Latest / Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections / Networking Unleashed: An Interview with Mike Hayes and Michael A Forman, Professional Speaker

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Networking Unleashed: An Interview with Mike Hayes and Michael A Forman, Professional Speaker · Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections

• 0:14
  Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building
• 0:17
  Profitable Connections, the podcast where we
• 0:21
  dive deep into the strategies, tools, and mindset
• 0:24
  shifts that turn conversations into real opportunities.
• 0:28
  Now, today's episode is a game changer. We're
• 0:32
  tackling a hot topic, AI networking versus local
• 0:36
  networking. Can chat GPT really help you build
• 0:40
  stronger connections, or does something replace
• 0:42
  the power of a handshake and face -to -face conversation?
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  My guest is the perfect person to unpack this.
• 0:50
  With a background in both AI -driven networking
• 0:54
  and boots -on -the -ground local relationship
• 0:57
  building, we're going to explore how technology
• 1:00
  can amplify your reach without sacrificing authenticity.
• 1:04
  Why connections? why local connections still
• 1:08
  matter more than ever, and how the smartest professionals
• 1:12
  are blending the two into multiple results. So
• 1:16
  if you've ever wondered whether to learn into
• 1:19
  automation or double down on community, this
• 1:24
  is a conversation you can't afford to miss. So
• 1:27
  let's jump in. I'd like to welcome... Mike Hayes.
• 1:31
  Mike and I actually have become friends over
• 1:34
  the past few months, and it's really, this is
• 1:37
  going to be an engaging podcast, which I'm really
• 1:41
  looking forward to. So if you would, Michael,
• 1:44
  welcome to the podcast and tell us a little about
• 1:47
  your background. Okay, thank you, Michael. It's
• 1:51
  great to be here. I'm really excited. I was at
• 1:53
  a network event last night, and I really had
• 1:57
  a real eye -opening experience happen, and I'm
• 1:59
  super stoked about sharing it. So this is the
• 2:02
  perfect time to unleash my energy about it right
• 2:05
  here with you. So let me get back to my background
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  now. Okay, I had... I've had a blessed life.
• 2:12
  Fortune has stepped into my life many times through
• 2:15
  networking and asking questions. I was raised
• 2:18
  by my mom, a teacher, it never hurts to ask.
• 2:21
  And everything that I have gotten in my life
• 2:24
  and I've really attracted everything I really,
• 2:27
  my heart and soul really wanted in my life, love,
• 2:30
  happiness, family, et cetera, by asking questions.
• 2:34
  I'm good at that. And I had a fairly average
• 2:37
  upbringing and - education up to a certain point.
• 2:42
  I graduated from Eastern Michigan University.
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  I was living in my parents' basement, walking
• 2:48
  a mile down to the university in the middle of
• 2:52
  the snow, working in a factory to work my way
• 2:55
  through and to pay for college. I was also working
• 2:59
  at my friend's Ford dealership. And so we were
• 3:03
  friends from third grade. And so I just something
• 3:06
  that I was fascinated with the automobile business.
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  Long story short, after I graduated, there was
• 3:13
  no work in broadcasting. And while I was working
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  on the assembly line, Michael, doing the same
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  thing 1 ,600 times a day, I fantasized about
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  working for Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show
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  to go from the most boring job in the world to
• 3:33
  going to the most exciting job I could visualize,
• 3:37
  okay? So that was my vision in my mind. And did
• 3:43
  I attract that into my life? I think I did. Here's
• 3:46
  what happened. One day after school, I was sitting
• 3:51
  there in my parents' living room reading a book.
• 3:54
  And I thought, I literally thought, there's got
• 3:56
  to be more to life than this. And so I set the
• 4:00
  book down. And I asked my sister to drive me
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  out to the freeway so that I could hitchhike
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  to New York City and ask NBC to let me to go
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  to work for them the way I wanted to. Now, this
• 4:14
  is in the 60s. All I had was a literally a plastic
• 4:18
  garbage bag. I threw all of my stuff into the
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  garbage bag because it was raining. I put on
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  my Navy peacoat and I went out to the freeway
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  and I started to hitchhike. And the first guy
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  that picked me up was an all -night truck driver
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  who let me sleep in the back of his truck. And
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  I slept all the way to New York. And the next
• 4:42
  morning, he bought me breakfast. And it was just
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  like, OK, that was a good start. So then I went
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  to go into NBC. I'm standing outside building
• 4:54
  up courage. And right then, a pigeon. you know
• 4:58
  what, on my shoulder of my jacket, okay? So I
• 5:01
  thought, okay, that's a good start. So I walked
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  into NBC in New York and asked where I could
• 5:08
  go to apply for a job. So they sent me, I believe
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  it was the sixth floor, can't remember exactly.
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  And I walked in and I asked the question, can
• 5:18
  I apply for the job? And the gal behind the counter,
• 5:23
  plexiglass, said, we don't have any jobs. I said,
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  I hitchhiked all the way here from Michigan.
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  Could I at least apply for the job? She slides
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  the application through the little window. And
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  I fill it in. And I slide it back, thinking,
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  OK, I'll head off to CBS or ABC, my second or
• 5:44
  third choices. And I'm walking out of the reception
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  area. All but my heel is out of the room. And
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  I hear, hey, come back in here. And I turned
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  around, I went back, and she goes, you graduated
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  from Eastern Michigan? I said, yeah. She said,
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  I graduated from Eastern Michigan. And talk about
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  asking questions and the law of attraction. So
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  she sent me, this angel sent me off on these.
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  job interviews until I got hired in the apprentice
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  program at NBC at 22 and it's actually statistically
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  harder to get into that program than it is to
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  get into Harvard. The rest of it is just literally
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  a miracle one after the next. That was like a
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  $5 million education, world -class. I couldn't
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  have gotten anywhere else. And that completely
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  changed everything in my life. So do I believe
• 6:46
  in networking? Do I believe in asking questions?
