The Power of Structured Networking: Gold Star Referral Clubs | Buying Local #64

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Speaker 3
Welcome, everyone, to buying local. I’m one of your hosts, Mike Nelson from Five Towers Media. I’m also joined, of course, by the newer, addition to the hosts being Mr. Matthew. Not welcome. Matthew.

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Speaker 2
Yes. Hello, everybody.

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Speaker 1
I.

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Speaker 3
Already told Matt ahead of time, for anybody that’s ever watched my other podcast, Blue Collar Startup, where I also have a co-host on that show. I’m tough. It’s hard to get a word in edgewise. I never shut up or stop talking. So I, Matt and I ahead of time, I was like, you know, I’m going to just go and you got to fight to get in there.

00;00;32;16 – 00;00;57;03
Speaker 3
Matthew. So good luck today, young man. We are I’m excited about today’s conversation, though. I love a good roundtable discussion. You know, we’re going to be talking about networking and specifically one of the the local organizations that offers networking to the small business community, that being the Goldstar Referral Group. We’ve got, Sean Moody that’s going to be here telling us a little bit about, search.

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Speaker 3
Sergeant, how are you doing?

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Speaker 4
Great. Michael, thanks for having me. Good morning everybody.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3
You too. And then, we’re going to we’re going to circle back around New Sean. Have you talk a little bit more about star, but before we you want to of course, introduce our other two guests that are on the show today. We’ve got, Bob Fitch from Bob Fitch, state Farm. Bob, how are we doing, man?

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Speaker 1
You. Mike, how are you? Thank you. It.

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Speaker 3
Absolutely. Absolutely. Bob, you want to just give us a quick rundown about who you are and what you guys are doing over there? Sure.

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Speaker 1
Bob Fitch with the great State Farm agency. We are located in Saratoga Springs on Maple. I have, been 15 years with an agency, and about five years ago got involved with Gold Star. And it’s been a great outlet for growing our agency, our relationships and our community outreach. So yeah, man, happy to be here.

00;01;48;01 – 00;01;56;10
Speaker 3
Yeah. Excited, excited. And then, our other guests that we’ve got on with us today is Chris Luzon Jr from Nourishing Minds Tutoring. Chris, how are we doing, man?

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Speaker 1
Good. My carrier. Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 3
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Chris. You guys obviously, you know, have a I mean, I think it’s a great organization. Obviously we use you a little bit right now and plan on using you more in the future. Can you just, kind of give us the rundown on who you are and what you guys do for.

00;02;13;08 – 00;02;41;22
Speaker 1
Nurturing Minds tutoring? We’ve been in business about 12 years now. Focusing mostly here in the Capital District. We are a full service tutoring agency. We can cover anything you think of education wise. Homeschooling, test prep, kiddos that just need a bit of help with homework. Whatever the case is. But we also, have one of our specialties is special ed, and we contract with about 16 school districts throughout the region, to help them out with some pretty, pretty intense situations that they’ve got going on.

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Speaker 1
But we’re always looking for more opportunities, and we’d love to help. Love it, love it, love it.

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Speaker 3
Sean. Obviously we’re talking about Gold Star today, which you kind of lead the charge here locally for, but that’s not all you do, Sean. So do you want to, tell the audience, a little bit more about who you are and what you do outside of gold, sir?

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Speaker 4
Yeah. I’d like to say I’m a serial entrepreneur. I, I don’t know, that’s the right stuff right there, but I’m really a credit sultan credit consultant. By day, and also, I got involved with, Gold Star, started the first club here in the, in the Capital Region, here in Albany back in 2000.

00;03;22;25 – 00;03;48;20
Speaker 4
I want to say 18. So going on eight years and, you know, I, I try to stay busy, I do some real estate investing. I’ve got a small business, so I, I try to stay busy, but, Gold Star has been, integral, as far as, you know, staying connected in the business community, and continuing to foster and growth both professionally and personally for myself and, you know, obviously helping others.

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Speaker 1
Yeah.

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Speaker 3
So, give us, give us the rundown, Sean, about Gold Star, about, you know, kind of the format and and a little bit more about that.

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Speaker 4
Yeah. So, Gold star is a industry exclusive. Networking organization. It was started in 2007 by a gentleman, an entrepreneur by the name of Todd Davis out in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And, he started with his wife and, you know, it’s since grown to they’ve got clubs across, pretty much primarily in the Midwest and out West.

00;04;17;11 – 00;04;38;18
Speaker 4
Not not many, not much presence in the on the East Coast. We’re going to change that. Slowly but surely. But in any event, you know, it’s it’s really it’s it’s a networking organization. And we focus around the givers, givers gain mentality. So, so there’s a primary focus around giving, right? As, as cheesy as that sounds.

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Speaker 4
But and in doing so, whether it’s giving your time, sharing your expertise, obviously sharing referrals, that’s, you know, we’re here to grow each other’s business, but also to grow professionally as well. And doing that, you can grow your business. And so, it’s a it’s a very what I, what I like about it, it’s a very, straightforward, simple, process.

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Speaker 4
So it’s a one hour agenda. So we meet on a weekly basis for one hour and, and again, you know, there’s, it’s very structured. So we, we, we share a business tip of the week. We also give all the members as well as guests an opportunity to, to, share, what they do in a 62nd commercial.

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Speaker 4
So it gives you an opportunity to kind of give a quick, deep dive in what you do and also to ask for referrals, which is the whole point of the, of the, of the meeting. And then, you know, we share referrals at the end of the meeting, and then every week we highlight one member and they they’re able to do a ten minute presentation so they can do a little bit more of a deep dive, into what they do.

00;05;41;00 – 00;05;53;21
Speaker 4
So members having a better understanding, as far as you know, what’s the best way to help them grow their business in the way of referrals? That’s that’s basically, you know, the long and short of it.

00;05;53;24 – 00;06;14;24
Speaker 3
So, you know, I want to put this out to the, the group here and we’ll we’ll start with you, Sean, though, you know, as far as networking organization and groups, obviously there’s there’s a few of them out there, right? I know in our local market, there’s quite a few different opportunities for networking. And some of them have, we’ll say a similar format.

00;06;15;03 – 00;06;33;13
Speaker 3
I’d love to hear from everybody. Because I know everybody here does quite a bit of networking and, goes to different groups and checks different things out. So, but we’ll start with you, Sean, what’s kind of the different of the format or feel or structure compared to, say, other groups that are out there?

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Speaker 4
Yeah. Great question. So, you know, when I started my business in 2013, you know, I was, I was actually going into a franchise and they told me, listen, you have to be very intentional around networking. And so that was my first, I guess, experience with networking. And so, yes, to your point, I’ve, I’ve tried other, networking organizations where there’s the barriers, you know, you’ve got your, your chamber, networking groups and such.

00;07;01;14 – 00;07;20;21
Speaker 4
And what I found is it’s usually typically it’s usually one of two extremes. Either there’s a ton of structure almost too much structure where, you know, you might be in a meeting for 90 minutes and it’s you get a referral or else. And and it can be, it can be some, some consequences if you don’t. And I’ve seen that firsthand.

