Latest / King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights / Networking Mastery: Transform Your Presence & Profit with Strategies for Business Growth and Financial Success with Michael A. Forman

Transcript

Networking Mastery: Transform Your Presence & Profit with Strategies for Business Growth and Financial Success with Michael A. Forman · King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights

0:00
So I'm quite curious, what's the biggest networking of mistake
0:03
rather you see even seasoned professionals making well.
0:08
There's always a level of what's in it for me.
0:11
But let me go back to the first part of your question.
0:14
What mistakes do I see being made?
0:16
It's very easy. They talk, right?
0:19
So if you're out there to learn about other people, if you're
0:23
out there to give with a servant's heart, if you're out
0:27
there to try to help everybody, one thing that's going to work
0:30
against you, it's you talking, right?
0:32
You go out there and say as soon as you walk up to the table,
0:35
you're talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, and
0:38
you're not listening. So that's a number one mistake,
0:41
probably the biggest mistake that people would make.
0:45
Welcome to the Kingdoms podcast, where growth mindset meets
0:48
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0:51
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1:40
We're live ladies and gentlemen, you once again welcome to the
1:44
King James podcast and today I've got will meet a VVIP very
1:50
special guest fighting out earth, Georgia, United States of
1:54
America. Mick, welcome Michael, the award
1:58
reading communications expert for man.
2:04
How are you, Michael A Foreman? I am doing absolutely great and
2:11
I'm so glad to be here today. Oh, wow, fantastic.
2:16
So I always like to do the bruise bar for, you know,
2:19
announcement introduction for my guests.
2:21
And you know, sometimes some of them think, OK, am I coming to
2:25
fight? Here am IA Fighter now, before
2:30
you know, the only foreman you know I used to know was Judge
2:34
Foreman, you know, but now I know Michael A Foreman.
2:38
The only difference is is that he put an E between the R and
2:41
the M with his informant. That's the only difference, the.
2:47
Foreman Grill. It was a little bigger than I
2:49
was, but you know besides that do you by?
2:54
Any means use the Foreman grill, you know like I think it's kind
2:57
of popular one. I used to use the Foreman grill
3:01
and then what I, I, I went on from that.
3:03
But yeah, I used to use it. Oh wow, so So what do you use
3:07
now? Actually I use a Ninja product
3:11
that does the same thing. Come.
3:14
On ninjas. And everybody.
3:20
I know, I know. You know, like I was telling you
3:24
before we started the, the podcast, I'm very, very big on
3:28
gratitude and I always say that, you know, an attitude is good
3:31
gratitude and anytime a person shares the time with you, they
3:35
share their life with you because the SI unit for
3:37
measuring life is time. So to start with, from me to
3:42
you, a very, very big thank you to you for, you know, coming on
3:47
board today to share your wealth of experience, you know, your
3:51
very, very valuable knowledge, you know, with us today on the
3:55
podcast. It means a lot to me and I'm
3:57
very, very grateful to you. Thank you very much and God
4:00
bless you. So today, you know, I've said
4:04
this many times on the podcast, the two set of people I
4:07
appreciate the most in terms of service to humanity, those into
4:12
healthcare and military service. And interestingly, you, you're
4:18
top of the food chain. You know, you, you are a
4:22
veteran, right? Networking strategist, you know,
4:26
2024 award-winning communications expert, keynote
4:31
speaker, and of course, a published author.
4:34
You help professional networks, right?
4:36
And you help people communicate for more profitability through
4:42
your company, right? And of course, with your
4:45
military background, US Air Force veteran, you have an
4:49
extensive experience in sales, insurance, risk management, and
4:52
corporate speaking. So you bring in a unique
4:56
perspective on transforming business relationships from
4:59
transactions to genuine connections.
5:03
So that is actually a wealth of experience.
5:08
And this experience is the best teacher.
5:11
And experience is earned. It is earned you you can't buy
5:16
it. And that's why I am really,
5:19
really grateful, immensely and intensely grateful to have you
5:24
on the podcast today. I always say this, that my
5:28
intention, you know, my goals on the podcast actually things to
5:32
educate and to inspire. If I'm able to achieve those,
5:38
I'm grateful. You know, this is an education
5:40
category podcast. I'm not out here to entertain
5:43
people. If you want to get entertained,
5:45
you know we had to go to, but if you want to get edutained, stick
5:50
around. There you.
