Welcome our guests Alice Chin from Your Other Half and Philip Delvecchio from Hapday. This session is moderated by Bill Kenney from MEET.
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Hi everybody, Bill Kenney here with soft land central where the hub of soft landing and market entry information so we really appreciate you being with us today. I’m joined by two of my favorite people, Alice Chin and Phillip Delvecchio. Welcome both of you.
Alice: Hey, Bill, thanks so much for having us.
Phillip : Glad to be here.
Bill : Awesome. So we want to hop right into it. We’re gonna have a lot of great content today. Really around. We’ve just started a meetup in New York. We had our first meeting last week. That was sensational. I’d love to hear Alice and Phillips’ comments on that. But we also want to talk about how to get the most out of meetups and kind of why we’re doing this and what we hope for each of you in, in being a part of the network. So, but before we do that, let’s kind of learn a little bit about our two guests today. And Alice, your onboard is the chapter leader in New York. We really appreciate that. And your business, your other half is really growing and you guys are doing fantastic. But can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and also, your better half? Or your other half? I’m sorry, I keep wanting to say your better half.
Philip : I almost said you better have so many times already.
Alice : I always say your better half is your spouse and your other. And right there with you? Oh yeah. So your other half is a human resources and recruiting firm Supporting businesses in the US with employees, whether those are domestic businesses or foreign businesses with an office of that size. My background is I’m a fourth generation entrepreneur, my great grandfather, my grandfather, and both my parents, my mom and my dad were entrepreneurs. So I grew up in this kind of very entrepreneurial life, I had a choice of, you know, did I want to work at my dad’s restaurant or my mom’s tutoring business and I was smart enough to pick the tutoring business people are, although I can still make a mean, dumpling. And what I found was that it was a life that was full of really fast turnarounds, you know, a lot of challenges, but also a lot of rewards. But you know, also some financial security. So I started my career being like, I’m gonna go the opposite way, and find something that’s hugely financially secure. Let’s do HR. Nobody ever, HR person’s last to go. Let’s do that. I was really lucky to work at a couple of fantastic companies, a big law firm on Sixth Avenue and then a large publishing company that really invested in their people and learned a lot. But after three years there I found that the pace was stifling for me. You know, really, having been a kid of entrepreneurs, waiting a year to pick a software, having a six month process to figure out a performance review template was too much for me. And so I decided to move into working with small businesses. I started as a solo consultancy, which I did for four years. And then, you know, started to expand, hire employees, work with my husband, and we’ve expanded into your other half. We’ve been working in this configuration for about five and a half years, serving hundreds of companies across the US and we’re thrilled to get to do that work.
Bill : That’s fantastic. So what types of companies? Are there specific industries or anything like that, that you work with most?
Alice : Yeah, we generally have three groups. The largest group is professional services companies, primarily those kind of fall into four sub verticals. of law firms, marketing firms and marketing agencies. We work a lot with those. We work a lot with SAS companies, even though they’re technology based, they tend to have a more service operating type model. And then we also work with other kinds of people who are like us bookkeeping firms, you know, accounting firms, even some other HR firms that are kind of have a different flavor than us. Because, you know, I think service based companies really understand needing outsourced services, and also have really kind of clear and similar employee needs. So that’s our largest group of clients. Next is nonprofits. They operate very similar to kind of service based companies very often with just a little bit of a different funding source. And then we have a small subgroup of actually health and wellness companies. We find that a lot of those companies have shifting HR needs with lots of different instructors and you know, different locations and things that kind of have a lot of HR support. So those are generally the verticals that we support. I would say that most of our foreign clients fall in that first professional services bucket, either SaaS companies, or they’re working in some kind of professional service offering. And those are really great fits for us.
Bill : Perfect. Phillip Delvecchioe You’re a founding member of the New York meetup. But can you tell us a little bit about your background? And also half day? What? What caused you to start that wonderful company?
