June 14, 2025 • 25 mins
Clay shares his remarkable journey of losing everything and rebuilding multiple successful businesses, revealing how facing your biggest fears can become your greatest source of resilience and confidence.
• Building business resilience through adversity and learning to count on yourself
• Clay's six interconnected businesses spanning networking, women's entrepreneurship, speaking, publishing, and real estate
• The philosophy behind H7 Network's abundance mindset versus traditional networking groups' scarcity approach
• How developing five trusted champion relationships creates predictable business growth
• Key differences between networking organizations: membership requirements, meeting structure, and community access
• Implementing "Operation Less Clay" to overcome scaling challenges through strategic delegation
• Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: "do it anyway" despite family skepticism
Clay Hicks
- Tel: +1 937-671-6238
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claytonrhicks/
- Website: https://www.h7network.com/
- Email: claytonrhicks@gmail.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Voiceover (00:03):
Tales from the wild, stories from the heart.
A journey into the mind andsoul of fired up business
professionals, where they sharetheir vision for the future and
hear from a different non-profitorganization every month as
they create awareness of theirgoals and their needs.
Dive into a world of untamedpassion as we join our host,
(00:27):
Shireen Botha, for this month'sepisode of Friends from Wild
Places.
Tanya Scotece (00:37):
I think I resonate with you as far as like
it's like you haven't liveduntil you lost it, because I
think you know most people,let's say just the majority of
the masses.
If people are just you know,let's speak for the states.
You know, born and raised inthe States, average, you know.
Maybe you know middle incomepeople just going about their
business, they're comfortable,they don't know anything but
that and the fear for mostpeople is losing everything.
(00:59):
So most people go into lifewith fear, right.
So when you face that fear headon and it's coming right at you
and you're done and it's likewait, but I'm still here, like
I'm not deceased.
I'm like I'm still here to comethrough the fire and rebuild,
and it's kind of like so, whenyou've faced one of your worst
(01:20):
fears, or the worst fear formost people, it kind of shatters
you and it does make you like,just like you're still here,
you're invincible, you know well, it gives you a different level
of confidence, for sure.
Clay Hicks (01:33):
You know that you can, that you can actually count
on yourself.
You know that that's.
That's a big deal too.
Uh, people have a hard timecounting on just anybody else,
including themselves all thetime.
It's popular, you know.
Tanya Scotece (01:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's almost like if you hit rock
bottom and it's like if that wasyour worst fear and you
survived it.
So even if you quote unquotefail again in the modern world,
it's not really fit.
You know what I mean.
It's like, okay, so we're here,we're back here, we've already
been here once, like.
So you know, and I this is myfeeling, clay I'm from the death
care industry.
(02:13):
Okay, so it's like we come inwith nothing, you go out with
nothing.
So it's kind of like along yourjourney, whether you make
millions or not or whatever,it's like it, literally at the
end of the day, you know, yes,you can.
You know, legacy for yourfamily.
I'm not disputing that fact,I'm just saying that we
ourselves, as individual humans,come in with and yeah, so it's
(02:36):
kind of like what happens inbetween those two spaces.
You know, that's up to you.
So if you don't mind, clay, canyou just go over?
I just want to ask all thebusiness that you have currently
, what fields are they in, like,what type of businesses?
Just to kind of give us anoverview.
Clay Hicks (02:51):
They're a little connected and then disconnected.
Tanya Scotece (02:55):
So I have H7.
Clay Hicks (02:58):
Then I have a white label version of H7.
This white label version, youonly know it by powered by H7.
So a company could have its owntitle, okay, and so that exists
.
Then there's Evolve Women'sCollective.
That's an entrepreneurialdevelopment for women, okay, and
(03:21):
then so that's three.
And then we have my CRH brand,which is where I speak and write
.
I've authored four books now,two of which are bestsellers.
The other two I didn't actuallytry to get bestseller status,
they're just there but anyway.
And then I do presentations,and I speak on the Connect,
serve and Ask methodology, whichI like, leaving a week and a
(03:44):
half for another presentation.
And then I'm into real estateas well.
So my wife and I have our ownreal estate business with her
mom, and then the last is ARCCapital Investments, and what we
(04:06):
do is we buy real estate invacation areas and turn them
into short-term rentals.
But I'm like the CMO in both ofthose real estate businesses,
so I handle just marketingstrictly.
And in CRH, I mean, I have abunch of training due to come
(04:26):
out this summer, but it's nothere yet, so it's just speaking,
if that makes sense um h7 ishumming, and so is ball.
Tanya Scotece (04:34):
So what a, what a , what a wide variety, but
connected right, that's the,that's the theme, it's like it's
still connected, even thoughcompletely, uh, different, um
arenas.
So amazing, fascinating that'samazing clay.
Shireen Botha (04:48):
I think that's so cool.
What is uh?
Can you mention one of the bigseller books that you've written
to the listeners?
Clay Hicks (04:54):
yeah, so.
So yeah, we just um, it's acrack cracking the code, best
business lesson I ever learned,and so my story is actually in
there.
I told a little brief piece ofthe story that I've just shared
about how I started H7.
