Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Galindo.
Hi Emily, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I came to Houston as an early 20s transplant with no friends, no connections, and no real business acumen, and started, like most people in similar situations, as a bartender and server in our robust restaurant community. I continually saw marketing and sales professionals coming and going from their restaurant, throwing down their credit cards, entertaining clients and thinking, “Man, I could do that.” Until one day I actually was offered the opportunity to do so. I was hired, probably because I was a pretty girl, to sell websites and SEO and marketing for small to medium-sized businesses in the home service industries. I didn’t even know what SEO meant back then. They gave me a job and they gave me a territory and I was off to the races except I had no idea what I was doing. I eventually accidentally tripped into a structured networking event called BNI and there were multiple business owners there in multiple industries of different ages and variations of experience, all coming together on a weekly basis to try and help each other and me. It was a crazy concept and incredibly powerful one. When I found structured networking organizations, like the Chamber, BNI and Next Level NIA the organization I now own and lead. I wish every business owner in this community had this level of support to help them run their business. Leading, operating, selling and owning a business is incredibly difficult. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. You can feel like you’re operating it by yourself and that nobody knows how hard it is to do it. When you find people in a room who know exactly what you’re going through and exactly how to help you and have the business that they can offer you in exchange for you to help them, it is a beautiful symbiotic relationship where all tides rise all ships. It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to lead an organization of such amazing individuals who lean in on each other and are a part of helping one another accomplish their dreams. Having personally gone from having nobody to an entire community of business owners and resources and people who I can genuinely call my friends who are actively trying to help me succeed and I them. I can tell you that structured networking and organizations like Next Level NIA are truly a beautiful place in the world where everyone wants everyone to succeed, and we actively go out of our way to help you do that.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. Along the path of selling websites all the way to owning my own networking organization, there were many bumps in the road.
I got laid off from my digital marketing company a month after I came out of maternity leave and did not have any idea what to do. I thankfully got a position at the corporate office in an executive role for running the BNI networking organization here in Houston, which was a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow. I was able to do that for two years until COVID happened and then I took a year off from networking during COVID. Nobody wanted to hire a server, which was always something I could fall back on, or an outside salesperson or a networking person. At that point I had run out of options so I took a year sabbatical from the field work.
Until I was able to come back to networking in an independent consultant role nationally for other networking organizations, helping them grow their membership and teaching people how to leverage their network to help them in their business and ultimately in their life. After having settled in doing that I ended up getting divorced and losing all of my clients, which led me to becoming my own boss so that I could never be fired again.
Even the last three years of ownership have not been a smooth road without obstacles or bumps in the road. Learning from experiences of being in a partnership with another is a challenging experiment. Learning systems and processes, which members should be accepted and not be accepted, marketing strategies, outreach strategies, all of these things come into learning opportunities while also helping my mom, who has ALS. We are not just business owners, we are human beings, and we don’t operate our lives in silos. When things happen in your personal life, they impact your business. When things happen in your business, it impacts your personal life. That is one of the most complicated parts of being an entrepreneur or being a human. Where I take solace is knowing that I have a community of people who really understand that.
As you know, we’re big fans of Next Level NIA. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Next Level NIA is a monthly business owners community mastermind. We come together on a monthly basis to collaborate, commiserate, and celebrate each other. Being a business owner is not easy and there are lots of challenges so we come together to talk about those things as well as create new business opportunities for one another.
As we develop relationships with each other by having vulnerable conversations and spending time together, you ultimately get to know, like, and trust those people and eventually will refer them when the opportunity arises. The collaboration piece is that we actually create more opportunities for each other by actively working together to co-present, co-market, introduce our clients to these other individuals to help them with new opportunities, thus creating new revenue growth for one another.
We do a lot of education at our monthly meeting agenda, which is everything from:
– sales strategies
– marketing strategies
– cash flow management
– implementation of AI in your business
– anything that is personal or professional development
We are looking to serve best the professional services and home service industries who have a mindset of personal and professional growth as well as a collaborative spirit and integrity. All the members of the organization have been in business at least three to five years, have passed a background check, and share the mindset of wanting to grow through collaboration and education. We do that on a monthly basis to generate more business opportunity for one another. We offer an annual membership, which can be paid monthly or yearly, but I invite visitors to come check out what it is that we do.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I love that question. My favorite podcast, which is basically the thing I listen to every morning, is Diary of a CEO by Stephen Bartlett.
My favorite book is Conversations with God by Neil Donald Walsh.
Non-violent communication is another great book that helps in life and with people.
Pricing:
- $2395 Annual Membership
- $300 application fee
- $235/mo
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.niahouston.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextlevelnia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nextlevelniatx
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-sloyer-galindo-3ba53b18/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WatchMewithEmilyGalindo
