The Perfect 100

Hello and welcome back to the perfect 100.

I am here today with Lori Dillon.

I'm very excited to have her.

I have her on as a guest.

met her, I did a training session.

She's in the Tupelo area in Mississippi and I did a training session and she stood out to
me as somebody.

She just as a member coming to a training session, but she's got an energy and a vibrance
to her that really made her stand out to me.

And then I got to hire her actually.

I was in the managing directors role at the time and I got to bring her on as a chapter
success coach and now we're both chapter success coaches together and I'm excited to hear

bring her story to you so you can hear kind of her journey through BNI and how she went
from a member to a coach.

So welcome Lori Dillon.

Well, thank you so much.

I'm so honored to be here.

It feels crazy that we've known each other almost three years now.

I know it is crazy, right?

Well, let's tell everybody who you are.

We'll start off with your 45 seconds.

Okay, good morning.

My name is Lori Dillon.

I'm with Absolute Restoration.

We have a location in Tupelo and Oxford.

We do water, fire, and mold remediation with a heavy emphasis on mold, but services that
we also provide is roof replacement, gutter installment, and crawl space encapsulation

because we believe that if we can restore the health of your breathing environment that we
can restore your health.

And all of those things can sometimes be factors that are a barrier break for moisture.

And so we have been doing that for eight years now and just hitting wild success.

And so we're thankful to bring that to our community.

Awesome.

All right.

So as I've mentioned, you, well, you've had it, well, I don't know if I mentioned it, but
you had a unique path into BNI.

So

tell the story, if you will, for the listeners about how you ended up in BNI.

So it is absolutely unique.

I had a friend of mine,

I was a stay at home mom about five years ago.

We had just kind of gone through the pandemic and it was just a very, kids were going back
to school, were dipping our toe back into engagement and one of my friends said, you need

to come to BNI.

And I'd never heard of BNI.

I've lived in Tupelo for 20 plus years, never heard of BNI, which feels crazy to me now.

But I went and,

I literally, and I don't mean this offensively, but I sat in the room of United
Professionals in Tupelo and I was like, this room is sexy.

Like, it is, they are standing up and saying, I am looking to meet a lady that does the
Top 100 podcast, I think her name's Tammy, does anybody know who she is?

And then you go back around and do the I-Haves and they're like, yeah, I know Tammy.

I'll give you a warm introduction.

I saw the value of that immediate marketing issues solved in an hour for people that would
sometimes take days and weeks to get to that person.

And you had instant credibility.

And I've turned to the person that invited me, which now I know she was doing a point
grab.

But I

looked at her and I was like, I don't know what kind of business I'm going to do, but I'm
going to be in this room.

And long story short, I was flipping houses for an investor here in Tupelo.

have no, no construction background, no, no, no context of how to do that.

I'm just really mouthy and I was kind of busting his chops every time I saw him.

has a

multi-million dollar company.

And I was like, you're just letting this little thing like bring in your income.

And one day he looked at me and said, okay, if I buy a house will you flip it?

And I was like, yeah, threw me a set of keys.

And I was like, okay, I got to take this serious.

And I got to figure out how to do this, which led me into my field of being a licensed
general contractor here in the state of Mississippi.

So what I'm hearing is you didn't have a business when you came to a BNI meeting, but then
you got a business so you could come back to a BNI meeting.

And it was because of a coach in the BNI chapter.

She stood up and said, not knowing who I was, she had no clue I was going to be there.

It was just her ask that week.

And she said, I'm looking for the stay at home mom that has made it through COVID, that
has picked up maybe a side hustle, wants to make a career of her side hustle.

And I was like, OK.

So I literally met with her.

And I was like,

I don't know what I'm going to do.

And she was like, well, tell me what you do.

And I've always been very busy.

I've been a stay at home mom.

where at school I've always done little side things.

So I'm thinking, she's going to pick this thing and it's not construction.

And she was like, yeah, no, you don't seem passionate about that.

Tell me what else you do.

And I was like, well, I've now completed flipping three homes for this investor because

We flipped the first one, made a wild profit off of it.

And he was like, you want to do it again?

And I was like,

yeah.

Different set of problems.

And then it ended up becoming something that I was like, this is so fun, but the market
shifted and he didn't have any more houses.

So I thought, well, I'm done with that little season of my life.

Talking to the coach and she goes, I think you need to do this.

I think you need to be a project manager and become a GC eventually.

And so literally through BNI I figured out what I love.

Yeah, that's really interesting is it's not the normal path, right?

As most people, most people kind of already have something they're trying to build and,
you know, come on in.

But it's interesting that the ask was for someone wanting to make a transition.

And then that person helped you.

They got the referral that they were looking for and that helped launch you into your next
stage, which was, uh you know, kind of interesting that that's how that all occurred.

So love that.

um So you were in a different

role back then because you became a GC and I want to take you back to those days when you
first started and you were in your first meetings.

What was it like to show up for you personally and professionally in the BNI meeting as a
GC then?

So I think it's really, um it was really unique how the steps came together.

So I got into BNI, I think around November, nobody's looking to tear up their house.

Yeah, in the winter, and so I made a very conscious decision of that.

So I met with our leadership team and I was like, you know, look, I'm going to spend the
first few months

having as many one-to-ones as I can because I have got, this is my marketing team, they've
got to know me, they've got to trust me, and I also need to get to know them because I

need resources and I don't know, at that time I didn't know exactly what I needed, but I
just need to talk to business professionals.

Because I'll tell you, when I first joined, I hid on the outskirts of the room because I
was terrified, these people that I looked at as like my goals.

they're going to come to me and say tell me what your pnl report looks like i didn't even
know how to run that where that was found and i was like

I had imposter syndrome a little bit.

And so I was like, I'm just gonna be real.

I can just be me.

I'm very transparent.