5:53
Go Wow. So you know, I how to do my own
5:59
research on you and come in full circle, right, Lincoln, you know
6:04
what you stand for with what I stand for and what this podcast
6:10
is about. You know, how did you come
6:13
about? You know, this whole journey
6:16
it's it's been multiple different experiences cross
6:20
board, but the common denominator in my opinion, and
6:24
please correct me if I'm wrong, is service, but how would you
6:30
explain your journey? It's always, it's always
6:33
service, right? 100 years ago when I started
6:36
with the Air Force, I was in there for 9 years.
6:39
I was a police officer with them.
6:41
I did very well one up in the ranks, but that's it's always
6:45
service. After I got out of the Air
6:49
Force, I went into my businesses.
6:51
I went into, I had a graphic design studio, I had a pizzeria,
6:56
a restaurant. I, you know, these are all
6:58
things that I was in there for money, but I was in there.
7:02
I was also having a good time because I was helping everybody
7:06
all right, enjoy what they wanted to.
7:08
But when I got out of that, I went into the corporate world
7:11
and I wanted to mortgages. I moved down to Georgia from New
7:15
York and I got involved with the law firm, the director of sales
7:19
and marketing. I did everything, but one thing
7:22
I realised was with the mortgages and with the the law
7:27
firm, I was the face of the companies.
7:29
I was giving the presentations, I was talking to the people, I
7:34
was interacting with the customers, I was doing, I was
7:37
doing all of it. So I said, you know what, why
7:40
don't I just do it for myself? That's why I started.
7:44
Yeah, you beat it. Other people's dreams.
7:47
Absolutely, Absolutely. Your own empire.
7:50
Time. Time for me to build my empire,
7:52
if you want to call it that. But you know, it's it was just
7:56
it was very interesting journey. I loved the journey.
7:59
I wouldn't change anything about it made me who I am today.
8:04
You know, something that actually resonates and would I
8:08
say is a connecting dot between yourself and myself.
8:10
And like I told you, I did my homework on you.
8:14
I know more about you that you think I do.
8:17
OK. I know you appreciate the arts
8:20
and yes Sir, I know that you actually describe networking,
8:26
you know, as an art form rather than just a business
8:29
transaction. And do you want to know the
8:31
title of my verifest book, The Art Mastering the Art of
8:36
Entrepreneurship? Well, there you go.
8:40
The arts. The arts.
8:44
It's the art of I chose networking, you chose
8:47
entrepreneurship, so it's all the same.
8:50
So I think I'm going to increase the price of my book before
8:53
before you buy it because you have to buy that book.
8:58
You've no other person on this planet buys that book.
9:01
You have to buy it. You have to buy it at a premium.
9:05
Right, right. Of course, of course.
9:08
You know, you know, it's a it's a really big connecting dot,
9:12
right? I'm a social scientist, but I'm
9:15
also this guy that appreciates the arts.
9:19
Entrepreneurship business is a hybrid of an art and a business
9:24
and and a science rather. But I'd like to for you to speak
9:27
to that because a lot of people tend to just try to take it from
9:32
the scientific aspect and ignore the art, and the art is what
9:37
makes it beautiful. Well, you know we don't sell
9:41
widgets, right? Give me 3 for a dollar.
9:44
I'm going to give you the widgets, right?
9:46
That's all building your customer base before the
9:50
pandemic, right? I'm going to switch it.
9:52
It's half and half. Before the pandemic, everybody
9:55
was interested in building their customer base.
9:59
And the more customers they have, the better.
10:01
It's not that way. Ever since the pandemic, I think
10:05
more building of relationships is important, right?
10:09
So the, I used to go to a networking event when I was
10:14
dealing with the mortgages or, or attorney firms or anything
10:18
else like that. And I used to come home with a
10:21
shoe box filled with business cards.
10:24
Look how good I did. And you know what, that's wrong.
10:28
It was all wrong. Right now, if I go to a three or
10:31
4 hour event, I say come home what 15 or 20 business cards
10:35
because those are people that I spoke with that I got to know
10:40
their background, that I got to really enjoy them.
10:45
So and of course that helps with the follow up.
10:48
And I personally believe that the follow up is more important
10:51
than actually meeting the person because that's where all the the
10:56
business lies, right? You, if you follow up too much,
11:00
too little, not enough, the wrong way, the right, there's so
11:03
many different things that that really is what makes the
11:07
business. I actually have the secret sauce
11:10
of follow up, right. So when you meet somebody, if
11:14
you use my ways of following up, you are I think 75%, you have
11:21
75% more of a chance of communicating with that person.
11:27
It goes from that that 2% to about 75%.
11:32
You know, it's quite interesting what you're saying and I'm going
11:36
to link it with a proverb from Nigeria, where I come from.