00;07;20;21 – 00;07;38;04
Speaker 4
And then on the other end of the spectrum, you know, some of the other groups, it’s more of a, you know, kind of like a hang out vibe where there’s really very little structure. You might you might meet for an hour or a half hour. People may come and go, you know, there’s no there’s no real consistent attendance.

00;07;38;04 – 00;07;57;26
Speaker 4
And so I’ve been I’ve seen that as well. What I like about goals. So I think there’s the best of both worlds. Again, like I said, it’s a one hour, very tight agenda and I think there is room for basic structure. But at the same time, you know, there’s not going to be this overarching pressure to say, you better have a referral or else.

00;07;57;26 – 00;08;16;16
Speaker 4
Right? You know, I think all the relationships, at least from my experience, obviously, I’ll let everyone else speak for themselves. But from my experience, you know, all the all the way shapes, I’ve been able to build both personally and professionally. It’s all been, you know, it’s it’s been natural. Right. And it’s it’s not. You don’t have to force it.

00;08;17;08 – 00;08;31;26
Speaker 4
And, we’ve done a ton of business, and I like it that way. So, you know, I don’t think everything is not for everybody, but for me personally. Like I said, I like I like the good balance of, yes, you have a basic structure, but we’re also here to do business. And we can have fun at the same time.

00;08;32;29 – 00;08;36;18
Speaker 3
Absolutely. Bob, what are your thoughts on that. What do you have that.

00;08;36;20 – 00;08;59;14
Speaker 1
You know, very similar experience. You know with Sean I’ve been in the industry now in the assurance industry for 15 years. Started the agency morale. And when we started same thing. You’re, you’re looking at a network, you’re looking to grow relationships, you’re looking to grow centers of influence. And there’s a lot of different opportunity out there. And you’ve you’ve seen the referral groups.

00;08;59;14 – 00;09;19;09
Speaker 1
We’ve been a part of them together. You’ve got all these groups where it’s like, you just show up and it’s like, oh, hey, I saw that. There was a, Dollar General opened up down the street to give him a call about insurance. I took a different approach as I matured in the industry and was looking more for an opportunity that was going to be the right fit for me.

00;09;19;12 – 00;09;42;06
Speaker 1
More of a relationship, similar to the dating world. You know, not every, everyone out there is the right fit. And when I was asked to be a part of this group about five years ago, I had a really good feeling within the meeting. Local mortgage broker at the time that created our group. And there are some synergy between some of the people.

00;09;42;06 – 00;10;02;21
Speaker 1
And I said, you know, this is this is a good fit. Let me give this an opportunity. And as time progressed, the group’s become more of not just a referral group, not just, you know, Sean was talking about as far as, you know, giving each other business the structure. For me, it’s become something I’ve looked forward to every week.

00;10;02;23 – 00;10;29;23
Speaker 1
It’s become more of a family, more of, a place where you feel comfortable through trial and error with things you’re doing in your business. We’re all kind of going through the same stuff together, so it’s it’s a learning opportunity to. So you can learn from other people’s mistakes, learn from their ideas. I feel like it’s brought a lot more value to me as a small business owner and a community, professionally and personally.

00;10;30;18 – 00;10;57;04
Speaker 1
Like Sean was saying about the personal side, too, you know, I’ve created some really good relationships in the group also. And we’ve also seen growth with new individuals like Matt starting off their career who come in the group, and they’ve got tenured individuals that have been in his seat before and were able to help guide him and, you know, help him grow as he grows in his industry as well.

00;10;57;04 – 00;11;11;17
Speaker 1
So I, I saw just a lot of value. It’s a weekly motivation for me as professional growth. But at the end of the day, it’s it’s about the relationship and the people we surround ourselves with. So that’s my, my $0.10 there.

00;11;11;20 – 00;11;15;03
Speaker 3
Yeah, I love it. Let’s, let’s jump over to Chris.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. Not not to beat the dead horse. It sucks going last. Right.

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Speaker 3
You, Well, Matt’s going to go last.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. That’s right, that one. He’s got the young perspective, right. But, I would say that my situation is not dissimilar to, to Bob’s or Sean’s, where, you know, I wanted to start putting myself out there, and actually, Bob’s the one that extended the opportunity to me to join his Goldstar group in Saratoga, and joined it.

00;11;40;00 – 00;11;55;18
Speaker 1
And right away from the first meeting, you could tell that what was going on in that room was something a bit different. Right? You could tell that these people, it wasn’t what Sean was saying. Right? You’ve got to give me ten referrals this week or else you’re out. You know, we’re going to have a conversation. And it’s not at all like that.

00;11;55;24 – 00;12;14;15
Speaker 1
You know, I think the, and it goes back to that relationship building. I think that’s the most important piece. Right. And I’ve always taken that to to me, the networking and relationship and everything else is a long game. Right? It’s I don’t I don’t ever go to these meetings expecting people to give me referrals. And I don’t get upset if people don’t give me referrals.

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Speaker 1
I feel like what can I contribute, you know, can I help someone else? Can I give them a piece of advice? Can I give them a referral? You know, one day it might come back to me. I hope it does. But if it doesn’t, that’s okay too, you know, because I’m here to kind of build those relationships both personally and professionally.

00;12;29;01 – 00;12;47;17
Speaker 1
I’ve had opportunities, both professionally and personally, to expand myself, expand my horizons, get out of my comfort zone and opportunities that come from that. You know, you never know where the next opportunity is going to come from. Similar to Bob, I look forward to going every week. There’s there’s times where you can go and you know, you’re driving there, you’re a bit cranky.

00;12;47;17 – 00;13;14;06
Speaker 1
The kids have done something. But, you know, whatever it is, Bob’s smiling there. I can see him and, you know, but then you get there and you have your meeting and you speak to other people that are in the same shoes as you are, and you realize, oh, that’s obvious. And it turns it around, you know, so when, when I talk to Sean about having an opportunity to expand Goldstar up into, Queensbury and Glens Falls, I was kind of hoping to replicate some of what was happening in Saratoga up there, with creating that family feel.

00;13;14;08 – 00;13;33;16
Speaker 1
Right? Just helping each other out. We’re all here going through the same thing, obviously in different industries, but I think it doesn’t really matter what the industry is. We’ve all got something to offer each other. The people in this meeting right now, personally, I’ve used every single one of your services, you know, and I didn’t know I knew Bob before joining Gold Server.

00;13;33;16 – 00;13;47;25
Speaker 1
I didn’t know you, Mike. I didn’t know Sean that, you know. So I think that’s just right now, there’s 4 or 5 individuals right now that are doing better because of each other, you know? So and trusting other professionals to, to help you. Yeah.

00;13;47;27 – 00;13;51;19
Speaker 3
Matthew North, what do you got to, what do you got to say for yourself over there? What would you add?

