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

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

0:14
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
0:16
Connections, the show where meaningful relationships
0:19
create real opportunity. I'm your host, Michael
0:23
Foreman. Building a business isn't a straight
0:26
line. Every entrepreneur faces obstacles, moments
0:30
where the strategy feels uncertain. The pressure
0:34
builds and the next step isn't always clear.
0:38
What often makes the difference is those moments
0:41
isn't just skill or determination, it's the relationships
0:45
around you. My guest today has experienced the
0:49
journey of overcoming challenges while scaling
0:52
businesses to new levels. We're going to talk
0:56
about how strong connections help entrepreneurs
0:59
navigate tough decisions. why trust becomes even
1:03
more important as a company grows, and how the
1:06
right conversations can open doors when progress
1:09
feels difficult. If you want to learn how resilience
1:12
and relationships work together to create real
1:16
business growth, you're in the right place. I'd
1:19
like to welcome to the podcast today, Scott.
1:22
I know you are going to talk about all this stuff,
1:25
and I'm really looking forward to the podcast,
1:28
but I'm really interested in you and how you
1:31
got where you are today. Why don't you enlighten
1:34
us a little bit? Sure. So I won't tell you all
1:38
the boring details, but when I was 27 years old,
1:42
I was homeless. I was living on the streets.
1:44
I was living a very strange life, right? by my
1:49
own doing, by the way. Luckily, I got out of
1:52
that situation. Somebody showed some interest
1:54
in me, which the reason I bring that up is because
1:57
I think that's relatable to anything in life,
2:00
personal or business, right? Somebody took an
2:02
interest in me and they believed in me and they
2:06
said, hey, we're willing to help you out. And
2:08
I became a truck driver, right? I was a Teamster
2:12
truck driver in Brooklyn, New York. And one day
2:15
I was driving down the street and I was like,
2:17
you know what, this is not for me. Nothing wrong
2:18
with being a truck driver, by the way, but I
2:20
just realized that I had a lot more potential
2:22
than that. I left that job and I ended up starting
2:25
a trucking company, right, with a partner. And
2:28
we built that thing from, we bought a little
2:31
tiny company and we both had a couple of trucks.
2:33
So I think our first year revenue was about $145
2:37
,000, something like that. We built that business
2:39
up to about $6 million. And then I left that.
2:43
I have three kids. They're all adults now. At
2:45
that time, I made the decision to go back to
2:48
the corporate world, right? So I spent many years
2:50
in the corporate world, building businesses,
2:52
building big sales teams. My last endeavor in
2:56
the corporate world was bringing new product
2:58
to market for a specialty vehicle manufacturer.
3:02
We took that thing from, I'll call it a negative
3:04
$12 million because it was a $12 million investment.
3:07
And when I retired from that two years ago, They
3:10
did about $450 million, something like that,
3:14
for that one division. A few years before that,
3:17
I had started a couple of my own businesses.
3:19
One, I started on my own. One, I have with my
3:22
wife. And then that's bloomed into four businesses
3:26
now. What was supposed to be retirement and taking
3:29
it easy has turned into more work and many more
3:34
hours. And of course, as you probably know, Michael,
3:38
I work for the single worst boss on planet Earth,
3:41
which is myself. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah.
3:45
There is no worse boss than yourself because
3:47
you're so hard on yourself. You don't give yourself
3:49
any leeway. Listen, if you've made it in business,
3:53
you're that kind of a boss. That's right. That's
3:56
how I can tell whether you've made it or not.
3:58
Okay. So anyway, so thank you for that. Let's
4:01
just go into a few questions and we'll see where
4:03
that takes us. Sure. When building and scaling
4:06
a business, how do relationships help you navigate
4:11
obstacles that strategy alone can't solve? Yeah.
