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

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

0:16
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
0:20
Connections, the show where relationships turn
0:23
into revenue and rooms turn into communities.
0:26
I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and today's episode
0:29
goes straight to the heart of what most professionals
0:33
get wrong about networking. We're talking about
0:37
connection. Real connection, not name tags, not
0:41
awkward small talk, not hoping the right person
0:44
happens to sit next to you. My guest today is
0:48
someone who knows how to bring business professionals
0:51
together on purpose, design networking events
0:55
that actually work, and build in -person communities
0:58
where relationships don't end when the event
1:02
does. If you've ever walked into a room full
1:06
of people and walked out with nothing to show
1:08
for it, or if you've ever wondered why some events
1:12
spark opportunity while others fall flat, this
1:15
conversation is for you. Get ready to rethink
1:19
how connections are created, how rooms are designed,
1:22
and how communities grow. I'd like to welcome
1:26
to my podcast, Matthew. Matthew, this is such
1:30
an advantage for me. because you talk about exactly
1:34
what I do. I go on stages. I talk about networking.
1:39
I have a networking group that I meet weekly.
1:42
I do everything that you're talking about. I
1:45
am very interested in what you have to say. So
1:48
I'd like to welcome Matthew to the podcast. Matt,
1:51
would you mind just giving us a little background
1:53
and telling us how you got here today? bit of
2:01
tech and digital marketing. I was working at
2:04
a shipping technology company where I met my
2:06
now wife. She happened to be the boss's sister,
2:09
the CEO's sister. And in order to preserve my
2:12
own life and career, I branched and left that
2:15
company and joined a little startup. So that
2:17
little event, I started at a subscription software
2:20
company as the only marketer, and I started a
2:23
little meetup with some other marketer friends
2:25
that were also solo marketers at bootstrapped
2:28
small technology companies. And those two things
2:32
happened from that one decision and have subsequently
2:35
grown into two businesses that I run today, which
2:37
is I do a lot of work with subscription brands,
2:40
but that small little marketing meetup has grown
2:43
into a really large community here in Utah with
2:46
monthly meetups, workshops. We do two annual
2:49
conferences and it's all about putting people
2:52
in rooms because I've always found in my experience,
2:55
I would rather learn from say someone like you,
2:57
Michael, who's done it before, then go watch
2:59
a YouTube video from somebody that I have no
3:01
idea what's true or what's not. So that's the
3:04
whole ethos behind our community is you can get
3:06
solutions from your peers. How do we get peers
3:09
in a room so that they start talking is really
3:11
what we do. And that's perfect. It really is
3:15
because I too believe that the one -on -one or
3:19
the in -person networking goes far beyond that
3:24
of Zoom or anything else. And here's the biggest
3:27
reason. You can't pick up the vibe of the person.
3:31
You can't pick up the vibe of the room. You get
3:34
a feeling of how the room is just by when you
3:37
walk in. And you don't get that through Zoom.
3:40
You're a nice guy. You're a great looking guy.
3:42
But I don't know what's happening here. All right.
3:45
So let me jump into the questions. Number one,
3:48
okay, connecting with business professionals,
3:52
what separates introductions that go nowhere
3:55
from ones that turn into real opportunity? This
4:00
is so fascinating because I was actually helping
4:01
my sister with this because she's in HR and I
4:04
don't know a lot about HR, but I'm a connector.
4:07
And so I actually asked her this yesterday. I
4:09
said, can you tell me one thing about you that...
4:13
would make you stand out compared to somebody
4:15
else that does HR. And she started listing all
4:18
the things that she doesn't. she's not necessarily
4:20
super well trained in and then landed on the
4:23
one thing which is i'm really great at hard conversations
4:26
and helping people with management and interpersonal
4:29
office relations and so i said great i then went
4:32
into a group chat where i went in with a ton
4:35
of other business leaders and said hey i have
4:37
an hr professional who's really great with and
4:39
i said what she told me and i got a response
4:42
immediately from a leading hr person here in
4:45
utah to say I'd love to connect with her. And
4:48
the reason is it's being specific. I think one
4:51
of the biggest mistakes that people make when
4:54
they're networking is they think that, hey, I
4:56
want to be really general because I don't know
4:58
what opportunity might come my way. I want to
5:01
be really open to opportunity. And I run into
5:03
this all the time with people that are looking
5:04
for jobs or looking to hire from somebody. And
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the mistake is that general is easy to forget.