00;13;51;21 – 00;14;14;19
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s pretty cool coming from, you know, the younger perspective. But first off, just well said. Just going to piggyback, mostly on what’s already been covered, but again, yeah, it’s like this was my first time doing anything like this. Referral groups. So I was, you know, kind of met with, oh, welcome welcomes.

00;14;14;19 – 00;14;51;09
Speaker 2
And you know, open arms, right from my first meeting. But it really, really gave me that confidence piece, because, you know, like you said, we get that chance to do the 32nd speech. So each time, you know, the first time’s obviously going to be different from current, giving your, second, 62nd speech. But, that aspect of confidence, you know, just, working at that, but also the relationship piece, you know, I have a lot more, individuals in the groups who have a lot more experience over me.

00;14;51;24 – 00;15;25;01
Speaker 2
So I get to hear their success stories, how they’ve kind of navigated through that throughout their careers. And it’s again, it’s it’s cool because they like to hear, from my perspective to kind of how things are working in my generation. So I’ve seen we, we, we help each other a lot, both ways, you know, from the younger perspective and, you know, all my other colleagues who have the experience and are willing to help me and, you know, push me to be better and connect and, you know, just want to grow my grow my, career.

00;15;25;01 – 00;15;26;10
Speaker 2
So it’s been awesome.

00;15;26;12 – 00;15;30;09
Speaker 1
That’s just politically correct way to call the rest of us old. I’ve never.

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Speaker 4
Heard of.

00;15;31;19 – 00;15;35;21
Speaker 3
I was gonna say something. I was like, what does that supposed to mean? The perspective.

00;15;35;27 – 00;15;38;10
Speaker 4
Time I at my beard and.

00;15;38;12 – 00;15;40;07
Speaker 3
I.

00;15;40;18 – 00;15;41;23
Speaker 3
It’s,

00;15;41;25 – 00;15;54;26
Speaker 2
It’s funny when, you know, everybody, it even happened this morning. There was some reference to some movie and everybody looked at me and was like, Matt, have you even heard about this? Or, you know. Nope.

00;15;54;28 – 00;16;14;18
Speaker 3
So I want to, talk a little bit about the the cross clubbing that’s available with Gold Star. So, you know, obviously, Bob and myself and Chris were in the Saratoga chapter. Matt is in the Glens Falls Queensbury chapter. Sean, are you out of the, is it the Latham or Albany or. We’re. Which is?

00;16;14;18 – 00;16;20;05
Speaker 4
Or Albany. We meet in Albany now. Yeah, me and Albany. Latham told us all about it. Yep, yep.

00;16;20;08 – 00;16;42;18
Speaker 3
So. But I know that members have the ability to kind of jump around to different meetings, without having to pay additional money and to be able to kind of explore a larger market, so to speak. I personally have not taken advantage of that. But, Chris, I, I know that you with Chris, and then maybe we’ll go to Sean and then Bob and then Matt.

00;16;42;18 – 00;16;50;04
Speaker 3
But Chris, can you tell me a little bit about the the cross clubbing experience and kind of what that’s been been like for you?

00;16;50;06 – 00;17;09;01
Speaker 1
I think that’s one of the things that’s unique about Gold Star, right. You can go, you know, 200 club as part of your membership and you can drop in. I was going quite regularly for a while. You’re almost, you know, you think you transfer 15, 16 people in each of the groups down there, you know, that’s 15, 16 more people in in a quick hour.

00;17;09;01 – 00;17;27;05
Speaker 1
They know about you, right. And it’s a great way to network. And it feels familiar. It feels comfortable because it’s kind of similar formats or the same formats that we’re all going through. And it works. You know, I’ve had close business because of the crosscutting opportunities I’ve had through gold sterling I probably wouldn’t have had without it.

00;17;27;05 – 00;17;35;01
Speaker 1
You know, it’s it’s great opportunity. I think that there is probably you need to gold star in that way.

00;17;35;03 – 00;17;37;01
Speaker 3
Sean, what do you, what do you have that about?

00;17;37;02 – 00;18;06;02
Speaker 4
Yeah, everything Chris said. And I will tell you, when I first, we opened our first club a couple years ago with cross clubbing before, you only could cross club if your category was not already, you know, covered in another club. So, example, if you’re a realtor. So, you know, the typical not I shouldn’t say typical, but the common, categories like insurance, realtor, mortgage loan officer typically that that would be covered in another club so they couldn’t cross club.

00;18;06;05 – 00;18;27;07
Speaker 4
So only like the unique, categories could, could cross club. But we open that up recently and it made sense. And I was really happy with that because the reality is like, for instance, we’ve got a banker and and a, a mortgage loan officer and the club that I go to every, every Tuesday. Right. So the but, they work together.

00;18;27;07 – 00;18;48;22
Speaker 4
You know why? Because the mortgage loan officer doesn’t do home equities where the bank, the banker does. So now, you know. So, Bob, there’s this this deals that Bob can do as an insurance, professional even though there’s an insurance person and all the other clouds, there’s certain, you know, clients or customers that Bob can potentially service, that the other insurance person can’t service.

00;18;48;22 – 00;19;07;15
Speaker 4
So there’s an opportunity, if you have that mindset of abundance, by the way. Right. It does require a mindset of abundance. Like, not just because someone has a, in your industry. Like, I’m not the only credit consultant consultant. And if I, if I’m going to get, you know, threatened because it’s another credit consultant in another club, I really shouldn’t be in Gold Star.

00;19;07;15 – 00;19;22;18
Speaker 4
And that’s what I love about it. You know, it does require a certain mentality. And so, yeah, I really love the opportunity. Gold star I’ve seen a ton of business done across the region. Again, people in the same as that category partnering together and finding ways to help each other. I think it’s a beautiful thing.

00;19;24;26 – 00;19;26;14
Speaker 3
Absolutely. Bob, have you done.

00;19;26;19 – 00;19;52;08
Speaker 1
No, I have not. I have not done any cross loving. But I can tell you just from experience and what we hear on the leadership and, you know, there’s a lot of value if you compare Gold Star to other like, B and, referral groups out there. I really think that’s the silver bullet, for individuals that are willing to put in the work, you know, visit different groups, you can meet a lot of different people and have a bigger impact.

00;19;52;22 – 00;20;12;09
Speaker 1
Personally, you know, we’re talking to, you know, challenges, talking about the, the abundance. I know a lot of the insurance industry individuals in Gold Star. And just out of respect to them, like, here’s the industry, I haven’t done much. I haven’t done much of the, cross clubbing. It.

00;20;12;11 – 00;20;15;28
Speaker 3
Okay. That’s fair. And man, you I don’t think you’ve done it yet. Have you met.

00;20;16;01 – 00;20;19;03
Speaker 2
Only between just Saratoga and Glens Falls.

00;20;19;03 – 00;20;37;05
Speaker 3
Saratoga. That’s all right. We’ll talk about that. Yeah. So, you know, obviously one question everyone’s going to have. Right. And this is a common thing with networking groups is, you know, what? Am I going to get out of it? And the return on investment, right. It’s a big piece. You’re going to spend time. You’re going to spend money.

