Bill Meyer Show Podcast - Sponsored by Clouser Drilling www.ClouserDrilling.com - 01-14-25_TUESDAY_8AM_OpenForBusiness

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Open For Business - Lisa McClease Kelly from Network In Action, a business and marketing solutions provider with innovative networking methods. Guests include Hailey Bischof of Best Home Storage and Emma Nelson, Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors

I'm a huge fan of locally owned and operated businesses and getting them all connected to getting them connected to you, getting them connected with other businesses, because, well, you know, let's just face it, we're not all going to get wealthy by a bunch of chains here in Southern Oregon, okay? That's kind of the way I'm looking at this. And Lisa McClease Kelly, of course, she is involved with what's called Network in Action. And Lisa, you came in here a few weeks ago, right before the holidays. Yes. And tell us about Network in Action. And we're also going to talk with a couple of your clients, some of your other connections, which have come in here, part of your network now. What is Network in Action and why local businesses need to get involved with what you're offering here? So Network in Action is a

group of business professionals and business owners locally here in Southern Oregon. And it's a mastermind and networking group. So every month we have a different agenda. We just have one meeting a month, not weekly. And we want you to spend time instead of going to weekly meetings, want you to spend time doing one-to-ones, getting to know each other, that type of thing. But so every meeting is different. We have a different agenda every month. This month was on artificial intelligence and what you could do with it. Last month, what did we do last month, ladies? Do you remember?

So every month is different. Okay, well, I guess the point, that's kind of interesting even going into that, finding, in other words, it's a tool, using it as a tool in your business to help you. Yeah. So we want them to grow as people, grow as business owners, and then grow their business because you're not going to get referrals if you're not a good person and if you're not a good business owner, because then you can't take care of people. So how can you do that? How can you grow in those areas? Then we're going to bring people into your business. All right. Now tell me how people can get in touch with you then if they wanted to join their business. And the one thing I wanted to make sure and be clear is that there's only one type of each business within the network.

Isn't that right? Yeah, for each group. So right now there's three groups and there's a fourth group starting. So there's a group in Medford, a group in Grants Pass. There's a Christian group that meets in Medford. And there's going to be an online Christian group that's going to be starting. Okay. All right.

And how do people get in touch with you, though? Networkinaction.com and then find a group. All right.. Okay. All right. And how do people get in touch with you though? Networkinaction.com and then find a group. All right. Gotcha. All right. Just wanted to hit that high point here. And then we're going to talk to a couple of these business people who are in the networks right now and find out how this has been working out for them. Now, Emma Nelson is here right now.

You might see her on camera if you're watching the Facebook Live. You're a financial planner at Oregon Pacific Financial Advisor. Yes, that's right. How long have you been doing that there? I've been with Oregon Pacific for five years. Okay, very good. Well, it's been a good time to be working markets and things like that. Absolutely. But being a financial planner, it's important all the time because when markets are good, you need to be planning for the times they're not. And when people go through transitions or

hard times, that's when they really need to start looking at all of their options. Yeah. Do you think that might – or things – I don't want to get off in the weeds on it too much, though. But what are you thinking moving forward and how has Network in Action helped you over at Oregon Pacific? Those are two big questions. So looking forward really is a time everyone should just be planning, knowing what their goals are. When I work with clients, it's where are they trying to get to? And then we work with market conditions and everything else alongside that. But really they need to know what they need, where they're trying to go. And I help them look at that in their financial plan. And then we figure out the

investment piece of it. And network and action has really been important for me and my business and having referrals over to other business owners. Sometimes my clients need a real estate agent and I know the one in our group really well. I have her cell phone. I can call her. She calls me and we can work through a sale together. So network connection in some ways is kind of like, hey, I'm the friend of a friend of a friend and I know someone who knows someone who knows someone and boom, you keep getting everybody hooked up. Absolutely. And you already know you can trust them. That's important. Trust is an important thing.

Earlier this morning, I was talking with the CEO of an electronically traded fund. You'll be aware of that. And then I had someone who calls me up then afterwards and says, well, if I wanted to get out of bonds or wanted to do this, how would I buy this? I say, no, you don't even want to talk with me about that. You need to talk to a financial advisor. It's someone like you then, right? Yes, absolutely. Okay. You should always be doing that kind of stuff first and talk to someone who can not just respond to the latest fad, let's say.

Absolutely. And like any field in financial planning, all the information's out there on the internet. You can read, you can Google anything and find out. But when you want to talk to someone who's in it every day, talking with other professionals, and that's what Network in Action brings too, is if I need a professional mortgage broker who's in that business every single day talking it, there's so much more information than just reading online. Very good. Emma Nelson is a financial planner, once again, Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors, and of course, involved with Lisa McLeese Kelly's Network in Action. Now, which group is she?

She's in the Medford group. In the Medford group. Okay, good. I just want to tell people that she's great if you're going through any kind of a life transition, Emma's your girl. Okay. So divorce, marriage, any of that, you need to call her. Okay.

