SPEAKER_01 0:00

To be honest with you, it's a learning thing. Networking really, you do have to learn how to do it. I I never anticipated that being the case.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter, where I talk with Northern Colorado's best networkers. And today I have absolutely one of the best. We have Kelly Vaughn from Team Logic IT. Welcome, Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Well, you have been all over the networking scene. You've been uh starting your business with a bang. I've been really seeing how uh much effort you've put into that. So uh for those who are familiar with you, though, Kelly, tell us a little bit about what you do and where you're located.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Yeah, so thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Um, my husband and I own an IT company called Team Logic IT of Fort Collins. We um purchase it. It is a franchise. There are over 300 nationwide, but we have started the Northern Colorado location. Um we provide IT services for small and medium-sized businesses. So essentially how I like to describe it is we are the IT department of um or an outsourced IT department for businesses that do not necessarily want or can afford to hire an IT employee. Um but on top of that, we are more than an IT department. We're a technical advisor. We're we act as a business partner, we help you grow your business and scale and look at your infrastructure and what that looks like as you look towards the future of what things awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Well, I, you know, you talk about networking and then in a lot of different sense um and making business relationships. Um talk to me about as you bought the franchise and started out. Is networking a big part of that company culture, or is that something you and your husband set out to do specifically?

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Um, yeah. So networking is uh uh really actually part of the model of the franchise. Um We purchased a franchise because we had never been business owners before. Sure. And we really wanted the policies, the procedures, the systems in place and what that would look like to help us grow our business. And Team Logic IT, since they've been around for 20 years, have quite a solid system in place, and networking is a huge part of that. So they're able to, they as the franchise or my business coaches are able to help support me in the networking and tell me even how many one-on-ones a week I should be having, how many networking groups a week I should be going to? Um is kind of a fascinating process.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Well, it's really cool. And just to see you be a presence in Northern Colorado and and uh open your business, and then I see your truck everywhere driving around Northern Colorado, and it looks super great. Um, but how has it helped you launch or start it with making those connections and laying that groundwork with all the networking stuff that you did?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Yeah. So um, man, it to be honest with you, it's a a learning thing. Networking really, you do have to learn how to do it. I I never anticipated that being the case. Um, you learn what a one-on-one looks like, you learn how to effectively communicate what your business does and learn what other businesses do. Um but yes, I just we dove in. We dove in wanting brand awareness. Um, that was the biggest thing in the beginning with networking was ensuring that we were out there in the community, getting to know people. They knew us so that we can build trust and relationship. I mean, IT in general is a trust business. You have to build that trust and that relationship. Nobody's just gonna be like, oh yeah, I, you know, I don't know Kelly, but I'm gonna bring her and her team on to take a look at our whole IT. You know, no one's gonna do that. It really is a long game when it comes to IT, and a huge part of that is being in the community and building that trust.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

What do you do to develop the trust and as you're getting connected, or or as you get a referral or warm handoff to really develop a relationship with your clients?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah, well, so um my husband has been known to say that if you come on as one of our clients, I will treat your business like it's my business. Um, so I like to be in constant communication. If I'm not in constant communication with our clients, I like Austin, our technician, to be in constant communication. Just like a marriage or any other relationship, communication is important. Um, I know in the IT world and the IT industry, so many times businesses feel like they don't hear from their IT partner. So technically it's just an IT company that's servicing them. Um, we want to be somebody that they know they're gonna hear from us. They know we're gonna be responsive, they know we're gonna check in. Um, we know all about their life. Um, and granted, that takes time, right? Just like it takes time to get to know our spouses and and our friends are really good friends. It takes spending time together, it takes um learning uh the the nitty-gritty details. Um, and sometimes that comes quickly, depending on personalities, and sometimes that takes a little bit longer. Um, but yes, did that fully answer your question?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Well, I just love it, you know, business owners come to me, they're wanting to grow, they're wanting to make connections, but a lot of them don't have the resources or the know-how how to take the next step. And so I'm sure you guys see a lot of uh people were doing IT in-house or doing a lot of things, and then uh uh they get to a point where either it's beyond them or they get in trouble of some kind. Um what what should people be doing if if maybe they're um running a business, doing some things, what are some things that a business owner can do on their own um to manage their IT more securely?

