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Local Living
A community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland.
Local Living
The Ripple Effect: Meet Arielle Leavitt
When life handed Arielle Levitt a struggling family medical practice after her father's stroke, she turned to the one piece of advice that would forever change her entrepreneurial journey: "create a business card and network." Living in South Florida, she transformed the business by forging genuine connections within her local community.
The path wasn't straightforward. As Arielle found herself drowning in business cards and spending countless hours writing personalized introductions between contacts, she recognized a fundamental problem facing networkers everywhere. Excel spreadsheets weren't cutting it, and existing platforms didn't address the organizational nightmare of maintaining meaningful business relationships. This frustration birthed Ripple Networking—an innovative app that organizes connections by events and streamlines introductions.
Self-described as "not a techie person" who asks her 70-year-old mother for technology help, Arielle's strength lies in understanding human connections. Her insight that networking isn't just about business transactions but building relationships that often evolve into friendships shapes everything she does—from her physical therapy practice, MedAmerica, to The Connector podcast and now the Ripple Networking app.
For those intimidated by networking, especially introverts, Arielle offers a refreshing perspective: start with just one person. That singular connection can create a ripple effect leading to countless opportunities. Her commitment to making networking accessible explains why the app remains free—because she believes everyone deserves the chance to connect and grow their business regardless of means or background. Download Ripple Networking today and transform how you build your professional community.
Getrippleapp.com
Instagram @Arielle.Leavitt
Arielletheconnector@gmail.com
Local Living is a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. Are You A Local Business, Resident, Leader or Non-Profit? If so, we would love to have you on the podcast!
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Welcome. Welcome everyone to Local Living. We are your community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. I'm David Conway, your host, and today we have someone with us who has truly mastered the art of bringing people together. Her name is Arielle Levitt. She is an entrepreneur. She's host of the Connector podcast. She's also the founder and creator of a very exciting new app called Ripple Networking. Arielle, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate being here my pleasure.
Speaker 1:I was truly looking forward to having you on today. I know you do so much here locally and you've got so much going on. If you could start out by telling us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey?
Speaker 2:So at 22, my father had a stroke and I was thrown into the family business. It was a struggling family business. At the time he was going through a bad breakup with his ex-business partner, so a lot of everything that he had worked for was crumbling a little bit and caused a lot of stress, unfortunately, which caused a stroke. So I was getting ready to graduate college and I stepped up to just kind of take over the business, thinking, okay, I've done, it's a medical practice, so I've done billing and scheduling. I can, you know, run a business or I can figure this out. Well, it's very different. Doing billing and scheduling. I can run a business or I can figure this out. Well, it's very different. Doing billing and scheduling and then running a business very different things. So I had to just kind of learn and kept going every day, just showing up and figuring things out as things hit me every day. It was something new. An employee couldn't show up, the schedule fell apart, the space that we were in we got kicked out of and we had to move and find a new location. And moving a medical practice is insane. So I didn't know how to build a business.
Speaker 2:But I remember something that my professor said to me in college was create a business card. Make a business card and create connections and network. And so that's what I did. I made a business card. I started going to local networking events.
Speaker 2:I got involved in the Deerfield Beach Chamber, I got involved in local community and working with other business owners because I was like I don't really know what I'm doing, Can you help me? And by learning from them and collaborating, I was like I'm happy to do this to support you and vice versa. And by networking and collaborating and creating connection and community, I was able to grow the business and take it from the red and put it into the black. And so it was really because of community that I was able to do this and networking. And I noticed that when I would, you know, make a connection happen and if there's something that I couldn't help somebody with, if I could, if I could help somebody else, then I noticed that was amazing, Like that, then, like it was on my way of giving back Right, and I was like, oh, this is so awesome that this person can help you grow your business and vice versa. And then you know people are obviously, you know, like-minded, right, when you meet like-minded people. They want to help you back.
Speaker 2:And it's a full circle and it's a moving circle and it's such a great way to collaborate with other businesses and then, instead of competition, even other medical practices I would start to collaborate with them and I'm like I don't feel like there's competition. There's enough to go around Like let's all work together. Let's, you know, not everybody, not everybody's, everybody's cup of tea. So, and that's what's so beautiful, you can work as a community and build each other up. So from there, from creating and growing my own business with community, as I was networking, I was gaining a stack of business cards on my desk or in my drawer are all over and I didn't want to throw them away because I never knew. I was like maybe I will need this person's information again, or I have a drawer of them still.
Speaker 2:How long, how long have you had that drawer of business cards?