I'm a goofball and I'm okay with it.

Like if I fail in front you, it's fine.

Just like, it's all right, we're gonna get back up and keep going.

And I just took that with me.

And so I just started having one-to-ones.

And so I met with everybody in our chapter by the time February had hit.

And we have a tracker at that time, I was thinking about 48.

So I had just.

It was a lot, but it was intentional.

I just dug in and I got to know these people.

So then when February came around, my asks started looking like, I'm looking to do home
renovations for somebody that's maybe looking to add a pool to their backyard.

And I would love to do a pool house and we can do a landscaping and we can make that an
experience for them.

And so by the end of that first year, if I remember correctly,

It might have been the first year from February to February, I can't remember, but I had
zero dollars in any kind of business.

My first person had me build a back porch onto their house.

I was just trying to get some experience under my belt and some credibility and establish
myself.

And by the end of that 12-month mark, I had $400,000 that came exclusively from my BNI
referral partners.

Wow, well, and you said a couple things there.

I want to touch on one of them.

Well, let's start with the size of your chapter.

So your chapter is, and I don't know that it still is.

think the chapter I'm in is coming for you, but uh it was the biggest chapter in the
entire region.

there are two regions that kind of encompass one region here in this area.

So there were 46, seven, eight people in there at that time.

So that had to feel different than you've been to other chapters now.

You've been a success coach for a while.

So how does the energy of a 46, seven, eight room person feel different to the energy of a
20, 23, 24, 25, 10, whatever type room?

I'm a type A personality.

I like structure.

I like challenges.

I like goals.

And one of the things I found in smaller chapters, it's a little more loosey goosey.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

But I do think it is a bad thing if you're trying to attract power players.

What attracted me to that room was the fact that I was like, OK.

there's accountability.

I clocked that immediately.

I didn't understand all the ins and outs of it, but there was accountability, there's
structure, there's a reward system.

We gave a, you know, kind of your power player of the week or whatever, a rock star, I
can't remember what it was called.

But every week somebody that was like a top player in their Power of One report, they
would be recognized.

And I was like, okay, this is kind of hot.

I'm attracted to that type of stuff.

That was the word I used multiple times and I was just like, so the difference between, I
don't think if you have a smaller structure, a smaller chapter, it's okay.

I mean, you can put any kind of fingerprint you want on your own chapter.

But I think people kind of brag about the fact that we're not quite as rigid as this group
or this chapter.

And I don't think that that's a brag necessarily.

I don't think you have to be stiff because we still have like a locker room feel in our
chapter where we'll just kind of, you know, you get those little jokes going with people

and you know, it's still a little locker room vibe, not inappropriate, not unprofessional,
but just playful.

But we still stay on our game and you get going.

I mean, you can't tell me that the people that played in the Super Bowl don't have fun in
the locker room, but when it's time to get on the field, they show up.

And that is what to me just resonated so much.

So I think a smaller chapter being a little relaxed can have its pluses and minuses.

Right, well, and you mentioned the accountability and it always strikes me that that word
is often associated in the negative, right?

Is that, you know, accountability that, you know, for whatever the reason is people think
that's a bad thing.

And I think that people come from, a lot of people come from.

you know, for someone else where or in a corporate environment where accountability can be
perceived as negative, right?

It's because, you know, I'm a chapter, a CliftonStrengths coach rather, and we focus on
what's good about people, but accountability often focuses from depending on who you work

for on the negative, like what you're not doing, right?

So that accountability can be in the positive, not always focused on what is in the
negative and people rise to the level that you hold them accountable to, right?

Yeah.

you know, that's to me, that says a lot and we hear this from visitors a lot is they come
to a meeting and they recognize, well, and it's partly because our vice president says in

my meeting, um we hold people accountable.

when she talks, she goes over the VP report, talks about all the different things, thank
you for closed business and the one-to-ones and the so-and-so's, this is where we hold

each other accountable because.

that makes a difference to people is, okay, I'm not just showing up like a chamber event
and hoping something happens.

It is, we're here to get to business.

It can be fun, it just, you know, but we're still gonna get business accomplished
essentially by the structure that we have, right?

Well, and I think you said the right thing.

It's not a chambers event, it's BNI.

And also, if you talk to anybody, people will say, nobody networks better than BNI members
because we train, we push, we encourage, and we stand out in a room because of those very

specific reasons.

And so you're joining a group with exclusivity where you also get the benefit of training
and marketing and advocating for.

So why would you want to fall into, why would you want to blend?

I'm a huge proponent of coming out from the herd.

so I think, you know, but Chambers, you don't have accountability.

It's kind of like when you can show up and there's nothing against that.

I'm involved in multiple and they're fabulous, but they're not a marketing network in the
way that we are.

And so I think if you think of it the wrong way, you're gonna get negative results.

Yeah.

Did you ever question that BNI wouldn't work for you?

the beginning.

Yes, I talked to my coach when she was like, you know, I have to have it like I'm gonna
just be real transparent.

I had to huff into a paper bag for about six weeks when she was like, you just need to be
a general contractor.

And I'm like, but I'm a girl.

And I mean, I wear skirts all the time.

That's kind of my brand a little bit if you want to call it that.

And so I was like, my gosh, I got to borrow this money from my family, which is like my
family and we were okay, but I felt a huge weight of responsibility of like, what if I

can't pay my

family back.

it and then like my husband we were in a hut I was kind of counting on my husband to be
like no babe this is crazy and he's like no you need to do this and I was like what is

happening uh but he was like that sounds like that's great and uh and and kind of funny
story with that too my husband owns his own company they have a data network low voltage

company here in Tupelo and they've put somebody in my BNI chapter because they've seen
what it can do for you.

But yeah, I just, remember meeting with my coach and I said, what if I borrow this money
from my family and I can't pay it back?