4:16
I believe, this is just my personal belief, that
4:20
people, and by virtue of that or extension of
4:24
that, relationships is the single most critical
4:28
piece of being able to determine. whether a business
4:34
will succeed or not right a matter of fact i'm
4:37
dealing with a company right now that i consult
4:39
with they have wrong people like the owner brought
4:43
in some wrong people up front they're good people
4:46
they're hard working but they're not they don't
4:48
have the skill set they don't have the know -how
4:50
so it's extremely important to have first of
4:56
all at least one or two people that you can trust
4:59
implicitly and they trust you And then from there,
5:04
you can build out a team. And look, it's very
5:07
important to, I discovered in over the years
5:10
and running corporate businesses and then running
5:13
my own businesses, leaders develop leaders. They
5:17
don't need people. Yes, they lead. Yes, they
5:21
set the direction, but they create other leaders.
5:24
And that's what gets your business to grow. That's
5:27
what gets your enterprise to become very robust.
5:32
You hit on a very important strategic point,
5:37
right? Some of my workshops or when I go on stages
5:42
and I talk, I talk about leaders and bosses and
5:46
the differences between the two. And the thing
5:49
is that you want leaders. You don't want bosses.
5:52
You don't want some middle management guy taking
5:54
the orders and giving the orders and walking
5:57
away and say, that's enough. You want those leaders
6:00
to get down into the foxhole with them and to
6:04
give them the responsibility and show them what
6:07
true leadership is, taking the bad with the good,
6:11
taking the hits. And it shows it, but that shows
6:15
you so much. And you're absolutely 100 % correct.
6:20
You want leaders. You don't want bosses or management
6:23
or anything else like that, right? You can have
6:26
100 employees, you have 100 leaders. That's right.
6:30
Okay. Looking back at your journey, where was
6:35
there a connection or conversation that helped
6:39
you overcome a major challenge? Wow, that's a
6:44
great question. I worked at GE Capital many years
6:50
ago, one of the divisions of GE Capital. And
6:53
that division was owned by Roger Penske, the
6:56
very famous race car, Penske Racing, and very
7:00
famous, owns car dealerships, all kinds, billionaire.
7:04
And the first time I met him in person, I got
7:09
introduced to him. We were with a group of people.
7:11
And then I saw him several months later at an
7:14
event, an awards event down in Scottsdale, Arizona.
7:18
And I came walking into the room and I walked
7:20
over toward him and he said, Scott Miller from
7:25
New Jersey. How the heck are you? This guy's
7:27
a billionaire, right? I'm like, and I'm scratching
7:31
my head. I'm looking around for who's holding
7:33
up the cue cards or something like, how does
7:35
he know my name? And he and I got talking and
7:38
he thanked me for the job I was doing with the
7:42
company and blah, blah, blah. But he said something
7:45
that was very key to my growth over the years.
7:51
As he said to me, he said, if you ever have a
7:53
problem, reach out to me and I'll help you. And
7:58
I thought he was just saying that. I thought
8:00
it was just nice and easy. And what I discovered
8:03
afterwards, the event was over and I was talking
8:05
to some VP or something. I said, man, I walked
8:08
down there. He knew my name, like he offered
8:10
to help me. And he said, first of all, once he
8:14
meets you, he'll remember your name. Always.
8:17
And this guy must meet thousands and thousands
8:19
of people. I don't know how the heck he does
8:21
it. And he said, and when he told you to reach
8:23
out to him and he said, he doesn't tell everybody
8:25
that he tells many people, but not everybody.
8:27
He means that if you need something, call him
8:30
up, you know, reach out to his assistant and
8:32
he'll connect with you and help you. But the
8:35
thing he told me that night was, he said, when
8:38
you're doing well, when you think you're all
8:42
that and things are going great, don't forget.
8:45
that you're just a guy, like you're just a human
8:49
being. And we do make mistakes and we do have
8:52
problems. And when you do, take that moment to
8:55
reflect back on the wins that you've had and
8:58
the things that you've, not just in business,
9:00
but the things you've overcome in life. So that
9:03
was probably the single best. That was a very
9:06
great encouragement that I got early in my career.