Speaker 1:I won't answer that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so exactly Like we all have it. And so one year I had it for five years or so and I was like, oh my gosh, this drawer is huge, it's packed. I tried Rolodexes, I tried different things, I wasn't going to get rid of the cards. And then I was like this is ridiculous, this is crazy, I'm going to just throw them away. Because the last time I actually really looked at somebody's card I couldn't even find it. So I ended up Goog this is ridiculous. And then I was like I'm spending a lot of time.
Speaker 2:I noticed I was spending a lot of time making introductions for people. The more I like was networking, the more introductions I was creating for people. And I'm writing one person's bio and I'm writing another person's bio and before I know it, I spent about 30 minutes writing five different introductions because I had to rewrite the bio of somebody and rewrite another one and I want to do a good introduction. So I was like this is also crazy. There's got to be a better way, a better system. And as I'm figuring this out, I did a lot of research, right, I asked a lot of business professionals, the networkers and people around town like what are you using? What are you using? What's going on and everybody's like Excel. Or I'm using LinkedIn, or I'm using Instagram and doing it some weird way that I the algorithm how they were doing that. I could not figure that out, so I don't know. I don't know if you have your own way, but I'm not an Excel spreadsheet person. I don't know if you are, but are you an Excel spreadsheet person?
Speaker 1:Listen, I know that Excel is extremely efficient for a certain type of person. I am not that person.
Speaker 2:Exactly right. It's like, I think, I feel like it's like 1% of the population.
Speaker 1:They should offer a whole, I think, semester long course just on the basics of Excel. And even then I don't think you would master it.
Speaker 2:No, I took it in high school and in college I took an Excel spreadsheet course. I don't know. I don't remember one thing I learned in it. It's just like it's not my thing, so it didn't stick. But the networking the professor told me to network, that stuck because I love networking and so um. So then I was like okay, I want to make introductions easier for people. I want to create a system that people business professionals can use to still network efficiently but also allow them to spend more time back on their business. Because I noticed I was taking away time from my business and I, you know, as much as networking was helping my business, I also needed to be, you know, working on my business and growing it also. So that's why I created Ripple, ripple Networking to help people just be more efficient and network easier. So now there's also oh yeah, tell me.
Speaker 1:So Ripple Networking, it's an app, so it's just an app that goes on my phone.
Speaker 2:An app that goes on your phone.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like LinkedIn meets Eventbrite meets Facebook groups.
Speaker 2:So when you want to go to an event, a networking event, that is a collaborator with Ripple, you would check into that event and everybody who checked into that event would all be in that saved event. So when you go to like an event and you get a bunch of business cards and you want to wrap them up in a rubber band or whatever, it is okay, this one and then you put the sticky on it I met them at the you know Deerfield Beach Chamber and then you go to the next event and the next event you keep like you know, same idea, but it's all on the app. So when you want to go back three months later because you realized, oh my gosh, that person I met at a Deerfield Beach Chamber event, I'm ready to use their services, or I know somebody who will use their services, you can go back to that event, find the person very easily and make that introduction, or use them or reach out to them right on the app. You can start chatting with them and it's all in one spot.
Speaker 2:Easy to use chatting with them and it's all in one spot, Easy to use. I'm not a techie person. I am. For me, it's so funny that I ended up developing an app because I would. I say my mom is better at technology than I am and she's in her 70s, so it's hysterical. I always go to her for my tech questions, but it's always very, very easy to use.
Speaker 1:But what you were good at is networking and bringing people together. You were familiar with the challenges involved with all of that and you knew which problems needed to be solved. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Correct. Yeah, I love seeing the possibilities that come from networking and the relationships, whether it's even a friendship that comes from networking and collaborating with a business. I have so many friends and other businesses that we might not necessarily do business together, but the support that we get and we can throw ideas back and forth to each other is priceless. Back and forth to each other is priceless. It's really priceless.
Speaker 1:So do you come across some people that you know they may know they should be out there networking. They know it probably would help their business, but they're a little reluctant to do so. They set roadblocks up for themselves.
Speaker 2:How do you help those people overcome those roadblocks? So that's a great question, especially for introverts Like introverts do not like networking, but 100% of business is done through networking and you can't run a business without doing any sort of networking. It doesn't matter, even if you open up a chain of whatever it is you have to, it's who you know. Right, that's not what you know and it's building those connections.