And she goes, get your calendar out.

So I got my calendar out and she goes, in six months, we're gonna talk about this.

And I just wanna see what your thoughts are.

And I was like, okay, so six months to the date, we came back and met and she was like, so
uh how do you feel about that investment that you made?

And I was like, okay.

You were right.

scary it's a little bit of a scary investment because i was investing in something that i
didn't even have you know i have been to a bag for six weeks like can i be a gc can i like

i don't know that's like that's a lot of liability and not even just like

like litigious liability, like that's a huge responsibility.

And I have responsibility to people that are trusting me with hundreds of thousands of
dollars to be completely um capable of these abilities.

And then now I'm asking these people, like there was like a lot of tears, but I just kind
of just all in and scared, but just rounded myself with people that were like, okay, this

was stupid.

Let's not do that.

Let's do this.

And I'm like, that makes sense.

oh And the more I embraced the resources around me, the further it catapulted me, the
quicker it catapulted me to success.

So would you say the structure of BNI and the structure of your coach gave you the
confidence in your own abilities to make all those things happen?

100 % because a coach, your job is to sit and hit that drone coverage where I'm like, I
don't know how to get to the clearing on the other side of these trees, but you're like,

okay, take two steps left and walk straight and you're there.

Whereas for, I'm like, there's too many trees.

Is the clearing even there?

Is success there?

I can't quite, I can't get to it you're like, I got it, I'm hovering up here.

And my coach did give me that clarity because this is what you do all day, every day.

You've seen the patterns, you can guide, you can lead, and then you also have the trusted
resources to go, okay, you need a lawyer because you have contracts and you need to verify

people are gonna pay you, you need to go contact.

Harrison Law Firm, which was in my chapter and they did all my legal contracts and then
come to find out I can enjoy construction and building but I don't have to actually like

the business side of being a contractor.

So got a great CPA and because I still have to pay taxes so I don't end up in jail, know,
all those things are important but not what I want to my attention to and I was like, oh,

okay, this is easy.

And so, so yeah, that was huge.

the right partners in the room was beneficial because you already had a structure built
where then you could also rely on people that you trusted that were provided to you via

BNI that were resources that were useful to helping you grow, You know, I watched this
thing this morning when I was getting ready.

I hadn't seen this before, but it was so interesting.

em There was an experiment and I don't have the, I wish I could give you the, the, it came
from, but I'm just going to tell you about it you can Google it.

It'll probably come up somewhere.

But there was a study that was done.

They took an ant and they, on a piece of paper, they drew a circle.

Have you seen that?

And the, it's so crazy, right?

So they, they draw a circle around the ant and the ant walks around the paper, but cannot.

walk outside the circle because it perceives that's its limitation, That becomes a wall.

And then they take a spider and they do the same thing.

They draw a circle around the spider and the spider starts to do the same thing.

And then at some point, a leg goes over the outside of the border of the circle and it was
like, oh, okay.

And then they kept drawing circles around the spider and they could not contain the spider
with the circle.

So.

it's all up in here, I'm pointing at my head if you're just listening.

it's what's between your ears that is the limitation.

And when somebody helps guide you to, there's more beyond the circle, you're not limited
by that.

it can be a, in the conversation I was listening to, it was in reference to race, it was
in reference to gender.

uh You know, you were in a role that was not a traditional female role.

um I come from automotive, which at the time I joined it, even still today, is not really
traditionally what women do, working in automotive.

um So you had that expectation that maybe this isn't going to be for me, but we'll get to
your strengths later.

I think your strengths probably helped you alongside the structure of being brought into
the BNI world and having a coach.

So I love all of that.

So thank you for showing that.

Well, and then to talk about that barrier thing, the thing that was in my head was I'm a
girl in construction.

And here in the South, boys grow up, well, I've been doing this with my daddy since I was
12.

I didn't have that story.

I had no construction background.

I'm terrified of saws.

um They still scare me, but I hired that out.

That's not my strength.

But I actually leaned into the fact that I was a girl.

So now I walked into these rooms with these

boys that, you know, all kind of look the same.

And now I'm a girl and I look like this when I go on job sites and I stood out in my, my,
branding is your general contractor in a skirt.

I leaned into it to now where, yeah, now those, those little circles, they don't scare me
anymore.

Yeah.

Well, and same for automotive is that was not, you know, I wasn't going to, you know, pull
out the jumpsuit and look like a mechanic.

I wore what I wore, what I look like today, you know, only younger.

And, you know, that was, it was pressing the boundaries, which is, I enjoyed that.

And there's probably a lot more to the boundary pressing.

But when I read your, the combination of your Clifton strengths.

It was not surprising to me that you ended up doing that because those are very much
playing, that was very much playing to your strengths, which we can talk about in a

minute.

But you mentioned your chapter calls out top players.

So let's call out you, because you are a top player.

So let's roll over to the power of one.

So there's not a lot to talk about here because you have a perfect 100.

So welcome to the perfect 100 and your top player.

Today is Ms.

Lori Dillon um So looking at that, have you, has that been a journey?

You know, it's a six month average.

So has that been a journey for you?

Were you always in the top area or is that changed at all over the, how long have you been
in BNI altogether?

two years eight months.

Okay, were you kind of always that achiever or was that something that changed over time?

I've always been the achiever.

I don't need the recognition.

Obviously it's fun, but it's gotten to the point where I've talked with my leadership in
our chapter even today because we still do the recognition and I'm like, don't recognize

me.

I don't

I would rather people feel that surge, like, because people are chasing me.

And I love that, that's great.

But also to be fair, I get a lot of CEUs because I'm a coach.

So I'm constantly like studying or having Zooms or education or, you know, whatever.

So my CEUs are abnormally strong each week.

You know, I probably have four to six.

We're going to look at that in a minute.

