David Virden 7_22 2pm
Mon, 8/30 1:05PM • 36:12

Matt Ward 00:01
Hey, welcome to season two of the Mass Business Podcast. My name is Matt Ward. I am your illustrious host, I am so happy that you’ve come back for season two. That means hopefully we did something right in season one. Hopefully, you enjoyed all the content that we have for you around educating yourself, growing your business, networking, and referrals. We’re going to continue that conversation. Season Two is all about knowing your strengths. So we’re going to dig into that with all of our guests this month. And we’re going to start with David Virden. David owns Virden benefits LLC, and he provides health insurance and other products that can help when injury or illness strikes. He hails from Danvers, Massachusetts. He has been with Virden benefits for five years now. I met David through networking, which is the best place to meet people. David lives as I said, in Danvers, Mass, or hails from Danvers Mass, has two kids who don’t hate him yet, but they will soon because they’re almost teenagers. And a small tidbit you didn’t know about him? He loves to beatbox. That’s right. Please join me in welcoming and meeting the beatboxing benefit guy! Are you ready? Let’s go.

Matt Ward 01:36
Welcome to the Mass Business Podcast where small business owners, also known as risk takers, share their stories about the growth of their business and themselves. Our interviews and our content is focused on growing a small business and understanding networking and referrals. I say it all the time. And I’ll say it again today. You never know where your next referral will come from.

Matt Ward 02:08
All right, welcome to the show. The beatboxing benefit guy, David Virden. Now before we get into it and tell everyone what you do, give us a sample of the beat. All right,

David Virden 02:18
Alright, let’s lay it down very quickly. *Beatboxing* That’s all I’m, gonna give you today. Tickets sold at the door.

Matt Ward 02:30
Tickets sold at the door. That’s right. I love it. I would love to go to a networking event. And just introduce you as the beatboxing benefits guy. You’d be so memorable.

David Virden 02:40
We might take this to the next level, Matt. I’m gonna give you full credit for it, too.

Matt Ward 02:45
How long have I known you? I’ve known you for over a year now. And we’ve had lots of deep conversations about your business and the things you do and who you are. And today, today, I was today years old when I found out that you are awesome at beatboxing. That’s so cool.

David Virden 03:05
Yeah, it’s what it’s basically a single, maybe an additional one more beat than that. It’s not all that impressive, but……

Matt Ward 03:13
That’s super impressive, dude. What do you mean, it’s not impressive? Can you imagine what would happen if I tried that right now?

David Virden 03:19
Let’s see.

Matt Ward 03:20
No, no, no, I’m not doing that. It would be a disaster, it would ruin it for everybody. Okay, so in under 30 seconds or so tell our listening audience on their favorite podcast platform or our viewers on YouTube. Exactly what you do at Virden Benefits.

David Virden 03:34
Alright, so very simply, I help protect paychecks and preserve lifestyles. How do I do that? I’m a benefits broker. Health insurance and supplemental benefits. When injury or illness does strike, there’s a lot of out-of-pocket money that needs to be spent. The products that I offer, help keep people financially whole, and prepare for those things. Because just let’s face it, Murphy’s Law says things are gonna happen, and let’s be prepared for them.

Matt Ward 04:03
Yeah, absolutely. And the structure of the model of business that you have is that you are the sole guy, you sell the business, you sell the insurance, you do all the business development sales around it, and then you manage the client relationships, you don’t necessarily issue insurance policies, that’s obviously the back office stuff. But you’re pretty much responsible for getting everything in the door.

David Virden 04:32
That’s correct. You know, the newer term that I learned in the last few years, solopreneur and that’s me and as an independent broker, really everything is on me. And yes, I am appointed with various carriers. When I write the business, then they issue it of course, but my main focus beyond the sale of a product is a very serious concentration on customer service of that client and being there for them when they need me.

Matt Ward 05:00
So, without answering customer service as the answer, how do you stand out? I mean, insurance is a big deal. We do a lot of networking, I met you through networking. There’s a lot of other insurance people in networking, how does Virden benefits, how are you, David actually able to stand out from everybody else?

