Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Tsoukalas.
Hi Kimberly, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a small town in North Dakota. My parents were business owners and was always instilled to me the importance of supporting small businesses and the community. As I started my career, the majority of my time was spent working for small businesses/entrepreneurs which I loved. I spent over 25 years in either a Sales Manager or Business Development role making 150-200 outreach calls a week. This was done by cold calling, LinkedIn, networking events, to name a few… I know firsthand how challenging it is to build your sales. I loved attending networking events but found they could be a time suck and not often I was able to generate business. Throughout my career, I benefited by building thousands of relationships due to the fact the majority of my career was connecting with people which I loved. I survived business during 911, 2009, and now surviving Covid. I truly believe because of my strong relationships. When I discovered NIA, I knew it was the perfect opportunity for me. Because seeing my connections playing together brings me the biggest joy.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, not at all. I took out a business loan purchased my franchise and quit a 24 successful career in the recruiting industry. I attended a convention with hopes to be rookie of the year a year later. One week after I returned from conference, covid closed our country down so I couldn’t meet people in person or hold live events. As a start-up with NO members new not only to Minnesota but the Midwest, It was a challenging sell. The world was on hold. I started holding events outside in my backyard, connecting people and also zoom events. I contacted business professionals with a giving mindset, let’s help each other. I didn’t charge them to be in my groups and when the world opened up, I was ready to launch my business. It was a slow challenging start, but resulting in me not winning rookie of the year but TOP GUN out of all the NIA franchises last year. I now have 5 dynamic groups- and love what I do. I over exceeded all my expectations even with Covid.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Most closed networking groups meet weekly. We attract busy professionals that value their time so we have a once a month mandatory meeting.
Most networking groups are ran by volunteers. I am the owner, I focus full time on my members.. they are my clients. I hold accountability to the groups and coach them whenever needed on networking.
Our meetings are fun and engaging.. never the same agenda always fun, unique and engaging.
We have a return on investment guarantee on our memberships.
All our members are hand-picked and background checked so you can refer with confidence.
We have technology that connects our members.
We have additional value besides networking such as NIA University Coaching online, Speaker Series, Sales Master, Repman (A google review feature) and so much more.
We offer optional networking events that expand your network local and virtual, even nationwide.
We support a charity each year, we think it’s important to give back!
And more!
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
In my 50s, after over a 20-year career in the recruiting industry, I let go of the security of a salary, benefits, etc.. and purchased a franchise.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.networkinaction.com
- Facebook: Network in Action Twin Cities
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@networkinactiontwincities2887
