This is My 1,000th Post: How BP Grew My Business, and 5 Things You Can Do to Get The Most Out of BP

[Brian Burke]

I’ve reached a milestone on BP—I now have a comma in my post count. This will never happen to me again. I’ll never post enough to get two commas.  While many people have achieved this milestone much faster, It’s taken me 3 years to get this comma. I guess I just don’t say as much. But what I do say, I try to make it count.

I joined BP to give back, to contribute, by sharing my knowledge and experience (for what it’s worth). While I hope that I’ve added value for some of you, I’ve come to find out that BP is a two-way street. Members of BP have brought me deals and invested capital in my offerings. Over seven figures of income to my bottom line and millions of dollars in private capital invested in my business can be directly traced back to BP.   When I joined, I would not have expected that.

How did I do it? If you joined BP to help facilitate growth in your enterprise, read on. Here are five tips for how to get the most out of BP:

Be nice. When you treat others with respect you demonstrate your own professionalism. Potential associates are attracted to professionals. It’s OK to disagree with a posted comment, but keep your disagreement constructive. This is a great place for friendly debate, and the knowledge that you demonstrate in support of your view might attract potential partners.

Add value. Post content that adds to the discussion. Respond to people seeking advice. Help out your fellow investor. Start threads that inspire people to achieve, or provoke thought.

Get votes. Take a look at the ratio of your post count and your vote count. If you have 1,000 posts and five votes you are generating background noise, not adding value. It’s time to re-evaluate how you use BP. Consider your vote count as a measure of your added value. If your posts aren’t getting votes, step up your game. 

Be active. I’ve noticed that when I’m active on BP I get a lot of colleague requests, private messages, emails, deals and new investors. When I’m not active the flow shuts off, quickly! I’ve been really busy for the last few months shopping for multifamily deals and writing new software for underwriting my acquisitions. It’s taken away from my “BP time” and…guess what? I get a lot fewer contacts from the site than when I was more active. The theory is proven. Be active!

Make friends. At the end of the day BP is a social community of like-minded people. I’m proud to call many BP members friends, some virtual and some I’ve actually spent time with in person. Many of them have referred others to me and I can now count many of those referrals as investors. Reach out to people. Send colleague requests. Do business with others on the site. What comes around goes around.

Best of luck to you and your business. Thank you for your contributions to BP, I’ve learned a lot from many of you. Thank you for putting up with me 1,000 times.  I hope I’ve helped some of you at one point or another, and I hope this post inspires you to step up your game on BP and that you reap the rewards.