After Nearly a Decade, NBX Is Still In the Relationship Business
On any typical Thursday at the Iron Cactus, lunchtime is also business time. Go to the bar area and you'll see a roomful of people wearing nametags and chatting enthusiastically about everything from baseball to their kids to the latest business news.
They're also helping each other make more money.
The National Business Exchange (NBX) has been a fixture of the Austin business networking scene for nine years and has no signs of slowing down. A bustling group of entrepreneurs and salespeople make up the core of the group, with visitors coming and going from week to week as their schedules permit. Attendance, as with most of NBX's rules and regulations, are fairly laid-back attending three meetings within as many months grants membership, which includes a listing on the group’s website directory.
Meetings consist of an:
- (a) open-networking period,
- (b) a brief member introduction,
- (c) request for referrals,
- (d) table-top discussions,
- (e) a “press conference” (during which one lucky member is peppered with questions by the group)
The open-ended nature of NBX is one of the traits that distinguish it from more formal, structured referral organizations. There are no membership fees, referral requirements, or limits as to number of persons per industry.
"The main thing I noticed when I first found NBX was the people," says Susan Morrow, a psychic coach/teacher who first began attending NBX in 2003. "These were not a bunch of stuffy professionals—they were very 'real.' Most of them seemed more down-to-earth to me; we had a lot of holistic practitioners of various kinds, and everyone was very warm and welcoming."
Morrow found that having a ready-made referral base soon made a dramatic impact on her business and her life.
"That first year at NBX was a tough year for me. I struggled through the whole year trying to make my business go somewhere. It didn’t, but I kept showing up at NBX, because the people there became my community. It was like church without the religion! Some weeks, I had no appointments other than NBX."
Shortly after switching businesses, she began to reap the rewards of her diligence.
"Now that I had a business my NBX friends could understand and refer people to, I suddenly had more work than I could handle! I had spent the time building those relationships and it really paid off. I had thought that it was the friendships that were so valuable—I didn’t know they would produce work for me too!"
Morrow took over leadership of the group in the fall of 2004, when predecessor Kip Piper moved out of town. She continued leading each weekly meeting for a year, and then brought in coach Stan Tyler as a co-leader. Trading duties every other week proved a satisfactory arrangement and has continued to be handed down to other group leaders. “Renegade Organizer” Ragen Chastain recently stepped down and was replaced by acupuncturist and herbalist Dave Jones, who took over co-leading with current leader and attorney Mark Land.
NBX was originally founded by Radhia Gleis, Emiliana Allen, and Aaron Bourne in 2000 to help promote their medical and dental services.
"We were taking those meetings to talk about that company, but that actually didn’t last long, and we dropped it. But we had several brochures which talked about the basic idea of NBX," says Gleis.
The fledgling networking group moved from Bistro 88 on Bee Cave Road to the (north) Iron Cactus, which hosted it in rotation with Texas Land & Cattle Company before assuming its role as the group's permanent home. The founders originally envisioned a national organization with many chapters. That growth never materialized, but the name stuck.
Years after the three founders of NBX had gone their separate ways, Gleis had forgotten about her creation. It was a chance conversation with a friend who was singing its praises that brought the group's impact home to her.
"She said, 'You have no idea what you’ve done for me. 80% of my clients come from NBX.' I just love that ripple effect. You just don’t know how what you do affects the world! "
Nine years later, NBX is still helping to make those ripples.
"This is just real people getting together for no other reason than to exchange," says Gleis. "There’s no pressure, just human beings contacting human beings. That’s what makes it different and pure."