But anyway, that's in there.
There's nine other members thatare in there with us and
(05:15):
everybody's sharing a storyabout the best lessons they've
learned in business, and so thatone is the most newest one.
Shireen Botha (05:25):
That's so cool, and if we wanted to purchase it,
we can get it on Amazon or anyof the platforms that sell books
, right?
Clay Hicks (05:33):
100%.
Yeah, my other one that is abestseller, sales Fusion.
That's also on Amazon.
They're on my author's page.
But then I have two books thatI've held tightly for H7 Network
members only so far as the CRHbrand comes out, then you'll see
those books able to be comingout and all that good stuff for
(05:55):
the public.
Shireen Botha (05:56):
So working on that stuff behind the scenes now
my goodness, you've got so manythings going on in play.
I love that.
I think that's really reallycool.
So many things going on andplay I love that, I think that's
really really cool.
Um, the other thing that I'mjust thinking to myself, you
know, being a business owner, uh, we wear so many different hats
, right, and one of the hatsthat I hate wearing.
(06:16):
I hate it with a passion but,but I know it was necessary for
my business.
So I've learned and and I'vedone a lot of different courses
to help me in that departmentthat I'm not good at, so I can
do it, but it doesn't mean Ienjoy doing it.
And that is the marketing andsales side of my business.
(06:40):
Yeah, and I find out of all thedifferent ways one can market
and sell themselves.
I find networking, where youmeet other people and find your
referral partners, people thatare going to kind of like be
your sales team in a way is ismy go-to kind of.
(07:04):
I feel more comfortable in that.
I don't enjoy the tele sales,that all the other forms of
different ways you can sell andmarket your business.
It's just I don't enjoy it.
So I lean towards leaningtowards the mic here, so I don't
go, my voice doesn't disappear,but I lean towards the, the
(07:27):
networking businesses and um andso on.
The networking businesses,there is a few out there, as you
know.
Yeah, yeah, there's bni,there's amspirit, um, and now,
you know, there's h7.
So if we could talk about the,you know what makes H7 different
(07:48):
to the other networkingbusinesses out there.
Clay Hicks (07:52):
Yeah, before we go too far, I just want you to know
like I'm friends with Frank Imean, we were just together last
week.
Tanya Scotece (07:58):
We love Frank, we love Frank.
Clay Hicks (08:00):
So Frank and I are now collaborating, which is
super exciting.
I love collaborating with othernetworking groups, so I would
collaborate with approximately16 other groups.
Oh gosh, yeah, so yeah and.
I have relationships with thoseCEOs.
And you know, and we talk abouthelping each other and we do
help each other and we dodifferent stuff.
(08:22):
And Frank and I have've reallyhe's only like two hours from me
, an hour, and a half, okay,okay so I've known for about.
Uh, we first did a round tablelike in 2010.
That's when we first met oh mygosh yeah great guy.
Shireen Botha (08:38):
We really, really love him.
Of him, yeah, um are you onsame terms with um Ivan Meisner
or no?
Clay Hicks (08:48):
so I, uh, I want to meet him okay so you also yeah
well so well, so there's a, soI'm one degree of separation
from him right now okay.
I just gotta ask and I knowthat's all I got to do, I just
haven't done it but I'd like tomeet him because there's
(09:12):
specific things that he did inhis career that set the tone for
, of course, networking and thefoundation of it.
And then I came in and I brokeit, invented, and so when I did
that, I yeah, I want to meet him.
Like, oh, I I just think aconversation, uh would be really
cool.
Like you know, I I'm notcollege educated, I don't have
(09:36):
the background that most peopledo and I have a unique journey,
uh, doing thousands ofone-to-ones, like just a whole
different design that h7 has.
It's the complete opposite of bI love that, love that, love
that.
Shireen Botha (09:51):
There's no, yeah, there's no one way of doing
things and I think people canforget that.
You know, it's one specificthing.
It's not the alpha and omega.
You can get to the end indifferent ways and and that's
true for so many parts of lifein general, but let's talk about
(10:13):
the differences.
You want to talk about some ofthe differences.
That's that makes H7 stick outof the crowd.
Clay Hicks (10:20):
Yeah, yeah.
So I have no challenge orinability to share, because,
because H7 is a unicorn, itreally is.
It's such a unicorn, it's likea brand new version of whatever
was going on before, because ofthe pathway that we've taken,
which makes it easier for us tocollaborate with everybody else.
(10:42):
I mean easy to do that, and sowho would have thought but yeah,
whenever you're ready,whichever.
Do you want me to compare it toBNI?
That's probably the easiest.
Shireen Botha (10:53):
Right, go ahead.
Clay Hicks (10:55):
Yeah, because I want to do it that way, because of
course I love Frank andeverything but and I appreciate
Donnie at SCN and all myrelationships, but I think it
would just be easier to do itwith BNI, because they kind of
somewhat compete with BNI andthat's a very general statement,
but raw statement, so let'sjust compare them, can you do?
Tanya Scotece (11:18):
a comparison, though, clay, just for our
listeners, just because somefolks out there may not be
familiar with specifically BNI.
