of the decisions at Committee level have been strongly debated - I believe this is one of the many strengths of the BIG - an active and dedicated Committee that has members with a diverse range of views, skills and experiences.

BIG has come a long way in the last 20 months or so. I know that in January 2003, none of the original group had any idea that we would end up where we currently are.

Today, BIG has a vision, BIG has a purpose, BIG is incorporated, BIG is a legal entity, BIG has a members' database (which allows us to communicate with our members, preferably by email), BIG has a bank account, BIG has a cheque book requiring two signatures to pay its bills, all of BIG expenses are endorsed at Committee meetings, BIG financial status is presented at every General meeting, BIG is developing its Rules/Constitution, BIG is obtaining insurance, BIG will be having AGMs, BIG accounts will be audited (accounts set up in MYOB), BIG will be holding elections, etc, etc. This is what BIG understands by being professional.

This has all be done for the benefit of BIG members and it is what they voted on or have endorsed. At the last General meeting, BIG surveyed the 60 members present. The feedback is currently being analysed and will be presented this month's meeting. Without letting too much out of the bag, the feedback was tremendous.

Not of this stops any of us from getting "together of a few like minded people over a beer or two in a relaxed atmosphere". I have personally had BIG members over to my place for afternoon teas and a couple of beers, I have been invited to BIG members places to do likewise, I have had weekday lunches with BIG members, I have had coffee with BIG members, I have been to seminars/workshops with BIG members, etc, etc. Conversation normally revolves around property investing. It is because of BIG that I have met these people, got to know, like and trust them, etc, etc.

I believe it does not make sense to compare BIG with the groups in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. BIG is where it is because of its members; I would assume the other States are where they are because of their members. To survive, all of these groups have to listen to their members.

I trust this gives everyone some understanding on the formation of BIG.

That was very big of you Kieran

It sounds like you have very BIG visions.

Geoff & Mr Ed when can we deepen the DNA pool for running Canberra's CIG?

I worry that if you guys get sick of it & walk away there isn't an organisation backing the group that could take over.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

Dear Kieran,

Thanks for the additional positive input.

Cheers,

Sunstone.

agent 86 said:

That was very big of you Kieran

Click to expand...

Agent 86,

As you know, I am a BIG person with a BIG body, a BIG heart and some say a BIG mouth

Aceyducey said:

Geoff & Mr Ed when can we deepen the DNA pool for running Canberra's CIG?

I worry that if you guys get sick of it & walk away there isn't an organisation backing the group that could take over.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

Click to expand...

Aceyducey,

That is another reason why BIG has gone down the path it has. If BIG was relying on one of two people and they had to cease their involvement (due to family committments, work committments, illness, etc), then it may not survive. BIG has 7 people on the Committee - if one or two ceased involvement, new people would be elected and, over time, BIG would fill the void. That is, it would survive.

I didn't mention this in my earlier post but BIG is documenting its events and systemising its processes. BIG produces agendas and minutes for every Committee meeting, BIG produces agendas for every General meeting, BIG members' details are documented in an Access database, BIG financial records are documented in MYOB, BIG is developing its Rules, BIG is developing its process to call and hold elections, etc. So that, if any Committee member "gets hit by the proverbial bus", others will be able to pick up and carry on. BIG will survive.

All of this takes time and a lot of effort ... and yes, you need a team of dedicated people with different knowledge, skills, experiences, perspectives, etc - the bigger the team, the easier it will be (it will never be easy) and the more likely it will happen.

But BIG is more than about survival - it is about providing value to its members. I was once told that:

"When you provide value, people forget about the cost; when you don't, people remember the cost, even if it was FREE - that is, they walk away and never come back."

It BIG provides value, it will grow and be successful. The first meeting had 7 people; last couple of meetings, there has been 60 people. The trend is looking good (but there is still a lot of hard work to be done).

speakers?

JimmyJJ,
Disclosure: I am the secretary of the BIG and developer of the membership database.

In response to your comment about speakers, try us and see! Up until now we have had a number of speakers from interstate - JoannaK (awesome talk on development), Rolf (great talk on finance), Peter Comben and Steve Navra to name a few. Some of these people were already in Brisbane and graciously agreed to lter their arrangements so that they could speak at BIG, some were kind enough to come to Brisbane to just to speak at a BIG meeting.
We usually plan our speakers months in advance to try to capitalise on when we know people are going to be in Brisbane.
We try to be open and transparent with our finances as Kieran has already indicated - hence the brief Treasurer's report at every General Meeting. If you want more detail then please come and see one of the committee - we've nothing to hide.

