Afternoon Pint
Afternoon Pint is a laid-back Canadian podcast hosted by Matt Conrad and Mike Tobin. Each week they meet at at a craft brewery, restaurant or pub with a surprise special guest.
They have been graced with appearances from some truly impressive entrepreneurs, athletes, authors, entertainers, politicians, professors, activists, paranormal investigators, journalists and more. Each week the show is a little different, kind of like meeting a new person at the pub for a first, second or third time.
Anything goes on the show but the aim of their program is to bring people together. Please join in for a fun and friendly pub based podcast that is all about a having a pint, making connections and sharing some good human spirit.
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Afternoon Pint
Dalene Allen - The Nova Scotia Queen of Networking Shares Her Secrets in Making Lasting Connections.
Growing up as the oldest of seven daughters in rural Nova Scotia, Dalene Allen learned entrepreneurship at her mother's handcraft shop, "The Killick." This early exposure to business relationships became the foundation for her remarkable career through retail merchandising, executive positions, and eventually leading Business Network International (BNI) across three Atlantic provinces.
Dalene shares game-changing perspectives on networking that challenge conventional wisdom. Rather than approaching events with sales in mind, she advocates for human connection first—"When you build the relationship, business happens organically." Her three-part interaction formula has proven to have generated millions in business for herself and others.
For those who dread networking events, Dalene offers practical wisdom born from experience. Whether you're looking to grow your business, advance your career, or simply build more meaningful connections, Dalene's approach to "Networking Naturally" provides a refreshing alternative to traditional networking tactic, not to mention her own personal story has a lot more twists and turns than you may think! Join us for a pint at The Clayton Park Bar & Grill, as we uncover what exactly makes Dalene so great at bringing people together.
Kimia Nejat of Kimia Nejat Realty
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Cheers.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Afternoon Point. I'm Mike Tobin, I am Matt Conrad, and who are we?
Speaker 1:having with us today Darlene Kurnia Al. I'm so glad to be here.
Speaker 2:Nice to meet you here. Thank you so much for coming by. So I guess, to the people listening, who is Darlene.
Speaker 1:A girl from Glenmargaret, nova Scotia, on the road to Peggy's Cove, the oldest of seven daughters.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, and you're the networking queen. I am the networking queen, you're the networking queen, absolutely.
Speaker 1:My name rhymes with queen. There you go, my mother, when we were bad, as little kids used to say I'd like to crown you so queen of networking. Delete, there you go.
Speaker 3:Okay, that's it. But realistically, you've had a large reach. So I mean there are probably a lot of people that are going to listen to this, that are going to know your name, know your face, simply for lots of different reasons. I mean, you were the executive director is what the title was for BNI.
Speaker 1:Business Network International. That's correct For Nova Scotia, new Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that would have reached probably thousands of people alone, right?
Speaker 1:BNI's in 80 countries. 330,000 members that pass a better quality referral. That generated last year about $26 billion US in new business for BNI members.
Speaker 3:Right, wow, and then you also have your own, like other business of networking, naturally.
Speaker 1:Exactly. If you think back to being kids in school, did they ever teach us how to make a friend Right? Cbc just did a program that adults are having a hard time making friends. So to actually learn how to network and enjoy it is what usually is not comfortable for most people, but you know.
Speaker 3:Do you think COVID set people back a little bit Like about? You know, just the natural networking of things and being social or whatever?
Speaker 1:Well, I certainly think that, because of COVID, we learned how to use other tools, which weren't bad.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it left us craving for human connection in a much bigger way. That's why what you folks are doing, people love listening to it. Because that's what we want. We want to make those connections. We want something deeper than just a handshake. It's like a relationship, and most people don't realize that I have a podcast Network Equals Net Worth. And it is not about money, it is the relationships, if you think about it, because you two likely have pretty phenomenal networks.
Speaker 1:okay, it is those of us that had that support system that got through COVID right, I mean I reached out to people that would likely have never given me the time of day during COVID and they wanted to talk.
Speaker 3:Seriously, yeah, yeah to talk.
Speaker 1:And then, now that you know the world is opening up, I think that for many people they're out of the habit and it's like anything else If you're out of the habit, it's a little harder to get back into the habit.
Speaker 3:It's interesting what you say there, because where a lot of people probably most people really probably took the time to kind of recoil and, you know, go ah, the world's closing down, so let's just close down and whatever, you actually saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of. Like no one's doing this, so why don't I just be the one to do it? Well, I don't think I was the only one, but still you were one of the people that did where, like 90% of the people were not Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm the queen of little things. That's how I built any business that I've ever had. And so a person a long time ago built a million-dollar business before COVID, but sitting on his butt back home reaching out to people on social media because he really wasn't a person that enjoyed networking. And so he said to me, Dillian, just make one new connection a day.
Speaker 1:And so I've done that over the years and literally I do it every day. One new connection I'm looking for. When was the last time you updated your profiles? I'm looking for a human connection. A lot of people on their social media, you know they share things but they don't really share who they are.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:And when you can find a human connection, I believe business will happen organically. So human connection.
Speaker 3:I believe business will happen organically. So how do you? How? It's a twofold question, I guess, but like how do you reach out to people, how do you make a connection every day and how do you make sure it's authentic?
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, first of all, if they don't have a picture, are they posting? You know, if they. I'm amazed at how many people have a profile and don't bother doing it, don't do anything with it. But those that are out there liking, sharing, commenting, don't just do the like button. People fall in love with the like button. If you really admire somebody, like, share, comment, say at least five words, because you're now in the algorithms. And people are going to start noticing you, but what?
Speaker 1:I like to do is go in and compliment somebody, because most of us, especially when you're self-employed, somebody's not patting you on the back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we've said this a couple times on our show, where we've said people don't quite realize that liking, sharing, commenting is digital currency that is free to give to business people and all that. Like you know, a like, a share and a comment on this, say, when this post goes up on socials, it costs someone maybe five seconds of their life and helps reach a bunch of other people, right, so it's a great thing.
Speaker 1:Well, and your wonderful podcast on human trafficking I have liked shared every time I see that going around.
Speaker 2:I noticed that Because exactly.