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  Absolutely. It's such a game changer. Now that
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  was the start. It's been a wild adventure ever
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  since, but I want to... Turn the ball, hand the
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  ball back to you, Michael. Mike, I got to tell
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  you, that story just tells me everything about
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  you that I have to know. And that's where your
• 7:08
  heart is in networking. My heart is in networking.
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  Networking is the base of all businesses. And
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  as soon as you believe that, then you'll understand
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  what we are talking about. So here, so let me
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  jump into my first question. How do you see AI
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  tools like ChatGPT reshaping the way professionals
• 7:30
  approach networking compared to traditional face
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  -to -face methods? Okay. I want to broaden the
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  market a little bit from professionals to everybody.
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  And let me explain what I mean. And really, the
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  example came up last night. Now, my premise is
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  this. It's real simple. AI is media. Period.
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  And I actually bought the domain AI is media.
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  That's I absolutely know it and love it and think
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  about it as communication. Now, in the car business,
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  I learned more about human to human communication
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  one to one than I actually did in broadcasting,
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  because that's really where the rubber meets
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  the road in business. Last night I was at an
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  event and people were complaining about their
• 8:19
  inability to get heard and to communicate and
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  saying, gosh, one lady stood up and said, I really
• 8:28
  feel like I need a 12 -year -old to teach me
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  how to use AI because I just don't have the skills.
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  And that's when I realized, stop, wait, you've
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  got... that 12 year old right in your hand, in
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  your laptop or in your phone. If you can take
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  one hour and learn how to use ChatGPT, that is
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  the 12 -year -old that you need to teach you
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  everything else about ChatGPT and about AI. That's
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  what I realized is that ChatGPT, if you can,
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  and what I said is, if you can order a book on
• 9:09
  Amazon, on your phone or on your computer. You
• 9:13
  can order ChatGPT to give you information on
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  demand that you need to reach out to people for
• 9:21
  networking. So that doesn't fit in. Yeah. And
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  lifelong learning is really what it's going to
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  require. And I've been preparing with all of
• 9:32
  my background and all of my training of human
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  to human communication and media communication
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  to help people understand that. You can learn
• 9:43
  to communicate in any part of your life. So I
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  don't think networking at this stage in the AI
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  frontier is only for business anymore. I think
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  it's for everybody, honestly. I can't tell you
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  how many people, teachers, divorcees, people
• 9:58
  going through a divorce that I have helped. to
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  communicate better in all parts of their life.
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  And by learning chat GPT networking to communicate
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  with their spouse's attorney, with their school
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  system as a teacher, with anybody and everybody.
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  Does it work better to make money in the frontier
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  of AI in business networking? Absolutely. So
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  as you can see right over my shoulder. I still
• 10:25
  love the broadcasting of The Tonight Show. So
• 10:29
  I created the Spotlight Tonight Show to spotlight
• 10:33
  people like yourself on my podcast to help people
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  understand who is Michael Foreman and how do
• 10:41
  you unleash networking. Of course, I do it through
• 10:43
  Love Local Networking. And that's where my passion
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  is, Michael. And you said, who is Michael Foreman?
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  And that is such a key thing with my networking.
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  And I have to tell you a little story about our
• 10:59
  friend Abe in California, who has a partner in
• 11:03
  Las Vegas. And once he was talking with him,
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  his partner was saying, Abe, stop for a second.
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  Who is Michael Foreman? And he's like, why? Because
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  his name is all over the place. So this person
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  in Las Vegas was talking to this person in California
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  about me in Georgia. And the only thing that
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  I'm using that level of AI is I'm writing some
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  articles about it and I'm using to brand myself.
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  But AI is a tool that we all use, but it has
• 11:38
  to be one of the tools. And the love local networking
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  is the mainstay. Michael, you and I were talking
• 11:46
  briefly about GEO versus SEO. And that is one
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  of the reasons that our friend Abe Nassar has
• 11:54
  boosted your name up to the top of search by
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  understanding that as one of the three main platforms
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  for amplifying your voice and really getting
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  the story out there. So I just want to give Abe
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  props for his success. And you and I both network
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  with him. And that's what it's all about. It's
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  about a team. Nobody can do it by themselves
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  today. It's a frontier. It's a kind of wild west
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  frontier. And that's why I love checking in with
• 12:24
  Michael Foreman to find out, take your pulse
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  about what's going on in networking. You love
• 12:28
  checking in with me. We learn from each other.
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  We help each other. We share with each other
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  and we want to help everybody. And this is great.
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  And this is only the beginning. This is only
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  the beginning of the AI technology because it
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  changes. I think every week it changes. Okay,
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  let me go on to question number two. What are
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  the biggest opportunities and risks when people
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  lean too heavily on AI -driven networking instead
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  of building authentic local relationships? I
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  don't think it's one or the other. I think it's
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  a two -sided coin and that you really need a
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  blend of both, a fusion of both. Think of it
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  like creating nitroglycerin. When you take two
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  different components, they're just components,
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  but when you put them together... They create
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  an explosive element to it. And that really,
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  to me, is the key to business networking AI,
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  is the blend, the fusion of the two. It's not
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  one or the other. But the caution is, in the
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  era of AI, AI is putting out content, Michael,
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  like a kid's soap bubble machine. Little bubbles,
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  they're floating all over. They're empty, they're
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  light, and they're just floating. They don't
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  mean anything, really. They're even literally
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  empty. And they're not human beings. They can't
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  hire you. They can't buy what you want. They
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  can't really do much. But they fool you and they
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  create an illusion of content. Local networking,
• 14:02
  when you walk into a room and shake hands with
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  somebody and you've met them, as I have met Abe
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  in person, I've driven down to the Roomie Awards
• 14:13
  that he puts on. It has a million followers on
• 14:17
  Facebook. And he invited me into the red carpet
• 14:21
  for the Roomie Awards. I got to meet him, see
• 14:24
  his multi -camera shoot. It was amazing. It was
• 14:27
  really impressive. But I also shook his hand.
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  Then, when I'm in a networking event and I've
• 14:35
  met someone, now I can tell you, if you've never
• 14:39
  met Abe, I can tell you Abe is real. He is a
• 14:43
  physical human being. He is a friend of mine.
