The Perfect 100

Hello and welcome back to The Perfect 100.

Today's guest is Tyler Parker coming to us from the Bartlett chapter.

How you doing Tyler?

It is my pleasure.

So you are in one of the chapters that I coached so we know each other a little bit.

We've met before.

So if somebody's listening, they may hear some familiarity because of that, but I'm
excited for them to get to know you.

And the easiest way to do that is to have you give us your 45 seconds.

So go ahead.

Absolutely.

Yep.

So my name is Tyler Parker with Arise Construction and Restoration.

We are a full service commercial residential and industrial restoration company.

specialize in water, fire, mold and bio cleanup and restoration projects.

So.

All right, well that was even half of it.

All right, so every BNI journey seems to have its own flavor.

So

what led you to join BNI originally?

Absolutely, yeah.

Me and some friends were sitting around the office about going on two years ago now and
someone mentioned BNI to me and I'm uh a glutton for good communication and so

I looked it up, made a phone call to BNI International uh and a lady on the other line was
like, let me connect you to a chapter local to you.

They sent me to the Bartlett chapter.

This was a Monday.

We have our meetings on Wednesday morning.

So I showed up Wednesday morning, fell in love with the energy, the people, uh the
cooperation.

and just the organization of a REN meeting.

And so I've signed up that day, paid my dues on Thursday, and I was a member by the
following Wednesday.

And I have been showing up ever since.

Wow.

So I like that you sort of took the bull by the horns as they say.

um How did you, and give me a little bit backstory there.

So you were with, were you with your company for a little while?

yeah, we were I had been with my company for probably six months.

Our GM Chad mentioned that he knew someone in another chapter and was talking about being
nice another way of potentially getting our name out as a newer company in the area.

I cannot remember the lady's name who he mentioned, but she's in the Germantown chapter
and he was like man.

She loves it.

You should try it.

And like I said, I fell in love with it instantly and had been been going strong ever
since.

And that was how long ago.

So I am, this coming January, will be starting my third year.

oh

So you've been, we, for anyone that's listening, we used to be franchise, but we have been
company owned since around 2020, 2021.

So you've only known the franchise side of things.

So that's, uh it's good.

And you know, it's funny, because I think that you felt like that short timeline was a uh
unique thing.

And it really shouldn't be.

From the aspect that you found interest first, think is the biggest thing, right?

Is you didn't get invited, you invited yourself, so to speak.

But that turnaround time is actually what we strive for, is within seven days, that's kind
of what everyone hopes for.

If you think about, I often like to kind of draw parallels to business, just how you run
your businesses.

If somebody inquires with you,

about doing business with you and they have a meeting with you, you don't let them kind of
hang out there for weeks on end, right?

no, especially in what we do, we're uh emergency response.

And so I believe in quick and getting it done.

so.

Yeah, yeah, that's in your case probably even more so, you know, the vital need for the
services that you have.

We connected over the weekend because there was a fire in my neighborhood and uh that was
looking for trying to help somebody and unfortunately it looked like it's going to be kind

of a total...

The person was okay, but the house is not.

So it's not something, but in your case, you have to kind of respond quickly because if
somebody's got water in their home, any of those things that you deal with can be things

you need to come to visit them right away.

can't say on Friday afternoon I'll be there Monday.

That just doesn't work for a lot of people.

Yeah.

So that actually probably appealed to you from that turnaround time of it being sort of
that quick pace is, know, I think most of us expect that when we're trying to do business

with other people.

We sometimes forget as chapter members though, as running a chapter, a business that
there's somebody on the other end waiting, like, are they, you know, are they interested

in me?

Do they want me?

You know, so if we let them sit, sit too long, that can be a problem.

So I love that your chapter was proactive and you were proactive.

So very cool.

So three years ago, can you think back to when you very first started?

Was there ever a moment when you thought, I'm not sure about this.

Is this going to be the right thing for me?

Um, not early on, no.

Um, I'm a- uh

I'm the kind person I give whatever I do 100 % of myself.

so, especially when there were such good guidelines given to me, like, hey, you need to be
doing these four or five things consistently, and uh it's gonna take time.

Like, I love that Megan set expectations for me early on, and she said, hey, it's gonna
take, it might take six, seven months before you start receiving referrals, but like, that

should not be the goal, and which I love about BNI is that like, people jump in or
immediately trying to

each other and so...

uh

So yeah, early on, no, absolutely not.

Now down the line, there's been a few times where I'm man, like there's a lot, there's a
heavy time commitment to this to an extent.

And then there's the unknown of, and the non-guarantee of whether or not you'll get work
or not, but a lot of that's on you.

so, and I have, I've not had that problem since.

Now there was a moment, I've, even today I had two referrals come in on the way to my
house to start doing this.

So.

uh

Yeah, that's a, and I think given the nature of your business that again, that's kind of,
know, when people need you, people need you.

So that's a, you have, I don't know if you have more opportunity than others, but it's
definitely a, it's something that when someone is in need, they're not gonna wait, right?

They have to have you come.

It's like a plumber, you know, if something's leaking in my house, I need somebody to show
up right away.

So.

or they end up coming to see somebody like you if it doesn't happen soon enough.

So em I think that lends well to how BNI works.

But for other people, maybe they don't have that same experience.

if you could imagine being somebody that wasn't sort of in that immediate response kind of
business, what would you give them as advice for kind of navigating that first year?

Yeah, absolutely.

I would say one-to-ones are key on the first year.

Like, as fast as humanly possible, have a one-to-one with everybody specifically in your
chapter if you've joined one.

And then after that, make a point, which I don't think a lot of newer people do this well
yet.

it's,

for a bunch of reasons, but go visit other chapters.

There are so many wonderful businesses that we can all connect with across the area and
you're not landlocked to your chapter.

I love going to visit other chapters.

I make a personal goal to go visit at least one new one a month.