Speaker 1:You've nailed it. Okay, people will like it, and you want to go winking in the dark? Okay, like. Share comment. And if you're going to comment five words or more, but do it in the way of a question. Hey what do you think of this? Isn't this terrific? What do you think?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Hey, what do you think of this? Isn't this terrific? What do you think? And that not only keeps it back in the algorithms, which supports the person who took the trouble to make that, but you're now in the algorithms. Okay, I'll give you an example, because we closed on B&I and Donna Major-Smith, who's the new executive director of B&I, merit types, who's going to do an amazing job. I posted before I passed on to her, that we're up to 10,000. And that was a week ago, monday, and people are constantly.
Speaker 3:Those 10,000 members? Is that what you said?
Speaker 1:10,000 people that have commented.
Speaker 3:Oh commented, oh wow, well not 10,000, but because there's enough people commenting on it exactly, it keeps going and going and going. Gotcha Okay.
Speaker 1:And so this is where I go in, and anybody that did that, I do say thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know that's the extra step that makes all the difference in the world.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent it does. I appreciate thank you so much. Yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So let's rewind a little bit, because we will come back to explore that, but let's rewind a little bit and let's go back to so we'll go back, like where were you at 20 or 40 years ago?
Speaker 2:Like how did this all start?
Speaker 1:Well, my parents my dad was an officer in the Navy. My mom stay at home. Mom, nine children. She could have been a brain surgeon and she would have had three nannies in order to keep up, but she was very resourceful.
Speaker 1:We had a beautiful Cape Cod house set back off the road and there was a barn at the end of our very long driveway. And that was my mother's sanity. She opened a handcraft shop called the Killick, which is a wooden anchor very familiar here in Atlantic Canada, and we would be read the riot act that when a person would pull in the driveway, my mother would run out to the barn to wait on them. And she would say when she left the house if any of you come out before that car leaves the driveway, you do not get a treat. And so you know, as the cars make it to the end of the driveway, we're all running right. I'm the oldest of seven, so the mantra I grew up with set an example. You have six younger sisters.
Speaker 1:So as we all got older, we were encouraged to make things and we would take turns working in the shop and my mom gave us a little percentage of what she sold, and so she was very resourceful. Also, she would only sell handmade crafts.
Speaker 3:So she really instilled like that entrepreneurship in you early.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the interesting part my dad go to school, get a good education handmade crafts. So she really instilled that entrepreneurship in you early, eh. Well, here's the interesting part my dad go to school, get a good education and work for the government. My mother she wanted her seven daughters. The mantra I grew up with my dad was I'm not paying for your weddings.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Just so you understand really early on.
Speaker 2:I'm not paying for your weddings, my mother wanted her daughters to not be dependent on a man.
Speaker 1:And I have two older brothers as well, but we really should have aspired to more. Now, luckily, I grew up with a mentality that was not money doesn't grow on trees or things like that. You know, we may not be rich, but, we're honest, we did not hear that it was a matter of if you wanted extra money, we got a weekly allowance. That was the only good part about getting older. Your allowance got bigger. But other than the allowance, a list on the inside of a cupboard door that if you wanted more money, right, that that's what you needed to do.
Speaker 1:Now imagine that many people. Luckily, we had a really nice big house. We had a couple of bathrooms back in the day when most people only had one. And it was you want to make extra money? Clean the bathroom. It's where you made the most. Ah oh.
Speaker 2:So there was value, okay, so you saw your mother in the driveway, so she's obviously an avid networker. People coming and going right.
Speaker 1:And met people all over the world. She was brilliant in that aspect and she used to say only do this to get back-to-school clothes in Christmas, Right? So at the time, fishermen knit sweaters. They're still very popular. We were always looking for something else we could do, so my job that I took on was knitting. Fishermen knit sweaters and, if you can believe it, in one summer I likely knit more than 40.
Speaker 3:Wow, oh wow.
Speaker 1:And my mom kept letters of all these people that were so thankful that I made them beautiful sweaters.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was a million years ago, guys. I sold them for $30 a pop.
Speaker 3:I was making big money Back then, it would have been yeah, good money. How old were you then, do you think?
Speaker 1:Oh, I was likely 12 or 13 at the time.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. Okay, so $30 a pop is good cash You're darn right Plus.
Speaker 1:I could babysit and have a dual source of income because I could babysit and knit sweaters At the same time. And knit sweaters. But I think the most wonderful memory was he had to have been about 6'4". I had to stand on a ladder to measure him. He was the conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
Speaker 3:Orchestra.
Speaker 1:I have never seen arms that big. I mean the guy was massive and I could vision him performing. And he said can you make the sleeves long enough that you could roll back the cuffs? And you know why he wanted to do that? Because there was nothing he ever bought that could roll back the cuffs and could you make it extra long.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:He was just amazing.
Speaker 2:Now, were you different from your other siblings in the fact that you had this entrepreneurism spirit, or were all your siblings like that, or how did that work?
Speaker 1:All were pretty crafty so we all made something, but I would say likely I was the most committed, because being able to have that extra source of income to pay for the things that you wanted to so yes, but we were all pretty resourceful and fortunately have done pretty well in life. But what's really kind of neat is, as you see, the next generation, them sort of taking on the spirit. I have a nephew. He's a civil engineer and he's soon going to retire his military and so he's taken up a woodcrafting business.
Speaker 1:And he's called it the Killick, and he just creates beautiful works of art. My mom did pen and ink sketches which she sold in the shop, and one of my sisters just started to do beautiful watercolors. So I know, my mom is very happy.
Speaker 2:Where did you go grow up again, glen Margaret, glen Margaret, on the road to Peggy's Cove. On the road to Peggy's Cove, yes, wow.
Speaker 1:And we would have all likely, at one time or another, worked at Peggy's Cove, because that was where you made the big bucks in the summer.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's the truth. Yeah, I mean even bigger now, obviously, all the stuff that's grown there. So, yeah, really good. So that's awesome. But you know as you, as you got older and you became an adult, what was like, what was the first job you jumped into?
Speaker 1:Well, I studied retail merchandising after high school. I had spent part of my youth growing up in Ottawa, so I skipped a grade. So I actually finished high school at 16. Okay, and so I took a two-year retail merchandising course. My first job was as Sears at the management training program. But my hubby took a job with the Coast Guard, so we moved to Sydney.
Speaker 2:You said hubby, so when did you meet your hubby? How young.
Speaker 1:I met him when I was 17 and I married him when I was 18.
Speaker 3:Oh wow, oh my gosh, oh wow. So you've been together a long time. That's good so at 13,.
Speaker 2:You started your own business. You were married at 17?
Speaker 1:18.