So if you could just do youknow like an overview and then
compare yeah.
Clay Hicks (11:30):
All right, so BNI has been around since 1984.
Okay, h7 has been around since2008.
Uh, ivan meisner, uh began bniafter being in la tip.
I started h7 after being insome no-name networking group
anyway, not a big deal.
So BNI is is has been aroundthe longest, the most successful
(11:55):
, the most most impact to date.
They obviously are franchised,so they're not corporate,
they're all franchised and sothat most people don't know that
, but they are.
And then you know, bni is whereyou will have a group that you
(12:17):
meet with on a weekly basis for90 minutes, where you'll have a
chance to deliver a 60-secondcommercial talk about what
you're looking for, as well, asthere'll be presenters each week
like the members can presentabout their businesses and their
formalities.
There's also a leadership thatthey have that is more like a
(12:40):
board of directors kind of is agreat way to think of it.
They have a president, vicepresident, so on and so forth.
They have been on the moverecently buying back some of
their franchises.
I've just recognized that overthe last few years from the
pandemic, actually, I hope thathelps.
(13:00):
They have a very specific mottocalled Giver's Gain that they
use, and so does that help.
Tanya, just to give a littlebit of background about B&I,
does that help?
Tanya Scotece (13:10):
Yes, yes, For the listeners that are not familiar
with it.
Yes.
Clay Hicks (13:13):
Yeah, great, all right.
So now let's get into doing acomparison.
So it begins with the actualvision of the communities, the
mindset of the community period,like at the very top, at its
core.
(13:33):
We're absolutely different,absolutely different.
Starting with mindset.
We abundance mindset.
You know you can be in the roomwith your competition and BNI
that's a no-no, they don't wantthat.
Okay, so that alone.
The strategic metric that B&Iwould use versus ours theirs is
(13:59):
going to be based on dollars,roi investment 10 times.
Whatever it is, it's all aboutthe money.
They track it.
We don't.
They track the dollars.
They ask you for the dollars,all that stuff.
We do not.
Ours is a strategic strategywhich is five trusted champion
(14:21):
relationships.
Okay, so we don't track thedollars, but we track the
relationships, because we knowand have proven and time-t
tested that if a member has fivetrusted champion relationships,
they write their own check,they do whatever they need to do
.
I proved it by starting H7 withfive people already 17 years
(14:42):
ago.
So that's a little bit aboutthat.
When you get into more of theblocking and tackling the
structure of things, I sharedthat B&I has a board, h7 is ran
by a collaborative team Alphateam is what it's called, and
they go through a team buildingexperience all the way until
(15:02):
they become that team that wehave engineered for them to be
able to do that.
And so, where the board and BNIthey're not like, they run the
meetings and facilitate thegroup.
Ours facilitates the group, butalso they work collectively
with their team in a verypredictable way to create
(15:24):
referrals for each other andintroductions for each other and
grow their business and it'sour own proprietary intellectual
property that they followthrough with.
Then you get into the meetingitself.
Those are 90-minute meetingsyou are required to attend in
B&I.
In H7, 60-minute meetings notrequired.
Costs will vary based on whereB&I may be, but it's usually
(15:49):
around $1,000 or a little bitmore.
H7 across the country $599 ayear, so $400 less, let's see.
In BNI you have one requiredtraining that comes with your
membership, called MSP, andwhich they show you how to
(16:10):
operate the B&I meeting forthemselves.
That's what that is more orless.
In H7, we have five hours ofword-of-mouth marketing training
that supports a member beingable to create those trusted
champion relationships as fastas possible, be able to grow
their business more predictablyusing our tools and resources
available to them and with thecost.
(16:34):
In B&I you get one group, onegroup.
Whatever group you go to,that's your group In H7, you
belong to the entire community.
You go to means that you wishto go to when you wish to go to
them.
Bni and this is it for the lastone here.
Bni has lots and lots ofrequirements.
H7 has one, one requirementthat everybody take their
(16:58):
Connect, serve and Ask training.
And we ask them to do thatbecause it is our culture maker
and is our difference maker inthis world Around our meeting
styles that are focused around.
When you attend the meeting,the objective is that you walk
away with a meaningfulconnection to your ask every
single time, and we are the onlygroups that do that powerful,
(17:21):
powerful clay.
Tanya Scotece (17:23):
And can you just clarify when you say the five,
you know that what is thatreferring to?
Is it five individual people?
Is it five?
What does five mean like?
Is it just five grand?
Like what is?
Can you just dive a littledeeper in that five?
Clay Hicks (17:36):
yeah, yeah.
So five a lot of numbers.
Tanya Scotece (17:38):
Oh my god, we got seven, we got five.
I'm trying to keep track.
So what's the five?
Clay Hicks (17:44):
just fyi, tanya, we use numbers a lot.
Okay, so five trusted.
So five individual trustedchampion relationships.
Okay, which means that Tanyawould be one of my trusted
champion relationships in thisscenario, and then Shireen would
be, and so now I have two, sofive trusted champion
(18:07):
relationships.
