How Frank Agin Mastered the Art of Networking

Pamela Bardhi: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Underdog Podcast. Today I have an incredible guest here with me. Frank. How are you, my friend?

Frank Agin: I’m doing well. Thanks for having me. This is great. Underdog. I love it. Do you ever remember the Underdog show? Remember the cartoon?

Pamela Bardhi: everyone always mentions that, and I always have to remind everyone. I’m like, I don’t think that was around when I was a kid.

Pamela Bardhi: Cause I was born in 91.

Frank Agin: Okay, well, it’s out there on YouTube. It’s out there on YouTube. So’s the, Underdog Show.

Pamela Bardhi: I know. And everyone always tells me that it. I’m like, man, I wish I watched it in my childhood. We had, like, Blues’clues and whatever else was not as fun. Not as fun. Oh, my goodness. Frank, it is an honor to have you here today. I’m so excited to dig into you, your story, your background, and the business that you’ve built. all this amazingness that you’ve got going on. really, I always like to take it all the way back, right. Because there’s always an origination point to all of this. so I always love to reflect all the way back and ask, what did you want to be when you grew up as a kid? Like, what was Frank’s stream at that point?

Frank Agin: Well, I guess I run a networking organization. I, you know, I connect people. I enjoy helping people, and I just trust that it’ll come back to me. And it’s not 100% reliable, but it’s enough reliable that it’s worth leaning into. So I just preface it by saying that when I was in kindergarten. we lived in Brookfield, Illinois, which is a western suburb of Chicago. I had morning kindergarten. so I would come home, and I had an older brother. he was in first grade, so, you know, he was in school all day. and I would go and put my Superman outfit on and protect the girls from the boys. 

So that was kind of my earliest Persona of, okay, I’ve got this Superman complex, if you will. I think if you’re doing business, if you’re really enjoying what you’re doing, you have this mindset that I am. I’m helping somebody, I’m not pulling somebody from a burning car, necessarily. But you, I’m helping somebody find the house of their dreams, I’m helping somebody have that insurance so they can sleep well at night.

And when you when you have that mindset, I just think it makes business a whole lot more fun. You know, I’ve had a job where it’s been about the paycheck. I was a tax consultant. Not real sexy. I’m saving corporate America, thousands on their billions. It just didn’t know. It didn’t resonate.So I love what you’re doing and bringing it out, bringing people’s underdog story out. And So, yeah, that kind of takes it back to the beginning, if you will. Would I want to be helping people at point a police officer, firefighter, teacher, coach? yeah.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s amazing.

Growing up in Illinois, who was your biggest role model or inspiration

And, and growing up, like, who or what was like your biggest role model or something that inspired you the most?

Frank Agin: Yeah, I mean, there were different stages of life. We were in Illinois for a few years and my parents are from Chicago. And then we ended up in, we had a short stint in Wisconsin, then ended up in the Upper peninsula of Michigan. which about four hours north of Green Bay. I was kind of a homebody. I would stay at home. you could find me Friday nights. is this all predates you. The Incredible Hulk was on. There were either kind of. You know, I loved getting up in the morning and watching superhero cartoons, things like that.

That always where I grew up, we didn’t. We had two television stations. This, is all pre cable. We had CBs out of Marat and we had the BBC out of Thunder Bay. So we didn’t have a lot of television. But we went to Chicago to visit my grandparents. It was like, oh my God, Chicago tv. It was like going to a buffet right when you. All you were doing was, you know, eating lettuce all day. And then you get to go and go to this buffet at grandma’s house. And I would just sit in front of a TV and just see what was on. you know, superhero type things. I, always like those sorts of movies. So yeah, those were kind of role models, if those are role models, I guess. But when you’re a kid, it’s, you know, it’s everything.

Pamela Bardhi: No, that’s amazing. That’s amazing. And growing up in Illinois and you mentioned Wisconsin and kind of all of that. And so walk me to, through like high school to college. Like, what was that journey? Kind of like what were some of the things. Were you still in Illinois at that point?