Speaker 3:18, sorry, you got life done early, you have to remember.
Speaker 1:I had six younger sisters.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, that's true.
Speaker 1:Well, and watch he's about eight years older which means we're about the same level. You know what I mean. So the Coast Guard College in Sydney was not necessarily my favorite place to live, but then he took a job in. Ottawa to eventually work at a place called Transport Canada Training Institute. So I got to work at the newsstand. I ran that at the Shadow Laurier Hotel and let me tell you that was an experience in itself. That was open 365 days of the year, from 6 in the morning until about midnight.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Okay, so all the politicians at that time would have stayed at the Chateau, Laurier. You know they got a really great rate, and so royalty Queen Elizabeth waved to me.
Speaker 2:Whoa.
Speaker 1:Donald Sutherland, margaret Trudeau, I mean you name it. Anybody that was on the Hill really was in there. The part that I laughed the most, or one of the things that was kind of funny I was official supplier of tobacco and news to the governor general and the prime minister.
Speaker 3:Oh, no way.
Speaker 1:And every morning two RCMP officers would come in to get the prime minister's newspapers and I used to laugh and go because I'm in there, because if not one of my staff and you have to stuff the newspapers.
Speaker 3:Who was the prime minister at that?
Speaker 1:time. Oh, that was a long time ago, Pierre Trudeau. Oh, so it was just as he was going out, but I used to laugh and go wonder how much it costs to have two RCMP officers deliver his newspapers. That's really interesting guys. And they would just say just give us a papers to leave. And I'd say wow bodyguards is not great, but anyway, yeah, lots of celebrities, it was hilarious. Lots of celebrities, it was hilarious. The other part that was so neat was equal opportunity, employer before Pride and things like that came into being.
Speaker 1:My whole staff was gay and we had the best time.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I've been an ally for the queer community forever.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But we had you know, it was just a really fun place.
Speaker 3:You never know who was going to walk through the door. Would you say that was like. I mean, obviously you had early on, with your mother being the entrepreneur and the amount of people that would stop through. Would you say that that really kind of put the power of networking into hyperdrive, because that would seem like a huge opportunity to really kind of?
Speaker 1:Well, to be willing to talk to people. But, here's the interesting part we had glass cases in the handcraft shop. As long as I stood behind that counter I was confident he took me outside of that.
Speaker 2:You melted, yeah right.
Speaker 1:You know it's one thing that if somebody's been an employee for a long time and then you become a person who is now self-employed, the whole idea of you selling yourself sometimes stops people.
Speaker 2:That yeah, so did you have any mentors like out there now, like you? So you're out there in this part of the world you're now. What was the trajectory that got you to this start, when you became an avid networker?
Speaker 1:during retail merchandising when I took that program the woman who was one of the instructors had gone to a very famous school in boston merchandising, so yeah, I sort of figured she really gave us a head start. Sears management program. There was a person there, but I wasn't there that long because we moved sydney. I worked for a businessman. He was a character Well, in his favorite line. If you could only learn to think like a mandolin, you'd be perfect.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, yeah, the things that that won't work today. Yeah, yeah, Well, it still happens likely.
Speaker 1:But then the United Cigar Store had a management trading program as well, and that would have been likely one of their top places in canada. I mean, we had a cigar humidor second to none. Um, and again I got invited to the governor general's garden party, the pm garden the holiday things right you know, so you kind of go.
Speaker 2:I wasn't very old at the time, but you kind of go, wow yeah, but you get yourself in all the right rooms yeah, you know from a networking perspective, and then other people are probably interested and they want to see you right or talk to you.
Speaker 1:How many politicians we would get to talk to on a daily basis. Oh, you're from Nova Scotia. You know, this is my writing and I remember at the time thinking it's a writing. But anyway, you know I'm not political.
Speaker 3:It's interesting because it kind of brings me back and we can talk about this later. But Mike and I recently did a guest speaking event at one of your events and I remember saying at that event to people who were asking some questions, making sure that you're always, you know, get yourself into the right rooms, the rooms where there's important people that you can network with, and things like that, and that's what you did.
Speaker 1:You got yourself in the right room. Well, and because I was behind the counter, I was confident right. That running. You know, as the manager. I want to speak to the manager. You come in and you know again. I don't care whether you're the deputy prime minister. You know what can I do for you?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think it was a bit of. I was very naive at the time but certainly had what some used to say is chutzpah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that I was used to talking to people in my comfort zone.
Speaker 3:Right. So how do you transition the work that you were doing and all of a sudden come to BNI? It's like how did BNI happen.
Speaker 1:There was a big business in between there.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, let's go to the big business. Yeah, let's go to the big business.
Speaker 1:First, I would love to tell you about my second job after. I started to work for a textile company to make things, and so I was manager of a big store on Spark Street in Ottawa, but very quickly they offered me a job as a buyer for their head office in Montreal. Excuse me, I did that and so this company. It was interesting At that time the textile business were a lot of people from concentration camps a lot of.
Speaker 1:Austrian, hungarian, you know a big Jewish population, and so I learned some things that you know touched my heart. These people, many of them still, were very positive about life, but a lot of them were very angry and I don't blame them, but it was a very kind of closed. If you weren't part of the Jewish community, you weren't really in. So, the two fellows that I worked with were known as the biggest crooks in the business.
Speaker 2:No way.
Speaker 1:No way, like no way. So twice a year we got to go to Europe. Myself and another woman were buyers. My department was wool and cotton she had. She's not part of the Jewish community, but she'd been a refugee from the war.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:And so her office. I had to walk by her office every day. She didn't have somebody crying by nine o'clock in the morning. She wasn't happy, yeah, and so, very quickly, every day you walk by, that you go.
Speaker 3:I don't want to do this.
Speaker 1:I love the job that was the sad part and so um. A supplier one day said to me you know, you're just like gertrude and I could never play poker. It was like somebody slapped me across the face. He said delete. I mean it as a compliment.
Speaker 1:It was like oh, I'm out of here, yeah, you know, one of our trips to europe, we would make a thing through austria, switzerland. I mean the fabrics and everything. So to understand the business, the designers of fabric, much like clothing designers, high couture as long as you have one repeat of the pattern, they can make a replica. So this year it might be sold to you know, chanel and whatever okay, so they change like hands of like designers? Oh yeah, you would buy the design of the fabric you had created.