It is my belief that people like to have the organisation done by someone else and have it done well. They like to have the arrangements made for them so that all they have to do is roll up and enjoy the evening. This is what we try to do - and still trying to improve on this. Unfortunately to be well organised and provide good quality facilities costs money - hence the membership fees and entry fees. I guess the fact that the number of people who come to meetings is growing is an indication that we seem to be on the right track.
There will always be a few who will complain that $15 is too much to pay to listen to a speaker for a night or $120 is too much for a year's membership but then again it is impossible to please everyone (80/20 Pareto principle applies perhaps...).

cheers,
Daniel

Hiya

Come on guys ...............

15 bucks for a monthly meeting ? Like three schooners of beer at the pub.

Im just doing some "annual" recertifcations which are $ 4400. Id rather spend my $ and time getting real world knowledge and networking at things like BIG.

While Im tight and get excited at getting 30 minutes on a parking meter for free, 15 bucks a meet for what the BIG people have put (and are putting) together is phenomenal value for money.

I also understand that for some $ 15 is a lot of money and they need to see it go to good use. Trust me, I know it is and will continue to be ! I dont know all the committee members but I do know for eg that we couldnt afford to pay for Kieran's, Sunstone's or Asy's time, in other words, their time and devotion contrbutions are worth just a "smidge" more than 15 bucks a month.

If anyone who pays their "fee" and arent 105 % happy, email me and my company will refund your investment.

ta

rolf


Rant off .

Daniel,
I suggest you go back and re-read my post, I think you missed the point I was trying to make. I was not questioning the quality of BIG's presenters & guest speakers, nor was I questioning the transparency of your finances. I was merely expressing my point of view that once incorporated, the organisation incurs lots of extra expenses that it never used to be burdened with. Your post didn't really explain anything new to me nor did it answer Sim's question of where the monies will go. The majority of speakers you mentioned in your post all presented prior to incorporation, and with regards to your try and see comment, I have already attended several BIG meetings, was front row centre at JoannaK's talk and thoroughly enjoyed her. I am not doubting what a great thing it is, I was merely worried that a good thing may be undone because of having to charge an additional fee to cover running costs, instead of going towards speakers.
Just my thoughts, don't take them as an attack.
JIM

Geoff and I are reading this thread with interest.

We both thank you all for your thoughts.

***BUMP*** -One week

***BUMP*** -Tomorrow night.

Hi all, I am a little confused.

On Sunstone's post of the next BIG meet dated 7/9/2004 it was the Brisbane Investors Group or BIG for short. I am quite proud of the name and am pleased to be associated with the group.

However, On Sunstone's post of the October meeting, dated 4/10/2004 it is now the "Better" Investors Group. How come the name change?????

I attended the meeting last nite and thought it must have been a joke, that the entry signs were Better Investors Group as there was no mention of the name change and how it came about during the meeting at all.

So what is it exactly, Brisbane Investors Group or Better Investors Group?
If it's now "Better", then better than what? I wasn't aware that there was any other investors groups for Brisbane?

Brenda Irwin said:

So what is it exactly, Brisbane Investors Group or Better Investors Group?
If it's now "Better", then better than what? I wasn't aware that there was any other investors groups for Brisbane?

Click to expand...

They've probably got plans to expand around the world- so "Brisbane" is no longer applicable.

How pround would Perth Investors' Group be of their title?

Brenda Irwin said:

Hi all, I am a little confused.

On Sunstone's post of the next BIG meet dated 7/9/2004 it was the Brisbane Investors Group or BIG for short. I am quite proud of the name and am pleased to be associated with the group.

However, On Sunstone's post of the October meeting, dated 4/10/2004 it is now the "Better" Investors Group. How come the name change?????

I attended the meeting last nite and thought it must have been a joke, that the entry signs were Better Investors Group as there was no mention of the name change and how it came about during the meeting at all.

So what is it exactly, Brisbane Investors Group or Better Investors Group?
If it's now "Better", then better than what? I wasn't aware that there was any other investors groups for Brisbane?

Click to expand...

Maybe B(isbane)IG is ‘bettering’ its boots *or* B(etter)IG is bigger than its boots……just a thought......
ab