Frank Agin: We moved to Wisconsin when I was five. and we were there for two years while my dad got his PhD. We were living in Madison. and then he got a job at Michigan Tech University, which

Frank Agin: is in Houghton, Michigan, which is if you. it’s about as far north as you can go in Michigan. that’s the Upper Peninsula. And my senior year in high school, I played sports. I played football. my senior year I just had this, you know, I like this, this is fun playing sports. I’m 5 foot 10, 180 pounds. You know, there are five star athletes, I was a five asterisk athlete, right? Too small, too slow, too everything, right? And I’m sending letters to everywhere and hearing nothing back. My dad went to college in a small college in Wisconsin. a liberal arts college called Beloit College. It’s right on the border of Wisconsin, Illinois. he played football there and he coached there, for a while. 

And, they called him because they knew I was a senior. Colleges keep track of all that stuff, which, a little creepy, but whatever. and just said, well, what’s your son going toa be doing next year? Cause they’re trying to recruit people. he’s like, I don’t know, he just wants to play football. The next night I got a call from the coach, right? that was pretty much, you know, that was pretty much it. 

You know, I’ll play when you want to come visit. It’s like, well, why do I need to visit at this point? I’m committed, you know, which is really weird for somebody going off to college. and spending out however many thousands of dollars. Don’t you have any questions? Yeah, what are the colors? What’s the mascot? You know, he probably just thought I was totally wigged out. but that’s how I ended up in college. I showed up sight unseen in August of 1980 to go to college. I mean, it was a great experience. Everything was great about it, but it was just kind of different. when you start talking to people and like, oh, Yeah, I visited 15 schools. 

Pamela Bardhi: That’s so awesome. That’s so fun. And I mean, and you trusted, and you, you know, you trusted the universe with that. you were just like, hey, this is where I meant to go. Where I meant to go. So here’s. Here I am like, let’s go. then from there, how did you transition into, like, the tax world? Like, how did you get into your first job, first business from school?

Frank Agin: If you really stop and think about your life, it’s all linked together. It’s all decisions. the summer before my senior year in college let me back up. I went to college to play football. And the night before, the night before classes were supposed to start. we’d been practicing for three weeks. I was talking to one of the upperclassmen and they said, ye school is tough here. This is not high school. You need to buckle down. And colleges aren’t high school, right? For the most part, they’re hard. There are some that aren’t, but for the most part they’re hard. and I’m like, oh, I don’t want to get kicked off the football team. I’m thinking to myself, so that next day after practice, got somethingat I went to the library.

At Houghton, Michigan, I was known as the good student

Got to the library by 7:00, and I stayed till 11:00. and got on this cadence of just going to the library every night, thinking everybody was studying. Well, that wasn’t the case. A lot of people didn’t study. A lot of people didn’t do well. I had people I started with who flunked out their first year. but I did really well just because I just really leaned into it. and didn’t want to get kicked off the football teamm very immature, Very immature. My whole mindset. and when you go to a small liberal arts college. like it, I mean, think there’s 1,200 students, maybe not even you can get, a. You can be known for things. 

You can be known for good things or bad things. And I was known as, I was the good student. He’s a good student, you know. so that really carried me and I did really well. And I remember it was my junior year and they said. well, what do you want to do with your life? You know, this is 1983, I think. 82, 83, you know, I want to go back to my hometown. sleepy little Houghton, Michigan, 5,000 people. And I want to open a video store. 

And I know that sounds totally hilarious right now. but at that point in time, you not only had to rent movies. you had to rent the VCR too, right? For me, it’s like store, and you could any movie you wanted to see. and that would be your job. It would be so cool. they looked at me and they kind of laughed and like, no. you’re like seventh in the class. You need to go off to graduate school. maybe get a PhD or go and get, a law degree or something.