Speaker 1:So two or three years from now you would see it in cheaper fabrics by other designers.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we would go to all of these textile mills because usually they would have stuff that you know was on, special things that they wouldn't take to the show. We would end up with a really big textile show in frankfurt, and so the very first time I went there I was like I was excited, got to see something called the international color council, and so they would kind of I mean, I was a babe in the woods. Okay, delene, we've got a couple guys who are going to go with you. You go in there, so picture racks and racks of these samples, put everything you like in the front of a rack and then leave quickly.
Speaker 1:And the two big guys had big sample cases and they would go in and steal them. No way, oh, my second trip. I just, you know, I was physically sick because you thought I can't do this anymore yeah, crazy so, but thank god, I mean, I got to work with canadian designers.
Speaker 2:I learned about facelifts there'd be rolls rosses parked out of our saint catherine street location, where all of the beautiful fabrics. And.
Speaker 1:I'll never forget this woman putting her hand out. She came in with Simon Chang, a big Canadian designer, and her face was amazing, but her hand was that of a 90-year-old and you know, again, it was kind of like a little bit of an electrical shock, because you're thinking, oh, if I ever have a facelift, I'm going to have a head. The things that you do.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, like yeah.
Speaker 1:Or somebody coming in, and because in the Jewish community you usually have to be buried and don't cope with this like within 24 hours. So, somebody coming in and say I need a pattern. With this color fabric in it, can you make me a dress in a day? And you think okay, jewish funeral. You might want to edit all that out.
Speaker 2:No, no, that's fine.
Speaker 3:No, that's fine. Yeah, I know they sit Shiva for seven days and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:That's probably after the burial yeah, yeah. So what happened to these guys, though that were stealing the stuff, Did they?
Speaker 1:get busted. Well, if they caught them.
Speaker 2:They never got caught.
Speaker 1:Well, they were big yeah. They had big sample cases and you know, I mean, after a while it was kind of like you know they were, they, the people that they knew, were usually standing outside the door. So if they got a look at them they'd go you with them and then they'd go. Okay, delene, still pick it up, and I'm thinking I don't want to pick it up, I just want to go home.
Speaker 3:Anyway, yeah, great story, not exactly buyer, trips, well yeah.
Speaker 1:And then Joe took a job back and we wanted to come home and Montreal. It was the end of it. But the FLQ and billboards- blowing up?
Speaker 3:Oh right, yes, of course.
Speaker 1:I don't speak French, we just, you know it was more. We wanted to go home. My father-in-law had been top sales in Canada for National Cash Register for many years, even though he just had Halifax North. You know all the way to Cape Breton, and he said when I met Joe, he said you know, I've always told Joe he needs to have a business. He'll never have a business, but you will Delane. So when we moved back from Montreal we started to look because we knew we were coming home, and we looked into a couple of franchises we could have had. Maybe a McDonald's in Cornerbrook or Port Hawks. I had a friend that had a Tim Horton. She said you do not want to be a day-old donut. And the big thing about franchises they didn't have Baskin-Robbins. When we lived in Ottawa we lived next door to a.
Speaker 1:Baskin-Robbins, my husband would have eaten all the profit, like all the profit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 1:So, because I had experience in tourism, we looked into purchasing a small convenience store that had quite a big property and we thought we could turn that into something. We actually put an offering on it, my husband's like please don't buy it. Please don't buy it, because we had a sailboat and he loved to fly fish for salmon. And he said you want to open that business, don't expect any help from me. And the more I thought about it because when you work in tourism, you expect any help from me. And the more I thought about it because when you work in tourism, you're giving up the best part of what you're doing here.
Speaker 1:And so a friend of mine who had a very successful retail job in Toronto, mary Kay, had just come to Canada, been here about not even three years, and she said, delene, I gave up my job and I'm driving a pink Cadillac and I remember thinking I didn't have a license. That'd be a Cadillac, nice, lawn over it. So she said, why don't you give it a try? And honest to God, I think, Joe, my husband said, just give it a year. Anything would have been better than owning that tourism business. And sure enough, within the year I was making six figures and drove a pink Cadillac. I did not have a driver's license, but they delivered it anyway.
Speaker 3:So you had a pink Cadillac, just couldn't drive it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Unbelievable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's, I don't know not wrong with that.
Speaker 2:So what was this? So when was this Mary Kay thing In? The early 80s, early 80s, so was this like when it was first popping off, because this has been around for decades now. Well, I think 65 years now.
Speaker 1:But it had only just come to Canada. Mary Kay was first in the United States, second Australia, then third franchise was Canada. So I knew nothing about skin care, color cosmetics. But they said they trained me and I was willing to learn, and because I didn't drive a car, I took the bus or rode it on my bicycle. I was thinner then too, and Mary Kay trains you right. And luckily Mary Kay Ash, the founder of the company, was still active enough that I was mentored by her personally.
Speaker 1:And her very best friend is Daylene White. Except in Dallas they call her Day-lane. And so, mary Kay, it was the first time I'd ever seen the same spelling of my name, have they?
Speaker 2:ever made a movie about Mary Kay? They have. They have, yeah, because that's an extraordinary story. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, she listen to be in that woman's presence. Yeah, she was a powerhouse.
Speaker 3:Is Mary Kay still a big thing? Oh, mary Kay, yeah, number nine direct sales globally, I think. So it's still this people are still doing because there's so many things like that, now, right, come and go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly if it's a real opportunity.
Speaker 1:It'll hang around yeah, and so they've been able to adjust as they go into markets. Asia's a very big one, south amer America 33 countries. I had five global markets that I worked in. But Mary Kay's best friend her name was Delene White, spelled the same way as me, and so I knew Mary Kay well enough that she said you're my Canadian daily. My mother hated it that they didn't say my name the same way she thought it would. So, yeah, the woman was just incredible. She really had a presence, and when you do really well in life, they take you through kitchens, they take the celebrities. You don't see the pretty parts of the hotel.
Speaker 1:They take you the back way, and so I've been in a lot of kitchens with Mary Kay Ash over the years in a lot of different places. I've been to her lot of kitchens with Mary Kay Ash over the years in a lot of different places. Been to her home. I remember she moved into a big house the pink house, she called it and got invited to a housewarming party with her. Yeah, she really was amazing. So that was just as the Internet was really starting to happen. So I would have built that business because once I left that job and had to hand out a business card to somebody, it was like I'd rather go in the bathroom and throw up. So I learned very quickly how to make sure I would get referrals. And when you build the relationship, business happens organically. But people there are some people who are just natural connectors and when you can find those people, treat them like gold. So every year about 20 people were likely could provide 30 to 40% of my new business every year.