Speaker 2:So with Ripple, the beauty of it is either you can go to events and there can be some events that are for a lot of people and some that are for like a little. Maybe there's like 10 people in this event and maybe there's 150 people going to that event or one of the things that, like I said, it starts with one person and one connection. So if you can just meet one person and ask them hey, is there somebody else that you can introduce or you think would be a good fit for me, and then they'll send you to the next person and you can have one-on-ones, and you can have coffees or lunches or whatever it is, and you can start that way instead of going to these big events. But as long as you just start with one person, one connection, that person will lead you to the next connection.
Speaker 1:So it seems like you've gotten, like most of us, where you are now, based on your past experiences. You're 22, trial by fire with a struggling business, but you also host the Connector podcast. I know you meet tons of entrepreneurs. Do you learn things from these entrepreneurs that help you with what you're doing now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I feel like almost every entrepreneur is like my mentor in a way. Right, you have, everybody has such amazing advice to give. It doesn't matter what stage they're in either, because there's always things that we're, you know, like learning and like, oh, I've totally forgot in my infant stage, that's where I was and that was. Maybe I should bring something of that back, or vice versa. And so it's really fun having these conversations with, with business owners and business professionals. I mean, I have a couple of my own mentors that you know I've maybe clung a little bit closer to, but I think everybody should have a mentor in business.
Speaker 2:And sometimes, obviously, you outgrow some of your mentors and move past them, and it happens. But, as you, you know, you can continue to grow and level up in business. You never stop learning, that's for sure. And even when you think you're comfortable and it's an entrepreneur, you never are, because you think everything is like, oh, I can smooth sail for a minute, and then something else hits you and you're like, oh, I can smooth sail for a minute, and then something else hits you and you're like, okay, I guess we're doing a pivot, we're pivoting here.
Speaker 1:I had this discussion with someone yesterday. You never quite to arrive right. There's no finish line to this.
Speaker 2:Which is actually the beauty. It is a beautiful thing as an entrepreneur. No, two days are ever the same, which I love. It's really funny. I always thought I wanted to have like a nine to five job.
Speaker 2:We were driving in the car, I was homeschooled for up until high school and I remember we were getting ready to go to high school. My mom was like oh, what do you guys want to to my brother and I, what do you guys want to do when you grow up or you're getting ready for that kind of stage in life? And in high school and around that age, my brother goes oh, I want to be an entrepreneur. And I was like I had never heard that word before. And I said to her I was like, what's an entrepreneur? And he's like, oh, someone who's creative and creates their own business and is innovative. And I was like oh, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want that. I want a nine to five and that's what I want. And so it's interesting how you think you know what you want in life. And then I say what God and the universe is like oh, no, no, no, no. This is what you're, you are destined to do, or what you need to do in life. So I have now. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, that had to be a big change. So you were homeschooled up until high school and then you were thrust was it a public high school?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so I went to West Boca High.
Speaker 1:And how was that transition for you? Do you find? Were there new horizons opened up for you? Did you go through a lot of changes, from being homeschooled to being part of the public school system?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a very, very interesting transition. It's not at all what you see on TV.
Speaker 1:It must have been challenging, though somewhat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it was definitely challenging. I mean, I thought I thought school was like what you see on TV.
Speaker 2:you know you kind of hang out at the lockers and you don't really go to class, but you kind of do. I don't know. I thought there was more socializing. And it's funny because when my brother and I got home from school the first day, my mom was like oh, so how was it? What happened, you know? And we both like we're like when do people socialize? We could not figure that out, because you have seven minutes in between classes, you're rushing to get to your next class, you sit in class, then you go to the next, right Like you don't have time.
Speaker 2:And as a homeschooling child, like all we did was socialize. We were out and about in different activities and going through everyday life, and whatever my mom did, we would go along with her or we were with a group of kids. I mean, I grew up in such an amazing time of we had about 100 families that homeschooled together, so we would every day we would have a different teacher that would come to people's different houses and we kind of had like mixed ages, so maybe would be like like fourth grade and fifth grade together or so, so you'd have like those two. It wasn't really just one grade, so we were constantly with older kids, or maybe a little bit of younger kids and different age groups, and we'd learn different subjects. We'd had a marine biologist that we would actually go to the beach and do marine biology there, or it was an amazing time. It's a very unusual homeschooling group that I was part of.
Speaker 1:And that my mom created Sounds very special. And speaking of socializing, so your business is socializing to some degree. Do you have a social life that's separate, or is it all just intertwined for you?
Speaker 2:oh my gosh, yeah, it's all intertwined. Now I love the people I network like would do business with, I love, um, it used to be separate, more so, but as I've gotten older it just all intertwines, intertwines. And it's funny because I never thought of this. I have some friends that work corporate jobs and when they were saying they're like you know, how do you date? Like, how do you find people anymore to date?
