In this talk, Kelly Alhooie argues that local networking is a powerful engine for business growth, especially when you position yourself as a connector who helps others succeed. Drawing from her experience launching a brick‑and‑mortar practice in San Diego, she outlines a step‑by‑step playbook: attend both free and paid events, identify the most valuable groups, and schedule them on your calendar. She stresses moving beyond surface‑level introductions by asking deeper questions about purpose and motivation, then using visual cues (photos, screenshots of Instagram/LinkedIn profiles) to remember contacts. Immediate post‑event actions include booking follow‑up meetings on the spot and using QR‑code flyers for quick information exchange. Alhooie also teaches how to “vibe‑check” prospects, disengaging from low‑energy or mismatched individuals, and how to diversify networking by joining non‑business clubs (dance, surf, guitar) to spark fresh ideas. She highlights the advantage women have in male‑dominated rooms, encouraging them to leverage underestimation. Finally, she links networking with AI, sharing how she and a fellow therapist built social‑media bots, and asserts that mastering both community building and AI adoption will be essential for business survival over the next five years. Pelby Biz, her company, is focused on cultivating community while integrating technology.
Chapters
Why I believe networking in your local community is one of the most powerful things you can do to grow a business. When I started my brick and mortar practice, this was the number one thing I did when I wasn't in the actual state. And when I got in the actual state, I was the connector. And if you are able to be the connector, you win the game. Because not only do you help other businesses grow, but you help your own business grow while helping their business grow. That makes sense. Most people just look at how do I get this thing, instead of looking at it like, how do I go and help these other businesses grow? And when you look at it from that lens and you say, I'm going to go into this event today to figure out, like, how I'm going to help other people win, the gates just open up. There's so many different opportunities. So I'm going to give you guys a couple examples of what I do when I go to events and how I actually make it beneficial. And not just like, this is what I find with mo most networking events. Like, some of you guys have been asking about bni and that's a local networking for businesses in your area. Personally, I don't go to those, but sometimes they're great and sometimes they're not so great. So it just depends on, you know, your town and your people. Um, but I will buy into networking events because I buy into where I know they have people that have had multiple exits, multiple businesses, and those are the people that I want to surround myself with because clearly they know something that I don't know. And that is why I pay. And a lot of times networking events are free, which is cool. Free is okay. You know, I still go to free events as well, but what I find is people are very like, hi, what do you do? And I'm guilty of doing this myself. Like, you meet someone, you're like, hi, what's your name? Okay, what do you do? Okay, great, see ya. And then you're like, okay. And then you get home and you're like, okay, well. Or you do that multiple times and you're like, what did I get out of this? And you don't have to always get something out of it, but, like, you should. It should be where you're building your business at these networking events rather than just like going there and sitting there to like, have a coffee and sit in the corner. And so I find most people just like, say who they are to everyone and it's kind of like, let me just tell you about me Rather than collecting contacts and getting like, creating it from a business point of view. So I'm going to give you guys some tips and tricks of what I do when I network. That has served me very well. So, number one, I go to networking groups free and paid a lot. And I find out because, remember, I just moved to San Diego. So I find out, like, who, who is the go to groups and then I will start attending. I will put it on my calendar. No matter what I go. So I'll start going. I start meeting people. Now when I meet people, I'm like, hi, what's your name? Sally. Okay, hey, Sally, nice to meet you. What do you do? Okay, I do this. Great. And then if we can go deeper with the conversation, because a lot of times it just stays there. So then I ask a deeper question because that was a very surface level question that everyone asked. Hey, what do you do? Okay. Then it tells me nothing about the person. It just tells me what they do. And it lets them, like, talk about themselves for five seconds. So people are happy about that. And then after that, I say, so why do you do it? And they're kind of like, what? Because people, like, don't dive deep. Like, so what's the. Like what, what's your driver behind the business? What's your purpose? What drove you to do this? You know, would love to hear your story on how you created this business. Why did you create this business? So I start digging, and once I start digging, I start to realize the character of who they are. And then I decide from that point, do I stay around for 10 or five more minutes or do I quickly exit and get away from the person? And so anyways, so that's what I do. And then I take a picture with them. I say, what's your Instagram? What's your LinkedIn? We friend each other. I also screenshot when. When I follow them on Instagram, I screenshot so I can go back and I can message them afterwards. Okay. But I take a picture with the person and I will DM them so that we remember who they are, what they look like, where I met them, what location I met them in. Especially if you go to multiple networking events, you're like, who is this person? And you can start to recall. And then after the fact, you need or not even after the fact, during the event, you always want to try to get something booked. So