Hey, when you're networking, think of how you can give. And if you continue to think of how you can give and impact other people positively, things come back around. If you start putting effort towards it, the city and the state will come alongside and help [music] make it happen. Sounds like you're probably the same way of like, hey, how can I make this so fluid and easy for these two people to connect and have a conversation? What advice would you have for someone new to the city of Indianapolis that's trying to get plugged in? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser State and the incredible stories happening here today.
I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. This episode of Get In is sponsored [music] by Greeks Pizzeria, an Indiana original serving scratchmade pizza since [music] 1969. For more than 55 years, they've stayed focused on what matters. Hand tossed dough, housemade sauce, [music] fresh ingredients, and pizza that people genuinely want to come back for. With locations all across Indiana, Greeks is probably closer than you think. [music] It's one of those names that Hoosiers just know.
They've been around for generations, and there's a reason for that. So, next time you're trying to figure out pizza night, make it Greeks. Find your nearest location, check out the menu, and order at greeks [music] pizzeria. com. Now, let's get into today's show. My guest today is Jack Kramer, and he is the president of Young Professionals of Central Indiana, better known as YPCI.
And the crew at YPCI is focused on something every growing city needs. They need to help talented people build real relationships, discover opportunity, and choose Indiana as the place to build their careers and their lives. Whether he's introducing two future business partners over coffee, cheering on the Pacers at Gamebridge Fieldhouse, or helping young professionals plug into the city's growing business community, Jack believes Indiana's greatest competitive advantage isn't just affordability or opportunity. It's the people who live here. And I'm really excited to dive into all the fun ways young professionals here in central Indiana are getting plugged in, are getting to know each other, and some of the success stories that have come out of YPCI. Jack, welcome to the show.
Yeah, thank you for having me. Happy to be here. I am uh I'm pumped cuz I think this is truly a competitive advantage of Indianapolis is how easily accessible the city is and how we're so great at helping introduce people and making magic happen that way. So, I want to know what got you into Young Professionals of Central Indiana and how did you get plugged into YPCI? Yeah. So, uh always been from Indiana, Indianapolis area, grew up in Pendleton.
Uh go Arabians. There we go. There you go. Went to uh Indiana State actually for college and then lived about 10 months in South Bend. And so when I was in South Bend, there's a there's a YPN network up there also. And it was like, hey, if you're I'm in sales for my real job and it's like, hey, if you're in sales, my real job.
My real job. Yeah. My my first job. Um, and you got to be networking. You got to be meeting people. That's how it works.
And so when I moved back to Indianapolis, um, heard about YPCI, attended the first event, and realized very quickly, I hate being the person walking into a room and not knowing anyone. It like gives me nerves. And so every time someone does that at a YPCI event, I'm very impressed. And I'm like, you do things that I could never do. Um, but because of that, I was like, hey, how do I get involved and know people? And that was joining the board, getting more involved, and trying to to put my own imprint on it.
And then also just knowing immediately I'll at least know 20 people here. Um, which is kind of my comfort zone and uh that's kind of why I got involved. Yeah. Okay. So, how old were you when you went to your first YPCI event? Probably like 24 25.
And for people that might not know, maybe they're not in the business networking community. What is YPCI as a whole? Yeah. So, it's a it's a membership based organization. We have around 400 to 500 paying members annually. Um, essentially what it is is it's it's planning events for young professionals to connect.
Um, so we do monthly happy hours, we do monthly coffee connects, and then we do some annual uh golf outings, gallas, fundraising, things around those lines. Essentially, the idea is just, hey, if you're going to be in Indianapolis, in the surrounding counties, having a community there is what's going to keep you there. Um, and so just kind of creating that environment for people to come in, grab a drink, meet a few people, maybe meet a business connection, maybe meet a new friend. Um, and that's that's essentially it. Wow. Okay.
So, you moved down to Indianapolis, you show up like I think there is a lot of stress and and sometimes anxiety, right, around going to an event for the first time. What uh take us through your first event. You walk in, you don't know anybody or you do know people like did you get invited? I Yeah, I didn't know anyone. I saw it off of an Instagram or a LinkedIn post at some point and was like, "Okay, I'm going to my first event." Um, but it is also it's a testament to how small Indianapolis is because you walk in thinking you won't know anyone and then you walk in and there's six Indiana State grads that I went to college with that are all like, "Oh, we're here doing the same thing."
So, um, yeah, very quickly, uh, got connected with the people, kind of learned about their stories as to how involved or not involved they were with YPCI, and then, uh, the rest is kind of history from there. Took the step to apply to be a co-golf outing chair, which has very little responsibility. Um, and then worked my way up to president over the last two years. Wow. Okay. How long have you been in the or?
So, this is my fourth year. Fourth or fifth year on the board? Wow. Okay. So, how do they how do you guys pick where the events are? Is there programming?
Like what does it feel like when you walk into a YPCI happy hour event? Yeah, I'd say it's a it's a it's there's similarities every event, but obviously every event's a little different from the the question on how we choose our locations. That's also like a I think every president and every board has a different mission and one of the missions for me was hey how can I promote local businesses because that's like a a weird side project that we really have the opportunity to do of connecting with local restaurants. How many people come to the average event? Yeah, we're at probably 60 to 80. Our last our last event was uh actually partnered with the young leaders board for Goodwill that had around 200 people over at Halfleer.
So it's kind of it's a spectrum as to how many people come. I mean, even let's say 75 people. You take 75 people into any small business, like that is a huge night on like a Thursday or a Tuesday, whatever night of the week it is, like that can make a serious impact. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, and that's kind of like the power we bring with our with our group, too, of hey, we know it's a Thursday night, so maybe there's not going to be a huge rush between 6:00 to 8, but if I can talk to a business owner and promise them you're getting two drink tickets from every person, we're picking the tab up at the end of the night.
and you get a time to promote something new, you're doing something creative, if you want to throw out menu items that you're trying to test out, like um that's been huge for us, especially I'm a a huge local coffee guy and so being able to over the last few years we used to always host our coffee events at one location and over the last two years we've really tried to hey promote local coffee in Indianapolis because it's one of the the amazing things of our city. Yeah. Um and bringing in a rush of 30 to 40 people on a Tuesday morning is is pretty big for these organizations. Oh, absolutely. Okay. So, is the majority of the members are they like you are a lifelong central Indiana doughnut counties type person.