11:40
I'm I'm really, really super proud of my country.
11:42
And of course, big shout out to Nigeria and they've actually
11:46
been very supportful and supportive to the podcast
11:50
lately. We rose as high as #7 on the
11:53
Apple podcast, you know, chats in Nigeria, you know this in
11:57
Nigeria the carry last. So it me.
12:00
So there's this proverb in Europe, right, They say
12:02
Ibericon, Lunisha, AFI, any Tobafo ET document.
12:07
So translated, you know, it means it's not about who starts
12:12
a job, right? Who starts a job or who starts
12:16
an activity is not, you know, the prize winner.
12:21
He's that's not the person that achieves the rewards.
12:25
It's a person who follows through to the end.
12:30
So a lot of people are good starters, but follow up is what
12:36
sees an activity is what sees a process right to the end.
12:43
So some people are very good. Yeah, you meet at networking
12:46
event, they tell you like they would wow you, but follow up
12:51
zero. And what's the point having
12:53
leads without having conversions?
12:56
Absolutely follow up is key to anyone's success and depends on
13:02
how you do that follow up how successful you'll be.
13:07
Absolutely. You know, you've actually worked
13:09
with everyone you know, from investor clubs to trade shows.
13:13
What patterns have you noticed in how successful networkers
13:18
approach these different environments?
13:21
You know, you don't want to be salesy that salesman.
13:26
You know, if you go to trade shows, that's what you're right.
13:31
You know, that's all you have. You have come to my booth.
13:35
You know, I've got everything. I've got just what you need,
13:37
like you know, so you know that there's that that difference.
13:41
But you have to throw that all away, right?
13:45
You have to bring in that feeling of building the
13:50
relationship. So whether you're going to a
13:53
networking event or if you're doing a trade show, trade shows
13:56
a lot more difficult, right? But you have to figure out to
14:00
combine the two and say, OK, I need to bring people into my
14:05
booth, but I need to to create that rapport.
14:10
And you have what, 10 seconds, you know, in a, in a networking
14:14
event, you have 30 seconds, maybe a minute.
14:17
You know, that rapport is just so very important and how you do
14:22
it is even more important. Now a little trick of the trade
14:27
that I use is I use a, there's a word called form FO or that's
14:33
family, occupation, recreation and a message.
14:38
Have that in the back of your head.
14:41
So when you talk to that person, talk to them about husband,
14:46
wife, sister, brother, son, daughter, whatever, that's the
14:50
family. If if you hear something, you
14:53
have to pick up on it. Hear something about them, you
14:58
talk about that, their occupation, something about
15:01
their job or recreation. That's my favourite, you know.
15:04
Oh, do you snow ski? Oh, do you boat?
15:07
Oh, you play baseball? Oh, you know, right.
15:11
I was a a manager for 16 years, I was an umpire for three years.
15:16
I can talk to any about youth sports, right?
15:19
So as soon as they go in that direction, I'll start talking to
15:25
them about it. And.
15:26
Before you know it, absolutely and before you know it, you're
15:30
going to have ask them about their job, right, how they do
15:35
their job, how well they do their job.
15:37
And after they say all this, now remember, here's the so
15:42
important you don't say a word, you don't talk.
15:47
It's called active listening, right?
15:50
You listen to what they are saying.
15:53
You don't try to come up with the next thing that you want to
15:55
talk about, but you listen to what he's saying or she's saying
16:00
and you and afterwards you say, you know something.
16:02
This is where having a servant's heart comes in.
16:06
Say, you know something. I like you.
16:09
I like what business you're doing.
16:11
I like how you're doing it. How can I make you more
16:14
successful? How can I be a good referral
16:18
sort for you? And usually they throw them back
16:23
like I don't even know what you do yet, you know, and here you
16:26
are trying to help me. I said, yes, that's what I want.
16:30
That's what I'd like to do. So after you go through it, and
16:34
by that time, you'll have to explain what you do and how you
16:37
do it. But here's the here's the
16:39
interesting part. You take his business card and
16:43
you give him one of yours. You don't just leave that
16:46
business card by itself. You write down the date, the
16:51
name of the function, and something you spoke about
16:55
because that will help you follow up later on.
16:59
Yeah, it's quite interesting what you're saying.
17:02
We've actually discussed the same set of things and I use
17:05
similar words on this podcast before.
17:08
I reckon you should find the episode with Morgan Anderson and
17:13
Sean Kidnatson. So there were two guests on the
17:17
show at the same time and we were talking about business
17:20
networking. So Morgan Anderson is the CEO of
17:24
Golden Line Tax Solutions in your neck of the woods in
17:27
America and her company was organising A networking events
17:33
and the speed dial resourceful workshop for entrepreneurs.