Actually, let's roll over to that while we can, while you're talking about it.

So there's, there's the last six months where, so you have a lot of CEUs, 127.

Keep talking.

nine numbers, but I also have a ton of one-to-ones

And so I've told my chapter, because I'm gonna be stepping into presidency here in
October, and I'm like, look, just don't acknowledge me.

Don't, I want other people, it's not like, Lori wins it again, Lori wins it again.

I, you know, that's great, but I literally met with them and I was like, look, I don't
mean this uh in a braggadocious way, but like, I know I'm a Killer BNI member because I'm

intentional about it.

And really the part,

for me is be intentional about your one-to-ones and the referrals just flow.

ah And so that's where my balance is, is I just, you just do that.

You just have to be intentional though.

All right, so there are, the Palms report is on the screen.

If you can't see it, cause you're just listening, there are 25 weeks showing and you have
zero absences.

uh You have a sub in there, but that's not considered an absence.

Referrals given inside is 60, referrals given outside is nine.

Referrals received inside is six, referrals received outside is 29.

Visitors is six, one to one is 53.

Thank you for closed business given, this is what you've given, which I want to talk about
for just a second, $117,120.

And we already said this, it uses 127, which again, in 25 weeks is a lot.

But let's go to the thank you for closed business.

You've got one, as we look across the breakdown, you're pretty consistently giving thank
you for closed business.

You've got a big one in there for $75,000.

Who is that person that loves you that you gave $75,000 deal or is that a compilation of a
bunch of people?

It's a compilation of a bunch of people because in the business that we have here, um when
we have multiple, like just to, I don't know what that one is specifically, but I can

imagine where that is.

ah We do a tear out of a water loss or something for the restoration company that I'm
with.

We don't do the build back.

So we will use our referral partners here in BNI and we have contractors, handymen, oh

remodelers, painters, flooring.

So that I would imagine is probably on a couple locations that we refer them.

We don't do the build back.

We don't take the, you know, we're just like, hey, we have a great referral partner that
we have if you want to use them.

And so they receive multiple jobs based off us giving them the business.

So sort of in the vein of a GC giving subs the work, it's kind of, it's similar, but
you're just with absolute now.

So you're kind of doing the same thing in a different way, right?

Okay.

So when you think about your coach now, and when you look at how you were at the beginning
or how others may be in your chapter were, and you look at, you've had the experience of

coaching others and seeing lots of other chapters at work.

What are you doing differently or are you doing anything differently?

Because you're kind of were achieving from the beginning.

So but are you doing anything differently now that you've had a different set of eyeballs
on things?

Yeah, I would say uh when you first join BNI, it's like you're drinking through a fire
hose.

For me, I'm so like, I gotta hit the mark, I gotta hit the mark.

And I was like, somebody said to me, it's three items, one time a week.

Get one one-to-one.

do one referral and do one CEU.

And that kind of brought it down to a manageable bite for me.

Now since being a coach, I realize why those manageable bites, you're essentially, that's
your accountability, but that's also your membership committee is looking at that data to

see

Is this somebody we want to renew?

Are you right for the chapter?

Are we right for you?

And then at that point, and then you're looking and you can see on a bigger scale how that
can align you.

So it's like some things seem like, okay, I'm just gonna get these three things once a
week.

I call them the golden three.

That's what I tell all my chapters.

Now just hit the golden three.

That's gonna make your numbers look good.

And if you have a crazy week, bring a visitor.

Bring a first time visitor, because that's a huge point grab.

That's how I got started.

And then it exposes somebody to the room that's gonna learn about your business.

I can, know, even if they're not a good fit for BNI, you're getting access to potentially
somebody else's resources and vice versa.

So there's things that just started making sense, they all kind of start stacking and it
starts just making sense.

And I'm like, okay, this is bigger than just like me doing my little three a week and it,

it became a very bigger picture and it became very data driven at that point.

It's not like, I think BNI is doing good for me.

At the end of the year, I could look back and I saw I had 6,000 % ROI was the email that
BNI sent to me.

So now it's not like, yeah, I'm pretty sure they're doing a good job.

I'm like, okay, let's sign this up again.

Like, cause I did that week to week work.

Right.

Well, I love that you call it a point scrub.

You know, since this is the perfect 100, you know, we're focused on what are the points,
right?

But it's, it, and I do think of it that way also to some degree is I, and I've said on
previous episodes, I like to get my point scrubs out of the way at the beginning of the,

of the month.

So I don't have to worry about it.

can sort of.

If I've got a busy month going on, I just plan out, okay, I need to hit these, you know,
marks early.

So I don't have, and I've been in sales forever and that was just how I always
orchestrated things I had to do.

Let's get them knocked out in terms of the business so I can focus on the growth, right?

If I can, we, in previous lives, I've had a business, I've had to retain business that
was, you you have to touch the customers you have and keep them happy.

and then you have to grow a business.

Most people have that and they're whatever they do, whether they work for someone else or
they have their own business, you generally have to keep the people you have happy and

then you have to, and that's no different than BNI is keeping BNI happy is getting those
things done and that in turn helps you be happy and it helps others be happy, right?

It multiplies, it's amazing.

I can't see.

So you're naturally somebody that connects with people, because we're going to talk about
your strengths in a minute, but have you learned to balance?

have an energy in connections and making people.

You're a people person.

So have you had to, when you're thinking about what you ask for in your chapter, weeks a
week, have you had to balance sort of the just connecting with people and that being,

because you have, I think there's some strategy in your makeup as well.

Or you lean into the strategy more.

Do you show up intentionally with, do you prepare or do you show up and kind of say what
you're gonna say?

So yeah, I absolutely prepare.

I'm one of the first people there uh at my BNI chapter.

um There is something, it was really funny um and it's the weirdest thing, but I'm like,
this actually works.