David Virden 05:19
I mean, as as cliche as this may sound, I believe it’s honesty and integrity. So, you know, there is the, there’s the image of the insurance agent who will try to go in to someplace, try to sell upsell on every single product, leave with a maniacal laugh as they’re walking out of the building, and leave tire tracks and smoke as they leave the parking lot, never to be seen again. And that’s, that’s not I mean, obviously, that’s a cartoon, but that’s not me. So my job is to work with folks and where the integrity and honesty comes in is I will sit with someone in a consultative approach, find out what they truly need, I’m never going to take them down a path that doesn’t make sense for them. And then on the flip side, down the road when they need to actually make a claim or use their product, change anything on it. And I’m that one phone call away to be that resource for them. And that’s really how I build my business is that, are those things that, you know, people really do appreciate. And hopefully, they tell their friends. And that’s how it all works for me.

Matt Ward 06:26
So that honesty, integrity is obviously showing through trying to build trust on the networking side. How much is networking, a part of your business?

David Virden 06:37
Well, for me, networking, I don’t know, I can’t say it’s 100%, but it’s darn near close because I do a lot of it, I feel the relationships I can make through networking are much more valuable than, much more valuable time spent than the much smaller percentage I do have cold calling or door knocking. For me, I very strategically choose networking avenues. You know, the old adage and you preach it, I know my friend is that to get to know, like, and trust somebody to work with you. I work on those relationships, everybody, you know, it’s the six degrees of separation. Everybody knows somebody. And you know, when I make it known what I do, and I am also an asset to my partners in networking, I help them, then, for me, that’s how I do it is it grows from there. And that’s really where I focus.

Matt Ward 07:34
So you go to networking events, networking groups, and then you also do one to ones?

David Virden 07:40
I do all of it. So I mean, the last 18 months has been a challenge. It’s been a zoom networking world, of course. But yes, in a world not affected by pandemics. It is the various groups I physically attend. It’s one to one meetings that generate from those meetings, from those groups. I, you know, LinkedIn is a phenomenal resource for me, I meet people on LinkedIn all the time that generates one to one meetings and relationships. So you know, really, every I’m doing everything you just described, and maybe a little bit more.

Matt Ward 08:18
That’s cool. What, how do you sustain it? I know that I’ve run into people all the time who talk about business growth as a whole. And they talk about networking and referrals. And then they get frustrated because they feel like it’s a lot of work and not a lot of results. How do you push through that and sustain it?

David Virden 08:43
I totally understand that. Because that can be a, that’s a real feeling people, people who do the amount of networking that I do, and yet I have a very serious, I don’t know if it’s, a mantra by which I live. I am meeting people all the time. I try as best I can to as quickly as I can help them out when they tell me what’s a good referral for them. What’s you know, you know, who are the type of people you like to meet? I try to, you know, make introductions for them with a very real commitment to myself that I’m not going to be offended if it doesn’t Boomerang back to me immediately. These things take time. I’m a very patient man. I know, you could call it karma, whatever you want to call it, believe in it. And I and I’ve, in the five years that Virden Benefits has been in existence, I’ve seen it come back, it typically will at some point. I think I would just if I were to give anyone advice. First of all, there is that gestation period of a year. I’ve heard some people, I’ve heard just the other day, 18 months that you must commit to a group to gain the know, like, and trust factor. That can be frustrating for some, for people who aren’t all that patient. But I can tell you that if you’re consistent in it and you are willing to give. There’s the old givers gain from a certain networking group that is out there. And it but there’s a realness to it too you know, you’re going to give, it’s not going to come back to you immediately likely. But it’s, you know, it will come around. It really does work.

Matt Ward 10:35
So you just have to be patient and continue at it, right?

David Virden 10:38
Absolutely I mean, I think there’s a tendency, I’ll have a down day where I’m thinking to myself, and only to myself, I’ve given that guy six referrals in the last six months, and not a single thing has come back to me. And then I’ll, maybe it’s my old, it’s my elder years, Matthew, that maybe I’m just a more mellow individual at this juncture. But I’ll eventually get a control of my brain and say, hey, don’t worry about it. It’ll come around.

Matt Ward 11:09
Yeah, you know, look that happens to me. And I’m in this business, and I work on that skill internally all the time. There’s nothing wrong with thinking, what about me? What’s wrong is acting on it. That’s the clear decision, there’s a clear difference. Um, because when we act on it, we become desperate,

David Virden 11:36
And if you act on it, if you lash out, you’re gonna scuttle any goodwill, you have

Matt Ward 11:41
All your trust is gone.