17:39
And we're talking about business networking.
17:41
And it's like we we, we took tricks from your playbook right
17:45
there. It's going to be a really,
17:46
really fantastic one for you to to go back to watch.
17:50
It's really, really brilliant that your philosophies actually
17:54
align with the philosophies and the ideals that this podcast
17:59
promotes. And I'm grateful to having, you
18:02
know, a person, a resource person like yourself on the
18:04
platform. I think it just validates the
18:08
the intensive research and hard work that you know, myself and
18:11
my team put into this show. You know, why talk about
18:14
networking for profitability, I wonder really ensure that our
18:23
audience are on the same wavelength with us.
18:29
You talk about networking for profitability, what exactly do
18:32
you mean And how is it different from just collecting business
18:37
cards? You know, you talk about
18:39
executive presence in your workshop, so how would you
18:42
define that for someone who has never heard the term before?
18:46
And what's the difference between networking and what you
18:50
call genuine connections? OK.
18:52
So let's break this down a little bit further.
18:54
Strategic networking, right? Listen, everybody goes to
18:59
networking events. You go to a Chamber of Commerce
19:02
event, you go somewhere else to network with people.
19:06
And then after the networking event, you say, did I talk with
19:11
anybody or who did I speak with or everything was very general
19:16
strategic networking. It's going to network with a
19:21
position. You knowing that, you say, OK, I
19:24
need to to speak with these types of people.
19:27
You don't speak with them all the time, but you shorten your
19:31
conversation with them. That's why I say only bring 15
19:35
or 20 only. You're only going to get 15 or
19:37
20 business cards because that's where you're going to follow up
19:40
with. And I say you're going to
19:43
increase your profitability because listen, if you figure
19:47
out who you want to network with and people and you find out
19:53
their backgrounds and you follow up with them properly, that's
19:57
the keyword properly, you're going to increase your profits
20:02
dramatically, probably within 30 days.
20:07
So you have the, the, the combination, the the variation
20:11
of people who network, who go to networking events, just just a
20:16
network or you have to people who strategically go and figure
20:21
out who they want to talk to follow up with them properly and
20:25
they'll increase their profits within 30 days.
20:29
Now I'm thinking about members of our audience that I think in
20:33
in their heads. These all sounds great, but I am
20:38
an introvert or I hate I hate networking events or I don't
20:43
know where to start. So for someone who breaks out in
20:46
a cold sweat at the thought of walking into a networking event.
20:49
So what's your nuts and bolts method that you teach?
20:53
I teach. It's very simple.
20:55
Now let me let me back up a little bit when when I say going
20:59
to networking events, I always say go alone.
21:03
Don't go by yourself, right? You don't want to share credit,
21:06
you don't want to share conversation.
21:08
You won't do anything. You go by yourself.
21:11
This way you're not bothered by somebody that you came with and
21:15
have to talk with them or something else because that's
21:17
time, right? OK.
21:20
Now for an introvert, very simple, bring somebody with you,
21:25
bring somebody with you that knows you, knows what you don't
21:29
knows all about you. So when you walk up to a
21:32
networking table and that you have the conversation that comes
21:36
around, first you figure out, is this a conversation I want to be
21:40
a part of? If not, you politely go out, go
21:44
to another table. If it is, you say you know
21:47
something. You know that's a great subject.
21:49
You know what? Michael here knows a lot about
21:51
that. Michael, why don't you tell us a
21:54
little bit about it? Because that's like an
21:56
introduction. So your fear of talking to all
22:01
these people now has been limited because you're just
22:04
talking because you're introduced, you're talking and
22:08
you do that table to table to table.
22:10
Now I'm not saying that this will, I'm cured.
22:15
I'm no longer an introvert, right?
22:17
But if you do that like 3 times for like by the 5th event,
22:22
you're going to say you know something, I'm ready to solo,
22:26
I'm ready to go by myself and fly, right?
22:30
Listen, everybody should network.
22:33
Network I believe is the base of all businesses.
22:38
But one thing people don't do, they don't go out and do it,
22:42
they don't network, right? My only suggestion, go out there
22:47
and start go out there and network.
22:49
Are you going to suck the first time you go out there?
22:52
Yes you will. But you're but you're going to
22:55
learn from it. You're going to learn what to
22:58
say, what not to say anything else.
23:00
So by the next networking event, you're going to get a little bit
23:04
better and a little bit better that a little bit better.
23:07
And before you know it, you'll be a pro.