I don't always do that, but that's a goal of mine is to go visit one more chapter.

um

Because it is, I mean, it's Business Network International.

Like, there's so many opportunities you're not locked into just for myself, the Bartlett
chapter.

And I take, you know, I try to make a point of going to see other people.

And that's what I would encourage new people to do is go visit other chapters once you've
had a chance to really dig in with your personal chapter.

Yeah, that worked really well for me.

My first go-round as a portrait photographer, there weren't a lot of people that did what
I do.

So I would go and show up and do my, you're allowed to visit twice in six months.

So I would go and uh make the rounds, so to speak, just to kind of get my name out there
and see people.

uh

Sure enough, know, over time I built a big network of, and A, it's just the network,
right?

It's not, I'm looking to do business with everybody in the room because that's not what we
do, but that network of people, I know hundreds, if not thousands of people now that are

all through BNI, because I wasn't from here, so I didn't have that sort of background of,
I went to school with all these people, you know, I've known them since, you know, I was a

little kid.

I moved here.

16 years ago and I started my business in 2012, so I had nothing to go on and it was a
great way to kind of get the word out.

And I look back to even referrals I'm getting today for, I mean the coaching end of things
now and even referrals I get today still stem from relationships I made from people in

other chapters way back when.

So it's really great that you gave, that's good piece of advice.

Oh yes, absolutely.

And I'm in the same boat.

I moved here 10 years ago and didn't know a whole bunch of people.

And this is such a good way to, especially like myself, we're again, newer company in the
market.

And so it's impossible for me to get to know as many people as I've known now without some
kind of organized structure.

Right, yeah, and it's great that it gives us that, because even from a friends
perspective, as you know, pretty much everybody I'm friends with somehow kind of stems

from BNI, because I didn't like it, you know, if you don't, I feel like if you grow up in
a place, those are your sort of lifelong friends, and we have lifelong relationships that

are business relationships.

They start out as that, but then they become, you know, the friends, because you start to
see these people and care about them, and.

you know, that's kind of how it goes.

So like-minded people, like-minded professionals, right?

Yep.

And it's funny for me to, I will go visit another chapter occasionally and I'll see
somebody I know that I've known for years now and they're sitting there and they've been

in BNI for a long time now.

I had no idea.

And so it's a fun, another way to get, a good connection with an already existing friend
and add onto that layer of friendship with them through this.

Yeah, you know, and it's funny that I don't see a lot of people taking advantage of that,
you know, going to visit other chapters, but they also don't take advantage of every

month, once a month, I think probably in most regions, they do a roundtable.

Some of them are only for the leadership, but some of them are for everyone.

We do, in our region, we do for everybody.

And it's a Zoom call where anybody in the entire region can show up and you often get the
opportunity to do some networking with those people.

there's an opportunity.

There's also kind of the after hours events that are crossed after there's an opportunity.

uh We do, BNI offers the, uh in the United States you can do the USA sort of uh networking
and I've done that as well and it's really interesting.

It's a very different feel because you're meeting oh nine times out of 10, you don't know
all the people like you do here.

You get on a call here, go to a.

some sort of event, you usually run into somebody you know and it almost turns into like a
chamber event where we tend to catch up with the people we haven't seen in a while, so we

stand in a corner and talk to them and don't kind of get out and meet all the people, but
it is also an opportunity that we don't take advantage of and you know, there's so many

ways to build your business, it's just having a plan for me, know, is kind of making sure
I set aside time to do that and am intentional about, okay, I really need to go.

to this one and this one because they have people.

You can look at, can go to your area website and look at the makeup of the people that are
in that chapter and be intentional about trying to show up at that meeting and meet the

people that make sense for your business, right?

Which makes it's it's a huge benefit to us as a growing business because we've already
planned branching out to other markets um and then also we travel as a company as well and

so uh like that is such a uh an awesome built-in feature of BNI is that I can do
networking now with other markets if I need to with my with something I'm already involved

with so

yeah, and they're the network of trusted professionals, right?

So we know that if they're in BNI, it's pretty good chance that they've been vetted to
where we feel comfortable that we could do business with people in other areas because

they've been in a chapter and it's another thing I don't think people really realize is
that they might call and ask for your power of one, they may call your regional and say,

how's that person do?

They ask about that person.

and they can see your profile.

if your profile's not filled out, if you don't have a picture, which I see a lot of the
newer people haven't done that yet, they haven't gone on to connect and filled out all

their information with their websites and all of that kind of stuff.

But I can't tell you how many stories I've heard from people being connected from other
areas.

Something will happen outside of the area.

know, if I wanna...

If I have a family member that lives, like my parents live in Florida, if they said, hey,
we're having this issue, I can probably look up on a BNI website for Florida and send them

to somebody that I would feel comfortable with, right?

So cool stuff.

So speaking of the power of one, because this is the perfect 100, let's look at yours.

So you are ahead of the pack there.

You have a score of 80 in the green.

um So you have 15 points for attendance, you have 20 points for referrals per week, you
have five points, well the attendance is 15 points so it's yellow, um the referrals per

week are 20 in the green, visitors per week is five um in the gray, and then one-to-ones
20 in the green and CEUs 20 in the green.

So tell us what those numbers reflect for you, is it a effort, strategy, what is it?

How do you work your power of one?

Yeah, so on attendance, it's on my calendar.

It's built into my week.

It is part of who I am.

uh My wife, even in the mornings on Wednesdays, is like, have fun in your meeting.

Like, she knows where I'm going.

And so I'll start my Wednesdays off.

And it's a great, I love Wednesday meetings because it's a good reset.

especially with all the positive energy that's in our our BNI chapter and so it's a good
time to cut for me to to be fed both with some like really good knowledge but also to go

and kind of brag on some other people so the attendance side of things is is easy and I
love it I'd have missed once or twice recently once was work-related once was vacation and

I just could not find somebody to step in for me in the summer um but it is what it is oh
I will say in my three years I've only missed

three times and two of them have been recently and so ah what was the next one over I'm
trying to this

referrals here at 20 visitors was five so

referrals are very easy for me.