Is it mostly people from out of state that moved to Indiana or is it people that have grown up here and and been like lifelong Hoosiers? Yeah, it's it's really honestly a mix. Um, so we have obviously the you have the business development people obviously that are going to be there. So, you see a lot of realtors, mortgage lenders, insurance sales people like myself. Um but then also we see a handful of organizations so like large companies in Indianapolis will work with us to have a corporate membership and to say hey we've got 30 young professionals within our ranks here that we'd love to be able to say hey once a month go create connections with the organiza with the community um and get out there. So it really is a spectrum even we have I'd say like every month we have probably three to five people that just show up that are we're here for a conference we saw this on Eventbrite.
We thought it was fun, so we wanted to come out and just knew this would be better than sitting in our hotel room. Wow. Um and so yeah, it's it's always it's great. That's pretty cool. Just like show up, drop in for one. Exactly.
That's awesome. And then we just try to convince them to stay. We're like, you know, you don't have to leave at the end of the conference. Come on. There it is. Economic development.
Exactly. Now, one thing [clears throat] that's interesting is when you go to events that are that have business development people, it becomes uh a who can sling the most business card competition. talk to me like is there what's the vibe? Like is it a vibe where everyone is just like trying to sell you a whole life insurance policy and sling you a business card or like or like I think that getting to the realness of an event is like so crucial. Yeah. I think it's uh everyone has their different level of authenticity at these events.
I'd say for the most part at least what I see and what I feel our our happy hours are more of and we try to go from the the vibe of hey it's been a long week. You're just here actually just to meet people and connect and enjoy a relaxing beverage on a Thursday evening. And so there's not too much business talk. I would say obviously the first question people ask is like, "Hey, where do you live and what do you do for work?" And so that leads to some things. Um, but it's not like uh you bring two names of people to call and somebody else bring because there are some events you like and you know everyone different strokes for different folks like they do their thing however they do it.
But uh sometimes you go to an event and it's like all about like your list of contacts and and it just like I don't know it kind of gives me oh yeah there and like like you said um there's organizations that do that and have those connecting groups and there's expectations and that's definitely 100% not what YPCI is. Ours is more about creating community in Indianapolis. Um and we have a lot of people that aren't business development folks. like a random uh strong poll for for doctors and some people at IU Health that are just like, "Hey, I spend all my time in the hospital and I just want to come out and meet some new people." And so those people have uh very little business development in their their title. Um so yeah, it really is I'd say most of the time it doesn't feel like that.
Um and we I think I strive to make it that environment too. Well, one of the interesting pieces is, you know, over the past five or six years, the craving for connection is bigger than ever. Talk about like a loneliness epidemic. You talk about working remote, staying at your house, all of these different things. Do you have stories of people giving YPCI a try and it and it impacting their life in a positive way? Yeah, I mean I think what I've realized very quickly um from being involved in YPCI on the board level and then just as a member also that when you step outside of your comfort zone there and and you start to build that community, you see that the movers and shakers of Indianapolis are it's a very small group of people that are doing a lot of the same things.
And so being able to see people that come into YPCI just for that first event and then find their community within that. And then it's the same people that are at YPCI, that are at Rev, that are at Rally that you mentioned, that are at all of these events that are happening throughout Indianapolis. And once you find that group of people that's out doing things, it's like your own built-in friend group. So, um, yeah, I mean, that's always great seeing people go to YPCI events and then end the night, head it out with a few, five to 10 people, and it's like, okay, cool. That's exactly what we wanted to create. Like YPCI is a great place to meet people, but it's also supposed to be a springboard to future relationships that are outside the organization, too.
And this is super important when you talk about like limiting brain drain where people end up going to the Chicago, New York, Miami, LA, wherever they might go cuz there's more opportunity. And it's like finding people that are driven and ambitious and want to make an impact. And some of it is like going out and creating it. Like whether it's hosting a happy hour or an event or a run club or a coffee connection, like whatever it is, it's like Indiana's not a place where people are going to say no. But it's like just go out there and start building it and people will come alongside and you'll uncover the movers and shakers and like Yeah, you're totally right. The people that you see at a 5:30 run club are probably the same people you'll see at a YPCI happy hour and the same people you'll see at a charity golf outing on a Saturday.
Like um I'm not saying that it's a it's a I'd say an endearing quality of Indianapolis that it is big yet small. And like I love the vibe where I'll see the same people but in different settings, you know, like uh I I run uh in a Wednesday morning run club and it's like you'll see people at 5:30 in the morning and then it's like you see them out in public and you're like, "Wait, that's what you look like in the daylight." No way. That's crazy. Yeah. Which I always find super interesting.
Yeah. I think I love that part about the board of YPCS. There's around 20 board members that you do two-year terms. But what I've seen very quickly is that these it's a great first step into board life um for young professionals cuz it's it's it's a low barrier of entry, but once you get in, it's like, okay, this is what being on a nonprofit board is kind of like is this a fundraising board? Is this event planning board? Is this a promotion board?
Um and it's a little bit all three. So it's and those are the people that you're going to be serving on boards throughout Indianapolis at nonprofits and other organizations the rest of your career. So how old is YPCI? Right around 20 years. So it's been it's been around for a while. There's a lot of differentations part of a like a is it a node of a national organization?
It is not. Well, it's interesting if like 20 years ago like someone got together and said like it probably just started as like a bunch of friends getting beers. It it makes it interesting too because the hard part about YPCI is that there's so much turnover at the board level that it's hard to get consistency of growth and change and um you find out every few years you have an amazing idea that your board wants to roll out and then you look into the records and it's like oh wait they did this six years ago and it just kind of flopped after that. So um that's what makes it interesting definitely too. Yeah that is super super interesting. What is the age range when you talk about uh like what's what counts as young?
