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Networking & Balance with Laura Bashore · Carlsbad: People, Purpose and Impact

• 0:02
  Intro: Carlsbad. People, purpose, and impact. An essential podcast for those who live, work, visit, and play in Carlsbad.
• 0:14
  Bret: Good afternoon, and welcome everyone. My name is Brett Schanzenbach. I'm the president and CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. I am your host today, and I'm very pleased to have with me Laura Bayshore. She is the franchise owner of Team Referral Network San Diego.
• 0:31
  Good afternoon, Laura.
• 0:32
  Laura Bashore: Hi. How are you?
• 0:33
  Bret: I'm doing well. Thanks for joining me today. Good. Yeah. Good to have you.
• 0:37
  So I was looking at your background, getting ready for our discussion today, and it looks like you're originally from Clovis, California.
• 0:46
  Laura Bashore: Oh, yeah. Okay. You were digging in my background because you said Clovis, not Fresno. Yeah. Yeah.
• 0:51
  Yeah. But I've been here for, this is going into my twenty first year
• 0:59
  Bret: Okay.
• 0:59
  Laura Bashore: Being here. So
• 1:01
  Bret: Nice.
• 1:02
  Laura Bashore: Now I've actually lived in San Diego longer than I lived in Fresno.
• 1:05
  Bret: So Nice. Yeah. Well, I have to admit, I had to go remind myself and look up, where's Clovis again? I'm like, oh, it's in Fresno. Okay.
• 1:13
  Laura Bashore: Exactly. Yeah.
• 1:15
  Bret: Well, that's, you know, part of the deal. Right? That's like, when I grew up here in North County, but I when I went away to college, you just because I went out of state, you just told people I was from San Diego. It was way easier than saying Vista. You know?
• 1:28
  I was like Right.
• 1:29
  Laura Bashore: Exactly. You'd be like, what is that?
• 1:31
  Bret: Yeah. Exactly. And then I saw, though, that you also looks like you spent some time working for with the, Ashford University in Arizona?
• 1:42
  Laura Bashore: Well, actually, here. So they had their headquarters here, in the early early two thousands and up until mid, so I was there for about four years.
• 1:52
  Bret: Very interesting. You had a a few different interesting career stops, it looks like. Yeah. Very much in the career space, you were a a center manager for the North County Career Centers in Escondido?
• 2:06
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. So that's the sister site. You're probably more familiar with the Oceanside 1. Yeah. So it's a sister site to it.
• 2:13
  So we had our director, and then I would go between the two sites.
• 2:16
  Bret: So Nice. And tell us some of the stuff you guys did there.
• 2:20
  Laura Bashore: Well, it really led into what I do with my other business, which is a coaching business now. So we did resumes, LinkedIn, interview skills. We also matched up with, different recruiters, helped facilitate getting, employees into there. And then, we also hosted career fairs, and we worked with you know, when I was a case manager there, one of my clients worked on an assembly line at one of the medical device companies here. And another one of my clients ended up, becoming the HR director for Rady's Children's.
• 2:59
  Bret: Nice.
• 2:59
  Laura Bashore: So a big Yeah. Gamut on the spectrum of who you worked with, but I really honed my skills, which also leads into what I do now because all of it is understanding how different businesses work together and how they can partner. And so
• 3:15
  Bret: Very cool. Yeah. And then I saw that, you went into becoming a career coach and a resume guru.
• 3:22
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. Yeah.
• 3:23
  Bret: So tell us about that journey.
• 3:25
  Laura Bashore: So I had my first son while I was still, the managing director at the career center. And, he just didn't do well in daycare. Yeah. And so it was like I was having to leave my staff all the time. And, you know, when you feel like you can't give a %
• 3:44
  Bret: Yeah.
• 3:44
  Laura Bashore: At home or at work, it's just you're really stretched then. Yeah. So I had to choose one. And then, in doing so, in all my spare time, people started asking me to help them with their resumes or help them with their interviewing skills. And because I no longer had to go through red tape
• 4:06
  Bret: Mhmm.
• 4:06
  Laura Bashore: I could do what I really thought should happen with my clients.