We're a general contractor at heart too.

And so I'm always in people's business and they're always asking for things.

And whether or not it's something I need or another customer needs, it's common,
especially for the tradie people in the room.

And so I probably send out.

seven or eight, sometimes seven or eight referrals a week depending on the week.

so, uh and that's one of my favorite activities too.

I just love connecting people.

And so ah sometimes I benefit from that, sometimes I don't, but, those, those things are
an okay answer.

And so.

uh

CEUs, oh I believe in always be learning.

uh And so CEUs are very easy.

It's easy to pop a quick video in while I'm driving or uh a podcast or something and
always be learning something new.

I'll never forget too big for my britches, my dad would say.

So I always try to have something going in the dead time in between going to another job
or whatever that looks like, headphones in.

mow in the yard yesterday I had something on and so I count that as a CEU and so

As far as bringing people to visit, having visitors come, for some reason for that one for
me is just a struggle.

ah It's not for a lack of trying, I'll say.

I constantly ask people to come visit.

And sometimes I just think the timing maybe doesn't work for people, especially if you've
already kind of got an established workflow.

I've had a few people come and visit and some join, which has been great.

I think a girl that I had come visit, she went and helped start another chapter.

There you go.

but for me it is not a regular thing.

oh And then what's one I'm missing here?

oh

I think you have hit all of them.

uh Let's actually look at your Palms Report though, because there's a couple things on
there I wanted to ask you about.

So I know the people that are just listening can't see it, so I'll read it.

So it's 21 weeks.

You've had all of your, had two subs, but you were...

present your account or actually there's one absence two absences okay that's if I can
read it properly there were two absence of which you actually already talked about right

so if you can find subs that's that makes that go away.

Referrals given inside 50 excuse me referrals given outside to referrals received inside
to referrals received outside five visitors one one to one's 31 and thank you for close

business.

$752,283 and CEUs 56.

So several things stood out to me when I looked at that.

One of which is in, and you may or may not remember this because it was from May, but
there's thank you for close business for $627,736.

Who was the lucky recipient or was it a bunch of people because of what you do?

was actually one person.

So in...

In what we do, we have occasionally a large loss and for us, you know that's in the
millions of dollars in several months to potentially over a years long project.

And so during that time we had a very large rain and windstorm come through Memphis and
caused a building to collapse at which we were the first call and we had people there

within 30 minutes.

A portion of that though was the roof.

Since the roof collapse, it has to be replaced.

And so I actually asked the

the roofing seat in our chapter to come out and bid that.

They were the low bid, low being $600,000.

And so they were awarded that job.

And so oh that's the kind of work that we kind of get into is large loss of natural
disaster things.

And so the roofing seat, they were super quick.

good pricing m and the job was awarded.

was very, it was honestly, was a very easy um process for us as a company to work with
them um in this project.

So, and I think they get started on installing that roof um here in the next week or two.

So uh it's going to be, it's going to be big project.

So we're excited for them to be partnering with us with that

job.

oh

But it speaks to the power of BNI, If they were not in your chapter, and they hadn't
responded, if they weren't a trusted partner, they wouldn't have responded quickly.

They likely would have missed out on that opportunity.

And you said they were the lowest price, so I don't know if that means that's the best
business for them, but I'm sure they would like to have that business regardless.

So, they, you know, they probably wouldn't have quoted a price that was not going to be
beneficial to some degree for them.

But you have a significant, you know, just all the way down the line, you have a lot of
thank you for closed business given.

that 750, 2000, you know, you're almost to, you know, I don't know by the year end, maybe,
which is October.

Well, October 1st starts the new year.

Who knows?

Maybe you're going to give away a million bucks.

So.

That's the goal.

try to, I try to make a point to bring BNI people into every project I get.

And so, and a lot of times that's, you know, I hate to use the word pitch, but that's a
pitch to my, to a lot of my BNI fellows is, hey, like if I, if I get a job, like that

involves a lot of people in the room.

It involves electricians, it involves the plumbers, it involves the painters, the
drywallers.

It involves a lot of people to get these jobs done.

And we use a good amount of those people from BNI.

oh

yeah, that's a strong selling point, You personally, so if you go back to that visitors
that were talking about that earlier is, I don't know if you're speaking in those terms to

people, if you're inviting somebody, it's not a story I can tell, because I haven't given
away, I've given away a lot, not as much as you have, three quarters of a million dollars.

if you're inviting somebody, maybe that's a story, weave that into a story.

I just have a high ideation so that, you know, this is something I've personally given,
you know, because we're all about givers gain.

On the receiving side, do you, because I know you're using a lot of the folks, is the
receiving side more about having those partners that you can count on?

Because you haven't, your referrals received inside and outside, you have seven total in
the last 21,

weeks.

is that a just kind of a one job is good and you're you know the higher dollar amounts are
fine for a lower amount of opportunities?

It depends.

typically, for instance, if I have a water loss in someone's home or business, that job
can range from $5,000 typically at a minimum to one I left a minute ago was $100,000.

it really is a wide range and a wide berth.

And so I personally really only need to receive three or four good referrals a year.

for it to be worth my time.

Now, more is always better and I love more.

um But for me, a lot of times it really is.

And we make a lot of, again, we're general contractors.

So typically if I'm hiring somebody, I'm making a portion of that as well.

So the numbers that I've received really come stem out of the money that has been given as
well too, a lot of the times.

Now, not every time, but a good amount of it.

even though the revenue that we have made from BNI is in the...

close to the $80,000 range, I would argue it's probably closer to the $150,000 range.

would argue double what it says, but we don't mark it that way uh inside of our apps.