00;20;37;05 – 00;21;06;02
Speaker 3
Although I will say that, you know, the the amount of money that gold star costs is, is not a lot of money. And, I know I can speak personally, mainly because I just handed in numbers, last week to Phil, because we track revenue. If you’re not a member. Not you’re not familiar with this. We track how much revenue is getting handed back and forth through referrals and it’s staggering the amount of money and referrals I’ve gotten from Gold Star compared to what it cost me to spend that hour each week.

00;21;06;02 – 00;21;26;27
Speaker 3
And, you know, the few dollars a month that it spent, it cost me. So, like, I can speak very well to having a nice return on investment, not to mention the fact of, you know, being able to bring someone like Matt into the company. He’s never done this stuff before, and being able to bring him into an organization that kind of helps me train him, right.

00;21;26;27 – 00;21;43;07
Speaker 3
As far as how to act and networking and giving commercials and all that fun stuff. So huge, huge return for me personally. But, you know, I open it up to the group and maybe we’ll start with Chris. You know, Chris, have you seen a good return on investment from from being in the group?

00;21;43;09 – 00;21;54;17
Speaker 1
Yeah. And like, I said, I would judge mine. I think we all smile and laugh because we all know how much we pay. Mike. Ha, I know I, I don’t I know what your numbers are. Not just the two of us.

00;21;55;04 – 00;21;55;25
Speaker 3
That’s why they.

00;21;55;25 – 00;22;19;21
Speaker 1
Should support a forum. Staggering. And I’d love to say that, but I think I judge mine differently. Right? I judge mine based on the relationships I get to forge. And some of the opportunities that have come. Yeah, definitely. You know, I it’s more the return on investment more than pays for itself. You know, financially speaking, I bring in more money because of my direct involvement with Gold Star than if I didn’t have that.

00;22;19;21 – 00;22;35;21
Speaker 1
And that’s, you know, through referrals, all that kind of stuff. But I try to take things like, you know, the long game approach, right. And the relationships and opportunities. One of the things that I think is unique on that return an investment. My wife is not a part of the group. She’s been to like 1 or 2 meetings.

00;22;35;21 – 00;22;56;09
Speaker 1
I think what I couldn’t go, she just filled in form, but she’s had opportunities both personally and professionally and met people that have helped her as well. You know, she joined the board of ehm, services because of her relationships, you know, forged within one of the groups, you know, so it’s, it’s, you know, you kind of get your tentacles out there and you never know who might come.

00;22;56;09 – 00;23;19;29
Speaker 1
And that’s kind of where I’m. I’m taking it, similar to what you said with Matt. I recently brought on, one of my staff as well to kind of go to the, Glens Falls group with me, and she’s doing wonderful. You know, she’s out there, she’s networking, and she’s kind of forging forward and creating a whole new side of my business, by being involved with this, you know, it’s definitely, paying dividends for me as well.

00;23;20;01 – 00;23;20;15
Speaker 1
Absolutely.

00;23;20;15 – 00;23;22;23
Speaker 3
Bob, what do you say about the ROI?

00;23;22;26 – 00;23;50;25
Speaker 1
Yeah, I’m. I’m with Chris on this. It’s, it’s it’s unique. You know, we’re not talking, you know, financial ROI. Yes, it is, it is great. You know, we have brought in business through Gold Star, but the value we’re getting, you know, of building personal relationships, building professional relationships, myself as well. My, my team in the office, they’ve been guests in the different groups.

00;23;51;07 – 00;24;16;14
Speaker 1
John, Mark Martin, we’ve have our agency. He’s a member of the Glens Falls group. So it’s getting him out in the community as well, you know, forging new relationships, growing professionally also. So, financially, you can’t put a monetary value on the group. I mean, you think about Mike, you’ve talked about it to the CEO value. With Gold Star, you know, we’re getting access to Gold Stars platform online.

00;24;16;25 – 00;24;37;18
Speaker 1
We’re able to put all our professional information in there. People can find us outside the group. So there’s a lot of different value to it. I mean, you look at I go back to the professional growth, weekly motivation and forging new and stronger relationships with people in the community. I mean, there’s ROI right there. Absolutely.

00;24;37;21 – 00;24;55;27
Speaker 3
Sean, what would you, I would see, you know, you see a lot of the behind the scenes. And again, we don’t need to talk about people’s financials, but I do think the ROI is an important thing, especially for people that are not currently members, and are considering doing some sort of networking organization, but not sure which one to do.

00;24;55;27 – 00;25;04;24
Speaker 3
That’s obviously going to be a factor in helping them decide. Sean, what would you tell people about as far as the return on investment for being in Gold Star athletes?

00;25;04;28 – 00;25;36;29
Speaker 4
Well, one thing I’d say is, I mean, just listen to what, you know, the feedback from from Chris and Bob. I mean, you heard some common themes there that they’re looking at. It’s they’re playing the long game, right? They’re investing. They’re not just, simply saying my ROI, translates to dollars. You know, look at the terminology. So, so to me, that’s the special sauce, which is why I say this is not necessarily for everybody, but if you’re coming in and you want to, you know, you want to make a quick dollar immediately, as soon as you pay, you know, your, your monthly, your monthly do this is not for you and I and

00;25;36;29 – 00;25;52;01
Speaker 4
I, you know, I try to push that to the, to all the directors. Look, you know, we’re not we’re not looking for bodies. We want we want, thriving members that that get it. They want to they want to put in the time. It takes time to build, you know, trust or someone like, you know, someone to know, like and trust you.

00;25;52;01 – 00;26;11;22
Speaker 4
That takes. That takes time. I think an investment of time. And, you know, your your, your expertise and all of that. But going back to your question, I apologize. Look, we’ve got six clubs now with with Chris’s, club opening. Actually, you will find we have another one opening in Troy as well, $2.3 million, primarily from five clubs.

00;26;11;22 – 00;26;30;22
Speaker 4
And we have a club that only has nine members that did over $850,000. Wow. And, close business. And I will tell you, we are underreporting as a, as a, as a region. So I’m sure it’s it’s probably closer to three and a half to $4 million. So so make no mistake, even though I’m saying yes, we we’re playing the long game.

00;26;30;22 – 00;26;58;27
Speaker 4
There’s, there’s money. There’s money being made. And members are making a and this is not just, you know, unique to our region across the, across the country. You’ve got clubs that do, you know, doing multimillion dollars so it can be done. And, like I said, as long as you have that, as long as you have the like I said that that that go givers, mentality, it’s, you know, sky’s the limit.

00;26;59;00 – 00;27;00;09
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;27;00;11 – 00;27;20;20
Speaker 3
So I, you know, I think we would probably be remiss if we didn’t talk about just the value of networking overall. Right, as a part of this. And, and not just shining the light on Gold Star as a tool for networking, but just the value in networking. You know, it’s there’s tons. I mean, you look at who you see at the chamber events, you look at who you see at a Gold Star event.