• 4:09
  Bret: Nice.
• 4:09
  Laura Bashore: I was seeing really quick turnarounds, like people who were out of work for maybe six or seven months getting hired within three weeks.
• 4:17
  Bret: Wow.
• 4:18
  Laura Bashore: Exactly. Which is where I was like, oh.
• 4:21
  Bret: This is something.
• 4:21
  Laura Bashore: Maybe I could just turn this into a business for myself and people would pay me. And Yeah. So, yeah, almost ten years later, that's that's what happened.
• 4:30
  Bret: That's that's very cool. Yeah. And like as you mentioned before, you know, having, you know, LinkedIn tied into all that and everything, I'm sure was helpful. And then it looks like through that process, somehow you got connected to this wonderful thing called the team referral network, and you became a director in 2020?
• 4:51
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. Which is actually kinda funny. Right?
• 4:54
  Bret: Anything that happened in 2020 is like Yeah. Got a story behind it.
• 4:58
  Laura Bashore: Right. So, basically, in my coaching business, I was getting a lot of referrals. Most of my clients, though, didn't live here. I was working virtually. I even had international clients.
• 5:10
  And so I figured, well, I live here in San Diego. I'd like to have more of a presence here.
• 5:16
  Bret: Sure.
• 5:17
  Laura Bashore: So that led me into, well, maybe I'll do some in person networking. And I stumbled upon Team Referral Network, ended up joining. It was phenomenal for my business. And, in 2020, they asked me if I would be a director, and it was February of twenty twenty. Oh my god.
• 5:35
  So I was so excited. And then, you know, everything blew up. But through that, the chapters that I managed managed to stay together throughout COVID, came out of COVID, were continuing to do well. And so the CEO asked me, at the end of twenty twenty if I was interested in purchasing the San Diego County franchise. And I was already researching a nonprofit franchise that I wanted to purchase.
• 6:07
  One of the cool things with team is each of our chapters, supports a local nonprofit. Yeah. We gift them a seat. So I really love that part. So I thought, oh, well, I've already been researching a franchise.
• 6:20
  I might as well just take one that I already know, and now I can help multiple nonprofits.
• 6:25
  Bret: Yeah.
• 6:25
  Laura Bashore: So it's kind of a no brainer, and I took over in January of twenty twenty three.
• 6:30
  Bret: Wow. That is a very cool cool journey. Yeah. Twenty twenty for organizations like ours, like team that do a lot of networking.
• 6:41
  Laura Bashore: Yeah.
• 6:41
  Bret: That was a quite an interesting time, 2020 and 2021. Yeah. I mean, I don't know exactly, what you guys experienced, but I know in '21, as, you know, we're trying to start to get back to the in person thing, it was still very confusing because, like, we found that some of our members were chomping at the bit to get back to in person. They were just like, let's go, you know, let's go. Yes.
• 7:08
  But then there were others who weren't ready yet, and they had their own reasons, you know, and some, you know, based on health and concerns and things, and so they weren't ready. And so we're like, you know, going back to in person things and having much different attendance than we used to have. We're like, is this the new normal, or is this we're just not we're just ahead of ourselves? It was confusing.
• 7:33
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. It was really confusing because we so our model of doing, like, the weekly meetings outside of the other events that we do, so we pulled that all virtual. So we had to figure out, okay. How do we run these meetings virtually now? I mean, and team was a little different than, like, we weren't even really using PowerPoints for the meetings that we were doing in person.
• 7:55
  Bret: Right. Right. Right.
• 7:56
  Laura Bashore: It was really geared where you didn't need that. So now it's like, okay. We gotta create all this material. And then when it was time to come back, some people who joined for the virtual aspect side of it, then it was like, well, this is no longer a fit because I don't wanna be in person.
• 8:13
  Bret: Yeah.
• 8:13
  Laura Bashore: But our strong suit is in person, as you know. I mean, you can have these offshoots and webinars and all these things that help and add into what you're doing. Right. But really, if you're networking, like, the in person is you gotta have that piece. Right?