• 14:46
  And I can give a testimonial for Abe online because
• 14:52
  I've met him. The only thing you need to be a
• 14:55
  testimonial for somebody is somebody talking
• 14:58
  about you. who's not you. And so when I talk
• 15:02
  about Abe Nassar, this is me talking about Abe.
• 15:05
  It's not Abe talking about Abe, but I've met
• 15:08
  him. So that's why the blend of those two things
• 15:11
  is vital. And it's going to become more and more
• 15:13
  important. When people really start to get lost
• 15:16
  and confused by AI, get grounded. Like you say,
• 15:20
  you put it yesterday, get boots on the ground.
• 15:23
  And that's what you need is get grounded, get
• 15:25
  boots on the ground and blend those two things
• 15:28
  together. Then you've got the best of both worlds.
• 15:31
  I agree. I agree. And when you meet somebody
• 15:34
  face to face, you pick up the vibe of the person,
• 15:38
  the vibe of the room. I've walked into networking
• 15:42
  events where I said, well, you know what? I don't
• 15:45
  like the vibe in here. And everything that I
• 15:48
  was listening to was wrong. And I walked out.
• 15:51
  So you could do the same thing with a person
• 15:53
  saying, you know what? Excuse yourself politely.
• 15:57
  from that one conversation and go to the next.
• 15:59
  But it's very important that you pick up the
• 16:02
  vibe of the person in a room. You brought up
• 16:04
  something vitally important. Let's talk about
• 16:07
  this for a second. You talked about the vibe
• 16:11
  in the room. You talked about politely leaving.
• 16:14
  I know you, Michael, to be a master of hospitality.
• 16:20
  And that word means everything to me. And even
• 16:24
  the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, when
• 16:27
  Johnny, and this is an AI, this is not Johnny,
• 16:30
  but when Johnny had a guest on the show, he treated
• 16:34
  them like a guest in his living room. And that,
• 16:39
  for 25 years, treating guests with hospitality.
• 16:44
  Now, I recently bought a car. I walked into one
• 16:47
  dealership. Like you were saying, the vibe was
• 16:51
  just... transactional in my face. I want to get
• 16:57
  out of here, I said to my wife. So we drove down,
• 17:00
  we drove an hour away to the same brand dealership
• 17:04
  because we wanted to buy a two -year -old car.
• 17:08
  I like to get cars that are slightly over the
• 17:11
  curb. And we got one for only 2 ,000 miles on
• 17:14
  it. But when I walked in, the hospitality was
• 17:17
  over the charts. I couldn't wait. I said to my,
• 17:22
  and I've been in car sales for a long time. I
• 17:25
  understand that's one of the ways I worked through
• 17:27
  college. And I know they've got a reputation.
• 17:30
  But I said to this kid, I want to adopt you.
• 17:33
  I felt 20 years old. He had an amazing story
• 17:37
  and true grit. He heard a podcast. That's why
• 17:41
  I love podcast listening, Michael. He heard the
• 17:44
  idea. He was a waiter, didn't go to college yet.
• 17:48
  and heard an idea of selling cars on a podcast.
• 17:53
  He went down to Auto Row in San Jose and walked
• 17:56
  into one dealership after the next, getting a
• 17:59
  no after a no after no. And did I fall in love
• 18:02
  with him? Because that's what happened to me.
• 18:05
  me walking into NBC and asking for a job. That's
• 18:09
  what happened when he walked into one car dealership,
• 18:12
  the one we went to. And they said, yes. He said,
• 18:15
  I don't know anything about cars, but I'm energetic
• 18:17
  and I'm willing to learn. He was, and they love
• 18:20
  him at the dealership. That's hospitality. And
• 18:23
  that's what I want to focus on is the power of
• 18:26
  hospitality is the ultimate game changer in networking.
• 18:31
  You walked into an event. You didn't like the
• 18:33
  vibe? No hospitality. That's the key. That's
• 18:37
  the game changer. It's the two sides of the coin.
• 18:42
  When you have hospitality, that changes everything.
• 18:45
  When you offer it. You do. And you go into some
• 18:49
  dealerships. I'll use dealerships since we're
• 18:52
  talking about the auto industry. And if they
• 18:55
  have that type of hospitality, they think. Everybody's
• 18:59
  got it. Every dealership has the same thing,
• 19:02
  and that's what they're striving for. But when
• 19:04
  you go into that dealership where they don't
• 19:06
  have it, it's like they don't care. Okay, walk
• 19:10
  out because somebody else is going to walk in.
• 19:12
  They don't know. They don't know. You don't know
• 19:14
  what you don't know. Right, exactly. And we can
• 19:17
  talk about one of the other businesses that you
• 19:20
  and I both have a passion for. Our workout areas,
• 19:24
  Orange, what is it? Orange Fitness. Orange Fitness.
• 19:27
  Orange Theory. Yeah, Orange Theory. Orange Theory
• 19:29
  or CrossFit. Yeah, CrossFit. Those are places
• 19:35
  where you can get it because I believe in staying
• 19:38
  in shape and helping people get in shape. And
• 19:41
  that's why another reason I love podcast listening
• 19:43
  because you can listen to podcasts while you're
• 19:45
  working out, staying in shape, going for a nice,
• 19:48
  healthy walk. And it's just a great way to...
• 19:52
  help people with lifelong learning and that's
• 19:55
  what we're doing right now we're doing podcast
• 19:56
  listening so people can listen to this podcast
• 19:59
  otherwise you and I are just two faces on the
• 20:01
  screen there's no difference take it out for
• 20:04
  a walk Yeah, no, absolutely. Plus, I give everybody
• 20:08
  two versions. I'm on Apple, Spotify, Pandora.
• 20:12
  That's all for your listening pleasure. But if
• 20:14
  you actually want to see your bright young face,
• 20:17
  then you go to YouTube or my website. So I give
• 20:21
  you the best of both worlds. But what's inside
• 20:25
  the podcast is so useful. Let me go on to the
• 20:29
  next question. Local networking is rooted in
• 20:33
  community and trust. How can AI actually strengthen
• 20:37
  rather than replace those kinds of personal connections?
