Tune in for a chat with Tim Haag and Mindy Chumbley, President and Board Member of ACA International, about the upcoming #ACAVisionaries and #ACAFallForum events taking place in Chicago, November 5-8, 2024. While the focus of Visionaries is people, the focus of Fall Forum is operations. With exciting networking opportunities and more panels than ever, this is a don’t-miss event for collection agencies to gather, get inspired, and be encouraged with insights, ideas, and innovations to bring home and apply to their businesses. Learn more with this week’s #ReceivablesPodcast, hosted by Adam Parks.
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Adam Parks (00:01.244)
Hello, everybody. Adam Parks here with another episode of receivables roundtable. Today I am here with two ACA international superstars here to talk to us about the fall form coming up in Chicago at the beginning of November. Really looking forward to wrapping up my year with ACA out there. So today I've got both Mindy and Tim who are representing ACA. How are you people doing today?
Mindy Chumbley (00:27.938)
Good.
Tim Haag (00:27.956)
Doing wonderful. Happy to be here. Thanks for having us, Adam.
Adam Parks (00:32.142)
Absolutely, well I appreciate you coming on and having a chat with me just for a little bit of context for anybody who is not as active in the ACA community. Mindy, could you tell everyone a little bit about yourself and how you got to the seat that you're in today?
Mindy Chumbley (00:32.277)
This is a -
Mindy Chumbley (00:44.81)
Absolutely. I feel like I just kept talking until people opened the door and let me in is what I did. So I own a small agency in Washington state and spent five years doing the chairs there of the Washington collectors association. I spent a lot of time doing legislative advocacy and realized that with all the consolidation going on in our industry that that someone from small business and small agency and you know, state
that is brutally abused occasionally that somebody had to speak up for the little guy and that's what I kept talking about. And so now I am a board member and excited to continue the great work that ACA has done. I tell people all the time that I don't think my shop would still be open if it wasn't for ACA and for the Washington Collectors Association. And so it's really out of gratitude that I ran and why I'm here. So I'm just gonna keep talking about it.
Adam Parks (01:40.262)
I absolutely love that story. I think that the small business is often underrepresented in the space and glad to see you out there making that effort. Tim, I know a lot of people are familiar with your other appearances on the podcast, but could you give everyone a brief story about yourself and how you get to the seat that you're in today?
Tim Haag (01:59.498)
Yeah, perfectly fine. So we're a family business. So I didn't have a choice. I was born into this industry. So I'm actually a third generation member of our family business founded by my grandfather in 1949. So we're celebrating 75 years here in Madison, Wisconsin. That is home. We're 100 % health care, both first party, bad debt, some insurance work also.
Adam Parks (02:04.936)
Okay.
Tim Haag (02:24.298)
My involvement with ACA came at a very young age. it funny, my mom just asked me about this because she was out for the convention, seeing me take the president's role for ACA in 2024, 2025. But I think I was probably six or seven, maybe eight years old. They used to have a kids program, part of ACA annual convention. And so many of the people that I know in the industry were.
from family businesses, they're still involved. So back when we were, know, seven, eight, nine, up to teenagers, I think it was shortly after our group kind of graduated from that, that they stopped doing it because we were too hard to handle through those. I remember being at a convention in Reno once and yes, you had a bunch of 12, 13 year old kids running through throwing quarters in the slot machines. That was not a good thing. But so then get back to present day.
I joined our family business 15 years ago. My family and specifically my father has always been extremely involved with ACA and he taught me very early on that this is a, it's a large industry but a small industry. And we're friends with everybody. There's plenty of business for everybody. So let's go out and let's help others with the success that we've had over the years. And more importantly, tell them about our failures so they don't fall in the same thing.
Adam Parks (03:29.361)
Mm
Adam Parks (03:35.847)
Mm
Tim Haag (03:49.286)
Education has been something and giving back to this industry is something that's always been a big part of State and the Hague family. so joined the board a few years back and was kind of pushed into that by both friends, family. Very happy that I did so. And then now I had the opportunity to become president of ACA. And I think it's a critical time and a good time, but looking forward to it. So again, thanks for having us.
Adam Parks (04:16.07)
Well, congratulations on the new role. It's very exciting to see you kind of take the reins there. I think on some level, we all kind of get pushed into our board service or recruited, I believe is the term that we like to use.
Tim Haag (04:28.594)
That's the proper term, but it's not recruited, as you know. I like that one,
Mindy Chumbley (04:32.652)
It's voluntold.