• 8:29
  Bret: As, as as I've heard others say, and I've said many times, networking is still a contact sport. You know?
• 8:36
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. Yes.
• 8:37
  Bret: You gotta rub some elbows. So we're gonna do this. We're gonna take a quick pause, and then we're gonna come back and have Laura really unpack all that Team Referral Network is and how they operate. So stick with us. We'll be right back.
• 8:48
  We're talking to Laura Bayshore, the franchise owner of Team Referral Network San Diego. So, Laura, right before we took a break, you were kinda talking about your guys' journey your journey that brought you to Team Network Team Referral Network, excuse me, and, and some of the ups and downs of surviving, 2020. But let's really unpack what is Team Referral Network and how do you guys operate and yeah. Break it open for us.
• 9:14
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. So, we are bringing together business owners or those who run their own portfolio of business, which as we know, is pretty similar. Yeah. And then nonprofits to really try and build a community through San Diego County. So we partner with Chambers.
• 9:34
  You know? I'm a board of director for the North San Diego business chamber. I I love Chambers. I think it's wonderful in the way that they can work together.
• 9:42
  Bret: Yeah.
• 9:43
  Laura Bashore: What I work with our members on is I don't want them to just be part of one network. I want them to be members of different networks and figure out how each one can serve them best. So what we work on is training our members to understand how to network because, you know, you're you know.
• 10:04
  Bret: I know.
• 10:05
  Laura Bashore: Not everyone knows how to network. Like, everyone might be at this event. Yeah. But there's a whole wide array of what people know and what they understand.
• 10:14
  Bret: This is so true.
• 10:15
  Laura Bashore: So we have a lot of training that comes in the back end where we're also gonna help, like, let's develop your tagline. You need one so people understand who you are, or how do you lead with something that's just not what do you do? And then stand next to someone too closely and then throw cards at them.
• 10:32
  Bret: Oh my gosh.
• 10:33
  Laura Bashore: You know?
• 10:33
  Bret: Yes.
• 10:35
  Laura Bashore: So one of the things that we do currently though, and I try to work with our members on is you mentioned before when we were talking how I utilize LinkedIn. Yeah. So before COVID, I used LinkedIn as a way of maintaining my relationships with the people that I knew and was networking with virtually and supporting them that way, but then taking it to in person. And so I try to do that with our members too because, when we got back into networking, you'd have a different crowd who'd be like, I don't use business cards.
• 11:08
  Bret: Right.
• 11:09
  Laura Bashore: Or you'd have the other crowd who'd say, I only use cards.
• 11:12
  Bret: Right.
• 11:12
  Laura Bashore: And I'm like, why don't you have both? Yeah. Like, let's make sure that you can connect with people where they want you. Right? Because you're turning off a whole so there's that, but then even how do you give a presentation that's actually a good presentation that doesn't turn people off?
• 11:31
  So we teach people how to do ten minute presentations. We do weekly meetings. We believe that it's important to if you're looking for people who are gonna be your referral partners, you need to meet weekly. Yeah. You know, you can't just do once a month and expect to get the same ROI.
• 11:49
  Bret: Right.
• 11:50
  Laura Bashore: And for myself, I'm a mom. I own three businesses. I'm on two boards. Yeah. I, you know, also like to travel, and I go to concerts and stuff.
• 11:59
  So I
• 12:00
  Bret: personal life.
• 12:01
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. Exactly. So I wanna make sure wherever I go, I'm getting an ROI. Yeah. Not in a disingenuine way.
• 12:07
  I don't ever wanna be transactional, but I do this is a piece of my business. Yeah. And so we teach our members, this is a part of your business. This isn't just, like, your luxury thing or your fun thing that you're doing. You can find other places to do that.
• 12:22
  And then for me, the most important part is creating a space where there's a give back component. And so no matter how big or small your business is, you're making an impact. Yeah. So we started, a nonprofit gala that is gonna do its third year this year. So I started Is that
• 12:40
  Bret: your your big event that you do annually?
• 12:42
  Laura Bashore: So
• 12:43
  Bret: I saw something on your calendar, big event. I'm like, what is
• 12:46
  Laura Bashore: this event? Yeah. So the big event is actually the corporate team Okay. Putting all the franchisees together, so nationwide and international.