9:10
That's so good because I think of, I know. a
9:15
handful of, I wouldn't say billionaires, but
9:18
they're millionaires. And two or three of them
9:23
are like, you can't even talk to them. They're
9:25
so above you. But then there are two or three
9:28
that I know of that are that they'll give you
9:31
the shirt off their back. But they're just nice
9:33
guys and they want to hang out with you. And
9:36
they're just so real and authentic. And I know
9:39
the difference that you're talking about. And
9:41
it's very important to not lose track of who
9:44
you are. That's right. How difficult, how do
9:51
difficult periods in business change the way
9:54
someone approaches networking and partnerships?
9:58
Yeah, again. In my, from where I sit, relationships
10:02
and people in your business are absolutely critical
10:06
to your success. And when you meet with a setback
10:09
or a problem, or if you meet with a person who's
10:13
not genuine, you find out afterwards that these
10:15
are not people that are necessarily in your corner
10:17
and not against the grain of what seems to have
10:22
developed in society today. You don't have to
10:24
make a big to -do about it. Just exercise those
10:27
people from your life and do it quickly. The
10:30
old saying of ripping the Band -Aid off and get
10:32
around. Going back to the interesting part is
10:34
I know a lot of millionaires. Some of them are
10:38
nouveau riche, right? They're pretty impressed
10:40
with how they made them. They got a million bucks.
10:42
And then there's the people from old money. They
10:45
think about it differently. The billionaire,
10:48
and I know three billionaires. I'm friends with
10:51
three billionaires. These are people that are
10:54
willing to help you. They want you to win. see
10:57
they have nothing left to prove they do these
10:59
are people that are very they're still going
11:01
on an upward trajectory but they have nothing
11:03
to prove at that point you know what i mean and
11:05
so the three of them that i'm i'm personal friends
11:09
with two of them and i'm pretty friendly with
11:11
the other one is they're willing they see the
11:15
value in helping people especially when they've
11:18
had a defeat many people men more so than women,
11:23
I think, when they meet with defeat in business,
11:26
we tend to hide. We don't want to tell people
11:28
about it. It's embarrassing. It's humiliating.
11:30
It dings our pride. It dings our ego, right?
11:33
But when you know that you have certain people
11:36
around you that you can reach out for or support,
11:41
and not just support, there's one thing. They
11:44
have to say, hey, man, that's too bad. Pat you
11:46
on the back. Let's look at what happened. Look
11:49
at what happened. Let's develop a plan for going
11:52
forward from here. Great. And now they kick you
11:55
in your butt and say, hey, now it's time to go.
11:57
No more licking your wounds. No more crying about
12:00
it. You had that part is over. Now let's go.
12:03
So if you realize there's nothing wrong with
12:08
failure, then it's easy to still look for not
12:13
only networking opportunities, but I'm always
12:15
trying to elevate myself in. The crowd that I
12:19
keep, the people that I try to get around just
12:22
for that reason, because I know that people who
12:24
have been there and done that and know a lot
12:26
more than me and have a lot more money than me
12:28
and a lot more success. I know that many of these
12:31
people, not all of them, but many of them are
12:33
willing to help. It's so true. And really, I
12:37
don't look at the money aspect of it. It's if
12:41
the person has made it and making it doesn't
12:45
necessarily mean they're super wealthy. Making
12:48
it is just making it right. And whether or not
12:51
they're, they offer a hand, they offer their
12:55
support there. It's I mentor three or four kids
13:00
at this time and I coach them and I part of my
13:03
business. That's great. I also have a coach.
13:06
Yeah. And he's somebody who has made it and he's
13:11
always willing and he doesn't. charged me for
13:14
it, but he's always willing to say, no, I want
13:16
you to step back. I want you to think about this.
13:19
And I want you to think about it X, Y, Z. And
13:22
it's a whole different personality that you take
13:26
on because you know that they have nothing to
13:30
lose. They have nothing really to gain. They
13:32
have nothing to lose, but they're to help you.
13:34
That's right. And that speaks volumes to me.