5:10
It's hard to remember. I meet so many people
5:13
and in a room full of other people when you're
5:14
networking, the only people that are going to
5:16
stand out are people that are very specific in
5:19
sharing what they do and in sharing what they
5:21
need. So my suggestion for any networking event
5:24
is be really specific. If you're young and you're
5:28
looking for your first job, then be really specific
5:30
about the opportunity you want. If you've been
5:32
20 years in the business and you've done a million
5:34
different things, be specific about the job that
5:37
you want. Because that's going to make you feel
5:39
remembered in people's mind. And they're also
5:41
going to immediately think of some, that's because
5:44
that's how we all talk to each other, right?
5:46
Michael, if you're saying, hey, Matt, I'm having
5:48
issues with HR because our current HR person
5:50
can't deal with hiring and firing and all this
5:53
stuff we're going through. Okay, boom. I think
5:56
of the person I know. If you say, hey, I need
5:58
a benefits person. I'm going to wonder if I know
6:01
a benefits person. So being that specific, I
6:03
think is the biggest difference in great networking.
6:07
I can't agree enough. One thing I've always taught,
6:11
and when I coach students, when I coach people,
6:15
when I coach professionals, they always have
6:18
all these things that they do. And I say, pick
6:21
a lane. Because when you go out and you do your
6:25
30 -second speech or whatever the hokey thing
6:27
that is, but if you do five things, don't come
6:31
out and say all five things. You have to pick
6:35
one. Pick one. expand on it. The next week, you
6:39
can pick a different one and expand on it. But
6:41
while you're talking, just pick a lane. So that's
6:44
very good advice. Okay, you've created successful
6:48
networking events. What's the biggest reason
6:52
most events fail to produce meaningful relationships?
6:57
Yeah, I'd say that it's twofold. One is like
7:00
within individual events, you need to really
7:04
understand like the purpose of why people are
7:06
coming, I think, right? If we're putting on an
7:08
event to try to connect, say, legal professionals,
7:11
that's not specific enough. Like we were just
7:13
saying, what is the reason why somebody should
7:15
attend? And if you understand that reason. very
7:18
clearly, hey, we're trying to help legal law
7:22
firms that are looking to expand into new markets.
7:26
OK, that gives everybody a compelling reason
7:28
to come. You can create content that matches
7:30
that need and you can create other ways to facilitate
7:33
that. So I do believe having a very specific
7:35
goal for why people should show up. is an important
7:38
way to do that. I then think the secondary thing
7:41
is about consistency. I've seen too many times,
7:44
I've been doing our event business for five,
7:47
six years now. And there are plenty of times
7:49
where people don't show up or nowhere near as
7:52
many people show up as I thought would. And there
7:55
are times when twice as many people show up.
7:57
And so I think the other mistake is not understanding
7:59
how much consistency. and feedback are important
8:02
in that. It's not just, hey, we're going to do
8:04
a networking event next month. And if it works,
8:06
if it doesn't, we'll go on to the next thing.
8:08
It's no, we're going to plan networking events
8:10
over the next six months. And this is our commitment
8:13
to doing those things. This is how we're going
8:14
to show up. This is how we're going to try to
8:16
get people excited, how we're going to get people
8:18
coming back. Because I have found the fun thing
8:20
about it is if people really enjoyed your event
8:23
and you can't tell them that you have another
8:25
one coming, you're missing that excitement. You
8:27
want to capture that. So those are the two things,
8:30
being really specific and building your events
8:32
around those goals and doing them over and over
8:35
again and not giving up just because it seems
8:37
hard. So now the events that you've produced,
8:41
are they events like businesses have tables or
8:45
are they just big networking events? We generally,
8:50
we do a little bit of both. So we'll generally
8:52
do say like a speaker or a panel around a topic.
8:55
That's something I really like because people
8:57
like to come out and learn from somebody they
8:59
know or have heard of, for example. And it's
9:01
generally around a topic. So for us in the e
9:03
-commerce space, there's so many different versions.
9:05
There's so many different aspects of e -commerce
9:07
that we can pick a lot of things, but we generally
9:10
say, try to start with something that appeals
9:12
to a broader audience. We get a couple of speakers,
9:16
we have a panel and our whole thing is, Again,
9:18
our ethos is really about getting into the weeds.
