1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:23,520 Hello and welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable Collections. 2 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,920 Yes, welcome to the show folks. 3 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:31,440 I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and you're listening to the podcast where networking 4 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:35,720 is more than just awkward handshakes and bad coffee. 5 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:37,840 It's an art and a talent. 6 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,880 Yes, but here's the twist. 7 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,000 It's an art and a talent you can actually learn. 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,840 Yes, even if you're the person hiding in the corner at every event pretending to check 9 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:51,560 his emails. 10 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,800 Work isn't just a nice play nice skill to have. 11 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:56,680 It's a game changer. 12 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,200 When you get good at it, you'll wonder why you didn't start sooner. 13 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:04,480 More connections, more opportunities, more profits. 14 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,920 It's like unlocking a cheat code for life. 15 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:13,280 So whether you're the life of the party or the let me just stay home and text type, we've 16 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,320 got something for you. 17 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:16,400 Stick around. 18 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,360 Let's turn those awkward small talk moments into big wins. 19 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,120 Now I've got a great guest today. 20 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:25,120 His name is Josh. 21 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:32,800 I'm going to let him introduce himself, but let me give you a little bit beforehand. 22 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,840 He grew up in a divorce family. 23 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,240 Money was always a negative topic. 24 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:45,240 He received a degree in actuarial science, and then he discovered that financial advisors 25 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:50,520 are in sales and really don't know the ins and outs of investing. 26 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:56,360 That's when he made it his mission to educate Americans on the best ways to grow their wealth. 27 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:57,360 Josh, welcome. 28 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:58,360 Yeah. 29 00:01:58,360 --> 00:01:59,360 Thanks for having me, Michael. 30 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:01,160 Happy to be on the show. 31 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:02,160 Great. 32 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:03,160 Great. 33 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:04,920 Listen, I'm very glad to have you here. 34 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:12,920 I see that we both come from divorce families and we both made our way to better ourselves. 35 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:22,320 Let's say talking about networking, how would you approach building genuine relationships, 36 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:27,480 genuine connections with a world that's increasingly digital? 37 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,880 Yeah, that's the tough part. 38 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,480 Most people don't want to leave their house nowadays to go to events. 39 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:34,760 I'm actually one of those folks. 40 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:40,840 I'd rather stay home than go to events rather than focusing on putting myself in positions 41 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,920 that I don't thrive in. 42 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:52,480 I have figured out ways to put myself into environments where I could be my best self. 43 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,880 When you are your best self, that's when you shine, when you meet people, you're in a better 44 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:01,680 mood, you're more open to meeting new people. 45 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,240 It definitely opens things up. 46 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:08,480 Such as I started a podcast and I invite people that I think are going to be cool on the podcast, 47 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:10,280 such as yourself. 48 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:11,400 That's one way I can meet people. 49 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:16,280 I like to play golf, so I'll sign up as a single and I'll get paired with a random person 50 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,320 and we'll be stuck out on the golf course for a few hours. 51 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,000 That's another way to meet people. 52 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:27,720 As well as I've been working really hard to figure out how do you share your message with 53 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:32,560 the world, which is scary, hopping on a camera, being vulnerable, and figuring out how to 54 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:38,760 attract the right people rather than doing what a lot of people do is just bang the phones, 55 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:45,280 getting LinkedIn messages, bang social media messages and see who responds. 56 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:47,360 I see. 57 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:53,040 And you're really talking about being an introvert as opposed to an extrovert. 58 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:58,640 You know, an extrovert really, such as myself, I love going out to the places to network, 59 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:00,280 to meet the people. 60 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,000 The more people I meet, the better. 61 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:04,720 And there's a way to handle that. 62 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:10,000 If you're an introvert, I call that a wingman, but I'll go into that later on. 63 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:19,280 What do you think is the key element for effective professional network? 64 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:25,880 The key is not to expect anything from anyone, meaning you need to reach out to people like 65 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,800 genuinely, like people who you genuinely want to meet. 66 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:31,640 And it doesn't have to be just for business. 