Building Your Business Through Structured Socialization Networking

There are some people that make their work just another thing they have to do, and there are those that make their work something that they want to do. Welcome to Working on Purpose with your host Elise Cortez. In our program, we provide guidance and inspiration from those people who have found deeper meaning and personal connection to their work life. It's beyond nine to five. It's working on Purpose. Now Here is your host, Elise Cortez. Welcome back to the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks for tuning in again this week. I'm your host, Elise Cortez, joining you from Dallas, Texas, which is home base for me. This program is all about helping people more meaningfully and productively connect with their work and equipping organizations to do the same for their employees. I bring on guests who have a particular perspective or experience that I think expands the conversation about meaningful and productive work, and I often draw on the meeting work research I've been doing over the last fifteen years, as well as my own consulting experience and the work that I do Insignium, which is a global management consulting firm. I'll get to the program in just a moment. At first, A big shout out and thank you to my meta partner and sponsor, jobbing dot com. They are the leading locally focus focused joboard in the nation and they are dedicated to helping employers find quality talent in their own backyard while giving job stakers control over their search so they can find work close to home. Thanks jobbing dot com. In recent previous episode, we were on the air with Kimberly Davis, who is the founder of on Stage Leadership and the author of soon to be released book called Brave Leadership Unleash your most confident, powerful and authentic self to get the results you need. We talked about what makes for brave leadership, the barriers we often encounter to being brave, and some of the ways we can push through to brave to get the results we deeply crave in our leadership roles. And by the way, if you want to receive alerts in advance of my live radio show conversations to know what's coming, you can join my mailing list by visiting my website at www. Elise Cortez dot com, navigating to the blog tab and then under my photo entering your name and email address. Now with us this week is Chris Patch, who I found on LinkedIn or he found me on LinkedIn. It was great gobs of fun. He is the founder of the verro Way, an experienced based networking group among peers that brings together CEOs, leaders and small business owners around the community to build, deepen, and gain trusted relationships through people's passions. We'll be talking about his philosophy on relationships and developing business and wealth, the particular approach and his team at the viro Way to networking, and how they bring together business leaders to help achieve their goals. He joins today from Salt Lake, Utah. Chris, Welcome to Working on Purpose. Thank you so much, glad to be on here with you. Isn't this fun? See? Who knew that when one of us reached out to the other. I think he reached out to me on LinkedIn because you were coming into Dallas, And who knew we'd be sitting here on the air talking about this, right? I know, right, it's amazing. I love it. I love what you do. I do too, Right, It's amazing what happens when you put your stuff out there and you and you see things can go. And I think so much but it is the intention behind what we put out there. I think you reached out to me saying, Hey, I'm coming to Dallas with very way, what are you up to? Want to get involved? I want to know about it? And I'm like, yeah, I want to know about it. So I wanted to share it with others as well because I like what you're up to, and I thought that before we actually get into your background or what you're actually doing at the VIA way, that it might be kind of fun just to talk philosophy, because I think that you know, based on what you told me on the phone call that we had to get introduced. One of the things that you told me is that who you surround yourself makes all the difference in the world to us. And of course I agree with that, But would you say more to get to started about what you mean by association and surrounding ourselves with like folk mind, Yeah, I think kind of. There's been a lot of people that have said it, but recently Dan Clark, he's one of the top ten motivationals because in the world he came to an event that we put on and he talked about that. He said, you become the five people that you associate with most. So if you're gonna be hanging around five broke people, you'll be the sixth. If you hang around five successful people, you'll be the sixth. And I wholeheartedly believe that who you surround yourself actually makes a difference in your life because those people that have the same goals or same ambitions as you do are going to help care you to meet your goals and desires that you have and either your personal life or your work life. Okay, I'm gonna ask kind of a hard question. You're ready, Yeah, Okay, what if you have this really, really lovely, terrific friend that's just really a nice human being but just isn't going anywhere? What do you do with that person? I still think you can make time for them, but I'm not saying hang out with them every single day. There's a ton of people in the world that are great people, but as far as ambition, and especially in the work industry go, there's a few people that you shouldn't hang around all the time. So of course, I completely agree with that whole thing, and I just wanted to ask that question for the benefit of all of our listeners, who I know we all have someone like that in our life, but I am very familiar with the idea of who you associate with you become. I really get that, which is one of the reasons I frankly wanted to have you on the show because I believe in what you're up to. I believe in the approach that you're taking. So that's relationship and kind of goals. Now, the other thing that you said on the phone that I thought was kind of interesting that I haven't really heard before is you said that