Building a Networking Group that Actually Adds Value, with Rob Volk

WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:13.320 Conversations from the front lines of marketing. This is be to be growth. 2 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:21.960 Hey friends, welcome into Friday's show. Excited to share a throwback conversation with 3 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.280 you today, one we had with Rob Volk on building a networking group that 4 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:30.879 actually adds value. Wanted to say we've had a tremendous week here on be 5 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:35.479 tob growth and if you've missed any of the episodes, man go back through 6 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:41.439 the feed and take a listen. We're talking everything from effective wind loss interviews 7 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:47.479 structuring a modern marketing team and actually guy ton Ol Danardy on yesterday show was 8 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:52.920 talking about just the nuances as he's left be to be in Ben Indeed to 9 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:58.640 see and what he's seen and learned there, as well as a great conversation 10 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:04.319 with Gong's very own Devon read around authenticity, how to be yourself on Linkedin, 11 00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:08.680 on social and how to go left when be tob is going right, 12 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:14.879 finding your unique voice, and Emily Brady as well here from sweet fish. 13 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:18.879 She broke down a piece that she's put together from Gen Z to be to 14 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:23.840 be Tick Tock strategy for your brand. So lots of just quality content and 15 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:30.519 conversation. Don't want you to miss any of it and and so we'll be 16 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:34.200 sure to check it out, and you can always search by topic over on 17 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:40.840 the sweet fish website. All Right, today the feature conversation building a networking 18 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:48.959 group that actually adds value with Rob Volk. Let's jump in. Welcome back 19 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.000 to be to be growth. I'm your host for today's episode, Logan Lyles, 20 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.439 with sweet fish media. I'm joined today by Rob Volk. He is 21 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:59.079 the founder over at Fox box digital. Rob Height doing today? Sir? 22 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.719 Hey, looking to do great. Thanks, awesome. Hopefully you're recovering well 23 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:05.799 from your ski trip out my way in Colorado right. Oh, man, 24 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.199 it was amazing. I am sort of happy to be back. Yeah, 25 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:14.199 absolutely, Man, awesome. Well, ROB, we're going to be talking 26 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:21.639 about some strategies that you've really employed to grow your network and specifically build executive 27 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:25.080 relationships that have contributed to the growth of your business, and breakdown some of 28 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:30.120 the ways that you've done that effectively over the years. Before we jump straight 29 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:32.319 into that, though, rob I would love for you to give listeners a 30 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:37.840 little background on yourself, besides being a skier, and a little bit about 31 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:40.280 what you and the team at Fox box digital or up to these days. 32 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:44.479 Yeah, thanks, so. I mean, in short, I love building 33 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:47.639 software. So I've been a software developer my whole life and sort of took 34 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:53.199 that, did a lot of consulting and then jumped into the startup world really 35 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:55.599 learned how to build new products, you know, from scratch using, you 36 00:02:55.639 --> 00:03:01.120 know, newer, modern techniques, and then they're decided to take that to 37 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:06.879 larger companies and created Fox box digital. Awesome. And tell us a little 38 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:09.159 bit about what you guys do, kind of the niche that you guys serve. 39 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:12.599 What are you guys working on these days, Rob yes, so we 40 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.840 focus on building mobile and Web APPs, using technology called react native on the 41 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:22.120 mobile front, which really allows us to create a cross platform APP, create 42 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:24.560 the IOS and ANDROID APP at the same time with the same codebase, and 43 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:30.560 really just leads to a really efficient process but a really killer product at the 44 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:34.879 end. Nice. I love that faster development of android APPs. Just on 45 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:38.080 a personal note, I'm probably one of the few android users on our team 46 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:42.639 and I catch some flak for it, but I'm always like the IOS APP 47 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:45.719 is out for this Wednesday, android APP coming out. It drives men. 48 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.120 Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, these days you can't just release the 49 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:52.159 IPHONE APP and so for all of our clients, we release the ANDROID and 50 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:55.360 iphone at the same day. Very cool, I love it. Awesome. 