Adam Parks (04:34.034)
I like that one, Minty, I like that. So now I'm very excited that we're coming up and we're gonna wrap up our year in Chicago right on the corner of Wacker in Michigan in the heart of it all, really. So talk to me a little bit about what we should expect at the Fall Forum Conference this year.
Tim Haag (04:55.763)
Maybe you are kicked off.
Mindy Chumbley (04:57.186)
love Chicago. So for what you expect from this city is amazing music, really good food, some phenomenal museums that are right down the road. You can go see there's really good shopping. It's beautiful architecture. Chicago is a great place to come anyway. And then on top of that, you throw, I'll be honest, Fall Forum's one of my favorites. Because it's a little bit smaller and so it's
Adam Parks (05:14.588)
Mm
Mindy Chumbley (05:22.722)
all about relationships. And so if you are looking for a way to find somebody that will do exactly what Tim was talking about and have some mentorship or just to brainstorm ideas, Fall Forum's the place to do it because you really do have time together and all of the sessions are about planning and improvement and innovation and it's really kind of like a think tank all in the middle of Chicago.
Adam Parks (05:24.144)
Mm
Adam Parks (05:49.534)
And with plenty of shared experiences, I always tell people if you want to build a relationship, create a shared experience. So right there on the corner of Michigan and Whacker, you've got the Wendell boat tours, go do an architectural boat tour, go for a walk down Michigan Ave, do a little bit of shopping, tons of incredible restaurants, literally all around. But that is pretty much the center of the world in Chicago. So there's no shortage of those shared experiences to be had.
Now know we were also talking about kind of the visionaries program that's happening leading up to the fall forum this year. What is ACA visionaries? Like what is this program all about? What's its purpose?
Mindy Chumbley (06:29.878)
You know, everybody calls it something different. In my view, what visionaries is, is it's anything that has to do with people. So human resource, human resources, it's about development, it's about breaking barriers, all kinds of barriers. So there is some diversity that happens there, DEI, but that's not it. It's all about the relationships. So if you are interested in coming to Fall Forum and
Adam Parks (06:48.219)
in.
Mindy Chumbley (06:54.336)
you have that extra day to come in early, it will make the entire convention more for you. Jen Whipple, who is going to be president here after Tim, she talked me into wearing a fur coat and pretending I was an influencer. And that's what happened at Visionaries. That is outside my typical, but I'll never forget it. And people know me. And so I feel like my journey really supercharged through Visionaries because it was all about people.
Adam Parks (07:19.626)
Mm
Mindy Chumbley (07:21.836)
And it's just a day early, you're not having to spend a ton of money, it's just a little add on. But visionaries is, some of the things that they're talking about this year is emotional intelligence, dealing with difficult people, connection culture, and then focusing on strengths. So it really is about taking your personal journey and how can you do what you need to do inside yourself in order to amplify your career. I love visionaries, I think it's a ton of fun.
Tim Haag (07:50.516)
Mindy, do we have the self -defense guy coming again this year?
Mindy Chumbley (07:53.77)
I don't know, that was last year. One year we learned how to make cocktails and the next year we did self -defense. So think there's some interesting synergy there. I'm not sure what they're doing this year.
Adam Parks (08:04.554)
But that's also all about that shared experience, right? You're finding an opportunity to share an experience together, whether it's mixing cocktails or flipping Tim upside down, right? Like any which way, like you're creating a shared experience, you're creating a shared story, and that's ultimately the foundation that real relationships are built on.
Tim Haag (08:04.883)
Okay.
Mindy Chumbley (08:13.218)
Yep, that's right. I know.
Tim Haag (08:13.96)
That's right.
Mindy Chumbley (08:24.376)
Well, and you know what else I love about visionaries is it's so positive. It isn't this thing where you're going to go and hear a bunch of guilt trips about how you need to be more or do better. It's not that. It is really encouraging. And so I want people to know that visionaries isn't the kind of thing that you're signed up because you have to check a box. It's not that. It's empowering.
Adam Parks (08:35.377)
Mm
Adam Parks (08:43.524)
Anyway.
Tim Haag (08:46.324)
So I did not attend, and I'll tell you why did in coming up, but I did send four people last year. And I agree with what I heard from them coming out of that was it was just so much energy. And it was not, I mean, it was not your typical conference. It's not your typical day. They got to meet a lot of peers, share a lot of stories. And the best is that evening, they all went to dinner with strangers.