9:21
I just hate high level surface responses, right?
9:24
If you are trying to build an email newsletter
9:26
for your business, which everybody here in some
9:28
way, shape or form is probably trying to do,
9:30
what landing page builder are you using? Are
9:33
you running ads or not? What offer are you using
9:35
to get people to opt into your email newsletter,
9:38
right? I want to get into the weeds. And so we
9:39
make sure that the session content, the panels
9:43
and our moderator or moderators are going. because
9:46
that's what people really want. And then we leave
9:48
time after for Q &A and open networking. So we
9:51
then facilitate conversations with everybody
9:54
who's there. We don't necessarily do a ton with
9:56
trying to make sure everybody in the room goes
9:58
around, although we do some things often with
10:00
trying to get people to show who they are for
10:03
other people that want to connect with them.
10:04
But that's really what it's all about for us
10:06
is we want to provide some content. That's a
10:09
lot of the reason why people show up. But the
10:12
networking is what everybody talks about. as
10:15
being the reason that they love it so much is
10:17
the people they meet afterwards, the five to
10:19
10 people they chatted with after the event.
10:21
And sometimes that's the speakers, right? Sometimes
10:23
I really wanted to connect with so -and -so and
10:25
they were so helpful. Other times it was like,
10:27
hey, somebody two rows behind me, it turns out
10:29
they're in the same position I'm in and we're
10:31
now sharing notes and we're going to get coffee
10:33
next week. That happens all the time with our
10:35
group. Excellent. Because when I produce an event,
10:42
I have an event coming up actually in March.
10:45
People talk about what's happening with other
10:49
people. Yes, they came to see all the businesses,
10:53
but they want to see other people. having the
10:56
same problems that they're having and how do
10:59
they get out of it? So part of our event, part
11:02
of our weekly network meetings is that we take
11:05
the last 20 minutes, we take two people and say,
11:08
okay, what problems are you having? Or who do
11:12
you want to go and see? Who can't you go in and
11:16
see? Or who are you having a problem going and
11:19
seeing? And undoubtedly 15 people saying, I have
11:22
a contact. Yeah. And let me help you with that.
11:24
And it goes. a long way, but I love so much more
11:27
natural. It's so much more natural to where you
11:30
meet somebody say that works on retention, but
11:33
you're an ad buyer. They, the retention person,
11:36
you become friends. They want to introduce you
11:37
to the ad buyer in their company. Like it's just
11:39
so much simpler where we just create a space.
11:42
I do think that there's a lot of, as we've done
11:45
it longer, we've consistently created spaces
11:47
where people feel comfortable showing up to learn
11:49
and connect. And those are the people that keep
11:52
coming out. So if you're a really strong salesperson
11:55
and you're viewing it as like potential legion
11:57
for your service, those people do come, but they
11:59
go most of the time because you're not getting
12:02
a ton there. You'll turn people off. You show
12:04
up with your authentic self, you're going to
12:06
meet a ton of other people with their authentic
12:07
selves. Absolutely. What we do with our networking
12:11
events is I am heading the whole event, but I
12:15
say you go in with a servant's heart. You go
12:19
in looking to give. Instead of receiving. 100%.
12:22
When you do that, you take all that pressure
12:25
off your shoulders. And you're just there. All
12:29
of a sudden, you're having a good time. You're
12:31
meeting some great people. And you're looking
12:34
to see how you can help other people. So it's
12:37
a great combination. Okay. So which responsibility
12:42
does the event host carry for the quality of
12:46
connections that happen in a room? I'd say a
12:49
hundred percent. That's what I feel anyway. Yeah.
12:56
It's really, that's my biggest thing. It's if
13:00
I'm there in a room when we got 50 people, everyone
13:03
that I've met there or that I know there, I am
13:06
trying to connect with somebody else there. And
13:09
that's me doing the manual work of doing that.
13:11
But it's also, as I've said, like I. We want
13:14
people to show up that want to hang out a little
13:16
while after or that view that networking connection
13:19
piece as being really valuable because that's
13:22
what we're offering. So it's a huge thing for
13:24
me. It's what gets me excited. It's what motivates.