So the training supports themin being able to develop those
trustee relationships faster toget to champion status.
Because champion status in thatrelationship means that we're
meeting once a month for thesole purposes of opening up
doors for each other, withintroductions and referrals and
bam.
That's what we do and itcreates results.
Tanya Scotece (18:34):
It's more results .
So what is the?
I mean, if you have to put anaverage, because we're on
numbers, what's the average sizegroup of your of these groups?
I mean, are they 20, 30, 10like five, like how many you're
supposed to have?
Clay Hicks (18:43):
well, also, I forgot to say this one thing h7, the,
is the b2b community.
I was referring to the b2b overzoom I I was referring to.
I forgot to say that BNI that'suh, that's a big difference as
well.
So B2B and um, so so what'syour question?
I think I messed it up.
What was your question again?
Tanya Scotece (19:03):
Just so how many people like are in each respect.
I mean, I know you said it'snot like just one group, but
like this initial group, so tospeak how many people are we
talking Um?
Clay Hicks (19:14):
So an average group meeting size is 11 to 20.
But pure B2B, pure B2B.
So when you're in that roomwith 10 other people and you're
a consultant, you're not inthere with, say, a mortgage
broker.
You're in there with 10 otherpeople that could potentially
help you.
Tanya Scotece (19:36):
Very interesting.
I want to learn more about it.
Is there one in Florida?
You got one in Florida.
Clay Hicks (19:41):
Yeah, we're opening up, okay.
Tanya Scotece (19:43):
All right, well, keep my number handy.
Shireen Botha (19:47):
Yes, yes, we were chatting after the podcast
because I went to go and visitone of yours in LA, but anyway,
we're digressing here.
Listeners, I apologize, butbefore we carry on, I do want to
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(21:40):
to you, clay.
So, talking about the differentmethods that each networking
business uses, why do you thinkyours is the winner?
Clay Hicks (21:56):
That's a good question.
You know, I've never been askedthat question.
Why do I think Because it putsmore power in the individual
member's hand.
That's really the best way toanswer that.
They're in age seven, you don'thave to worry about.
(22:18):
Oh, I have a client so I can'tgo to the meeting.
No, your client's first.
Oh, family, yeah, family first.
You're not going to get aletter in the mail.
We're not going to hawk youbecause you've missed a couple
of meetings or whatever.
Shireen Botha (22:35):
I love that.
Yeah, I like that answer.
Thank you, Claire.
So if you could give a piece ofadvice to someone that would
like to start their own business, what would that piece of
advice be?
Clay Hicks (22:47):
Number one do it anyway, Do it anyway Not to
worry.
We already know your family'snot going to like it, your
family's not going to connectwith it.
It's already there.
Just do it.
If you've been thinking aboutit as long as it wasn't like you
thought about this morning,don't do it.
(23:08):
I'm not telling you to do that.
I'm telling the people who havebeen thinking about it for a
while, not the one who justthought, ooh, I want to be one.
So I would say to do it.
That would be number one Numbertwo is find yourself some
trusted relationships as fast asyou humanly can, as fast as you
(23:30):
can find the people that youcan potentially rely on as a
relationship to help you getgoing.
Shireen Botha (23:43):
I like that.
Thank you.
What would be one of thebiggest struggles that you've
faced being a business owner orentrepreneur, and how did you
overcome it?
Clay Hicks (23:56):
Oh my gosh, I've had so many different.
Uh, yeah, okay, I got one.
Tanya Scotece (23:59):
I got a recent one for you, I got a reasonable
for you.
Clay Hicks (24:01):
So, um a year ago, somebody tells me that, uh, I
I'm never going to be able toscale this business as the
person who sells it and sellseverything you know I'm the.
I'm the opposite to be able toscale this business as the
person who sells it.
It sells everything.
You know I'm the opposite ofShereen All marketing, all sales
, leadership over the time, overtime.
(24:23):
But anyway, yeah, so I would.
Essentially, I needed to makesuch a massive change to where I
was bringing in, delegatingmore and more of our services to
other people, and I called itOperation Less Clay, and it
(24:44):
wasn't me being arrogant either,it was like being truthful,
like logical, get out of the way.
Clay, more or less, is what itwas.
So I had to put a plan in placefor me to eliminate myself,
which was quite fun, and so Iwas able to do it right on time.
It was amazing how it landed.
(25:04):
And then, all of a sudden, I'vegot, you know, less clay, more
strategy where I live, the placeI live, set the BHAG for five,
five years, set it for three,set the strategies for one, and
we went to work, and I've grownso many steps forward since just
December and been through theslammer, more or less so I've
(25:27):
just I've uh very, though, forwhat happened.
Shireen Botha (25:38):
Tune in next week for part three of Friends from
Wild Places.
Voiceover (25:40):
You've been listening to Friends from Wild Places
with Shireen Botha.
Be sure to subscribe to thepodcast from the links to catch
every episode and unleash yourpassion.
Tales from the wild, stories from the heart.
A journey into the mind andsoul of fired up business
professionals, where they sharetheir vision for the future and
hear from a different non-profitorganization every month as
they create awareness of theirgoals and their needs.
