Had a full circle moment yesterday @MainStSummit And got to host a happy hour at Shakespeare’s pizza for 50+ entrepreneurs to meet and connect. 3 years ago, I had just joined SMB twitter. For the previous 6 years, @DTinSD and I had been building our property management business. By the start of 2023, it became clear that we needed to expand our network—it’s a scary thing to be the “most successful entrepreneurs” you know. Especially when you know you’re not particularly successful. So 1/1/23 I had found SMBtwitter and started posting. Immediately I found my Tribe. Other entrepreneurs in the trenches doing cool stuff, building, learning, sharing. About 3 months in I met @chrisxmunn (now a business partner), and a couple months after that I met @CoFoundersNik when he dm’d me to compare notes on X growth. He introduced me the @sodacitysimpson and I also joined @meetmikehiggins dads group with @TJLarkin23. Then in October, for the first time, much to my wife’s obvious concern—I jumped on a plane and flew to Columbia Missouri to “meet up with my internet friends.” @huntercdurham slept on our couch. And the second night @SMB_Attorney and @KHendersonCo hosted an open bar/pizza happy hour for anyone who wanted to stop by. That night, I met a couple dozen Twitter folks in person, I sat at a booth with @mhp_guy and watched him and Nik literally make everyone cry with laughter. And that was the first night Cole, Mike, Nik and I discussed an idea for helping other twitter folks to meet create a group and learn how to grow on X from each other. 6 months later, that conversation turned into Growth Madness that brought together 100+ Twitter folks into pods to learn how to post and share and grow together. We became unofficial stewards of the SMBX torch for 3 years and helped countless people connect and grow on here. That first year my group was called the Content Cowwboys and 3 years later, @ShannonJean @trevizo_gabe @tyler @AlexForbesOps @Depesh_Vyas @SuccessWithJake @DannyMagazu @joebenson @nahuelhilal and I are about to meet up in Nola for the 3rd annual retreat we do. We chat every day in our original twitter dm group. It all started with getting out of my comfort zone and a hosted happy hour at a college pizza joint in Columbia Missouri. And 3 years ago, I had just started @HirePavago as a little recruitment business with not too much of a plan. Last night, I got to return the favor—I got to host a happy hour at that same conference and at that same pizza joint for 50+ entrepreneurs to hang out and network, and hopefully build some relationships that will last a life time. And this time, 3 years later that little recruitment business had just launched its talent marketplace with hundreds of customers and a plan to take over the world. I can’t really express how much Main St Summit and SMBx have changed my life. I literally have life long friends, business partners, confidants and mentors who I have talked to hundreds of times, all found by putting myself out there, writing on the internet, getting on planes, walking up to strangers at a conference. And yesterday, I was incredibly proud to be able to do that for others. If there is one thing I could encourage in this community—it would be to meet people. Share your experience, strangers on the internet are reading it, they are learning from you, they are rooting for you, and they want you to dm them, support them, learn from them too. I’m proud to be a part of this community and to have watched so many incredible people grow and to have hopefully helped that growth in my own small way.