13:27
Honestly, Michael, it's like what made me feel
13:29
like this was a special calling for me was. not
13:32
just being a B2B marketer and trying to sell
13:34
software or something like that. It's, hey, no,
13:36
actually I can facilitate connections for a lot
13:39
of people. It makes me feel really good to help
13:41
people get, like we have people that have bought
13:43
and sold businesses out of our community that
13:45
find their next job or that hire people. Like
13:47
these are life -changing events that are coming
13:49
out of a simple networking group. And that's
13:51
really important to me. And I wouldn't do it
13:54
if it was just a profit motivation or anything
13:56
other than that too. Yeah, no, I'm with you 100%.
13:59
I feel 100 % responsible. Because if they're
14:02
coming to this meeting, I brought them all together.
14:06
Okay, whether it's five businesses, 15, 25 businesses,
14:11
I brought them together. So I want them to get
14:14
the most out of it. I always feel 100 % responsible.
14:18
Okay. What small detail, often overlooked, has
14:23
the biggest impact on whether people feel comfortable
14:26
engaging at an event? For me, I love self -deprecating
14:33
humor, and I almost always will open with a joke
14:40
making fun of... some clothing choice or how
14:43
my wife helped me dress or something like that.
14:46
I really do believe in creating open spaces.
14:48
And I want people to feel like not to make it
14:51
political in any way. I just want people, regardless
14:53
of your race, creed, gender, color, whatever,
14:57
that you feel welcome and that you feel like
14:59
it's a safe space. And that's something that
15:01
it's a little nuanced. We just try to make sure
15:03
everybody feels like your voice matters. You
15:06
can ask questions, you can be involved. And if
15:08
somebody is like way off the rails, then I talk
15:11
to them. one -on -one but that's something that
15:13
we've gotten a lot of feedback too is that people
15:15
feel comfortable like being wrong so we've also
15:17
done some events where i asked the panels to
15:20
share like the dumbest like a finance panel what's
15:22
the dumbest blunder you made what's the silliest
15:25
thing you did or the thing that you are just
15:27
i wish i could go back in time and undo that
15:28
because that makes the everyone there feel like
15:31
Yeah, we're all trying to, we're all making mistakes.
15:33
I'll try to figure out. So that's how I've approached
15:35
it. And I feel like that's a really good one
15:37
because otherwise like icebreakers and stuff
15:40
like that are just a mechanism for trying to
15:42
enable some of that. You keep talking about vibe.
15:45
It's really hard to set a vibe, but people know
15:47
when it's off. And so you have to look at small
15:50
ways you're positively influencing the vibe in
15:53
the room. Otherwise people just will be turned
15:55
off. And that's so true. I didn't mean to turn
16:00
away, but I wrote down the word blunder because
16:03
in my next networking meeting, that is what I'm
16:06
going to break out. Okay. I always start the
16:08
meeting off with a self -deprecating joke or
16:12
something or whatever. And it gets everybody
16:13
to laugh. But I'm going to bring that up the
16:16
next time. So I want to thank you for that. Okay.
16:20
In your experience, what does the structure of
16:24
an event? shape the behavior and mindset of the
16:28
attendees. Yeah, no, that's a great one. I'll
16:32
tell you this, an event structure that we've
16:34
tried a couple of times and has not worked out
16:37
well is I keep thinking I want to do a real hands
16:39
-on. So let's say you're building an email, like,
16:42
hey, come build the emails you need for your
16:44
business, a welcome flow for new customers. And
16:48
we want, we want to lay it, set out tables and
16:50
people can bring their computers and we're going
16:52
to go step by step. We'll have people in the
16:54
audience to go person if there's questions and
16:56
people just don't want to open up their computers
16:58
and do that. They want to pay attention and take
17:00
notes, but they want to work on it on their own.
17:03
And so that structure I've struggled to make
17:06
happen because I'm trying what I think will be
17:09
helpful, but people aren't wanting to show up
17:12
in that way. And so for me, I've found that.
17:16
We just structure the content a little bit differently.
17:18
So if it's more about, do I want somebody to
17:22
show you their playbook? Hey, here's how we do
17:25
emails. And we're going to step, step by step.