67 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:37,880 It could be in other facets of your life because if you just focus on business for 10 years 68 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:39,800 and you're like, I don't want to make any new friends. 69 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:41,480 I don't want to focus on anything else. 70 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,120 I'm going to be straight business for 10 years. 71 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,000 You're going to limit the amount of opportunities that you'll have in the future because you're 72 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,480 not nurturing relationships. 73 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:56,640 You're not creating other connections outside the business world, which you never know when 74 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:01,280 someone's going to call you up one day that you weren't even, you haven't even really talked 75 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:03,280 about business other than they know what you do. 76 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:04,280 They like you. 77 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:05,280 And then eventually you get that phone call. 78 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:06,280 Hey, I have a friend. 79 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:07,520 Hey, I need help with this. 80 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,960 I know you've been doing this for a while. 81 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,840 And it is in the short run, it could help someone get better results. 82 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:21,920 However, this is a marathon game and doing short term activities that have short term 83 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:28,160 results is a recipe for a calamity in the future. 84 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:34,720 So if I understand it correctly, which I usually do, first of all, you have to be yourself. 85 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:41,480 Don't try to be somebody else, but don't limit yourself to business activities because you 86 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,880 don't know because a friend of yours, you're not just talking to a friend. 87 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,720 You're talking to your friends network of people. 88 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:57,360 So even though you may not do business with your friend, you're doing business with his 89 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,080 friends and so on. 90 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:01,320 So you can't really cut yourself short. 91 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:07,360 You want to just, you want to make as many friends business or otherwise as possible. 92 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,000 Okay, so the biggest question. 93 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,760 Listen, you've been around the horn quite a bit. 94 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:20,440 What mistakes have you made and how did you overcome them? 95 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:22,960 In terms of networking? 96 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:29,680 In terms of networking, but this is precise. 97 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:37,800 Probably the biggest one was not believing in myself because when I left corporate America 98 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:45,080 and I didn't have a big company name behind me, I felt that my age would deter people 99 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,200 from working with me. 100 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,920 So I attempted to partner with people who were older. 101 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:54,640 So that way, if I ever got the objection, well, how long have you been doing this for? 102 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,760 I could say, listen, I've been doing this for X amount of years. 103 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:00,000 I partner with this person. 104 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,720 They've been doing it for X plus years. 105 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:04,480 So we have a whole team here. 106 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:06,840 I felt that was a good, a good cheat code. 107 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:09,280 Hey, like, I know what my downfall is. 108 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:11,400 People are going to ask how old I am. 109 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,280 How long have you been doing this for? 110 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:14,680 What are your credentials? 111 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,760 So I wanted to eliminate that. 112 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,000 Now I realize that no one really cared. 113 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,680 It was just something that I created in my head. 114 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:30,000 There are people who have those check marks that they want when they work with someone, 115 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,440 especially in the financial industry. 116 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,720 And I've learned that those are the sort of folks that are not my person that I want to 117 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:36,720 work with. 118 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:39,560 So I would say that was probably the biggest mistake, was just not having the confidence 119 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:44,240 and not believing I could do it on my own because I wanted to be part of a team. 120 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:51,560 And unfortunately, I struck out on all three partnerships I attempted to do. 121 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:57,800 That's all right, but you really proved yourself by having confidence in yourself. 122 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:03,560 And that's really the number one thing you have to remember when it comes to networking. 123 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:05,760 You have to be confident. 124 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:12,440 If you're confident in yourself, then you go out and you conquer the world. 125 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:17,000 But it starts with that confidence. 126 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,400 Trust is crucial, especially when you're dealing with finances. 127 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:33,280 But how would you establish and maintain a relationship with your fellow professionals? 128 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,760 Like the people that I used to work with? 129 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,320 Or like people in the financial industry? 130 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:40,840 People you work with, yeah. 131 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,480 Oh, like current clients or prospects? 132 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:44,480 Is that what you're talking about? 133 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:45,480 Exactly. 