00;27;20;20 – 00;27;38;16
Speaker 3
It is such a small portion of the business community that is out there, and I know plenty of businesses that I do not see at networking events. And when I talk to these people, it you know, it’s kind of a mixed bag for reasons of why they’re not doing networking, which is, I don’t know, I think it’s insane to me.

00;27;39;14 – 00;28;00;02
Speaker 3
However, as a marketing company, it’s probably better if they’re not doing networking because they’ll need marketing even more than they already do. But, well, let’s just take comments. We’ll go around the horn and just kind of talk about the value of networking in general. Right. And Bob, we’ll start with you. I, you know, you’re a serial networker for that’s how you and I met originally 15, 20 years ago.

00;28;01;02 – 00;28;10;24
Speaker 3
But maybe tell our listeners, Bob, about why you do networking in general. And I know we’ve kind of touched on that a little bit, so it might sound a little redundant, but important conversation to have.

00;28;10;26 – 00;28;35;03
Speaker 1
Yeah, a little a little redundant if you, if you think about in simple terms. Right. If, if I meet a new person once a day, that person I’m going to build a relationship with, and then that person’s going to know other people that are going to introduce me to, and then I’m going to know that next person and so forth and so forth.

00;28;35;05 – 00;29;02;05
Speaker 1
So if we’re sitting in our business, if we’re not growing and going out there and meeting people, you know, we’re not going to grow our centers of influence or our sphere of people and individuals and relationships that we know. So for me, it’s it’s the growth. It’s the growth model. You know, if you’re looking to grow your business, you need to meet new prospects, meet new offer opportunities, meet new individuals out there.

00;29;02;05 – 00;29;34;03
Speaker 1
They’re going to help you grow professionally and personally. Because I’ve always looked at networking is not just the dollar sign. And I think you can see that and hear that from what I’m saying today, for me, it’s the the value of the relationship, because you never know down the road where you’re going to need something or that person might be able to help you or your paths might cross again, like my you and I met 15 years ago at a trade and lo and behold, you know, five, six years ago, our paths are just winding up together again.

00;29;34;03 – 00;30;01;26
Speaker 1
And it’s bringing value to both our lives. Yeah. I was going and personally. So, you know, network to me is a prime example of survival in business, but also in life, too. I mean, we can’t accomplish everything you want, like, but you can learn from other people, too. So there’s a lot I mean, you are a lot about positive, positive things about networking, but it’s, it’s all good value.

00;30;01;28 – 00;30;04;01
Speaker 3
Chris, we’ll go to you next. What do you got to say about it?

00;30;04;04 – 00;30;19;05
Speaker 1
Yeah, I would jump right in on that and say, listen, every single person here today, there’s been a time where I’ve called you and said, hey, Mike, I need something. I need a guy that does this. Do you know anyone? And every time I’ve called you, you’ve been like, yeah, boom. There’s two numbers. Call him right now. Right.

00;30;19;05 – 00;30;34;07
Speaker 1
Sean? Same, same thing, you know, and that’s the power networking. I didn’t know those people. They didn’t know me. You know, I called them and and one of the guys that Mike you put me in touch with, I just wrote him a check for $70,000, the dice to help me with something. You know, if I could put it back first.

00;30;34;09 – 00;30;52;02
Speaker 1
No, it was my Corvette. You know, but. And that’s the power of. You never know. Right. And if you get out there, meet people. It happened with me last night. One of my guys at the firehouse was going through some stuff, and he needed some help, and I said, I got just the guy for you, you know, and introduced him in a way.

00;30;52;02 – 00;31;11;24
Speaker 1
They go, you know, hopefully they can help each other out. And I think that’s the power of networking, right? It’s the ability to put yourself out there and two ways not being afraid to ask for help when you need it. And and it’s not necessary, you know, not help in the traditional sense. But like I’d rather call one of you guys who I trust and say, hey, I’m doing this.

00;31;11;24 – 00;31;28;20
Speaker 1
What do you suggest? Rather than go into the old Google search, right, and not knowing anybody, then how the hell you supposed to know half the reviews you see? Or are bots doing it anyway? So you never know. Or you know, or conversely, just, hey, you call me if you need something I might know someone, they can help you, you know?

00;31;28;20 – 00;31;41;24
Speaker 1
And again, but it goes back to that probably that common theme. It’s all about building relationships, right. And if I can help someone else. So hopefully when I reach out and need something, it comes back to me. And I think in my experiences it has. Absolutely.

00;31;41;26 – 00;31;45;13
Speaker 3
Now let’s go and you next and then we’ll have Sean back clean up on this question.

00;31;45;20 – 00;32;08;14
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, definitely through my experience with value of, networking, it’s it’s more of, using it as like Chris was saying, you know, a guy or, you know, someone that could do this, that aspect builds that trust, that credibility, if maybe at face value, don’t have something to offer. But of course I have. I know someone who can do that.

00;32;09;00 – 00;32;35;23
Speaker 2
And then exactly like Chris was saying, and later down the line, they’ll hopefully repay you. But even through the aspect of, like with Steve in Ascent, Wealth Partners and Neil, I would have never started investing if, you know, they didn’t give me their $0.02 about it. My friends, when I’m talking to them, they’re not sitting in these, you know, same round tables and really learning business and learning how it actually goes.

00;32;36;14 – 00;32;50;03
Speaker 2
So yeah, I’ve, I’ve really seen why they there’s a reason behind why they say it’s not who you know or it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. And gold starts it really shows me that, so.

00;32;50;05 – 00;32;52;06
Speaker 1
There’s a benefit to hanging out with us all guys.

00;32;52;06 – 00;32;55;18
Speaker 2
Yeah, I learn a thing or two sometimes.

00;32;55;21 – 00;32;57;00
Speaker 1
Well, some.

00;32;57;02 – 00;33;03;11
Speaker 3
Sean, what do you got for us as far as that? Seeing the value in networking or the overall value in networking.

00;33;03;13 – 00;33;07;03
Speaker 4
Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I’m going to dye my beard after this zoom podcast.

00;33;07;05 – 00;33;11;04
Speaker 3
I got some wisdom, John. We call those wisdom highlights.

00;33;13;08 – 00;33;32;29
Speaker 4
No. But all joking aside, I, I agree with what everyone said. You know, the only thing I’ll, I’ll add is that goes on for me. It’s been it’s been a, a necessary routine. And the routine builds great habits for me. Like, and then the habits, usually great things happen if you have good, good habits in general.

00;33;32;29 – 00;33;55;21
Speaker 4
Right. And so and I hate to use the word, you know, I can’t I can’t believe I’m saying Covid. Even on Covid, we were meeting we were intentional around continuing to meet over zoom. I was we couldn’t meet in person. We made over zoom for for an extended amount of time. Right. And so it was the main way that I stay connected, with my friends and colleagues and just the at first, just from a human perspective, just to stay connected.

00;33;55;21 – 00;34;16;10
Speaker 4
And then secondly, let’s continue to help each other. And it it was tremendous. It had a tremendous value to me. I can’t even put a, you know, a value to, to that as far as far as, from a personal and professional perspective. And so, you know, like I said, meeting weekly, it’s just it’s the primary.