Adam Parks (08:54.032)
Mm
Adam Parks (09:01.681)
Mm -hmm.
Adam Parks (09:15.43)
Mm
Tim Haag (09:15.634)
And they were partnered up with so many people that they were with earlier that day, just randomly. So they already had a chance to get to know some people before the conference, hang out with them. And since then, they stay in touch with those people. So I think it's a great networking event in, as your point is, just high energy and different type of content. the reason I have not attended is I also come in early. And two years ago, I brought my entire leadership team for us. It's easy because...
I'm only about a two hour drive from our office to downtown Chicago. And so we don't have flights. We don't have all that. The cost is reasonable. And most of them are coming for the convention anyway. So we spent an entire day doing strategic planning there at the hotel and ACA helped us get a separate conference room to do that. It was such a success that last year I encouraged our benchmark group to come out and
Adam Parks (09:47.313)
No.
Tim Haag (10:13.232)
not just attend the conference, but come in a day early. So we come in Tuesday night. We all meet for dinner. Awesome restaurants, obviously, as we've talked about. Any bit of food that's probably the hardest decision when you're in Chicago is where are we going to dinner? But there's no bad spot. That's the good thing. But Gibson's got to throw them out there. Shaw's Crab House, another great one. If you want a low -key night, just a good old Chicago pizza. And if you dial me up, I'll put you on the right spots. Not all the tourist spots, but...
Adam Parks (10:26.362)
Fair.
Tim Haag (10:43.206)
Anyways, so we hosted our benchmark meeting there all day. Mindy, I think you've mentioned that you've done that in the past. It's, know, in our busy schedules, we're all going to be there. So why not spend one extra day coming in early? I know the other thing that I've seen vendors do is have their user group meetings. And again, you can reach out to Mary Tau at ACH. She can help you get a conference room, any of the audio equipment and things like that. And so yeah.
It's a great way to kick off and then get into the expo hall that Wednesday after you're done meeting. A lot of great vendors coming this past year. was so surprised and Adam, probably won't be so we've talked about this, how much new tech is coming in and I love new tech in this industry. But at in San Diego last month or back in July, I guess it was now seems like it was not that long ago, but we had 17 new vendors in the expo hall.
Adam Parks (11:26.597)
Good.
Adam Parks (11:38.449)
Wow.
Tim Haag (11:39.038)
That's the exciting thing about this industry is we talk about consolidation from a company standpoint, but not from a staffing standpoint and obviously not from a technology standpoint. So come meet the new vendors, your existing vendors and see what they all have to offer. And then as Mindy mentioned, a number of great sessions. Some of the highlights that I saw strategic planning.
Adam Parks (11:41.402)
Mm -hmm.
Adam Parks (11:50.61)
Sure.
Tim Haag (12:05.342)
tech and innovation, we just got done. I'm a tech guy, I love learning about the new stuff. Compliance for any of your attorneys or your compliance folks. There are CLEs available for those, so there's a whole track just dedicated to the attorneys. So yeah, a lot of good stuff.
Mindy Chumbley (12:23.596)
You know, I'll add to that. One of the things I like that they do a lot at Fall Forum is the panel topics, where instead of it just being a session that you sit and listen, there are certainly some of those and they're very informative. But I like the panels because you hear from perspective on issues that are complicated. And sometimes there isn't necessarily one right answer. And so hearing a panel gives you not just fresh ideas and new processes, but it also gives you more people in your network.
Adam Parks (12:23.9)
Thanks.
Adam Parks (12:29.127)
Okay.
Adam Parks (12:36.294)
Hmm.
Mindy Chumbley (12:51.042)
because that's my favorite thing about ACA is that people are so helpful. And there's been many times where I've sat in a session and gone up and talked to a speaker afterwards. They'll hand me my card. And the next week I've got an email that is dialed into my specific situation. And I love what you said at the beginning, Tim, about how there's enough business for all of us. And back to...
Adam Parks (12:51.633)
V
Adam Parks (13:14.053)
Mm
Mindy Chumbley (13:15.668)
know, preach into my little guys, come to Fall Forum. If you are wanting to be one of the small agencies who stays and thrives and is, you know, a vibrant, bright voice in your area, come to Fall Forum because you will find partners who want to help you stay. And if you are an agency that's looking to consolidate and leaving, then you need to come to Fall Forum too because you need those relationships to find the right exit strategy.