I watch Downton Abbey.

and uh old lady Grantham who's like the really, she said uh she came early to a dinner
because there was a big person coming and she said, I wanna be in possession of the room.

And I was like, I'm gonna clock that.

And so now I show up early because I wanna be in possession of the room.

When you walk in, if you show up early, great.

I get more time with you than anybody.

I don't look like I'm rushing in and hustling.

I have possession of the room.

And then I also, find out,

people that show up early, your worker bees are the decision makers and they're the power
players.

So I show up early because you start cultivating that conversation.

Push, even if it's not anybody can do anything for me, they're talking to me, we're
strategizing about things that pushes you in a different way.

ah And then when it comes to my weekly asks, I am very, I have about a four to six week
rotation that as things come up and I go, oh,

uh you know, manic.

And it's not crazy and I don't mean this in a negative way, but a lot of people don't know
what a crawl space is.

And so I realized that from a client and so I put on one of my lists to ask if you walk
into somebody's house and you have to walk upstairs to get to their front door, they have

a crawl space.

And it is not a weird question to say, you know you're supposed to check out your crawl
space once a year, right?

I'm sure you haven't because nobody does.

It's disgusting.

Nobody wants to get under there.

Do you know you can get a free inspection from Absolute?

Just put that out there.

Let us come out, do our job.

It may be perfect, but if you've got mold and moisture under there, then we're going to
give you a heads up before it's now a huge expensive problem.

Right, you're throwing everything out and have to move out of the house.

And so those little things, I just have a little running list on a notes app that I'm
like, ask people if they have to walk upstairs to let people get in contact with us.

And I just have them do a group text, let us connect to them.

You don't gotta do the sales pitch.

We know what to do.

We're the professionals and if they decline, that's fine too.

But yeah, I'm very intentional and just find moments that I add to my list.

You know, I love that you that I watched Downton Abbey, but I don't remember that scene
and owning the room thing.

That's that's such an interesting point.

I show up early also.

I'm generally the first one there.

I've always been the first one there.

Even when I wasn't certain, you know, I was the president for a while.

I was always bright and early making sure everything worked.

And, know, because I'm throwing a party, right?

That's it's it's for me.

It's this is my party that I am orchestrating for you.

And

If I'm speaking, I'm a speaker.

If you're a BNI member, I like to speak about business.

But if I'm showing up to speak, I am generally, I ask the people that I'm speaking for,
what time are you going to be there?

Because I need access to the room.

I wanna be in the room, making sure everything is functional, so then I can talk to
people.

I don't wanna be rushing in.

things don't work, I'm looking for a remote, I don't wanna deal with any of that, I want
it to be done set ready and then when the first guest walks in the door, I'm talking to

people, right?

And that strategic thing that you mentioned, that's what that is, right?

It's not, well, and you like, everybody likes people, we're in BNI, we wouldn't be in BNI
if you didn't like people, but there's, the visitors always show up early, right?

The visitors do not know where they're going and they're worried about, so they just show
up.

and they sometimes they just sit in their car but they'll come looking for you and if
you're not if nobody's in the room or you're in the room and it looks very harried what

kind of impression does that make right so you know we asked the visitor hosts to show up
early for that reason so because the the visitors usually are the first ones in the

parking lot um

when I'm planning the next incoming leadership, always, every chapter, never fails.

I'm like, hey, who do think you should be your visitor host?

Joe, he is so personable and he's such a nice guy.

Great, is Joe one of the first five people here?

Oh no, no, no, no, no, Joe's not it.

Right.

Joe's probably a lovely guy, but this, and we can put him in another position and pull
strengths from a different way, but that's not what we're looking for when we're doing the

visitor host.

It's like you said, if I go visit somewhere, if I go visit a chapter, I go so early
because I want to make sure I find the right space.

Do I find the right door?

Is it, you know, and I don't want to walk in.

have enough details when you get there, right?

It's always some surprise, right?

But I also notice when people are late and I'm like, it's either this meeting didn't mean
that much to you, you don't plan properly, and do I want to trust you with my business?

Because you have a weekly standing meeting you couldn't show up for.

And so I clock that too.

Yeah, it's the how you do anything is how you do everything is also a ways in my book.

I really don't think people think about that.

And I don't know why that is because it's like if you show up looking disheveled or you're
not ready and you're presenting, you know, or any of the things that we.

typically you have plenty of notice that we're gonna do, which is we do them every week
and you were given notice this was happening, like showing up at the time the meeting

starts.

always, If it's a once in a, obviously things happen, there's a train, whatever, but I
know there's a train that crosses the path between me and the meeting.

I usually leave early.

That's just me.

has insane train schedules.

you do have to factor that in.

Even with Absolute, when we bring on people to interview them, it kills me, but I love it.

Chris will say, he's the owner, Chris will say, can we go look at your car right now?

And they're like, ah yeah, why?

And he goes, because I want to see how you keep your car.

Oh.

That lets me see how you're going to tend to our vehicles.

And we have a standard.

You will look at our vehicles at any time and everything.

We have an OCD warehouse manager.

Everything is put in.

When we open our doors, it is clean and tidy and put away.

And he will not allow you to show up to a job with like things falling out of the car.

That doesn't represent our brand.

And you won't get a car inspection.

Wow, I love that.

I'm gonna catch you off guard and I know it's reality.

You know, if you know like dude, we just got back from vacation.

have there's things but he's watching and so I Do anything is how you do everything?

Yes.

Well, and as a, I was a recruiter for five years and I didn't, we didn't have the, it
wasn't in today's world where we do, you know, we see each other on screen.

um I was only calling people on the phone.

So I would never get to see them, but the, the people that I was sending them to interview
with obviously did.

And

There's so much that goes into an impression and you wouldn't believe it.