You're going through a divorce and how to not get well well i guess not get hosed right i guess is that is true know what you have and what you need okay what you need hey let's uh bring hayley in here hayley bischoff hello hayley how you doing good how are you i'm doing great now you're providing something which has been a growth industry here in southern oregon and that is place to a place to store stuff right yes exactly okay, exactly. Okay. Now, you're the manager of Best Homes Storage in White City. And where is that? And if you could tell me a little bit about it and what makes your membership and network in action helpful. Yeah.

So Best Homes Storage is a brand-new storage facility in White City. We are just right across. If you know where Coastal is, right in the corner there before the expressway. We're just right across Leeway, right there in that corner lot. We just opened up the first of this year, so everything is brand new. And this is family-owned, operated, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, my dad, Monty Bischoff, he owns it, and then I'm now managing it and kind of getting into the family business.

Yeah, I'm kind of curious. Are we going to have storage wars showing up? Oh, I don't know? I don't know. I don't know about that. But still, the one thing I've noticed is that there's been explosive growth in this kind of industry. What do you think's been going on with that driving so much of this? I mean, I know for Medford, I just feel like Medford as a city has been growing a ton. You know, I've just seen a ton of subdivisions going up, apartments going up.

It's just getting bigger. Like, we just had Rogue X put in, so now there's more tournaments and events here. So I feel like just the whole community is growing. And with that comes people moving or people upgrading or downsizing and just needing storage for all the different transitions in their lives. Yeah. Hanging on there. So how can they find out more? You just drop by, race, all that kind of stuff. Got a website. Yeah, we have office. Our office is open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. We also have our website, which is just besthomestorage.com. We have all of our available units and you could rent a unit online if you want.

Or you can give us a call as well. All right. Very good. How has it been being a network in action? How has that helped you? Has it connected you up in certain ways? Yeah, I've loved it. I've been a part of network in action since I believe August. It was before facility even opened. So it's kind of great joining it before a business even started. I could just learn from all the other professionals, even if it's a different type of business, just with how to run it, how to make these connections. And it's just such a welcoming group. What's an example of something that you learned that you didn't know about how to run a business, being the manager now?

That's a great question. I feel like there's so many different things. It's hard to pick just one, but really just, I think, planning for the future and creating like a structure, like creating your marketing plan, making sure you have everything thought about. It helped me think of things that I didn't even know I should be thinking about and planning

and also networking because that's so huge for especially a brand new business. So just, you know, getting connected with them, they helped me get connected with the Chamber of Commerce. They've just been so helpful in connecting me with all the people that, and helping me brainstorm ideas with who I could connect with to get potential referrals. So you're a big fan then from the sounds of it. All right. Very good. I really appreciate that and great talking with you and Haley and Emma, we appreciate you both coming in and sharing a

little bit about this. And so back to you, Lisa, we wanted to kind of find out when your next event is where people could, I guess, show up and actually find out more if this is right for them. Would that be what you're doing? Yeah, so there's a couple things. One, we've got Connecting the Kingdom. It's an online networking event

for Christian business professionals and business owners. And it's going to be January 28th at 7 a.m. It'll be on zoombizsuccess.com Zoom, that's B-I-Z success.com and

Could you pop me that that link and then I'll I will. Yeah. So we're looking for people who have a Christ-centered business to come and just check this out

and we'll do some online networking. Do you think that's going to be a growth a growth-centered process these days? I was kind of wondering because earlier this morning oddly enough I was talking with that uh remember that guy was the ceo of the etf was talking about how his was about conservative values you know when he didn't want to send money to companies that uh hated you you know you know that kind of stuff is that a uh a big thing here

for businesses in southern oregon well, I think Christian businesses, yes. I was not expecting this. I'm the only in the entire country, the one that has a Christian group. And now we're starting a second one. So we've had other ones that have started and failed. But this valley has a lot of Christian business owners and a lot of Christ-centered. And I'm not talking about somebody who goes to church on Christmas and Christmas, right? We're looking for people who run their business as if this is God's business and they want to, we have a different calling and we have different things that we need to discuss and pray about. And at one of our meetings, we laid hands on one of the people in the group that

was trying to get pregnant. I mean, it's just different. This is kind of a different networking operation in some ways, isn't it? It's so much more than networking. We have opportunities to be vulnerable with each other. We have opportunities to say what's really going on in our life. It's lonely at the top, Bill. It's hard to run a business. So having your peers there with you to support you, give you advice, be a shoulder to crayon, it's a huge thing. All right, one more time. When's this going to be happening? This is on January 28th at 7 a.m. on zoombizsuccess.com. Okay. So that is two weeks from today. It is. And I'll be back in here right after that meeting. Exactly. All right. So you can tell us how the meeting went. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Lisa McLeese Kelly on Open

for Business Network in Action. Haley, Emma, great meeting you both and best of luck in your pursuits on these businesses. Okay. Thank you.