Yeah. So there there's a there's a wide spectrum to it and uh we so our our holistic idea is young at heart is what we always say that's young as the the guy that looks at the finances of the organization. I say uh as young as you want to if you want to pay for the ticket I'll let you in. I don't care how old you are. But the interesting piece though is like it is a instant ROI on the ticket right? Isn't it like 75 bucks or 50 bucks?
Yeah, 75 bucks for a year. You get into every event for free. Um or a one time ticket is 15 bucks. Um but it's 75 bucks for a year and you get two drink tickets at every like do the beer math there. Like back at the napkin beer math. It makes sense.
So if you go to 12 events, are there 12 happy hours throughout the year? 12 events you get two beer. That's 24 beers. Yeah. Is it 75 divided by 24? I don't do public math, but like price per beer you're making.
But if you've seen the price of beer lately, it's not it's not seven bucks a beer normally. So yeah. Well, you just even if let's say it's five bucks a beer even, that's like cheap. Yeah. Five you're you're easily coming out $50 in the green and you'll make some friends along the way. Oh yeah.
And then that doesn't even factor in the coffee events we do that is free coffee every once a month. And okay, here's here's a question. Tell me about a time I mean you've been in the board capacity, you've been a member. How has YPCI positively affected your career? When I think about what it's positively done for my career, one being in just a leadership position at a board level is uh it gives you a new appreciation I think for because you see it yourself of going to board meetings from a from a a not perspective of hey you're giving up your time and your effort and your skills. Um I think what it's shown me as I've been in the president role of like really appreciating that out of my board members of trying to start every meeting with like I know you don't have to be here.
I know you volunteered to be here, so I'm really appreciative of that that time. Um, and I think that's kind of just affected my whole outlook on volunteerism, board membership, and then also I mean work in general of just being very appreciative of the efforts and the talents that people give you. Um, something that I think's affected me from being in the position. What advice do you have for people trying to build relationships and build connections that don't want to come off as transactional? I mean, I think at the end of the day, it's being authentic, which is easy to say, but I really do think that what I when I see successful conversations at YPCI, it's a uh give and take of asking questions and not just trying to tell your story. Um, where I think is a where some people struggle and especially being the president, sometimes you get in conversations that you didn't expect to and then it's like, okay, this isn't really a conversation.
This is more of a speech. Um, so that's just what I always tell try to tell people like, hey, if you're out there connecting with people, just be inquisitive. try to learn their story more than you're trying to share your own story. And at the end of the day, if you go into the mindset of um there's this book called the go-giver and essentially it's like, hey, when you're networking, think of how you can give. And if you continue to think of how you can give and impact other people positively, things come back around to you. So even in our most transactional members, like that's kind of the mindset of like, hey, how can you make those connections that value them and then then it'll come around in the back.
I mean, I always say like the the cheat code to good conversation, whether it's an event or a podcast or anything, is just chase curiosity. Like go in there, it's like, "Well, what brought you here today?" And you'd be like, "Well, I'm the I'm actually like the president." Like, let's say someone net new, totally never met you before, walks up and if you just start asking, "Well, why did you come here today?" You know, you're standing in the back of an event. Usually people have a pretty similar answer like, "I came here to meet new people and make some friends."
And it's like, "Oh, I also came here to make friends." like where are you from, what do you do, blah blah blah. And you just start to like chase these curiosities and that's how good conversation comes versus like telling people all about you. I mean I I always go back to the like be interested not try to be interesting. It's like the more you just ask questions and chase that down like people uh great conversation comes and everybody wants to talk about themsel too. So if you ask that great question they'll walk out of the conversation be like oh that Nate was so curious and kind and blah blah blah blah.
Well, I know this is your podcast, so you're supposed to be asking the question, not me. But I mean, networking, I feel like, is probably a large portion of this role of like how do you get the next host? Is you ask the right or you ask the person for a new intro? Like, how do you see that of like what's your advice to getting connected to the right people? Is it simply just asking and like trying to ask for that intro or is it creating something that's valuable to them or like how do you see yourself? I feel like Indiana is really interesting in that sense where if you have a if you ask a bunch of great questions at the end I'd say like nine times out of 10 someone says you know who you need to meet that's just where you're trying to get to you know who you need to meet like this mover shaker this person and it's like let me introduce you and then they make it happen it's crazy how it works like that um and and it's just like time and time again it's like I have to even like go back and like trace the like coaching tree kind of in my head of like well this person introduced me to her and then she introduced me there and then all of a sudden you like get in like okay so today we have um Allison in here she's like shadowing the podcast and all of a sudden so I found out Allison subtle plug she hosts the in the park in the parks podcast which is part of the get Indiana podcast network and then all of a sudden there's another invisible string where uh she's working with new shoe day the run club that I go to on Wednesdays also has a nonprofit arm and she knows Casey and like Indiana just has a million invisible strings.
Like I bet if we like you could take 10 Hoosiers from every corner of the state, you could put them in a room together and give them an hour in a case of beer and they would find like about 50 invisible strings from all of them of like, wait, my great uncle was your cousin's high school drama teacher or whatever. It's crazy. Yeah. Which I think is the interesting thing about as I was kind of prepping for this of like what makes Indianapolis and Indiana unique. It's that it's that that is so true and even true to the largest aspects of the largest things going on in Indianapolis and Indiana. You're so connected.
Like I think of when we hosted the Super Bowl a handful of years ago and like any other city, you wouldn't know anyone connected to the Super Bowl. It'd be like that's a huge national event. But you walk around Indianapolis and like you talk to people and they're like, "Oh yeah, I was on the steering committee for bringing the Super Bowl here." And you're just like, "Oh my gosh." I just interviewed uh actually the podcast just went out or it's going out uh Scott Dorsy and he was the marketing chair of the Super Bowl committee. Yeah.