Dive into a world of untamedpassion as we join our host,
(00:27):
Shireen Botha, for this month'sepisode of Friends from Wild
Places.
Tanya Scotece (00:37):
I think I resonate with you as far as like
it's like you haven't liveduntil you lost it, because I
think you know most people,let's say just the majority of
the masses.
If people are just you know,let's speak for the states.
You know, born and raised inthe States, average, you know.
Maybe you know middle incomepeople just going about their
business, they're comfortable,they don't know anything but
that and the fear for mostpeople is losing everything.
(00:59):
So most people go into lifewith fear, right.
So when you face that fear headon and it's coming right at you
and you're done and it's likewait, but I'm still here, like
I'm not deceased.
I'm like I'm still here to comethrough the fire and rebuild,
and it's kind of like so, whenyou've faced one of your worst
(01:20):
fears, or the worst fear formost people, it kind of shatters
you and it does make you like,just like you're still here,
you're invincible, you know well, it gives you a different level
of confidence, for sure.
Clay Hicks (01:33):
You know that you can, that you can actually count
on yourself.
You know that that's.
That's a big deal too.
Uh, people have a hard timecounting on just anybody else,
including themselves all thetime.
It's popular, you know.
Tanya Scotece (01:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's almost like if you hit rock
bottom and it's like if that wasyour worst fear and you
survived it.
So even if you quote unquotefail again in the modern world,
it's not really fit.
You know what I mean.
It's like, okay, so we're here,we're back here, we've already
been here once, like.
So you know, and I this is myfeeling, clay I'm from the death
care industry.
(02:13):
Okay, so it's like we come inwith nothing, you go out with
nothing.
So it's kind of like along yourjourney, whether you make
millions or not or whatever,it's like it, literally at the
end of the day, you know, yes,you can.
You know, legacy for yourfamily.
I'm not disputing that fact,I'm just saying that we
ourselves, as individual humans,come in with and yeah, so it's
(02:36):
kind of like what happens inbetween those two spaces.
You know, that's up to you.
So if you don't mind, clay, canyou just go over?
I just want to ask all thebusiness that you have currently
, what fields are they in, like,what type of businesses?
Just to kind of give us anoverview.
Clay Hicks (02:51):
They're a little connected and then disconnected.
Tanya Scotece (02:55):
So I have H7.
Clay Hicks (02:58):
Then I have a white label version of H7.
This white label version, youonly know it by powered by H7.
So a company could have its owntitle, okay, and so that exists
.
Then there's Evolve Women'sCollective.
That's an entrepreneurialdevelopment for women, okay, and
(03:21):
then so that's three.
And then we have my CRH brand,which is where I speak and write
.
I've authored four books now,two of which are bestsellers.
The other two I didn't actuallytry to get bestseller status,
they're just there but anyway.
And then I do presentations,and I speak on the Connect,
serve and Ask methodology, whichI like, leaving a week and a
(03:44):
half for another presentation.
And then I'm into real estateas well.
So my wife and I have our ownreal estate business with her
mom, and then the last is ARCCapital Investments, and what we
(04:06):
do is we buy real estate invacation areas and turn them
into short-term rentals.
But I'm like the CMO in both ofthose real estate businesses,
so I handle just marketingstrictly.
And in CRH, I mean, I have abunch of training due to come
(04:26):
out this summer, but it's nothere yet, so it's just speaking,
if that makes sense um h7 ishumming, and so is ball.
Tanya Scotece (04:34):
So what a, what a , what a wide variety, but
connected right, that's the,that's the theme, it's like it's
still connected, even thoughcompletely, uh, different, um
arenas.
So amazing, fascinating that'samazing clay.
Shireen Botha (04:48):
I think that's so cool.
What is uh?
Can you mention one of the bigseller books that you've written
to the listeners?
Clay Hicks (04:54):
yeah, so.
So yeah, we just um, it's acrack cracking the code, best
business lesson I ever learned,and so my story is actually in
there.
I told a little brief piece ofthe story that I've just shared
about how I started H7.
But anyway, that's in there.
There's nine other members thatare in there with us and
(05:15):
everybody's sharing a storyabout the best lessons they've
learned in business, and so thatone is the most newest one.
Shireen Botha (05:25):
That's so cool, and if we wanted to purchase it,
we can get it on Amazon or anyof the platforms that sell books
, right?
Clay Hicks (05:33):
100%.
Yeah, my other one that is abestseller, sales Fusion.
That's also on Amazon.
They're on my author's page.
But then I have two books thatI've held tightly for H7 Network
members only so far as the CRHbrand comes out, then you'll see
those books able to be comingout and all that good stuff for
(05:55):
the public.
Shireen Botha (05:56):
So working on that stuff behind the scenes now
my goodness, you've got so manythings going on in play.
I love that.
I think that's really reallycool.
So many things going on andplay I love that, I think that's
really really cool.
Um, the other thing that I'mjust thinking to myself, you
know, being a business owner, uh, we wear so many different hats
, right, and one of the hatsthat I hate wearing.