David Virden 11:44
It is gone.

Matt Ward 11:44
I talk about putting deposits in the Trust Bank Account over the years, small micro increments of trust. And then when you’re taking the withdrawl, you’re taking big withdrawls. Right. And so your bank account is going to be bankrupt very quickly, if you do the wrong things with that. And, and I think, again, there’s nothing wrong with thinking, what about me? What about my turn? When are they going to ask me about me? When are they going to give a referral to me? When are they going to think of me? But the thing I always come back to is, look, the only reason people aren’t getting referrals is because we haven’t done a good enough job to ensure that our partners and referral sources know exactly what we do, the questions to ask to bird dog the referrals, to qualify the referrals to send them our way. They just don’t. We’re not in touch enough. We don’t, we don’t have enough touchpoints along the process to ensure that they’re thinking of us more than anybody else, right? Because they’re giving referrals out to some degree or they’re just not educated on how to do it.

David Virden 12:50
Well, there’s, networking is a learned skill. I mean, I can tell you, let’s just say over five years ago, and going back 20 something years, I was a W 2 guy work in various companies. I didn’t know, I didn’t even know the existence of networking groups I didn’t, like, didn’t have to. And then I get into the business where I’m running my own shop, I’m 100% Commission, it’s going out and make deals and find business or you don’t eat. And I yeah, I joined a networking group pretty, very, pretty quickly on the advisement of someone who knew better and, and I jumped in with both feet. And the beginning was rocky, I’m going to say, and then somewhere along the way I met you, and you’ve given me some amazing nuggets, and I’m appreciative of that for sure. But that’s the thing is you have to be consistent, you need to be ears open and learning all the time. Because you know, there is a lot to learn, the things that you were just saying, the little nuances of listening, and I love what you say about the…. I’m a huge fan of the handwritten card, a huge fan of listening really intently and knowing Oh, that’d be a fun thing to send that person. Because that’s going to be memorable. I’ve gotten recent feedback from folks to whom I sent a handwritten card. A lot of saying something like, a handwritten card, who does that anymore? And it’s just, you mentioned my kids in the intro, they’re 15 and 12. From the day they have been able to write, they write handwritten thank you notes at Christmas time. That’s because that’s just the way my wife and I were raised and we’re doing it.

Matt Ward 14:44
David, you know something, you know how many families are having their kids do that but yet they themselves don’t do that in business?

David Virden 14:49
Yeah, well you’re probably absolutely right. And that just, that seems insane to me.

Matt Ward 14:55
You know why? They’re too busy.

David Virden 14:59
Yeah, but you’ll say that there’s always a sliver of time. I’ll do mine at night, you know my 15 year old stays up later than me now, but you know that

Matt Ward 15:11
I have a client that writes all his cards while he’s watching basketball or baseball games.

David Virden 15:16
Mm hmm. You know, I’ll sit and eat my lunch with one hand and be writing with another, there’s always time and it really, they don’t need to be these long novel notes. They just, they can be a few lines. You know, expressing thanks. You know, whatever it might be.

Matt Ward 15:35
I like to see three lines. The opening Thank you type of thing for why you know what, what happened. A callback line, referencing something. So if I was to do this, Hey, thanks for coming on the podcast, was great to learn about your beatboxing. Can’t wait to see you at an in person event. The third line is just the close and sign with a first name. No business card, your company information, no phone number,

David Virden 16:02
That tidbit about the no business card is a big one. I like I mean, I think I’m pretty sure I got that from you.

Matt Ward 16:10
Yeah. Because it turns, it makes the card turn around from being about them to being about you.

David Virden 16:15
Exactly. Right. Yep.

Matt Ward 16:21
I love some of the things you’re talking about and some of the golden nuggets you’ve learned over the years. Which brings me full circle to questions around Season Two about knowing your strengths. Um, what would you say some of your greatest strengths are? I mean, I think you probably mentioned a little bit earlier, just sort of your character, right?