if you want to be a millionaire, hang out with billionaires. So what do you mean by that? So, honestly, a few years ago, I was driving to Vegas and I downloaded a book on audible and it was six figures in six months, and it was just a short little book. But the only thing that I remember from it is that sentence, if you want to be a millionaire, hang out with billionaires. And I don't know too many billionaires in my life, but I know quite a few millionaires. I wanted to reach out for them and kind of tappen to their their mindset and their industry and see how they got to where they are. Because again, if you associate yourself with those people, They're going to help lift you to where you want to become and to help you see your full potential. Yeah, that's exactly the vision that I was getting when you were talking about that. I just really saw that that. You know, it's like drafting when you're running, or you're when you're in a bicycle race, right, the people that are ahead of you literally pull you forward in that momentum and that that whole velocity. It's like they're you're sucked in their wind almost. So I really get that, Get that, Chris, Yeah, exactly one hundred percent. So one of the one of the things that we talked about, and it's so abundant. If I look at your LinkedIn profile when I talk with you, your whole passion is about connecting people. Why what's up with connecting people? Why why not be the person who speaks to or listens from. Why do you have to connect people? So I've been networking locally for the last five years really substantially, and and honestly, like no matter what company that I was working for at the time that drove me into networking, I always had the passion to help other people that if we can connect you know, whether it's a prospect, whether it's a client, like those people, as you deepen the relationship with them, get to know them and connect them with those that they need to meet, it's going to come back to tenfold. And so I think that's just kind of what I learned is you know, what goes around comes around, and if we have an abundant mindset that there's more than enough to go around, it will And I've and I've seen it not only in the past but even currently in the beer a way. Okay, I want to do downs a little bit on that if we can. Chris, this is interesting. So what I think I heard you say is you really enjoy or forget how you really I forget helping people. So I understand from a business vantage point why it makes sense to help people. I get all of that, what comes around goes around, But what I heard you just say goes deeper than that, like like on a motivational level, like this is the kind of stuff to get you out of bed in the morning, Is that right? Yeah? I mean I think it's when you're helping other people succeed, Like it's just there's something amazing about that if you're helping someone just because and to connect them with the right contact or whatever it is, Like they're super grateful for that. And I think it's just I've loved service. Service makes me happy, and I think in some aspect this is kind of my gift back and my way to help people succeed in business or personally. Which is something that's really great is that you know, there are a lot of people that come to our events and are part of our network. Aren't there just to gain business and for a dollar ROI, They're there to build relationships of trust that they can really help build their business, like beyond just the dollar amount. If that makes sense. It does. And here's what's flashing through my mind is should talk Chris. I get this ding ding ding ding ding. This man is living and working on purpose. That's what I get. Yeah, totally yeah, I mean, how flipp and cool is that? I mean. So, here's the thing that I really want our listeners to be able to get from at is I talk frequently on the show about finding the way, finding whatever whatever is your compasses, whatever it is that that you would do if nobody else was looking or compensated to and find a way to put that into the marketplace in a way that is of service and that you can somehow monetize, right, and then you know you've and you've done it, and that's what you've done. It looks to me like, yeah, that's what. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do in life, and then I kind of figured it out and with the help again of mentors and other people that I reached out to you, they helped really put it in place and allowed me to do what my passion is, and that is connecting m Well, speaking of mentors, I did want to talk about that because I do think it sets us up nicely for to talk about what you actually do in your business a little bit later on. But I just think mentors are so important anyway period. But you mentioned when we first spoke about how your associated with your mentors has taught you to run your business. So I would love it if you can just share with us a little bit about, you know, the kind people these people are. I don't know if you want to say what their names are, it's up to you. I don't need to know their names unless you want to share that. But what I really want to get is how did you find them and what have they taught you? Yeah, So, going back probably a year and a half ago, after I read that book and talked about hanging out with millionaires, I decided to go and interview about ten or fifteen of them to kind of see what they wanted. These were CEOs running fifty million dollars companies that I had kind of gotten to know over the last three or four years but didn't really have a great relationship, but I know who they were and kind of I heard a lot about them, and they were like, Oh, they're great people, and so I just wanted to go pick their brain kind of and get a little education on what they thought. And so that's what I did. I took, you know, a couple of months probably, and I just set up appointments when I could to reach out to these people and and sit down for an hour and pick their brain. And I said, you know, what, what is it that you would like in a group, and what is it that's important to you that would really have a benefit to you Instead of just another networking group where you're