(06:16):
I hate it with a passion but,but I know it was necessary for
my business.
So I've learned and and I'vedone a lot of different courses
to help me in that departmentthat I'm not good at, so I can
do it, but it doesn't mean Ienjoy doing it.
And that is the marketing andsales side of my business.
(06:40):
Yeah, and I find out of all thedifferent ways one can market
and sell themselves.
I find networking, where youmeet other people and find your
referral partners, people thatare going to kind of like be
your sales team in a way is ismy go-to kind of.
(07:04):
I feel more comfortable in that.
I don't enjoy the tele sales,that all the other forms of
different ways you can sell andmarket your business.
It's just I don't enjoy it.
So I lean towards leaningtowards the mic here, so I don't
go, my voice doesn't disappear,but I lean towards the, the
(07:27):
networking businesses and um andso on.
The networking businesses,there is a few out there, as you
know.
Yeah, yeah, there's bni,there's amspirit, um, and now,
you know, there's h7.
So if we could talk about the,you know what makes H7 different
(07:48):
to the other networkingbusinesses out there.
Clay Hicks (07:52):
Yeah, before we go too far, I just want you to know
like I'm friends with Frank Imean, we were just together last
week.
Tanya Scotece (07:58):
We love Frank, we love Frank.
Clay Hicks (08:00):
So Frank and I are now collaborating, which is
super exciting.
I love collaborating with othernetworking groups, so I would
collaborate with approximately16 other groups.
Oh gosh, yeah, so yeah and.
I have relationships with thoseCEOs.
And you know, and we talk abouthelping each other and we do
help each other and we dodifferent stuff.
(08:22):
And Frank and I have've reallyhe's only like two hours from me
, an hour, and a half, okay,okay so I've known for about.
Uh, we first did a round tablelike in 2010.
That's when we first met oh mygosh yeah great guy.
Shireen Botha (08:38):
We really, really love him.
Of him, yeah, um are you onsame terms with um Ivan Meisner
or no?
Clay Hicks (08:48):
so I, uh, I want to meet him okay so you also yeah
well so well, so there's a, soI'm one degree of separation
from him right now okay.
I just gotta ask and I knowthat's all I got to do, I just
haven't done it but I'd like tomeet him because there's
(09:12):
specific things that he did inhis career that set the tone for
, of course, networking and thefoundation of it.
And then I came in and I brokeit, invented, and so when I did
that, I yeah, I want to meet him.
Like, oh, I I just think aconversation, uh would be really
cool.
Like you know, I I'm notcollege educated, I don't have
(09:36):
the background that most peopledo and I have a unique journey,
uh, doing thousands ofone-to-ones, like just a whole
different design that h7 has.
It's the complete opposite of bI love that, love that, love
that.
Shireen Botha (09:51):
There's no, yeah, there's no one way of doing
things and I think people canforget that.
You know, it's one specificthing.
It's not the alpha and omega.
You can get to the end indifferent ways and and that's
true for so many parts of lifein general, but let's talk about
(10:13):
the differences.
You want to talk about some ofthe differences.
That's that makes H7 stick outof the crowd.
Clay Hicks (10:20):
Yeah, yeah.
So I have no challenge orinability to share, because,
because H7 is a unicorn, itreally is.
It's such a unicorn, it's likea brand new version of whatever
was going on before, because ofthe pathway that we've taken,
which makes it easier for us tocollaborate with everybody else.
(10:42):
I mean easy to do that, and sowho would have thought but yeah,
whenever you're ready,whichever.
Do you want me to compare it toBNI?
That's probably the easiest.
Shireen Botha (10:53):
Right, go ahead.
Clay Hicks (10:55):
Yeah, because I want to do it that way, because of
course I love Frank andeverything but and I appreciate
Donnie at SCN and all myrelationships, but I think it
would just be easier to do itwith BNI, because they kind of
somewhat compete with BNI andthat's a very general statement,
but raw statement, so let'sjust compare them, can you do?
Tanya Scotece (11:18):
a comparison, though, clay, just for our
listeners, just because somefolks out there may not be
familiar with specifically BNI.
So if you could just do youknow like an overview and then
compare yeah.
Clay Hicks (11:30):
All right, so BNI has been around since 1984.
Okay, h7 has been around since2008.
Uh, ivan meisner, uh began bniafter being in la tip.
I started h7 after being insome no-name networking group
anyway, not a big deal.
So BNI is is has been aroundthe longest, the most successful
(11:55):
, the most most impact to date.
They obviously are franchised,so they're not corporate,
they're all franchised and sothat most people don't know that
, but they are.
And then you know, bni is whereyou will have a group that you
(12:17):
meet with on a weekly basis for90 minutes, where you'll have a
chance to deliver a 60-secondcommercial talk about what
you're looking for, as well, asthere'll be presenters each week
like the members can presentabout their businesses and their
formalities.
There's also a leadership thatthey have that is more like a
(12:40):
board of directors kind of is agreat way to think of it.
They have a president, vicepresident, so on and so forth.
They have been on the moverecently buying back some of
their franchises.