51 00:03:55.400 --> 00:04:00.599 Well, Rob let's jump into the the topic today, and really, you 52 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:05.479 know, that's growth through executive relationships and building your network with the folks that 53 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:10.439 that really can can help you and and you can help you know, I 54 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:15.560 know a lot of marketers don't necessarily love the word networking, but I think 55 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.360 if we unpack it, you know, just talking with you a little bit 56 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:23.600 offline before we hit record, you very much approach networking in the way that 57 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:27.399 we think about it, in that it doesn't have to be this, Hey, 58 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.360 I'm sizing you up to give you my pitch later, the those sorts 59 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:32.759 of things. So tell us a little bit about the way you've gone about 60 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:36.720 this. Really kind of the center is a monthly breakfast that you started several 61 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:42.079 years ago. Right, yeah, absolutely. So, first of all, 62 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:45.600 I didn't even know this is marketing, and this is all accidental in that 63 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:48.600 I didn't. I didn't create this breakfast group in order to, you know, 64 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.519 create a consulting business, because I did it two and a half years 65 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:56.279 before I created the consulting business. But effactively, what I did was. 66 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:00.839 I was talking about my friend Karen, and we were both tech leaders of 67 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:03.240 small startups and you know, as a leader of a company, you don't 68 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:06.680 have anyone who you can talk to when you have issues, right, and 69 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:10.879 it's usually not about the technology, it's about the softer side, like managing 70 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:14.480 people and issues like that. So we got together and we figured that, 71 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:16.639 you know, there's probably others of the same issue, and so we created 72 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:23.959 a monthly breakfast where we get together and we discuss a topic around managing people, 73 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.680 around your growing businesses, growing technology, stuff like that. And Yeah, 74 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:30.120 it just sort of grew from there. We about seventy five members right 75 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.040 now and we meet every month. I Love It, rob I love the 76 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:36.920 genuine nature of where this came out of. One of the ways you described 77 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:42.560 it to me in a previous conversation was really it's founders therapy, right, 78 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:46.480 is something that it's kind of become, right. Yeah, that's absolutely right. 79 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.920 We basically get together and have an opportunity to be really open and honest 80 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:56.040 in a private and setting where we can discuss the issues that we have on 81 00:05:56.079 --> 00:06:00.279 a daytoday. And you know, it's usually it's usually something that you don't 82 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:04.000 have an out with otherwise I love that. A few months ago I read 83 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:09.199 a book called the introverts edge and it was talking about, you know, 84 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:14.160 business owners and founders really kind of getting thrust into the sales roll and not 85 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:18.439 necessarily being ready for that because they are an expert. They launched their business 86 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:20.839 because they were an expert, you know, in their field. And it 87 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:26.519 sounds like tackling kind of the same issue from other aspects is what you know, 88 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:29.879 you started to do with building this group, because you know, founders 89 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:32.959 are you know, they're great at the tech or different aspects, whatever they're, 90 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.800 you know, their specialty is. And then all these other things come 91 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:41.639 with actually building a business, right, the soft skills of managing people and, 92 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.800 you know, different financial aspects and all those sorts of things, and 93 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:48.199 so finding people that are going through the same things, I think is is 94 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:53.319 really smart. Tell me a little bit about how it started to organically growt 95 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:57.879 did you say you guys are up to seventy five regular attendees at these monthly 96 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:01.399 breakfasts now? Yeah, so there's seventy five people in the group, but 97 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:06.319 any given breakfast will have about twelve. Okay, so yeah, but we 98 00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:10.600 have a very active flag channel and so you know, it's sort of grown 99 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:15.000 like that. It's just grown organically, where you know one member will bring 100 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:16.800 a friend, a CTEO friend of theirs, and so are. Our group 101 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:23.759 consists of mostly cteos of small startups from, you know, just single founder 102 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:29.959 to founders up to you a hundred person company. Today's gross story revolves around 103 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:34.240 search engine marketing. Delphis, a big data platform, had hired an agency 104 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:38.680 to manage their Google adds a few years ago, but they weren't seeing the 105 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:43.079 results they wanted to see. Being such a technical be tob solution, they 106 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.399 set out to find a team that could take on their challenge. After countless 107 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:51.560 proposals, they found the perfect fit directive consulting, the B Tob Search Marketing 108 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:58.680 Agency. And just one week after launching directives campaigns, delphis saw their lead 109 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:03.920 volume double and their costper lead drop by sixty percent. I have a hunch 110 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:07.240 that directive can get these kind of results for you to, so head over 111 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:16.079 to directive consultingcom and request a totally free custom proposal. That's directive consultingcom. 