And I love that that's just one more thing, There's the pregnant pause where we ask a
question and you just leave it hanging out there and see what comes up and cause people

will fill in the gaps.

And if you take that even to the next extreme is when we interview people for our
chapters, what do we do?

And you guys actually have a unique process.

that actually blew my doors off when I saw it.

So, Dr., just because it came up, tell us how in your very large, largest, typically
chapter in the region, interviews knew people for the chapter.

Well, we have a standard.

uh What spot are you talking about specifically?

Because like I hear ours is crazy overall, but like I don't think it's.

people are invited to your interview list?

That's the things that blew my door off.

So we make sure, obviously you have to have two members of the membership committee there
to do the interview, which is typically led by our VP and then multiples of us are in

there as membership committee, but the whole chapter is invited to come and sit in on the
interview.

so that can have its pluses and minuses.

As long as your VP runs it with intention and structure.

So our VP is very

which we've had a transition in VPs, but I'm just going to speak on the last interview
that we just did.

She's like, okay, we keep it clocking, but we all have laminated sheets and each member,
you will have a segment of questions.

So when you join BNI, there is no opportunity for you to say, oh, I didn't understand, I
only had six opportunities to miss with three being in a sub and three being in absence,

or I didn't realize I had to be here for the whole meeting.

It is so very clearly put out there.

And uh we also get a very clear understanding of what your expectations for us is.

And you have an understanding of what our expectations are for you.

And it's okay to say I'm here to make money, but you gotta understand that that's gonna
come with expectations.

Right.

Yeah, I think it's definitely unique.

The time that I saw it, was visiting and it was after the meeting and I said, what's
happening over there?

Because there were, I don't know, 15 or so people all sitting around with somebody.

that's an interview.

I was like, what?

That's crazy.

You know, but you have a big chapter.

So that means lots of people on membership committee.

And as long as people are trained and they understand what they can and can ask and can
say, shouldn't say all those things, that's great.

I think to me more so it is a

commitment to bringing the right people in, right?

We want to make sure on both sides that that person understands what we're about and we
understand what they're about.

So it's a better fit when we, there's no question later when we bring somebody in, it
wasn't just one person, because the smaller chapters might have just one person, which we

never recommend interviewing a new person.

It should always be two for many reasons.

But if you only have one or two people, you're relying on

their expertise, which is great, and as long as they're trained.

uh But in my chapter, if there's a question, we then go to the next set of people on the
membership committee who would be best suited to ask those questions of that person before

we bring them in.

Because we want to make sure it's a great fit, that we don't end up later saying, we
should have never brought that person in.

We should have seen that coming.

And we don't want that.

So it just is.

tuning that process.

ah We just implemented a rule ah that instead of, so we interviewed this guy.

uh He was lovely, great interview, a lot of recommend date.

Everybody like nothing negative.

Everybody had great recommendations of him.

But one of the things we found if we've let people in because we call them because
everybody in the meeting is like 100%, okay, yes.

Well then what we found out is maybe a strong personality like myself is like, hey, I've
done business with them.

can advocate for them.

I can back them.

But maybe somebody else had a bad experience and they're not quite as dominant
personality.

And so they didn't want to bring it out in front of the group.

Well, that's not okay.

We still want everybody to have a voice.

So what we started doing is now we take a 24 hour cooling off period is what we call.

And so what we were doing is by the end of that day, we were calling the person and
saying, welcome to the club.

You've been, you know, voted in, blah, blah, blah.

Now we put it on our Slack channel and say, Hey, Laurie Dillon has been accepted to the
chapter unanimously.

However, if anybody has any concern, you need to reach out to the VP by five o'clock
tonight.

It cannot feel quite as intimidating, but we can get good information on them.

we can talk about it.

And so we don't look quite as much like an eager prom date to call them and be, hey, give
them the prom, give them the prom.

ha ha ha!

you know, and also giving everybody the opportunity to really have a voice in this.

And if there is something of concern, we can do our due diligence on that level, even
though everybody gets the email of like, hey, any concerns or questions, we're all busy

building our, you know, legacies, sometimes miss those.

And so this guy showed up, hey, everybody, we're doing his interview this evening.

That has kind of given us a little bit of a safety net also.

Yeah, I like that.

do that also.

My old chapter and my existing chapter, we give that opportunity for anyone who couldn't
or wasn't in the interview to say, because after a while, the Kevin Bacon game, we're all

connected to somebody somehow, You don't know what someone else, and they're not willing
to necessarily say it in front of others.

So we just send out that email and say, we're considering this person.

We're thumbs up at the interview.

But before, here's your 24 hours to say, raise your hand.

privately to the VP and say, this is a challenge and you know, if otherwise then we're
gonna move forward.

So love that.

All right, so talking about strong personalities, let's roll into your CliftonStrengths.

So.

Let your, I'm gonna read these for the audience that are listening.

So number one is woo.

You love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over.

That's what winning others over is woo.

You drive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with someone.

Number two is strategic.

You create alternative ways to proceed.

Faced with any given scenario, you can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Number three is communication.

You generally find it easy to put your thoughts into words.

You're a good conversationalist and presenter.

Number four is activator.

You can make things happen by turning thoughts into actions.

You want to do things now rather than simply talk about them.

And number five is command.

You have presence.

You take control of situation and make decisions.

So four of your five are in the influence.

theme and one is in the strategic theme.

So have you taken any of these types of assessments before?

Was any of this a shock to you?

No it wasn't, but the owners of our company here, they're very big on placing you where
your giftings are.

And so they were, oh I took this test, I also read the book Rocket Fuel, because I wasn't
really sure just before I kinda got into all this.

Yes.

in your business, in your home, you got it, know, all those things.

But I definitely found that it was very, it's consistent with what I've seen in other
things, which I find very complimentary.

I I still have ways to grow and learn and develop, but I'm okay with where my strengths
are.

