Why Community Is the Key to Business Success | Conrad Alagaban

What if the key to business success isn’t just strategy—but community?

In this NuvoDesk Member Spotlight Podcast, we sit down with Conrad Alagaban, a leader in multiple organizations including the DFW Lions Clubs and a 24,000+ member business networking community.

Conrad shares powerful insights on why real success comes from building genuine relationships, maintaining a strong mindset, and surrounding yourself with the right people.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why community is essential for business growth
• The difference between networking and real relationship-building
• The mindset every entrepreneur needs to succeed
• How failure plays a critical role in long-term success
• The impact of co-working spaces as true “growth environments”
• Why trust and credibility still matter in a digital world

From scaling businesses globally to leading impactful community initiatives, this conversation is a must-watch for entrepreneurs and professionals looking to grow with purpose.

Learn more about Conrad:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/conradalagaban

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conrad.alagaban/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alagaban/

This episode is part of NuvoDesk Member Spotlight, a podcast series highlighting the entrepreneurs, professionals, and businesses growing inside the NuvoDesk community.

Learn more about NuvoDesk at:
🌐 https://nuvodesk.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

But I love relationship building and I think the biggest thing is being able to connect with uh like-minded individuals, shared core values, and then being able to do life together. Because it's a it's just a choice whether today's a hard day and you make it a harder day for yourself or today's a hard day and you you understand that it is and uh you find the things that you can enjoy in it and still have a good day. If you can look in the mirror and say, I'm proud of what you're doing, that's a that's a level of success that I think um allows people to have a foundation. They don't have to worry.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Welcome to the Nuvodesk podcast, where we spotlight our members who are not only members, but leaders, innovators, and business owners here at our coworking space, and they truly fuel what we're doing here at Nuvodesk Coworking. Today I have on the show a very special guest. He is the president of the DFW Cyber Alliance Club. Got it. He is the president of VEC Consulting, as well as the senior marketing director for global financial impact, Mr. Conrad. Conrad, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Thanks for having me here.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

I really appreciate you being on the show and just sharing your experiences and what you do. You truly aren't just a business owner or an employee, you're truly shaping this community, not just in Nouveau Desk, but around you. So can you tell us more about what it is you do and what spurred your interest and in growth in the community?

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yeah, I just want to say thank you to Nouveau Desk. I've been here a member since 2020. And um the biggest thing for me is that lifestyle that we live should encompass uh things that make sense for us. So in the companies that you mentioned, it's about being able to connect to the nonprofit, giving back to the community as well as making an impact through the work that we do and enjoying the life, uh enjoying the work, enjoying the life, and make it all making it all work together as a lifestyle.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Wow. So 10 years of experience and in these just these three are kind of give you that financial staple, I guess, grounding of where you're launching now. So what are you doing currently that um you're here at Nuverdesk doing or in the community that you want to share with our guests?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Yeah. So continuously building community. I think the cool thing is being able to get people together and then finding opportunities organically. There's a lot of lead generation, things of that nature where you go get clients and it's uh very transactional. Yes. But I love relationship building, and I think the biggest thing is being able to connect with uh like-minded individuals, shared core values, and then being able to do life together.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So whether somebody ends up as a brand ambassador for one of our organizations, or they end up as a cross-marketing where we can point uh our services and products to each other, or they end up as a strategic partner where we actually uh collaborate on um projects together uh to either earn money or to get back to the community. Uh those are really powerful uh ways to build the relationship and then grow together. So we can you can invite your family to participate with us, your coworkers to participate with us. And so we can service the individual, the company, or the community.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

That's amazing. That it's truly uh you're you're providing a change that I think especially this community needs and looks forward to. So are you strictly in this uh area of Arlington or or do you kind of branch out outside of Arlington as well?