• 12:55
  Bret: Oh, I see. Okay.
• 12:56
  Laura Bashore: Ours is the Playing It Forward. It's a nonprofit gala that we do here just in San Diego.
• 13:02
  Bret: Oh, okay.
• 13:03
  Laura Bashore: And so we spend one night to fundraise for all of our nonprofits who wanna participate. So last year, we did six of our nonprofits, and we have big nonprofits and small nonprofits.
• 13:14
  Bret: Sure.
• 13:15
  Laura Bashore: So we're also teaching them the same thing we're teaching the rest of our members, which is, like, how do you come together as a community to have more of an impact? So that's really what we focus in on, and I just wanna help people propel their business in the way that team did for me. And it's a great way to continue to do what I love, which is, you know, at the bottom of it, I'm a coach. Yeah. I really like that part of it.
• 13:40
  And so it just gives me an avenue so I can do that in a way that's meaningful and having an impact on San Diego.
• 13:46
  Bret: No. That's great. I I love what you were saying at the beginning about, there's, you didn't say it this way, but I'm some I'm not putting words in your mouth, but the vibe I got is that there are there's good ways to network and there's poor ways to network. Yeah. And I'm trying to be, you know, polite here, but I was I I coach, business students at the College of Business in Cal State San Marcos, and I've told them some of the horror stories of poor networking.
• 14:17
  And you and I could probably, you know, have some good laughs over. But one that just I always share with them is and this has happened at one of my own chamber networking happy hours here in Carlsbaden. Some gentleman was monologuing and monologuing and monologuing at me so much. At one point, I finally realized my thoughts had gone all the way around the room and came back and realized, oh my goodness. He's still talking.
• 14:47
  Yeah. And I'm like, I have no idea what he said the last,
• 14:50
  Laura Bashore: you know. Isn't that the worst, especially in your position? You're like, Oh, no. I have to be on point, but I can't.
• 14:56
  Bret: And then I'm just like, How do I get out of this? You know? It's just so Yeah. So, yes. Yeah.
• 15:02
  There is a training needed for people to be effective networkers, which is hilarious, but things that maybe we think are common sense aren't as common as we all think. Yeah. You know?
• 15:14
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. Absolutely.
• 15:15
  Bret: And so in your chapter, Sandy goes to chapter. Right? Is that how you refer to it?
• 15:19
  Laura Bashore: Or We have multiple chapters in Sandy.
• 15:21
  Bret: Yeah. Okay.
• 15:22
  Laura Bashore: So that's the other thing when you were talking earlier about how did we come out of San Diego. Well, you know, we have our Hillcrest chapter, Point Loma. We have our Carlsbad One Gotcha. Our Coastal Connectors. And so we're all over.
• 15:36
  So the goal is, typically, in our chapters, we keep them to 20 to 25 members.
• 15:42
  Bret: Okay.
• 15:43
  Laura Bashore: But then we also get together throughout the year for, like, lunch and learns and
• 15:46
  Bret: Sure.
• 15:47
  Laura Bashore: Celebratory things, as an organization as well. So we're really trying to provide that whole thing so that none of our chapters become siloed
• 15:57
  Bret: Right.
• 15:57
  Laura Bashore: But that they understand the power of the membership that they have.
• 16:00
  Bret: In each chapter, it's one professional per business category?
• 16:04
  Laura Bashore: Yes. Yeah. Mhmm.
• 16:05
  Bret: Got it. And then, most most of them are physically or meet in person only, not virtual. Or you have a you had a virtual group too or something like that?
• 16:15
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. So, we have two of our chapters are hybrid where on the first week of the month, they do virtual. Mhmm.
• 16:26
  Bret: And
• 16:26
  Laura Bashore: then their other three meetings or four, depending on the month, are in person.
• 16:31
  Bret: Yeah.
• 16:32
  Laura Bashore: But then we do have one of our newer chapters. It's all virtual, and it's our leadership collective. So it's also our first female ran chapter, which is really cool. But these women, they're powerhouses, but they also travel a lot. So they'll be on
• 16:51
  Bret: Yeah.