Yeah, well, and that brings up a good point too, is I look at, I was looking at it the
other day, this is why top of mind is, I look at what I've given and what I've received,

and what I've received is only what is essentially tracked from BNI member to BNI member
right?

But it's probably three times that because for me it's exponential because I get one
person referred to me and then I get.

the next one and the next one and the next one from those people because they refer me and
so on and so on, right?

So that dollar, and I think some people track it to that line that says just be an eye,
but at some point, you know, it's like.

three or four or five or six or seven, you know, after 12 years, it's pretty far removed,
but I know I can go back and see the original tree, the root of the tree started with a

BNI member.

somebody introducing me to somebody said the longer you're in, the more of those
opportunities kind of exponentially grow over time.

So it's kind of cool.

You also mentioned something, we had a guest on a couple of weeks ago who talked about

going to visit a trades heavy chapter, if you will, and they're not in the trades.

And so in that person's viewpoint, they didn't feel like it would be as easy to get
referrals from people who are in the trades because they're not necessarily dealing with

the homeowner, you know, or dealing with finding out what they're, you know, it's a harder
sense of getting to the person that you need.

How do you feel about that?

I think it depends on the person.

So I can think of a few people in our chapter who like I would argue probably are hard to
give referrals to.

I'm probably one of them.

Like it is a shot in the dark that the person that I know knows the person who's home
flooded or caught on fire or whatever, but it never hurts to ask.

um

But I believe that like you have to look past that just a little bit.

You need more people in your network, no matter how it looks like.

You never know when the conversation is gonna come up about taxes.

I never talk about taxes with anybody, but I'm in people's year round and businesses year
round and guess what?

Tax time comes around year round at some point.

And you never know when I'll hear and I can be like, man, I know a really good tax guy if
you need to know one.

And it's a simple conversation like,

that um and just being present and open-minded.

So I would push back against the hardness of it a little bit.

Now the day-to-day, sure, absolutely.

But a lot of times it's a long game.

You have to make your pitch really well every week.

I have to understand what every person in the room is capable of doing.

That's what those one-to-ones are important.

Then um it's going out into the world, going out your normal business day, going out to
family functions, going to church, and just listening.

And one of my favorite phrases, I know a guy, love saying that to people because I love
referring people out to uh different situations.

I was asked if I knew anybody who can remove bees a couple of weeks ago.

You just never know what the conversation is gonna come up on a day to day.

And so...

Yeah, the trade people are very stuck in what they do.

A plumber's gonna do plumber things and a painter's gonna do painter things.

But they're in and out of people's houses a lot and they're gonna overhear things and it's
a very easy thing for us to stand up, especially as business owners, to stand up and say,

hey, I know somebody, I'd love to refer them to you if you don't mind.

That's a very easy conversation to have.

You're right.

Yeah, you know, and I'll add to that, that if we teach people to be intentional, then that
can be handled in a way that creates more opportunity.

So what I mean by that is, you know, in the old days, we used to have a business card
little book, you know, that when we would get as new members, we would have this little

book that you'd slide business cards into, and it was small enough that you could carry it
around and have everybody's.

information in there.

In days since, where they don't have that anymore, I've been, my old chapter used to make
a key ring so we could take a key ring of everybody's cards.

That gets a little cumbersome because then when somebody new comes in or somebody leaves,
you know, you're adding, taking away to all the ones, but lists, brochures, you know, we

have the ability to create lists of the people that are in our chapter and

What I've often done and what's worked for a lot of people that I know is when we're done
with the work that we're doing, is we've created a sense of trust with the customer.

We've completed the money exchange, if you will, with them that we've proven ourselves and
we're good to work with.

I will always ask the question, who do you need to meet?

And they always look at me like, what?

It's always met with a kind of quizzical, like, what do you mean?

And I'll say, know, you're, oftentimes I'm dealing with people that are in business, but
even if I'm not, you know, sometimes it's just, you know what, this is what I do.

And these are shoving that list of people under their nose saying, while I'm finishing
this up, which is usually there's some sort of paperwork that you're doing, right?

Whether you're on your computer, whatever that looks like on your phone, while I'm doing
this, have a look at this.

And this is a list of people that I work with and know, like, and trust, right?

So if there's anybody here you need to meet.

I'd be happy to introduce you because this is my inner circle.

uh And people will look through that list and go, you know what, actually I do need this.

I wouldn't have thought of it or wouldn't have thought to ask you for it.

And I also will say that I know everyone.

And I pretty much do, feel like.

Just because I've been in BNI for as long as I have, more than 10 years, I feel like I
know everybody.

guess what, if I don't know, I'm going to find them because I'm connected to other people
who know them, right?

So that's something that if we teach that on the front end, that can help people find more
referrals for everybody.

I thought I would throw that out there.

All right.

So let's roll over to you.

I heard you talk about your you mentioned enjoying to connect people and talk to people.

So let's let's talk about what that looks like.

You have.

some strengths that lend themselves well to these things.

from the top, number one is woo.

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

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

Number two is arranger.

You can organize, but you also have a flexibility that complements this ability.

You like to determine how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum
productivity.

Number three is communication.

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

You are a good conversationalist and presenter.

Number four is adaptability.

You prefer to go with the flow.

You tend to be a now person who takes things as they come and who discovers the future one
day at a time.

And number five, ideation, which I mentioned I also have.

You're fascinated by ideas.

You are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

So...

I know you took this in the past way back and then you took it obviously with me.

what were, give me your feedback on was it, does it nail it for you or was it different
from when you took it before to when you took it again?

Yeah, I think we did discuss this.

I took this way back in high school and had forgotten about it completely.

Then when I took it, I was like jogged a memory that I hadn't touched in years and so I do
remember being a woo-er back in high school though.

I've been woo-ing since day one and.

uh

And I will say like that's probably the one that stands out the most.

I'm not surprised that it's number one.