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Um on their own, if they're not bringing on an IT company, I would just um I would advise and ensure that security is a huge priority. Um, that is one benefit of bringing on a security provider or an IT provider like like us, like Team Logic IT, because we have a layered security approach. So we're not gonna look at just your antivirus, just your um free Windows defender. But if you cannot afford an IT partner, one, I still would like to have that conversation with you because I would slightly disagree with that. Because if you find a good partner that works with you, they'll work with you on cost as well. Um but if ultimately your your end goal is um you would like to currently do your IT, focus on security, um, ensure that you at least at a minimum have an antivirus. There are ways you can do that. You can use your Windows Defender. It's not one that we recommend, it's your bare minimum. Um it's as Austin would say, probably a paper thin version of security, but it's something. Um at least ensure that your internet service provider's firewall is set up. Um, so a firewall is your moat around your castle, right? If you don't actually have a hardware firewall which provides you a 200-mile moat, you need to at least make ensure that your internet service provider has their firewall set up, which is like a two-mile moat. So there are ways that you can do that. I would look into email security, website security. Um, those are all things that come in our layer packages, as well as password managers. Password managers are something that that can be obtained outside of a managed service provider, which is what we are, an IT company. Um, and it's important to ensure that your passwords are strong, right? I mean, how many of us have used the same password multiple times for multiple softwares? Um, it really the short ones are not good. Um, the duplicate, duplicated ones are uh an easy password can be hacked in a second.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Well, I think a lot of you are watching this episode and they're getting confronted. They're like, I'm gonna change my passwords. Maybe my email's not secure, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:26

We've all been there. Yeah. I mean, if we admit it, we've all been there, right? I know I don't have a technology um background, but man, I put have a crash course of technology now. And Austin, um, our technician is fantastic with providing that. But I've even been there, if I'm honest. And so I can relate to our clients in that. Yeah. And I can relate and empathize with what people are thinking.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Do you get people that are maybe shame's probably the wrong word, but they're like, oh, I know I'm not doing it right or as good as I could. And it's like they almost are afraid to approach you because of being quote unquote judged or anything like that. Um what what what do you recommend is like the conversation that you have or or the the the first kind of connection when somebody's just exploring the idea to to approach somebody like you?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah. Um I think find somebody you connect with who you feel like you can actually ask those honest questions with. Um we have a very strong mission, vision, value within our company. Our our values actually spell out we care. It sounds cliche, but we really do. Um, empathy is one of those values. If we are not providing that empathy, we are not living with our values. And it's very important for our business to be able to do that. So find somebody who can answer those questions for you is knowledgeable, but also provide you a human level of yeah, we've all been there. Our our goal is to help you, our goal is to assist, our goal is not to judge. Um, everyone has expertise, right? They may have expertise where I don't, and I feel clueless. Um but asking asking somebody those questions is important.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Sure. Well, I'm a I'm a big believer when you seeing if you want to do business with somebody, how they how people do the small things, how they do everything. And um, I our kids go to the same school. I see the the famous Team Logic IT truck um there. And uh on the school drop-off time, there is a window of range of when you can drop off the school. And I'm the parent that gets them there on time, but I never can beat you. You're always like two or three minutes early. And um I just honestly have so much respect for that because I know you're gonna show up. I mean, you're gonna be keep to a tight schedule. So um, yeah, talk to me a little bit about that about getting getting on time. Have you always been kind of those people that keeps a tight schedule?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