Yeah, awesome.

So with Woo and communication, it's probably not a surprise to you that you connect with
people pretty quickly.

But I imagine that that combination um also helps you show up week to week in BNI.

Have you seen that your strengths sort of shape your BNI experience?

Yeah, and I think some of that was I'm the type of person that I'm okay to fail in front
of people.

And so I because the room there they're rooting for you.

And they're not they don't want you to be perfect.

They want you to

Provide a service that you say you're gonna provide in the time and manner you're gonna
provide it.

And then show up when something's off because we're human, we're not perfect.

I have to be able, okay, we're taking accountability and be like, yeah guys, boy, I was
awful at that.

That was me, I'm gonna take the hit on it, I apologize.

How can I fix this?

Is it financially, is it, whatever that is, I have to be okay with showing up like that.

And then people just rally around you.

And they're not looking for perfection, they're just looking for participation.

And I think if you can nail that and have consistency, it's such an easy code to crack.

Yeah, love that.

And you also have Activator, and when you pair that with command, uh you're not somebody
that sits around waiting for things to happen.

eh Do you think that those strengths help you go from member to coach?

So, you know, you kind of plucked me out of the crowd on that one.

So I didn't I wouldn't say that I saw that for myself uh I was very like I went home and
told my husband I was like Tammy wants me to work for corporate that feels crazy to me

like I didn't feel I didn't feel like I had a full understanding of the BNI poems report
or you know, like I was still kind of a baby BNI member and So I didn't

I'll say this, I'm not a good dreamer for myself.

Like, put a goal in front of me, got it.

Sometimes to dream for myself, I'm not very successful in that.

And so the fact, so I need people like you around me that are like, no, I see this in you.

so I'm like, all right, let's go.

you

I'll run through any door and I'll shove my way through doors to get to the goals in front
of me.

But I still need people like you and those around me going, I think you need to try this.

I'm just pretty open to walking through doors and going, all right, is this the right room
for me?

No, all right, we'll go try another one.

you know, kind of good.

that conviction that you had that BNI, the structure worked, right?

So you recognize and you live that it was working for you.

And then you have such high influence that, you know, and you have commands and command
leads the way, right?

So you're not afraid to look at a situation, an activator, like, let's go, let's get it
done, right?

So, you know, since you've become a coach, I've seen you.

taking on new responsibilities with other chapters and like, do they, know, why, what are
we doing here?

Let's get, you know, let's, let's figure this out and let's move forward.

uh

of that is just people want to feel supported and if you get in there and you're like, hey
guys, this is crazy, this is not what being high is, but like, hey, we're gonna be here,

we're gonna get this fixed and we're gonna do it and I'm gonna be there with you and it's
not gonna be comfortable, but I just liken it to going to the gym ah where you go and

you're like, okay, I want to be able to bench press 100 pounds.

I'm a girl, I'm not a weightlifter, like that's goal, like you know, but so you start
going in that 15 pound weight, you're like,

the bar you're like my god like it's but then you start going every week and it sucks and
you got to embrace the suck a little bit but then you're gonna be like

a lean, mean, sexy BNI machine, you know, because you were going to the weight room, you
were putting the work in, and it kind of pays off.

you know, and so think if you can work it and be like, yeah, this is not going to be
comfortable, because it's not what you got.

This is not the culture you've created.

But we're going to shift that culture and we are going to make this amazing.

I think if you're just kind of like, let's get in the trenches together and like we can go
and I've not really felt massive resistance in that way.

Right, well, and I'm feeling your communication at work as you're charismatic in your
delivery.

Well, it sucks people in and that's what works, you have influence, four of your five are
influence and most of them are dealing with other people and getting them.

oh

to see the light, winning them over to do the thing and activating them to make it happen.

And that strategy, you have strategy also is number two.

My strategic is number one, yours is number two.

I have command as well.

And that is, you know, seeing things that other people can't see.

strategic, the thought patterns that go with it cannot be taught.

They are just in you.

You are born with that sense of seeing the force that you mentioned the, I forget how you
put it, when.

Seeing the clearing through the forest.

Yeah.

you said it a little differently and I don't remember exactly what you said about it, but
it's like you can't launch yourself because you can't see it, but you knew it was there,

you just needed somebody to shore up your...

um

what's happening between here in order to say, which I'm pointing at between the ears
again, if you're just listening, to say this is definitely possible for you.

You just, you you rely on your own set of talents, which you have.

So I love that.

But if you're a member, I do want to just talk about for a moment, if you're a member
who's just floating by, you know, you feel like you're not really sure.

how to move your membership forward.

That's actually something I'm developing.

So, and you can talk to any of us as coaches.

That's what we do.

You can definitely get that sort of overview of you really can be doing more of this and
more of that.

We can see those things that we...

both of us have strategy.

can see those things that you can't see, but I'm also going to create something more
that's at a deeper level for members who really are like, really want to amplify what I'm

doing here and make it more than what it is.

And that's a unique thing that I can see from a higher level that other people can't.

So more to come on that later.

So let's talk about the future.

um

With the way things are going, what do the next six to 12 months look like for you?

You've changed to absolute, so, and we didn't kind of address that, so give me a little
bit about that, and then what does the next six to 12 months look like for you?

So I was actually getting ready to go change to a commercial GC license.

I'm a residential license builder here in the state of Mississippi.

I was going to commercial.

The cost to take that test, kind of all in with the data you have to provide and all that
fun stuff is about $10,000.

So I was ready to go take that step just because I still loved what I did, but I was like,
it was getting a little too routine for me and I was like, I need a little spice.

So in the meantime, Absolute held a seat in BNI along with me holding my construction seat
in BNI.

And we had worked together.

If I found mold or anything like that, I'd call them in.

If they had a build back that needed to be done for a big job, they would call me in.