23:10
That just aligns with what I ought to see on the forecast.
23:12
Consistency is key. Absolutely.
23:15
Yeah. So I love to weaponize
23:17
consistency. It's pretty much the eighth
23:20
wonder of the world. Just like Albert Einstein said,
23:23
compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.
23:25
Yeah, right. That's what consistency does.
23:27
You know, you mentioned in your experience that you help people
23:31
leverage their stories for business success.
23:34
And, you know, why are stories so powerful in networking?
23:38
And how can someone who thinks they don't have interesting
23:41
stories discover them? OK, well, you know, what would
23:45
you rather have somebody that tells you about themselves,
23:49
about what they do whenever try everything is statistics and
23:53
what they do and how they do it? Or do you want to hear somebody
23:57
tell you a story about it? People remember stories.
24:01
They remember the people associated with the stories and
24:06
they'll remember those stories far more than your statistics.
24:11
So intertwining the two of them. And then of course, listen.
24:15
If you're funny, then make a joke and put a little humour
24:19
into it. If you're not funny, don't do
24:22
it. Because people will know.
24:25
People know when you're absolutely, absolutely, but just
24:31
try to try to put it on to a story because they will
24:34
remember. Do you know what?
24:36
I'm laughing because I have been in an event where a guy was
24:40
telling a joke right? But I was laughing to the joke
24:44
No, because the joke was funny, but because the joke was not
24:47
funny. Well, the way is slippery his
24:50
delivery. If you don't have a delivery,
24:53
don't say the joke. You know, it's really simple and
24:57
yeah, it's, it's true. And I, I remember plenty of
25:01
times watching people forcing a joke and you're like, I don't
25:07
want to deal with this. And the joke is on you.
25:10
And he sees you laughing, but he thinks you're laughing at joke
25:14
when you're really not laughing at the joke, you're laughing at
25:16
him. It's easy laughing, but he
25:18
doesn't realise he's actually a laughing stock.
25:21
And my my accountants, my accountants in the house will
25:24
understand. I say that person has been
25:27
declared a laughing stock in language IES 2, you know, IES 2
25:32
is international accounting standards that relates to stock,
25:35
also known as inventory. So what kind of stock is this
25:40
person? A laughing stock, you know.
25:42
Exactly. Now, he may be memorable to be a
25:46
laughingstock, so you may have gotten the same thing across
25:50
without trying. But you But don't try it.
25:54
Don't. Don't do it.
25:55
But please give them a for effort, you know?
25:57
Right, right. It's better to try.
26:01
So let's talk about the elephant.
26:04
The elephant in the room. Rather, you know, a lot of
26:06
people think that networking feels, in your words and at
26:11
wildest laughing earlier, silly and inauthentic.
26:16
So how do you help people get past this mental barrier?
26:20
Well, again, you're going there with a servant's heart.
26:23
If you go there trying to give, trying to bring two people
26:28
together, trying to refer, then all the pressure of what you
26:33
have to sell is off your shoulders.
26:36
You don't have to worry about being salesy because you're not
26:40
selling anything, right? So one thing I, I talk, I go on
26:45
stages and I talk about, I do, I go into businesses, I do
26:49
workshops. And one point I'm always trying
26:52
to bring to them is that people love to buy, but they hate to be
26:58
sold to. Absolutely right.
27:01
People love agency. They want to feel in charge.
27:04
Right. But they don't want to be sold
27:06
to, you know, so, so if you take that part out of the equation
27:11
and just people love to buy, well, then you just you're,
27:15
you're, you're promoting that and you're, you're making
27:18
everybody a lot happier. You know, I think this is where
27:23
the real gold is for our audience and of course I want to
27:29
challenge you a beat Michael because you have been in sales,
27:34
insurance, risk management and now consulting.
27:38
That's a lot of carrier pivots. Was there ever a moment where
27:42
you thought maybe I'm just not cut out for this business world?
27:46
And how did you push through that?
27:48
You know the networking industry is full of people teaching C
27:52
stems and formulas, right? But what's broken about how
27:56
networking is typically taught? And why do you think so many
27:59
people struggle with it despite all of the advice that is out
28:03
there? OK, well, one thing is, first of
28:06
all, I'm a confident person. I've always been a confident
28:10
person. So no matter what I tried, I'm
28:13
going to succeed. No matter what.
28:16
Even if I fail, doesn't make a difference, I'm going to
28:18
succeed. That was my, my, my thought, my,
28:21
my mindset being a that's the number one thing with
28:25
networking. You have to be confident.
28:28
Now, I, I'm confident. I'm confident in losing money.