 And I’m like, okay, I’ll be a lawyer. so that was my junior year. And so between junior and senior year, I’m like, okay, I got to start. I got to take the LSAT,  got to do these sorts of things. I got to look at schools, I was working on the campus where my dad was working. helped, clean up the residence hall. You know, between semesters, there was a girl there who was at a camp. we’re just kind of talking to one another, you know, being flirtatious. Right? It was stupid, innocent stuff.

And we became pen pals. Hey, let’s write to each other. she lived in, Avon Lake, Ohio, which is north on Lake Erie. And we’re just writing back and forth and, yeah, I’m gonna go to law. I want toa go to law school. Well, you should apply to Ohio State. Okay? I looked into it. It cost five bucks. I mean, that’s the cheapest points I’ve ever scored with a woman. you can’t get flowers for five bucks. So I applied to Ohio State, and I applied to a lot of really good schools. 

And as it turned out, the only school I got into was Ohio State. which is not a bad school at all. but I didn’t get into Yale. I didn’t get into Michigan, I didn’t get into a lot of really good places. so I ended up coming to Ohio State. That’s how I ended up in Columbus in 1984. And I’m still here. So I got a law degree, got an MBA at the same time they have a joint program. that led me into one of the big six accounting firms as a tax consultant. Which That’s, again, it’s all pieced together. It’s our lives are these books with different chapters. every chapter is connected to that last chapter somehow.

Pamela Bardhi: It’s so true. Well, it’s all linked together, right? And it’s all the decisions that you make, right? One thing leads to another. So it’s beautiful when you see it, you know. because sometimes when we’re going through something. especially if it’s not as pleasant as we’d like it to be, right? We look back and we’re like, you know, I always have to say to myself. remind myself, like, I’m going to look back on this later, and it’s going to make sense. Right now, it makes absolutely no sense. but at one day it will. So it’s so cool to go back and see, like, how it all connected, how one. If one Thing would have changed. You would have never been.

Frank Agin: Yeah.

Pamela Bardhi: At this other level, which is so fascinating and. And going from the big six, which is like such a huge dream for so many people, right. Like out of school and that kind of thing. What led you into the route of entrepreneurship? Because that’s, you know, from corporate America to entrepreneurship is a totally different ballgame. And so many people talk about it, but very few actually make that move in that transition, that pivot.

So I’d love to hear, like, the challenges and everything that you encountered throughout the way

So I’d love to hear, like, the challenges and everything. that you kind of experience throughout the way and really how you maneuvered past them.

Frank Agin: Well, what you don’t realize. I’m sure you do because you’re out there fighting the fight like most, people. But if you’re younger, what you don’t realize is that when you’re in high school and in college. and you’re trying to find that path, that it might not be the right path to be on. And it can sound very alluring or sexy, if you will, to. I’m a tax consultants, so, you know, I started this job. it’s like, oh, yeah, I’mn toa be a world beater and I’m gonna, you know. then after, you know, you get three years in and it’s like, okay, it’s not fun after a while. 

And so, I knew I really kind of had this entrepreneurial. I really had this entrepreneurial poll. I’m literally working with clients. I’m asking them questions about how does the business work. when I should really be leaned into. Let’s talk about your tax situation. I really want to understand this business. This is you, there are businesses like Wendy’s out there and McDonald’s, things like that. but they’re also businesses. Like one of my clients, all they did was go to oil and gas refineries and assess the risk. What are the risks of something? You know, will you make money doing that? That is so cool. so I had this entrepreneurial thing. but after about, I don’t know, I was probably three years in.like this is not going to be long term. 

And I just started saving money because I knew I wanted to do something different. I didn’t know what it would be. growing up, when you met with the guidance counselor. you know, I tell my kids that there were just. There were certain there were buckets, right? you could be a teacher or you could be this. You could be a banker or you, like, to help people. And you’re a woman. Oh, you could be a nurse. 