sitting around a table passing out cards. These people aren't very busy time is money, and so going through that, I was able to kind of narrow down to what the Very Away came up with. But yeah, I just think mentors are such an important role. I actually so when we first started The Very Away, I had a member that joined that came to me and was like, I love what you're doing. I'd love to be a part of it. And so I actually picked up this silent partner thinking that I don't know a lot about the back end of business. Right, I have people skills, I can talk to people. I love engaging people, but how do you run a business? I have no idea, right, tell me about a P and L. What's account I mean, what do I have to do to get marketing and social media like all of these things that it takes to run a business. And I'm just over here saying, well, you should meet this person and you should meet that person. And so I decided a partner with him because it was going to be a great experience for me. And over the last you know, six seven months that I've been working with them, I've been able to understand the whole back end of a business. They've taught me what a P and L is, what I need to look for are we doing good? What do we have to cut back on, what do we need to project for the future, all of these things that businesses need to know. That really, I had no idea even close to knowing when I wanted to start this business. I just knew I wanted to connect people. And then I got a mentor that said, let me take you on, show you how to do this and make your business successful. And six months later we're flourishing and it's been amazing. All right, let me just I just have to emphasize a couple things really quick. One, I want the listeners to really hear you say that you just reached out and you know you ask and so there's a I would say, there's a bit of boldness in that, right, there's you got to you gotta reach out to people that look like they're really intimidating and have maybe more going on in the terms of the business world than you currently do. And that takes something, Chris, and I don't know what it took for you to do that. If it was easy for you to do that, it was hard. But I gotta believe that somewhere in there there was a little bit of boldness that she had to take a leap that they were actually going to be willing to talk with you honestly. Yeah, but I'll be honest that a lot of these guys that are successful they love to help and mentor others. You know, one of them that I first talked to, I reached out to the other day just to thank him and I was like, hey, I want to appreciate the hour that you gave me that day because I wouldn't have done and then where I am now if you hadn't done that, And he said, no problem. I understand because there's been so many people that did what I did for you in my career to get me to where I am. And so be bold, honestly, like a lot of these guys will give you the time if you're willing to just say, hey, I want to take your brain and help understand where you have become so successful, like they're willing to share it all right, Well, so listeners, be bold, go out there and ask. You don't you don't ask? You don't yet. That's what my eight year old daughter told me several years ago when she was young. So go ask, all right, before we go into our break here a little bit. We've got a couple of minutes here. I wanted to I wanted to ask and share. Have you shared with our listeners. You used a very interesting term on the phone when we were first chatting to describe your approach to work and learning, and it was this thing that you called structured socialization. Q. Tell us about this term of what do you mean by this? Yeah, honestly, I think that in networking and you know, trying to connect with people, a lot of times we just show up and, like you know, we sit around the table and introduce ourselves. But we wanted to do something a little bit different. We still wanted to have a structure to it where we have events planned, we want you to come, we want you to meet specific people probably, and then socialization is just we want you to gain the skills and have it to implement in your own business to help build your community. And so I think by providing these events for people to come and to network with their peers, it allows them to really open up with walls down and get to know and build those relationships with people in a fun, relaxed environment. Sounds good to me and a perfect way to go into the break, Chris. I'm your host Elise Cortez, who are on the air with Chris Patch, who is the founder of the Vero Way, an experience based networking group among peers that brings together CEOs, leaders and small business owners around the community to build, deepen, and gain trusted relationships through people's passions. He joins today from Salt Lake City, Utah. We've been talking a bit about his philosophy and about life, about business and kind of how he got his initial start. After the break, we're going to get into his actual experience, grounded approach to doing business. Stay with us find out what makes the most successful people tick. Keep listening to the Voice America Empowerment Channel. Voice America Empowerment dot com. Elise Cortez is a speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more or to invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at www dot Elise Cortez dot com. She would welcome the opportunity to help get your employees working on purpose. Look along the stones like is Bigger Thanency, Get inspired, encouraged and connected on our Lively Award winning Healthy Living power our Star Style Be the star you are with host and empowerment architect Cyndia Brien, live every Wednesday at four pm Pacific on the Voice America Empowerment Channel. Tune into the Power Party for positive, uplifting, life changing talk radio. Visit Star Style Radio dot com tow you lean. Become a member of Voice America dot com. It's easy, and best of all, it's free. Start out by going to our homepage or any of our channels and click register at the top. Once you've created an account and signed in, you can create your own custom library, opt into our newsletter, search by show, host, guest or topic of interest, or browsed millions of hours of content across all of our Voice America Radio channels. Membership gets you more. Visit Voice America dot com today to get started and tailor the listening experience to your taste. Find out what makes the most successful people tick. Keep listening to the Voice America Empowerment Channel. Voice America Empowerment dot com. This is Working on Purpose with Alice Cortez. To reach our program today, please call into one triple eight three four six nine one four one. Again that's one triple eight three four six nine one four one. You may also send an email to Elise ali se at Elise Portez dot com. Now back to Working on Purpose. Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to Working on Purpose. If you're just tuning in. My guest is Chris Patch, the founder of the Verro Way, and experience based networking group among peers that brings together CEOs leaders and small business owners around the community to build, deepen and gain trusted relationships through people's passions. The company is founded in Utah, but it's currently expanding into Dallas and Denver and Phoenix. I'm your host, Elise Cortez. So before the break, Chris, we were talking a bit about your philosophy of life and business and kind of really how you started to develop this business. Before we talk more about the actual offerings of the via Way, I like to give a listeners a little bit of context for who you are, So will you sketch your background that led you to the real Way and kind of what you did before you got into this business. Yeah, so I actually worked in a wireless industry, so about a decade with T Mobile and AT and T, mainly in sales in the retail market. And it was great. Uh, it was great experience, made some great money, but realized soon that you know, corporate America just wasn't for me, and so I had I left that back in two thousand and twelve, I started a little company that I ran for a while, and then I started working with some other small businesses in the telecom industry and office supplies and that's that's really where I got my networking experience. Was for some of those small businesses, we're going to networking events. And I joined probably four or five different local networking events and company to to kind of get right to sell my product. And yeah, so I was selling my product and going to these different networking events and realized that they just had to be something more. And going back, you know, two years ago, one of my friends, Michael Drummond and I we were just trying to get some people together every month and say, hey, you need to meet this person, and you need to meet this person. So we would just kind of host our own little networking connecting event at different places around the community here and we had you know, maybe ten fifteen people that would come every month, and two years ago in July, we had like three people. Right, Oh man, this is awful. Right, So we decided, Hey, if we want to like do this, let's do it right, and we reached out and we started Unite Utah kind of by accident, and the next month we had fifty people that came, and then we started doing a keynote speaker and we had to move venues because we all grew our first one, and we had seventy five and then one hundred and one hundred and twenty five seventy five one to three hundred people coming in a month just to hear our keynote speak here and get this networking that we were providing for people. And we did for kind of almost two years, and you know, at the beginning of this year is when I changed and I kind of looked at all these groups that I was participating in and said, what are we missing? And it's kind of like a you know, fluss Alive that said, oh, you're missing the fun part, right, And so that's when I decided to create Vero based on experiences and to be able to have experiences that can deepen relations, which in turn would lead to business. Okay, so got it, Chris makes complete sense, missing the fun part. So I do want to get into how it is that you know you do that fun part. At first I got to ask what's behind the name the Vero Way. So honestly, it came at the end of last year. This is going to be a part of my vulnerability. So I was in therapy and we were talking about kind of myself and I was as transitioned my personal life and I was trying to God with my therapist and me. He talked to me about kind of being who I am and giving me a cormission to be authentic and to be who I am as a person. And that like really hit home for me. And so when I was think you have a name for the company, there are actually means real and Italian. And so I want to be able to create a company and a business and a brand around real experiences with real people that can create real results to them in their business and in their personal lives. I love it. I figured that it was related to something related to real because I do speak a little bit of Italian or other romance languages, and I recognize the route there, and of course I applaud that. And if you remember how we opened the show, I was mentioning that a previous guests it has written a book called Brave Leadership, and of course she's all about being vulnerable and authentic and real. And so you're come right on the heels of that, Chris, And here you are an illustration that's perfect. Well. One of the things that you, I know you do, that's part of your business offering, because you mentioned already that you're about providing experiences that deepen relationships and providing fun. And I know that one of the things you focus on is brought an experiences at Top Golf. So why top Golf? So one I had? I had never been. Top Golf opened in Salt Lake just over a year ago, and when I went, I went actually for I think a presentation or a group of event, and I was sitting there going this is it right, like this is fun? And so last November is when I actually I started and I had a couple of friends sponsor an event for me, and I invited ten fifteen CEOs to come to experience top golf and experienced based network game. And we did an event from eleven thirty to one thirty, and some of those CEOs didn't leave until almost three