And he's like this was at the time, listen to this. You talk about saying yes and like getting involved in your community and like taking care of the network. He was in the process of taking Exact Target public or they had just gone public. So he has his own issues to work with as the CEO of a publicly traded company. But he gets tasked and someone asks him and he's like, "Sure, I'll run marketing for the Super Bowl committee." And like all of this is going on at the same time.
It's like he is taking a company public. He's hosting the Super Bowl committee. They end up like, you know, getting the Marriott to do the first ever like Lombardi trophy on there. Like all of these crazy things. And I'm like, how did And he's raising he has four daughters and like a wife. Like the whole thing.
I'm like, you are awesome. Yeah. And that's just like prime Indiana. Be a good citizen. Say yes to a bunch of things. Like take care of your neighbors and be hospitable.
And I mean, do you have stories of that too of like times that people have shown up and, you know, been great role models or great connections and helped open new doors for you? Oh, yeah. I mean, all the time. Like like I I mentioned earlier, I'm I'm in a sales role, so most of it is some someone opening up a door for you and being that right connection. And um yeah, I'd say I the same aspect that you mentioned there of trying to end the conversation should end with like you should really meet XYZ person. Um I mean I can't can't even name how many conversations that have ended like that which has led to to great business relationships and great personal relationships too.
So yeah. And so coming from Pendleton, how different was it from being up in Madison County versus like Indianapolis? Yeah, it it's definitely interesting and I mean it's I I I feel old in the like looking back of like oh my gosh, when was the last time I was living in Pendleton, but no, I think it's been it's been really interesting living next to the cornfields in Pendleton to terote which um I always I still call it terad like I have a very affinity for terote and what it dude tero gets a bad rap. I know that's what Yeah. And I mean that was I was like that was I always call it like the Paris of the Midwest is what terote is in my mind but and then going to South Bend which has its own unique historical perspective. South Bend also gets a bad rap.
I love South. So and then down to Indian it's like they all have their own like hidden gems within them. Um well and I think a lot of that is like hold a mirror up to yourself, right? It's like are these places really that bad or are you just not good at having a good time? you know, like you could put me anywhere and I'm going to figure out a way to have some sort of fun or find something interesting. All of these places have history.
All of these people have a story. And so often it feels like it's urban versus uh rural and it's like how many times has someone, you know, from Pendleton sat down with someone from the big city and like learned about their story and like vice versa. I I that's what I love is being able to sit down and say like, well, there's a reason that people live in New Amsterdam, Indiana, which is the smallest town, 14 people. It's like, you learn that these people are like, I this the stories of living in smalltown Indiana. Like, they're like this the fifth generation. My parents, my parents' parents' parents have like owned and ran this town since 1894.
Like, who would I be to give this thing up now? Yeah. It's like, that's crazy. It's so cool. And I don't know if it's unique to the Hooser experience, but I do feel like everywhere you go, there's a lot of pride in where you're from and the people that live there is like it gets a bad rap. This isn't the the prettiest city in the world, but like this is my city and I'm I'm excited to be a part of the growth of it.
That actually is my biggest advice. Like sometimes I'll like meet with whether it be like mayors or town officials and they're like, "What can we do? How do we make our town the best place?" And it's not put in a brewery. It's not a new walking trail. Like those are all things you can do.
The number one thing is just change the way you talk about home. And that's what we've tried to do with Indiana largely. Like if if we were to drop someone in Chicago, they're like and someone goes, "Where are you from?" They're like, "Better. I'm from Indiana." It's like, "No, you got to look me in the eyes.
I'm from Indiana. There's really cool stuff happening here, you know, like we're about to take your football team, Chicago. What do you think about that?" And you just like have a little bit of pride and and that comes with knowing. Like sometimes you have to just be curious about your place to know what sets it apart. Why is it different?
Why like one of the big things especially in the business world I've dropped this like 10 times in the last like month. But like by market cap the largest publicly traded company this side of the Mississippi is Eli Liy. Not New York, not Miami, not Nashville, Tennessee, not Charlotte. Like the biggest market cap company on the eastern side of the United States is Eli Liy. Like drop that. Yeah, exactly.
Hey Chicago, what do you think about that? you like that is cool. That is something that people will respect and and you can be, you know, pumped up about like lives. The world is being changed from downtown Indianapolis. Start there, then learn some more, you know, there's a ton of natural resources, very interesting things happening. And I think that if people just change the way they talk about home, whether it be Pendleton, whether it be Teroot, whether it be Muny, Indiana or Anderson, and you just find some things that um is there work to do in all those communities and the state of Indiana?
Absolutely. But you have to start by like regarding your home with some pride. And I think that once we once that domino falls, then it's like people have kind of like earned the right to the brewery or the walking trail. But if you just slap a bunch of money at the problem and just say like, "Okay, now we have a brewery. Now we're great." It's like you're just destined to fail in my opinion.
And I think there's there's the aspect of having like the pride in it, but then also realizing like how taking that first step to be like how am I going to be the change that is in this community is going that's that's what makes people feel more involved. That's what's makes them stay in their communities. Is that what makes that's what makes the community better of hey it's started off with me just taking a co-chair position on this board and now it's planning 80 person events for individuals across the community. It's like it's that easy step of just saying like what am I going to do to make a change? It does feel like there's a mass uh migration of young people to Nashville to Austin, Chicago, like New York, LA. I think those ones are kind of like overplayed a little bit, but especially Nashville, Austin, Chicago.
What's your pitch to young people on why Indianapolis versus Austin, Texas? kind of all the things we've talked about so far today is kind of the main pitch of of there is that the Indiana pride, the who's your hospitality and I think the aspect of uh anything that happens in the city kind of feels like all of all of our um achievements and and excitement. So I mean I I think about the I'm a huge Pacers guy, part-time resident at Gamebridge Fieldhouse, but no, like the run to the finals there felt like we were all a part of it in some way. And I don't know if other cities have that same feeling. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But I think that's a big thing with Indianapolis of like whenever something big happens, the the Bears come to the city or a large event happens or a new organization comes comes Indian.
It kind of feels like we're all in it together of hey, we're pulling this. This is this is our excitement. Also, I feel like that's like the cheat code for like events and conferences and games like Final Four. Like there isn't anything else. It is final four. Yeah.