So if I were to be honest with you, um, my husband really drove that factor. When I was younger, I was not the one that was on time. Um, he takes the mindset that if you're not early, you're late. Um and now as a business owner, I can see that if people are relying on us to be there and they're relying on us to help them, um, then we better make sure that we are reliable. Um and yeah, I I I know you had said to me that you at one point were trying to beat us. Well, one, we live two minutes from the school, so it makes it easy for us. But at the same time, we do. We have our routine, we have our morning routine. Um, the summer felt a little chaotic without that routine. But now that school's back in, we are back in that routine. And actually, I think this morning we were first in line, second in line, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Not that that's the goal, but yeah. But I mean, we're talking about personal brand, right? Having your brand on your truck where you're maybe not even outside of professional hours, right? Like you're dropping your kids off school. But do you feel like they're looking at how you park, how you drive? Um shoot.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Um, yes. In the beginning, when I first started driving that truck, I felt like I was under a microscope. And then, because it's actually, it's actually my husband's truck, but he says it's no longer his truck. It's the business. Okay, sure. Um, but when I would drive my car, I would take a big deep sigh of relief and say, oh, oh man, if I mess up, it's okay, nobody's gonna know who I am. Um, so it took a long time to really um get past that with the truck. And now it's funny because I almost sometimes forget, but I I have this one client slash friend, and every time he seems to see me all around town, every single time he sees me, he will call me and he will hassle me and jokingly tell me, man, you're speeding too fast. So even to know that we have friends and business owners who are holding us accountable as we drive throughout town. But I I'm not kidding you. I hear so often, I saw your truck on Harmony the other day. I saw your truck downtown the other day. And it's true, I'm out and about everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Well, just that you're in your community um and uh it's visible, right? I mean, uh you put a brand, you put a positive reputation. Um I always smile when I see the truck just because uh of the relationship that we've built and who I've seen. Um but in your networking, I feel like you've gotten um this contingent of people around you, people advocate. I see on social media, people are shouting you out. Um I've also Kelly seen you take more of a leadership role in networking in northern Colorado, which a lot of people go to networking events so they can grow their business, but you've like taken it upon yourself to lead networking. So tell me a little bit about what you're doing with uh the group up in Fort Collins and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah, so there is a another networking group called No Co Connect Networking. Um, and Romy with RC Auto Detail and Carpet Cleaning um asked me at one point if I could help be on the steering committee for that. So we meet um twice a month at the Elizabeth Hotel. And there's usually about 40 of us there. Um, it's a free networking group, um, and it's a really good group of businesses. And it's been it's been eye-opening of one, the background of how much work it actually takes to keep a networking group growing. But um, it was actually something that Team Logic as a franchise encouraged from the start. They even said, you know, at this point, you know, they said six months, which yay, we just hit six months in business. Congratulations. There you go. A celebrating moment. Um, but they said at six months you should be, you know, an ambassador at the chamber. Well, I've been one for months for our red carpet. You should be leading a networking group. I've done that for months. So I think it was just a natural lead-in to me. If I'm gonna be a part of a group, I'm gonna be a part of a group and to do my best to go all in.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Well, anytime you're doing a new skill, when you when you get immersed in the skills, it accelerates the learning curve. Yeah. How much of you think uh, you know, facilitating the group? Um, if people are looking to you about how many one-to-ones are you're doing is is like what you're coaching other people to do. How much of that has that made you a better networker facilitating in that leadership role?

SPEAKER_01 15:35

I think it has. I think it has helped me learn how to even communicate better. IT is not something that's easy to communicate to people unless they understand. And I I know that being on the opposite end of IT, right? So learning what that looks like of how do I clearly communicate what my business does so that somebody can understand? How do I understand what somebody else's business does so I can help move them along and help be a connector for them? I think that that's a huge learning experience that I have learned through.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

And and for the people that you're networking with, um, what have been some of the best uh partnerships that you've created or referral partners that you created?

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Yes. Actually, um, Robin Baker. I know that you just had a meeting with her because she uh I I've had Robin. Uh-huh. Shout out Robin. Um, I she's with the People Factor. Um, she does outsourced HR, and she is certified in the six types of working genius, which spoke to my heart in general because I read that book on a weekend. Um, but Robin and I really connected and hit it off. Um, we love to serve nonprofits in our community and um outsourced HR and outsourced IT are really good partners.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Um, and so she invited me last Friday to go to the grand opening for the Loveland Youth Campus. And we went, we were surrounded by nonprofits and just in the community, and that's been a fantastic partnership. She and I have met with my sales coach to see other ways we can partner, whether it's webinars or how we we can prospect together. Um, and then David Hamilton. Um, shout out to David. Yeah um he works for Renaissance Insurance as a cybersecurity uh cybersecurity insurance. Um, I think he does the a bunch of things for insurance, but um we really connected. Actually, it was funny. I was at a tech conference and I was sitting in a cybersecurity forum and cybersecurity insurance forum, and I said, I really need to meet this David. And so I stalked him on LinkedIn and I messaged him and I said, Hey, can we get together and have coffee? And then he came and he met our team, and we've been able to pass referrals back and forth to each other because it's a natural lead. And David also at one point, I believe he lived in Texas, he owned an IT company, so he knows the verbiage very well. Sure. Um, but those are two partnerships that really come to my mind that I have been able to develop.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Well, I think it's it's brilliant. Like you are you are being very intentional with um creating a plan of who you should meet. Uh obviously, if David, someone like David's having intentional conversations about their risk assessment and then knows with that IT background to build a relationship with them. Um so was it a cold approach on LinkedIn? Was it like a cold approach? It was a lot of people I know like on LinkedIn will just ignore that. So how did you get Pat or how'd you get noticed?