Speaker 2:Because, like most, or socialize, most people make their friends in high school or in college and then after that, as you get older, it's harder to make friends unless you, when you have kids, again kids or something like that, then you become a part of those mommy and me's or the, you know, whatever the family groups. But if you're a single, like person in your 30s or so, it's harder to make friends. And it was really interesting because I network so much so I never really thought of that and I guess like there's meetups and stuff like that. That's why people do meetups. But I'm grateful that there is such a community with business networking and that to create friends in a community and keep that going.
Speaker 2:And it doesn't end yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry. Something tells me you don't have much trouble making friends. I have the sneaking suspicion that you're you're you're doing okay with that. Something tells me so you've you've got so much going on. Tell us a little bit. I want to hear a little bit about each business and if someone wants to get involved with that business, they can benefit from it. So first off, tell us about your franchise that you have currently your main business, that you have with the medical the original business.
Speaker 2:So MedAmerica is a physical therapy and chiropractic office here in Deerfield Beach. We service orthopedic issues. So sports injuries, post-surgical, pre-surgical needs, Medicare auto accidents, work comp injuries that is what we handle for MedAmerica. We take most insurances and we are here also with self-pay options. We provide one-on-one care. Medamerica, I wanted to make sure, keeps really the care for patients. It's important that patients get better, quicker and faster and have great results. So that is something that we really maintain here, and so that is my main primary business.
Speaker 1:Or original, original, original business, because the podcast you have going it's very successful, you have tons of great guests. So tell us a little bit more about the Connector podcast.
Speaker 2:That's very true, Thank you. Thank you, that's a great way of saying that because, yeah, I've been podcasting now for four years. I actually started my podcast out for relationships loving, you know, romantic relationships and as I started doing that journey, I just I've been very blessed.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry I so the podcast started originally a more a romance podcast. Did you just say that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's where the connector podcast came into into being.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean relationships are relationships right, whether they're romantic or business, it's all pretty much the same thing. And what I got from my first podcast is after talking to a lot of or relationships right, whether they're romantic or business, it's all pretty much the same thing. And what I got from my first podcast is after talking to a lot of couples that have loving relationships and seeing how they continue that to grow. And it was because they just accept each other for who they are and love each other for who they are and not wanting to change the person or expect something different from that person. And I really realized that also.
Speaker 2:That's within business, you know, just accepting somebody for who they are and what they're showing you right away Great, perfect, we're good. You know it could be like when, or because when, sometimes when you meet somebody in business, you're like, oh, I could do this and more and I could see the potential. But if someone's not showing you that, don't expect anything else from them and just accept like kind of everything is where they are. And I really kind of carried that through with a lot of relationships and how I do that. But then I started the Connector podcast three years ago interviewing business owners and professionals and how they have networked their business to grow their business. Owners and professionals and how they have networked their business to grow their business, and seeing what they have come up with and how they're innovative leaders and destructors in their industry.
Speaker 1:And so then you've taken everything you've learned from networking and meeting tons and tons of entrepreneurs and you've developed something really exciting, which is the Ripple networking app. Where can we find the app? Oh, I have a question. Imagine that Is there a user fee, is there a subscription? We're in reciprocity there, there, or how does that work?
Speaker 2:That's a great question. So there's no user fee. I feel that networking is so important and I feel like everybody deserves the opportunity to connect with somebody. And, yes, there's elite societies and there's different things, but, hey, there's six degrees of separation, but it's really like two degrees of separation at this point now. And, you know, give everybody a chance to network and create growth in their business. So there is no, no fees.
Speaker 2:You can find it on the App Store. So either Google Play or the Apple App Store under Ripple Networking or the Apple App Store under Ripple Networking. There is a bunch of different Ripples, so you have to make sure you put that networking part in there, so and you can go on, sign up, create a profile and people can find you. But it's really for in-person networking. So when you meet somebody you're like, hey, are you on the app? Ooh, yeah, I'm on the app, and then you can connect right on Ripple and it keeps it organized also. So as you meet people, it will keep everything squared away for you, so you don't have to organize your contacts.
Speaker 1:So once again everyone, that's the Ripple networking app. You can find it on your app store or you can find RRL on the connector podcast, or better you can. You can do both. And you have been amazing. I knew you would be, Arielle. Thanks for joining us on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1:And to all of you out there, thanks for listening. Once again, I'm David Conway, your host of Local Living, and we look forward to having you back next time.