Philip: Yeah, yeah. So um, you know, it’s I love I loved hearing about Alice’s story with the entrepreneurial family and then like, still being like, I’m just gonna go with something that’s like, super safe. Because I had similarly like, that same mentality. And it was partially because my family didn’t have that sort of entrepreneurial background and they were and it was a lot of it was like, scarce there was a lot of scarcity. And so when I had set out it was sort of like alright, I’m just gonna follow this happened and ended up kind of wherever safe is. So my first job, first career job was with Microsoft. But I also had this sort of, you know, wandering kind of aimless mentality. And so I didn’t last very long there and I ended up taking a Fulbright and going and traveling. And so I started to develop out this sort of odd niche of international relations, technology and education based on this sort of hopping around in my early career days. I did work for a startup for it for about seven months while I was in Taiwan. And it was my first taste of like, what it was like to work for a small company. And it was, it was amazing. It was everything that I was kind of looking for in terms of the fast pace, the engagement, the ownership, the like, the acceleration of responsibility. But I really started to form the idea of perhaps a group. When I came to New York City, I started my path In New York City with an accelerator that was focused on bringing companies into the US market. And we were doing it at such a fast pace that I was just completely plunged headfirst into the international market entry ecosystem, the New York tech ecosystem, the startup and venture world, because we were running week long boot camps basically every other week. So I worked with well over 200 founders during that year and a half that I was with the company and at the end of the day, walked away with it with this understanding and a sentiment that one it was one of the coolest and most fascinating and interesting and impactful spaces that I’d ever worked in. And to there’s so much support that these co-founders needed. And so I started to look at like, okay, so accelerators are really good for all of these different things and what is what’s like the next thing that they need post accelerator or during the accelerator and a lot of it had to do with building Out consistent and reliable traction. So I formed half a group in 2018. So a little less than two years ago. And, it started out. Similarly with Alice, it was just me. And I was basically saying, I’ll help you with whatever you need help with, like I just I kind of was a hired hand for, you know, for whatever expertise that they needed. And I gleaned a lot of that from what I was learning from all these different experts from the accelerator time. But I, you know, I realized that there were certain things I was better at and certain things that I was worse at. So I started to, to narrow that down. And it really became kind of what half a group is today, which is focused primarily on helping companies with their sales and business development as scaling out that traction. We work with international companies primarily, but we will work with any company that’s looking to scale that out in some way, shape or form. So they have, they have sales, they have some traction and they’re looking to scale it or they’ve developed out there They’re traction in another market and now they’re looking to, to enter the US. We also provide some advisory and consulting for different segments of the sort of the main needs that companies have around investment and hiring strategy and things like that. But our current bread and butter is to help with the, with the sales process. And we’ve gotten pretty good at it. And it’s, it’s a very satisfying kind of process and engine to build and refine. And it’s definitely tweaked my like technical, more technical minded self to figure out how to build this out as a process. But it also allows us to engage, you know, constantly with new relationships. And that’s been really, really awesome to see that come together. So that is kind of where we’re at today and how everything has been going so far.
Bill : Cool. And I’ll ask the same quick follow up that I did with Alice, are there specific industries or sectors that you focus on?
Philip : Yeah, we focus primarily on b2b First and foremost, and then beyond that we’re looking at companies, it really depends on the customer profile that the company is looking to sell to, quite frankly. You know, we’ve developed relationships in certain industries, especially the ones that are particular to New York City. But um, but it’s more about, it’s more about where those prospects are and how would you go to get in front of them. And and, and so we do whenever we’re looking at companies in the b2b space, we usually spend a decent amount of time exploring their customer profile before even engaging with them as a client to really decide for ourselves if this is something that we feel like we can be helpful with. So we stay pretty open but we will definitely make sure that there’s a fit before engaging.
Bill : Fantastic. Well, thank you both for taking the time to share more about what you’re doing. I feel so confident about the leadership in of the New York chapter, I think, there’s gonna be a lot of great things going on there. So, let’s, um, you know, they the whole notion of softland partners is is new, I mean, we just sort of dreamed this up about six months ago and maybe have been in motion for three or four months, something like that, and kind of still a bit in a soft, soft launch, in terms of what we’re doing. But, you know, they, you both, and I think this was really exceptionally true of both of you, as you, you know, it’s, as we sort of initially talked about the idea, you know, that like the light I could see the light bulb Go on, I was like, immediately I’m in and then what did you just say? That sort of reaction. And so I’d love to hear what what was it that sort of caused you to, you know, be interested in what sort of the hope that you have from the from being involved in Whether it’s through the meetups or online or any of the attributes, but you know, if you want to start personal we’ll go to Alice. That’s cool.