28:32
I'm confident in a business not working, but I'm confident now.
28:37
I went to the school of Hard Knocks.
28:39
In other words, I had to do everything wrong before I
28:43
learned how to do it right. To do it right, Absolutely.
28:46
I love that. I love that.
28:48
I currently mentor about Yeah, 5 podcasters right now, and I see
28:54
them leveraging on the experience that I've had.
28:57
You know, Putin, these podcasts, I tell them I had to feel very
29:02
fast, do a lot of things wrong, you know that, to discover what
29:05
really works right. And you have nailed that.
29:08
I appreciate that. No problem.
29:10
Failure is the number one teacher for success.
29:16
Absolutely, but people are scared so you have to as a set
29:18
back. Well, let me tell you, you know,
29:21
the people who have never failed don't know what true success is
29:26
because they don't know the feeling of failure.
29:29
You know, because when I, when I go on, I think about everything
29:33
that I've done that didn't really quite work out.
29:36
And I'm going to tell myself I'm not going to do that again.
29:40
Yeah, that's just another way it doesn't work.
29:42
Right, exactly, exactly. But that's the way I've, I've
29:46
always been. I've always been a confident
29:48
person. I've always never been afraid to
29:50
go out and talk with anybody. And that really set me up to do
29:55
what I'm doing today. That's a line in my philosophy
29:59
big that you just aligned with. It's it's quite famous.
30:05
Fortune favours brave. Fortune favours the brave.
30:08
Absolutely talking about, you know, the seas that you're
30:12
talking about confident, be courageous, be creative and of
30:16
course, be curious. And I I don't think this limits
30:19
to to what you can achieve. I know you.
30:21
You should agree with that, don't you?
30:23
Absolutely, absolutely. First of all, you have to be
30:27
curious, right? You have to be confident.
30:30
You have to be. You have to wonder what else you
30:33
can do to become more successful, right?
30:38
So first of all, I never stopped learning.
30:40
If I don't learn something new every day, I feel like I failed,
30:44
right? I want to learn something new
30:46
every day, because I don't know it all right, But I can learn,
30:52
and the more I know, the better I'm going to be.
30:55
When I'm talking, whether I'm instructing, whether I'm
30:58
mentoring, it doesn't make a difference.
31:00
The more knowledge I can amass, the better I'm going to be.
31:04
You know, yeah, in a nutshell, curiosity, courage, creativity.
31:11
Very important. Very, very important.
31:14
And of course, confidence. Capsid So I'm quite curious
31:20
what's the biggest networking if mistake rather you see even
31:24
seasoned professionals making and you know, here's a tough
31:29
one. You talk about genuine
31:30
connections, but at the end of the day, you're still running a
31:34
business right? And there's pressure on you to
31:38
make profit. So how do you balance
31:41
authenticity with the need to generate revenue?
31:45
And isn't there always going to be some level of what's a need
31:49
for me? Well, there's always a level of
31:53
what's in it for me. But let me go back to the first
31:55
part of your question. What mistakes do I see being
31:59
made? It's very easy.
32:02
They talk, right? So if you're out there to learn
32:07
about other people, if you're out there to give with a
32:11
servant's heart, if you're out there to try to help everybody,
32:14
one thing that's going to work against you, it's you talking,
32:18
right? You go out there and say as soon
32:20
as you walk up to the table, you're talking, talking,
32:23
talking, talking, talking, and you're not listening.
32:27
So that's a number one mistake, probably the biggest mistake
32:30
that people would make. Actively staying out.
32:33
I've spoken about that, you know, very much on this show and
32:36
I say there are four language skills for reason speaking,
32:41
listening, reading and writing. A lot of people place too much
32:45
premium on speaking. You need to be an active
32:48
listener. People who watch this podcast
32:50
understand that. I, I placed a lot of premium on
32:53
that. And of course, you did confirm
32:55
that you confirmed that at the beginning, You know, where
32:58
before we hit the record button, that why is it that I ask the
33:02
follow up questions, right? Is it that I'm looking for
33:05
particular answers? I, I, I'm open minded.
33:08
I'm not looking for a particular answer.
33:09
The reason why I ask the follow up questions is I listen to you
33:13
actively and I want to understand in between the lines
33:16
of what you're saying. And I try to corroborate what
33:19
you're saying in order to confirm understanding.
33:23
And trust me, I've learned a lot from, you know, great minds like
33:27
yourself from all around the world.
33:29
I think I've interviewed people from every continent in this
33:33
world right now with over 100 episodes in the back.
