Can Networking Help Your Business Grow?

Josh Minton: The Networking Maestro of Nashville

In this episode, the hosts interview Josh Minton, a multi-faceted entrepreneur and insurance agent based in Nashville, Tennessee. Dubbed the 'most interesting man in Nashville,' Josh is an award-winning property and casualty insurance agent, philanthropist, t-shirt entrepreneur, and the founder of Connect Nashville, the largest networking group in Nashville. Josh shares his journey from being a Liberty Mutual insurance agent to creating a successful networking empire spanning multiple groups across Middle Tennessee. He emphasizes the importance of consistent attendance, the benefits of one-to-one meetings, and the value of building genuine relationships in networking. Additionally, Josh offers insights into his insurance business and encourages small business owners to leverage networking to elevate their businesses.

00:00 Introduction to the Most Interesting Man in Nashville
01:08 Josh Minton's Diverse Ventures
01:34 Connect Nashville: The Networking Giant
03:31 The Growth and Impact of Connect Nashville
08:51 Networking Strategies and Success Stories
12:00 Effective Networking Practices
21:01 Building Relationships and Overcoming Challenges
23:33 Addressing Networking Concerns
23:49 Unexpected Networking Success Stories
26:01 The Power of Networking Groups
28:31 Effective Trade Show Strategies
35:39 Networking Etiquette and Tips
41:57 Insurance Insights and Networking Benefits
45:35 Connecting with Josh and Final Thoughts

josh@hqinsurance.com

facebook.com/JDMintonHQ 

linkedin.com/in/mintonjoshua

Transcript

0:56

Do you remember that? Do Equis commercial, the most interesting man in the world? Yes, I do. Josh Minton is the Nashville version of the most interesting man in the world. This guy does it all. You were too kind. I wish I could say it. Just to give a little background, you are an award-winning PNC, which is property and casualty, which is home and auto insurance agent. Yep. Been doing that for a while. You're a Phil philanthropist, which is easy for me to say. American Cancer Society. He is a t-shirt entrepreneur. Did you know that? I do. Him and And Cody. Cody, yep. Own a t-shirt company. Very good. shirts.com And then as if, oh, it's very good. shirts.com. Yeah. Yep. And then if he didn't have enough to do, he also in his spare time, runs networking groups. The biggest in Nashville. Yeah. Yeah. So Connect Nashville. Yeah. Business connections, which is how we met. Yep. Oh yeah. All of it. And there's nine meetings a week, eight meetings. A Nashville has eight meetings right now, and we're actually about to start a West Nashville meeting here soon. So we're in the process of that now. Yeah. Facebook group. Facebook group's. Got 18,000 plus people in Middle Tennessee. Wow. Yeah, our LinkedIn's got 7,000 followers. Instagram's starting to grow, so Yeah. Married? Yep. Married. Two dogs, two dogs. Yeah, just moved. Just moved to Nolansville, Tennessee. We forgot, we forgot about the, uh, kickball champion kick kickball. Are you champions in kickball? Oh, I've, I think I've got like 27 championships. I'm on the, I'm on the Yankees level of championships, but thus the hat. Exactly. You know what you need. I. Another thing to do. Yeah. No, you need, you need the kids to slow you down. That's the plan. That's why we're in Nolensville, so Yeah. Yeah. You got the house now you need the, got the house now. We need the kids to come with it. Already got the dogs. Yep. Oh yeah. There's not many people that are Nashville natives anymore. Everybody came from somewhere else, so, well, there's a lot of us still here. It's just with so many people moving here, it feels like it's fewer and far between. What part of Nashville did you, did you grow up South Nashville, right over here. Five minutes away. I actually went to church for Hills United Methodist. Right over here. Brentwood? Yeah. Brentwood. Yeah. Went to MTSU in Murfreesboro and came right back. I've, I've traveled everywhere. Yeah. I wanted to get away from homes. I went to Murfreesboro. Exactly. My sister went to Belmont. We went really far away. You've seen a lot of changes in Nashville over your years, I'm sure. Oh yeah. It's, I remember when Cool Springs Mall was getting built. Mm-hmm. I remember driving through there. There was nothing over there. I remember when Maryland Farms was just the farm. Yeah, it's crazy. Nashville's booming. It's crazy. That's why they need insurance agents and business owners need networking. 100%. That is the reason. So how in the world did you get started in the, in the networking? Well, so I started at Liberty Mutual as an insurance agent. Okay. And like within the first probably six months, I was told go find a networking group like this. Like I was Tre Anthony Reco was one of my mentors There. And he had a BNI that he, he's in and was in at the time and he was like, I get a lot of business out of that. So go find some networking groups. And actually applied for A BNI and didn't get it. Got rejected. Yeah. I thought, I thought I was, I thought I was issuing, my brother-in-law was the president. I. The, the last two PNC people they had were Liberty Mutual. I was like, let's go. And David Comer actually got the seat over me. They said they wanted to like, I think he was really good friends with the membership person or something like that. Politics. Yeah. And so, and like David's a great guy. I love David, but I was like one of those like, okay, well let's just go start my own thing. If they don't want me, I'll go try to do something bigger and better and say, y'all should, y'all should have hired me, or y'all should have brought me in. I think David's working with another friend of ours. Zach Carter. Zach Carter? Yeah. Okay. He's on the Herron Hills team. Oh, that's right. Yeah, he, yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. Yeah. Small world. Yeah. P and C people are everywhere. Yes. And they all know each other. They all know at least know of each other. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And everybody knows Josh as we already discussed, because he's so big in the city. So Nice. So like you started networking because you did not get into this other group. Yep. So how did you go about starting Connect Nashville? Yeah. Well, so at first I was like, let me go start my own BNI. And so I put a post up on the Nextdoor app. It was just. Looking start BNI in this area, here's, and so for those that don't know, BNI stands for Business Networking. Networking. International. International, okay. Yeah. Yeah. We throw around these acronyms like everybody knows. Oh, doing just, just keep doing that. Hold that. Just to clarify it, if you don't know what any of the acronyms that we used. Feel free to reach out to us. We'd be happy to make up the answer. I mean, give you the answer, give you the the right answer. Yeah. Yeah. I put a post up in the Nextdoor app just said, looking to start A BNI, who'd be interested, four or five people reached out. Two of'em being Sheila, Hey Baker and Deborah Evans. And so we started meeting and then it turned into like. Got probably 10, 15 people showing up periodically. And so at that point I was like, well hey, the idea is to become A BNI, let's get to 25 people, then go to BNI so we can cut out the whole growth process. And I think one other person in the group wanted to be, wanted it to be A BNI. So we were like, okay, well maybe we don't go to BNI. And so just kind of did it on our own and then started a Wednesday morning coffee is what we called it to, to recruit. So they put that up on like meetup.com and everything like that. And that's what turned into Connect Nashville. So that that just kind of blew up on its own. And so over time just kind of grew that, grew business connections and kind of kept going from there. But it really just started like I needed a place that would to network and a place that worked. So currently, how many separate groups do you have? So Business Connections is a totally separate thing. It's, it's like a single seat, like A BNI. And then Connect. Nashville has eight weekly meetings all over town. And then we do a, a big happy hour probably every four to six weeks. So can you name off the areas where they're located? Oh sure. I sure can. Yeah. Put you to the test. Yeah. We're Connect Murfreesboro, well Connect Bound Juliet on Monday mornings. Connect Murphysboro is actually down right now. Connect Hendersonville Connect. Lennox Village Connect. Cool Springs. Connect East Nashville Connect. Spring Hill Connect, Gallatin. And then we have a virtual meeting every Friday. And so all of those came about. Did they come about organically? Just because you had so many people that were. We sure did. So like the Wednesday morning coffee, like after we created the Facebook group and the social media presence, we were getting 30, 40 people. Somebody came to us and said, Hey, y'all need to start one of these in Spring Hill. So Tony was like, Tony and I were like, let's go do it, let's go start it there. When that one started, that one took a little bit longer to grow, I think mainly.'cause Tony and I didn't live in Spring Hill at the time, so it was kind of, who are these guys? You know what's going on there. But then Tony's brother-in-law, Kevin said, Hey, I wanna start one of these in Lennox Village. So we got one up and running a Nalytics village. And then over time people say, Hey, I wanna start one of these in East Nashville. I wanna start one of these in Mount Juliet. So it's all been very organically done and just who wants to take the time to manage and run and do all of that? So it's pretty cool to watch over the, over what, seven, eight years now. This may be a layup question, but when people are reaching out to join the group, what are they looking for? Usually looking to grow their business, looking to connect with people. So like for me, being a Nashville native, growing up, I didn't want to be the insurance agent that called his friends and family and try to sell to all his friends and family. It was like, lemme go make my own connections. And so we get a lot of people that are like that, that say like, I need a place to even go, like meet referral partners or just meet people. Or you know, we get people like, Hey, I've gotta grow my business, give, grow awareness. You know, things like that. So that's typically what people are looking for. That was actually the question I was going to ask in a different way. When you got started seven years ago to today, how, how much is your business growing? You're no longer with Liberty Mutual. Yeah, no longer at Liberty. Moved in 2019 to HQ Insurance to become a broker. I did the math last year. I think 80, 82% of my business came from Connect Nashville, whether it's somebody that used to come to the meetings and doesn't anymore or whatnot, but about that high of a percentage comes outta the Connect Nashville Business Connections world. Okay, first controversial question of the day. What do you hate that people do when they go to a networking meeting? Oh, that's a great question. Yeah, I've been thinking about that one. One of my favorites is they're just there to collect business cards. They're not there to actually connect with people. We see that a lot, and I mean, a lot of the, the negative things are people that just don't understand networking, so I try to spin it in like a, let's help them figure this out. It's be, make it good for them and make it work. But I think a lot of people, they're, they're trying to hard sell the people that are in the room and that's it. And they're just collecting business cards and not trying to like build relationships and meet people. I. So I'd say that's, those are probably the two biggest things for me. Yeah. That's painfully obvious when somebody's coming in with a greedy attitude. And I think the people that really get the most is when you can go into it thinking, what can I give? Exactly. The givers gain. Right? The givers gain, yeah. Yeah. And you know that, that seems to be a great approach.'cause it always comes back around. I tell everybody that's new and will ask me questions on how to make it work. I tell'em, if you focus on what you're giving to the group, let the group focus on what they're giving back to you. If you're focused on what you're getting, like I'm showing up, I've gotta leave with a referral today, you're probably not gonna get one. If you're focused on how you can help, how you connect other people, that shows, it really comes across. And so that's, I think that's the best way to jump into a networking group in general. So obviously you have a great personal story about how it's affected your business. Mm-hmm. I'm sure you've seen countless, probably other stories of people. Oh, yeah. And just kind of amazing things that, you know, this person meets that person, that person meets this person. Yeah. Any that are top of mind. Oh yeah. I actually have one really cool one. So the girl comes to our SpringHill meeting, she Rachel Smith with Cinderella Studios. She does wood burning and like charcuterie classes. Well then she met this guy named Moose, who also does, he does like candied bacon and things like that. Well, then they got together and they formed a bourbon, bacon and burn class where you go and taste bourbon. Have candied bacon and you burn charcuterie boards or burned things like with fire, like all that stuff. And just to see them kind of grow together. Wow. Connect and go up from there has been really cool to watch. Bourbon, bacon and burning. Exactly. I mean, the bourbon might burn the bacon burns. Yeah, and you can burn wood. I mean, you can burn it all away. So. Have you, you've seen her work, right? I have Scott. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's incredible. She's been at some of those other, those happy hours and stuff. It's been cool. So yeah, she actually made us an ornament for a Christmas ornament of our new house and everything like that. Oh wow. And I just, I just don't understand that, the patience that she has, right. For that stuff. It was like, I did the outline of the state of Tennessee took me an hour. I was like, that's i's just drawing lines, you know? What are you gonna do there? I remember when I was a kid, wood burning kiss were really big back in, back in those days. All I could make were triangles. Uh, mine looks like a 6-year-old kid, so yeah, I'll let the professionals stick to that. Thank goodness, back in those days, there were no houses that had smoke detectors in them. Probably wouldn't work today. No, I think the insurance company be. Be a little worried about that one for sure. What do you think is the hardest thing about committing to a networking group? I think really it's treating it like a client meeting and constantly being there. Like the people that get the most off of a networking group, from what I've seen at least, are the ones that are consistent and they're always there. I call it the billboard effect. They don't, people don't know they need you until they need you. And so if you're the one that's always there, you're the one that's probably gonna get the referral. And so I think it's the consistency piece. That's how a lot of people that are new to it is like I put all the meetings that I go to as a client meeting on my calendar, and the only way I miss it is if there's no physical way I can be there. And I think that's the biggest thing. I think for sure. Yeah. So one of the things about when you are, when you're in a networking group and you throughout the day, you run into somebody that has a need for, we'll say insurance, just make this easy. And you're always kind of balancing that. Can I really trust Josh with sending this referral to him, or is it gonna make me look bad if he doesn't do his part? So I think to your point, the attendance showing up every week, being consistent. That builds the confidence definitely. That the group needs to feel comfortable to send you the business. Right, exactly. Well, and if, if you're constantly going and you're not following through when referrals are sent to you, like everybody gets that and sees that and it becomes a thing. So I think the consistency is first, then following through after that, and then going from there. But consistency is the number one. That's the first thing I think everybody needs to do. And then whether that's. I can only be at a meeting twice a month. You're there twice a month. I can be there every week. You're there every week. Like find how you can be consistent and do it. So our audience is small business owners. A lot of them are starting a new business. I. How would you suggest they go about finding the group that might be right for them? A good fit? I'd say visit a lot of different groups, like Visit Your BNIs, visit your, your NTIs, your bars, your Connect Nashvilles, check out a bunch of different groups. Get a, like a good vibe and figure out which one's gonna be the right fit for what you need and what you do, and the people in the room are a good fit for you. And then really dive into those, dive into the ones that are right, like good fits for you. There's a lot of networking out there. It is just, I hate the word church shopping, but it's like you want to go check out churches to find the right fit. What are you gonna get the most out of? Do the same thing with networking, right? Yeah. Again, you should go into it with a, a giver's gain mindset, but at the same time, there are natural referral channels that that establish themselves and it would probably be smart to kind of look at the makeup of the group, what they, what the businesses that are covered there and you know, if there happened to be one or two that are like right in your sweet spot. Exactly. You know, all the better. For sure. If I'm a home inspector, I'm. Really hoping there's some good realtors in the group, right? Yeah. And if you're going to a group that never has real estate agents or anybody in the real estate world that might not be the right fit for you, it's looking at who's, what businesses are in there and are they a good match for what you do? So if you're new to town, yep. You're new to opening your business. You start to go to some of these networking groups, obviously it takes a little bit of an extroverted personality, even walk in the door when you're afraid. I think the three of us probably don't have that problem, but there are people that out there that, that they are the wallflowers. They, they sit on the sidelines, they're not quite sure how to interact. What do you suggest that they do to get more involved? And then what do you tell leaders? And leaders are not always the people that run the meeting, but. The people that are always there consistently there. Mm-hmm. Uh, what do you tell people? How do you teach them to network in a way?'cause B and I does a great job of that. Yes, they do. They have a great educational platform. I'm not plugging B and I necessarily, no, they do because we're, but they do a great job of teaching people how to network. So when people go to a Connect Nashville group and it's an open group, there's five or six different, I love the one I go to in Spring Hill. There's three, sometimes four HR people and payroll people in the same room. And I like it because competition's good. Yep. And then, and then we always have some things that we can help each other with, but Exactly. What do you tell people to do when they go to those meetings? Well, if they're the introverted personality, you know, really nervous. So say, let's break it down, let's make it simple. When you show up here, set yourself a goal of connecting with one person. So you listen to everybody's pitches, who do you connect with? Who do you think, okay, I need to connect with that person. I can help their business and just set a goal of meeting one person. And then over time, as you get to know more people in the room or feel more comfortable, then open it up a little bit more. But if you can break it down to simple goals, like I just want to get one business card so I can set one, one-to-one meeting and come outta there with that. And that's a success. It also, I always tell people, get outta your comfort zone. Like you can't grow if you're in your comfort zone. So it's, it's not easy to, it's easy to say, not easy to do, but do everything you can to push yourself. To be uncomfortable and get used to being that way. Like I was more introverted than I am now. Like I remember having to like read everything, so I didn't wanna look up and all that. So. Yeah, we didn't even talk about the one-to-one yet. That's probably one of the most powerful things about joining a networking group is the one-to-one. That's, that's where it all starts. For those that have never been to a networking group and don't know