And so we'd already uh been able to see each other's work, work ethic, quality.

And the owner here, uh Absolute, Chris,

heard I was looking to make this change and he called me up and he was like just have a
meeting with me and he goes just let me just talk to me about it and I said okay I'll

never say no to a meeting and so we talked and uh he offered me to do marketing and
branding for Absolute because I speak the construction language

that a lot of people don't speak, but then also ah I knew the quality of work.

I knew that if I went out and kind of through all that I found when I was doing my
construction job, I realized the jobs are fun, but I kind of like the networking better.

And I told my husband six months before, or maybe anyway, six something, six weeks, six
months, I can't remember.

I said, man, if somebody would call me to do their branding and marketing and that be my
job,

I would be living my best life, but I'm like, I have no college education.

Who in the world is gonna, why would you hire me over somebody that has a degree in
marketing?

I'm like, it's crazy.

Literally, I was just like, man, this would be a dream, like, who's gonna do that?

My husband's convinced it was a week.

He thinks it was six days.

I think it was maybe before, but he has better memory, so I'm gonna go with him.

He said, within a week, Chris called me and said, let's talk.

And so I was like, you know what?

He said, why are you hesitating on something?

You know you trust the brand.

You know you trust the leadership.

And you've worked with them.

And it's like your dream job.

He's like, why would you hesitate?

So once Chris and I worked out the nuances of everything, I have hit the ground running.

And so in September, I'll have been here a year.

so I'm actually still able to pair my construction with

absolute because we do roof installation or replacement installation at gutters.

So we're able to pull from the quality contractors that I use.

And I'll say this, I was not a cheap contractor.

I am expensive because I bring uh your A team to the table.

If I trust them in my home, I'll trust them in your home.

If they come in and they're watching folks inappropriately or they're speaking
inappropriately, you are not for my crew.

ah

If I would trust you around my 18 year old daughter in my house, I'll trust them in your
house.

That was my standard.

I would have my daughter come out to a job site and if you're a creep watching her, nah,
you ain't it.

And so people knew if I brought somebody to the table, they were good, quality,
respectful, know, representatives of that brand.

So I came over here and I have just been in my happy place.

And so when I came over here, we were not doing roof installments.

We were not doing gutters or crawl spaces.

We were kind of doing your standard water fire mold remediation and

carpet cleanings, upholstery cleanings to supplement during the downtime.

And so since kind of putting our pairing together, I think we did 1.6 million before we
were on track to do 2.7 this year, and goal of 3 million.

And then, we changed processes, we've gotten some processes down,

And then the goal is to franchise to eventually hit 10 million.

That's our long term goals.

love that.

that you're kind of leveraging both of what they offered and your own strengths together
to amplify all the things that are happening.

I also love that the, I mean, bringing your daughter to a job site to see how people treat
her.

They kind of the again, how you do anything is how you do everything is that's gold.

mean, that's just like, I, cause you know,

walked out, so I just sat and watched, folks.

yes.

Well, and you know, having come from automotive, em I certainly have been that test
subject of how is this going to go?

Because how you can feel this, you can feel the environment.

So uh as a woman and you don't want women coming and feeling and we talked about this on a
previous episode is that even in your chapter, if you don't have a diversity of people in

the room, then that creates a, you know, that's a

also a vibe that people are feeling.

you have to think about all the things.

You want to be appealing to all clients.

You want to have people in your room that are, uh Dr.

Meissner has that group, or book rather, who's in your room.

Everything matters.

So um it's amazing how that goes.

All right, so what, um if anything, that you want to, anything new outside of what you
just talked about coming up for you that you want to share?

uh No, as of right now it's just kind of heads down, goal, focused on goals.

I've got some chapters that we're just developing and uh we're really kind of pulling all
the goodness out of them, creating some structure and accountability and so you know with

BNI we have goals, with Absolute we have goals and then with you know my construction
company uh I do like one construction project a year for a non-profit so I can give them a

discount I can kind of stay in the game a little bit and um you know just kind of get back
to our community in a way that you know our community is given to us.

That's good stuff.

So I have this thing where the last guest asks, leaves a question for the upcoming guest.

So you're going to get to do that for the next one.

But the question they left for you is what is the most impactful featured presentation,
also known as a 10 minute presentation that you've ever heard and what made it so.

um Just literally off the top of my head, I would say we have a digital marketing company
here in Tubelo in my BNI chapter.

And she's kind of the sparkly one and her husband, and I say this because my husband is
the nerd in the background, like I adore him, he's a hot nerd, but her husband is kind of

the data behind their company.

and she brought her husband and they talked about, I'm not very techie person.

Like if my mouse isn't working, I'm like, baby, I need to get a new computer.

And he's like, change the batteries.

That conversation has happened.

patient, good patient man.

But when the data company came, he spoke about ways

that is just ways that were practical and just broke it down.

Didn't get too granular but spoke on a third grade level because those ideas, when you're
speaking about your business, you can get very detailed and granular and people don't

speak that language.

think bankers have a really insurance people that get a little bit lost.

We don't speak those languages.

And so you really got to break it down for third graders.

And that's not derogatory.

I just don't speak that language.

And so you

break it down and so they just did such a lovely job with that and I was like man that is
cool and I want to be a part of this and so they ended up doing my branding and my stuff

like that because of that presentation because I was like okay you get it like I don't
have to speak your language for you to communicate with me and get down so ah that helped.

that's, that's good advice for 45 seconds too, or however many seconds you do in your
chapter, right?

Is, is people tend to get in the weeds about what their, their lingo is and the rest of us
are glazing over cause we don't understand.

So yeah, also great advice for that.

So thank you so much for being here.

It was fantastic talking with you some more.

uh

you.

All right, cool.

And thank you for listening.

you're listening, please remember that the best way to support me as a BNI member is to
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