112 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:20.959 All right, let's get back to this interview. I love it. So 113 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:24.000 tell us a little bit, rob, as this started to gain some some 114 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:28.279 formality after it was just, you know, you and the first friend that 115 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.120 you started having breakfast with. What are some of the things that you guys 116 00:08:31.159 --> 00:08:37.120 started to do to provide some structure to make sure that this was valuable, 117 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:41.320 because obviously more people are joining in. Obviously, you know, every all 118 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:45.399 of the seventy five folks that are, you know, apart can't make it 119 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.480 all the time, but you've got people regularly showing up to this. So 120 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:52.480 there must be something that you're doing outside of, you know, like we 121 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:56.039 said, what people typically, you know, have the negative connotations with networking. 122 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:00.200 That's actually delivering some values. So I would love to hear you know 123 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:03.679 kind of how that has grown organically as well how you structured it to make 124 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:09.440 it valuable for folks that keep coming and showing up to these conversations. Yeah, 125 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:13.480 so we we do a few things. So we start with we start 126 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:18.039 the breakfast with thirty minutes of just really unstructured you get to chat with the 127 00:09:18.039 --> 00:09:20.360 person next to you and just and just kind of honestly wake up. It's 128 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:24.279 thirty in the morning. I'm not a morning person. So we get some 129 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:26.559 coffee in us, we get a little loose and we reach out with each 130 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:31.440 other and then as soon as twenty minutes come around, we take orders and 131 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:35.440 then we start a structured topic. And so we're sitting around in a you 132 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.679 know, a long table, twelve people in it, and we have one 133 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:43.440 topic of discussion and then we have we just have a natural, cordial conversation 134 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.759 where people aren't talking over each other, people are not on the phones and 135 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.360 we all just engage in this conversation together, and then that's and that's one 136 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:54.360 topic for the whole breakfast. Then it'll naturally kind of fade out and then 137 00:09:54.360 --> 00:10:00.360 we pay the bill and take off. I love it so with with busy 138 00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:03.840 founders and ctos, you have to have a phone basket by the end of 139 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:07.120 the table or something like that where people have to have to leave them or 140 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:11.519 as just kind of standing rule for breakfast. You know, it's interesting that 141 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:16.759 no, we don't and we we don't have any specific rules on it and 142 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:20.360 of course occasionally people will take out their phones, but it's never been an 143 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:22.679 issue or distraction and I don't know how, because usually, you know, 144 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.960 I've had conversations with with Karen, my cofounder of this breakfast, and he 145 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.200 was looking at his Apple Watch and response of your text message and then looking 146 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:33.039 up at me, I'm like cure, and you're not. You're not engaged 147 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:35.639 with me at all. So now, luckily, we have not to do 148 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:39.320 that. Yeah, I think we've all been there and I think that goes 149 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:43.320 to the quality of the the group that you've built in, the quality of 150 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:48.000 the conversation that people have become accustomed to. That you know, and I 151 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:50.559 think the lesson there, whether you're a founder or a marketer, is when 152 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:54.679 you're building community, if you focus on genuine connections, which you know you 153 00:10:54.679 --> 00:11:00.159 guys allowed the conversations to start. Naturally give some time for people to wake 154 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:03.960 up, if they need one or two cups of coffee to get going, 155 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:09.399 and it happens organically and then there's valuable conversation. Then people tend to to 156 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:11.080 and out other things. It's when we're sitting in those, you know, 157 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:15.879 death by power point meetings where, you know we can't avoid that twitch to 158 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:20.039 look at our phones. So tell us a little bit more about how you've, 159 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.759 you know, structured engagement with this group outside of the breakfast itself. 