• 20:41
  Let me give you a very dramatic one. And you
• 20:44
  might think this is off topic about personal
• 20:46
  connections. Hospitality is the way to really
• 20:49
  build the personal connections. When you have
• 20:51
  kindness in your heart and you greet people and
• 20:54
  they know that you care about them. But the other
• 20:57
  thing about local networking. is right there
• 21:00
  in this picture of Ryan Reynolds and how he used
• 21:04
  AI to really, there's a, I hate to use this term
• 21:09
  because people might not understand it, but there's
• 21:12
  a radical abundance of things in the era of AI.
• 21:15
  There's so much media. There's just an overabundance
• 21:18
  of media. There's an overabundance of almost
• 21:20
  everything. People don't know how to channel
• 21:23
  it. They don't know how to harness it. But what
• 21:26
  Ryan Reynolds did is he harnessed the power of
• 21:29
  AI to harness the overabundance of hyper -local
• 21:34
  television. And he has used it so you can buy
• 21:38
  TV. Think of getting the cost down dramatically
• 21:41
  by going into just one zip code. You don't have
• 21:45
  to be all over the place. You can just be in
• 21:47
  Walnut Creek, California, one zip code or Lafayette,
• 21:51
  California, one zip code. But then I thought,
• 21:54
  OK, now how can we even help break that down
• 21:57
  even smaller? Create Love Local Networking magazine.
• 22:02
  where anybody in a local community can be in
• 22:05
  the magazine, but then we can advertise that
• 22:07
  on television. So we have cooperative advertising,
• 22:11
  cooperative reach with TV. So these are, when
• 22:15
  you work with the best, you can ignore the rest.
• 22:18
  And that's important because there's such an
• 22:20
  overabundance of everybody saying, oh, I'm the
• 22:22
  expert, I'm the expert, I'm the expert. But when
• 22:25
  you really learn from the best people, I've interviewed
• 22:28
  Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, then you can really
• 22:31
  go, okay, let's get into a focus. Now, of all
• 22:35
  the people that I could work with, because I
• 22:38
  was known as the network king in the direct response
• 22:40
  industry, I chose Michael Foreman. to partner
• 22:44
  with in networking, because I want to work with
• 22:48
  the best. And I want to explain to people, you
• 22:50
  don't have to do everything. If you find the
• 22:53
  best people to work with, stick with them, support
• 22:56
  them, learn from them, get mentored by them and
• 23:00
  mentor them. We all have to have both our mentor
• 23:04
  and our protege hats on all the time. So I want
• 23:06
  to give Michael Foreman. a testimonial. He invited
• 23:10
  me on the podcast because one of the things that
• 23:14
  hospitality creates is reciprocity. So Michael
• 23:18
  has had me on his program. I feel indebted to
• 23:22
  him for this gift of having me as a guest on
• 23:25
  his show. So let me return the favor, Michael,
• 23:27
  and tell people how much I respect you as a networker
• 23:32
  and as somebody that offers hospitality. We're
• 23:35
  in a safe place for them. to be and to learn
• 23:39
  and be in good hands with you, Michael. I truly
• 23:44
  appreciate that. I know that we're, it's a little
• 23:47
  off topic, but I absolutely appreciate everything
• 23:51
  that you said. Thank you, Michael. Okay. So you
• 23:55
  want me to get back to the topic? Yeah, no, we'll
• 23:58
  move on to the next one. What would you say?
• 24:03
  to someone who argues that online networking
• 24:06
  through AI and automation feels less real than
• 24:11
  shaking hands and sharing a conversation over
• 24:14
  coffee. It is less real because the media is
• 24:18
  less real. It's not being in person. They each
• 24:21
  have a strength and they each have a weakness.
• 24:23
  But when you take the strength of one, you overcome
• 24:27
  the inherent weakness of the other. So that's
• 24:30
  why it's not one or the other. It's the fusion.
• 24:32
  It's the blend. And that's when you have the
• 24:35
  ideal situation. So yeah, absolutely. AI and
• 24:39
  any online communication, TV, email. I'm not
• 24:43
  right there. It's not real. reflection of me.
• 24:46
  I'm there at the networking event. But you know
• 24:48
  what, Michael, I put on big networking events.
• 24:51
  I've had as many as 200 people in one evening
• 24:54
  at the Capital One Cafe in Walnut Creek, 200
• 24:57
  people. And that was before COVID. When COVID
• 25:02
  hit, I had 150 people online. So I would poll
• 25:06
  them and I'd ask them, are you following up after
• 25:10
  these networking events? Because Going to networking
• 25:13
  is just a ritual. It's not marketing. It's not
• 25:17
  really doing business. It's just something fun
• 25:19
  to do and you can meet people. But if you're
• 25:22
  not checking in and following up after the event,
• 25:24
  don't even bother going to be candid with you
• 25:28
  because nobody's going to write you a check right
• 25:32
  there. So what you really have to do is you have
• 25:35
  to have the blend. You know how many people I
• 25:37
  found out actually follow up? Two. One. One.
• 25:44
  One in 100. So if you actually want to stand
• 25:48
  out and be one in 100, think about this. If you
• 25:52
  simply follow up, you're one in 100. You are
• 25:55
  just the standout networker. Just by following
• 26:00
  up that simple thing. And that's what chat TPT
• 26:03
  does. It makes it so easy to follow up and you
• 26:08
  stand up because you're the guys that follow
• 26:10
  up reversely. Let's have, let's look at it for
• 26:13
  a second. If you don't follow up. Okay. So who
• 26:16
  do you follow up with? Your mom, your dad, your
• 26:19
  friends, your brothers, your sisters. Those are
• 26:22
  people you follow up with. You love, you care
• 26:24
  about them. So when you go to a networking event
• 26:27
  and you don't follow up, you're sending a message.
• 26:32
  Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't care about you.