00;34;16;10 – 00;34;33;04
Speaker 4
It’s one of the primary ways I make my business because referrals is, is 100% from a, as a credit consultant. How I make I make business. Yes. I put stuff on social media. You know, I’ve tried I’ve tried the Google ads, but the primary way I make business is through referrals. And the only way I can do that is by meeting more people.

00;34;33;06 – 00;34;51;09
Speaker 4
The way I can do that is, you know, every every week when I go to that meeting, the way I look at it is I have the opportunity to to I don’t want to say train, but to to inform 18 of my colleagues exactly how to help me get business. And I can send them out there versus, oh, how am I going to get a referral, you know?

00;34;51;09 – 00;34;55;02
Speaker 4
So that’s the way I look at it. And it’s it’s served me well.

00;34;55;04 – 00;35;16;11
Speaker 3
Absolutely. And I, you know, I want to add one thing to that too, based on what you just said, Sean. And I think this is overlooked in a lot of cases when people are thinking about networking, and it’s that as a a sales guy, I can only know so many people in my travels right? And I mean, you guys, I mean, we all know a lot of people, right?

00;35;16;14 – 00;35;39;07
Speaker 3
And so the one thing that I love about having a strong network is being able to say, I want, I want so-and-so as a client, but I don’t know them. And I can now reach out to my networking partners and say, hey, does anybody know this person? And if so, can one of you put me in touch with them and so I can see if they’ll meet with me?

00;35;39;14 – 00;36;07;02
Speaker 3
It is like the strongest part of networking from a sales standpoint. It’s not the only value in networking, but it’s a really overlooked thing, like the one of my goals in networking. And I think Bob said this first is to expand my circle of influence. Right? That’s the number of people I know. But knowing that I can’t possibly get in front of everybody that I need to know, and that’s when I start to leverage my network for who they know that I don’t know.

00;36;07;02 – 00;36;35;06
Speaker 3
And it’s such a powerful, powerful piece to being able to grow your business through, networking. And I want to make sure that we that we mentioned it so, I know we’re we’re getting closer on time, but we still got it. We got a few minutes. I think, you know, what would be a really important piece for us to discuss today, guys, is what is the what is your method, being successful with networking or using a group like Gold Star to be successful?

00;36;35;06 – 00;36;53;16
Speaker 3
You know, I know there’s behaviors that we all do as a part of those groups, and I just kind of love to hear about what you guys do and how you leverage those behaviors, to grow your circle of influence and, you know, grow your businesses. And, Chris, why don’t we, we’ll do a similar we’ll do Chris, Bob, Matt.

00;36;53;16 – 00;36;57;01
Speaker 3
And then we’ll have Sean, back clean up again on that. I like doing that.

00;36;57;03 – 00;37;18;07
Speaker 1
I’m sure, one of the things we haven’t really talked about as part of the structure of Gold Star is the one on one meetings that we do outside the confines of the group. Right? So that’s an important way to help build that circle. And because what you’re doing in that is you’re really getting to know the other person rather than just, hey, there’s 1800 people around or, you know, ten other people around.

00;37;18;07 – 00;37;30;02
Speaker 1
Let’s have a chat for a minute. Let’s go grab coffee, let’s go grab lunch. Let’s go grab whatever you know. And now you tell me more about you. What are you going through? What are you looking for? Like you just said. Hey, do you know any. This is what I’m doing. Do you know anybody that can help me?

00;37;30;09 – 00;37;46;27
Speaker 1
Right. But by getting to know someone at that level, during those 1 to 1, once you develop that trust and then it becomes one of those things when you reach out to someone, they’ve almost done the selling for you. Because we all trust people in our network. Right? And when someone says, hey, yeah, can’t wait because he’s great, he does this call Bob.

00;37;46;27 – 00;38;03;24
Speaker 1
He’s great because of this. You just sold for him, right? And you didn’t even have to do it. By the time they call you, they’re almost ready to sign on the dotted line. Right. And that circle of your circle, kind of the trust comes with it. Is that kind of what you’re going with there or where you go?

00;38;03;24 – 00;38;04;07
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;38;04;09 – 00;38;08;07
Speaker 3
Yeah, absolutely. Bob, what do you got to add to that?

00;38;08;10 – 00;38;35;04
Speaker 1
You know, the big thing with, the group and everything is like, Chris was just talking about the one to ones meeting outside the group. For me, being genuine in the group, you know, really, really goes the extra mile, builds that value, helps you grow. But to me, also with gold star and referral piece and networking is trusting the process.

00;38;35;06 – 00;39;00;23
Speaker 1
And I think Chris might have mentioned it too, was, you know, it takes time to build the relationships. You might, you know, close any business. You’re getting referrals. And the first couple weeks, first couple months, maybe even the first year. But over time, if you stay the course, trust the process, build the relationships and be genuine, then you see success in networking groups like this.

00;39;00;23 – 00;39;26;10
Speaker 1
I know myself and John in my office. You probably say the same thing to There is a lot of value to genuine, not trying to be something you’re not right. You know, in their relationships too. I can tell you Chris loves French toast. Loves, his bacon extra crispy. So just kind of, on the whole bit too much about each other, you know, to show you what we know about each other, too.

00;39;26;10 – 00;39;29;29
Speaker 1
So it’s a great organization to be a part of.

00;39;30;02 – 00;39;31;17
Speaker 3
Matt. How about you, buddy?

00;39;31;19 – 00;39;56;20
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, definitely the one on ones. I’ve. I’ve seen a lot of impact in that way. It allows you. Yeah. Like like Bob was just saying to gain another friend in that aspect. And, you know, business is a little side treat with that. Even even when I was going to the Saratoga, meetings, I still am in contact with a lot of those individuals.

00;39;57;11 – 00;40;28;10
Speaker 2
Actually bringing on Karen Carey, who’s in the Saratoga group just because, you know, we keep a, contact between. And she had some opening and she’s doing some great things, and I thought we should cover it. So again, that’s just the relationship piece. And really sitting down, but but being consistent with it and and meaningful and staying on top of it once once you do form those relationships because in the end of the, in the end they can go really far in and benefit both sides.

00;40;28;10 – 00;40;32;08
Speaker 3
So absolutely, Sean.

00;40;32;10 – 00;40;54;07
Speaker 4
Yeah, I think I would, I would add, you know, just, intentionality and what I mean by that, like, for instance, when I’m, I’m in a meeting, I want to make sure I’m engaged and I’m present, like, so, you know, I want to make sure I, I really, I’m paying attention to all the six second commercials. I’m really getting involved and listening to the ten minute presentation and thinking, okay, how can I how can I help these people?

00;40;54;08 – 00;41;13;29
Speaker 4
I think it’s at least for me, it’s easy to get distracted. Let’s just in general forget about business. And another piece of intentionality is, you know, we’ve got members that they’ll go to mixed professional mixers together, different, different events. And you may meet somebody that you ninth out of the ten. You’ll meet someone that you may not have met before.