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Yeah, so the name implies uh for several of the organizations, DFW Cyber Alliance Club, we support uh 75 different alliance clubs around the Metroplex and growing. And uh we do humanitarian projects at every level. So whether it is a health program or a uh youth empowerment, women empowerment, or it's disaster relief, uh, emergency response at a local level like a community or uh a larger level like a city or let's say the curve of floods that just happened. Oh wow. Uh we can gather all of the Lions clubs around the around Texas and then around the world to support us in our missions. So just depending on uh the impact that we need to have. And um one of the groups that we're growing right now is the DFW uh Business Professionals Networking. It's a Facebook group. I hope you guys can uh jump in and join and uh share your companies, post about what you do as a professional, uh what you um what do you call that, uh are looking for in terms of uh help you need for your companies or organizations, or what you are providing as a service. And so there's 24,000 members on that platform, and anybody can go in and find business partners, clients, and opportunities and events.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And this is your Facebook platform. Can you say the name again just in case anyone missed it?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Right. So it's a Facebook group and it's called DFW Business Professionals Networking.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

I love it. Thank you for sharing that. So in in all the things you do and and really helping with the humanitarian work and on the business side, what's one of the biggest challenges you face so far?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

I think the biggest challenge is prioritizing time uh and uh uh redirecting uh resources. So whether it is um putting a group together for a service project uh or it is uh hosting uh um a uh industry event um and putting the professionals together and making sure that it's not just a for show, but also on the back end, we actually uh sit down with the clients, do a good job uh providing uh our clients with uh financial or business uh support and then uh and then building them and bringing them into the community.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Uh it seems like you're very intentional with each and every person you meet with. And I think that's so important. I think other business owners that are listening would agree too that in this AI world that we're in right now, we get so much spam and so much transactional relationship building is is scarce, um, I think with AI. It it makes things faster, right? So the relationship, I think, is what people are valuing right now. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah. You want to take advantage of both. So our uh company Global Financial Impact, this hat, they not like us.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

I love the hat, by the way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

So we've scaled in the last two years since 2024, we've uh gained over 100,000 clients. Um we're now in 55 countries. And uh it's because of AI that we're able to get so many people in front of us and uh to consider us. Uh however, it's still at the end of the day the trust and credibility uh with the one-on-ones because you're impacting families, uh businesses and lives in the long run. So it's a half it's a balance.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Absolutely. Everything, right? Business. So so what made you choose Nouveaux Desk five years ago now, six years ago now? What made you choose Nouveau Desk in the beginning?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Well, it was the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

You know what? The honesty is okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yeah, we had uh offices across the uh we opened up the Arlington Financial Center and um had another office in Richardson and then another office in Irving. During the pandemic, all those offices had shut down. And so we're just paying rent for uh nothing. Yeah. So when the when the leases were up, we decided, hey, let's go, let's go virtual. And that was a really nice thing because the whole world, and especially in the financial services industry, uh now the companies were willing to do transactions like e-signed and not just uh fax or I have to fly over to go get a signature for a client. Um the whole world had shifted. We can do business on uh over the internet, and that allowed us to um that allowed us to work from everywhere. But I don't just want to work from my house to be boxed in. So this was a close location. I love Nouveau Desk. I wish there was more Nouveau Desk around. Hent hint. But it's been very nice not to have to worry about like uh having to take care of uh the office itself. Uh just come in and everything's taken care of for you. So I'll appreciate that a lot.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

That's what was going to be my next question, actually. Is what do you like most about the Nouveau Desk community?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Um honestly the amenities are nice, but it is the definitely the people. There's good people here. Um people like to connect. We have uh morning mix and mingles and then the lunch and learns in the afternoons um once a month. And through those, but uh uh aside from the people that are just flowing in and out, there's a lot of great people that are here that have been officing here, and I found some collaborations where we've earned money together in the past or we have uh worked on um supporting each other with resources. So it's it's nice. It's nice to be able to uh connect with new people and it's not gonna be the same people every day, even though it's the same office for the last five years for me.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