I've just recognized that overthe last few years from the
pandemic, actually, I hope thathelps.
(13:00):
They have a very specific mottocalled Giver's Gain that they
use, and so does that help.
Tanya, just to give a littlebit of background about B&I,
does that help?
Tanya Scotece (13:10):
Yes, yes, For the listeners that are not familiar
with it.
Yes.
Clay Hicks (13:13):
Yeah, great, all right.
So now let's get into doing acomparison.
So it begins with the actualvision of the communities, the
mindset of the community period,like at the very top, at its
core.
(13:33):
We're absolutely different,absolutely different.
Starting with mindset.
We abundance mindset.
You know you can be in the roomwith your competition and BNI
that's a no-no, they don't wantthat.
Okay, so that alone.
The strategic metric that B&Iwould use versus ours theirs is
(13:59):
going to be based on dollars,roi investment 10 times.
Whatever it is, it's all aboutthe money.
They track it.
We don't.
They track the dollars.
They ask you for the dollars,all that stuff.
We do not.
Ours is a strategic strategywhich is five trusted champion
(14:21):
relationships.
Okay, so we don't track thedollars, but we track the
relationships, because we knowand have proven and time-t
tested that if a member has fivetrusted champion relationships,
they write their own check,they do whatever they need to do
.
I proved it by starting H7 withfive people already 17 years
(14:42):
ago.
So that's a little bit aboutthat.
When you get into more of theblocking and tackling the
structure of things, I sharedthat B&I has a board, h7 is ran
by a collaborative team Alphateam is what it's called, and
they go through a team buildingexperience all the way until
(15:02):
they become that team that wehave engineered for them to be
able to do that.
And so, where the board and BNIthey're not like, they run the
meetings and facilitate thegroup.
Ours facilitates the group, butalso they work collectively
with their team in a verypredictable way to create
(15:24):
referrals for each other andintroductions for each other and
grow their business and it'sour own proprietary intellectual
property that they followthrough with.
Then you get into the meetingitself.
Those are 90-minute meetingsyou are required to attend in
B&I.
In H7, 60-minute meetings notrequired.
Costs will vary based on whereB&I may be, but it's usually
(15:49):
around $1,000 or a little bitmore.
H7 across the country $599 ayear, so $400 less, let's see.
In BNI you have one requiredtraining that comes with your
membership, called MSP, andwhich they show you how to
(16:10):
operate the B&I meeting forthemselves.
That's what that is more orless.
In H7, we have five hours ofword-of-mouth marketing training
that supports a member beingable to create those trusted
champion relationships as fastas possible, be able to grow
their business more predictablyusing our tools and resources
available to them and with thecost.
(16:34):
In B&I you get one group, onegroup.
Whatever group you go to,that's your group In H7, you
belong to the entire community.
You go to means that you wishto go to when you wish to go to
them.
Bni and this is it for the lastone here.
Bni has lots and lots ofrequirements.
H7 has one, one requirementthat everybody take their
(16:58):
Connect, serve and Ask training.
And we ask them to do thatbecause it is our culture maker
and is our difference maker inthis world Around our meeting
styles that are focused around.
When you attend the meeting,the objective is that you walk
away with a meaningfulconnection to your ask every
single time, and we are the onlygroups that do that powerful,
(17:21):
powerful clay.
Tanya Scotece (17:23):
And can you just clarify when you say the five,
you know that what is thatreferring to?
Is it five individual people?
Is it five?
What does five mean like?
Is it just five grand?
Like what is?
Can you just dive a littledeeper in that five?
Clay Hicks (17:36):
yeah, yeah.
So five a lot of numbers.
Tanya Scotece (17:38):
Oh my god, we got seven, we got five.
I'm trying to keep track.
So what's the five?
Clay Hicks (17:44):
just fyi, tanya, we use numbers a lot.
Okay, so five trusted.
So five individual trustedchampion relationships.
Okay, which means that Tanyawould be one of my trusted
champion relationships in thisscenario, and then Shireen would
be, and so now I have two, sofive trusted champion
(18:07):
relationships.
So the training supports themin being able to develop those
trustee relationships faster toget to champion status.
Because champion status in thatrelationship means that we're
meeting once a month for thesole purposes of opening up
doors for each other, withintroductions and referrals and
bam.
That's what we do and itcreates results.
Tanya Scotece (18:34):
It's more results .
So what is the?
I mean, if you have to put anaverage, because we're on
numbers, what's the average sizegroup of your of these groups?
I mean, are they 20, 30, 10like five, like how many you're
supposed to have?
Clay Hicks (18:43):
well, also, I forgot to say this one thing h7, the,
is the b2b community.
I was referring to the b2b overzoom I I was referring to.
I forgot to say that BNI that'suh, that's a big difference as
well.
So B2B and um, so so what'syour question?
I think I messed it up.
What was your question again?
Tanya Scotece (19:03):
Just so how many people like are in each respect.
I mean, I know you said it'snot like just one group, but
like this initial group, so tospeak how many people are we
talking Um?
Clay Hicks (19:14):
So an average group meeting size is 11 to 20.
But pure B2B, pure B2B.
