On today’s episode of the Engaging Marketeer, I’m going to be interviewing a fellow BNI member and fellow filmmaker, Tommi Murshed-Parish. Tommi is a Yorkshireman, but is currently living in the beautiful idyllic sunny island of Gozo, just outside Malta. Tommy does all of his video work for his clients and his BNI meetings remotely in a hybrid chapter back in Leeds.
I’m talking to Tommi about his move to Gozo and how he manages to do all of his BNI and video work remotely, while he shares some of his terrific insights into video content.
Take a look at some of the highlights of this episode below, and be sure to check out the full interview on YouTube.
Tommi on how he can help produce video presentations…
Darren: I see that you’ve been advertising a new product for BNI members doing their 10 minute presentations, which allows them to film it themselves using any technology they’ve got, and you can turn that into a video. So how does that work?
Tommi: If you have a microphone that can, say, record a live gig to a decent standard, then that means there’s a lot of things you can do with it. If you need to record something, really you can just put your phone down, press record and, as long as the settings are right, any idiot can record a BNI presentation to quite a high technical standard.
…on attending BNI remotely…
Darren: You’re doing BNI remotely – is that a BNI chapter in Gozo or a chapter back in Yorkshire?
Tommi: I’m the only BNI member in Gozo so there couldn’t be a chapter.
Darren: Maybe that’s an opportunity…
Tommi: There is not an opportunity for a BNI chapter in Gozo, don’t even get me started, that’s too much. Everyone knows each other here anyway!
…on the differences between remote and face-to-face networking…
Darren: Do you miss the face-to-face interactions at all?
Tommi: It’s really interesting you say that. I had to go back to Leeds recently for a funeral, sadly, and after the wake of this person’s funeral, which ended at about midnight, I got up at 6am the next morning to go to BNI. I had three meetings that day before getting a ride to London and eating at my aunt’s house. To go back to your question, when I was there I saw some people who I’d only met virtually, and I will say that if you can find a way to meet people you care about at least once or twice a year, that can have a ton of value. But I don’t think it’s necessary to see them in person every week, for example.
…on finding referrals for people across the world…
Darren: How are you able to find referrals for members who are hundreds/thousands of miles away from you?
Tommi: One thing that Covid brought forward was the chance for people who might only have done thing locally to do things a lot further afield. Granted, some people can only work locally, but what I can do applies to pretty much anybody.
…on the differences in life in Gozo…
Tommi: It’s really amazing the stuff that you don’t need. Like, it’d be nice if there was an IKEA here, but I think that places like that and shopping malls are actually bad to have in a city – they put people in debt because they walk out with things that they didn’t need in the first place.
Darren: So it’s fair to say the capitalist monster hasn’t quite hit Gozo yet?
Tommi: Well we’ve got Starbucks and Maccy D’s, and a lot of bars and restaurants are owned by the same people, but mostly no.
If somebody wants to get in contact with Tommi to work with him, he is easy to reach on LinkedIn. A quick google of his name should help you find him pretty easily too.
