Come here to grow. On purpose.

BusinessGPS is a weekly growth community. We build people. People build relationships. Relationships build business.

Apply to be a member What is BusinessGPS?

Visiting is free. Always.

Do these things and it will change your life. That’s a bold claim. It’s also the one you’ll be making a year from the day you join. Just like everyone else does.

This is not a networking group.

Of course we network. But if you’re looking for just a networking group, this isn’t it. It’s a launch pad for growth.

Apply to be a member

Is BusinessGPS for you?

It is if…

You want:

To grow.
To be better.
To be an active part of transforming your community.
To build authentic relationships.
Real opportunity that creates real, transformative results.

You don't want:

To be forced to give referrals to people you wouldn't do business with.
Made-up referrals wasting your time and everyone else's.
The same elevator pitch, week after week, year after year.
Another networking event.

We know — because those are all the things we wanted, and all the things we didn’t want.

When we couldn’t find it, we built it from scratch.

Nearly ten years running

What’s asked of you

This room asks something of you.

BusinessGPS is intentional. Structured. Protected. It works because every member agrees to the same things:

If that reads like a filter, it is.

Members of a St. Louis BusinessGPS chapter together after a meeting

Show up.
Every week, same day, same time. The room only works when it's whole.
Come to grow.
Personally and professionally. If you're finished growing, this isn't your room.
Give something.
Your attention, your experience, your feedback. Everyone has something to teach. Everyone has something to learn.
Be worth the seat.
One member per industry. Your category is protected — earn that.

How the whole thing works

L.I.N.K. is what makes the magic.

Listen.
Invest.
Nurture.
Kindle.

Everyone has something to teach. Everyone has something to learn.

How a meeting runs

Seventy minutes. Hard stop.

The Welcome (5 min)
Leadership opens the room.
The Introductions (10-15 min)
Guests say hello. Members answer one shared prompt.
The Centerpiece (30-40 min)
The working heart of the meeting.
Takeaways & Wins (flexes)
What's leaving the room with you.
The Close (5 min)
Five minutes, then the hard stop.

See the whole meeting

Chapter mechanics

The shape of a chapter.

Once
a week
70
minutes, hard stop
30
members max
1
member per industry
13-week growth cycle
8
leadership seats
1
community impacted
A room
transformed

Referrals

We track referrals. We just don’t demand them.

Referrals matter, so we count them. Tracking is one of the ten focus areas, and a dedicated leadership seat — the Growth Keeper — owns it in every chapter. What no one can track is the growth that comes from being in the room: the partnership formed over coffee, the business that got better because its owner did, the deal that closed eighteen months later. That part is attributed to your presence here — not to a referral slip.

“You can always count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can never count the number of apples in a seed.”

Darnell Self

The referral is the seed. The orchard is why you’re here.

What this isn’t.

Not a referral quota group.
Referrals are tracked, never demanded. No scorecards ranking you.
Not a classroom.
No instructor at the front, no audience.
Not a mixer.
Handing cards to strangers isn't the point.
Not a contract.
Month to month. Nothing to sign away.

“I was uncomfortable being asked to bring referrals to people I wouldn’t do business with myself. I couldn’t do it. So I started BusinessGPS.”

Jim Shelvy · Founder

Since 2017

Ten years of rooms.

2017
BusinessGPS launches its first chapter out of the NexCore building in St. Louis and grows to multiple chapters.
Since
The ideas — Listen, Invest, Nurture, Kindle — are taught in its rooms from the start.
2026
BusinessGPS relaunches. Same beliefs, built to reach even further.

Members of a BusinessGPS chapter, St. Louis

Read the history

Member voices

People who were in the room.

“BusinessGPS was so much more than an educational program. It was an experience that helped me grow both personally and professionally. It made learning fun, gave me an opportunity to build genuine connections, and introduced me to people who became lifelong friends. The knowledge was valuable, but the relationships and sense of community are what made BusinessGPS truly unforgettable.”
Taylor MillerChief Impact Officer, The South County Chamber
“I was part of the original BusinessGPS. I really valued the connections and the workshops with the other members — collaborating with different kinds of businesses and realising we all faced similar challenges.”
Will SchatzProfessional golfer and instructor
“BusinessGPS is a place for connections, collaborations. A coalition of common purpose, a sense of family where everyone wants to see you succeed and be your best self.”
Molly CallMortgage Professional
“BusinessGPS is an incredible networking group with a diverse array of members hailing from every corner of industry.
If you are passionate about improving yourself as a business leader, or, if networking is important to your business, you need to visit BusinessGPS.”
Lewis MartySimploy
“The meetings have been well organized to not only meet people but to grow people. What I mean by that is we weekly meet and go through excercises that enhance our lives personally and professionally. Helping us be more self aware of our strengths and weakness. Truly the best networking group that I have participated in.”
Feliz TovarFinancial Advisor
Quote coming — Bernadette Corbeil has been asked.
Bernadette CorbeilArtemis Construction

$5995

Per month

Same price for every member
No processing fee, no initiation fee
No contract — month to month
No renewal date, no expiring term
All chapter materials provided
Visiting is free. Always.

Ready, or just curious?

Visit a meeting, apply to be a member, or tell us you’d like to start a chapter of your own.

Apply to be a member Find a chapter

Visiting is free. Always.