• 26:35
  That's the message you're sending. I teach the
• 26:39
  follow -up is actually more important than actually
• 26:43
  meeting the person. And I have what's called
• 26:46
  a secret sauce for follow -up. It's a system
• 26:49
  that if you follow it up, you go from that 3
• 26:52
  % receiving rate. to about 70%. So it's definitely
• 26:58
  more important. And if you just go to an event
• 27:02
  and you don't follow up or don't follow up correctly,
• 27:05
  you might as well not even have gone. You might
• 27:08
  as well not even gone. Unless you wanted to go
• 27:09
  off for the social aspect of it, there's no reason
• 27:12
  to go. That's true. One thing that, part of the
• 27:15
  polling, I ask them, why don't you follow up?
• 27:17
  Why don't you follow up? You're not following
• 27:19
  up. Why not? I wanted to know why. I wanted to
• 27:21
  confront that. Face your challenges, you cut
• 27:24
  them in half, turn your back on them, they double.
• 27:25
  So I looked at it, and they go, no, what I'm
• 27:29
  going to say, I think I'm going to talk too much.
• 27:32
  And you know what? I'm so afraid of rejection
• 27:35
  that, you know, I'm already down, I'm struggling,
• 27:39
  and I'm afraid people are going to reject me.
• 27:42
  Okay, get it. Put it on ChatGPT. Let's ask it.
• 27:47
  Then it's getting rejected, not you personally.
• 27:50
  Hey, ChatGPT, you just got rejected, babe. Let's
• 27:55
  go back to the drawing board. That's it. I find
• 27:58
  that people are actually lazy in the follow -up.
• 28:02
  They're like, they went to the event and now
• 28:04
  they're looking for the next event, the next
• 28:07
  time where they can show their wares, but they're
• 28:09
  not doing the follow -up. because they're actually
• 28:12
  lazy. And with my system, it's probably six different
• 28:17
  touches in two weeks. If you have to be serious
• 28:21
  about the follow -up, if you want your business
• 28:23
  to increase, if you want to scale your business,
• 28:28
  but even if you're just starting out. And just
• 28:31
  a single entrepreneur, they call solopreneur.
• 28:34
  You have to start somewhere, but start with going
• 28:37
  to those events and following up. It's a very
• 28:40
  easy thing to do. You know, Michael, I refer
• 28:43
  to networkers as CEOs because we are all the
• 28:48
  CEO of our own life. We are the chief executive
• 28:52
  officer of our life. We make the decisions. It's
• 28:55
  our life. We can either grow it. We can improve
• 28:58
  it. We can do the things to polish it. But yeah,
• 29:02
  I understand. We're all human beings. Every human
• 29:05
  being on the planet Earth has special needs.
• 29:08
  Every single one of us. We're all vulnerable.
• 29:10
  We all have our weaknesses. Guess what? So does
• 29:13
  ChatGPT. It's got its own weaknesses. And when
• 29:17
  you treat everybody... Like they have special
• 29:21
  needs with hospitality. Don't assume that there's
• 29:24
  some arrogant jerk. Assume that maybe they're
• 29:27
  a little fearful. Maybe they need a little loving,
• 29:30
  tender care and a little hugging, even virtually,
• 29:35
  just to care for them. treat Chad GPT that way
• 29:40
  too. Guess what? It will treat you in kind. It
• 29:44
  will give love back and it will communicate in
• 29:47
  a very hospitable way. And it's a way that everybody
• 29:51
  can come together. I don't care if you are in
• 29:53
  the far right or far left. Chad GPT can neutralize
• 29:58
  communication and take a lot of the sting out
• 30:01
  of it to keep the door open for better communication
• 30:05
  between everybody. And it takes the fear of communication
• 30:09
  out because it's done so professionally, so well
• 30:13
  and fast. Absolutely. Absolutely. But one thing
• 30:17
  you have to remember is that you have to train
• 30:21
  ChatGPT. You have to ask the right questions.
• 30:25
  And sometimes it'll take three or four different
• 30:27
  variations of the question for you to get that
• 30:31
  response. But ChatGPT remembers. those responses
• 30:36
  so you get better and better so there's no looking
• 30:40
  back you just look forward and it'll become easier
• 30:44
  and easier so that everybody can get into the
• 30:47
  follow -up game yeah that's true but let me explain
• 30:50
  one thing about chat gpt it really does know
• 30:54
  marketing. It knows what an advertorial is. If
• 30:59
  you don't know what an advertorial is, it does.
• 31:02
  And go, okay, put this into the tone of an advertorial.
• 31:05
  Now, an advertorial is editorial content that's
• 31:09
  an ad or a promotion. If you ask CharityPT, what's
• 31:12
  an advertorial? It knows what it is. So you can
• 31:16
  just, and even if you don't know the words to
• 31:18
  what to ask for, I think maybe that's what you're
• 31:20
  addressing is, what is the terminology? You can
• 31:24
  actually ask ChatGPT, what questions should I
• 31:29
  be asking you to get the response that I want?
• 31:33
  That's why I'm saying it's like the 15 -year
• 31:36
  -old that really is savvy about technology. If
• 31:40
  you treat it like that's what it is, it will
• 31:43
  help you that way. And then you go, what should
• 31:46
  I ask? Okay, I'm asking that. Now give me the
• 31:49
  response. Now cut and paste. That's the only
• 31:52
  skill you need. Cut and paste so that you can
• 31:56
  then put it into an email, a post or wherever
• 31:59
  you want. And we can teach you how to do that.
• 32:01
  Very good. Very good. Okay. Where do you think
• 32:05
  the balance lies between efficiency? AI helping
• 32:09
  us scale connections and authenticity, the human
• 32:13
  touch that local networking brings. It's interesting.
• 32:17
  I did a podcast this morning with my two AI co
• 32:23
  -hosts and I create them and they talk. So I
• 32:27
  did an input from the networking event last night
• 32:30
  and then I put it into my. program. And I get
• 32:35
  these two AI co -hosts actually speaking, a male
• 32:38
  and a female, and they're going back and forth
• 32:40
  and blah, blah, blah. But that's all AI. But
• 32:42
  you know what? It's now interactive. So right
• 32:45
  in the middle of this chat and this dialogue.