13:37
Yeah. Okay. When scaling a business, How do you
13:43
identify which relationships will move the company
13:46
forward? Again, that comes more into not just
13:54
skill set, but how people think, right? Usually
13:57
when I work with a business to scale, there's
14:00
a couple of checkpoints. There's checkpoints
14:01
where people get stuck along the way. And every
14:04
one of these checkpoints has to do with people.
14:08
It has to do with the right people to grow a
14:10
business, right? The first thing is you're an
14:14
entrepreneur, maybe you're a solopreneur or whatever,
14:17
excuse me, and you get over the million dollar
14:21
mark, that's a great achievement. Around $3 million,
14:26
that person will get stuck. They need another
14:30
person in that business at that point to get
14:32
them over that $3 million hurdle, right? The
14:35
next checkpoint is around $7, $8 million. And
14:39
again, they need at that point, they need to
14:41
hand the operations of the business off to a
14:45
trusted servant at that point so they can be
14:47
more of a visionary in the business. Yes, they
14:50
may still have their hand in the business and
14:52
guiding it, whatever, but they need to think
14:54
more strategically at that point. So you have
14:57
to have that person that you trust. And it's
15:02
absolutely critical. The wrong people will be.
15:06
will hold you back. I mentioned earlier, I'm
15:09
working with a company right now, guy stuck around
15:12
$10 million. He has the wrong management team,
15:14
the wrong team. And they're great people, but
15:18
they don't have the skill set to grow a business.
15:21
This guy wants to do $100 million a year. He's
15:24
got a 10X from where he is right now. And we
15:27
have conversation after conversation about you
15:29
have to let these people go, move them into a
15:32
different position or let them go and align yourself
15:34
with people that have the skill set to do it,
15:38
but also think like you, right? If you have somebody
15:42
who's super conservative and you're more aggressive,
15:47
that's going to be, it can be a healthy conflict
15:50
if the conservative guy's your CFO. But if it's
15:53
a visionary guy or gal, you want them to have
15:57
more of a, be a little bit more bullish on how
16:00
you're going to grow the business. But yeah,
16:01
it's very important skill set, but also mindset.
16:05
Do they have a similar thinking style, I'll call
16:09
it, as you? No. Tell me if I overstepped my bounds
16:14
here a little bit. What did that company do?
16:17
Did he move the employees the way you suggested
16:21
or not? He's making the move right now. I literally
16:24
was on a call with him this morning. So he's
16:26
now moved one of the people who is a very capable
16:32
person. work -wise, but they're a very emotional
16:37
person. They don't get along with other people
16:40
in the organization. They look at other people
16:43
as threats to themselves. And so I've been telling
16:48
them, hey, this woman needs to move out of the
16:53
role she's in into something else, which he's
16:57
actually, we executed on that this morning. So
16:59
we let her know. So now she's, I think at first
17:03
she thought she was getting fired, which she
17:04
was not. She's a great person, by the way. She's
17:07
very loyal, very good at what she does. She's
17:10
just not right for the level of role that she
17:14
was in. She needs a little bit more development.
17:16
She may fit into that somewhere down the road,
17:19
but not right now. Okay. Okay. I was just interested.
17:23
That's all. What signals? tell you someone has
17:29
the resilience and mindset to be a valuable long
17:32
-term partner? Look, the people that are willing
17:36
to do what it takes, they're easy to spot these
17:38
days. I don't know if this is a knock on younger
17:42
people. I'm assuming some of your audience is
17:44
younger, so please don't send me hate mail or
17:47
anything like that. But I'm 68 years old. The
17:50
work ethic from my generation to what I see now,
17:54
and by the way, these young folks, super talented
17:57
very smart but they have a different viewpoint
18:00
of the world as to what is what it takes to get
18:04
things done and i have one of my children by
18:07
the way is a millennial very talented person
18:11
super super talented salesperson made at a very
18:15
young age made a lot of money and then he retired
18:18
when he was 30 years old right now he's going
18:20
back into the work game And I was talking to
18:23
him. He said, yeah, I don't want to work more
18:25
than a few hours a day. I literally just got
18:28
home from Vietnam. We live part of the year in
18:31
Vietnam. As soon as it gets cold in Chicago,
18:33
we go to Vietnam. And we were doing a business
18:37
conference in Nha Trang, which is mid -coast.