My wife has told me multiple times I could talk to a wall uh and have a perfectly fine
conversation with it.

so uh people hate getting on elevators with me.

uh I am uh almost always the first person to ask how someone's doing.

And so uh I think that bodes well to me in my job too.

I do not mind speaking up to someone or introducing myself.

And so

But yeah, the woo, I love a woo.

So, a woo.

it's interesting, well, A, that you remember that you were a woo, right?

Because that's kind of a unique, usually when I ask people if they've taken it in the
past, if they know what it is and they've taken it and I will ask them what they are and

they're, they'll like, you know, I can't remember, you know, so they haven't sort of
onboarded it, right?

They took it and the fact that you took it in high school, do you remember why was that,
was part of a

something.

a little club thing that I was a part of.

There was like seven students and they encouraged all of us to take this.

They didn't.

I don't remember them explaining it.

I'm sure they did.

But we took the little test and then they walked us through each of the things and I think
one of them was something about communication and one of them was woo and I don't remember

the rest of them.

Woo just kind of stands out.

mean it really is its own little thing and so I wish I had the documents to remember what
it was prior but I.

Yeah, that's okay.

Well, I think it's great that you had the opportunity to do it back then.

So it made enough of an impression that it stuck in your head, right?

I had a client session the other day with someone who's 25, 26.

He didn't tell me exactly, he just said mid-twenties.

But he's the business owner's son.

And one of the objectives that the business owner wanted for all of his team was that they
understand kind of

what they bring to the party.

And I was talking to him and he was not confident, I'll say that.

He had a lot of the um people skills.

He had a lot of the relationship building themes.

that's a big thing for, to have somebody on your team that has those skills is a great
thing if you're running a business, right?

Is you want somebody, he had...

Harmony was his number one.

So, you he wants everybody to be happy.

He wants to address all, you know, and he's there in the financial industry.

So there's a lot.

And when you're dealing with money, you want somebody that you feel comfortable that makes
people feel at ease, you know, those kinds of things, because sometimes we're calling in

with, you know, there's been a loss or there's, you know, divorce or, you know, money is,
you know, changing hands for a reason and people are distraught about it.

And he didn't feel comfortable.

sort of living his strengths and you know and I had to kind of reframe it for him so I
love the opportunity to hit somebody when they're younger to understand and that's why I

got certified because I wasn't younger but when I would spend since 2009 I mean I was
younger than I am now but not when I was young young and impressionable to be able to feel

like oh okay I do have these things and they're a good thing you know so instead of
feeling like I need to sort of

stuff myself in a box because I'm a little bit different in this way.

It's like own it, you know, because those are good things for you.

And I think at the end of the conversation, he was like surprised that he felt good about
what he brought to the party.

So I love that you had it done and that you got to revisit it.

So you've got woo communication and adaptability.

All are great for in the room presence.

um

Do you, how do you harness that to show up?

Do you, are you kind of pulling those things together intentionally or give me more about
that, do you think?

It feels a little organic at this point.

uh I don't find myself having to uh really plan out a whole lot of things now.

um

I live by my calendar.

I think that has to do with organization things.

But outside of that, a lot of times I show up and let whatever happens, happens, and then
address problems as they show up.

um And I think a lot of the problems are mitigated for me by just doing a good plan on the
front end.

so, um especially in the line of work that we have, everything's a problem.

oh The color's not right, the floor's the wrong color.

oh

bathroom flooded.

Like there's always a problem when people are calling me.

No one ever wants to call me, but they do.

so uh being organized well, I think on the upfront and setting clear understandings uh on
the upfront really saves me a lot.

It keeps me from having to do a lot of hard things and having a lot of hard conversations
midstream.

Right.

Well, and you have adaptability, that go with the flow in the moment kind of person.

So you're probably more likely to be okay on the spot, right?

Do you plan what you're going to say for your 45 seconds or in your guys' case, 20
seconds?

guilty of showing up and just letting it rip.

um But there are some days where I'll have a...

we'll be working on a fire and I'll speak more to a fire because it's the most precious
thing in my mind.

And so...

or...

uh

I'll speak about uh rebuilding someone's house as long as I don't step on the other
contractor's toes in our chapter.

It really just depends on kind of, a lot of it stems from what's happened the previous
week in my line of work because it's always something different.

um This week I've got a lot of mold jobs that I'm looking at and so this week on Wednesday
I'll probably talk about mold a little bit and so um a lot of times that's kind of how I

make that decision and I know enough um about what I do that I don't need a ton of time to
sit down and really think that out.

I've kind of got it locked away.

It really just depends.

I have to focus in on one of the four key aspects of what we do.

Again, water, fire, mold and bio and I'll really focus in on that.

for the week.

And that way people over time hear me say all four of them in a more open manner than
just, hey, my name's Tyler, I do these four things.

And so, yep.

Yeah, I've been to chapters where there are people who have four things and they say the
four things all the time, but they don't give any specifics necessarily behind the four

things.

So even when asked to recite the four things, people can't always remember someone else
because they hear it just sort of becomes, it just becomes part of that wallpaper of your

brain where it's not new.

So I don't light up on it anymore.

I was listening to a thing about brain.

how brains work and your brain starts to, when you hear the same thing over and over and
over, it gets trained to just not, it can fill in the gaps and it doesn't listen as hard.

It shuts down the ears because it already knows what's coming and so if you are not
switching it up, then you're not getting brains trained to hear something unique, which is

what you need, right?

That's a thing that a lot of times I'll point out to some of our other members uh just as
a friendly gesture because a lot of times I'll get up and it'll be a bit of a joke.

We know what they're about to say and so uh people will say it for them almost.

Which is good, you've really drilled home that point but people have stopped listening
now.

So it's time to mix it up a little bit.

Yes.

let's hit a different point and engage people again.