• 32:48
  I can go, wait, guys, let me interrupt and say,
• 32:50
  oh, welcome. It's Mike, blah, blah, blah. What
• 32:52
  do you have in mind, Mike? You guys are saying
• 32:54
  this and you're saying that. But now here I am.
• 32:57
  I'm the human being in the middle of this dialogue
• 32:59
  with my AI co -host. I insert myself into it
• 33:03
  and then they help expand upon it. And they bring
• 33:07
  me ideas all day long. Amazing. It's amazing.
• 33:14
  Teachers. It's amazing. And I'm having an absolute
• 33:17
  blast. It is my five hour energy drink. It energizes
• 33:21
  me when I don't feel. Up for it. You mentioned
• 33:26
  the word lazy. Okay, let's use that. Let's use
• 33:28
  energy. Let Chad GPT provide the energy. Drag.
• 33:33
  Chad GPT, I'm exhausted. I don't have the energy
• 33:36
  to follow up. I need your energy. Here's the
• 33:39
  response, but really make it energized and really
• 33:41
  sound up like I'm Tony Robbins. I just don't
• 33:44
  feel like it. Sure. Boom. It gives you this response.
• 33:48
  Hey, let's go conquer the world. And it's all
• 33:51
  chat GPT energy. It's not even your own. Absolutely.
• 33:55
  Great. That's great. Great. Okay. So what lessons
• 33:59
  from local face -to -face networking do you think
• 34:03
  people are at risk of forgetting as digital tools
• 34:07
  become more dominant? over -reliance on it and
• 34:11
  thinking that they can kind of lazy their way
• 34:14
  out and put it on AI. If you don't bring your
• 34:17
  heart, your love, and I love using the word love.
• 34:20
  When you bring emotion into networking, the motto
• 34:24
  of my city, Lafayette, California, for the past
• 34:27
  25 years has been the word love. Lafayette. So
• 34:32
  Lafayette, California is a model of using the
• 34:36
  word love in business, in community, in family,
• 34:40
  but most importantly, Michael, in AI. Because
• 34:45
  if we don't infuse love, in fact, they're talking
• 34:48
  about how they need to program motherly love
• 34:51
  into AI, literally, so that it will love human
• 34:55
  beings and not want to take over. Because yeah,
• 34:58
  there are dangers. My congressman said, Like
• 35:00
  working on AI is like working on the atomic bomb
• 35:04
  project. So I knew that he wasn't underestimating
• 35:08
  how things could go off the rails and go wrong.
• 35:12
  That's why I love DeepMind from Google's DeepMind.
• 35:15
  I miss Symetris, the CEO of Google DeepMind,
• 35:19
  which is committed to keeping AI safe and ethical
• 35:24
  and honest and avoiding... an overabundance of
• 35:29
  scarcity where the super rich get everything
• 35:32
  and we get whatever's left and really focusing
• 35:36
  on radical abundance instead of radical scarcity.
• 35:40
  And it's going to be one path. And guess what,
• 35:42
  folks? If you're neutral and you do nothing,
• 35:44
  you're going to end up in radical scarcity. And
• 35:48
  I don't want that to happen. I want you to find
• 35:51
  the path to radical abundance. We're not there
• 35:54
  yet. Buy a long shot. But if we're on the right
• 35:58
  trail to the top of the mountain, we can get
• 36:02
  there and we can get there together. Fantastic.
• 36:05
  Fantastic. Okay, so let me ask you, in your experience,
• 36:09
  how can small business owners use both chat GPT
• 36:13
  and local networking together to build visibility
• 36:17
  and trust faster? Go to networking events. And
• 36:23
  I hate to say it, collect cards, or you can take
• 36:25
  a card like I created, call it a quantum reach
• 36:28
  card, that I have QR codes built right into the
• 36:32
  card. And we're in the digital age, so I tell
• 36:35
  them, scan this QR code. Go to podcast listening
• 36:38
  and learn more. Go to Love Local Networking.
• 36:41
  100%, Michael, honestly, the last networking
• 36:44
  event I was at, 100 % of the people scanned the
• 36:47
  QR code. to get ready to Love Local Networking,
• 36:51
  which connects them to ChatGPT Networking and
• 36:53
  everything else we were talking about. So you
• 36:55
  go there, and that's the best way to get it from
• 36:58
  the in -person to the digital, because we're
• 37:01
  in the digital age. And Bill Gates says the biggest
• 37:04
  opportunities is... finding digital substitutes
• 37:09
  in the digital edge. We want to have the blend
• 37:11
  of real world networking. So we know we're talking
• 37:14
  to real people, real human beings, warm blooded,
• 37:18
  shake hands and avoid loneliness, which is an
• 37:21
  epidemic levels right now. And then blend that
• 37:25
  with the digital, make the QR code. I call it
• 37:28
  quantum reach connection. just to play off the
• 37:31
  QR and then get people into the digital and then
• 37:35
  follow up with digital communication through
• 37:38
  ChatGPT. So it's just a bridge from one to the
• 37:41
  other, from back and forth. And then at the next,
• 37:44
  now you take the bridge back because I'm going
• 37:47
  to see you at the next. Live networking event.
• 37:49
  We're going to become friends by then. That's
• 37:52
  hospitality. So when I walk in next time, you
• 37:55
  and I aren't strangers anymore. We've connected
• 37:58
  in the meantime. Maybe we went and had coffee.
• 38:01
  Now we're two together and we can talk to other
• 38:04
  people about connecting with the two of us, four
• 38:07
  of us, six of us. Absolutely. That's a nice marriage
• 38:13
  of the two technologies that you're talking about.