• 16:51
  Laura Bashore: Like, from another country. They'll just be on and showing up. So, yeah, they have that flexibility. I was actually just on with them this morning. They meet on Fridays at 8AM.
• 17:02
  So Nice.
• 17:02
  Bret: Yeah. Very cool. And, you have your own podcast. It looks like it's a a weekly podcast.
• 17:11
  Laura Bashore: Yeah.
• 17:11
  Bret: So tell us about that.
• 17:13
  Laura Bashore: Well, so that's something that's evolved, but that also came out of networking. So my partner on there, Mary Feene Brand, is somebody who I met through LinkedIn. I saw her content. She had a fairly similar way of approaching work that I loved. And so I just reached out to her, because she actually put out a call that she was looking for someone to be on her podcast Yeah.
• 17:36
  And talk about resumes because she didn't do resumes, because she was a LinkedIn coach and a deep dive career coach. So I was like, yeah. Okay. I could do that. And that was almost seven years ago.
• 17:48
  We developed a great friendship. We started LinkedIn audio together. We were part of the beta when they rolled that out a couple years ago. They opened it up to a select few. So we started on there, and I had always been like, well, we're gonna make it a podcast, Mary.
• 18:04
  Like, we're testing it here, and we'll move forward. So at first, we were doing our podcast on career coaching. And then last year, we went to Podfest as a guest of Buzzsprout, our sponsor. And through that, we were like, you know, we're doing so much more business coaching now. We need to evolve our podcast again.
• 18:26
  And so that's now the ScaleUp Strategies. It's the business growth podcast, but it's niched down for consultants, speakers, and coaches. Yeah. But, really, I mean, all of us are consultants. I mean
• 18:38
  Bret: Yeah. In one way or another. Right?
• 18:40
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. Yeah.
• 18:41
  Bret: Very cool. Scale Up Strategies, the business growth podcast for coaches, consultants, and speakers. Mhmm. And I'm assuming they could people could find it anywhere that you find other podcasts?
• 18:52
  Laura Bashore: Yes. It's available anywhere. We have some video up on YouTube already. We do the snippets, you know, obviously, on all social like we do. But if the name is too long for you, just type in Laura Bayshore into anywhere where you find your podcast, and it'll pull right up.
• 19:11
  Bret: So Nice. Very nice. And then, like you said, you're on the board of directors at the North San Diego Business Chamber. How long have you been on the board there?
• 19:20
  Laura Bashore: Since July.
• 19:21
  Bret: Okay. Very nice. Yeah. Mary, Chris is treating you okay over there.
• 19:25
  Laura Bashore: Oh, yeah. Chris is great. Love Chris.
• 19:28
  Bret: Yes. Mhmm.
• 19:29
  Laura Bashore: And We were friends before he was the CEO.
• 19:31
  Bret: Oh, okay.
• 19:32
  Laura Bashore: Again, through networking. So yeah.
• 19:35
  Bret: Always. And networking is a great thing, Chris. Chris and well, all of the Chamber executives from pretty much all of North County, we we get together once a month for breakfast and network. And and, I've had a good time getting to know Chris. He's a Carlsbad resident, so I love that.
• 19:53
  Yeah. So Yeah. We we share that. And then you're on the board at Classics for Kids. What's that all about?
• 20:00
  Laura Bashore: So that is this wonderful nonprofit that helps, bring music to children in a very unique way. So we have the traditional, like, you go into the schools and do the musical education, and, of course, we look at tier one schools and work with helping them as well. But what I love is our main focus that sets us apart is we actually take kids, put them on buses in a good fun way. Okay. So put them on buses and take them to the Balboa Theatre or the Joan Crock, and they get to see a performance, an orchestra performance live, and it's catered to them.
• 20:46
  And our wonderful conductor, Zaina Zimbrick, she also brings in, so, like, the last one that we did was all about music. So we collaborated with, Wild Coast Life and brought them in. And so she had one of their representatives come up and speak throughout it. And then the orchestra played music all around water. And, like, so here's Beethoven's and and here's how it flows with the ocean and giving you the whole background of it.
