Timeline

2008

With around $200, H7 Network was started in 2008 under the name Tri-State Business Network (everyone called it TBN). We began with 1 meeting place on Tuesdays at 12 pm called O'Charley's in Mason, Ohio. We quickly expanded meeting spots to West Chester, Hyde Park, and Centerville (for a short time) and we collected our very first membership the first week of July, 2008. From July 2008 to Dec 2008, we grew by 60 members. 

2009

We doubled in size to around 150 members this year, added more meetings in Cincy, and celebrated our first Christmas party together at O'Charley's in Mason with 60 members and guests in attendance. We increased the yearly membership from $100 to $150 this year. 

2010

We doubled in size again, had 10 meetings operating, and expanded our meetings from just in Cincinnati to now in Dayton. Springboro was our first meeting in the Dayton area. B2B Max at IKEA in West Chester, Ohio was a huge success with averaging over 100 in attendance to each event. We increased the yearly membership from $150 to $165 this year. 

2011

B2B Max expanded to the Dayton area while adding new meetings in the Dayton area.

2012

Alpha Teams are born. Up to this point, all meetings were run by 2 leaders. Alpha Teams are leadership teams with 5 - 7 on the team. We still use Alpha Teams today to operate all H7 Meetings In Person and Virtual. TBN, the name, now stood for "The Business Network".

2013

We shut down B2B Max and added more meetings in both Cincy and Dayton. 

2014

The Founder, Clayton R. Hicks, began to duplicate all of H7's systems and processes to scale in the future. He called it "The H7 Application". "H7", at this time, stood for Hicks with 7 family members. We increased the yearly membership from $165 to $195 this year.

2015

Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) sent their final cease and desist letter to change the name of our company. We changed the name of our company to H7 Network. "H7" stands for HUB for 7 Connectors. H7 expanded to Columbus and Indianapolis this year. Indianapolis expanded in the form of a "License" and the Founder, Clayton R. Hicks began a new journey to open up Columbus and only knew one professional at the time that lived there. 

2018

H7 Network expands to Michigan and Texas in the form of a "License" agreement. We increased the yearly membership from $195 to $224 this year.

2019

H7 Network expands to North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida in the form of a "License". We increased the yearly membership from $224 to $249 this year.

2020

H7 Network as we knew it was shut down due to the pandemic. We shut down 40 meetings in Cincy, 20 meetings in Dayton, 36 meetings in Central Ohio, and 18 in Indy (all In Person). We kept the doors open for the members and guests virtually over zoom. The Founder, Clayton R. Hicks and Janet Greer (Ops Manager) ran zoom meetings every day of the week at 8:30 a and 12 p beginning March 16th, 2020. By June 1st, we had several groups within H7 Network going back In Person leaving mostly members that are B2B with the pandemic on the virtual meetings. B2B H7V was born in May holding its 1st meeting on June 5th at 12 pm. July 6th, we opened up another B2B H7V at 12 pm due to the growth of the Friday group. August 6th, we opened up another B2B H7V at 12 pm due to the growth. In 2020, the B2B H7V grew by 180 members. The In Person meetings were only being held for members and the meeting size was limited by the meeting places. We held our very 1st Virtual Christmas Parties and they were a success. In 2020 our staff evolved as well. We added Janet Greer to be our Operations Manager as well as her Director's position in Indy, SJ Baracony as our Member Relations Coordinator, Terry Dismore as our Central Ohio Market Area Director, and Janice Domke as our Rochester, MN Market Area Director. We also added CSA Certifications (intentional 1:1 training), training videos and Live training for members only. Evolve Women's Network also separated from H7 Network to become its own entity.

2021

H7 Network, now a Franchise, became a hybrid networking organization with meetings In Person and Virtual meetings that are regional and national for the B2B professional. We have 500 members now in our B2B program, (1,500 total members with an 89% retention rate average) with members in 19 states, Canada, and Australia. We also have meetings in 9 states.

2022

H7 Network hit a tipping point of growth (after the reset from shutdown in April of 2020) and expansion in July. By July 2022, we began to explode with new groups beginning to form. By December we had started up 38 new groups across the country. By the end of 2022, our B2BV program has 900 members in 45 states and 10 countries made up primarily of Fractional/Outsourced C-Level professionals, Consultants, and Business Coaches. We have newly launched groups in: Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Columbus, OH, Dayton, OH, Ft. Wayne, IN, Rapid City, SD, Houston, TX, Cleveland, OH, Detroit, MI, Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, New York, NY, Boston, MA, New Jersey, Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Las Vegas, NV, Minneapolis, MN, Los Angeles, CA, and Louisville, KY. Find a meeting near you, In Person or Virtual.