33:39
I'm grateful, but you need to learn a lot from people by
33:43
listening. Very, very important.
33:46
And of course, I'm, I'm grateful you, you actually brought this
33:48
up. I'm really grateful, you know.
33:51
It's so true. Yeah, and we have 4 minutes
33:55
left, you know, on the part they say it takes 4 minutes to save a
34:00
life. So let's, let's, let's talk
34:03
about you as a person. What would you say?
34:08
Right. That people don't really know
34:11
about you, but it's probably like a skill or capability that
34:16
you have and you're quite proud of, but people don't really know
34:19
about you as a person. Well, that's kind of tough.
34:24
But what they Anybody who truly knows me knows that it's family
34:30
first, God is second, and I am You're.
34:36
The first best I've ever had that father, the first God
34:40
second. I like it.
34:41
Rearrangement. Well, I have to tell you, Brian
34:44
Piccolo wrote a book. Brian Piccolo was a former
34:47
Chicago Bears football player, and he just switched the first
34:51
two. He said God is first, my
34:53
family's second, I am third. The name of the book was I am
34:56
third but I switch it around because my family is first.
35:00
Got a second but I am third. Interesting stuff.
35:03
OK, I'll think about it. I don't have a would I say?
35:06
I'm not married? So I wouldn't say I have.
35:08
Is it, what do you call it, the primary family or something?
35:12
Well, I've I've been married for 37 years.
35:17
Wow, wow. That is even before I was born.
35:21
I'm 33 years old, so I have a lot of learning to take off your
35:26
playbook. Please, just just just, you
35:28
know, document the things I need to know so that I won't make the
35:32
wrong decisions, you know? Right, right.
35:36
Whoa, Sir. Too long.
35:38
It's too long of a thing for me to ever write down so you know.
35:43
Please write, write, write what you can write.
35:45
Please, I'm, I'm begging you. I'm begging you, I'm not proud.
35:49
I'm very humble. OK, OK and I'm very teachable.
35:53
Please, you know, let's let's take the quick fire out
35:57
questions, you know, 5 questions, quick responses.
36:01
So complete this sentence. The biggest networking myth that
36:04
needs to die is what? Biggest networking myth is it's,
36:09
it's talking, it's speaking. It's speaking without hearing,
36:13
right? If you're going to speak without
36:16
hearing, why you bother? Why?
36:17
Why are you there, right? You have to listen and then
36:21
speak, but you're going to speak with a response to what they
36:24
were saying. So #2 you're at a networking
36:29
event and you see someone standing alone looking
36:32
uncomfortable. You have 30 seconds.
36:34
What do you do? Very simple, walk up and talk to
36:37
him. Walk up, talk to them.
36:39
Don't talk to them about business.
36:41
You know, comments say, hey, you know what, that's a nice blazer
36:44
you have on or those are nice shoes.
36:45
Where do you get those shoes or something else like that?
36:48
Because if they're standing off to the side, that means they're
36:51
nervous about entering the room. So what you're doing is you're
36:55
helping them and you're helping them break down that nervousness
36:58
and you're just talking about anything.
37:00
Just and stuff. Anyways, yeah, it's a nice
37:02
blazer I have on, but I don't have nice shoes at #3.
37:07
One piece of advice you'd give to your 25 year old self about
37:12
building professional relationships?
37:15
Oh my God, yes. Well, you know what?
37:18
This that's before I went to the school of Hard Knocks.
37:21
I would tell myself to start building relationships, building
37:25
relationships, and not concentrate on just building
37:28
customers. Fantastic beauty relationships
37:32
keyword. I did work with the BIG4
37:34
accounting firms. I worked with PwC and KPMG and
37:37
PwC, one of the major, you know, pillars in the professional
37:44
appraisal framework was beauty relationships.
37:47
And I tell my colleagues like they gave you the cheats code to
37:51
succeed as a professional. It's like you guys do not take
37:53
this thing seriously. Number one is whole leadership
37:56
#2 visas acumen #3 global acumen #4 technical competence and #5
38:03
building relationships. But yeah, I know at my time
38:07
there, I used to score 5 / 5. You know, when it comes to
38:10
beauty relationships, I take it very, very seriously.
38:13
Beauty relationships will take you very far in life.
38:17
Very far, yes. Very important, Very important,
38:19
very important. I'm really grateful you you
38:22
brought that up so #4 Bill in the blank.
38:25
Great networkers are made not. They're, they're not, they're
38:29
not, they're not born, OK, because you can be born with not
38:34
being confident, not being anything, a real networker.