David Virden 16:45
When I talked about integrity and honesty. Loyalty was a third one that I got that is valuable, not only in business but also in life and friendships. And it’s something that, I like to think that it was my father who really, you know, put it in me, the idea of being loyal. And just in that, in a business sense, you know, the clients with whom I work, you know, just today or yesterday, I saw something on one of the socials about someone seeking a landscaper in Nashua, New Hampshire. And I’ve got a landscaping client in Nashua, New Hampshire. And, and I know they do good work, so I feel very comfortable. And then that’s the most simple, that’s a very simple example but, of making sure I refer him. And I’ve got lifelong friends going all the way back to grade school, to whom I’m especially loyal, there isn’t the, you know, anything I wouldn’t do to help them when they need it. And I think that just, it comes through. I think people over time, as they get to know you, as you work with them…….

Matt Ward 17:55
how did you discover that these were your strengths?

David Virden 17:59
Well, I’ve gotten some, I mean, the folks I’ve known my entire life have flat out told me, you know, value in the friendship that we have, and in the acknowledgment of that, I’m not going to ever let them fall down because they are my friend. But I’ve gotten similar feedback in business in going that extra mile to help the client to who, you know, a recent example, you know, is someone who I was helping with a cancer claim. And he couldn’t, his scanner was, first of all, wasn’t all that mobile and secondly, his scanner wasn’t working at the house. And I said, Listen, I’m coming over, I’ll come over, I’ll meet you in the driveway. You know, going that extra mile and being what I promised to be. I lead with, I am a customer service focused insurance agent. I am one phone call away at all times. And I mean it, I live by it, and I always am. I mean, that’s driven by me wanting to keep my business alive, of course. Also, it’s also at the heart of who I am. It’s how I feel about treating people right, treating people well, and doing what I promised that I’m going to do, and it all sort of wraps up into I think the, I believe the good qualities I have, the good qualities I use to run my business. And that’s how I choose to live my life.

Matt Ward 19:33
Do you ever sit still and meditate or think about yourself and your business and your strengths in your business? What you’re really, really good at?

David Virden 19:47
If I’m being 100% honest, it is certainly not enough. I think as business owners, we get going 100 miles an hour and essentially I collapse into bed every night exhausted just thinking briefly, Okay, I got to do this tomorrow. And I think what you just described is what is a valuable exercise that I think I’ll try to do. Because I think that that self examination is very important, it’s going to help you dial in behaviors that are going to, you know, make you and your business better. I don’t do it enough, but I think I should be.

Matt Ward 20:30
I think I asked the question because I probably don’t do it enough, right. And I wonder what ways…. You know, I’m not an expert in knowing your strengths. What I know is that knowing your strengths, helps you build a better business, I know that knowing my strengths will help me build a better business. And sometimes I feel like, geez, you know, I’m running 85 miles an hour, 100 miles an hour, like you were talking about, and I don’t stop and think and sit and be still for a moment and just think about what I do great. Right? That’s my strength. Right? And is it managing people? Is it, is it delegating a task? Is it outsourcing? Is it coming up with new ideas? I know, I’m an idea guy and I do that really, really, really well. But oftentimes, I give people ideas that they never asked for or wanted, and now they’re chasing off, you know, shiny objects, Right. So it’s a challenge, sometimes, I think, as small business owners to continue to grow a business. I mean, you’re, you’re five years in on your business. Right? And what one thing do you know now that you wish you knew then?

David Virden 21:55
Oh, man, that’s a fantastic question. Well, I mean, it’s, it’s repeating some of the things we said before, but going into when I first started in the biz, I had no idea, no idea what networking was, how important building those relationships was. And certainly at the stage where I am now, I absolutely respect those things. And I’ve learned how to cultivate those things. I’m trying to think of a more exciting answer for you.

Matt Ward 22:40
So one of the things I wrote about in my new book, David, The High Five Effect, How To Do Business With People Who Bring You Joy, is that I believe that people left the corporate world and started their own business because they wanted three things, more money, more time, and more freedom. Do you agree with that?

David Virden 22:57
Well, here’s what I say, with complete sincerity to a lot of people or anyone who will ask. I love three things about what I do. It’s the more freedom certainly because I can make my own schedule. It’s the control that I have over my own success when defined by earnings. Because the more effort I do, the better I dial in my strategies, the more money I’m going to make. But three, legitimately for me is my ability to help people when they are in some of the most challenging times of their lives, whether it be a cancer diagnosis, or what have you, in a car accident, or your disability can kick in. It’s just, I get a real charge out of being able to help people when they need it most.