o'clock. And so I knew that because they are having a good time, and they're having a good experience and there's great food and drinks, that they're going to stay if they find it valuable. And for a CEO to say an hour and a half after the event's over, I knew we had something all And what also occurs to my mind just as we're talking about this is golf is one of those games that is played oftentimes by business people. So it makes sense to me that you're also providing a venue that they could brush up on their skills around the game of golf or maybe even for the first time be exposed to golf. Do you have any any data about who among your groups already plays golf versus who's new to it wants to learn. Yeah, I mean, so it's kind of funny that you know, we offer this great venue in a place to golf, and out of the groups that we have, probably only twenty percent of the people that come actually play. The majority are just there in conversation. The experiences there to have if they want, but the majority just come to meet new people and have a good conversation. Okay. So here's what's fascinating about that. Here's what's really fascinating is that you've provided a venue that you would think would be a good, strong call, and yet at the end of the day, it still comes down to having meaningful dialogue with people. Yep. Okay. So on the phone when we were talking a little bit about your business approach, I know that you mentioned you do about twelve events per month at Top Golf. I think is what you said? Is that drive that right? Yeah, So we do. We want to provide experiences, and we're actually in Dallas. We're opening up and we're actually going to do a bunch at Top Golf in the Colony and an Allen, and then we're also going to do some events down in Dallas kind of more downtown at Dave and Busters. So we want to we're kind of opening up and expanding just beyond Top Golf, but to give our members there some variety of what they can come and attend to. Okay, So let's let's kind of presence this for our listeners if we can, Chris and so kind of let them into what an event might actually look like and feel like. So kind of walk us through what might somebody experience. Now I recognize we'll talk a little bit about the different levels of memberships that to offer, but what do people actually experience? What did they what did they go through when they come to one of your events. So when they come in, we have a tech station just with pads where they can enter all their data and it print out a name Batch. So we want everybody to have a name Batch so they're easily recognizable and allow us to PEPs to use their name. When people use their name, it has it for impact and tells that relationship closer faster. And then we just we don't have a lot of structure at the event. We kind of let people mingle. We order appetizers, people can order drinks for about the first three minutes until majority of people that were on the arm peoples show up, and then we do kind of like a two agree minute presentation about what Baron is about. And it's honestly, it's it's just that we aren't there to do art sales spreds. We want to provide just the information. Hey, we're here to connect you and in a duca to people that can help build your business and enhance your life personally. And then we have our sponsors speak for a couple of minutes and that's it. We let them go back to playing costs you order to move food. So really it gives them, you know, almost a full two hours to really enjoy building relationships with those people there. And then as as facilitators, you know, for our members and other people. We want to connect people. So if my if I know my member is looking for a specific industry or person, then they show up to the event, I'd love to introduce them so that they can get that benefit for that introduction to help them in their company. Okay, so okay, so what I what I think I'm here? And then Chris is rather than having a structured approach to these meetings, but once you go through what you just said about you know who speaks when it's it's organic? Is that right? Okay? I want it to be. I get that. So, so get that such a totally different approach than what I've also experienced. And so while they're while they're the event is happening then are you circulating and talking with people and kind of understanding what it is, who they are, what they're there for, what's happening for your world. Yeah, So typically like that's associated and whoever admitted, you know, we're trying to find out, Yeah, who is there, what do you and we're setting up appointments, you know, to reconnect with them within the next week because we really want to know what they do and what they're about, because we're meeting, you know, eighty to one hundred people a week and that's a lot of referrals to pass out when we meet with people, you know later on and we're saying, hey, who do you want to meet? Who do you want to connect with? What needs do you have in your business? You know, we have the ability to have a role with X basically of our members, of all of our guests that have come to say you need to meet with you know, Tony and Tony, you need to meet with Rich because I think you've got some good synergy going on right now. And that's kind of where our lives come in. We're the connectors, right We want to be able to connect you to the people that you're looking for. So of course I'm sorry, my mind goes right into logistics here, Chris. I can't help it because I connecting with people is also a love of mine and there's an art to it, and then there's the whole thing about fall. We'll how to actually find a person. So do you leave it up to them to actually find a way to have, you know, share contact details. Do you send an email and introduce them the two of them or how does it actually work? Yes? So we I mean if you leave the event and you reach out to us and say, oh, hey, when was that person's name that did this, we can definitely connect to you. Right. But then later on, if you know, the next week we're meeting with you and you say, hey, I really need help with with marketing. I need someone that can help me with my social media, we can say, oh, we