18:41
And then we went up to Da Nang. And those two
18:43
areas are known for expats from all over, U .S.,
18:47
Canada. Europe, Australia, they go there and
18:50
they live this laptop lifestyle. And when you
18:52
see this on social media, you're thinking, wow,
18:54
this would be great. And then I go and I see
18:56
how they live and I'm like, I don't, it's great
18:59
that you work three hours a week, but I don't
19:02
want to live like you do. But anyway, it's easy
19:06
to, when you ask people, I'll give you an example.
19:09
This company that we were just talking about,
19:11
we have a woman we want to move into. general
19:15
manager role at that company and she's not quite
19:17
ready yet but we mentioned her a few things and
19:21
then she heard the ceo say he made a passing
19:26
comment one day on one of our meetings he's i
19:28
wish somebody knew how to do excel work in excel
19:31
it seems like nobody knows how to do that anymore
19:33
and then the next meeting we had with her she
19:37
said hey i just want to let you guys know i signed
19:41
up for excel and i'm going through this six month
19:45
long you know online course but it's with a live
19:48
teacher she did that on her own so of course
19:52
we asked her how much she paid for it and we
19:53
reimbursed her for it wasn't very much money
19:55
but the point is she took the initiative she
19:58
heard something and took the initiative to learn
20:03
how to do that and how to be good at be better
20:06
at her job and bring more value to the company
20:08
yeah Again, not saying anything against my younger
20:13
listeners. I'm 64. I'm 64, okay? You and I grew
20:18
up at the same age, working as hard and picking
20:24
up on those little nuances, saying if the boss
20:29
said that he needed this, I did everything in
20:32
my power either to do it, to learn it, to get
20:35
it, to whatever the case may be. So the next
20:37
time I was in his presence, I said, I got that.
20:41
Or I'm learning that. I'm being taught that.
20:43
Or I'm doing this. I took the initiative on my
20:46
own. And I speak at high schools, at colleges,
20:51
Gen Z, how they are not making it in the workforce,
20:56
how they are. I did a whole thing from about
21:00
1 ,000 employers. Yeah. And 700 employers won't
21:06
deal with a Gen Z person. Yeah. The other 300
21:11
won't even give them the interview. And the questions
21:15
were like, why? It's very simple. They don't
21:18
want to have to deal with their, I only want
21:20
to work three days a week. I only want to work
21:22
five hours a day. I need time off to have my
21:25
dry cleaning done. All that kind of stuff. And
21:28
it's very typical. So I go in and I talk to these
21:32
students about that and how to get through it.
21:35
But it all comes in. It's a different mindset.
21:39
It's a different mindset. Yeah. There was a saying
21:41
when you and I came up called, you had to earn
21:43
your stripes. Absolutely. And it wasn't just
21:46
given to you. And I'm going to back up and defend
21:50
the Gen Z slightly right now and say, maybe I'm
21:54
going to insult them and back them up at the
21:56
same time. But we've created this laziness by
22:00
virtue of how easy it is to do things. Calculators,
22:04
computers, now AI does everything for you. And
22:08
by virtue of that, we're creating an entire world
22:12
of people that are inherently lazy. They're not
22:15
lazy people. They're just taught to be lazy in
22:19
how they do things. They don't have to think.
22:21
When pocket calculators first came out, my father
22:24
is a nuclear engineer. And I said, hey, can I
22:27
go get one of these pocket calculators? He said,
22:29
nope. And he handed me a slide rule. He goes,
22:31
here's your calculator. You can learn how to
22:33
do it on this. I had to learn how to do math
22:35
on a slide rule. And but you know what? It made
22:39
me better for having done that. I don't use a
22:42
slide rule today, obviously, but it made me better
22:45
at the time because it made me think about how
22:47
not only how to get to something and answer,
22:51
but whether it was the right answer or not. Right
22:53
now, people just of all ages rely on the computer
22:58
said this or AI said that. So that must be the
23:01
right answer. And they don't question it. It's
23:03
like going to the Encyclopedia Britannica. When
23:06
I grew up, we had the full set of encyclopedias.