Speaker 1:So when people are doing that, that's huge, oh yeah, but what they would refer to as social capital today is when you're providing value to people. Three things I said to people at every interaction. Thank you so much for your business. I sure hope you know how much I appreciate you. Second, the greatest compliment you can pay me is referrals.
Speaker 3:Yep Right.
Speaker 1:Uh-oh, I didn't know that. If you don't say that to people, they don't necessarily know. Third, if ever I can help you personally or professionally, please reach out. I know a lot of people that I trust.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I'd sold that business. That's coming up to 10 years, the end of this year, 2025. About three years ago, a woman called me and she said, Delene, I was going to press Google. Then she said I'm going to try your phone number. Seven years she remembered my phone number.
Speaker 2:Oh no way.
Speaker 1:Okay, she called me. I knew her mom, I knew her, I knew her kids. And she said first we had a nice catch up. And she said at the end I was going to press Google, but I need three things. Sure enough, I could make three introductions. Why press Google, google, but I need three things.
Speaker 1:Sure enough I could make three introductions. Why press Google, call D'Lien? Most people are not willing to build the relationship, to take that investment of time. See what you folks are building 20 years from now, people are going to love it as much, if not more.
Speaker 3:No, thank you. Thank you, I hope so.
Speaker 2:But I mean to you, though, to have this insight, to see BNI, and I mean I've seen you in action. I've seen you in action in various roles, like through my professional life. So I can go back 10 years when I was working for another company and I met you. And I met you 10 years later, working for a different company, and I mean, what's consistent is there's a few things that you have. So one of them is authenticity. Right, you're a delightful person to talk to. So, even though I probably genuinely I'm not one that likes to get out of my own skin a lot so there's people probably listening to this and saying I'm not a great networker Well, you're hearing one right now. Like, I don't really love going out and interacting a whole lot, but someone like you really gets me out and gets me talking and gets me chatting, gets me comfortable. Right, you're a real enabler for conversation, which I think is just which I think is what value you provide. You're really great at that, and I think that's like what led you to this B&I moment, where you found this company, and just let us know how you got there to be an eye well, when I first started my mary k business I was a bni member, yeah okay and um, it was interesting, it was a lot of older gentlemen yep
Speaker 1:there weren't many women in in the group, but let me tell you, I learned a lifetime of business skills within, let's say, a couple of short years. So it was like a mastermind group business brains, you name it and that's really what BNI is all about. And so, going in there as a fairly new person, my business was gaining momentum. But you know, when you reach that imposter syndrome, holy crap, what am I going to do next? And that's where they really helped me, right, okay, so that excuse me that within about two years my business had quadrupled, and I relate that to what B&I was all about. And if the old guys hadn't kept hitting on me, I likely would have stayed a B&I member a lot longer yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, when you drive a pink Cadillac, people say some pretty wild things.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's, probably true. Oh, yeah, well.
Speaker 1:I remember going on a Newfoundland ferry once. We were the last car on. What's next to me is an 18-wheeler full of live chickens and for whatever reason, I thought last one on, I'll be the first one off. And we get up there and we're going up the stairs of the elevator to where we're going on the Newfoundland Ferry and all these guys are going what room are you in? Because you didn't get that pink Cadillac for selling makeup and you kind of go. I am now going to lock myself in a room somewhere, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But when we got up the next morning, joke was on us, my friend and I. We go down and oh, the smell of chicken poop was just awful and my car on the left-hand side, big white big pink. Cadillac white leather top, white leather interior, chicken shit and feathers. And there is not at that time, not a car wash till Stephenville Right and people would justville. Yeah, right, and people would just point and laugh, right, I looked like Angora on the left-hand side.
Speaker 3:My gosh. Oh, so you were a member of BNI, so when did you take over BNI and become supreme leader?
Speaker 1:Well based on the business that I built with Mary Kay Cosmetics in a morphine-induced passing, a kidney stone. When they tell you not to make any major decisions, I happen to say to my husband it's the best time to make a decision.
Speaker 2:People tell you not to.
Speaker 1:They tell you not to sign any papers. I said you know what I should retire and Joe just took his finger and said you said it and because I had a big enough business, barry Kay's still paying me right.
Speaker 1:He said, okay, well, let's try something new. And he said, yeah, so I fooled around at a couple of things. But then somebody had brought BNI back here. It hadn't been here for about a dozen years and I said I think I'd like to try that, and my husband on board and we've had a great time doing it. Just amazing people. Bni has seven core values, but the number one is giver's gain and for anybody who goes to a networking event most people if you're flight or freeze, you're normal, if you feel uncomfortable walking into a room that's not a person's comfort zone.
Speaker 1:It was not mine in the beginning beginning, but I learned how to do things better. That again I love to see how it has helped people. We've only had the franchise, has only been back here about six years and we've already closed three or four million dollars in new business among bni members so how do you calculate that new business?
Speaker 2:Do you just say from the referral programs?
Speaker 1:you kind of score what the?
Speaker 2:value of them are.
Speaker 1:Well, or if I give you a referral you're the only one who knows what's in that referral. It's all anonymous right.
Speaker 1:If it turns into business you would thank me to a dollar amount. But it's all anonymous who it came from. So odds are if you gave me a referral and I would say okay, mike, thank you very much for the referral. Here's the status of what it is, because you want to know if it's a good referral and when that number shows up you know sometimes it's a lot of money. So it worked out. Yes, thank you very much.
Speaker 3:Perfect, cool. How many groups are set up across the Maritimes?
Speaker 1:There's never been anything in Newfoundland, never been anything in PEI. We have a couple started in New Brunswick and we have a bunch here in Nova Scotia working on. The new owner is the South Shore, the Valley, cape Breton, truro. Yeah, okay, there's only think of a group of 20 or more business professionals. Only one seat per profession. Yeah, so there's only one realtor, only one mortgage broker.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:It cuts out the competition.
Speaker 3:You can speak freely. That way too right. Like you know, if you're coming to this group with your struggles or you know some of your wins and the things that you're doing to win, you don't exactly insurance business. You understand what it takes to buy or sell a house or that, a mortgage, your interest rate is not the only thing.