That that is a wonderful thing to hear that you're actually able to succeed and grow here, and that's what we want, right? It's not like going to the park and getting some work done. You're surrounded by professionals that want to grow with you. And I true we truly consider you a partner and thank you for staying with us for so long because the philanthropy that you um invite us to join in on is really uh exactly what we're looking for in our members. So I I do want to thank you for that and tell you we truly appreciate you. Quick question just to wrap around entrepreneurial, you have an entrepreneurial spirit to you. What would you say is um makes an entrepreneur successful or any um person out there, you know, territory managers, people that have to really go out there and get it on their own, or meet with people on their own and create those relationships, what would you say is um success in an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Um there's a couple characteristics. Okay. So, you know, some people think, oh, this person has to be great at sales. Um they must be good, they must be out there and able to uh talk about themselves real well. Um but in truth, entrepreneurship comes in many different forms. And so the key characteristics, uh number one, number one is uh empowered attitude, like a very positive um uh mental attitude. And that'll get you over the hard stuff because it's a it's just a choice whether today's a hard day and you make it a harder day for yourself, or today's a hard day and you you understand that it is and uh you find the things that you can enjoy in it and still have a good day. So positive mental attitude is key. Um having a schedule so that you can live by um you know what you're gonna do at least most of the days, and it can switch around, but uh you know what's gonna be income-producing activities and then what is not. Um and you can schedule your time uh appropriately. Because they say that, hey, it's a life, it's uh balancing work life balance.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Work life balance, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

The truth is is uh um you just have to prioritize, right? And so the cool thing about entrepreneurship is your family can come with you. So like I work with my mom, she's one of my business partners, and uh I get to work from home. So I choose not to sit in traffic. Right. That's a choice.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Um and I think the the last thing is being uh being committed to your business and a problem solver. Wow. So to summarize that, it would be positive mental attitude, have a good schedule, um, uh commit commit to making sure your business is like your baby, it's gonna be successful. And the last thing is um uh problem solve. Like if you can do those things, you'll you'll you'll overcome challenges.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Aaron Powell In any industry, right? That mental fortitude is what you're saying. Um I like to ask business owners or business professionals like yourself that have been in industries for so long, kind of what makes you successful? Because that's who's listening. It's business owners in this area. And what would you say if you had to pick one that made you successful in what you do now in your philanthropy or for profit?

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Uh to be honest, failing and being okay with failure uh over and over and over and over and over and over again. So uh we all live a life that says uh success is defined by what we might compare other people to what we're doing. Right. And so uh you're looking at somebody and they're highly successful, but that guy, as they're driving by and they're Lamborghini, is thinking, I don't have as much money as Jeff Bezos. I'm not successful.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

It's all a mindset, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

It really is. So um if you're willing to to learn from your mistakes and then uh have a core value system where you're gonna go towards where you're what you're striving for, it won't matter uh the comparison game that other people put on themselves. If you can look in the mirror and say, I'm proud of what you're doing, that's a that's a level of success that I think um allows people to have a foundation. They don't have to worry about like if they lost money today or if they failed uh today, they can get back up. Uh if if you're doing what you need to do and um you find the joy in it, I think that's that's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

You have to enjoy what you do, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Every day. Yeah. I have realized coming to work for Nouveau Desk and and our sister companies that every day I wake up enjoying meeting with you, meeting with all the people here, and I truly think that that's what makes a career. Sometimes you don't know what your career is going to be until you get into it, right? Yeah. And and we want to help you guys do that. So thank you again for being a member with us. And is there any upcoming events that you'd like to share with our audience that they can join or be a part of?

SPEAKER_00 13:39

I just want to say uh tune into DFW Business Professionals Networking because we toss a lot of things in there. There are about 60, 70 posts a day in there. And through those, you'll see our DFW Cyber Alliance events. We'll have healthfares coming up, teen motivational events, uh, women empowerment events, and uh uh fundraisers. For the uh finance company, uh we'd love to sit down with anybody who is needing to, specifically like business owners uh needing to plan for their own personal finances uh or their business finances, succession planning, things of that nature. So if you're a business owner and you need uh support, uh you can check us out, GFI Global Financial Impact. Uh reach out to Conrad Elagabon. I got you.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Thank you. I really appreciate it, Conrad. And again, if you would like to speak with Conrad or just meet with him to talk more about what you can or can't do to succeed, please contact me directly and I'll navigate you over to Conrad. And for all of our listeners out there, remember co working is not just a workspace, it's a growth space.