I know that’s very sexist, but that’s. It was. Or a teacher. and so I really didn’t know what was out there. And the Internet wasn’t around. And I just decided, you know, at some point and I was, I was engaged. if not married at the time. I just have to leave and just, just jump. what ended up happening was I was on a flight to a client. looking through the airline magazine and they have like all those posters in there. with those really cool sayings, you know?

there was one that really caught my eye and it said, you can’t discover new oceans. unless you have the courage to lose the sight of shore. And that just stuck with me. I didn’t order the poster, I ordered a card and I still have the card here. and I just put that on my desk where I work just to remind me that okay. I’ve got to push away from this and I’d save money. But it’s like you don’t start most people. 99% of the people, 99.9% of people don’t start with a ton of money, a ton of clients. Right. you got to figure it out. So I had money

I was, you know, okay, I got enough money to last me for a few years. And so I went into the private practicea law. And I tell people that A funny thing happened to me, Pam. when I went into the private pra law. a funny thing was nothing happened.  had no idea how to get clients. I just assumed, I just assumed that, you know, I have a lot degree, I have an mba. I’ve got a cpa. Who wouldn’t want to hire me, you know, my overhead is zero. because I’m working out of the house. hundred bucks an hour where and have the same abilities. as that guy who two days later was charging $300 an hour. but it doesn’t work that way. 

And so somebody suggestsed I get into a tips club or a leads group. And there was a group out of Pittsburgh that was forming in Columbus. they were starting chapters here.  I went to a meeting really not knowing what any of this was. but I was quasi desperate of failing, of just saying, okay, I got to go get a job. it just made total sense to me that I could lift my whole world up just helping other people. you kind of go through those moments when you’re really down. 

Failure is really a great teacher. You don’t learn a whole lot when you’re just winning all the time. And so, I got really involved in that, did really well through it. at one point had an opportunity to buy it out. And I did. That was the early 2000s, and I just decided to stop practicing law. which was, you know, for a lot of people, like, oh, my. You’re doing what? You know, you. You’re putting a tattoo on your face, you know.

Pamela Bardhi: Right.

Frank Agin: You know, it’s like the reality is I could start practicing law tomorrow. I mean, I could just reactivate my license. So it wasn’t a big deal. but I just decided I wanted to be a student of networking. helping people with professional relationships. understanding business networking and best practices for getting referrals. I remember having a conversation with my wife. at that point, and we had three kids, and it was a risk. 

And I told her, I said, you know, if I continue practicing law. I’ll know where I’ll be 30 years from now. And it’s not a bad life. but I know where I’ll be 30 years from now. so that’s not exciting to me. But if I do this networking thing, I have no idea where this is going. I have no idea. that is just losing the sight of shore.  It’s like, this could be really cool. it has been. It’s been just. It’s been amazing.

Pamela Bardhi: So awesome.

Frank Agin: Ye.

Step into the unknown is the number one fear for many people

Pamela Bardhi: I want to unpack that a little bit because, you know, stepping into the unknown is. like, the number one thing that people are so afraid of. So especially going from, you know, such a secure, you know, job and background.

Frank Agin: Right?

Pamela Bardhi: So, like, first is the tax account and then the law piece. Right. Like, two very, very prestigious roles. And professions, if you will.

With respect to entrepreneurship, what was the thing that pushed you to jump

So, you know, when you were mening it, you were telling people that you were going to be. you know, pivoting, and they’re like, what’s going on? You know what I mean? Like, that’s. I can imagine that they. Everyone kind of just went, but, like.

Frank Agin: What do you mean?

Pamela Bardhi: What do you mean, Frank? Like, what’s going on? You know, so what were some of the things. that helped you kind of with that trusting process and that surrender process to say, like, it’s okay. Because that jump is a very scary thing for so many. 

And it’s the one thing that holds so many people back. Like, they see it they, oh, my God, this could be so amazing. But, like, what was that thing that really pushed you to say. you know what? I’m going toa make this jump and this is what I’m going to do. and I don’t know where it’s going toa end up?