Matt Ward 23:53
I wonder if you know, cuz I see this all the time with small business owners is we don’t know what we don’t know. And so when we started our business, we don’t know, like you said about networking. We don’t know, we think we’re gonna make more money. But we don’t for the first five years, right? We struggle with that we take on clients we shouldn’t take on because we need more money. We don’t get the time we thought we were gonna have because time is probably the number one thing people talk about on these podcast episodes, how they have a lack of time, we’re running so we can’t be still and think about our strengths, right? Because we don’t have the time. And then the freedom, the freedom is an interesting thing is that we have the freedom to do what we choose to do. But we often don’t early on in our business, because we’re so married to the business in a way that, in so many ways that is often unhealthy. Right? And that’s what it was like with my web agency for so long. So I got to the point where I was only working three days a week. And I think that’s a challenge and what I’m hoping that this podcast will do for small business owners, especially season two is really get them to dial in on their strengths and understand what their strengths are, so that they can make better decisions moving forward. Right? I’ve always firmly believed that with business owners, they often delay too long to make decisions. And if they make a decision quick, but they make the wrong decision, they can pivot, there’s plenty of time to pivot. But if they delay in making the decision, and it’s the wrong decision, it’s completely detrimental to the business. And there’s no time to pivot if they waited too long. And so knowing your strengths will help you understand how quickly you can make these decisions, because you’ll know what’s in your wheelhouse versus what’s not. You know, and I think that’s a challenge, you know. And I think it’s also not tangible. Knowing your strength is intangible, I can’t touch that, right. It’s not a check I receive in the mail. It’s not a thing. And so it takes a lot of self-discovery, which is also very hard to do as a small business owner, self introspective, look at ourselves, you know.

David Virden 26:18
Yeah, absolutely. And you have, the time and lack thereof goes into a lot of that.

Matt Ward 26:23
Yeah. Because we have families, right. We have kids, we have responsibilities. And it’s, it’s always a challenge. When you think about business, you use all types of tools in your business, obviously, you use tools for your industry, but more specifically, you know, staying away from the industry-specific tools. What one piece of software, would you recommend that a business owner really get involved with? And it is a game-changer for them?

David Virden 26:52
I’ll tell you, it was a recommendation you gave me and it’s been very, very, very, very helpful was the HubSpot CRM.

Matt Ward 27:01
Oh, there you go. Yeah.

David Virden 27:04
I’ve got some similar tools through the various providers with whom I’m appointed, but then it gets fragmented. And it’s kind of difficult to track it whereas the HubSpot gives me a central place to put things be able to find things easily, track the emails, and so forth. That’s very, very helpful. For if you’re in a job that requires you, I’m licensed throughout New England and as you like to point out, and beyond. So I do a lot of driving. So if we’re talking apps, if you don’t have Waze, get Waze because that saves my life everywhere I go.

Matt Ward 27:49
That’s good. Do you listen to podcasts and things like that when you’re driving in the car or walking or exercising, or doing whatever?

David Virden 27:58
I’ve got the earbuds in most of the time. I mean, I use them for work and my phone calls. I use them for, these days. I go out and do about a three mile walk most mornings at a really ungodly, early hour. And yeah, so I’ve got a podcast, either a business podcast, or I’m a huge comedy fan so I listen to a whole bunch of comedians. And so yeah, I’m an avid podcast consumer, for sure.

Matt Ward 28:32
That’s really cool. Do you read a lot?

David Virden 28:40
I should read more. Right now I feel lucky to be able to honestly say I am reading flyboys, that book about World War Two flyers. I wish I read more consistently. I’ll go in spurts. And then for some reason, take a little pause for a while. Yeah.

Matt Ward 29:03
And do you listen to audiobooks as well, then?

David Virden 29:05
I haven’t done that as much. I have listened to one or two. Simply because of all the drivetime I have, it made it easy, right. But, but no, not consistently.

Matt Ward 29:19
So if you were to recommend to the listening audience, whether it’s on the podcast, their favorite podcast app, or viewing on YouTube, what one business book, would you recommend that they take a look at?

David Virden 29:32
Was there the Matt Ward……? No, I’m kidding.

Matt Ward 29:36
Everybody throws that out there and I’m honored and flattered. But what other book other than that words book?

David Virden 29:42
Well, I’m trying to think of the most recent business book I’ve read. And it’s not, but I’ve got podcasts that I like.