Philip :Yeah, for sure. Um, and it was exactly that. It’s so funny, because I definitely It was a moment I was like, Oh, so that is what you were doing. Okay, cool. Yeah, definitely in that. And I think that, first and foremost, the reason why I was so immediately on board is because I found and this is something that’s really special about New York tech, but I think a lot of tech ecosystems for the most part are this way. There’s a sense of welcoming and community that’s really, really strong in New York City when it comes to New York tech. And so as soon as somebody comes to me and goes, Hey, not only am I forming a community, but I’m forming a community of your peers, you know, like these are the people who are helping with international market entry. I just immediately got excited. What what really drove it home and made it even more relevant to me is because one of the reasons I set out to start this company was was because As I was, you know, in this environment of seeing kind of all these different players that were getting involved in helping companies, whether they were international companies or otherwise, and it’s this vast, you know, mesh network of, of service providers of venture capitalists of accelerators, you know, of all different kinds of people who have all come up with their, with their way of helping, right, like, it’s sort of like, you know, there’s definitely like, flavors of what it is, but nobody’s doing it exactly the same way. Some people are doing it exceptionally well and some people are doing it just okay. And some people it’s an army of one and, and so I was like, Well, what is like, Is there like a way to kind of get to some kind of baseline where we’re saying, Okay, well, it no matter what it is, it’s at least this and, and that was something I really set out to accomplish at some point. You know, first was like, Alright, well, I need to validate and prove what I’m doing works before I can start telling other people. But then the next level is sort of saying, Well, how do we have Do we really level the playing field for everyone and, you know, Southland partners is, is really focused on bringing everyone together, I think as a form of, you know, we know that we know that some of our best supporters are those who are in that in this space. But it’s also, to me, what I’ve seen is it’s going to be a place where we can all raise that bar together to find a way to say, Okay, well, you know, we’re all here to run a business that helps companies right and, and, and those things need to be you know, intertwined. And there needs to be an underlying understanding of what that really means. And so I really like to see it. It’s really nice to like, get a centralized opportunity to see how people are helping one another. How people are helping these international companies and then what is the bar for everyone so that we can find a way to raise that together. So I’m very excited to see how things flush out as the time goes on.
Bill : Cool. Thanks. Alice, do you want to have a crack at it? What was that sort of the original promise you were sort of hoping for?
Alice : Yeah, so the thing that I had experienced was working with foreign companies who came to the US and really kind of being in an education seat. I think that our tri level government is really confusing to people from other places. And really being in the scenario where so much of what we do is educational, and realizing that they needed educational partners, not just in the area of human resources, but also in the areas of finance and insurance and raising capital and, you know, legal and all these other areas, and wanting so deeply to have a resource that I could rely on where people were essentially vetted where people were committed to working with these types of people, and really knew how to do that high quality work. And what I found was often we were having partners refer to me because they knew I had done this work, and then I was having to essentially source all of those people. for them. I found myself Calls educating things about I’m not an expert on, right. Like, I can explain employee practices liability insurance and why that’s important from an HR perspective. But if you want to talk to me about like, what’s the difference between errors and omissions and directors and officers? And do I need both? And what do I like? I don’t want to advise you on that. And, you know, can I advise you on like, Well, does the US policy Cover me internationally? I don’t know. But I know there’s somebody out there who does. And I know there’s somebody out there who would be thrilled to have this business to join with me as a partner, and who we could both refer to each other, grow our businesses, while really serving this population that has an extraordinarily clear need, and really wants this kind of level of quality advisement. And so I had really been trying to find these things. And I was going to, you know, some of these international chambers of commerce meetings and I was, you know, taking meetings with 15 different accounting firms to try to find an international department i thought was explanatory and like, but it was all kind of nice sourcing it and so, you know, we met at this fantastic event where we both spoke and had Had this effort. You know, you mentioned this opportunity. I still remember it was like, the second day, and we were in New York, New Jersey. And it was like the sun was coming in. And it was like, oh, light went off behind your head. And I was like, that’s it. That’s what I’ve been looking for. Let’s do it. Like, let’s get involved, let’s make it really real. And especially let’s make it a community of vetted professionals who are committed to serving this offline partner community, so that we can really be of even more value to our clients. And I think even just a little bit we’ve done so far feels like we’re really realizing that promise. So thank you for your leadership. It’s been really exciting to be a part of this.
Bill : Well, right back at you, you are a you’re you’re the most gentle wonderful nerd I’ve ever met. It for. For those that don’t know, and most don’t is Alice actually inspired us starting the whole meetup program. So I appreciate that and it was absolutely a direction we want it to go needed to go but there’s nothing like putting a date on the calendar to sort of make it all happen. You know, and what I heard from both of you is a couple things. One is, I’ll use a baseball metaphor and that is having a bullpen of trusted resources that essentially make us look good to our clients. And so that, in essence, we can help our clients be more successful by being able to bring in the right resource at the right time. And also that collegial opportunity to connect with the greater community to be informed, to be knowledgeable to have more of a sense of, of, of industry. And also, the idea, I think, in film said, sort of raising the bar making sure that we’re as a as a network as a community continuing to ask more of ourselves in service of, of market entry companies, and I think it really aligns so well with what we’ve been imagining sort of, you know, hearing that in home office, if you will, is that that idea of Sort of ethical supportive of market entry companies. You know, I think each of us has heard sort of some horror stories. We’ve, you know, our most of our clients come to us after having had a bad experience at market entry and some after having several. So having a way to, to forestall that and help them find success much quicker is a huge part of the ethos we hope for. So this is all fantastic. Thank you, you guys have set the stage really well. So we’re now sort of going from this sort of global idea to the Gotham of the world to New York City. And thinking about the meetup and Philip is already light in a little bit with sort of the meetup ethos in New York, which is insane. It’s like probably no other city in terms of meetups anywhere. So you know, thinking about the New York meetup you know, what do you hope for that? What would you like to see if we played the movie forward? You know, three months, six months, you know, right now we’re, you know, just from a timing standpoint, we’re in a virtual way because of the Coronavirus. Obviously, we hopefully get to in person before too long but what do you do? What do you hope for it? And Alice, maybe starting with you, what would you like to see happen specifically in New York within New York meetup in terms of building that community?