17:27
And for me, the signal is how many times are
17:30
people taking their phones out to take pictures
17:32
of a screen? That's okay. I'm, I really want
17:35
to look at that later versus say like a panel
17:38
is more like sharing ideas. or we'll often do
17:42
like round tables where we're facilitating like
17:45
discussions amongst the group so that type of
17:48
format does change how people show up and how
17:51
they engage Am I taking notes furiously as you're
17:54
walking through your playbook? Am I just getting
17:56
some really great ideas here from the panel?
17:59
Or, hey, I can actually ask questions for my
18:02
specific problems in this roundtable format.
18:04
It's how we've been figuring things out and are
18:07
continuing. And we do those formats at our big
18:08
conference. I try to do a version of each of
18:10
those things because it's just a different layer
18:12
of information and how people can digest that.
18:16
Because it's really hard to say be at a full
18:17
day workshop where you're taking notes furiously
18:19
the entire time. You need to break it up for
18:21
people. Yeah, my workshops are about three hours.
18:24
So it's a half day workshop. But that's how I
18:28
can tell if I'm getting the point across by how
18:32
many times people take the cameras out and take
18:34
a picture of my slide. So I'm a decent judge
18:38
of that. And when nobody did it, my entire workshop,
18:42
something was wrong. I messed up on somewhere,
18:46
somehow. But I'll go back and I'll check that
18:49
and I'll change that and correct it. But that's
18:51
how I can tell. You focus on building communities
18:55
in person. What changes when people see each
18:59
other regularly instead of just one -off events?
19:04
It's relationships and those connections. You
19:07
start hearing about personal things like I'm
19:10
having a baby, I'm getting married. moving to
19:13
this new company. And the fun part about that
19:16
is that does deepen the connection, but it also
19:18
actually just creates more context for, hey,
19:21
I'm moving to this new company. Do you know anybody
19:23
who's doing X, Y, Z? Because we're hiring for
19:25
that too, right? It's, hey, we're starting this
19:28
new initiative. Do you want to partner on it
19:31
with us? That kind of thing. That's what I find
19:33
when more and more people show up. They become
19:35
resources for each other. Like early on our community,
19:39
I spent a lot of the connection was just me connecting
19:42
people. And we have a Slack community with about
19:45
1300 people in it. And a lot of early on was
19:48
me just trying to poke the audience to get with
19:52
some fake questions to get some people to respond.
19:56
Now, when you're talking about a community, a
19:59
real community is not based off of Matt's network
20:02
of relationships. It's based off of the relationships
20:04
in the group. And so that doesn't happen without.
20:08
seeing people regularly or interacting with them
20:11
on Slack in addition to seeing them regularly.
20:13
And so now there are people that are solving
20:16
each other's problems, and I have no idea that
20:18
it's happening. There are people that are inviting
20:19
people to upcoming events, and I have no idea
20:21
that it's happening. So that's the beauty that
20:23
you get when you start. That's why that consistency
20:25
matters. It matters not just for your content,
20:28
but for the people. I agree 100%. 100%. It's
20:33
the difference. between a group of attendees
20:36
and an actual business community? Yeah, I think
20:41
it's, what are people doing when they're not
20:44
there? And that's like similar to what I was
20:46
just saying, is that I come here to learn and
20:48
then I go back to my business. I come here to
20:50
learn. I'm going to go talk to so -and -so and
20:52
so because they can help me in my business too.
20:54
And that's, I think that's that secondary one
20:56
of feeling like you're connected, that you have
20:58
friends and allies. Again, our whole biggest
21:01
thing is like, if you've been using a tool or
21:03
you're struggling with a landing page builder
21:05
or an email builder, okay, I can hop onto my
21:08
Slack group and ask this question. And then I
21:11
get four or five responses and, oh yeah, I remember
21:13
Jenny. She actually was on a panel about this
21:15
two months ago. I'm going to, I'm going to pay
21:17
attention to this or. Somebody else is going
21:19
to jump on there and say, if you haven't heard
21:22
from Jenny before, she's a real pro and she knows
21:24
what she's talking about. And that's happening
21:26
all the time because of those connections. Okay.