23:08
And you know that they're outdated every year.
23:11
So they had to get new. And that's what I remember.
23:14
And if I had to go look something up, I went
23:16
to the encyclopedia. I had to go to my phone
23:19
and say, no, it's wrong. And the other problem
23:22
with that, using AI and all that, because I use
23:25
AI. I write articles for a company, AI and everything
23:29
else. But what does the AI do? It scours the
23:33
internet. for your answer, as well as I do, all
23:37
those answers aren't correct. That's right. So
23:40
you really, it's that personal that you have
23:42
to know how to cipher through all the information
23:46
you get. Yeah. But I could have a whole separate
23:50
podcast just for that. That's right. Okay. So
23:53
what mistakes do growing businesses make when
23:58
they focus too much on expansion and not enough
24:01
on relationships? There's two pieces to that.
24:08
There's the financial piece. There's the person
24:10
piece. Too many companies, there's only one number
24:14
that matters in business when you're in expansion
24:16
or any time in your business. There's only one
24:19
number that ever matters in your business. What
24:21
is your net net? How much money do you have after
24:24
you paid your taxes? That's it. Bottom line.
24:27
Bottom line. When you're growing a business,
24:30
when you're scaling a business, you have to have...
24:33
Your revenue, your EBITDA, and your net, they
24:37
all need to go in a similar trajectory. If they're
24:39
not going, if you hyper -growth a business and
24:42
your EBITDA drops off a cliff, you're going to
24:44
run out of money, unless you've got a big backer
24:47
or something like that. You're going to run out
24:49
of dough, and it can be catastrophic, right?
24:52
It's the same thing with net. You can fool yourself
24:56
with cash flow and not be making any money. that's
25:00
a slower death, but it's a death nonetheless.
25:03
And then the other piece is to the people piece.
25:05
Again, if you have the wrong people in place,
25:08
you will limit how much you can grow a business.
25:12
It's that simple. So the relationships with not
25:15
only your people, but your vendors and your customers
25:20
are uber important, like super duper important,
25:25
right? Because there's going to come a time in
25:28
business where you're going to need, you're going
25:31
to have an ask of somebody. Whether it's your
25:35
employees need to put in a little extra without
25:37
some extra pay because you're going through a
25:39
rough patch, or if it's a vendor that you need
25:42
to ask them to go 45 or 60 days instead of 30
25:46
days, or if it's a customer that you have to
25:50
go in there and... and resell the value of what
25:54
you do for them or whatever it is, the relationship
25:57
piece, those three relationships are critically
26:00
important. And I don't think me personally, especially
26:03
when I was in a rank and file sales role many
26:06
years ago, I didn't spend enough time that I
26:09
wasn't dealing with vendors or other employees
26:11
at the time, but the customers, I'm a hunter
26:14
by nature. I like to go out and find new business.
26:17
I'm not a great. customer relationship person
26:21
because I don't like to go and kibitz. I don't
26:25
want to go hang at the bar. I don't want to go
26:27
to ball games. I don't want to do any of that
26:28
stuff. So years ago, I worked for a company.
26:32
I got called into the regional office in Charlotte,
26:34
North Carolina. I come in and the vice president
26:39
says, quick, it was like a secret thing. Quick,
26:41
come down here to my office. I'm like, oh, okay.
26:43
I go in this office, close the door. I close
26:46
the door. And he pulls out my expense reports.
26:49
And I'm thinking, oh, boy, I do everything by
26:50
the book. But he pulls them out. He spreads them
26:53
out on the desk. And he goes, I need you to explain
26:55
this to me. And I go, what? His name was Larry.