Frank Agin: Yeah, that’s a great question. And it’s really just kind of having conviction in yourself. I tell people I left my job, it was December 31, 1994, and they had a party for me. becausee I’d been there six years and I had good relationship. and I could have, you know, they needed people at my level. tell people, if they’d have just pushed me a little bit. I’d have stayed. I stayed because it was just that, just kind of the whole melancholy. 

They know these people, I’ve got a paycheck. What am I doing? you know, and it’s never, you know, it’s never ever a guarantee. The thing that happened or didn’t happen is my boss happened to be out of the office. So there was no hey, are you sure? Kind of a thing. It was just kind of like coworkers are like, he’s doing it. Go, Frank, go. 

We’re excited. You know, you make it work, we’ll follow you. Kind of a mentality. And most of them never did. but none of them ever did. It’s just kind of, you just have to push through. You just have to decide. you know, I read a book out there. My mom gave it to me when I was really kind of in the throes of being a miserable corporate slave, if you will. You work a lot. Hours. there was a story, and I forget the name of the book. I’ve got it here somewhere,

Frank Agin: but there was a story in there of, a guy who was afraid of heights. and he found himself in a very tall building that was, under construction. And he slipped and fell and was just hanging on. he said, oh, dear God, don’t let me fall. God replied, then jump, it was like, oh, my God. Yeah, I just got to do it now. I had spent a couple years paying down debt. being careful with my money. I think that’s a big thing that people need to do now. 

My wife and I didn’t have kids when I made the leap. She was working. That certainly helped. But we’ve never, you know, we’ve always lived below our means. and I think that’s a, that’s a huge thing. With respect to entrepreneurship. You know, you can’t have that corporate lifestyle of always have a paycheck. then push away from that. You have to, you really have to start in advance. It’s like running a marathon. 

You don’t wake up one day and I’m someone to run a marathon. You really have to train ahead of time. and I was kind of training, okay, you know, talking to people about their in business and saving.  what do I need to do and how can I kind of bootstrap this? Do I need to have an office? Do I need to hire somebody? No, I don’t. so it’s really kind of thinking it through.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that, Frank. I love that.

Business right now is missing authentic relationship building, right?

And you know, you were mentioning that, it was all about business networking. this new endeavor that you had. And this is something that I think is missing in nowadays. Business right now is authentic relationship building. Everyone’s looking at the sales or they’re looking at the endame first. I think that’s one of the biggest mistakes one could ever make in business, right? 

When you connect with somebody, it’s how can I add value to this person. and build genuine rapport and add value to them in a genuine way. rather than looking at dollar signs, right? And I think that’s one of the biggest mistakes that salesp peopleople make. so I’m curious from your perspective and your experience in running this group. and just in your professional experience. what’s been the number one thing to take away from business networking? The number one thing that everyone should know about it. then how do you build those authentic relationships?

Frank Agin: That’s a whole career there. The number one, I use a lot of metaphors and a lot of analogies and when I talk. when I, you know, and I’ll tell people because people will call me Pam. they’ll call me and it’s like, hey, I lost my job, right? Or I’ve just started in business or I need to do this. and people. the reason they’re calling me is. because people say, well, Frank’s really well connected and he’s the guy. 

Which that’s very flattering. But I’m not the guy that has, It never works and you know that. It never works. Hey, Johnny, Fred’s here. Give him a job. That doesn’t happen, right? It’s just hire him, have him be your financial advisor. move your millions over to Susan. It doesn’t work.

Pamela Bardhi: That.

Frank Agin: so people call me and they think that and what I tell them is. I asked Them if they golf. And a lot of people do, a lot don’t. But then I’ll just say, do you understand golf? You understand how golf works. And golf is a series of shots. You play the ball and you play it again, you play it again. play it again to get to the hole. I asked them, I said, when you’re teeing off from a 415 yard Parford dog leg. Mean you can’t even see the hole. 