what the heck we're talking about, a one-to-one is when you meet one-on-one with another member of the group, and you both share a little more detail, a little more intimate inside knowledge of what your business is, you learn about their business and kind of develop that relationship. You know, you can go to a networking group. Week in, week out, you get up and you do your 62nd pitch, week in, week out, and then you have a one-to-one with somebody and it's almost like they're hearing your story for the first time and then suddenly you start getting referrals from that person. Exactly. It's so weird. It's like, where have you been every week? Yeah. It's like my favorite is like, so what do you do? It's like you've been here 17 times and I have a pitch every week, but. You know, a lot of times people are focused on, okay, what am I gonna say today? And they're not actually hearing everything. So the one-to-ones are huge. I mean, that's where you really build a relationship. Yeah. So that's a, that's another great question is when you show up to the networking group, one of the things you're gonna, you're gonna do is you're gonna get up and for 60 seconds or so you're gonna talk about your business and what are some of the best practices around that and what have you seen that works? What doesn't work? I always try to tell a story. I tell people, like the people that tell a story with their pitch and how they can help, it's you're painting a picture of how you can help their somebody else's clients. Don't just say, Hey, like we've got great mortgage rates right now, and leave it at that. Tell, tell us how you helped somebody before, like paint that picture.'cause it really brings out more of how, like, how you can help me or anybody. I've, I'm connected with Yeah. We've seen people that, and I know you have too. They could be somebody that's in a B2B business. And there's a lot of different types of businesses that they can, that they can work with, but they will show up at the networking group and say, this week I'm looking for Mexican restaurant owners. Yep. You know, they really dial it in and be very specific, because I think that helps the rest of the group. I know somebody that's a Mexican restaurant owner. Right, exactly. Rather than just saying, Hey, if you know any business owners that you know X, Y, Z, send them my way. Yeah. Like what business owners are you winning with right now? Tell us those types of businesses. One of my favorite ones that I say is I want to talk to anybody that drives a red car and thinks they're paying a lot of insurance because it's a red car. And it's like people, oh, I know somebody, or I drive a red car. You know, that kind of a thing. So that's a great way if, if you can really dial it in and be very specific and change it up every week, do something different. We've got a banker in one of our groups and he says, I'm looking for anybody that has money. Or needs money. Yeah. That covers us all. Yeah. That means everybody. You can help everybody. That's a good one. I used to do the, anybody that drives a car or lives in a home, I'd love to talk to'em. But if you're homeless. Uh, we don't wanna talk about, I probably can't help you. How, how about if they're living in their car? Do you get both car insurance and homeowner insurance? You wouldn't get home insurance on that, but we could. We can. It's, we look into our options for sure. So I love going to networking meetings and talking to new people and doing stuff. Oh yeah. And I struggle with the specific ask. Mm-hmm. I'm very general in my ask. It's very, but what I am trying to do is not so much I'm planting seeds more than anything else. Yep. And I. I, well, I act a fool.'cause my, my pitch is not Yeah. Normal. No. I can do almost everybody's. And you stand out because of it. Yeah. I can do almost do everybody's presentation in every group I go to and they're all like this and they all, I want to do this and it's so boring and I don't want to listen to anymore. I heard a great thing the other day. And it, it goes back to what you said about telling a story. Yeah. The attention span, the average attention span, anybody in any given time is seven to 10 seconds. Yep. So. I've told them who I am and what I do when they're already gone. Yep. But if they don't know what I'm gonna do week in and week out, I might have a chance at'em. So that's, I I, that's kind of what I do. Well, that's kinda what what I do is like, I start mine off every week with Josh local bus or insurance agent here in Mill, Tennessee. And it's like, hit that one thing for like five to six seconds every single time and then tell a story for the rest of it. So you, you're always saying exactly what you do, but then you're telling a story, hopefully engaging those people that are listening to you. And then that you, they engage even more because it's something that could be interested to them or could fit what they're doing. Things like that. You only need one. Only. Yeah. Exactly. I tell you, one thing I've noticed too is typically you're going there to develop relationships to ultimately help your business, right? Mm-hmm. But what I've seen also is you develop the relationships with the people in there, and they becomes almost like your informal board of advisors. Oh yeah. Right? So you've developed a great relationship with a banker who becomes your business banker or your. Insurance agent or your payroll guy, right? If your business needs payroll. Everybody's business needs payroll, sorry. And hr. HR and payroll didn't mean to take you off your track. Yeah, go ahead. That's why we're in the luxurious HR podcast studio. But no, because I know, I've seen that happen in my life. I've got my financial advisor, my payroll guy, my CPA, and so it helps your business in a way other than just getting referrals. Well, and one of the coolest parts too is when you start becoming really close friends with those people, I mean like, like Tony Bostic and Samantha Vande Camp are two of my best friends because we've been working together each other so well, and, and all of that. We've built those relationships. You know what I mean? It's like you, you, the steps, the stepping process of we're building relationship now we're working together, we're referring people now we're business partners, businesses like advisors, and then like now we're friends too, and it just makes you want to even dive in more and help that person. Do you ever get any pushback from your employer about spending so much time at networking groups? I have in the past, once I was able to, to really dial in how much I'm, how much business I'm pulling in from'em and what, that's the bottom line, right. They've started to say, and, and both employers, when I was in the insurance industry, they started seeing that and going, oh, okay. Yeah, go, go. You're, it's working. Keep going. Mm-hmm. But at first there was a little bit of skeptical, like they've all been to networking groups before. Some of'em like'em, some of'em don't. But the idea of being out and about all the time as an insurance agent, you need to be in in the community. And so that's partially why I like to go out and do this stuff.'cause I'm in the community connecting with people and doing stuff. But I have gotten pushback before. But you know, once it's all about dialing in and showing the results. And then once you do that, you know, it speaks for itself. Our businesses are all kind of the same. The only thing our owners care about is what we bring in. Exactly. And so how you do it, long as it's honest and ethical is really not as important as the fact that you're bringing it in. Exactly. Now, if I'm going out networking five times a week and I'm not writing any business, then we have a different conversation to have. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Hey, when you're always gone and you're not doing anything for us, going up all these happy hours. Yeah. Yeah. And you're not bringing in any business what's going on. I, I felt like you've seen me con You feel heard? I feel heard. Have you, I guess, have you seen an example of a business that you would think would not be a good fit for networking that turns out to be a good fit for networking? Oh, yeah, that's a really good question. I don't know if I've seen, like I, I've always felt like any business can benefit off networking, whether it's word of mouth in your local community, things like that. I mean, we've, we've had times where we've had like breweries or distributors come in that usually would just go straight to restaurants and things like that, and it's like, Hey, they're getting to know people in the community. This is a great opportunity for'em. I haven't run to that many people that like, why are you here? Like, what's going on? Because I feel like everybody can use networking to a degree. You're pretty open minded that way. When I first started going into business connections and there was a tree guy. Yeah. I'm like, why is there a tree guy here? Because his, he is such a fine small niche market, right? Yeah. But as one of my employees, this is a positive story. Tree fell through a roof, needed a tree guy. Hmm. Needed a roofing guy. And guess where they were both at? Exactly, so, and saved her day. They got up on a, on a storm, got got her roof covered. She didn't lose everything in her house. So it, it was a positive story all because of the people that were in that group. Oh yeah. And without that I thought, why is this tree guy here? He is such a's, such a small opportunity. Yeah. But a large part of his business came from that group because. In an emergency, that's who you need to call. Well, you never know who's in that room and who know who that people in that room know. You know what I mean? So it's that's a great point right there. Exactly. That's why I'm a big believer in like, don't pitch to the people in the room pitch to who they know. Like the people in the room are your sales reps. Show them how you can help their, their connections and. Look at it from that perspective and it'll go a lot farther. That's exactly right. I heard somebody say one time too that if you can find a way to explain what you're doing to the group so that it makes it easy for them to refer you to other people. So it's like you put handles on your, on your message so that it's easy for them to pick it up and help be that silent salesperson for you. Exactly right. Yeah. I think that's, that's the magic in networking is they're your sales reps now, just because you've gotta know'em so well. They know exactly how to help you. It's not necessarily about selling them, it's about selling the people that they know. One of the things that you do when you sign up to re United State, I promise to only go to B and I and refer all my business to B and I. Do you dissuade or persuade or convince or support them? Going to multiple networking groups? I support going to multiple networking groups. I mean, that's going, having business connections and then Connect Nashville. Connect Nashville is a way that I find a lot of referrals for the people in business connections and so. Especially like the single seat groups, they're not getting new people all the time, every single weekend into that room. So like, let me go somewhere where I can meet new people. Anything that I can get from that to help the people in my single seat group. So I, I definitely think there's a, a great way to incorporate separate networking groups together. It's just making sure you're doing it right for everybody. Yeah. Yeah. As long as you're not saying, Hey, I'm never gonna give Josh a lead because I'm only gonna give it to Anthony. Exactly. But, but you try to share and find the right fit. You as a broker, independent broker, you got more opportunities than, than a captured agent necessarily is. Again, we're talking about lingo that not everybody understands, but you got more choices. Exactly. So yeah, more options for sure. Another thing that I think is a good strategy is you're a member of one group. I'll say one of the connect groups, right? You go there every week, maybe you visit one of the other ones. Yeah. Right. Because now you have access to a whole new room full of people rather than, you know, talking to the same group week in and week out. So leveraging the whole network rather than just your one individual group, I think is a great strategy. Exactly. I like to think of it as like, I've got my home group, this is my group, and then every, like all the other things that I do are. To help my business meet new people, but also to help my home group, and so try to bring things back to that, if that makes sense. A couple of times this last two weeks, I've got a guy through that met through Connect Nashville. He reached out to me looking for a referral opportunity, so some opportunities to network together. And then in BNI, they always support and encourage you because there is a worldwide directory. On their app. And if I'm going to Denver, Colorado to enjoy the Mile High Sunshine, I can find a group out there and go visit and, and talk to some people and kind of spread the word about who I am and what I do. So yeah, I think and connect. Nashville does a great job with that. You encourage everybody to go to the happy hours. They meet once a month, four to six times. Well, every four to six weeks you said? Yeah, depending on how big they are. So. I wanted to ask real quick, so you have those opportunities and you have a very unique opportunity for people to sponsor and get in front of 200, 300 people every time they go up there. Yep. Tell us why that would be a good idea. Well, I mean, so we're the sponsors a sign on to sponsor any of our happy hours? First, we, we do a lot of social media promotion, so the last time Samantha did ran the numbers on it, I think we're getting 40,000 views on our sponsors in the event within that timeframe of the promotion. To in front of the Middle Tennessee area.'cause we run ads and everything like that for in their areas. So you get, you get that notoriety first and foremost. Then you have your booth at the event. We have 200 people coming to the event. 