26:57
I'm like, what, Larry? What's the problem? He
26:59
goes, you don't spend nearly enough money. You
27:02
got to stay. We have a budget. We're going to
27:04
lose that budget if you don't start spending
27:06
money. You got to take people out to ball games.
27:08
And you got to do this and go play golf and buy
27:11
them presents and all this other stuff. And I
27:14
was like, okay, but those things are critically
27:16
important. Those three relationships are very
27:18
important. And then the other relationship that
27:22
people often overlook, again, just my opinion,
27:26
but is the relationship that you have with yourself
27:29
as you grow. Because if you're not growing as
27:32
a person, as you grow your business, you're going
27:34
to have some rough spots along the road. You
27:37
need to be able, in my opinion, a person needs
27:40
to be able to develop themselves. at the same
27:43
time as they grow a business and develop other
27:46
people within their organization. So the person
27:49
that thinks they know it all and they're done
27:51
learning stuff, they're toast, in my opinion.
27:55
Absolutely. You have to be confident in yourself.
27:59
And there's a fine line between confident and
28:02
arrogant. Yeah. And you can't cross that line,
28:05
but you have to be confident in yourself. And
28:08
what does that mean? That means I've got more
28:10
to learn. but I'm confident in what I know. So
28:14
I can take it to the next level. When I get to
28:16
that next level, I can then take it to the next
28:18
level. That's right. So on. But I can't cross
28:22
that line to become so arrogant saying, I don't
28:24
need you. I know everything. Yeah. Okay. How
28:29
can entrepreneurs continue building meaningful
28:32
connections even when their schedules become
28:35
overwhelming? That's another really good question.
28:39
Look, if you spend, I'm one of those people that
28:44
I have, it's not a set time on my calendar, but
28:47
I have set things that I do every day. And one
28:50
of those is connecting with other people, right?
28:54
During the day, I usually take 15 or 20 minutes
28:57
to go through my phone and pick out somebody
29:00
that I haven't spoken to in a long time and just
29:04
call them out of the blue and say, hey, I was
29:06
thinking about you. and I want to see how you're
29:08
doing, and that's it. And they're like, oh, you
29:11
don't want to set up a call? No, I just call
29:14
to see how you're doing. And so the good news
29:17
is when you do that, when you adopt that style
29:19
of putting that time in your schedule, because
29:23
here's the thing. We're all very busy. I'm extremely
29:27
busy, right? I try to manage part of my own calendar.
29:30
I have my assistant, Julie. She's putting stuff
29:32
on my calendar all the time. And so I'm busy.
29:36
And then my wife throws stuff on my calendar
29:38
that I don't know about that she calls me up
29:39
and says, hey, in 20 minutes, we got to go do
29:41
this or that and the other thing, whatever. And
29:44
it can become, it can look daunting. But here's
29:48
the thing. I guarantee you, everybody on planet
29:52
Earth can find 15 to 30 minutes of their day
29:56
that they just waste time that they could use
30:00
that for connecting with other people. I'll give
30:02
you an example. I am now banned from going on
30:05
TikTok because I follow this channel of these
30:08
gorillas, these silverback gorillas, right? And
30:12
these little gorillas are hilarious. They climb
30:15
all over the dad. They pull his ears. They poke
30:18
him in the nose, all this. It's hilarious. And
30:21
I start watching them. And the next thing I know,
30:23
30 minutes has gone. 15 minutes. So if I can
30:29
watch a gorilla. I'm guilty of that. Same way.
30:31
Same way. We all are. So if I can waste a half
30:34
an hour watching a gorilla, I can certainly take,
30:37
find a way to put a half an hour in my schedule
30:40
to, to connect with either old people that, you
30:44
know, people I know that I've lost touch with
30:46
temporarily or current people that I need to
30:49
contact or reach out to people that I don't know
30:52
yet and introduce myself. That's it. Yeah. Yeah.
30:57
I, a lot of my clients, when I tell them that
31:01
LinkedIn obviously is a business end of social
31:04
media and they want to reach out to people, they
31:07
want to tell them what they do and everything.