When you’re at that point, are you saying, jez, I hope I drop it in the cup? most people laugh and say, no, you know, that’s not how golf is. And that’s how networking is too. We’re talking. I’m having a conversation with somebody. we’re talking right here, right now. This is just a shot off the tee. And I’m going to introduce you some people that are going to help you get closer to the green. they’re going to introduce people to help you get closer to the hole. it’s going to take you five or six steps to get there.

And that’s the thing that people lose sight of. They want that lottery ticket. Who’s got it? Who could just hire me and, start to realize in time. I don’t know you, but I know what it’s like, right? You’re going from one relationship to the next and everyone’s pulling you a little bit closer. Nobody’s taking you further away. And then all of a sudden it’s like, wow, you’re standing in front of somebody. this is the perfect person for me to be talking to.

Stop and you look back, well, you know, I’ll give you an example. I have a franchisee in Pensacola. He called me. It was February 8th. He called me, left a voicemail. Over the weekend, he sent me a Facebook message. I’d never met them. Man had an email or voicemail message in my office waiting for me. It’s like, who is this guy? And so he wants to buy a franchise. And so at some point I talk to him. I’m like, okay, how did you find out about me? I traced it back seven steps to a woman that I met

Frank Agin: during COVID lockdown named Casey has, who was in Dallas. It literally went all around the country. And it was like, okay, you know, if any one of those steps had fallen apart. it never would have happened. And that’s what people lose. Don’t realize with respect to relationships is that stop looking at your relationships and trying to size it up.

 I’m not on the. I’m not on this call with you figure, okay, how can I. How can I sell or something? How can I add value? Right. What can I do for you? What can you do for me? That’s going to help with the next step and just keep following that.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely. I love that. I love that.

Find something you care about and find somewhere to volunteer

And also, like, another big thing is like, you know, building rapport. Right. Like, it’s so funny because I’m seeing kind of like the. The younger generations coming out of college and everything now. And, like, the way they communicate is just so different. So in your perspective, what’s some of the best ways to build rapport then? 

Kind of like the best strategy for business networking. For anyone who’s out there listening right now. that’s like, you know, I really want to build my book of business. I’m looking to elevate in my career. Like, what are some of the things that  the best strategy that you would say for business?

Frank Agin: well, the question I always get is. what’s the number one thing that somebody can do right now?

Pamela Bardhi: Yep.

Frank Agin: And my answer is, pretty consistently figure out something you care about. and find somewhere to volunteer. Because you go out and you volunteer for most things. you’re going to be not doing it by yourself. You’re going to be elbow to elbow with other people. who care about the same thing you care about. Don’t be calculating about it. Well, all the big bankers are gonna be here. I’m gonna go here. No, what do you really care about? What do you really want to immerse yourself in? Maybe it’s pet charities, maybe it’s homelessness. maybe it’s literacy, human trafficking or whatever, sports. 

Find something and go volunteer. because there will be other people there who will realize. oh, what, you know, Pam, what else do you do? You know, nobody gets paid here. What else do you do? And you get a chance to tell them, and then they all of a sudden have an affinity for you. because you’re helping a cause they’re passionate about. even people who aren’t associated with that will look at you and say. you know, that Pam, you know, I’m not into pet charities.

 Like, she’s in the pet charities, but she has to be a good person. because she’s doing these things. And we’re all. We’re very hardwired. There’s science behind this is we’re very hardwired to find people. who are contributing to the world around us. Because if you’re contributing to the world around you. that’s who we want in our networks. so that’s really the number one thing I tell people. is to find things to do and really lean into trying to help other people build relationships.

 I’ll get you a link to it. It’s a book I wrote,  It’s called the Giving Journal. It’s very short. I give it away for free. I don’t even collect people’s emails. Just go download it, go get it. But I talk about how I develop this mindset of. it’s really simple, of just helping other people. and everybody you meet with, okay, what can I do for this person? 