What advice would you give to somebody who doesn't have your natural talents to kind of
just think about, don't, because it's just natural to who you are, you don't have to give

a lot of thought to it.

What advice would you give to somebody who doesn't have those same sort of strengths?

Write it down.

Write it down first and foremost.

Take 20 minutes and write down what your 45 second, 30 second is gonna be and then hand it
off to somebody else and let them read it and see if they have any questions.

And if you can address those questions, rewrite it out.

That's my biggest thing for people.

I've told people who are shy.

who maybe don't do well at public speaking or just aren't good off the cuff, write it out
and then read it and then you'll get better at speaking that truth that week in and week

out.

That's the beautiful thing about doing this every week is you get practice.

If you're going to flop, what a better room of people to flop in front of.

Right.

I would much rather you come in and try something new and flop in front of us than flop uh
when it really matters in front of a customer.

that's another thing.

You can use BNI as a good sounding board for improving yourself, especially you're public
speaking.

We're all called to talk at least twice a week in that meeting.

And so what a beautiful chance to grow who you are as a professional.

Yeah, it brings me back to, I was part of a chapter start years ago and there was a
plumber, or was he a plumber?

I think he was HVAC, it was the HVAC guy that had, he was terrified to stand up in front
of people and literally he would stand and he would stand to say the words and the words

wouldn't come out.

So he would sit back down and somebody else, he would have it written down because he had
to it written down and he would give it to his neighbor and let the neighbor read it.

And then week after week after week, started to suddenly, little by little, he was able to
start to stand up.

And a year later, he stood up and thanked everybody for being so patient with him and
helping him build his skills because that not only impacted what he did in the room, but

it impacted what he did everywhere.

So it's very cool.

Your top five are also quite a toolkit for somebody stepping into the president's role.

how do you, coming up in October, I hear uh you're going to be the president.

So, and you're moving from mentor coordinator now, right?

So how do you see your strengths shaping the way you think you might lead as president?

Yeah, man, the chapter really leads itself.

I'll say, and I'm excited and honored to have been asked to do this.

Yeah, I don't know.

After talking with several past former presidents,

You know, leading the chapter in its energy is really the biggest goal of the president.

oh You know, there's other things in there, but like the week in and week out leading of
your personal chapter is one of the biggest things you'll do as president and keeping the

energy and the flow and getting people out on time, which keeps people coming back, um is
a part of it.

so standing up every week and presenting a good product to the visitors and to the
members, I think is going to be the biggest asset that I can bring to the

table hopefully.

uh And I have some big shoes to fill and uh Nick, who's our current chapter president, has
done a great job of kind of walking me through what that kind of looks like.

I'm excited for...

uh

BNI Plus to be a part of what we're doing now and hopefully helping oh get those kinks and
everything that are going on with the new program figured out before I take over.

so I'm really thankful for the shoes that I'm walking into because they've really paved
the way for me to be successful as president.

And again, like.

the other people who are kind of helping run the show really are the ones kind of doing
all the behind the scenes stuff.

And so I'm excited to work with the new VP and the new kind of leadership committee and
everything.

I'm excited to see everybody join in and let's keep a good thing going.

When I joined our chapter, there's 15 or 16 people, typically we're about 33 or 34 strong
now.

And I've really enjoyed seeing the growth.

So I'm hoping that I can help continue that momentum.

Well, you said several things in there.

So first you said it runs itself.

It does not.

It seems like it runs itself when the person standing in front of the room makes it appear
effortless.

Nick, who was a previous podcast person, he's a general contractor.

that brought up another, when you said him, it brought up a question in my mind.

because you do what you do and Nick does what he does and you said being careful not to
step on toes for chapters that have someone like you would like to have a general

contractor.

How do you guys navigate that?

Yeah, we work together really well.

Nick has a niche and he stays with inside his niche and I have a niche and I stay with
inside my niche and occasionally they cross paths and when they do great, great referral

partners at that point.

But for the most part, in and week out, what he does and what I do do not touch each
other.

And so, which is great.

I'm dealing with natural disasters, working with insurance, Nick's dealing with customers
who want to upgrade their way of life.

and they want a seamless path to do that and he is great at that.

And so he really deals with more like additions on homes and bathroom remodels and I don't
do that.

I deal with people's stuff that's currently broken and trying to get it put back into one
piece.

And so we really complement each other because occasionally he'll get a phone call uh for
an insurance job and he's like, I don't do that but I know a guy that does and I'm the

same way.

I'll get a customer who's like, hey, can you remodel my bathroom?

Yes, I can but I've got

someone who would be much better at it than me and so here's Nick and so that's it's
complimentary and you have to see it that way and so here's the link that's correct

agree to stay in your lane.

That is right.

then, and that's back to what we're talking about going to visit other chapters.

I try to do my homework.

Is there a restoration expert already in the room?

And if so, I need to reach out to them and discuss what I can and cannot say inside the
room.

Some restoration experts don't do fires.

Great.

I would love to come in and talk about fires.

But if they do everything that we do, then great.

I'm gonna be a really good attendee.

I'm gonna cheerlead for that person, make some good connections, and move on about my
business.

And so the intention is never to step on someone else's toes, especially in their own
chapter.

Yeah, well, and I think that's part of your skill sets, right?

Is your strengths are around thinking about those kinds of things.

I think we have, I definitely have experienced where there's an etiquette and etiquette
isn't always followed.

Let's just say that.

um There's, if you're gonna visit a chapter, you can go to any chapter, but what you just
said is perfect, right?

Call the person up if you know that there's somebody that does, looks to appear to do the
same thing as you, but there's nuances to everything, right?

So.

They may hate the thing that, a piece of the thing that they do that you could be doing
for them and now suddenly you have this great new partnership.

But if you haven't sort of taken the opportunity to, I don't know what the right words
are, I guess just we'll start with introduce yourself and come at it from the look, I see

you do, it appears you do what I do.