21:30
Do you encourage collaboration instead of competition
21:34
when you bring professionals from similar industries
21:38
into the same room? Yeah, that one's a little
21:42
tricky because... Sometimes we get, if we have
21:45
sponsors involved, we have to be a little bit
21:47
more careful, right? If I have a sponsor on email,
21:50
I'm not going to bring in an email expert from
21:53
a competitor. But other than that, we just push
21:58
really hard on that collaboration element that
22:00
if you feel threatened by other people that do
22:04
what you do, this probably isn't going to be
22:06
the best space for you because that's a really
22:08
bad vibe. The vibe should be. I do A, B, C, you
22:13
might do A, B, D, but that's okay. We have some
22:16
overlap and we have different opinions. The audience,
22:19
because from my perspective, the audience actually
22:22
needs different and sometimes conflicting opinions.
22:26
Because if they hear the same thing and they
22:28
hear the same thing online and the same thing
22:30
when they're hitting chat GPT. They're really
22:32
not learning and they're not being pushed to
22:34
try to test that as a hypothesis for their own
22:36
business. Because as we all know, there's no
22:38
real universal rules that work for everybody
22:40
in every place and every time. And so competitive
22:43
views are important. And we often will try to
22:45
balance that with, say, a panel of three people
22:48
might be a person who's, say, I'll use HR, say
22:50
an HR representative from a company, an HR representative
22:53
from a company, but then they have an HR consultant.
22:57
And so that way we can get different perspectives.
22:59
Hey, in our company of this size, these are our
23:02
pain points and what we're doing. Well, our company
23:04
is a little bit of a different size and we're
23:06
using a different software and we have some of
23:07
these other concerns. And then the third person's
23:09
like, yeah, I've seen those two things and 50
23:11
other things. And here's a lot of things to keep
23:13
in mind. And those different perspectives are,
23:16
I think, what's most valuable when you have a
23:18
room full of 50 people and you're not exactly
23:19
sure. Not everybody has the same problems that
23:22
need to be solved. Companies vary in size, obviously,
23:25
and use different size. I'm just using your HR
23:29
thing. But you can't compare a company that has
23:33
50 employees to one that has 15 employees to
23:37
the one that just has a mom and pop. So different
23:40
needs for different people. And different people,
23:44
they promote exactly what they're after, which
23:49
is, oh, I just like companies that are. 50 people
23:53
and above. I only like people, I don't like companies
23:56
from 20 to 50 employees. I only, and they have
23:59
their differences. So you get a completely different
24:03
perspective on the same issue, but from different
24:07
companies. So yes. Okay. So what habits should
24:12
attendees adopt after an event to turn good conversation
24:15
into lasting relationships? I think it comes
24:19
back to this specific thing. I always, it's not
24:21
just how you show up when you're being like,
24:24
I'm specifically that this is what I'm, how I'm
24:26
showing with this event, but also specific asks.
24:29
I think for the hard part is when you meet somebody
24:31
new, they're doing cool stuff. You think maybe
24:34
you could be friends or that you should collaborate
24:36
on something. Can you think of a specific next
24:39
step? Hey, I'd love to pick your brain on this
24:42
one area of your business. Can we get coffee
24:44
sometime? do a Zoom call or something like that.
24:47
I think that's really important is just being
24:49
really specific in how you show up, but also
24:51
what you ask of other people. And then, yeah,
24:54
I think it is just like looking for, I always
24:56
like asking other people too, what other events
24:58
are you going to? What other things like this
25:00
are going on? Because there might be stuff that,
25:03
you know, that maybe I didn't know about so that
25:04
I could show up to that too. And that's another
25:06
touch point. Yeah, my biggest thing. with when
25:12
I go on stages or I do a workshop or even coaching,
25:16
I always tell them that the follow -up is so
25:19
much more important than even meeting the person.
25:22
Your follow -up is just so important. And it's
25:25
not only that you follow up, but how you follow
25:28
up, when you follow up, what do you say when
25:31
you follow up? All of this is so very important,
25:34
whether you're going to turn the other person
25:36
off or just say, hey, that's a great idea. Let's
25:38
grab a cup of coffee. There's so much involved
25:41
with that. Okay, let's bring this full circle.
25:46
If someone wanted to build a strong, trusted
25:49
business community from scratch, what's the first
25:52
decision that they must get? You got to understand
25:55
the need. It's really easy to see a community
25:58
or people look at my business and they go, oh,
26:01
wow, if I could get. 50 of my customers in a
26:03
room every month voluntarily, that would be amazing.