Speaker 1:Okay, that you learn so much more about so many more people, which, again, when that client is looking for help and you could say, look, if you ever need something, reach out and you can actually make an introduction to them. And because it's somebody that you see, bni is a commitment of time and money. You meet weekly and you pay a membership fee.
Speaker 1:You don't pay any commissions, but the fact that if that person you know like and trust that client that's now meeting with them because there's a level of trust, the sales funnel fills and closes faster.
Speaker 3:How do you because, just given the fact that you're such a center like central point for a lot of people, how do you manage referring business to people when, say, you know so many people in business the same industry?
Speaker 1:well, I'm so glad you mentioned that, um that you either try to pass it along or matchmake. What's it? What's this person right?
Speaker 2:you know, let's say realtor.
Speaker 1:There's some people who love to do first-time home buyers so if this isn't somebody who's ever bought a house, who's the person that would likely match the personality as well right.
Speaker 2:so you play a little bit of matchmaking A little bit.
Speaker 3:I have a rule of two. It's like the Sith, If you're anything like Star Wars. I have the rule of two. I always try to have two people and then again it's matchmaking, but I just try not to have like 10 people, I just have like two people. So it's like two lawyers, two real estate agents, two accountants to mortgage brokers, whatever.
Speaker 1:So here's the thing that I would say back to you now yeah. Are they sending referrals to you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's an important part to it. That's true If it's reciprocal.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:That needs to also be that way too.
Speaker 1:And that speaks back to there. Are some people who are just natural connectors Not that other people can't be, but you at least have to let them know that you appreciate their support. I see so many times people with very close connections, like you know. If you've got siblings, have you really looked at who their connections are? Do they really know how they can help you? They don't mean to piss you off.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But if you have not made it clear that, yes, I would appreciate this from you, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you think about people that just seem unattracted by that whole concept? And I'm just throwing that out there just to ask you, Because I'm sure some people probably just heard what you just said and said I don't want to be doing that, I don out there just to ask you, like, because I'm sure some people probably just heard what you just said and said I don't want to be doing that.
Speaker 1:I don't want to be asking my brothers and my sisters. I didn't say ask, I said at least inform, because here's the thing. Would you be pissed? If they passed the business that could go to you to someone else that's.
Speaker 2:That's a better way to look.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah okay because I just find we miss our warm connections a lot. Yeah, sure, we do, and you don't have to offer incentives. You know, if it's somebody who cares about you, odds are they would Right. But if you never tell them right and that doesn't mean that you know if you know them well enough you could cut them up the side of the head or something, or pour the beer on their head.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I mean yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So now you've sold BNI, so you are.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be a BNI member forever.
Speaker 3:Yes, you said you're going to be a BNI member, but now it's not your driving force necessarily anymore.
Speaker 1:That's why I opened Networking, naturally. Yes, because what I have found is here's a story. I would drive by a group of high school students waiting for a bus. It was usually 15 or 20 and I drove by that bus stop a lot and they're all doing this on their phone yep they are likely talking to each other on their phone. There is no eye contact. There is no. They don't know how to make a phone call. They sleep with the damn things, but they don't really know how to pick it up.
Speaker 2:and actually have a conversation, that's true.
Speaker 1:And then there's people. Here's the other thing I find People get busy. They stop networking, Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:You can, instead of calling it networking, which automatically fear vomiting. You know anxiety if you just said what if I made one new connection a day?
Speaker 1:then suddenly here's the other part a lot of conferences today, a lot of networking events, and I usually try to do this with any of mine that before you go to a networking event, see if you can see the registration list, if you can see the registration list, I just look at the people, look at the name, look at them on LinkedIn and go okay, they got a picture, they're posting hey, I'm going to this event, do you want to meet there?
Speaker 3:Right, okay.
Speaker 1:Suddenly going to that event now isn't quite as intimidating, and I might reach out to four, five, six. I might not reach out to 20. They're not all going to be there, but reach out to enough that you could have that conversation with a few people, and those that didn't were still connected.
Speaker 2:Right, so networking naturally. So I don't want to miss that what you just said, because I have that on my list here to talk to you about. So you started networking naturally and then you talked about the younger folks on their phones. Yep, so did you create this for younger people to have to like kind of get some inroads into networking?
Speaker 1:Think about this for a minute. Cbc did another program on. By the time you're 28 years old, you'll know the bulk of people. You will know your whole life.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Now you and the three of us here. You meet 50 people a week likely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if not more.
Speaker 1:But if we went back to everybody in high school? We kept in touch with as many of them as possible, because 20 years from now, all the difference in the world Post-secondary education you could be in a class with 200 people. Are you connecting with them? Okay? So then, instead of going narrow, you're going wide. And then, if you are in one industry, think of that industry, even if you're an employee, who would that client see before? Who would that client see after?
Speaker 3:Right right.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that you can be a complement to that. So if let's say real estate, a realtor, a mortgage broker, financial services person, insurance person, a realtor, a mortgage broker, financial services person, insurance person, they all deal with a clientele in a complementary, not competitive, way and just like you said Matt a couple in each of those. So if each of them have 500, by only making three connections on LinkedIn to work with, you're now up to 2,000 connections, right, okay, you want to multiply?
Speaker 1:You picture one new connection a day five days a week, that's 20 a month. Over the run of six months, that's 120. If we do 80, 20, that could be 24 new clients. But if I say to people, go out and get 24 new clients, so it's really how I built my business. So I do small group coaching, but also in my years in Mary Kay, once you're a top director, they didn't bring in outside speakers.
Speaker 1:The only way you ever got to be a trainer, a speaker, whatever it was you had to prove yourself with the company.
Speaker 2:Credit back to you. I mean sorry to interrupt, but like the networking, naturally. Now when we were there, I noticed you know there's a lot of folks, a lot of newcomers to our country. Yep, you know a lot of people that were just getting into the job market. You were helping these people out, you were giving them their first kind of dose of a networking event. I think a lot of people might have only done this five or six times before in their lives, or maybe it was their first time.
Speaker 1:Well, and we have a lot of people. I love the library events because they come back, because they're interested, but, yeah, I'm a big believer in because I've reached the point in life where we are an aging population, you know. Number one what can I give back? But number two if we're not making these people feel welcome, they're not going to stay. We're not in a good place okay, more important are we making them feel because we're clicky?