Because even if you sell your agency, there's still room in this industry for you career wise. And like you said, we're not going to have a headcount shrinkage. There's enough business for all of us to build really great careers. And so it's going to be about who you know and Fall Forum is a perfect place to build that resume, to make more relationships, and to figure out, OK, what does it look like for me to stay in this industry? And it looks like you know and the people that you need to know. And that looks like Fall Forum.
Adam Parks (13:47.76)
Mm
Tim Haag (14:11.018)
So I'll add to that. One thing that I've done over the last few years is as members of my staff want to attend, say, fall forum, and that's a good one for us, again, because it's two hours away in Chicago. But I ask them, OK, if you want to go, write down what your goals for that meeting are. Look at the agenda. Pick the sessions you're going to go to and what you hope to achieve there. But most importantly, every single session you go into,
I want you to meet one new person. And I said, exchange business cards. We still have a ton of them around because we didn't use them for three or four years during COVID. But then when they come back, I asked them within a week of when they come back to just real simple, either in an email, sometimes I've had staff put as much as 20 page PowerPoints together to tell me what they achieved. And then more importantly, now you have this information, what are you going to do with
Mindy Chumbley (15:09.869)
Yes.
Tim Haag (15:09.896)
So that way it's not just dropped and you should do that if you're coming by yourself and or if you want to bring some other members of your staff with. Challenge yourself and challenge that. you get the most out
Mindy Chumbley (15:21.484)
No, I have a colleague at another agency who says that she takes what she's looking for when she comes to any conference is what's actionable. What can I do next week? What's something that I can add or sometimes more importantly, what's something I can stop that's going to make a difference for my coworkers and I? So come to a full forum, figure out what's actionable, because then you can go to your boss, too, or to your budget committee, or even to yourself and justify spending that money and why it's
had a difference in your bottom line.
Tim Haag (15:53.04)
Any conference you attend, there should be a huge ROI if you take it seriously and if you follow through with it. So it's well worth
Adam Parks (15:53.308)
to.
Adam Parks (15:57.244)
Sure.
Mindy Chumbley (16:00.141)
Yep.
Adam Parks (16:02.194)
I always saw people plan in advance, right? Don't don't don't start planning for your conference the week before the conference because the good meeting times the meals the things right like it's a lot harder to engage. So for me, like I'm already moving into planning like September 1 is right around the corner for us. I'm going to be planning out as soon as humanly possible and starting to get those things in place. We've already got our dinners booked like
we start that process early, start early so that you can get the most out of these investments. And as you start looking at something like Fall Forum, it's a great opportunity for end of the year planning. So as we're about to go into our November and December, you know, what are we going to do in 2025 meetings, I think coming out with such positive energy from the visionaries program, right, such positive energy from the sessions, the educational actionable items that we can derive from these sessions.
I think ultimately is what fuels our fuels, excitement going into the following year. So I really do enjoy the timing of getting to go to fall.
Mindy Chumbley (17:07.992)
Plus, Adam, have you ever been to the Chicago Institute of Art? Because if not, you need to go. It's stunning.
Adam Parks (17:14.884)
I have spent a lot of time on that particular intersection of Wacker in Michigan. And I guess the shared experiences at any conference is the greatest opportunity. It's always where I try to make sure that I make an investment both in my time and in terms of, you know, not necessarily.
Mindy Chumbley (17:19.851)
It's amazing.
Adam Parks (17:33.904)
cash even right like just going to these museums spending time together breaking bread sharing a meal. There are so many incredible things to be doing in Chicago. But I do want to thank both of you for coming on and having a quick chat with me today about the fall form. I'm looking forward to seeing you there. And really just a couple of short months it'll be here before we know it.
Mindy Chumbley (17:57.45)
And anybody who's watching who, you know, feels like I don't know anybody, now you know three people who are going to be there. Come find us. We will point you in the direction. We'll help you find your people.
Adam Parks (18:08.218)
I absolutely love that. those of you that are watching, if you have additional questions you'd like to ask Mindy, Tim, or myself, you can leave those in the comments below on LinkedIn and YouTube and we'll be responding to those. Or if you have additional topics you'd like to see us discuss, you can leave those in the comments below as well. And hopefully I can get them to come back at least one more time to help me to continue to create great content for a great industry. But until I see you at the Fall Forum, it's been great chatting with you today. I look forward to seeing you in Chicago.
Tim Haag (18:34.11)
Sounds great. Thank you, Adam.
Mindy Chumbley (18:34.35)
Sounds good, thank you.
Adam Parks (18:36.43)
And thank you everybody for watching today. We'll see you all again soon.
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