Alice : Yeah, I mean, I really would love for it to become a regular routinized part of people’s lives. I think that when a community feels central to your life, it becomes something that is living and breathing on its own, and really allows people to develop those relationships that are ultimately going to mean the success of software and partners. So I’d really love for it to be a monthly event. I’d really love for people to come and see it as not only a place where they can meet others and get referrals, but certainly where they can be a resource. And I think we’ve already seen that in just our first meeting, how many resources people brought to the table, how many offers you know, and how much people are emailing each other after the group and inviting each other to coffees. So I’d really love for it to have that kind of robust relationship based community. So where people are not only coming to the monthly meetups, but meeting outside of that thinking about how they can help each other, and really developing that trust that allows you to make a referral in such a way that it’s positive for all three parties, right? The person giving it the person receiving it, and the person receiving the ultimate service. So I, you know, I in a year from now, I’d love to see us have more members in that group. You know, I think our first meetup had 25 people, I’d love to get us up to, you know, somewhere between 50 and 100. I’d love to come into the room and see people laughing and joking with each other and talking about other events. They went to together referrals, they pastor, a great coffee they had or maybe they had an extra ticket to a game or two, it’s theater show and they took each other. You know, I really wanted to feel like a rich and warm community. But ultimately I want to be thinking I want to also be seeing, you know, additional opportunities coming out of this group. I know Belliard There’s already ideas for a speaker’s bureau. You know, there’s ideas for maybe inter chapter events between multiple cities, there’s ideas of having, you know, meetups associated with other conferences that come to town, once we get back out into the world and out of our homes, but you know, this idea that this becomes a really, really rich opportunity for people to right, that we’re able to provide resources and connections, and be kind of on our way to being the, you know, premier organization known for this work in our regions.
Bill : Oh, fantastic. Yeah. And I probably even should have mentioned to folks and helping set you up a little bit Alice that at the first meetup we had, and this was really our target was to have not just the service providers, everything from the IP attorneys to the staffing professionals to different types of services. But we also had several trade organizations represented that would we have hungary we Out Australia, I think there are a few others that were represented as well. And that’s really the goal is to have these meetups at least at first be that meeting of the trade professionals be the government or industry and also the various market entry service providers. But in Phillip, you are getting sort of an early advocate of the meetup. So what’s your thought? What’s your hope for the New York meetup? What would you like to see it become?
Philip : Yeah, I’m very excited about it. And I unfortunately wasn’t able to join the first one, but my business partner did, and he got a ton of value out of it, which was great. And I saw a lot of familiar faces in the group and as well as new people, also. So that’s very exciting. Because it’s, it’s one of those things where you sort of start to, you know, these communities are really strong, and then you kind of get comfortable in that circle. And then you’re like, Oh, I know everybody in the community. And then you’re like, Oh, wait, I just know like one subset circle of it. And here’s another one and so that’s something I’m missing. extremely excited about which is to see how this meetup really expands that circle for everyone. And maybe even maybe even in some ways completely removes the those boundaries of it because I think that there’s like a two double edged sword to really strong communities. And the kind of downside of it is that sometimes it can be hard to be to break in. And I love the idea that like this meetup it can be a platform for new businesses who are just getting started to be like, well, we want to help international companies. It’s something that we ended up to do, but we kind of are not sure where to begin and boom, like, go to this meetup and meet everybody who’s doing it and learn what works and what doesn’t like, I’m one of those people who like I love the idea of someone coming in and going, I want to start a business just like yours. Like I’m like, Yes, please do. Because if you figure out a way to do it better, I’m gonna learn from you and do it better and then we’re just gonna continue to do better and that’s something that I I really support. I also am excited about the idea of the collaboration because I think you know, like what Alice is saying Not only is it like, Oh, I don’t know how to do that. So I can connect you up over here. But there’s, there’s, um, there’s certain like strong complements, I think with certain business models, I mean even think like so we do a lot of like online business development and outreach, and in me focuses primarily on doing trades and expos, right. And so that’s something that I see a lot of a lot of overlap, we don’t do that. But that’s a great thing that we can potentially be offering to clients in the future. So I like the idea of both the sharing of opportunities but also like these interesting kinds of packagings that you can kind of create out of these different businesses. So that I’m really excited about the thing that I’ve set out to build and, and really believe strongly that Softland partners is going to be integral in that process is an actual physical Center for International market entry. This is something that is the is like the long term kind of vision and goal and you know, it’s something that I’m going to continue to work towards for the rest of my life, even if it doesn’t But what I’m really looking at saying, Okay, well, you know, if an international company is coming into this market, they they go to these, they either go to events or they go to their sort of trade organization or embassy. But there’s no like center that centralizes that all together in some way, shape or form. And I think this is the best way to start building upon some kind of brick and mortar idea is to actually, like, fill a space with people and say, Okay, well, if you have the people, then this space is something that just becomes ancillary. So that’s something I’m really excited about seeing start to get fleshed out through this process.