them with two or thre people last week they did that. Please see new introduction and we actually do the email intro. I mean it's something deep, but it's just hear it and that was so int you know, I thought about you. They're looking for some help in this area, maybe you should connect and see if there's any strategy. And that's it, and there's kind of them to follow us through with that and and see if it's a good ship for them. I totally get that. Yeah, you you bring them to the alternative, it's up to them to decide whether or not they want to actually carry on further. I get that. And the other thing that's I really am getting here in this conversation, Chris, is just the importance of you know, in today's you know, virtual age of just having that physical eyeball to eyeball connection. What a difference that really makes one hundred percent? You know, we we have statistics show you know, first of all, it takes more than you know, six persons before somebody actually when you go into business or close a deal with somebody, and it says that you know, you can close two more by faith to faith than virtual m nothing like it, even though you and I of course are ritual in this conversation, and so were the listeners that are that are joining in. But for other parts of our life, that physical eyeball thing works. Yeah, one percent. All right, time for a short break. I'm Elise Cortez, your host. We've been on the air with Chris Patch, who was the founder of the viro Way and experience space networking group among peers that brings together CEO's leaders and small business owners around the community to build, deepen and gain trusted relationships through people's passions. He joins today from Salt Lake City, Utah. After the break, we're going to learn a little bit more about the actual offerings that he has created in a bit about his business expansion plans. Stay with us, Live up to your fullest potential. This is the Voice America Empowerment Channel. Elise Cortez is a speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more or to invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at www dot Elise Cortez dot com. She would welcome the oportunity to help get your employees working on purpose. Please join Doctor Sarah aka Doctor Read on an amazing journey of love, soul, abundance, compassion, and authenticity. 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Now back to Working on Purpose. Thanks for staying with us and welcome back to Working on Purpose. And if you're just joining us, My guest is Chris Patch, who is the founder of the verro Way, an experience based networking group among peers that brings together CEOs leaders and small business owners around the community to build deep and gain trusted relationships with people's passions. The company is founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, although it is currently also expanding into Dallas, Texas, Denver, Colorado, and Phoenix, Arizona. I'm your host, Elise Cortez, So, Chris, I am certainly interested in you as a what do I want to say, A flowering business owner. I mean, you are somebody who is a self proclaimed I get relationships on how to connect people, and I'm learning this whole business thing as I go, and I wholeheartedly applaud that you've just jumped in and you're doing this thing. So how first, I guess I want to ask you, since you are expanding from Salt Lake City to first Dallas, that's how you and I met. As you've reached out to me, what made you decide to pick these particular cities to branch into. So honestly, Dallas kind of like a personal thing, but it's always fascinated me, and I think you know, they have a great economy right now, a great tech industry is booming there. There's a lot of great startups and there's a lot of you know, bigger businesses that belong in Our headquartered in Dallas, and so I thought it would be a great, great market just to start, you know, our expanse in Okay. And then what about in Phoenix? Why them? They? Honestly, they're a close trip from Salt Lake City, Okay. Logistics are important. Yeah, logistics are important. You know, I also have family in some of those areas, which is important for me to be able to spend that time with them. And again I think you know some of the biggest markets you know, we have Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, those those markets are just booming right now as far as the economy goes, and we want to get in and really help those expand and players. All Right, I want to celebrate something that you just said there, Chris. That also builds on a previous guests that I had on the show. Joy Shutakof was on earlier in the year, and she talked about, among other things, about building a lifestyle based business. And one of the things that I just got from what you said there is by going into these other cities, you have another reason to visit family and friends, and I think that's brilliant. And I know, for me, whenever I go and visit clients, when I'm doing consulting work or I'm leading a leadership development workshop, er i'm speaking, I try any chance I can to be able to see who do I know in town? Who can I connect with, who I want to make sure and stay in contact with, build that relationship with, make sure they know I care about them. So I want to make sure that our listeners caught that you are intentionally creating a presence in cities where you already have connections. I think that's great. Yeah, thank you, Yeah, yeah, okay, well let's talk about your business now. What I also think is interesting is that so far you structured this for three different groups. As far as I could tell, CEOs, leaders and small businesses. I think those are the levels. But I want you if you can tell us about each of the levels and the particular concerns are the people who might be good members for something like that. Yeah, I think that. You know, we wanted to really target different groups that are still among peers. That was one of the things that I learned from these CEOs when I went out and interview them. Was you know, the two major important each of them was employee size and revenue size. It didn't matter what industry they were