The Business Community

The community for connections & contacts, business advice and tips, encouragement and support, a pat on the back when things go well

Think of "The Business Community" as a specially branded tool that its members can use to build a powerful and private referral network. It's a standalone Chrome extension that helps people move away from things like cold outreach, spam, and bots, focusing instead on getting business through warm, trusted introductions. The platform aims to turn what might be a simple, two-dimensional list of contacts into a vibrant, three-dimensional ecosystem where business grows through real human connections. The whole thing is built on a really cool concept they call the 30/30 Principle. The idea is that if you add just 30 people you genuinely know and trust to your private network, and each of those 30 people also has 30 trusted connections of their own, you suddenly have access to 900 potential introductions. The ultimate goal is to get to what they call the 100/100 Principle, where having 100 trusted connections who each have 100 of their own gives you a second-degree network of 10,000 potential referrals, which is often more than enough for a business to thrive. This creates a community where everyone can help each other succeed. So how does this all work in practice? Well, there are a few different ways people can use the tool. There are free users, who can just find and install the extension from the Chrome store. They can start building their own private network of trusted connections, but they have some limits on what they can do and can't see the official members list for "The Business Community". This acts as a great way to introduce people to the community's brand and way of doing things, essentially serving as a lead magnet. Then you have the official members. These are people who are part of "The Business Community" and are listed on a private Google Sheet that the community managers look after. Being a member means you get access to see the "The Business Community" members list inside the extension, which opens up more opportunities to connect with others in the group. Finally, there are premium users. These are members who get full, unlimited access to all the bells and whistles, especially the powerful AI features. "The Business Community" can allocate premium accounts to its paying members. A premium account is valued at $72 a month, so it's a huge value-add for the members. To make someone a premium user, an administrator just puts a "1" next to their name on that Google sheet. Once you're set up, the real magic begins with a few key features. The first step for anyone is to start adding their trusted connections one by one. This is a deliberate process to make sure the network is built on real, quality relationships. For premium users, the standout feature is the AI-powered matching tool, often called MatchMe. You can just tell the AI, in everyday language, exactly who you're trying to meet—like their industry, job title, and location. The AI then scans the trusted connections of your trusted connections (your second-degree network) and gives potential matches a score out of 10. It's a huge time-saver that cuts out days of manual searching. When you find a great match, you can click a button to request an introduction from the person you both know and trust. The system makes the whole process easy by helping create group messages and sending out branded emails to everyone involved. It can even generate a public post to announce the new connection, which helps promote "The Business Community" at the same time. To keep things fun and encourage everyone to participate, there’s a feature called the Trust-O-Meter. You move up through different levels, from Newbie to Junior Networker, Senior Networker, Super Connector, and finally Trusted Advocate, by doing things like giving and receiving introductions, adding trusted connections, and getting special endorsements called "Golden Recommendations". Reaching the Super Connector level even gets you access to an exclusive global group of top networkers who are also committed givers. The extension also has some other really clever features. It works live on video calls like Zoom and Google Meet, where it can identify other users on the call and find introduction opportunities in their networks in real time. It also connects with CRM systems like GoHighLevel, turning a simple contact list into a three-dimensional network by showing you how you're connected to people through chains of trust. And for premium users, there's a mobile app that lets you do all of this on the go, which automatically customizes itself with "The Business Community's" branding for its members.