Bill : Oh, that’s cool. That’s cool. So as you were talking, I was thinking, you know, it’s funny, my wife and I are over the years of, you know, like, you guys, we go to tons of events. And we’ve sort of learned to sort of it’s easy, you know, before you leave, to go to the event to sort of talk yourself out of it to sort of give that sort of, oh gosh, I have set up And other things to do, or I’m tired, and I just don’t want to go out or whatever. And we’ve kind of come to this place where we say, you know, we’re never disappointed coming home from an event. And so, you know, just sort of remembering and as you’re talking about this, sort of that, your vision, Philip, it just sort of reminded me of that, and that sort of idea that you just get off your ass and get out. Because you’ll be really pleased that the people you meet, and but it’s hard and we all, we all have it priorities, and we all probably operate on less sleep than we should. And
Philip :Just really quickly to add to that. So you know, one thing that I did do because I wasn’t able to participate, is I went because he was and I love that you did this, you sent up the list of all the people we’re planning on going. So I went and I reached out to just about everyone who I didn’t already know on that list and said, Hey, sorry, I wasn’t able to make it. I heard it was an awesome event. My business partner Rob Was there love to stay in touch and I have several calls lined up for this next couple weeks. So that just shows that like, the, you know, these people are ready to collaborate are ready to connect and learn from one another.
Bill : Awesome. That’s brilliant. Cool. So let’s shift a little bit and talk about how to folks advantage themselves of this process and maybe maybe talking first a little bit about the virtual meetups. We had a virtual meetup last week, Alice, you and I were there. Gosh, you know that there were so many funny things about it. Just before we started the webinar, you mentioned it was so cool, how long people stayed on afterwards, but what are your reflections on the on the virtual event that we had last week?
Alice : So I will say that I was delightfully surprised at how successful it was. I think in the past, when we’ve tried virtual events, we find that there’s significant drop off compared to a live event much lower attended. Right. But I think with the state of the world right now, a lot of people are into it. And it turned out to be really powerful. I loved that everybody came. And already you’re seeing how respectful and thoughtful the community is, you know, people gave brief intros so that we got through everybody quickly, people really listen attentively and had thoughtful questions. People brought a lot of resources to the resource section. And we’re really able to answer each other’s questions and already thinking about how they could work together and how they could support each other. So I really love that. But I yeah, I think the measure of success for an event for me is always how many people are chatting at the end, how many people really seem like you’re talking, connecting. And it was exciting, because we ended on time on program, which is always a thrill, a little gift from the event gods and then, um, and then we people stayed and talked for another 30 minutes, you know, and it’s interesting because I think when you think of a live event, excuse me, you can think about how, you know, people can kind of go off on twos and threes and have conversations, but this was Like you know 20 people hanging in and continuing to chat as a group for 30 minutes It was really exciting to see and just the quality of the people in our community is already extraordinarily high you know everyone’s in this specific niche. Everyone has different contributions to make and I think like Phillip said earlier you know, people are going to make each other better and that was already something that we were starting to see sparks off so really exciting.
Bill : Yeah, the only thing we probably want to consider for the next one is having a pause to refill
Alice : refill your drinks Exactly.
Bill : For those that weren’t there you know you know that we had you know, people came with their beverage of choice and probably at some point like a seventh inning stretch or something to refill your beverage but Philip Did you What did you hear you said your your business partner was pleased as well.
Philip : Yeah, you know, it was really about the key was similarly surprised at how like movie things I mean, when, when I was working at the accelerator, it was a, we ran so many events. And I’ve learned that events go wrong. Like that’s a rule. Like this is like never a perfect event. But, you know, he was really pleased with how it went down. He was also really happy to kind of see the structure and the format play out and in particular was interested about, you know, by some of the people who kind of opened up with it with the introductions in the very beginning. numa in particular, is a partner that we work with, and we both mentor at that accelerator, and we really love them. So that was really cool to see them represented there. But yeah, you know, I think I think his he walked away, you know, really, really feeling the buzz of the opportunity that might come from, you know, doing these on a consistent basis, as well as like a lot of questions kind of like, where is it gonna go? What’s next? Like, how can we support further? So that’s what’s really cool is I do think that everyone’s walking away from that event thinking, like, oh, like, when are we going to do it again? And also like, what else is there? Because there’s this, this seems like there’s gonna be a lot. So that’s really exciting to hear from him. Cool.