160 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.960 One of the things you mentioned is a slack channel. We've started to do 161 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.039 this with guests that we've had on on this podcast on bb growth and some 162 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:37.519 of our guest co hosts as well. I love the way slack is is 163 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:41.000 able to kind of be that, you know, I know if it's technically 164 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:43.399 a dark social network or if you'd you'd label it that way, but you 165 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:48.600 know, another kind of mini social network. Have you guys been had that 166 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:52.600 active channel for a while or is that something that's come up recently in kind 167 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.879 of the evolution of this networking group? Yeah, so slack came up maybe 168 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:58.840 a year, year and a half ago. You know, slack was, 169 00:12:00.039 --> 00:12:03.240 you know, gaining popularity and really I think that we discovered that we needed 170 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:07.159 to, you know, chat outside of this group and you know, once 171 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:09.840 a month is great to discuss some you know, burning topic, but a 172 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:13.440 lot of times we need help with little things. Hey, I need to 173 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.279 hire an is developer, I need to find a designer, and so just 174 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:22.320 this is a forum for those sorts of conversations to happen, and I describe 175 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:24.799 it as a private social network. So we have a private channel that you 176 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:30.519 have to be invited to and one thing that's that's important is that it's not 177 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.480 too big. So seventy five people sounds like a lot, but of course 178 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:37.080 not everyone's engaged and so it's a we have a healthy amount of discussion on 179 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:41.559 there. We had discussed actually merging this with another competing group. There's no 180 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:46.080 I really harsh competition here, but another competing group and they wanted to potentially 181 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:48.799 merge with us, but we didn't want to get too big. So I 182 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:52.759 think the size is important and organic growth is important, because if we doubled 183 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:58.080 in size then it would change the whole dynamic. HMM. Yeah, absolutely. 184 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:03.159 I think you're very smart to be mindful of that and and I love 185 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:07.480 that idea of you know, we're bringing people together to be able to talk, 186 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:11.840 to share ideas, to ask questions, to commiserate at times and just 187 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:16.080 be you know, like you said, founders therapy or marketers therapy or whatever 188 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:20.080 group that you're building, the community that you're building. But having that slack 189 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:26.720 channel allows for those quick questions that can really accelerate things and save you from, 190 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:30.559 you know, getting deep down a rabbit whole of a Google search or 191 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.320 something on a specific topic or trying to find the right person. So being 192 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.080 able to Ping your network very quickly and very efficiently. I think that's a 193 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:41.840 great layer on top of this regular, you know, in person event. 194 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:46.159 Is there anything else, any other form of communication that you guys have now 195 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:50.320 developed with this group that have helped you, you know, kind of boiled 196 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:52.600 down what you guys have been talking about or bring up, you know, 197 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:58.360 certain topics that are kind of rising to the surface amongst these conversations? Yes, 198 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:01.600 so, in order to pick the topic, we pulled the group beforehand 199 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:05.039 and we just asked he who's got a real issue they're facing right now, 200 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:07.720 so that the question we like to ask is what are you struggling with? 201 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:13.000 And I think that's important, important question, because it gets to you know, 202 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.519 it gets gets sort of emotional, it triggers an emotional response and so, 203 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.120 you know, if someone's actually struggling with something, they'll bring it up 204 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.279 as a topic and if it sounds like a great topic and others agree, 205 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:26.039 well then that's that's how we decide what we're going to talk about. I 206 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:28.759 love it. So you guys just send out an email, like shortly after 207 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:33.320 the last breakfast, pinging people for, you know, the topic for the 208 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.240 next one, and then do they just respond or you give them a google 209 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:39.320 form? How do you guys kind of structure it? Yeah, I wish, 210 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:41.279 I wish we were that structured with it. It's really kind of an 211 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:45.039 ad hoc process, but we yeah, you know, we have we host 212 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:46.279 a breakfast, we wait a couple weeks and then we kind of get this 213 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:52.360 feeling that maybe we should plan the next one. That peopling keeps coming on. 214 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.919 