in. They just wanted to be able to connect along those two things. And so within our piece group, which is our CEO, owner, founder group that pertains the company is doing, we have a one to twenty five million in revenue and twenty five million plus. Again, the reason is we wanted to still keep them along peers. So the CEO that's working at an eighty one hundred million dollars company have very different concerns with a two or five million dollars company, and so we wanted to still separate bets so that they could be among peers and really focus on the questions and problems that they have within their own groups. The second group that would cater to is leaders. So we wanted to really take the peer group of leaders and people meeting teams within companies, so whether that's the C suite, VP, directors, managers, we wanted to bring together the leaders of the community to really get together and talk the best practices to be different things that they can do that really help in the role that they're currently in. And then our third group is our siege group, which really to like caters to the small business owners startups, but really anyway that wants to participate is allowed into that group. Again because they have different, different struggles and different achievements and goals as the bigger companies who wanted to be among teers that they could really help each other and help them grow to meet the goals that they wanted to hears. So, Chris, one of the things I got out of what you just said there that I can't help but be present too, is I think about the work that I've done coaching leaders and executives is well, it can be lonely at the top, right. I mean, it's hard to find people who can really share and understand your concerns, your interests, and that you can let in on matters that might be you know, kind of sensitive. And so part of what I think I'm hearing from you is that you provide a venue for people to be able to come together and in a way where they can share those concerns where it wouldn't be necessarily easy to do so within their own organization. Yes, so yeah, one hundred percent. I mean I had had a guy come to me he was literally he's thirty two years old running a fifty million dollar company, and he's looking for that. He's looking for mentors and other people to help him, you know, in the decision making process of building a big company. That's why he came, That's why he joined, is because he wants those mentors and that that help in building his company and taking it to the next level. You know. And to your point, one of the things that I really admire all the time about the three groups that you work with is that, you know, we don't have all the answers, and even though we've maybe have gotten a pretty decent education and we've worked to surround ourselves with really smart people, we still just don't know all the answers, and we don't know what we don't know a lot of times. And so one of the things that I think is powerful about a group like this is to be able to bring different industries, different perspectives. Oh, I've been through that situation before. Let me tell you how we addressed it and solved it. I do really get the value of what you're doing, Chris. It's it's awesome. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Well, so, speaking about I mean, for the members who haven't maybe been part of something like this. You know, again, this whole show is about help people more meaningfully and productively connect with their work. I don't care if you're an individual contributor. I don't care if you're a business leader. I don't care if you were a CEO. I don't care where you are in the world. This show is for people who want to who want to do that, and everybody's on a different journey, and so I would love it if you could maybe share a little bit about some of the things that your members have gotten out of being part of the VIRI Way whatever level. Yeah, So I think there's just two examples that really come to mind. We had an event last week where we took our members out and went go karting, just kind of as a member's only event, and I had one member pulled me aside and was like, hey, Chris, I want to take you to lunch next week. And I'm like, cool, Like I always love a good lunch, right, and yeah, I love that, So let's do this. And after the event was over, we were walking out to the car and he's like, hey, man, I just gotta tell you something. He said the client that you introduced me to, you know, probably two months ago. He said, they're about to do another one hundred thousand dollars with us by the end of the year, and going into next year they budget two hundred and fifty to five hundred thousand dollars to work with us. He said, I can contribute the more revenue has come from the very way than all of my other networking events and all of my other things that I do to market my business combined. And I thought it was, like, that's powerful. I mean to have somebody that you know, as a small business owner doing you know, a couple million a year, but to say that the majority of all of their revenue here now is coming from connections and referrals from our group, Like, that's what it's all about for me, is the connections and the ability to change somebody's business for the better just for a few hours a month, coming to an event, hanging out and golfing. That's where the power is for me, all right. So I want to talk a little bit about that because some of the listeners might remember that I am a meaning in work researcher and I have been investigating how people get into the work that they do and find meaning it and how that relates to their sense of self or identity for years. And that's in part the reason I wanted to start hosting this radio show two and a half years ago. And it's a big reason that I'm writing the book that I'm about those results, because I think that the world of work is really important to us. It's not just a third of our lives. It can be profoundly more certific than that, based on what actually happens there. So I want to call it what I just heard you say there. So what I heard you say, among other things, is in addition to the connection, there's