200 people are gonna see your booth. Who's had the best booth so far that you've seen? I think it's this company called Exodus hr. Yeah. That's a good booth. Yeah, that's a really good boot. What makes it so it's the biggest one there. Oh yeah. Also Scott's there and I, you can see this thing from across the room. Mm-hmm. So you know who it is. Everybody else has tables. Mm. Nice tables, but you can't see Yeah. The backdrop. Yep, yep. You can't see until you're on top of the table. You can see me from across the room. So the next time you see us, one of these networking events, come say hi to us. It's the trade show approach, you know, like, and if you're the only one doing that big of a booth, like you're gonna get more attention. Yeah. There's an art to doing trade shows correctly. Oh yeah. I don't even know how to do that correctly. Yeah. I always thought I, I've never really seen it. But I always thought it would be a good idea to have music at. You're playing at your booth, like loud, upbeat music. Hmm. To maybe attract somewhat some, some depending on the convention or expo hall that you go to. Right. They won't let you because you are making a thing. But I did one of my favorite ones. It went to the, it's the International Roofing Expe Expo. And it's huge. We went to one in Vegas, LA two year. Last year. Yeah, last year we went to one in Vegas. They had a Elvis impersonator at one. Mm-hmm. Singing, singing songs, getting people over there. Very cool. Wow. They had blackjack tables, roulette wheels. Spread out and they had, and because the laws in Las Vegas, you can't do it because you're not a, you're not licensed. So you literally get people from, there's a company that, that will provide those dealers. It was a very unique experience. Have you seen people do games at their booth? Yeah. Yeah. The, the wheel spin. The wheel spin the wheel, that's gonna determine the prize you get and they get all these things. Yeah. Yeah. I, I went to it. What you give away is critical to getting people to your booth, by the way. Yes, 100%. In that regard, I always liked the strategy of having some convention bags. Mm-hmm. Because it helps people do the, what I used to call the adult trick or treating. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Where they go around and get the little tchotchkes, but they're putting it in your bag. Yeah. So all the attendees are walking around with your logo on, on the bag. That's a great idea. The other thing I saw one time went to a trade show in Charleston. One of the booths set up a camera with a backdrop, and it was a, the backdrop was a picture of Forrest Gump sitting on the park bench. Oh, and you can sit in the park, can you sit next to Forrest Gump? And they take your picture. That's amazing. And then they print it out and send you home with it with their, that's pretty cool. With their logo in the corner. Oh yeah, yeah. You got, you got a logo to stop everywhere. Everyone knows who you are. So question about that. How successful were you getting clients from having those bags out there? You know, I think at that point I think it's more of a, it's kind of a brand recognition thing. Yeah. You know, you're just kind of keeping your brand out there and, and, and it depends on the quality of the bag too. Typically we would buy this's, gotta survive the show and get back that cheap plastic ones, right. Which get tossed immediately. But if you're willing to invest in a little bit nicer bag, they'll hang on to and maybe take grocery shopping and. I hang on to for a, for a longer period of time. I've got a, a realtor that used to come to Spring Hill, actually has those grocery bags that you take to Publix and things like that with her logo, contact information on'em. And we still use'em like we have it because they're great. And then it's like almost like a cooler bag. So. If we don't have that much stuff, we're going to a game. Like we might put it in that too. So we're carrying that around everywhere. Yeah. When you're getting ready for a trade show, that's always the dilemma is how do I have something that's valuable that I can, you know, afford in that, that kind of numbers. Yeah. You know, there's so many things that people just, they grab it and then they toss it. Have you found anything that really works well, Scott? Well, so, and I'm gonna tie this back into the networking stuff. Everything that we do, we're always looking for that ROI, right? Mm-hmm. So whether I'm going to a convention, trying to spread the name, go to a networking event, trying to spread the name, and everybody says, well, I spent X amount of dollars, I should get this much out of it. It should pay for itself, right? Yes. Every one of our business owners thinks the same way, right? Yep. And so when I go out there, last year we bought golf balls. Spent a lot of money on golf balls and those people going to the expo halls and doing the adult thing, it irritated'em.'cause it's like, why are you taking all the, so you started limit it to one golf ball. Have you ever gotten just one golf ball? First one you lose. But I think it's gonna be great'cause we've been all over the country. Eventually, if you've ever bought used golf balls, and a lot of those are logoed, I'm gonna have Exodus, hr, golf balls all over the country because people going by finding those Callaway Warbirds lost in the woods and come back with'em. So it'll all pay for itself eventually, but it's about planting seeds like you talked about, product placement and recognition. So as I'm going out there, so those were great, the golf balls were a hit. And who isn't thought about when you're going to these conventions and expo halls, your kids at home? Jade actually came up with the idea. So if you know who Jade is and if everybody that's listening to this show ever meets Jade Stannick, you'll love her. She said, Hey, we need to get stuffed animals. So we got a plush doll and it's a teddy bear, and it's got Exodus HR on a t-shirt. We took those to a couple of shows. All the moms and grandmoms came over to our boys. Oh my God, I gotta have one of those from my grandchild, or my son, or my daughter, and they love them. Every show we go to. That's the hit. Golf balls the guys want. Those are the girls. That's a Bless you. That's a good one. I actually have a Exodus HR stuffed animal at the house and Exodus HR golf balls in the truck. Whoop whoop. Yeah. Did you know I'd named that bear? What did you name it? Moses? I like it. Exodus and Moses. I mean, it's the whole thing. That's a very, I like that. That's good. What we need to do the next iteration of that. Bear's gotta have a staff. Ah. Although the staff, that would be good. Oh my. There it is. Nice