It is Big 10 Championship. It is, you know, college football playoff, like that's all sports. It is work truck week and like people are just fired up about like fireman convention, just great mustaches and muscles all downtown. It's crazy. And it's like people get fired up about that and it's Gen Con, you know, like FFA, corduroy jackets, like you can really take over. And like the the beautiful part about specifically downtown Indianapolis in the mile square is whatever you're excited about, we're excited about.
You're coming in here dressed up, ready to play board games. Sign me up, baby. We've got themed drinks. We've got, you know, the service staff are all coming dressed like Chewbacca. It's great. And uh I think that that is a piece of why like the the size and scope of Indianapolis makes it such a great host city is that like your thing matters here, whatever that might be.
And like I I always say when you're talking about Austin, Nashville, Chicago, like the weather, the music scene, I totally get that. Like if that is your jam, you know, by all means. But if making an impact and like like Indianapolis is a place again two and a half years ago, I was just like another employee at a startup company and like I just had an idea and ran with it and put out some videos and hosted a podcast and just kept going. And along the journey like no one ever said no. They was always like, "Oh yeah, how can I help? Who can I introduce you to?
You need to meet Doug BS. He needs to come on your podcast. You need to meet Allison Langden. She was the president of the Super Bowl committee." And it's like along the way all these doors get opened up and we just driven by making an impact. And I would say time and time again the individuals young old like whatever whatever you're interested in and excited about if you start putting effort towards it the city and the state will come alongside and help you make it happen.
Oh 100%. and and there's some aspect of we're such great hosts in Indianapolis and throughout the city or throughout the state that when something is happening it feels like everyone rallies behind it. So I mean even just like as small as the German Fest downtown Indianapolis on Massav that is a huge event that grow has grown every single year. You think of like the blueberry festival up in Plymouth Indiana and like there's something about these communities in Indiana that it's like hey if something's going on we're all here and we're all making it happen. And I don't know if other cities necessarily have that with so many transplants. Yeah, I do.
That is interesting where uh I feel like Indianapolis there is a lot of uh there is some out of state. It's usually like a Pendleton or a Plymouth or wherever coming to Indianapolis and uh and everyone talks about home for the most part with like a fond affinity. Like I love going back for the blueberry festival or I love going down to Jasper for Strawson Fest. Oh yeah. And it's uh it's great. It's that time of year in Indiana when you don't know if you should leave your house wearing a sweater, a bathing suit, or a poncho.
Unpredictable weather can bring [music] unwanted surprise home issues like flooded basement, broken furnaces, leaking pipes, and even more. Good thing our friends at Hope Plumbing, heating, and cooling are at your service. And they have a coupon for whatever season decides to show up this fall. If you book your next home service appointment with Hope and mention Get Indiana, they're going to give you a [music] free membership for a year. A membership ensures that you have hope for all seasons [music] all year long. Call Hope Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, and start saving today.
Now, let's get back into the show. What advice would you have for someone new to the city of Indianapolis that's trying to get plugged in? The one of the main themes of our conversation to has been saying yes. So, saying yes to the the first opportunity that comes your way because you don't know where that might lead to at some point. And I'd say the piece of advice that I give that I find very hard taking on myself is like walk in the room and realizing that there's a lot of people in the same position you are. So you don't have to know everything before you walk in a room.
You don't have to know everyone before you walk into a room, but walking into the room is what really opens up all the doors for you. And like So you would say you're not like a an overly extroverted person by nature? Uh I wouldn't say so. I mean, I think I I I play I put on a good face and obviously like when I'm in a comfortable situation, I am. Um, but you still like you as the president of YPCI still like you're nervous walking into a room where you don't where you don't believe you're going to know anything. Oh, 100%.
Yeah. All the time. I think if everyone just owns that. Like, dude, I would like to say I can I can extrovert with the most extroverted. I still get a little bit of nerves and jitters walking into a place. It's like, oh gosh, what are you going to say?
Like, who you going to talk to? Like the phone makes it so easy too to just like stand in the corner and scroll and like you know take a call or whatever, text somebody back and and like sometimes you just got to like look yourself in the face and just like take a breath. Go in there and realize, hey, everybody's here to meet new people. Nobody goes to an event to be like, "Oh, I sure hope I don't meet anybody new today." Yeah. I sure hope talk to the one person I know and leave.
Yeah. Yeah. That's I mean Yeah. That's like my worst nightmare is you're walking into an event and there's a bunch of cocktail tables and they're all surrounded with everyone and you're like, "Okay, where the heck do I go?" Um, which is why I try extremely hard in my role as president cuz I understand that responsibility of people walking into the room of like if someone comes in, I need a board member talking to them. I need them asking their story.
I need them saying, "Hey, you should really meet this person. They're at Allison Transmission and blah blah or whatever connections you can make throughout." And it's so easy too to just like have a little bit of awareness there and just open like take two steps back and open up your circle. Just let them in. Come on, ask a good question. Hospitality.
Come on, open it up. Absolutely. Exactly. And there is such a power to being the connector. Mhm. Uh that is when you can make the introduction for someone to someone like that's just like the ultimate power move.
I would say like, oh, you're in healthcare. You need to know my other friend who's in healthcare. and you enter and both people when you know that they're just going to get along like that's one of my favorite thing. You're almost like playing like professional matchmaker. [laughter] You're like, "Oh, you know what? You remind me of my friend Don.
You got to meet Don." Like and then you're like and because then it gives you a chance to like brag about Don. It's like Don is the CEO of blah blah blah blah. It's such a great and Don sitting there like, "Oh my gosh, Nate really thinks this. Holy smokes." And it's a And then you're like, "You got to be my new friend Ted.