don't say, oh, email you about the zoom thing. Get the zoom meeting on the calendar, like, asap, right? Get the whatever made the event on the calendar asap. Whatever the situation is, you don't leave there without getting something from that event. That's key. The other thing I like to do, and some of these groups do it so the dot is you bring like a, a flyer size piece of paper and you're able to have a QR code and people can scan. So like today I was, I walked up to someone and she does Women in business group in San Diego. She wasn't that friendly though. I don't know what her vibe was, but immediately I read it. She was like, I'm this person's name. I'm. And she said it. I was like, oh, hi, nice to meet you. And I said her name and she's like, no, this. And I was like, okay, hi, nice to meet you. I was, I heard the same thing. She doesn't know I have a hearing loss. So she really was kind of rude about it anyways. And I was like, oh, and you're starting the women's group and business. She just repelled women. She repelled women. I don't know if she's just having a bad day, you know, you never know. But you also are like, okay, yep, not my person. Not going to that group. Maybe I'll start my own, you know? You know, so you can just feel vibe. Check for people immediately. And if you walk up to someone and they just don't have good energy, I quickly move on and don't give them any more energy because just that interaction alone, I don't know if she knows how she came off, but I was just like, nope, not my person next. And then I moved to the next person so that I don't waste my time, energy and effort on people there. So I would say that that's key when you're networking is, you know, staying connected to the people that are your vibe too. And, and not forcing yourself to be like, oh, I have to go to this thing. Because it's just like this thing. Like, I don't know, I just won't attend what she's doing because it just wasn't my vibe. Conversely, you learn stuff from other people that you're like, oh, that's amazing. Okay. And you start to learn like, oh my God, I could do this thing. I never realized. Let me give you another example. Like last night I was at another networking event and we just created these social media bots for all therapists. Whether or not you're an OT or pt, orthopedic, pelvic, whatever. We created it for you so that it can help you create posts. Anyways, that being said, I immediately met a guy that's Iranian. My husband's Iranian, which is funny. And he was creating these AI bots for social media. I said, oh my God, I think I was meant to meet you. And so we were comparing notes on what his things could do versus mine. His couldn't create pictures, mine could. And so he was like, oh yeah, you just do it like this. And I'm like, oh my God, yeah, that's how I do it. But I do it this way. And like we were just comparing notes and we could help elevate each other and we can help bring value to each other. And that's true networking rather than just like coming in and ever. It's like a pissing contest where everyone's like, yes, I've had five exits and I've done this and I've done this. Like, no one cares about that. They care about how you can provide value to someone else. And so I typically learn the older the person is, the more value they're trying to provide to you. The younger the person is, the more they're just trying to like show their cards and show off. I also find this. If you are a women in a room of lots of males, use it to your advantage because you're highly underestimated. And I feel like the males want to help you. I just feel like you can get a lot of value out of the group because they're like, oh yeah, I'll help this little poor girl out. And they're willing to help. So I appreciate that. Clearly, I mean, it's only to our benefit. So don't be intimidated either. If you're like, oh my God, it's like all these men, like, what do I do? Don't be intimidated, just go in there. And I would also say this too. Go to different groups, like go to, I don't know, a dance club, go to swing dancing club, go to guitar club, go to surf lesson club. Like whatever it may be, okay, go to that club and be like, you know what, I'm going to try something new today. Like last night I was with tech venture capitalist. Do I know anything about that? Hell no. But then I started to realize, I told myself that story. And then I started to realize, but wait, I have a software SaaS company. I have these tech AI bots. Like, I'm pretty ahead of the curve when it comes to tech, so I have to stop telling my story that I'm not tech or that like tech isn't me because tech is always figureoutable. So if you guys are telling yourself a story too, like, maybe I don't belong in this room, or maybe I'm not good enough to be in this room, or maybe like, this isn't. This room isn't for me. Just be mindful of that because you can learn so much from all the people and bring so much value. I couldn't have chat GPT all the questions, I just couldn't. Or all like the. I'm just hearing what people do. I'm like, wow, okay, that gives me idea. I could do this, this and this, you know, and it's really just fascinating and it's going out there. Yes, you have to put out a lot of energy. Yes, you have to make a lot of effort. But when you do that, it's like, wow, you can get so much in return just from humans. And I believe there's two things that's happening. This is why I'm pushing hard for networking and AI, because I believe those are the two things that are going to be king in the next at least five years, is if you don't have AIs in your company, your company will fail. And if you don't know how to network and build community, I believe you will fail as well. So. So I believe you need both of those and you have to build them both at the same time. You can't just build one and then go back to the other. So here at Pelby Biz, we are focusing heavily on community and going hard with that. And I just want to give you some tips and insights on networking and what that, you know, looks like going forward.