And I have that be your first question, as opposed to it being. As opposed to it being, what can I get from this person? What do I need? Then give to them. If you lean into, okay, I just want to help people. when you try to help people, they’ll turn the tables. because that’s just human nature. And they’ll learn about you and how they can help you.

Pamela Bardhi: Absolutely that’s the law, one of the universal laws. The law of reciprocity. So it’s like. And every single person that comes your way. I always say there’s a reason for it, right? Like, there’s always a reason why that person is in your space. Because it could be anyone else in the world. but no, that particular person is in your space right here, right now. And there’s a purpose for it. There’s a reason for it. 

So how can you help that person? And then you never know where that goes, right? I’ve always said, you know, when it came to my success in building my businesses and everything that I’ve done to date. I always say, like, listen, it’s all been relationships. It’s who I know. And I’ve always gone into it with. 

With heart, right? And going in and really saying, how can I help this person?vice versa, right? Like, it’s always been that those have been my biggest relationships and just doing things out of love. then that takes you so much further than anything else, right, in this universe. And that’s the beauty of it all.

Frank Agin: Which.

Pamela Bardhi: Which I love. I absolutely love that, Frank. Yeah, it’s.

Giving without expectation is part of being a successful entrepreneur

I mean, you just. It’s giving, right? Just continuously giving without expectation. And that’s really unconditional love at the end of the day.

Frank Agin: Yeah. You know, it’s not easy. I mean, it’s not hard, but it’s. Sometimes, you know, I have down days. I have days where, you know, hey, little Johnny, go call Mr. Aagan. Because they grew up with my kids. He helps people. You know, he knows. He’ll show you how to get a job. And I’m happy to take those calls. but there are days where it’s like, ah, o. What am I doing? You know, where’s this going to go? And that’s only human nature. But I find

Frank Agin: if I have a good night’s sleep, it’s like, all right, you know what? I never know where that’s going to go. I never. It might come back to me, It might come to somebody. It might come to my kids. How do I know?

Frank Agin: And just. You just lean into it, and you just have to trust it. And again, as I said early on, it’s not a perfect thing. You know, it’s not Hollywood. You know, I did this, and two hours later, I had this kind of a thing. It’s not like that. But, you know, you set things in motion where years later, people come. I don’t want to say come out of the woodwork. 

That sounds bad, but they just, you know, they reappear in your life. and, you know, you remember, you helped me. In fact, this happened the other day. I got a message on LinkedIn from a woman. I didn’t remember her. You know, women changed their names, which is fine. I’m not making a judgment, but I’m like, okay. You know, she looked different. She connected with me, and she actually worked. Works at the place my wife used to work at. 

My wife worked at Bath and body works for 30 years. And I just said, hey, you know, Melissa, it’s good to see your work. Got this new job at Bath and Body Works, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s like, great. My wife used to work there. she responded. She goes, you probably don’t remember me. but years ago we did this monthly event where she was a server. and I helped her connect with some people. I totally forgot about it because I just, You just do. 

You know how it is, You just do things right. It’s not a big deal. my friend needed it. He was doing a trade association thing and he needed a server. It’s like. Well, I knew her. She’d be perfect. She’s very personal. And it was just kind of. That led to. We’ve been talking about it Led to the next thing. And it’s helped her. Right.

What would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now

Pamela Bardhi: This is my favorite question for you, Frank, which I always love to hear what the responses are going to be. So what would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know now? And it can be personal. It could be business. It could be anything you want it to be.

Frank Agin: All right, this goes back to my original story of going to college to play football. If I had had visited Beloit College. I probably wouldn’t have attended. It was a very liberal school, probably wouldn’t have attended. It would have been a turn offff. But a lot of great football friends. and, hung out with football players for four years, was in a fraternity, was all football players. It was fun, it was good, it all worked out. But I didn’t really get to know people on campus. I just knew the football players. 