this little thing called impact. Yeah, yeah, so making a difference. Right. So I cannot tell you the number of people who reach out to me and say, at least I urgently wish I could figure out what I'm supposed to be when I grow up. I wish I knew what my purpose was. I have kind of an idea what some of my passions are, but I just really don't know. But what I do know is I really want to just make a difference somehow, some way. Yeah, I think most people want that. And so the fact that you have created a business platform that lets you do that on a regular basis and people are good enough to tell you about that is pretty stellar. Yeah, it's honestly, it's like it's better than receiving a paycheck at the end of the day. Is to know that, you know, my members and even the guests that come like their businesses are benefiting from our group means the world. Okay, I gotta see something else that just came to this little noggative mind. So I have the privilege of working with a global management consulting firm called Insignium, and one of our two founding partners, Nathan Rosenberg, has a saying where he says, there's really nothing on the planet that does as much for humanity as the world of business does. And he said, I include politics, I include religion, I include charities. In that there's nothing that does more for human kind than business. You think about, you know how it improves the quality of life. It gives them access to economics, a job, a livelihood, et cetera, and can actually fuel thought and leadership, and I mean all kinds of amazing things that are important to people. So the very fact that you get to be part of an engine Chris, that it facilitates the the ongoing development, maybe not the creation, but the development of businesses is pretty significant from my vantage point. Yeah, well, now that you say it like that, all right, well let's just you just you add that into your being too, because that's how that's how it lands for me. And you know when you think that you are part of that engine that is turning out business leaders who can who can create more value in their communities, who can create more jobs for the people who live in their communities, who then can maybe give back to some of those charities that are going to fund and fuel those communities. Not a bad place to be working from, I would think. No, it's it's truly amazing. I like that you said it that way. Right. Well, we're getting close to the end here. I just want to see if there's if there's any can you share any other maybe one more story about a member that you know of who's benefited by being part of the VIA way. Yeah. So the other example that I was thinking comes not from a dollar ROI, but from more of running his business. He's he's been I actually met him at another networking group probably three or four years ago, and we've just stayed in touch since then, and he was actually one of the first people that sponsored my very first event. And he comes to these and you know, what he does is kind of a niche market it and he's like, you know, I don't expect to gain a new client, but if I did, it'll pay for itself for ten years, right. But he actually met a person at one of our events, you know, probably three months ago, and it came up to me a couple of weeks ago at her event and he said, Chris, I love Pam And he said I He goes, I know. He goes, we connect on a level that is just perfect for the business. And he goes, she sees the business and the company exactly as I see it. And he said, not that I want to, but I know that if anything happened to me going forward, that my business would be taking care of because she is here now, and he goes, It's worth more than an ROI more than a new customer, because I gained somebody that I trust so deeply to the fact that if I leave or something happens to me, I know that my company is going to run the way that I wanted to be run. And I thought that was super powerful. It's incredible. I want to make sure that I understand where you're telling us. Pam is who somebody who he met through being part of the Galway. Yeah, it was a guest that came to one of our events. Got it awesome? Oh yeah? Oh yeah. Well I was thinking about this as we were talking. I didn't want to say it before, but in some ways, you're kind of like a matchmaker. Chris. Yeah. I tell people I'm the Hitch of the business world. I love that the hitch or the business world. Let's go with it. Okay, Well, we're almost out of time, and I like to give my guest, if you will, the last word, Chris, So maybe in just like thirty seconds. This show is about help people more meaningfully and productively connect with their work. So what would you like to leave listeners with today? So? I believe that when you surround yourselves with other quality people, your life will be enhanced, and we want to help facilitate those relationships. To help you surround yourself with other quality people within your community. Let us do the hard work. You can just show up to an event, have fun, get to know people, build those relationships, and benefit from it, and I know that when you do that, your productivity will increase as you network among your peers, that being able to ask questions and get feedback of the things that you're doing within your work and within your personal life, that you will truly be benefited from those relationships. And that's what it's all about, is to help each other grow and to lift. As we rise, lift, just be rise. Thank you, Chris, love t having you as a guest. Appreciate your journey and what you're doing this world. Thanks much, Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. If you want to learn more about Chris Patch and the viro Way, visit his website. It is the Viroway dot com th H V e er Oway dot com and join us. Next week we continue the conversation to more meaningfully and proctually connect with our work. See you then, remember that workers one third of our lives, So let's work on purpose. We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host Alice Cortez every Wednesday at six pm Eastern Time three pm Pacific time on the Voice America Empowerment channel this week. Find your life's purpose at work.