Exactly. Yeah, I love it. Awesome, rob anything else you 215 00:14:56.919 --> 00:15:01.559 guys are doing? I think you mentioned, like gay, a quarterly email 216 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.519 that you guys are doing. What's kind of the context there? You guys 217 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:07.639 wrapping up some of the things that discussion or just like pointing out, you 218 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:09.320 know, other events that this group, you know, might want to have 219 00:15:09.399 --> 00:15:11.960 on the radar, those sorts of things? How is that evolved to? 220 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:16.759 Yes, so the quarterly email updates. It's a fair, fairly new thing 221 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:20.240 and basically it's something that I sent around to my professional network. So it 222 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:24.679 includes every one of the breakfast obviously, and then anyone else who I know 223 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:30.000 somewhat personally, at least somewhat personally, and and so I it's a chance 224 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:31.840 where I can actually be honest. I'm not really going out there and just 225 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:37.080 bragging or selling it's a little bit of bragging, it's also being honest and 226 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:41.480 and humble and and saying, Hey, I messed up in these shoe areas. 227 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:43.639 This is what I learned from that, which is obviously the important part. 228 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:46.799 And then I usually have an ask or something like Hey, I'm looking 229 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:50.879 for, you know, a new a new developer or head of product or 230 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:54.080 something like that. Yeah, I love that. I think that authenticity goes 231 00:15:54.120 --> 00:16:00.120 a long way one in building that connection with with your network and also giving 232 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:04.559 people things to learn from. We learned so much more from our failures and 233 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:08.559 insecurities and you know, it may actually be a little bit back by the 234 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:12.399 time that listeners here this episode, but as we're as we're recording this, 235 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:17.519 Rob Guy Tano, one of our good friends over at next Eva, and 236 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:22.440 James, our founder, kicked off what they called the insecurities challenge on Linkedin 237 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:25.759 and James Actually challenged me, and so there are people, you know, 238 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:30.039 posting to Linkedin right now with that Hashtag. Insecurities challenge too are something that 239 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:33.960 you know, Peel back the curtain on themselves and their own insecurities a bit 240 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.200 and what others can can learn from that. Both, you know, for 241 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:41.600 us to connect as professionals more on the human level and also I think they're, 242 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:45.440 like I said, some of the best lessons to be able to learn 243 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:48.679 and help each other out and encourage each other, you know, in those 244 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:52.080 ways. So I love that you're taken a very, very similar approach. 245 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:53.840 From what it sounds like. I've never heard of that, but I love 246 00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:56.919 it. I love the concept and I just have to say that, you 247 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:00.759 know, I used to be so selfconscious and I used to think that I 248 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.400 had to have all the answers as you know, cteo of a company, 249 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:08.319 and and then, you know, I just I kind of realized as I, 250 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:11.920 you know, got older that hey, you know what, everyone has 251 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:15.440 these insecurities. Everyone, you know, no one's perfect, people make mistakes 252 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:18.440 and you can't have all the answers and so really by just, you know, 253 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:22.200 being open and honest and coming out there, I've had such a great 254 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:26.880 response from people where people just naturally want to help each other and no one 255 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.599 thinks badly of me that I don't have this answer, and so it's really 256 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:34.759 been a huge learning thing. Yeah, absolutely, there there's a tagline I 257 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:41.079 hear from Craig Grow Shell on his leadership podcast listeners had probably heard me mention 258 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:45.240 this several times lately, but that's one that's regularly in my rotation, whether 259 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:48.440 you're a founder of a company, a marketing leader, a sales leader, 260 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:53.480 whatever position of leadership you're in. The quote he always says is people would 261 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:59.480 rather follow a leader who's always real than one who is always right, and 262 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:03.319 I think that rings true and is really evident in what you're saying and sharing 263 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.079 their rob so again, I think we're likeminded in a lot of ways and 264 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:11.400 I've really enjoyed this conversation breaking down. You know how you've been able to 265 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.799 grow a network that has added value to folks that you want to be connected 266 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.880 with, and it's contributed to the growth of your business, even though it 267 00:18:18.920 --> 00:18:23.279 wasn't necessarily you know the the reason for starting this from the onset, as 268 00:18:23.319 --> 00:18:25.160 you mentioned,