Bill : So let’s chat a little bit about how to get prepared how to how do people best advantage themselves? So just about 48 hours before the event, we sent out a projected attendee list with it at registration, we asked folks who they’re hoping to meet at, you know, whether through the meetup or in the community, and so we had that on the list as well. How would you suggest that you go to go to fill up first, you know, how do people get prepared, what are some best practices that you would recommend for folks going to meetups like this so that they come in the door number one Ready and to win, they’re in, take, take most advantage of it?
Philip: Well, I think I think it’s easy, especially if you’re in the business of helping other businesses do well, you get caught up in helping other businesses talk about themselves and you forget to Like, actually prepare exactly what it is that you do. So that’s something that, you know, is a given, but you’d be surprised how many people are like not ready to basically say, this is what we do and who we work with, and all those kinds of things. So I think it’s kind of a, you did a really great job even in this some in this, this conversation, doing that. But I think one a great way to prepare is to actually look into the membership that Southland partners has and even just to see what those questions are and at least have those ready to answer right? Because those are really important. The other one is I think, just being ready to give first, it’s something that I think most of the startup community has that good first mentality and that’s something that was really, you know, bred out of like necessity. And I think it’s just become a, like one of the most important pieces of, like ethics in the startup world. But I think, in general, like going into that and saying, not so much like, what am I going to get out of this? Or who’s going to give me an opportunity, but to say, what can I offer to others? I think some of the best partnerships and relationships that I’ve formed have been ones of mutual interest before, before someone was saying, here’s what I need from you. And, even better, you know, I’ve seen where I’ve been able to help somebody first, those tends to turn into the strongest relationships that have reciprocated 10 times over. So coming with that mentality, I think is really important. And then and then I think the openness, right, I mentioned just personally feeling pretty neutral about competition, but we’re bound to end up in circumstances where you know, where you’re going to connect with somebody who’s doing something very similar, if not exactly the same. I remember when I first started my business, I was like, Oh, this is like super unique and like, there’s not that many people who do this. And then like, it’s you find you find your competition so much faster when you’re actually in market. That’s like, super important. So I immediately was like, Oh, no, there’s like all these different people and they continue to come out. And for the most part, like, I know a lot of them, they’re people that I’ve worked with before, there are people that I’ve become friends with. So, you know, I don’t have like, I think it’s important for us to sort of see like, you know, differences as value and competition is, is as a way to, like boost things and, and to, to remain open about that will be really important as this meetup grows, because it’s 100% going to be people doing is no way that we’re all doing different things for these companies.
Bill : So absolutely. Cool. Analysis, thoughts about best practices you would suggest for people coming to a meetup?
Alice : Yeah. So I maintain two things that I like to think about and kind of review Going to meet up. One is, you know, I have an ideal client profile. And like Philip said, I think you have to be able to really clearly and succinctly talk about who you want to meet. So I think kind of just being like having that on your tongue and really comfortable with that is important. But then I also have a profile that we keep for our ideal referral partner. And so really thinking about who are people that we want in our network? So we keep you know, we keep a spreadsheet on that, I tend to look at that and be like, Hey, where are there gaps? You know, maybe people moved away, maybe people are not as responsive or have retired, you know, and kind of like, Where might I need more people? Or where might I need more people for this particular ideal client, right, this soft landing ideal client, and then I want to kind of go through the attendee list, you know, and look through their LinkedIn profile. You know, check out some people’s websites, get a sense of who is kind of someone who might consider that list for me, or who is someone that might fit a need that I heard about recently, right, who are my other partners looking to me, you know, who are my client Looking to meet? How can I come with a referral for somebody? Right and I love that Philip was talking about you know, you want to provide, you know, you want to give first we talked about in our company in every interaction, we always want to what we do we call provide a head provide value ahead of time, right, we want to demonstrate value before we’re ever asking for something, before we’re ever selling something we want to show that we have something to offer. And so I like to always kind of approach it with like, What do I have to offer. And I think you know, not under estimating that a big smile, a friendly handshake, a genuine welcome can be a really lovely offer that makes people feel warm and welcome. And so being that person who is that way within a community is a wonderful way to grow community, even if you’re small and starting and don’t necessarily have an immediate, you know, referral or connection to make. So those would be the things that I would say are kind of general networking, best practices. You know, and then here I think also because our community I think is a little bit unique. Then it’s not just service providers, right, or not just kind of these other types of communities like chambers of commerce or incubators or things like that, right, really making sure that you understand the difference, or you go into the event with an open mind to kind of learn how these different types of companies work, or community partners are really part of our community and how they all work together. And I think that’s something you know, hopefully we as, as you know, Chapter leaders and founding members can help with, right is really helping people understand the ecosystem that we’re a part of.
