Scott Talley is the founder of Network In Action, an organization that connects local business owners in various cities and countries across the globe.
With summer around the corner, oppressive heat is soon to invade Minnesota, and in Houston, Talley’s hometown, it already has.
“Thank God,” he jokes, because when the temperature rises in The Lone Star State, Talley and his family go on vacation, exiting a town that years ago was still bustling.
“Growing up, I vividly remember there being cranes everywhere. That’s how fast the city was booming and growing,” says Talley, an expert networker and innovator.
Talley’s affinity for other people can be traced back to his upbringing.
“My mom said that I should have just moved my bed to the high school because I was so involved in everything,” he recalls, but even if he wasn’t predisposed to be affable, nature likely would have forced Talley out of his social comfort zone.
“I had seven siblings . There were always people around, so I almost had to like people,” he adds with a laugh.
After high school, Talley originally planned on being a Catholic priest, so he spent three years in seminary school before realizing a life so intimately devoted to a deity was not for him.
“In retrospect, that [becoming a priest] was never going to happen,” he says.
“I didn’t have the calling and I wanted to get married and have a family.”
Priesthood no longer on the dockett, Talley went to school at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
By age thirty, he was developing his entrepreneurial muscles, albeit in an unrewarding manner.
“I trained salespeople in a very unfulfilling role. We never knew if we were actually helping the customer. The goal was more centered around getting the sales,” he shares.
At the time, Talley’s wife was a real estate agent, and collectively the couple discussed the lack of viable networking organizations in Houston.
“Like any good wife, after a week of me lamenting the lack of quality networking groups, she told me to start my own networking group,” Talley says.
“Eleven years later, we [Network in Action] are in nine countries and 34 states.”
NIA, as it is commonly referred to, has accumulated a bevy of accolades in its decade-plus long existence, but more importantly, NIA has taught business professionals how to network effectively.
For reference, Talley believes that in major metropolitan areas today, only 1% of people are networking in a way that is conducive to growing their businesses.
“In that sense, people understand very little about networking,” he points out, and hence the need for NIA.
The deficit in quality networking can be attributed to many factors, but Talley maintains that with other organizations, too often the focus of the group is on expanding the organization versus elevating the entrepreneurs already inside.
“With so many networking organizations, it’s about getting referrals, passing those referrals, and growing the group,” he explains.
”But it’s not about the business owners and how they can actually grow their business and become more successful entrepreneurs.”
Unlike other networking organizations, with NIA, there is a new agenda every month that focuses on creating skill sets that are otherwise missing or in need of refinement.
That alone has contributed massively to the ascension of NIA, but when I ask Talley what this all means to him, he doesn’t cite membership data or financial benchmarks.
Instead, he taps into the essence of what good networking is all about.
“It [NIA] has been the most gratifying journey of my life, and it is all because of the people I’ve met along the way,” he proudly says.
“I’m 68, but I don’t even think about retirement because I’m so fulfilled every day by seeing the connections and the wins that happen in our organization.”
Adds Talley:
“What we do feels very ministerial, in that we’re helping people, which lines up with my past in the seminary, only we’re serving people in our own way and helping them grow their businesses and improve their lives.”
In some ways, there is networking fatigue among business owners, in the Twin Cities, and at large.
The reasons for this exhaustion vary, and some of those concerns are valid.
At NIA, they don’t hammer business owners to join their organization.
They even will let entrepreneurs join at no cost for the first month, because that’s how strongly they believe in their value proposition.
“We do this with great pride, because a high percentage of people end up converting to a paid membership after they see the value that our organization brings,” Talley emphasizes.
Today, with NIA continuing to expand its reach domestically and internationally, there is little doubt that more good things will come for its members.
“Every four days, something is going on in the world that is led by a Network In Action franchise owner, and I would like to see that get that down to four hours,” Talley answers when asked how he would like to see NIA evolve in the future.
At the same time, Talley is not obsessed with expanding NIA’s reach solely to attain a new benchmark.
“A lot of people talk about what others will remember about them when they’re gone,” Talley begins.
“I’m more of the mindset that I wonder how people will feel about me when I’m gone, and my hope is that they will feel that I worked hard to help them grow in many aspects of their lives.” QS
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