• 38:17
  I am a simple person. On the back of my card,
• 38:21
  I have two QR codes. One goes to my website and
• 38:25
  one goes to all my digital courses. So I feel
• 38:28
  that if you wanted to know me, those two places
• 38:31
  are the place to go and find out what I'm all
• 38:33
  about. You can see right here, Michael, there's
• 38:36
  a QR code right there. Absolutely. And I've been
• 38:40
  using QR codes for about 10 years, almost 15
• 38:45
  years. And back then it was just like, what are
• 38:48
  you doing that for? But everything I did, I'm
• 38:51
  going back to my mortgage days when I had business
• 38:54
  cards and I had flyers and everything, I had
• 38:57
  QR codes. They're like, that's a waste of, what
• 38:59
  are you doing? I'm like. It's an easier way and
• 39:03
  it's become easier and easier so that now people
• 39:05
  just whip out their phones and go, let me see
• 39:07
  it, click, and they can get right to your site
• 39:11
  or whatever else. So it's a great marriage of
• 39:15
  the two technologies as long as you know what
• 39:19
  to do with it and where to do it, where it's
• 39:21
  from. Okay. You just commented on a number of
• 39:24
  things. Let me just jump in there. They all come
• 39:26
  down to two things. You used the word marriage.
• 39:29
  So let's focus on that of two things. Okay, networking
• 39:32
  and technology, phone and computer, Chad GPT
• 39:37
  and network. It's always a one -two punch. If
• 39:40
  you want to simplify things like Michael has
• 39:42
  just said. That's the way to do it. Concentrate
• 39:45
  on just those two things. If you try to accomplish
• 39:48
  everything, you'll accomplish nothing. So when
• 39:51
  you work with the best, you can ignore the rest.
• 39:54
  So get a focus. A magnifying glass creates heat
• 39:57
  when it gets a focus, right? So that's what you
• 40:00
  want to do. You want to get a focus on two things.
• 40:04
  Networking. and follow up. And if you concentrate
• 40:07
  on those things and the one, the phone, and those
• 40:10
  two things work together in digital phone and
• 40:13
  computer and your computer, your laptop, they
• 40:16
  work together beautifully. When you use them
• 40:18
  together, you get exponential content creation.
• 40:22
  Absolutely. And when I teach a workshop or go
• 40:25
  to a conference or something else, I have an
• 40:28
  array of eight or 10 different things that points
• 40:31
  that I want to. put across to my audience, but
• 40:34
  I tell them, concentrate on two items, just two.
• 40:38
  And I want you to walk away and implement just
• 40:42
  two items out of the eight or 10. And they're
• 40:46
  going, why? Just take my word for it. And it's
• 40:50
  true because there's a sequence. If you give
• 40:52
  them everything, by the end of the week, they're
• 40:54
  going to forget 90 % of them. By the end of the
• 40:57
  second week, they're going to forget. one of
• 41:01
  the two things, and they'll implement maybe one
• 41:03
  thing in about three weeks. So why not just have
• 41:07
  them concentrate on those two things and have
• 41:09
  them start? Okay, so do you think AI will ever
• 41:14
  be able to replace, I'm sorry, do you think AI
• 41:18
  will ever be able to replicate the emotional
• 41:22
  intelligence that comes with local human networking,
• 41:25
  or is it uniquely human advantage? And we'll
• 41:29
  always have it. The next 10 years, there's going
• 41:32
  to be, and it may well be sooner, there's going
• 41:36
  to be a quantum leap in artificial intelligence.
• 41:39
  What will happen now, the CEO of Google's DeepMind,
• 41:45
  it was a chess prodigy, and he won a Nobel Prize.
• 41:50
  He's a Nobel laureate. And he says, look, nobody
• 41:56
  knows. Nobody knows. And if one of the smartest
• 41:59
  people in the world says, folks, we don't know.
• 42:04
  And he's one of the creators, one of the architects
• 42:07
  of AI. That's why I really love his brain and
• 42:12
  his thinking. The dean of Oxford University,
• 42:14
  where I've been blessed to go to speak to Oxford
• 42:17
  University, said to the teachers and the students,
• 42:21
  I can't protect you from AI. He got his... PhD
• 42:25
  in AI from Cal, just over the hill from me, in
• 42:29
  quantum computing 30 years ago. He knows that
• 42:33
  AI is like a quicksand field. You're going to
• 42:37
  walk out into it, you're going to see companies
• 42:40
  just disappear into the quicksand. But then you're
• 42:43
  going to see new things pop up immediately. That's
• 42:47
  why I look at it as dynamic. I think of myself,
• 42:49
  and I spent 10 years with NBC Sports in New York
• 42:52
  on the road, and I was written up in Sports Illustrated,
• 42:55
  and I say that because I've interviewed the top
• 42:57
  coaches in the world, the smartest coaching minds
• 43:00
  in the world. I understand audibles. A coach
• 43:05
  calls in an audible when he sees something. Wait,
• 43:07
  this is happening. Wait, switch up. You call
• 43:10
  in an audible. So I created AI audibles like
• 43:13
  a coach, Michael, because that's how fast things
• 43:15
  are going to be able to change or they're going
• 43:18
  to change if we like it or not. So I want to
• 43:21
  be able to say, stop, don't do that anymore.
• 43:22
  Now do this because it's changed. We've seen
• 43:26
  what happens. And that's why I want to stay current,
• 43:28
  use my background at NBC News because I move
• 43:31
  at the speed of TV news. That's how I was trained.
• 43:33
  brain. I was practically raised in newsrooms.