• 21:17
  And it's really cool because these kids have not been exposed to this usually, like, ever.
• 21:24
  Bret: Ever. Yeah. Absolutely. Ever.
• 21:26
  Laura Bashore: And so you get to watch just the joy and to see it, how it's, like, changing them in real life. Like, in real time, you can really see a difference in what's going on. And just giving that appreciation of music because that's the backbone of, really, all your critical thinking and how you're able to approach life. And, I'm a big proponent of music. It's a big part of my life.
• 21:49
  So when I found this nonprofit, I was like, this is great. This is matching up all the things I love, you know. But it's really cool. I'd invite you to come check it out and see what it does. Is it great?
• 22:01
  Bret: No. It sounds awesome. I'm, all of my kids have been into music and are musical. Okay. And so from choir and musical theater and performing and all that kind of stuff, I love it.
• 22:17
  So, yeah, I'd love to learn more about that. That's really great. And I saw that you have, two of your own boys under the age of 10 still, or is that outdated?
• 22:26
  Laura Bashore: Nope. That's that's updated. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 22:30
  My oldest one just turned 10 in September, and my youngest just turned eight in December. So I have little fall winter babies.
• 22:38
  Bret: Yeah. No. Those are fun ages. Yeah. What is that about?
• 22:41
  Third and fifth grade maybe? Or
• 22:44
  Laura Bashore: Yeah. Well, they went up because of where their birth days are. So they had to go through the TK route. So, yeah, they're like the old men in their classes, you know, so they're second and fourth.
• 22:52
  Bret: Second and fourth. Okay.
• 22:53
  Laura Bashore: That was close. Yeah.
• 22:55
  Bret: That's awesome. Did we miss anything about, team referral? I don't wanna, I don't wanna rush off without if we didn't cover something that you wanna make sure we shared about them.
• 23:09
  Laura Bashore: No. I think just though the one thing I can say that's different about what we do. So for example, this year, our theme for 2025 is community.
• 23:20
  Bret: Nice.
• 23:20
  Laura Bashore: So we're really focused on making sure that while you want that ROI in everything that you do, that you're gonna feel good about what you're doing with, and you're gonna feel good about our members. So, all of our members are really well vetted. Like, we take pride in working with the best in San Diego, and we're happy and looking forward to get more members and bring them into our community because we're really making a big difference. And, at the end of the day, hopefully, that's what drives you, you know. And if it does, you should come check us out.
• 23:53
  Bret: Wonderful. And the best way to reach you?
• 23:56
  Laura Bashore: So the best way to reach me, honestly, is to connect with me on LinkedIn because I'm really active there. I support everybody who connects with me on there, and then I can help. So if it's somebody who's interested in team and wanting to connect there, I can get you over to the right person.
• 24:15
  Bret: Perfect.
• 24:15
  Laura Bashore: Or if you're looking into coaching or anything like that, I can figure out where to kinda help you out. And besides that, I I share tips and things that are helpful regardless. So I would say LinkedIn is the best way. Secondary would be to just go to Teams' website. So it's a long one, but it's just www.teamreferralnetwork.com.
• 24:37
  So as long as you just spell it out, you'll get there.
• 24:40
  Bret: Teamreferralnetwork.com. And it's Laura Bayshore, b a s h o r e, on LinkedIn.
• 24:46
  Laura Bashore: Mhmm.
• 24:46
  Bret: B a s h o r e. So you can find her on LinkedIn pretty easily. I know I did. So yeah. So that's wonderful.
• 24:54
  Well, thank you so much for, becoming a part of our Chamber family and Yes. Joining us and, sharing all that team referral network San Diego has to offer.
• 25:05
  Laura Bashore: Thanks for having me today.
• 25:06
  Bret: It was my pleasure. Thanks for joining us today on our Carlsbad People, Purpose and Impact podcast. If you got value out of our episode today, please hit the follow button on your favorite podcast app, and please tell a friend. Can't wait to see you next time on Carlsbad People, Purpose, and Impact.