David Baer Gains Strategic Clarity and Cross-Industry Insights Through Speakeasy Mastermind

I'm David Baer. I'm in Portland, Oregon, and I work with seven and eight figure old school businesses on revenue growth, uh, and planning around how does money get captured and kept inside their business. In our business, we have, uh, been very successful at connecting with clients across the country and acro-across the globe, but not locally. And so one of the reasons why, uh, we gravitated toward starting a Speakeasy chapter here in Portland was to make the connections that we wanted to make locally at the level, uh, and caliber of people that we were interested in connecting with. So before I joined Speakeasy, I think from the outside, I looked at it and thought, "Oh, this is just a bunch of marketers, and they're getting together, and they're talking about marketing stuff." And, uh, as I got deeper into the world, I, I met people in other chapters before we started our own, uh, and started talking to the entrepreneurs who were interested in joining our chapter locally. There's a lot behind that marketing, that revenue growth, that business growth stuff that really makes the business and the business owners tick, and I, I think our perspective on what we were trying to accomplish as we got together as individuals, um, for our own businesses and our own lives, that really sort of shifted the way I was thinking about the, the value that Speakeasy brings to each of us as members. And so, yes, it's a group where we are very much talking about growth and how do we manage, um, uh, businesses in this era of technology-forward stuff that we're dealing with. But there's a lot of, um, uh, strategic thinking and discussion behind it, and then a-also the fact that we're all humans dealing with managing businesses that are really at the core of what we're doing. I think part of why I joined Speakeasy is c-- you know, I'm not afraid to admit that I've often been, uh, the smartest guy in the room, and I don't want to be the smartest guy in the room. I have challenges and needs too, that, uh, I needed some feedback on and some guidance on. And the more I get to know our local members, um, the more comfortable I feel with revealing more and, and, and showing vulnerability and asking for guidance and help. I knew I wanted that, but now that I'm actually doing it, I feel so refreshed in, in my ability to actually, like, have those conversations that I've wanted to have for so long. One of the things that Speakeasy has given me the opportunity to do is to get in front of people who are coming from very different industries, very different professions, and have a, a worldview other than mine. And that has given me a new way to frame a lot of the things that I'm thinking about and dealing with, um, a perspective that I've never really necessarily thought about. Conversations with people when they said, "You know, well, in my industry, this is how we've dealt with it," and I'm like, "That's genius. How come I never came across that before?" Being in a room with, with my peers who are all, you know, a, a certain type of personality, right? We all run organizations, we're all leaders, and we're learning how to coexist and communicate and maybe work together as a, as a team, all recognizing the outcome. And it's, it's amazing how some of the, the guidance I've gotten from my peers in the group has helped me adapt the way that I show up in meetings. And the way that I show up outside of our Speakeasy meetings has changed a little bit too, for the better. And, and I think I-- that was not a benefit I was expecting, but it's something that I certainly have, uh, been keenly aware of over the last several months as I've been surrounded by these brilliant people. Getting involved with Speakeasy is going to set me up for the ability to operate and succeed in environments that I-- maybe I'd never thought about. And this is, this is a great room to be able to make those discoveries. So if somebody out there is looking at Speakeasy Mastermind and considering becoming a member, here's, here's what I would say. First, y-you have to show up, and you have to show up in a way that really is about improving your status, right? We, we have, we have sort of two jobs as members o-of Speakeasy: to contribute to others and to open up and say, "Hey, I need help. I need guidance. I wanna learn. I wanna benefit from this." That's when, uh, an, a group like Speakeasy really makes sense for you. And in terms of the time and the financial investment, it, it is just peanuts compared to what you actually get out of it when you play full out.