Matt Ward 30:03
Have you read a game-changer book at all? Like, not even like the most recent one, but like early on in your business life?

David Virden 30:09
Yeah, I absolutely did. When I first started this, I consumed a good number of them. And, I’m going to fail you right now by trying to bring up some titles. But, you know, I try to there’s a building while flying podcast that I listened to, like the most recent, building brands from scratch. You know, things that I’ll consume, you know, audio versions of those things often.

Matt Ward 30:37
Yeah.

David Virden 30:38
You know, and like I said, I need to be reading more. I need to get, I need to be more consistent on my business reads.

Matt Ward 30:47
Yeah. And how do you, you mentioned that your strengths are really your, you know, some of your character stuff? Are you able to build those? Are there other strengths that you’re working on building up into a sort of, knowing that it’s a strength, you’re working on a specific thing, and you’re trying to move it into a strength area? Is there something like that, that you’ve been working on at all?

David Virden 31:17
You know, it’s, I think, in a general sense, my interpersonal relationship building, I’m always, I like the group networking events where we go and we do the one minute commercials each, open networking. I’m less enthusiastic about say, the chamber events that you go to, big open cattle call ….

Matt Ward 31:43
Because they’re less organized?

David Virden 31:45
Yes, less organized and I’ll do it. But you know, you walk around, you got to break into little cliques and try to introduce yourself, and I’m getting, I want to be a little bit better at that open, less organized, networking type of approach. It’s one thing. I mean, this isn’t what you’re asking. But I keep telling myself with all my drive time, I need to be on Babbel. I need to be learning Spanish.

Matt Ward 32:17
I mean, hey, you can turn that into a strength, that would probably help your business greatly.

David Virden 32:21
Yeah, it would, it would, because I run into a lot of accounts with Spanish speakers. And so that’s something that I’ve, I keep saying I need to do and I haven’t. So I need to kick myself in the butt on that one.

Matt Ward 32:35
Well do it on your three mile walk every day. Right?

David Virden 32:37
Yeah, that’s actually not a bad idea.

Matt Ward 32:39
I mean, you’ve already got what I call NAT, which is no added time. Right? So you’re just doing stuff at the same time you’re doing something else. So and that’s a good takeaway for the listeners. I know you heard that in season one as well. Which is like do things that are no added time because time is such a precious commodity in our business and frankly, in our lives. So you heard a lot from David Virden today, at Virden Benefits. It’s exciting to hear how he’s grown over the five years and the things he’s doing. David if people want to network with you, they want to get on a one to one call, they want to invite you to a networking event. Or they want to just learn what Virden Benefits is all about and possibly even do some business with you. How would they go ahead and get ahold of you?

David Virden 33:22
I think the most easy way to do that would be at Virdenbenefits.com. So spelling of Virden is on my profile right here.

Matt Ward 33:32
V-I-R-D-E-N

David Virden 33:33
V as in Victor, IRDEN benefits dot com, all one word, plural benefits. Yeah, that’s a place at which they can send me a message and learn more about everything that I do.

Matt Ward 33:45
Cool. And we’ll link to that in the show notes. Absolutely. Make sure that all David’s contact information is out there for you guys to reach out to him. David, thank you so much for coming on. Episode One of season two of the Mass Business Podcast. We greatly appreciate it.

David Virden 34:02
Thank you very much for having me.

Matt Ward 34:04
For all you listeners out there on your favorite podcast app, please make sure you subscribe to the podcast, we’d love to get you to subscribe and get notifications of the downloads. And for those of you over on YouTube watching these videos, I’d love for you to like, share, comment, engage with us on social media and everywhere else, and make sure you smash that subscribe button because we need subscribers on our channel. That’s it for today’s episode. I’m thankful that you took the time out of your precious day to listen to it or to watch it. And until next time. Don’t forget to live happy, smile a lot and high five everyone around you.

Matt Ward 35:00
Thank you for listening to the Mass Business Podcast, where we focus on growing a small business and understanding networking and referrals. Don’t forget to like on your favorite platform and share out this podcast. This show has been produced by Heather Grant, music by Cailte Kelley. All rights reserved. I’m your host, professional speaker, author, and word of mouth referral consultant, Matt Ward. Don’t forget to live happy, smile a lot, and high-five everyone around you.