tie in. We should be in marketing. I always had good luck with the chip clip with the magnet on it because people like to put those on their refrigerator to hang up pictures of the grandkids. Mm-hmm. Drawings from the grandkids. People seem to hang onto those and they're fairly inexpensive. Lip balm sometimes worked well. We kind of detoured off into the trade we did, but all of those, but again, goes back to networking. Every one of those things, that's a networking opportunity. Yep. You go to these things and every one of these events, they always have a networking session where people get together. I asked you what you hated the most when people go to these network events. When I go to those things. It's very clique-ish. Yes. People walk in with their team from work, they'll go to the bar, get a couple drinks, and they just sit there by themselves. And being as shy as I am, I walk up to those groups. I'm like, I heard this is the smartest group in the entire room. What are you guys talking about? I just interrupt'em and see if I can get in. Sometimes it works. A lot of times I'm asked to lead. No, I'm never asked, but it's one of those things that drives me crazy when you get to a networking event at these conventions or company part, whatever it is, and it's like you're so comfortable with the people you came with. You're not comfortable talking to anybody else. And the best relationships I've ever had with anybody. Was that just by being silly and saying, I heard you guys the smartest group here, I wanna talk to you. Have you ever looked at the training on how you're supposed to handle your own body posture when you're at a networking group? Yes, I have. Yeah. I think about that sometimes. Yeah. One of the things that when you first join A BNI group, you have to take this class and it talks about, it's basically networking one-on-one. Yeah. Like the continuing educations. Yeah. Yeah. So, but when I go into a networking group. And it's, it's, let's say it's just the two of us. Josh and I walk up to you, and if I'm standing straight in front of you and I, and we're basically facing to each other, it's not an open group. So people are dissuaded. Oh yeah. From walking up to you. Yeah. But if I stand to your side, I'm encouraging other people to join. So you always leave it open on the end. Oh, yeah. So other people know that's not a closed group. So if you're standing in a. Like these groups that I said, this irritates me. They're standing in a circle talking to each other. Sometimes I put my hand in like, you know, back in the huddle days, you're like right on three, right? And you put your hand in the middle and say, what are we doing? And they're like, who the heck is this guy? But they, it gets them outta their comfort zone a little bit. They ended up meeting a new friend. Oh yeah. I've never been invited back. But sometimes it works. And sometimes it does. But that's the key. Yeah. You gotta be open to other people entering the room. Oh yeah. And entering your, your circle. Wait a minute. Did you just teach the networking guy a new networking skill? He just teach me something there. Did I teach you that? You did not know that? Well, I mean, I think I heard it before, but. Oh, I would, it's been a while. He does it naturally at this point. I need it on a t-shirt and sort of, I've got a company for that. I know we can get that many. We've come full circles. Speaking of, speaking of networking things, and I'm a t-shirt. I, I was at an event last week, two weeks ago, and again, I'm a pretty shy person, so I walk into a room and I say, and you know, you, you know how when they tell you to just dance like nobody's watching or sings, like nobody knows who you are or whatever, just to be yourself and be. Expressive. So this is a great t-shirt line, said Nobody here knows who I am, but nobody's gonna forget me. Hmm. Ooh, I like that. I want that on the t-shirt. What my face. Maybe we can work, do something like that. We could work on something like that. I know a guy that'll do that. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be good. I want brand. Can I brand it? Yeah. Your face on a t-shirt would work. Uh, I believe. Let's do it. We'll have to get together with an artist and see if we can't do something fun like that. Yeah. Be good. Exodus HR group. Yeah. You don't know me yet, but you'll never forgive me. You'll never forget me. Well, it's funny you brought up the happy hour thing. So the first ever Happy hour I went to like Network, happy Hour, went to seven Liberty Mutual Insurance agents from the same office. We all went together and it was like when we first all got there, there was a lot of brand new agents. We were just standing around like, oh, we're all nervous, we don't know what to do. Had to ourselves. And I remember halfway through the night. I would go to meet somebody new talk like, Hey, so what do you do? Talk was like, yeah, I work with Liberty Mutual. Oh, you so like this person over here and that person over there. And that person over there is like, oh, okay. Like quickly learn. Yeah. We don't need to all go together to these things every time. But the Biden contest, just the Biden Conquer. Let me ask you a question that probably won't make it through the final edit. Have you ever, um, they're the best questions, aren't they? You know, people get really nervous if they don't have experience. Scott doesn't get nervous, but have you ever seen anybody get up to do their pitch and just crash and burn? Yeah. Yeah. What's that look like? Well, first I feel so bad for him, right? I've been there, like, I've gone to, I, like I said earlier, like the very first meeting we, I ran, literally wrote, I was like, welcome everybody to just like, like, I have no idea. I was nervous as anything. So I always try to go to him right after to say, Hey, you. You did a good job. Everybody's nervous. Don't worry about it. But it's, a lot of times people forget what they're gonna say'cause they're, they're in their own head or how they sound and things like that. And that's, you just feel so bad for'em. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like any other skill. You're gonna suck at it in the beginning. Exactly. Exactly. It just takes reps Right. Muscle memory. Just get there. You'll be fine. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, my best advice to anybody, whenever, or wherever or however they do this. We all did it once the first time. Exactly. And so you listen to somebody like Josh or David, or. Heck me sometimes, although I'm scattered, you listen to'em and they say, oh my gosh, those guys are so polished. They know what they're doing. They're so good at this, and you've never done it before and you're scared to death. We all were there. Yep. And in fact, all these groups, when somebody said, Hey, this is the first time so and so has ever done a thing. They said that the other day at spring, yesterday. First time she ever did it. Mm. Lauren from, from LER Williams, I think. Yeah. Keller Williams. So that made an impact because she was nervous. She'd never done it before and she crushed it. Mm. Well, and the best part is you had other people in the group before she could continue saying, welcome. We're glad you're here. Yeah. You know, very warms it up a little bit. Every one of us wants you to do well. Exactly. And that is what I used to go into a new group, new as a new employee, wherever it was. And I was like, they're judging me, hoping I fail, hoping I'll fall on my face. But every single one of'em wanted me to do great. And every networking group I've ever been to has that same desire for you. So you nervous? Yes. Because you care, but know that you're supported so you can relax a little bit. Right? Tony Bostic says it all the time. If, if we're all be, if we're all getting better in the group, it's like one person's getting better, everybody's getting better. Like what is it the, uh. Tides raise all ships. Mm-hmm. Or whatever, however that comment goes. Like Tony says it all the time. And that's great. And that's what, that's what we're there for. So tell us a little bit about what you do and if you have an opera that you think our listeners would listen to. Throw it out there. Yeah. Well, right now, well, Josh with HQ Insurance, local independent insurance agent here in Middle Tennessee. My focus is your personal lines insurance and your business insurance. So working with families, small businesses, things like that. I'd say. Right now a really good referral for me is in families with youthful drivers on their policies that everybody's seeing their rates go up because of that. We work with great carriers in that space as well. So, and then we just added a bunch of new business insurance companies to work with. So if you wanna shop your general liability, things like that, we can help. And you are different in that you have the ability to shop several companies, right? Yeah. We're not tied to one carrier. We're, we work for the client. We don't work for the company. Yeah, we just shop it like a good example of care we brought on two, three years ago. Unbelievable. For about two years. Like I could write just about any home policy with them. It didn't matter. Well, they kind of oversaturated the market, had a lot of claims in areas, and their rates are now crazy high. So when people are getting their renewals, we're just shopping'em and moving'em to a different carrier and in two years their rates are probably gonna go back down because they've kind of, you know, weaned out a lot of clients, and maybe that's the time to come right back to'em. So, as a broker. We can just continue moving you back and forth without you having to do the work. Did that hurt your rates? No. I mean like obviously we're not gonna have as high of a premium if you stayed there, you know, that kind of a thing. But I'd rather keep the client on board with a lower rate than have them go somewhere else because I was not gonna shop'em and I wanted to get that premium. Yeah. Anybody that's paying insurance over the last few years knows how. Crazy things have gotten. Do you want to touch on maybe why that is? Oh yeah. I mean, we talk about it every day, especially in the, in middle Tennessee and Tennessee, with the storms we've had, you know what, two years ago, I think we had a tornado in December. Like I think that was one of the first times we've ever had a tornado in December that I can remember. So when you're having a lot more storms like that, a lot more people moving here. You're gonna have a lot more claims. And so these insurance companies, they have to be able to pay claims out. So when you have years like that, they've gotta increase rates so they can continue being profitable to pay out claims for their clients. So talk about, you know, every carrier's in a different spot with it. Every carrier does different things to kind of get caught back up. And so it's just finding the right fit for where you're at and going from there. The personal approach that our agency likes to take. Yeah. You know, that's, but everybody can offer that too if they want to. So, do you have any kind of a formal review process where, you know, you look at every single policy holder every six months, 12 months, whatever, to make sure they're, they're still getting the best rate? So we get, usually it's about a month out. We get the renewal from the insurance company. We'll send out, we'll either call, send out an email, depending on the carrier, the client, you know, it's always communication's different, but we always send an email out saying. Your renewals coming around in the next couple weeks. Is there anything that we need to know, like you've added onto the home, maybe you've bought a new car that we don't know about, things like that to spark the, the conversation and go from there. So that way at least we're, there's a touch point and then we really prioritize. If we see that there's a big increase on somebody's policy, we've prioritize that first to say, Hey, we definitely need to make sure we're getting on the phone.'cause not everybody's gonna answer the email. Not everybody's gonna call you back, but we're we at least try to be. Forward thinking and saying like, we're gonna reach out to you ahead of time to make sure that we're on the same page while we're working your renewal reports and while we're working, we're shopping for you if that renewal is not the right fit anymore. So we try to touch everybody as much as we can when their renewals come out. Yeah. That's important to take a look at that every so often to make sure you're still getting the best deal. Oh yeah. I mean, every insurance companies change their rating models every, every couple years. So you know what might be the best deal for you today in two years, they might be the highest. Price point for the same coverage. Yeah. So it's always good to shop. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you? Follow you on social or get connected with any of your groups that you have going? Yeah, so follow me on social, Instagram, Facebook, all that. It's at jd Minton hq and then josh@hqinsurance.com is my email. So pretty simple. Reach out there. And then for Networking Connect, Nashville Business Networking. So go on to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and just type in Connect Nashville Business Networking. We also have connect national networking.com. We have our website where everything's there with from events and things like that. So yeah, go hit any of those up. Alright, small business owners listen up and you need to find a group and whether it's one of Josh's or anybody else's, find a group, get connected, get plugged in, and start building those business relationships that are gonna take your business to the next level. Alright, there's a lot of great groups out there. Just find the right one for you. Thanks, Josh. Yeah, thank you.