Bill : Absolutely, no, I love what you both said. And the thing that strikes me about what you said Alice was the the notion of focus on resources that your clients need, so are there gaps and all that and it’s, it’s funny when I used to do a lot of speaking on networking, and when I would go into a room full of people and I’d asked, you know, where do your best referrals come from. Usually At least 95 to 98% of the people would raise their hands. When I would ask you to your best referrals come from current or past clients, that would be the sort of the number one. And if that’s the number one response, then it seems like the best way to cause more of that to happen is to have happier clients. And the more you’re the source of their satisfaction, whether it’s direct or indirect. It seems like the more memorable the more they’re going to think of you and connect you to other people and people who they want to help succeed in a similar way. So yeah, it’s it seems like just the perfect way to build your bullpen into but but coming in with those gaps in mind so that whether that person that key resources in the room, or you ask people Hey, do you know someone who does extra why service and you make that connection? Because it’s, I mean, I think a lot of this is how to We get to the second and third degree connections. I mean, that’s ultimately what, what networking is. And that only happens as we build intimacy and trust and all that kind of fun stuff. So, but Good, good. So we do just have a couple minutes left. And I do want to talk for just a couple minutes about, you know, that the idea of, of your thoughts about why having a strong network and having strong partners is important to your business. What is it that sort of is mission critical for you about that? Alice, maybe starting with you, what are your thoughts on that idea?
Alice : Yeah, so I think it’s two things that are really important one is having a strong network and partners makes me faster, and more expert in doing what I do. I never really get pulled into these conversations, talking about things that are not my area of expertise. I just can immediately go Oh, totally, that’s this. That’s, you know, a financial question. I want you to talk to Want to be three extraordinary partners of mine. And then I’m back to providing the service that I have to provide. And, you know, making money for my business providing for my client and solving their problem, right? All three things I want to be doing every single day of the week. So that’s number one. But then number two, like you said, I think being the person who is a solution maker for your clients, and being a person who is a connector for your colleagues, your partner, your network, is something that just increases your value across the board for everybody. And I will say it’s really fun, like being the person who gets to, like, solve a problem, fix, you know, find a solution, like know how to get that done, is really great. And being you know, and kind of going back to what I said about why I love about softland partner community, you know, if we can help businesses connect to the right resources as they come into this country or go into other countries, and they are going to be able to grow faster and be actually successful. And ultimately, that’s Why I picked, you know, doing people services for specifically entrepreneurs, specifically small businesses, is because I felt like we can make more businesses more successful, much faster if we solve this particular problem. And so if we can have a group of people that are all doing that these companies can come in, they can be successful, they can create jobs, you know, what I mean? And, and really positively influence the economy in the world with what they’re trying to solve. And that to me is the most exciting right was when we can all level up and we can be a part of that. That’s when we I think we’re doing what we’re here to do.
Bill : Very cool. I love it. and felt your thought about why strong networks and strong strong partners are important to you.
Philip: Yeah, I mean, there’s there’s a few different things and I definitely echo a lot of what you said Alice, I think the you know, this the our ability to cut through the noise for especially for international companies is really important because They don’t have, they really don’t have like, for the most part, they won’t have even a beginning of which channel to go through and where to begin to look. So it’s really helpful. And for one, it’s, I don’t know why this has been a thing for me for my entire life, I’ve been somebody who, like, gets a lot of joy out of introducing to different people to each other. And seeing that, like happen, you know, seeing that come through in a beneficial way, like they become really good friends, or they start dating or like, so it’s, even when I was younger, I would, I would host these like, regular parties. But they were the goal. It wasn’t like one group of friends it was ever it was all of my friends. And then most of them like maybe knew one or two other people, but it was like a room full of people who like didn’t know each other, and then they would all come together and become friends. And that was so cool for me. And so when I find when I find an organization or an individual who just does like really, really Great work and or is it just really incredible domain expert, I get really excited. So when someone’s like, I need this thing I’m like, Oh my god, yes, it can’t wait to introduce you This person, like I have a I have a lawyer and a law firm that I work with that I just I love and I you know, I’ve worked with them. So that’s one of the one of the reasons why I love them so much. It’s because they’ve done such great work for me. But there’s a joy there in doing that. And so it’s, partially just like, out of passion of seeing those kinds of things work out really well. And then partially because it’s especially hard to cut through the noise when you’re an international company coming into the market. And that goes into a little bit of like, how we don’t also don’t have a baseline so I don’t I do, you know, I really hate the idea of being a gatekeeper. I think it’s, it’s really an unnecessary thing to do. And I like the idea of like, reducing those kinds of, you know, like, how do we like open more doors as opposed to hold, you know, hold it shut. But it’s also important to be like, you know, I I’m not going to tell you who to and who not to work with. But I can at least say that these people I’ve seen do well with other people in the past. Because that’s, that’s going to help to sort of help them find, the value of that service. Because, you know, one of my one of the first clients I worked with the main thing, like the main value that I provided to them was convincing them not to work with these, like two groups that they were currently working with, because they were burning money and they ended up it ended up having to, like pivot and, and sort of like change their entire model because they had spent so much money on these two organizations. And I and I just knew, I wasn’t trying to say like, Look, they’re not providing a good service, but I knew that they were, they were being paid much more than what I had seen the standard for that type of company. And so that it’s important to me to be finding these these sort of people who are committed to helping those founders to the best of their ability at the best value for for the for the right price, and that’s something that is it’s nice to Be able to find those people and provide that support to other companies.