Ted is so and they're like I just told him that two minutes ago and he remembered my name and he remembered my job like and it gives you the opportunity to hype these two people up and help them make a connection and that is the ultimate like Indiana power. And I feel like that's a that's a superpower that some people have and some people don't. Like there are those people in your life that are just they're they're thinking about it at all times. And I think I try to do that also probably because I see that part of me where I'm like if I'm in this position I want this teed up perfectly. Like I don't want there to be awkwardness of an introduction here. And so it sounds like you're probably the same way of like, hey, how can I make this so it seems so fluid and easy for these two people to connect and have a conversation?
Then I will say I got the advice once um from one of my mentors. He was Matt, the founder of Powder Egg, cuz it was all about, you know, connecting people. And I would just like fire off introductions to people like, "Oh, you need to meet them. Like, trust me, so if I make an introduction for you, just trust that I'll only send you good people." and he gave me really good advice early on this like always get people's permission to Yeah. Like when you're gonna make an introduction, don't just like introduce someone cold out of the blue.
Like give them, hey, I met John. John is interested in X, Y, and Z, and I thought you'd just be an amazing resource. And like are you okay if I make an introduction? And you I would say like nine times out of 10 people are like yes or like hey I'm just really busy right now so just make sure you preface it with like it'll be a few months but like the having that like preface of like double opting in is just game changer like that really like lay it's almost like you uh if you're planting seeds it's like that's like tilling the ground and making sure everyone is excited about this potential uh gestation period of the seed you know and it like lays the ground work for that. So, uh I would just say that was like one of my big pieces. Again, we're we're giving you networking and uh networking and relationship building advice here is when you get the buyin from both sides there.
And when you're at an event, like everyone's there to meet everybody, but you're like, "Oh, you need to meet my buddy. I'll I'll make you an introduction." It's like getting both sides that just like helps make things uh progress along a little easier. 100%. Yeah. The last thing you want to be is the person that's always sending out cold introductions and it's like, "Okay, I didn't want to meet the seventh financial adviser you sent me."
So, it's like, yeah, definitely getting developing that relationship and understanding that if you do get some uh interesting connections, like the easiest way to burn a bridge is like someone that you have in your network that you introduce someone that's like a waste of their time and tries to sell them an insurance policy or whatever. It's like no quicker way to like get an email saying, "Hey, by the way, please don't do that again." As someone who's gotten that email before, again, I had to learn the hard way. Make sure you get both people's optin. Like you don't want to just send them up to get a sale. Dude, do you know who does this really well?
They have a whole freaking app for it. You ever sat through a Cutco meeting? Mm-m. Dude. Oh, you mean like the knives? The knives.
Okay. Yeah, bro. I had a high school kid come to me and he was like, "Can I do this presentation?" I'm like, "Absolutely." You know, of course. He's like, "Cool.
They have this app." And the app, you have to like give them certain codes throughout their presentation and they have to be x amount of minutes apart. So that like it basically just shows that they're running their whole presentation. And at the end, great. Like by the end I just like wanted to buy because it was a high school kid and he had a whole 60-minute pitch and I was like saw the hustle. I was like, "Dude, then they like $120 knife."
I'm like, [laughter] "All right, we're in." But at the end they're like, "Do you?" He didn't ask, "Do you know anyone else who wants to buy knives?" I think he said, "Do you know anyone else he wants to support high school entrepreneurship?" And you're like, I know so many people, [laughter] dude. He was like, great, pull out that app.
What were their name? And he like clicked like four names of like my friends who like support high school entrepreneurs. And it made group chats with them on iMessage that included his number and it was like, "Hey, hey Boyd. Uh, [laughter] hey Boyd, meet my new friend, Mike. Mike, uh, is a a high school representative of Cutco. He just gave me this awesome presentation.
I actually ended up buying a knife from him. Like, I hope you guys find time to connect. I noticed your knives were dull at the last dinner party. And I was just like, "Oh my gosh, this is like the greatest referral tool ever." Oh, yeah. But it was crazy.
I literally pressed like two buttons and like I had four group messages started and like I felt good. Like I didn't feel bad doing it because one I know that they would support high school entrepreneurship and two like the kid is an all-time grinder. But I was like, I did not see that coming where it was just gonna create group chats. It was wild, man. Um, is Cutco a sponsor of this pon podcast? Not yet.
No, no free advertising. Please blur out please blur out any uh name drops there. Um, are there any events that you guys have been wanting to do that like, you know, this is on the calendar like or this is on the idea pad for the future? Um, yeah. I mean, I think at the end of the day, like our we've had uh hashtag road to 200 has been a big thing that we're trying to do of like what can we what event venue can we have and what event can we host where we have over 200 members. It's kind of like a a random goal that the the board has set.
So, um I think from a sporting aspect, there's always been that aspect of, hey, we'd love to figure out something with the Indianapolis Pacers. I'd love to figure out something. We've done the uh the volleyball team. We had an event there last year night. We're doing Shout out to Pepper. There we go.
I I have a picture with Pepper. Um but we they set us up really awesome courtside venue of hey happy hour just right next to a volleyball game going on. But so that's that's always the hey what can we do to get involved with the the Colts and the Pacers and all these large organizations in town and and show them uh the value we can bring there too. So heck yeah. Okay. This next question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart.
They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homejcart. com. If you're a young professional in central Indiana, you're looking for a great place to live, JC Art has some great properties. They have uh Penrose down on Massav like the penthouse spot. It's sick.
But yeah, the question, why do you call Indiana home? When I think of calling Indiana home, the easiest answer is you grow up here and you have family here. That's like the reason that it's it's officially my home. But maybe the the reason I stay is what I've seen in the the YPCI world and the networking world of how easy it is to make an impact. And I think that like in my core when I think about Indianapolis and and the pride I have for Indianapolis and Indiana, the reason it's home is cuz I feel like I could make an impact on some things. Um, and I think that as more and more things come to Indianapolis and more exciting opportunities, there is something within me that that feels like I'm going to be a part of that, which makes makes it my home.