00;41;13;29 – 00;41;27;15
Speaker 4
And I know for me, when I go to a mixer, I’m not trying to meet a million people. If I meet one, if I make one good connection, I think it’s a win. And if I don’t, I’m okay with that too, right? I’m not going to force it. I want it to be organic. And then three for me.

00;41;27;17 – 00;41;49;05
Speaker 4
I don’t take, for granted, top of mind awareness. And you think about these corporations spending billions of dollars pretty much, you know, sharing the same message over and over again, like these big corporations like Richard, I sign into Facebook and I’m not on Facebook much outside of business. And just randomly, like the post from a gentleman.

00;41;49;05 – 00;42;02;06
Speaker 4
I had gone to business owner in Saratoga this spring, about three days ago. He called me yesterday, so I’ve been meaning to catch up with you. I moved to Florida. I need you to help me with my creditor. I’m just like, I just found this gentleman like two years.

00;42;03;22 – 00;42;22;22
Speaker 4
So. And again, I don’t know. And I said to him, you know, I just I don’t know if it was. I definitely think it’s probably, I probably came to mind because I just like this post. He saw Sean Murray come up. He didn’t say that. But I’m like, there’s got to be a connection there. So it just reminded me, you know, the importance of, of of not taken for granted, you know, staying on top of mind.

00;42;22;22 – 00;42;41;08
Speaker 4
And there’s so many ways. I mean, goals are just one way you can do it, but there’s so many other ways that, that, that, as we leading, I know our daily lives and we’re out there, you know, working on our different industries, and, and we have our personal relationships. There’s, there’s ways we can be intentional around doing that.

00;42;41;08 – 00;42;46;24
Speaker 4
So and gold goes is an important piece of that for me. Right. So yeah, that’s what I would share.

00;42;46;26 – 00;43;04;03
Speaker 3
Yeah. I, I mean, listen, I think Gold Star is a great way to turn complete strangers into acquaintances. And then to everybody’s point, you then do the one to ones and those one to ones take those acquaintances and they turn them into people, you know, and then through frequency of contact and doing it every week. Now these people, you know, actually become friends.

00;43;04;03 – 00;43;18;17
Speaker 3
You have a relationship with them. You get to know how they like their bacon and their French toast, you know, and then at some point in time, right, it becomes close business because they know who you are and they know what you do. And someone’s like, hey, I need an insurance guy, you know? And and they’re like, yeah, man.

00;43;18;17 – 00;43;39;27
Speaker 3
Actually, I know a great insurance guy. It’s just such a powerful, powerful thing. If, if you’re using it correctly, I think you know, the other thing too, that I would bring up is and I know Matt and I have talked about this, but like, groups like Gold Star make those. And you kind of mentioned it, Sean makes those those bigger rooms a lot easier to handle.

00;43;40;00 – 00;43;59;25
Speaker 3
Right. Like I go to a chamber event and I mean, now I’ve been doing this for such a long time because I’m so damn old that I know most of the people in the room. But at one point in time, I was just like Matt, and I didn’t know very many people at all, right? And I go to a Gold Star group, and I meet a couple of people, and then I see him at the networking event and I have someone to talk to.

00;43;59;25 – 00;44;16;28
Speaker 3
I have someone that I know, so I don’t have to feel awkward and weird. Which brings me to the next question is there’s a lot of introverts out there, and people here are networking and they get really, really scared, right? And they’re like, oh, I know I can’t do. I mean, I’ve literally heard people say that, right?

00;44;17;03 – 00;44;35;25
Speaker 3
I can’t do that. Like, I got to stand up in front of a room and talk to strangers and you know, that all that stuff, that head trash starts to pop in. Sean, let’s start with you, and then we’ll kind of work around, but what would you what advice would you give to those introverted business people out there that, they need the network, but they’re scared to death of it?

00;44;35;28 – 00;45;00;13
Speaker 4
Yeah. So I definitely consider myself an introverted extrovert, if that makes any sense. I just say rip the Band-Aid off because, And don’t look at it as the way. At least for me, it was the way I looked at it, especially when I started my business. I had no clue about networking and what that meant. I just thought it meant meeting people didn’t know about, you know, how do you nurture those relationships?

00;45;00;13 – 00;45;23;14
Speaker 4
But I guess the point I would make is, as I started getting out there, I, to put it this way, the side of my business, I was in the corporate world. I, I came to the Capital Region in 2005 by way, Bank of America, and I worked there for eight years, and I met got a good portion of people in the corporate world after I was a, casualty of the bank downsizing.

00;45;23;14 – 00;45;44;05
Speaker 4
And I started my business in my first year of business, I met more people that first year than I did the previous eight years working at the bank. So. So that made me so was a self relation of self-realization for me that I actually enjoyed networking. I just put a tag on it. I just enjoyed meeting people, you know, so so for anyone that scared out there, I just say, rip the Band-Aid off.

00;45;44;07 – 00;46;02;11
Speaker 4
I remember I did my first commercial, I went to a ad network. I was invited to a networking meeting. I was I was petrified, and I remember after the meeting, a woman walked over to me. I really thought you did a really, really great job. But I’d love to sit down and and, and, you know, we can maybe have a lunch meeting.

00;46;02;14 – 00;46;19;10
Speaker 4
And her name is Lisa Giudice. She’s now she’s been in our club for, for for eight years. She’s a she’s a coach and she’s one of my great friends and mentor. And we and we now go to we go to a Cheesecake Factory. That’s our place. We go once a quarter just to sit and chat. So, I would just say rip the Band-Aid off and just do it.

00;46;19;16 – 00;46;22;27
Speaker 4
You’d be surprised. That’s that’s my I love it.

00;46;23;02 – 00;46;24;11
Speaker 3
How about you, Chris?

00;46;24;14 – 00;46;48;03
Speaker 1
Well, we won’t, we’ve probably got Sean beat with the once a quarter of the amount of time you go diner. We we give them a solid chunk of business every so often. But, I would say, yeah, I think someone said it before. I think Sean might have said it. Meet one person, you know, don’t don’t go to these events and think you have to know the room and be the most popular guy in the room every time.

00;46;48;03 – 00;47;06;00
Speaker 1
You guys just go with the with the intention of just being attention, right? Try and meet one person, make one good connection, go back next time. And now you know that person. Meet someone else, right? Mike, you alluded to it before. It might take a bit of time, but if you do it long enough and you’re consistent with it, you’ll get to know some of the people in the room.

00;47;06;02 – 00;47;31;06
Speaker 1
And that’s how you can help expand your sphere, how you can grow, converse. Is that one of the things we’re doing? There’s a chamber mixer, this coming Thursday. And the Glens Falls group is going to band together and go, so, you know, power and numbers kind of thing. You know, for some of those introverts maybe feel a little bit more comfortable because now we’re all there to support each other, and maybe I can make an intro to someone else in the group and, you know, then vice versa.