• 43:36
  Every day we'd walk into a blank slate and every
• 43:39
  day we'd put on 30 minutes of programming, all
• 43:42
  new information every single day. So I understand
• 43:46
  news. I understand how to handle the movement
• 43:49
  of information very quickly and break it down
• 43:52
  for the viewer to be able to digest it quickly
• 43:54
  too. Right. Okay. So let's bring this podcast
• 43:59
  full circle. For listeners trying to decide where
• 44:03
  to put their energy, building AI -powered systems
• 44:07
  or doubling down on local in -person networking,
• 44:11
  what's the smartest way to combine the two for
• 44:15
  long -term success? You don't have to build the
• 44:18
  system to begin with. Don't even worry about
• 44:20
  that. The biggest skill, according to DeepMind,
• 44:24
  is going to be learning to learn. So get into
• 44:28
  the mindset of just learning to learn. Don't
• 44:30
  try and create a whole system yet because you
• 44:32
  could be outdated in a month and you put all
• 44:35
  this time and effort and energy in. So go to
• 44:38
  networking events period. So start there, meet
• 44:40
  people, shake hands and network. Now, what happens
• 44:43
  in networking? You start to share and you ask
• 44:45
  people. questions about your concerns. What are
• 44:48
  you doing? What are you doing? What do you think
• 44:50
  of this? Or what do you think of that? Just do
• 44:51
  that. Start there. Then the second thing is go
• 44:55
  to ChatGPT and say, I want you to act like a
• 44:59
  15 year old digital expert. And I want you, ChatGPT,
• 45:04
  to teach me how to use ChatGPT. And we can show
• 45:10
  people how. Just start there. I keep it, I call
• 45:15
  it KISS. Keep it senior simple. Okay. So when
• 45:21
  we can do that and we can help anybody that could
• 45:25
  buy a book on Amazon to get free advice from
• 45:28
  ChatGPT and ask it to help them learn ChatGPT.
• 45:35
  Just start there. Start your educational process.
• 45:39
  Then come back and network with you and me and
• 45:42
  we'll help them and we'll teach them as we go
• 45:45
  and keep learning and keep them current and keep
• 45:48
  them up to speed. Because in marketing, if you're
• 45:51
  not current, you might as well be trying to be
• 45:54
  in a market in ancient Rome. It's over. You can't
• 45:57
  make money in the past. You've got to make money
• 45:59
  in the present and build for the future. Absolutely.
• 46:03
  Absolutely. I couldn't agree 100%. Mike, this
• 46:07
  was great. I can talk to you for another two
• 46:10
  hours just about everything AI -driven and love
• 46:14
  local networking. So if somebody wanted to get
• 46:18
  hold of you, whether they want to be coached
• 46:21
  by you, want to ask questions about AI, anything
• 46:24
  they want, what's the best way they can get hold
• 46:26
  of you? The best way to get a hold of me is podcastlistening
• 46:31
  .com. And I'll tell you why, Michael. Because
• 46:34
  we are so busy today that I wanted to look at
• 46:38
  what is the best way to get educated when we're
• 46:41
  busy. Maybe you're taking care of kids, you're
• 46:44
  a grandparent or a busy parent, or you're commuting
• 46:47
  and you're spending all your time in the car.
• 46:49
  So I wanted to be able to reach people with podcastlistening
• 46:54
  .com, which is the most effective way to learn
• 46:58
  and to stay current. And I love to interview
• 47:00
  people and put them in a podcast. Podcastlistening
• 47:03
  .com has my email right at the top, mikeatpodcastlistening
• 47:09
  .com. And just send me an email with your questions.
• 47:12
  Because we want this to be dynamic. We want to
• 47:16
  know, what do you want to know? We want to bring
• 47:18
  those answers to you to help you. And I want
• 47:22
  to interview you about what are you doing in
• 47:25
  local networking? Are you struggling? Are you
• 47:28
  struggling with AI? Are you confused? Are you
• 47:31
  feeling lost or left behind? I want to know that.
• 47:34
  Just like I polled people at networking events,
• 47:36
  were they following up? This is my way of polling
• 47:39
  them. Now, before this interview, you sent me
• 47:41
  a... questionnaire, and I filled it in to talk
• 47:45
  about what we wanted to talk about so you could
• 47:47
  prepare your questions. Likewise, that's what
• 47:49
  we need to do with our audience. Polling's great.
• 47:52
  It's really helpful, and you and I both know
• 47:55
  it. We want to get the audience engaged in polling,
• 47:59
  get on your show, fill in the questions for you
• 48:01
  so you can help tell their story, I can help
• 48:04
  tell their story, and we want to put them on
• 48:06
  the Spotlight Tonight show. This is exciting.
• 48:09
  This is fun stuff. Absolutely. Listen, at the
• 48:12
  end of every talk that I give, every workshop
• 48:16
  that I hold, every keynote, I have a QR code.
• 48:19
  And they jump on that QR code. It brings them
• 48:22
  right to a Google Docs form. They fill it out.
• 48:25
  What do they like? What do they not like? What
• 48:26
  do they want to see? What they don't want to
• 48:28
  see anymore? Everything, all about it. That's
• 48:30
  all the polling. And that's all feedback that
• 48:33
  I get. And I change it up the next time I go
• 48:36
  out. Beautiful. That's how we stay engaged and
• 48:40
  we make it interactive. We keep it human. Michael's
• 48:43
  not AI. I'm not AI. You're not AI. We want your
• 48:47
  feedback so we can keep it human, put our hearts
• 48:50
  into loving local networking. Thank you so much,
• 48:53
  Michael. It was really a pleasure. It always
• 48:55
  is a pleasure when I network with you. Thank
• 48:58
  you, Mike. I'll talk to you soon. Well, hold
• 49:04
  on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from
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  our sponsors. David Neal, co -founder Revved
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  Up Kids. Revved Up Kids is on a mission to protect
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  matter where you're moving, Henry has the right
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  connections for you. You can contact Henry at
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  561 -427 -4888. All right, folks. A huge thank
• 50:00
  you to our guests for sharing such incredible
• 50:02
  insights today. And of course, a big shout out
• 50:06
  to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in
• 50:09
  and spending your time with us. If you're interested
• 50:12
  in my digital courses, being coached, or having
• 50:15
  me come and talk to your company, just go to
• 50:18
  Michael and fill out the request form. Remember,
• 50:22
  networking isn't about being perfect. It's about
• 50:25
  being present. So take what you've learned today.
• 50:29
  get out there, and make some meaningful connections.
• 50:32
  If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't
• 50:35
  forget to subscribe, leave us a review, and share
• 50:38
  it with someone who could use a little networking
• 50:40
  inspiration. Let's keep the conversation going.
• 50:43
  You can find me on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube,
• 50:48
  or my website, foreman .com slash podcasts.