I love that. Okay, got some rapid fire questions for you. You have met young professionals that have worked at probably almost every company in Indianapolis, you know, like I mean you guys have tons of members, tons of people that pop in for events. What company in Indianapolis has the best company culture? One that just comes off top of my head, not because they're a corporate sponsor of ours, but um Allison Transmission. I have engineers like to have fun.
five or six buddies uh of mine have all moved to Allison in the last four or five years and I'm always shocked how much they enjoy working there and how like they really get behind the mission of the growth and like being in a a staple of Indianapolis and in the Indiana community and so I'm I'm always shocked cuz like you said it's it's engineering buddies that normally aren't that excited about anything and they love talking about Allison transmission so I love that that's a yeah that's a good one. Okay, besides a YPCI event, what is a mustattend event for a young professional in Indianapolis? I'd say the German Fest. I'm just excited for German Fest coming up in October this year. So, it's down uh at Aanam. I don't know if you've been to the they have wiener dog races.
Have perfect. I assume you had. So, yeah. I always call that the the cutest spectacle in racing. Um and so I've been going for the last four or five years and that's that's one that I'm like if you're if you want to feel the mass, that's the mass right there. Oh yeah, dude.
the the name is crazy. The whole thing Raskeller like everything they have going on there. Fire. Okay. You talked about coffee shops. You talked about, you know, you guys are hosting YPCI coffee chats all over the city.
What's your favorite Indianapolis coffee shop as a self-lavored uh coffee connoisseur? I have to give two. I can't give one. Uh my neighborhood is uh Red Door Cafe Coffee. If you've ever been there. No.
It's right off New York. um a few blocks. It's kind of like right near in that Lockerby neighborhood. It's connected to an old church that's a a wedding venue and an event venue. They were our first place to actually host one of our indie coffee connections. And that's that's my go-to.
They've got uh some great scones, some great coffee, and an amazing place just to Oh, I know that. Yeah. Yeah. Red Door Cafe. So, there's that one. And then the other one, um sticking with my my Massav theme, Caffeine Coffee, right?
Kind of hidden tucked back there is always like a Oh, wow. This place is nice. Um, good vibe. Good. Yeah. And they open up the door.
Spell with a K. Spelled with a K. That's a good one. All right. What's yours? Uh, lately I've been on the convenience kick.
So, I go to Hoverard and Cravens across the street. Uh, back in the day when uh I would work from a coffee shop for like basically the entire day. I would go to Java House in Broadripple. They open up the garage doors. You're right on the Monan. It's great.
My favorite coffee, it's not really a shop. My favorite coffee in central Indiana is Eli. Okay. They he has a cart in Oswell up in Caramel. Okay, dude. I haven't heard of this before.
Eli. So, you can go into Oswell. You don't have to be a member. You can go in there and buy Eli's coffee, dude. The greatest ice lattes, the greatest iced coffee in central Indiana. And I'm not I'm not exaggerating.
He like weighs everything out on a little scale. He uses like only real ingredients. M uh he has he has like um I think he has 100,000 followers on like on like coffee talk. Like he just like creates awesome content. Local entrepreneur. He is just a beast and his coffee is so good.
Matcha coffee. Okay. He like did a he did a collab. Have you ever heard of the Peach Truck? I haven't heard. It's like this uh it's like this Instagram phenomenon.
Yeah. And they like sell peaches all across the country. and he did a collab with them and did like a dude just such good coffee. I I cannot recommend it more. I am drinking my Huburn and Cravens today. But I will get Eli nine times out of 10.
Okay. Yeah. I mean that's that's the beauty of uh when I first moved to Indianapolis, I followed the Indianapolis coffee guide on Instagram and that was like my my uh step into hey, Indianapolis's coffee scene is is incredible. And [clears throat] so like you think of like recess, the new place that opened up that's matcha. Yeah, there's a new like community one down in Fountain Square that I can't remember what it's called, but um yeah, there's always something new. Are you an office or a co-working space guy?
Office. Yeah. Where's your guys' office at? Right uh South Carmel. So, I work at Gibson Insurance. Um so, yeah, right on right at where all the construction on the roundabouts is right off college.
So, nice. I'm excited for a quick commute soon. Okay. What's one Indianapolis tradition that every transplant needs to experience? Going to a Colts tailgate. Getting out there in front of the stadium is just kind of a whole different vibe.
Touchdown. Touchdown town. Jim Urs's touchdown town. Yeah, there there's nothing like it. So, so doing that and then I think getting into Gamebridge Fieldhouse for a game, if it's a Fever game, if it's a Pacer game, if it's a a high school state championship game, sitting in that arena that was built for basketball is just something something different. So, the last time I was in touchdown town, inflation had not hit those beers.
It was like two bucks a beer. before a Colts game on Monday Night Football. It was electric. Yeah. Just like, oh, let's I think there's been a little bit of inflation there, but pro probably not much, you know. Come on.
Let's, you know, if we if we can take one guitar's profits and proceeds to just put it towards Touchdown, keep the beers at $2, get them back there. It will, Dude, it's like you bring 20 bucks and you're going to have a heck of a heck of a game. You might not make it to the second half, but you're going to have heck. You're going to have a good time. You're going to have a good time outside. All right, we've come to the final part of the show where we ask every guest the same three questions.
all about Indiana. First, this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to be talking about. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? Two things came to mind when I prepared for this question. Obviously, I can't just do one. Um, I think the the the classy answer for me is uh I live right downtown off Massav.
So, this neighborhood of Lockerby and I was thinking of like what when I'm in Indianapolis, like where is the time where I'm like this is an amazing city and it's a late summer night walking through Lockerby with a mom water in your hand. Um, oh yeah, mom water plug. Um, but then just kind of walking through it feels like you're in a whole different world and it's like we are 2 minutes from downtown Indianapolis. There's amazing homes. Um, and just kind of walking through there and enjoying the neighborhood. Lockerby is a sweet little like historic neighborhood.
Oh yeah, it's it's awesome. They've got like brick roads and everything in there. You got you got coffee, you got restaurants, but then the another hidden plug. Uh have you ever been to Rustic Miniolf and Driving Range? It's kind of souththeast Indianapolis. It was a random little hole in the wall that I found in high school and I go there every once in a while.