38:37
You have to work on your confidence, work on your active
38:41
listening. This is all a talent and a
38:46
skill, and with a talent and a skill you need to practise,
38:50
practise, practise. The more you practise, you're
38:53
better. You get at it.
38:55
Practise makes perfect. And of course.
38:58
Actually, perfect practise makes perfect.
39:01
Absolutely. And of course, you brought up
39:03
the nature versus nature. It's a combination of the two.
39:07
Absolutely. So the last question if you
39:10
could have dinner with any three people leaving or dead, who
39:14
would they be and why? Well, the first thing is my
39:19
mother, right? My mother, who has passed away.
39:23
I would love to have her. God rest her.
39:25
Soul, God rest her soul. I'd love to have dinner with
39:28
her, right? But I'd love to have dinner with
39:32
John Maxwell, who is a big speaker event.
39:38
I've read one of his books. Yeah, he's a great writer.
39:41
Yeah, I I read 21 Laws of Leadership.
39:45
Yeah, that's I read that one. I read that one.
39:47
Right. Yeah.
39:48
And, and it helped me so in so many different ways.
39:52
And the third one is Bill Engvall.
39:55
He's a comedian and I always learned so much from comedians.
40:00
He is just so funny and so clean and just.
40:04
Everything he does is is hysterical, but I learn from
40:08
what I do, how I speak on stages and workshops, my timing and
40:15
everything else like that I all get from him.
40:18
OK. And of course, at this point now
40:20
I think I'd like to make it a Mount Rushmore.
40:22
I'm going to add myself in that dinner so that takeaways.
40:27
Absolutely. You're invited.
40:28
Come on over. Love and respect to you.
40:32
Love and respect to you. Once again, a very, very big
40:35
thank you to you. I don't take you for granted.
40:37
I very, very much appreciate you.
40:39
And of course, to our audience, thank you very much guys.
40:42
Your support is very much appreciated.
40:44
We have been on the Apple Podcast Top 200 charts in 13
40:49
plus countries and counting within the past three weeks.
40:53
You guys are are are making it happen.
40:55
You guys are absolutely amazing. And of course, you know, you're
40:57
giving me increased motivation to find fantastic, what I say,
41:03
insightful, resourceful individuals like Michael, a
41:08
former and and of course, you know, guys drop their comments,
41:11
you know, share with your network.
41:13
And of course, I I would love to have Michael back on the show,
41:18
but I want you guys to pressure him because they say third party
41:22
evidence is the most compelling form of evidence.
41:25
If you want to see Michael again on this show, please float the
41:28
comments section. And of course, please don't ask
41:31
me questions. Ask drop the drop the questions
41:33
for him. He's the pro and the Joe, right?
41:38
So Michael, do you have any final words for, of advice, you
41:40
know, for for our audience And of course, how can they connect
41:43
with you? And of course, I know you're a
41:45
podcast host as well. Please go follow his assure as
41:48
well. So please tell them how they can
41:50
find you well. My podcast is Networking
41:54
Unleashed, name of my book that I wrote.
41:57
I have digital courses that you can go on and to my website and
42:01
do it. But my website,
42:04
michaelaforeman.com, there's no E between the R&E.
42:08
OK, that's like George. So michaelaforeman.com on
42:12
there's a contact sheet and you can get hold of me.
42:16
I'll call you back or get back in touch with you and within 24
42:19
hours. But there is a plethora of
42:22
podcasts that I've been on my book, digital courses and things
42:27
to look at. And you can hear me as my demo
42:29
reels on there also on what I speak about.
42:32
But that's the best way to get hold of me.
42:35
Magazines. I've gotten that award.
42:37
I've got a lot of things behind me, so I'll just send it to you
42:40
and whatever you want to put in the notes, feel free.
42:44
OK, permit me to do a shameless blog.
42:46
All right? Yeah.
42:47
Can you please give my members of audience a discount to to
42:52
some of your resources? Give us a promo code.
42:54
We love a goodbye game. Tell them to contact me and
42:57
we'll work it out. OK, fantastic.
43:00
Thank you very much and once again for me, to you gratitude
43:03
is good attitude and of course, thank you, God bless you, love
43:06
and respect to you. Do you want to leave a shout out
43:08
to anyone before you leave? No, just listen, anybody who's
43:13
out there trying to network, network properly, just just go
43:18
out and just start doing it. Just start networking and you'll
43:21
see how much easier it is, how much better you feel.
43:25
And once you are out there networking with confidence, then
43:30
the world just opens up to you. So thank you once again and of
43:35
course guys till I come your way again, keep winning in life and
43:39
of course the out of trouble goodbye from me.