26:06
It would be amazing. That's not how the world
26:08
works. So understanding a real need. And so for
26:10
us, like I've said, that need is around people
26:13
really wanting insightful information on what
26:16
they could do inside their business and also
26:19
the power of community. You need to be thinking
26:22
really clearly about what problem you're solving
26:24
and also think through all the other ways that
26:27
people are answering that problem. I think the
26:29
hard part is like entrepreneurs and business
26:31
owners is that we think that what we're coming
26:32
up with is unique when the reality is 55 ,000,
26:36
5 million people are already thinking of that
26:39
same problem and have different opinions on it.
26:41
So you come up with that idea and then test it.
26:43
It should be like any other business idea or
26:45
any kind of experiment. You have a hypothesis.
26:47
Hey, we think that. We're struggling to get operations
26:51
people, like people that do sourcing and fulfillment.
26:53
They're typically not big networkers, like marketers
26:56
or networkers, usually, in our experience. We're
26:59
trying to create more opportunities for those
27:03
operators to come out because we think that they
27:06
would actually appreciate connecting with their
27:08
peers. There's just not really a format for them
27:11
to do that. I might be totally wrong in the next
27:13
couple of months. pivot into something else for
27:15
that part of our group. But that's how you got
27:17
to evaluate the pain point and think if your
27:20
solution will actually answer that. And then
27:23
again, it comes to everything else I've already
27:24
said about, you have a goal now for the event.
27:27
You need to make sure that you're managing everything
27:29
related to the event so that goal can be achieved.
27:32
It's great, valuable information. This is such
27:36
golden information. I can't begin to tell you.
27:39
And I'm saying that from somebody who knows.
27:42
Okay. So obviously you just know what you're
27:45
talking about. If somebody wants to contact you
27:49
about an event or they live in Utah or whatever
27:52
the case may be, what's the best way that they
27:55
can get ahold of you? Yeah, you can find me on
27:57
LinkedIn, Matthew Holman on LinkedIn, or come
27:59
check out our website, ccatalyst .co, if you
28:02
want to come to an event in the future. We're
28:04
open, willing. When you were asking that competition
28:06
question earlier, I was smiling, thinking like
28:08
there are other communities and events and conferences
28:10
that have come and gone in Utah. And we love
28:13
working and collaborating with anybody because
28:15
our whole mission is just to connect and empower
28:17
people. So we don't view anybody as a competitor
28:20
in that space. Great. This is the difference
28:24
between attending events and belonging to something
28:27
bigger. Real networking isn't accidental. It's
28:31
designed. It's guided. And when it's done, it
28:34
creates a momentum that carries long after the
28:37
room emptied. If today's conversation made you
28:40
rethink how you show up at events, who you connect
28:44
with, or how you would build relationships over
28:47
time, take one action this week. Reach out, follow
28:51
up. Be intentional. Share this episode with someone
28:54
who hosts events, builds communities, or wants
28:57
stronger business relationships. Make sure you
29:00
subscribe to Networking Unleashed, building profitable
29:03
connections, so you don't miss conversations
29:06
that help you connect smarter and grow stronger.
29:09
And if you're ready to build relationships that
29:12
actually move your business forward, visit foreman
29:15
.com to learn how I work with professionals,
29:18
teams, and organizations. So until next time,
29:21
show up with purpose, connect with intention,
29:24
and build communities that last. Matt, I want
29:27
to thank you again for coming on the podcast.
29:30
You were a great guest. Thanks. You're a great
29:33
host. Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere.
29:40
Let's hear from our sponsors. David Neal, co
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They provide prevention training programs for
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to revvedupkids .org. Henry Kaplan, Century 21.
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When it comes to making the biggest financial
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of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan. Henry
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is a global real estate agent with Century 21,
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celebrating his 41st year in business. No matter
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where you're moving, Henry has the right connections
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for you. You can contact Henry at 561 -427 -4888.
30:31
A huge thank you to our guests for sharing such...
30:34
insights today. And of course, a big shout out
30:38
to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in
30:41
and spending your time with us. If you're interested
30:44
in my digital courses, being coached or having
30:47
me come and talk to your company, just go to
30:50
Michael and fill out the request form. Remember,
30:54
networking isn't about being perfect. It's about
30:57
being present. So take what you've learned today,
31:00
get out there and make some meaningful connections.
31:04
If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't
31:06
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31:10
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31:12
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31:15
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