It's it's not putt putt, it's mini golf. And it's one of those random things that I stumbled across a handful years ago. The difference between putt putt and mini like putt puff is like you're on you're on like either like a turf or a grass and you're putting. This is like a driving range tee with a putter and then like 30 feet to 30 yards down there's like sand with a hole in it's like what when you think what's the difference between mini golf and putt putt? This is what mini golf is. And so it's it's a hole.
It's a hole in the wall. But it's one of those places that I'm always telling the north fighters of like hey if you want little something outside of birdies go down there. What? It's like local Indiana ran mini golf. There's a high schooler working it that Yeah. It's like it's literal miniature golf.
Yeah. Like you have like a you tee off. Exactly. Dude, rustic driving range and mini golf. So, you're going to have to check that one out. Yeah.
Not put. I can tell you every time I've went I've went the 18 holes and then I'm like, "Well, let's double down. Let's do this again." So, it's it's a good time. It's Yeah. Nice.
I love this. I'm like looking at the Oh, wow. There's a bunch of sand in the uh on like the Google maps like sky view. I see lots of bunkers. You see it? Yeah.
No way. Driving range in mini golf. Hold on. Hold on. We're We're not I'm not done with this one. Spending time on this one.
I'm not done with this yet. This is I don't even think they have a website. No. What? It's hidden. It's a gem of sorts.
It is literally a hidden gem. Oh, they have a Facebook page. That's how you know it's good. [laughter] Yeah. People need to find a way to talk about it. There's a Facebook page.
Oh, and they have a they have an Instagram, too. Rustic Golf Indianapolis. 42 followers. They have not Oh, they post though. Shout out. We got to blow rustic rustic out there.
Rustic driving range and mini golf. Okay. I want I'm trying to get like a price point. 15 bucks. 18 holes at Rustic Driving Range and Miniolf is $15. Premier course.
Feels like you're at a peak peak course, you know? Dude, I got to go here. This looks epic. Oh, electric. That's amazing. That is a really good hidden gem.
That might be like a top five for me of all time. We'll take it. We'll take it. That's good. All right. Next.
I mean, obviously you meet tons of individuals that are doing really cool things that are young at heart. Not necessarily have to be young at age, young at heart. Um, I want to know who's a Hooser we need to keep on our radar. Someone who's doing big things. So, after this, I'm headed up to to South actually for a Indiana State alumni event um that my company's hosting. But, um I think the if you've met President Mike Dardard over at Indiana State or if you haven't yet, uh I'm very bullish on what Indiana State's going to be over the next few years, a lot of momentum there that's obviously come through a hard time for higher ed in Indian or Indiana in general.
Um so, I think that's fun to watch. Like, I'm I'm a sycamore, I bleed blue. Um so, I'm saying everyone watch out. Here we come. Um, but yeah, he's doing some great things and his whole leadership team's awesome over there. So, I love that.
Let's go. Sycamores, baby. People, well, I don't know what year it is, but national runner up, whatever that year was with Larry Bird. Yeah, that year. Up 80. No, 1979.
Boom. People forget that was close. I almost lost my uh Sickmore pin there if I would have messed that one up. So, dude, that was a I didn't even realize. 7371. That's crazy.
Yeah. And I love that AI says that remains their only appearance in the final. No, we didn't say that. See, when I was there, we weren't running up anything, but I mean, the Bali who's still there, you know, it's a when I was there, we always said we had the most trees on any campus in the US. I don't know if that's true, but we we claimed a few things and and I know I mean, and then you had uh what they name him uh Abdul Jabbar. Like that guy, he's electric.
I think he just made the summer league roster for the Lakers. I don't know if he made the team or not, but yeah, dude, you might need Robbie Alva. Ala. Uh yeah, you might just have to like roster him just for like the the comedic effect, right? Exactly. Right.
Uh all right, final question of the show. When you think about your time from Pendleton to Teroot to Southbend, Indianapolis, you think about Pacers games, when you think about networking events, summer nights downtown. You close your eyes and you think about your favorite memory. What is your favorite Indiana memory? game three finals last year sitting in my season tickets and just kind of feeling like we were all in this together, like we finally did it. We finally made it.
Um, and so I remember sitting there and like getting choked up as I was watching my team make a run to the finals. So, uh, that was an amazing time to be in the city and be in Indiana. So, I think that's probably my number one moment right now. And I'm hoping I get to replace it sometime here soon. So, Amen. We'll see.
I love it, man. Well, hey Jack, this has been so fun getting to learn more about young professionals of central Indiana, YPCI, way easier to say. Getting to learn more about you and and and just networking and building a community in general. We say time and time again with every guest. I mean, this literally said the people are what make Indiana special. And it's events and organizations like your guys' that give people the opportunity to tap into the greatest resource that Indiana has to offer, which is Hoosiers.
And I think showing up at an event, going to whether it be a happy hour, a coffee connect, the golf outing, the oh the casino night, the casino night gala, like whatever it might be. Or if it's another organization's events, whatever it is, get out there, go. Everybody feels the same way. Like, you know, everybody is going there that's a little bit nervous about meeting new people. go in there, sit down, shake a hand, ask questions, focus on being interested versus being interesting, and uh and good things will come your way. We love organizations like YPCI.
The work you guys are doing is so important. If people want to connect with you, if they want to learn more about YPCI, how can they do that? Yeah, check us out on Instagram is probably the best place, YPCI Social. Um find me on LinkedIn, Jack Kramer. Um and our our organization, Young Professional Central Indiana, on LinkedIn. Those are the best places.
I love it, man. And [music] well, hey, thanks for stopping by. We'll see you at an event and talk to you soon. Sounds good. Thank you. This episode was brought to [music] you by Accounted For Indiana CPAs who built the firm they wish they had existed when they were growing their own businesses.
Forget hourly billing and slow responses. Accounted for wraps tax, bookkeeping, consulting, and virtual CFO services into one simple monthly fee. All cloud-based, all under one roof. You get a real CPA who knows your goals and actually picks up the phone. Check them out at accounted4cpa. com and tell them that the Get In team sent you.