I just wanted to, before I come visit, wanted to talk to you a little bit about all the
things you are up to.

And we've had people come into our chapter and

say controversial things.

I'll just say that they do similar things to the people in the room.

Some of that also though is the member has invited them as a visitor and they don't know
the protocol.

They don't recognize that they should have, you know, they should be reaching out to the
member that does the same thing as their guest to say, hey, I've invited this person.

make the effort to say, you know, would you like to meet them?

Would you like to have a conversation before they show up in the room?

That way, because you're also potentially hurting your own credibility.

If you bring somebody that does, seems to do the same thing as the person in your chapter,
and you haven't sort of given them that heads up, like, hey, I've got this person, it

isn't even that you're looking, obviously, if the seat's filled, you're not trying to
bring them for that, but everybody else in the room can benefit from a visitor

potentially, so.

And they could too, potentially, because they could, you you can end up doing business
together like you just said.

that's a thing to think about if you don't know that you're supposed to, or if you
yourself are going to take that initiative to go, you should be doing those things because

that adds value to you as a person, right?

So that you're not trying to, it might appear a little hinky if you don't do that.

uh You also mentioned, yeah.

so.

for sure.

mentioned BNI Plus too.

for those that, don't know if internationally, I don't know if everybody, and I know we've
got some people, I've noticed the YouTube channel's being heard in India.

So I don't know if it's everywhere.

And I don't know if all the franchises are using BNI Plus yet, but I know it started, I
think it actually started in a franchise area in Canada.

So it's a system that is, uh

web-based that you can operate the meeting from.

anybody, and it makes it a lot easier for a president, having been one, I wished we had
had that when I was the president, because it allows everybody to upload their

presentation whenever they want.

And so it's not me as president, because when I was president, I was also running the
deck, right?

So I would have to be emailing people, where's your deck?

Where's your deck?

Where's your deck?

And you know, and that like, I don't have time to do that.

Just send me your deck, you know?

So it's so nice that they can just do that themselves and they can also run it from their
phone in the meeting, which is also great.

So you don't have to worry about somebody hitting the clicker because you've got the
clicker.

You guys just rolled over to that.

How has that been going for you?

It's been really good.

Nick and Joe have done such a good job of implementing that seamlessly into our meetings.

There's been some hiccups, just minor like learn new things.

uh And the way that the meeting has been ran for so long now, the order of people
presenting has changed because now it goes alphabetically instead of the way that used to

be done.

And so there's a lot of changes.

And so we have people like standing up when they weren't supposed to stand up to speak and
all kinds of other stuff.

But it's one of those things, again, you roll with the punches.

It's OK.

We're going to learn.

We're going to figure it out.

We're still waiting on a couple of members, I think, to get their profiles updated.

And I really that's an.

A lot of times I tell people that's on you.

Like you've got to go take initiative and go do it.

It's to your benefit that you go do this.

You're doing yourself and your business a disservice by not doing it.

um You uh can change your photo now, week in and week out if you wanted to.

And so a couple of weeks ago I tried a picture that I thought was going to be great and
did not look great.

And so now I can go in and change it and it's not a big deal.

so stuff like that, I love the...

uh

the adaptability and the changeability of what it is now and then also the ability to run
a meeting from my phone is awesome.

So, big room.

yes.

It's weird that you like the adaptability of it.

Not.

But yeah, it's a great point.

can change, know, everybody has a little more control over things that they would like to
do.

You know, if you go update your headshots and you'd like to have a different one, you
know, but, if you don't, if you don't change, if you have nothing and that, as you said,

that's sort of on you, but it also, you know, having been a portrait photographer and I
teach brand thing,

I specialized in photographing people for their brand.

If you don't have images to represent yourself and they don't look professional, this is
just in general, but sometimes we show headshots that they're not really headshots.

um So they potentially are creating an impression about you that you may or may not want.

So if there's no image, and it's just like on their profile for Connect, if there's no
image of you.

And I have a choice between, I don't know anybody, like we were talking about earlier,
calling from a different area.

I'm researching to find somebody that does what you do and one person has a great filled
out profile and all the things and the other one doesn't, who do think I'm gonna call?

It's just like your website.

you're comparing two businesses side by side on your website, their website and your
website and yours has more information than I'm looking for or Google reviews or things

like that, because you can even do reviews in Connect.

makes a difference.

Everything makes a difference.

So love that you brought that up and glad to see you guys using it.

My own chapter is not quite gotten there yet, but we're working on it.

But our goal is soon.

So I think it's just like anything.

Now they're working on making it so it talks to connect, so it's easier.

it was less, it was more cumbersome before than now that they're working on that.

So I think everybody will be going to that soon.

ah

So.

If you were thinking about a member who felt stuck, and you've been a mentor coordinator
now for a while, what would you say to them from your own experience to kind of get them

out of feeling stuck?

Yeah, probably going to start with a power of one.

I'm going to pull that up with them.

um See, you know, because if they're not including their stuff and tracking their things,
again, a lot of times it's on them.

Like if you're not putting in the effort, it's a two way street.

If you want people to give, you have to give as well.

so um starting there, depending on what that looks like, a lot of times I ask a lot of
general questions like.

Who are you talking to every week?

Is your week planned out?

What's that look like?

uh And then, again, an organic, it should be an organic conversation about business.

And so, a lot of times I just ask.

What do you feel like you're stuck with?

And then once we get a good beat on that, the conversation really does mold itself.

I was talking with a member a couple of weeks ago who's she's been in the chapter for a
couple, I would say two or three months now.

And she was like, I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere.

And I said, well, how many one-to-ones have you had?

And she's like, I've had three or four.

And I said, man, you need to up that.

We need to do one a week at a minimum.

I know that just build that into who your time build that into what you're planning on
your week um I said you can ask me anytime.