And if I had to do it all over again. I would say get out and get to meet some of these other people. They may be different. So what you know. And I say that because there’s a guy here in Columbus. He was from Columbus. He went to Wisconsin, go to college. Jeff Berman, neat guy. We were there at the same time. I wish I got to know him better. 

I’ve known him now, but I bet it was wonder who else I would have meet, who would have met. And so my message to my younger self is start building a network. And I’ve asked other people that same question. The same thing about college. You waste those years on just a few people when you really need to be meeting lots of people, network.

Pamela Bardhi: Y can each get outside your comfort zone. I love that, Frank. Oh, my goodness. And I mean, in your world, like, what’s happening in, like, the next few months? Any events, what’s. What’s going on in your world?

Frank Agin: Yeah, just busy growing amp spirit, business connections. We have all, you know, the pandemic was a good thing for us. I know that really sounds odd. And all our groups are in person. they went online and I think they really realized we want to be in person. but it really opened my eyes to. Well, I’ve known about Zoom for years. I’ve had lots of conversations on zoom, one on one conversations. Now you realize that you can have lots of conversations. 

And, you know, it’s just really kind of opened up my world beyond Columbus, Ohio. so we’ve really experienced a lot of growth, working on A number of books. Basically taking the books I have and creating, audiobooks out of them. which is an interesting process. For about three years, I was doing a one minute podcast every day. and I’ve got like thousand episodes and I’m creating that into audiobooks and transcribing. So they’ll be print, Kindle or whatever, like ebooks and then audiobooks. 

So just a lot of little things like that. Just, you know, it’s interesting. I have friends that I went to law school. They’re all retiring. You know, they’a lot of them have mandatory retirement when they’re 62. And for me, it’s like I’m not, I’m just ready to go, you know, I can’t wait till Monday. Bring on Monday.

Pamela Bardhi: That’s awesome. I love that. Well, what a beautiful way to live though, you know. where you do enjoy what you’re doing and you’re living in such passion. it just makes it so much more exciting.

Pamela Bardhi: Like, who am I going to meet today? Who am I going to help today? And having that kind of mindset. I think is absolutely amazing. And it’s clear that that’s what led you to your success. how you’re helping so many more people. why I spirits growing the way that it is. Which is absolutely fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I love that.

How do I find Frank? Where can we all find you, my friend

I love that. And now for everyone who’s listening. that is like, oh my God, I want to meet Frank. How do I connect with Frank? Where can we all find you, my friend?

Frank Agin: you know the best way to try and find. Everybody likes to communicate their own way. There’s a website, frankaggan.com and my email’there I think my cell phone’s there.

Frank Agin: Certainly LinkedIn, Facebook, if LinkedIn your thing. Some people just love to message on LinkedIn. I would prefer email, but I’m willing to meet people where it makes the most sense for them. I have people where it’s there. What’s the one M? Oh, gosh. WhatsApp. Are you on WhatsApp? It’s like, yeah, I will be. it’s not my preferred thing, but just do English, I can only do English. But so, yeah, love that fr.

Pamela Bardhi: Oh, my goodness. Okay, so everyone can go to your website, frankaggan.com and though over there they can reach you and whatever capacity that they feel like. yeah, Yep.

Frank Agin: They could see all the things all my books, all that stuff. Yep.

Pamela Bardhi: I love that. Frank, you are amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your story. This was amazing. just love, like, your trust in the universe and really how it took you to where you are today. and how you’re helping people and just have such a giving heart. So thank you so much for sharing your story. I’m so grateful for you, my friend.

Frank Agin: I appreciate being an underdog today. This is great. Thank you.

Underdog is a weekly podcast featuring advice from underdogs

Pamela Bardhi: So that’s it for today’s episode of Underdog. Catch us next week. Always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. check out meetwithpmela.com and let’s chat. Sending you so, so much love.