Speaker 1:okay, yeah are we making them feel welcome enough? Are we doing the extra little bit? I mean, think about this. We spent a total of 23 years, my parents, on the road to peggy's cove, small, first in french village and then in Glen Margaret. They raised nine children there. Only three of the nine were not born in Nova Scotia. The rest of us all were. So what people locally would say, right, oh, delene, you're not from here, we'd go, I was born here.
Speaker 2:No, no, you're from away.
Speaker 1:Even though we were a big part of the community. But that's kind of what we deal with here. The other thing I love about anybody that comes here, even if it's from another province they see the opportunities we're missing.
Speaker 3:That's true, right.
Speaker 1:And that's what I love. What you guys are doing is you're capturing some of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, try to get different people's perspectives and just listen to what they have to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just listen to what they have to say, what I really feel badly for anybody who comes here in the middle of the winter if they've left a warm country. If they're honest, the weather gets better Three months of the year it's paradise.
Speaker 2:You know what, though?
Speaker 3:That being said, I work with a few people that come from a warm country, talking to them, and they love the winter, they love it, they love snow because they've they never seen it before. And then they came in, they just fell in love with it and I'm sitting here going you're nuts yeah exactly great for you that you love it well, a change of season.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yeah, yeah so but they some of them legit love snow and I'm just kind of like I would be okay if I never saw it again. Okay, but you know, Yay for global warming. Yeah, it's funny I say that my wife says stop saying that, because like I don't necessarily, like you know, I'm obviously for supporting like improvements in the climate and all that stuff, but at the same time I'm kind of like, yeah, all right, I'm okay with we didn't get snow anymore.
Speaker 1:Kind of Well, I have a friend, he's a tattoo artist. He moved here from Edmonton and so when he moved he said, delene, I need to get a plug-in for my car and if you've ever been to Grand Prairie, dotson Port. St John okay, I mean, even parking meters have plug-ins. And I said you need rubber boots. And he said what are you talking about?
Speaker 1:I said when you know you're a Maritimer is when you buy a pair of rubber boots you do not need a block heater and he's like, but there's one in my car, I said, well, you know, maybe somebody will find you a plug. But you know. So the other day, not too long ago, he said to me okay, I have rubber boots. I said, yay, you're one of us.
Speaker 3:I started dating my wife 15 years ago. So I was early mid-20s when I started dating my wife and that was the first time I started spending a lot of time in Quebec and I noticed that a lot of cars were plugged in and I was just kind of like what the hell is this? And she was like plug the car in so that the battery doesn't freeze up. And I was like what, what are you talking about? And then now, so when people complain about winters, my wife, who lives here now obviously she's like every winter I'm here is the best winter I've ever had. So it's all perspective, exactly 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we got to get into our 10 questions.
Speaker 1:Let's get into it Before we do.
Speaker 2:I just got one question for you, just on the networking tip, you know. I mean, where do you see the future of professional networking heading, especially in Atlantic Canada? Where do you think it's going to go?
Speaker 1:Well, my mission is to teach people that any room you're in that's got more than one or two people, it's an opportunity. Are you open to opportunity? Are you curious about the person in front of you? And you're not there to sell. You're not going to sell at a networking event. You're going to find a human connection and see if you like them first, which will eliminate many of your headaches when you want to shoot a customer.
Speaker 3:Fair enough. Yeah, speed dating is what it's looking like.
Speaker 2:Speed dating your business.
Speaker 3:So, all right, let's get into our 10 questions. We each have five. Do you want to start or do you want me to start? Go ahead, matt. You want me to start? All right, cool, all right. So question number one. So what's the book title of your life?
Speaker 1:Are you allergic to networking? Okay?
Speaker 2:Okay, I like that.
Speaker 1:Or richness in my roots.
Speaker 2:Are you allergic to networking? I like the first networking.
Speaker 3:I like that I like are you allergic to networking that would catch people's attention? Yeah, I like it. Alright, number two over to Mike.
Speaker 2:Alright, if networking was an animal, okay, what animal would you be? And why so a bunch of animals in a room? You know of the animal kingdom? What would they lean be?
Speaker 1:Hmm, I'll have to think about that for a minute. Maybe a rabbit?
Speaker 2:Okay, why did you pick?
Speaker 1:rabbit, they could multiply, hey that's good.
Speaker 3:Grow your network.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good, but they're also cute and cuddly. There you go, that's a great answer, perfect, all right.
Speaker 3:Next question. So if you could pick entrance music like a WWE wrestler, what song would you pick for your entrance music?
Speaker 1:oh, shoot um oh just one second I love anything from mama mia. What would work something from mama mia?
Speaker 3:I have a dream okay, all right, nice right.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 3:That's good. If you don't have a dream, I'm not familiar with Mamma Mia.
Speaker 2:I've got to be honest with you.
Speaker 1:Oh, you've got to Well they should never have gotten paid for doing that movie. No. They had too much frigging fun.
Speaker 3:All right. Question number four what am I?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Do you believe in?
Speaker 3:luck or do you think we create our own opportunities through connection? The smarter I work, the luckier I get. You know what? That's good advice? And that was advice that was also given to me a long time ago by a professional golfer, like a pga golfer. I said you know? I asked what tiger woods? And he I was like, do you think he's lucky, do you think he's good? And he said you know, he said the funny thing about him is he works so hard that on the days that he's good, he's good, and the days that he's not good, he's lucky.
Speaker 1:Well, but you have to remember how old was he when his dad put a golf club in his 100%. So if you've read any of Malcolm Gladwell's books Outliers, he put in more than his 10,000 hours in more than his 10,000 hours Exactly, oh yeah. Overnight success only takes 15 years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, there you go. Overnight success takes 15 years. There you go, I like it All right, so next question. So what is the top place in the world to visit on your bucket list?
Speaker 1:Oh Greece.
Speaker 3:Greece. Okay, Really yeah.
Speaker 1:Although Bali in Indonesia was pretty hard to beat.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:Every year I earned trips from Mary Kay. Oh, yeah, yeah, oh. Thailand I ate dinner at the Prince of Siam.
Speaker 3:Siam, the Prince of Siam. Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:On the Grand Canal. Wow, yeah, like I've traveled the world in a custom that most people would never.
Speaker 3:yeah yeah, yeah, amazing, very cool but yeah, greece all right all right over to you okay.
Speaker 2:So what's the strangest or most unexpected connection that you've ever made that led to something big. So a strange connection that you never thought would you know you, you're a natural networker. It led to something big.