I'd love to do one-to-one I'll bring people with me for you to do one-to-one with um and
so And so she heard me out on that and the other part was just not logging her stuff I'm

like it looks like you've done nothing in here and so when we pull the power of one up in
front of everybody in the chapter it looks like that to everybody else as well it looks

like you're not trying and so um

If you can put your best foot forward, really dig in, make it a part of your weekly
routine, um it works.

It's gonna work.

It's mathematically impossible for it not to work.

The more people who know about you and know about what you do, statistically it's
impossible for you not to get some kind of lead from it.

So now there's an anomaly out there every now and then.

There's a random job that some people are trying to market that's just impossible to find
leads for.

It happens.

But for the better part, yes.

But for the most part, I would say 99.99 % of the time, if you're putting your best foot
forward,

there is no reason that you should not see an increase in referrals received and referrals
sent out.

Like it should be both sides.

If you're doing all the things you should be doing, it should naturally flow both
directions.

And so...

sounds like communication, right?

Yeah, and unfortunately not everybody has that as high as you.

that's often, which is why you're probably in the mentor coordinator position, right?

Is that that helps if you are able to, you know, translate thoughts and towards easily.

Not everybody has that.

kind of asking for help, number one is a good step.

And then, you know, looking at the things, doing the things that we already

teach you to do as part of the other part of that, but the onus, as you said, and many
others have said, it's on you to do.

But I think that the newer people don't always recognize it's so many things that can be
overwhelming.

having us to sort of help them along is always a good thing.

You, as you said, we

said earlier that you're stepping into the president's role.

So what is your vision for the upcoming year?

You know, I don't know that I have sat down and really thought about it yet.

uh Since I found out and was asked, life has been a whirlwind for me.

We've had found out we're expecting baby number four in my house.

congratulations!

thank you.

We took a family vacation for a week at which I turned my brain off and did not think
about work unless someone was coming with me, which was difficult to do.

oh And so this week really has been my first week since I found out that I would be
stepping in that position that I've had a chance to really start thinking about it.

And so oh

Again, my goal in anything that I do in life is to leave it better than it was when I got
there.

And I would say at a minimum, that is my goal with this, is I would love to be a stepping
stone in the right direction that the next people after me have a better product.

um And I don't know what that looks like, whether or not that's just maintaining a good
thing that we have or helping push it in a direction that sees our chapter grow.

But one way or another, my goal right now

would always be to leave it better than when I stepped into the shoes.

And so for now, that's the answer I'm going to give to that.

I really need to spend some time over the next couple of weeks, um both with Nick, the
current president, and some other people, and really hash out what that's going to look

like for me and what, and set an expectation for myself.

I think that's a healthy thing to do.

ah And so that's, yeah.

Well, and as your chapter success coach, I'm here to help.

How

about in your business?

What's uh new or upcoming in the next six or so months?

What are you looking forward to in your business?

Yeah, absolutely.

That is a part of the chaos that's been.

We just moved offices for the fourth time since our inception um for a good reason.

um We continue to outgrow our spaces.

um We started in a.

a single room, it was 12 by 12 with no windows, a door with no window.

Me and two guys uh were the whole company about two and a half years ago.

And now we have a team of 10 people and have just as of last Friday moved into a new
space.

So our team right now is out painting walls and getting the room ready for our uh office
to be set up.

And we're excited to be all under one roof because until now we've had uh storage units
and we've had a closet here.

closet there and now we're all going to be under one roof and so that's been a big, big
undertaking for us and we're really excited and I feel blessed to be able to move into

this space that we have.

And then we've got several larger projects going right now that just take time.

They do.

uh When a house catches on fire or uh the business that collapsed, typically that's nine
to 12 months worth of work for us.

Negotiating with insurance, picking out paints, getting smells and everything kind of
handled, it's quite the undertaking.

so...

uh

it just a lot of those projects are coming to a close.

We're getting closer to the end of those.

And so uh that is keeping me and a lot of other people very busy is making sure those wrap
up well, which is for a lot of people, the hardest part about doing business is wrapping

up something well.

uh And so we take a lot of pride and effort in making sure that we wrap things up well.

Well, and I imagine your arranger kind of plays into that as you're getting all the pieces
and parts and bringing them to a close is a strong suit for you.

So that's awesome.

So we have this thing where the last guest leaves a question for the next guest.

And the last guest left this question for you.

When people are new in BNI, they aren't sure about a lot of things.

What were the most intimidating steps to take in BNI for you?

The most intimidating thing was showing up the first time, for sure.

Making the phone call to set up the meeting and showing up the first time was for sure the
most nerve-racking because I didn't know what I was getting into.

didn't know what being I was.

That by far was the hardest part for me.

After that, I would say is uh the most intimidating thing after that is probably the time
commitment is uh

rearranging my time knowing that I'm going to be in the same place every Wednesday morning
from 8.30 to 10 o'clock.

After that, for me at least, the rest of it was pretty easy.

But especially someone who leads their whole work life by calendar, to have something
that's on there continuously and is not moving week in and week out was a lot.

especially on one of the busier days of my

week.

that you are also in your element, I think, when you're in the room, right?

It kind of plays to your strengths to be sitting in that room talking to people and
winning new people over and all of those fun things.

Awesome.

Well, thanks so much for being here.

This was fantastic.

Enjoyed having you here.

Thanks for having me, I really appreciate it.

It's been super fun.

Awesome.

And thanks for everybody who has listened.

I hope you found this helpful.

If you have, please do subscribe to the podcast on the YouTube channel.

I am so close to reaching my goal of a thousand.

I only need 937 more.

so come on BNI members.

If you are listening to this, it's a little over last I looked at about 52 % of the people
listening are actually subscribed.

So I'm imagining.

everybody listening to this is in BNI because you know it's kind of BNI centric so you can
help me by subscribing and that will be also a CEU for you so appreciate it and we'll see

you all next time on the perfect 100.