So when you're in that roomwith 10 other people and you're
a consultant, you're not inthere with, say, a mortgage
broker.
You're in there with 10 otherpeople that could potentially
help you.
Tanya Scotece (19:36):
Very interesting.
I want to learn more about it.
Is there one in Florida?
You got one in Florida.
Clay Hicks (19:41):
Yeah, we're opening up, okay.
Tanya Scotece (19:43):
All right, well, keep my number handy.
Shireen Botha (19:47):
Yes, yes, we were chatting after the podcast
because I went to go and visitone of yours in LA, but anyway,
we're digressing here.
Listeners, I apologize, butbefore we carry on, I do want to
jump in here with a littleBuzzsprout ad.
You all know that Friends fromWild Places uses Buzzsprout,
(20:14):
uses Buzzsprout.
It's a fantastic platform whenit comes to just starting your
own podcast and being justreally a great, easy way to work
on one platform, but yet itspaghettis out to all the live
stream platforms out there thatpeople use to listen to their
podcasts.
So Friends From Wild Places isa place to share stories from
(20:36):
other business owners andentrepreneurs.
It's a safe place, as you know,to show support for each other.
We feature non-profits everymonth to try and make a
difference or give a helpline tosomeone in need.
So basically, do you have amessage you want to share with
the world, or maybe you justthink it'll be fun to have your
(20:57):
own talk show?
Podcasting is a easy,inexpensive and fun way to
expand your reach online.
So to start your own podcast,please follow the link in the
show notes and this letsBuzzsprout know that we sent you
and it really does help supportthe show and also subscribe.
It's only five dollars.
(21:17):
Only five dollars.
That really supports myself andTanya.
We do this for fun.
But if it means anything to youwhat we're doing and you really
find it helpful, then pleasethink about maybe subscribing.
But Buzzsprout is definitelythe way to go.
If you're thinking of startingyour own podcast, all right back
(21:40):
to you, clay.
So, talking about the differentmethods that each networking
business uses, why do you thinkyours is the winner?
Clay Hicks (21:56):
That's a good question.
You know, I've never been askedthat question.
Why do I think Because it putsmore power in the individual
member's hand.
That's really the best way toanswer that.
They're in age seven, you don'thave to worry about.
(22:18):
Oh, I have a client so I can'tgo to the meeting.
No, your client's first.
Oh, family, yeah, family first.
You're not going to get aletter in the mail.
We're not going to hawk youbecause you've missed a couple
of meetings or whatever.
Shireen Botha (22:35):
I love that.
Yeah, I like that answer.
Thank you, Claire.
So if you could give a piece ofadvice to someone that would
like to start their own business, what would that piece of
advice be?
Clay Hicks (22:47):
Number one do it anyway, Do it anyway Not to
worry.
We already know your family'snot going to like it, your
family's not going to connectwith it.
It's already there.
Just do it.
If you've been thinking aboutit as long as it wasn't like you
thought about this morning,don't do it.
(23:08):
I'm not telling you to do that.
I'm telling the people who havebeen thinking about it for a
while, not the one who justthought, ooh, I want to be one.
So I would say to do it.
That would be number one Numbertwo is find yourself some
trusted relationships as fast asyou humanly can, as fast as you
(23:30):
can find the people that youcan potentially rely on as a
relationship to help you getgoing.
Shireen Botha (23:43):
I like that.
Thank you.
What would be one of thebiggest struggles that you've
faced being a business owner orentrepreneur, and how did you
overcome it?
Clay Hicks (23:56):
Oh my gosh, I've had so many different.
Uh, yeah, okay, I got one.
Tanya Scotece (23:59):
I got a recent one for you, I got a reasonable
for you.
Clay Hicks (24:01):
So, um a year ago, somebody tells me that, uh, I
I'm never going to be able toscale this business as the
person who sells it and sellseverything you know I'm the.
I'm the opposite to be able toscale this business as the
person who sells it.
It sells everything.
You know I'm the opposite ofShereen All marketing, all sales
, leadership over the time, overtime.
(24:23):
But anyway, yeah, so I would.
Essentially, I needed to makesuch a massive change to where I
was bringing in, delegatingmore and more of our services to
other people, and I called itOperation Less Clay, and it
(24:44):
wasn't me being arrogant either,it was like being truthful,
like logical, get out of the way.
Clay, more or less, is what itwas.
So I had to put a plan in placefor me to eliminate myself,
which was quite fun, and so Iwas able to do it right on time.
It was amazing how it landed.
(25:04):
And then, all of a sudden, I'vegot, you know, less clay, more
strategy where I live, the placeI live, set the BHAG for five,
five years, set it for three,set the strategies for one, and
we went to work, and I've grownso many steps forward since just
December and been through theslammer, more or less so I've
(25:27):
just I've uh very, though, forwhat happened.
Shireen Botha (25:38):
Tune in next week for part three of Friends from
Wild Places.
Voiceover (25:40):
You've been listening to Friends from Wild Places
with Shireen Botha.
Be sure to subscribe to thepodcast from the links to catch
every episode and unleash yourpassion.
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