Speaker 1:You never saw it coming wow, well, that's a good one. I I met somebody that um in passing that I ended up going to poland and opening mary k in in Poland when it first happened.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, likely introduced me to a hundred people before I ever got there.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just same thing in passing.
Speaker 3:Cool.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 3:Good. Next question so you're organizing a network event with Finger Foods. What is the one food that should never be at a networking event?
Speaker 1:Anything that needs a fork.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:That's a good question.
Speaker 2:I like that one, so nothing that includes a fork at a networking event.
Speaker 3:I was thinking something stinky, but yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2:Poutine not good, not good, no yeah.
Speaker 1:Like literally finger food.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, preferably one bite.
Speaker 3:Fair enough, makes sense. Ok, over to you.
Speaker 2:Second last question, yeah, ok. So if you could host a dinner party with any three networkers, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Speaker 1:Sam Horn. I just spent a weekend with her in Austin, texas. If you've never heard of her, her company's called the Intrigue Agency Brilliant Brilliant. I would love it if it were Mary Kay Ash again, but she's not here. So Dr Ivan Meisner, I've met him personally. He was the founder of BNI and that certainly he is still very active, even though you know BNI is no longer technically his company. Who else? Three people?
Speaker 2:Give me a like a historic.
Speaker 1:I'm happy talking to you two.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's awesome. Yeah, well, two for one. But how about give us a historic figure? Oh, a historic figure Like somebody from any time, dead or alive. What do you think of that? It would just be really nice to have a networking event with you.
Speaker 1:Was it Roosevelt, his wife? What was her name? Eleanor.
Speaker 2:Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt, very pro-women yeah, nice, love it yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, cool On to you, Matt. So it's our last question.
Speaker 2:Was it Second last question?
Speaker 3:Well, okay, you go then because I have the last question. Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Sorry. Okay, I've got another one. If someone had a networking spirit guide whispering in their ear at an event, what would it be telling them not to do?
Speaker 1:Try to close the sale. Oh, don't be their heart selling at an event yeah, why would you sell to somebody if you don't even know?
Speaker 2:them Right.
Speaker 1:So if you pretend that somebody's got a sign around them that says make me feel important, like when I would go to a networking event, I'd stand in the corner, I'd pray somebody would talk to me. Well, if you stand in the corner, you don't look friendly and so you know, after having done everything wrong, I would say okay, I'm going to go stand by the door, I'll wave to anybody I know Hi, I'll talk to you later.
Speaker 1:I'd wait, till. That person with the deer in the headlights came through the door and I would say you look more afraid than me, and they would be. Sometimes people would hug me. It's like, oh my God, thank God, and I said I feel just like you, but now we're together.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's a great time to ask you this Will you buy ad space in this show? Yeah, yeah, okay, cool, because we've taken a while. Now I think I've gotten to know you. It's a good time to kind of go for the close right, exactly, perfect.
Speaker 3:Okay, you, I know what you deliver, okay, so last question that we have here.
Speaker 1:so what's one piece of advice that you were given that you'd like to share with us okay um, be curious, be curious, yeah, always be curious. Everybody's got a story to tell. Yeah, and if you're willing to really listen, not like a brick but like a sponge- yeah that you will. You will find the most amazing stories from people. And look at you two. You could write a book right now. I hope that's in the works.
Speaker 2:Well, I think we found an amazing story today and I'm very thankful that you came and told us oh exactly, it's great yeah you got a great story.
Speaker 3:I think people will find it really interesting. Yes, we kind of thing Not necessarily about us, but I think about our experiences with guests.
Speaker 1:Right, like people, like yourself, okay, but here's the thing. You write about their story, but then you write your takeaway, and you write your takeaway Exactly yeah, that's exactly what I have kind of proposed Like to Matt.
Speaker 2:Already we have a Matt and a Mike section on each guest.
Speaker 1:So if you haven't heard Sam Horn. Look her up, sam, if you haven't heard.
Speaker 2:Sam Horn look her up. Sam Horn Start following her.
Speaker 1:Cool. She used to run the Maui Book Publishing Conference. That's where first-time authors could come to Maui. I mean that would be a great trip and actually get to sit in front of all of the major publishing houses.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:And so for 20 years she did that she would stand at the back of the room and so these people would have 10 minutes to do a pitch. And she said so sad and pathetic. She could tell in the first 60 seconds like if you're 3.30 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon and it's every 10 minutes there's a pitch these people are.
Speaker 3:You know, you're exhausted, you're pitched out but she would say this must be her wearing the hat on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm going to send her a connect request and we're going to see if she listens to the episode, because she'll connect. If she listened, there we go Sent. All right, we'll see what's up.
Speaker 1:Okay, she is amazing. I spent a whole weekend there.
Speaker 2:I've been following her for a while she lives about 10 minutes from Dr Ivan Me.
Speaker 1:She said I could tell. So she started another company, the Intrigue Agency, and what she has gone on to do is teach people how to perfect a pitch that gets people to raise their eyebrows Like if you were to squint, squint right, I naturally squint.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you do. But squinting means you know you do, but squinting means you know you're not getting it if you say something and ask a question yeah right.
Speaker 1:She says if somebody asks what you do, don't tell them. Right right so would you a friend or a business professional? She says if somebody asks what you do, don't tell them ask a three-part question Would you, a friend or business associate, need to network but are allergic to it? That's what I do. I teach people how to get comfortable and actually enjoy networking. Okay, right, okay, that raises. Usually if you can get somebody to raise their eyebrows, that means somebody's listening.
Speaker 2:Fair enough 100% yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, we have to thank. We've. Actually we're here at the Clayton Park Bar and Grill. Yes so thank you to them for hosting and letting us record here. Darlene, thank you very much for coming on the show and honestly thank you. You've been a big supporter of us. You're constantly sharing stuff and liking stuff.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that.
Speaker 3:We do appreciate very much yeah and you even asked us to speak at one of your events. So, honestly, truly, truly thankful for your you know just, you know support, you know that that kind of virtual and non-virtual support, we appreciate it you have to know I'm, I am going to form the fan club and anybody like you two who share positives, who share and support people.
Speaker 1:I don't think there's any greater service that we can do to mankind. And you haven't seen the last of me because, stay tuned, we're going to be doing a big event for Small Business Week at the library with these two.
Speaker 2:Yes, we're going to come back and hang out with you again in October.
Speaker 3:I really look forward to that. It'll be fun. Cheers to you, delaney. Thank you very much, that was great. Bye.