SPEAKER_01 18:41

He was he was great. He actually answered within I think the hour. I may have still we may have still been sitting in that forum. And he answered and he goes, I would love to have coffee with you. So I don't know if it was he's just really good at LinkedIn messages, or if you recognize my name from networking, or if it was a a a God thing. Sure. Um, but I think it was a connection that really has been beneficial.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Awesome. And then when you talk about Robin, uh I love that the strategy of when businesses are expanding and growing, when they're about to hire her, it's also a similar time where they could be potentially hiring you. So it naturally makes sense to create some kind of partnership or alliance, but it's the the stuff that like, hey, we have a common value system or a common where I actually enjoy collaborating at that level. Um, who are you looking for, Kelly? Like as as you continue to network. Um obviously you're continuing to grow in six months in on the the road to to like much more, but um, I know you're just getting started in a lot of ways. So what additional connections are you looking for?

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Yeah, so I know that there are other verticals that are really beneficial. Um I think I'm looking to connect with a really good CPA or financial partner. Um I agree with you in the sense of the importance of being intentional and networking. In the beginning I went, you know, crazy and I I really was out there to do brand awareness. Um now we're toning it down a little bit, if you want to say, and making sure that the time I'm spending on networking is very intentional with those partners or you know, various aspects of networking. Um, whether it's a prospect or a partner or somebody who I feel has the same values versus just, hey, I want to get to know everybody. Um, but I would say probably that was a long answer to a question. Um, probably a financial partner at this point, somebody who also works with B2B. Yeah. Because those B2B, those small and medium-sized businesses, I mean, you have insurance, you've got IT, you've got finances. Nobody wants to talk to anybody about those.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

But what they do want to talk about is like your business hitting their goals, right? And if I'm a solopreneur, maybe I have a small team, maybe I'm a husband and wife team, and we're looking to expand. For some entrepreneurs, it's hard to give up control. Like I am, maybe I don't enjoy being the bookkeeper and the janitor and all the hats that I got to wear as a business owner, and I know I need to outsource, but it's still tough when somebody other than myself, the way that I've always done it, is now um handling all of that. But they're not going to get to where they want to go without that level of infrastructure in there.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

So and it's interesting, right? Because we are one of those small firms right now. But being in an industry that helps scale and grow, we have had to. Really learn to have that mindset. So we've already we're six months into the business, but we have a bookkeeper. I'm looking as we grow to have a a um a virtual assistant or not a virtual assistant, yeah, a virtual VA sure who can help do my administrative side. Um, we'll look for an outsourced HR because we want to spend our time growing the business and and we really genuinely want to help other businesses grow. And that means we have to do what we're asking other businesses to do, right? Outsource that work.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Well, Kelly, you just you strike me as someone who's gonna take the lead on a, you know, about the way that you show up is the way that um is uh people can follow that and do that. So if somebody hasn't done a one-to-one or uh they haven't met you yet, where's a couple of places they can network with you or uh reach out for their own IT needs? And again, uh there's no there's no bad questions rather than reaching out there. There's no shame in that. So how can they get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah, so NIA is fantastic. By the way, a ton of our businesses come from NIA. Yeah, cool. So thank you so much for that. We really appreciate it. Um No Co Connect Networking. I'm part of the Fort Collins Chamber. I'm I'm we do sure networking. Tons of the networking groups are out there doing. Um, our business number is 970-877-8548. Um, my email's K Vaughn, and it's V-A-U-G-H-A-N at teamlogicit.com. Um, and then our website is www.teamlogicit.com forward slash forcollins co. All of those are ways you can get a hold of us. Um and then I sometimes give out my personal cell phone, so I'll give it out right now. It's 970-443-0061. But I usually screen those.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Sure. Well, if you're building a relationship, it's nice that you've had that with your clients. Well, Kelly, this is awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the show, sharing what's made you so successful and um what the work that you're doing with other Northern Colorado businesses and helping them grow. So really appreciate you coming on the show and wish you the best of luck.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Thank you so much for all you do.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado, I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.