00;47;31;17 – 00;47;47;03
Speaker 1
So it all comes back to, you know, to me, just get comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s if you want to be an entrepreneur, if you want to be, you know, working for yourself. I think that’s an important part of it. And not being scared to put yourself out there. Okay. So if it doesn’t go your way one day, tomorrow’s a new day.

00;47;47;03 – 00;47;49;09
Speaker 1
Learn from it. You know, do something different.

00;47;49;11 – 00;47;52;11
Speaker 3
I love it, Bob. How about your.

00;47;52;14 – 00;48;17;16
Speaker 1
Own sailboat experience? The, you know, being comfortable, being uncomfortable. It’s kind of a phrase I’ve always lived by, too. But when you’re talking about, you know, introverts, you know, we know a lot even in the sales world. And what I found in the networking world is, you know, like Chris said, bring a friend, right. Just bring one person like a trusted individual, like you can be yourself around and bring them into a room.

00;48;17;18 – 00;48;38;29
Speaker 1
Then at least you have somebody there and power a numbers. There’s two of you together. You’re going to meet another person. And just like I go in and approach like I approach every meeting, just one takeaway. So like these, like Chris said, Shawn, you walk away meeting one new person, you know, it’s a home run. It’s a victory in my book.

00;48;39;01 – 00;48;47;03
Speaker 1
So for those introverts, you know, bring a friend, you know, bring a friend, someone you feel comfortable with. Love it.

00;48;47;06 – 00;48;49;11
Speaker 3
How about you? Any advice for the introverts out there?

00;48;49;13 – 00;49;12;28
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, well said. Through everybody else. But I mean, I guess the biggest thing for me would just be to kind of shift your mindset. I think it was said, forgot who said it, but it’s you realize it’s everybody’s first time doing it or it’s their first time here. And everybody kind of has those same, you know, worries, anxieties.

00;49;12;28 – 00;49;33;18
Speaker 2
So if you kind of just realize, you know, everybody’s in the same boat as me. It kind of takes that pressure off. And, you know, at the end of the day, you’re just chatting with someone and, you know, the boys and going with someone I found really helps, too. You know, obviously, the first one that you go to may seem a little intimidating.

00;49;33;18 – 00;49;54;12
Speaker 2
I remember I walked into a big room and was like, all right, what do I do now? But. And then after I started talking to that first person, that first person introduced me to their network. And then by the second, mixer or whatnot event, I, I had that, contact and then it just went up from there.

00;49;54;12 – 00;49;57;08
Speaker 2
So, I found that.

00;49;57;11 – 00;50;15;18
Speaker 3
Yeah, I don’t want to cut you off, but you you said a term in there that, the probably only you and I know because it’s it’s a thing that I say and talk to you about now about networking. And that’s the networking. Booey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you real quick, just describe to our listeners what a networking bouy is?

00;50;15;20 – 00;50;16;03
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;50;16;03 – 00;50;35;16
Speaker 2
Yeah, definitely. I yeah, I love the term you’re. Yeah. The one who brought that to my attention. But yeah, you were like, just find that booty. Find your first booty. There’s going to be individuals who are, you know, kind of off by themselves, maybe on their phone, maybe a little bit intimidated, but, hey, that was exactly how I was.

00;50;36;01 – 00;50;53;23
Speaker 2
So you find that booty, someone who’s, you know, kind of floating in the in the mix of everybody talk to them, make them your friend. And then you guys start floating into the bigger groups, and then that’s your booty, and then you go to your next networking group, you see that booty, and then maybe you expand into that.

00;50;54;12 – 00;51;02;01
Speaker 2
So it’s is the concept of always growing it. Which, which, yeah, I always find my boobies at these networks.

00;51;02;03 – 00;51;20;08
Speaker 3
Yeah. And just to add a little bit to that too, is that every time you know someone, they are a potential booty for you for the next time when you’re networking. So if you’re walking out around a room and you’re starting to feel that panic and your palms are getting sweaty, then you just got to look around and find one of your boys and go over them there.

00;51;20;08 – 00;51;39;02
Speaker 3
That thing you can hold on to for a couple of minutes, right while you while you catch your breath. So, yeah, and I will also say to I’ll issue kind of an offer to anyone listening. If you’re an introvert, you’re thinking about going to your first event and you’re get there and you’re scared to death and freaking out.

00;51;39;02 – 00;51;56;04
Speaker 3
If you see me or I’m sure any of the guys that are on this, video right now, if you see any one of us come over to us, say, hey, I’m an introvert. I’m scared to death is my first event. I need some help. Right? Like. And if you’re hyperventilating, probably even better. And, and we’ll take you around.

00;51;56;04 – 00;52;01;14
Speaker 3
We’ll we’ll introduce you to people. Will help. It will help make it easier for you. So it doesn’t have to be so terrifying.

00;52;01;14 – 00;52;06;11
Speaker 1
But, you know, go ahead. Hey.

00;52;06;14 – 00;52;07;11
Speaker 3
What’s that?

00;52;07;13 – 00;52;10;23
Speaker 1
You know, worst case scenario, I carry an ad with me everywhere I go.

00;52;10;26 – 00;52;23;16
Speaker 3
I got one out in the truck. Right? Guys, I know we’re, we’re out of time, but, any closing thoughts from anybody they want to add to, to our listeners about Goldstar, about networking in general.

00;52;23;19 – 00;52;27;24
Speaker 1
Come visit us. Come see us. Come see what? All the, come see what it’s all about.

00;52;27;26 – 00;52;34;03
Speaker 3
Very nice. Sean, if people, want to find out more about, Goldstar, how do they find us?

00;52;34;05 – 00;52;56;18
Speaker 4
Yeah, they go to Goldstar fro clubs, dot com, and, all of the information is there certainly. I’m sure you can put some, contact information out there as well. Email or call me. Call me directly. But, Michael, I want to, thank you for putting together this. This, far. I think it’s I think it’s it’s going to do, it’ll be a great asset for the business community.

00;52;56;18 – 00;52;57;20
Speaker 4
So thank you for doing this.

00;52;57;22 – 00;53;13;29
Speaker 3
Absolutely. I mean, credit where credit’s due. I think, Chris, it was his originally. It was his idea to, get this panel going. And we, of course, love it. And, always looking to help the business community any way we can. And like I said, I, we love gold Star. I, I’ve enjoyed I’ve done a ton of networking over the last 20, 25 years.

00;53;13;29 – 00;53;22;21
Speaker 3
And, I don’t care how big or small my business is, I’ll. I’ll be in Gold Surfer. I’m a lifer at this point, so appreciate what you do Sean.

00;53;22;26 – 00;53;23;29
Speaker 1
Appreciate that.

00;53;24;02 – 00;53;24;29
Speaker 4
Thank you. Appreciate you guys.

00;53;25;05 – 00;53;42;23
Speaker 3
Yeah. And thanks everybody for coming on. And of course thanks everybody for listening. You know, you can you’ll find an article about this as well as podcasts and other things we’ve done at buying local that us. Of course all podcasts are on Apple Spotify, Rumble and YouTube. Thanks for listening. And, you’ll hear from us next week.