Bill : It all comes back to ethical provision of service, doesn’t it? In the end, it’s so key, for sure. You know, actually what you’re saying Philip made me think of just a quick story was probably it was probably 10 or 12 years ago, my sister developed skin cancer and you know, never anything you want to hear. And it was kind of one of those things that I was trying to figure out, gosh, how can I help her? How can I help her and it was a little difficult in that. She was living in Colorado and so my network in Colorado wasn’t good. But I ended up calling a physician who I knew really well. It was a great skin cancer specialist. And literally, within about an hour, he called me back and had the best skin cancer specialist in Colorado who is you know, willing to see my sister that week which was huge and you know her was a type of skin cancer that was going to move quickly. And so, you know, it’s really it’s amazing. The thing that was actually really amazing to me was after my sister was taken care of, and she’s, she was all good. I called back to the physician in Colorado and to my friend just to kind of let him know how things went. And I asked the, my friend, I said, you know, what was your What was your motivation for helping? Is this something where you were trying to get, you know, your friends some business, right? You help them join a new country club or something, whatever. And, and, you know, I didn’t mean for it to be an insulting question, but it easily could be right and and he said, Absolutely not. No, all I wanted to do is get rid of cancer. That was it. And and so the idea i think that you know, we come to this with got you to sort of echo both the sentiments of both of you have talked about was this this passion to help these international companies. be successful, whatever market they’re going into and in to remove the friction. Whether it’s the bad experience friction or the challenge in finding the right or best resource, whatever that friction is, but to help remove that those challenges along the way, but this is this has been fantastic. You both are amazing. I am awed by you both tonight. I bow very much so but any any final words, Alice at all, in terms of the meetup in New York, any encouragement to our audience.
Alice : So I mean, we would absolutely love for people to get involved. We’re having our next meetup towards the end of April, you can check out Southland partners calm and we’ll have all the details up there to register and come. You do not have to be a member to come to the meetup. So if you’re kind of interested in checking us out, getting a sense of the flavor of our community. We’d love to have you come even if you’re not yet a member. So I’d really encourage people to do that. And I I also want to say I think, you know, you, you numerated. So many of the values that I think our community about is about them. But I also think one thing we have an exceptional ability to do, maybe better than other providers or communities for these companies who are soft landing in the US, is to help them know the unknown. You know, I think one of the things that’s challenging when you’re entering the new market is you don’t necessarily know where your blind spots are. And I think that we are extraordinarily well positioned to help people with that. And so if people are struggling with that, in terms of finding partners who can help them with that, their own company, or companies they know who can’t quite find their blind spots. I think that’s really what we can, what we’re set up to do. And we’d love to have you join us.
Bill : So well said, Any final thoughts, Philip?
Philip: Yeah, I think, especially to those who did join. I hope that you all join again. I really think the value comes oftentimes through consistency. So, you know, I think that it’s important to sort of start To see that growing network and the consistent base of people who are coming and you know, people are gonna come and go and things will come up, but really, really put the time in to see it grow out, you know, we’re just getting started. And then I think I think for those who are coming in who are new, just just going back to the sort of mindset of being open and in thinking more, you know, less about, like, Oh, well, what am I going to get out of this meetup? And I go to so many meetups and how am I going to make sure this one is a valuable one to spend my time with, like, try to try to think about this as a community that you have an opportunity to build and be a part of. So ask yourself, Well, what do I want to put into this community? You know, I’m sure that most of us have been looking for something like this for a while. And so what is it that you had hoped to see or are hoping to see and be a facilitator of that? So I think we’re all really open to seeing a lot of input, helping to grow this and make it better. So definitely reach out to me give us feedback.
Bill : Super Well, I gotta say this has been my favorite hour this week. So I really, really appreciate your you guys have such great wisdom. It’s been wonderful. So I thank you both. It’s been great and we’ll be chatting I’m sure very soon.
Alice : Thanks bill Take care.
Philip : Thanks so much.