31:09
I said, no, stop, stop. If you want to reach
31:11
out to somebody, reach out to them, don't sell.
31:15
You have to bring some value to that relationship
31:18
and cut an article out, do something, say, look,
31:22
I was just thinking of you when I read this.
31:26
And do that three or four times. After they get
31:29
used to you, then say, you know what? I would
31:32
be really interested in a cup of coffee. Would
31:34
you like to do it virtually or in person? Something
31:37
like that. But that's way down the line. So you
31:40
have to do things in a certain pace. Okay, so
31:44
let's bring this podcast full circle, even though
31:46
we can probably talk for the next two hours.
31:50
If a listener is currently facing a major obstacle
31:53
in their business, what relationship building
31:56
step could help them move forward? The not so
32:00
obvious answer is that if you're having a struggle
32:04
in your business, the best use of your time would
32:09
be take the knowledge that you know and go help
32:13
somebody else. Find somebody else who's having...
32:17
some kind of issue that you've solved, and go
32:21
and help them. Or you mentioned before, you're
32:24
working with some young folks, some high school
32:27
kids. Go find some young people that have minds
32:32
that want to learn something and help them. I'm
32:35
a big believer in whatever you want to call it,
32:38
karma, what goes around, comes around, all these
32:40
kinds of things. Yes, you need to look. If you're
32:43
having an issue, you've got to find a way. connect
32:46
with some people that can help you solve that
32:47
issue. But the best way to deal with that, in
32:50
my opinion, is instead of focusing on your problem
32:53
and what's gone wrong, is take the things that
32:56
have gone right that you have a knowledge base
32:59
on and go find somebody who's having a problem
33:02
with that and help them. Very good. Very good.
33:06
Very good. Scott, this was great. You are a great
33:09
guest. But if somebody wanted to contact you
33:14
to be mentored by you, to have your services,
33:17
or just to reach out and say hello, what's the
33:20
best way that they can contact you? They can
33:23
call me up. I answer my phone. If I don't answer
33:26
my phone, I'll call them back. They can call
33:28
me, they can email me, or they can visit my website,
33:31
whatever. Best way is to just call me or text
33:34
me. And my phone number, if you want me to give
33:38
it, is... 732 -991 -3000. That's my cell. And
33:46
you can call that number. If I don't answer it,
33:48
I'll call you back. Outstanding. Very good. This
33:52
conversation is a reminder that growth doesn't
33:55
happen alone. Behind every successful business
33:58
is a network of people who provide advice, support,
34:03
perspective, and opportunity along the way. Take
34:07
one step this week. Reach out to someone in your
34:10
network you trust and start a real conversation.
34:13
Sometimes a fresh perspective from the right
34:16
person can change everything. If you found value
34:19
in today's episode, be sure to like, follow,
34:22
and subscribe to Networking Unleashed, Building
34:24
Profitable Connections, so you keep getting the
34:27
best insights on networking and communication.
34:30
And share this episode with someone who's building
34:33
a business and could benefit from the power of
34:35
strong relationships. If you'd help strengthen
34:38
your communication and building connections that
34:41
lead to opportunity, visit foreman .com to learn
34:45
how I work with professionals, teams, and organizations.
34:48
So until next time, stay resilient, stay connected,
34:52
and keep building relationships that move your
34:55
business forward. Scott, again, thank you for
34:58
coming on the podcast. You're a great guest.
35:00
Thank you very much. I really appreciate the
35:03
opportunity, and I really enjoyed our conversation.
35:11
Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's
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right connections for you. You can contact Henry
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at 561 -427 -4888. A huge thank you to our guests
36:08
for sharing such... insights today. And of course,
36:12
a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners,
36:15
for tuning in and spending your time with us.
36:18
If you're interested in my digital courses, being
36:21
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36:24
just go to Michael and fill out the request form.
36:28
Remember, networking isn't about being perfect.
36:31
It's about being present. So take what you've
36:35
learned today, get out there and make some meaningful
36:37
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36:41
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36:43
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36:46
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36:49
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36:57
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