134 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,720 How would you stay in contact, stay top of mind? 135 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:53,840 But how do you maintain that relationship? 136 00:08:53,840 --> 00:09:02,160 How can you create that authentic relationship and keep top of mind within your clients? 137 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:09,080 So what I feel like nowadays, and I've been told I'm stupid for doing a lot of the things 138 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:13,320 that I'm currently doing, and whenever someone tells me I can't do something, I just say 139 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,240 to myself, I've been hearing this for a long time. 140 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,880 So I'm just going to continue on this road and see what happens. 141 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:24,520 I would rather bet on myself and be wrong than take the advice from someone else and 142 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:25,520 be wrong. 143 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,640 That way I can hold myself accountable. 144 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:34,480 So what I feel like now in 2025 is if you are in business, the new cold call is social 145 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,400 media, posting a video, making a post, doing a picture. 146 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:40,400 You never know who's going to see it. 147 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,080 And even if you're getting no likes and no comments, when I went out for lunch with a 148 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,680 friend that I hadn't seen in a few years, he actually brought up, he's, I see all of 149 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:52,240 your posts, and I've never seen this person like it or comment it one time. 150 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,320 And you just never know who's watching. 151 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,280 Not all of the analytics online are going to tell you the full story. 152 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:03,960 So I mean, if you don't like cold calling, whip out your phone and just start talking 153 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:09,040 and post it and based on people's likes, interests, you know, you'll show up in the right people's 154 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:13,280 feed and you'll be top of mind in that sort of capacity. 155 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:19,840 So I mean, that's sort of my new age cold call strategy, just because cold calling for 156 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:25,600 me is something that is, I don't really enjoy doing it. 157 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:26,600 I can do it. 158 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:28,200 I'm pretty good at it. 159 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:33,120 However, right now I feel like if you create a video, you post the video, that video's 160 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:34,320 out there. 161 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:38,640 So when you get on a call with someone, they're like, Hey, like, I have a question about this. 162 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,000 Now you can send them a video. 163 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,680 You don't have to say the same thing a thousand times when you get the same question. 164 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:46,960 So you can start to make videos based on your questions. 165 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:54,440 You send, now you're working asynchronously to help you focus on working on the business 166 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,160 versus consistently in the business. 167 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,320 That's you bring up a very good point. 168 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,280 You're brought up a few very good points. 169 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:04,840 I'm just going to try to dissect this a little bit. 170 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:06,480 Yeah, let's break it down. 171 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:13,160 So really what you're talking about is an, again, is an introvert versus an extrovert. 172 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,120 First of all, nobody likes to do sales calls. 173 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,480 Nobody likes to do cold calls, let alone sales calls. 174 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:27,640 But in lieu of doing the cold calls by putting out those videos, you're not having to talk 175 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:34,320 to those people by putting a post through LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. 176 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,120 You don't have to do those cold calls. 177 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,360 You're letting them, everybody see them. 178 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,120 And if they want, they're going to contact you. 179 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,280 So you're cutting out the middleman. 180 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:50,880 You're just allowing them to reach out to you and you can answer an introvert extrovert 181 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:52,240 doesn't make a difference. 182 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:58,760 When somebody approaches you, then it's 100% difference than if you just reached your hand 183 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:00,640 out to them. 184 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:02,440 So it works out very well. 185 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:07,120 So you know, and that's what you try to do with videos with email marketing. 186 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:12,520 There's a way that you attach a video in that email and you can send that email out. 187 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:17,480 There's a thousand different ways of you to market yourself. 188 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,840 But with social media, it's that much more, it's the easier. 189 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:27,720 Yet it's difficult because there are so many people out there doing social media. 190 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:32,480 But let's revert back to the networking event. 191 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:33,480 Okay. 192 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:38,400 A large scale gathering and it can really be overwhelming. 193 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:46,200 Do you have any tips for somebody if they went to a conference or a seminar like that? 194 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:57,000 What I like to do is typically find the person that no one's talking to first. 195 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,880 I find the person standing by themselves. 196 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:01,560 Probably that person who's a little shy. 197 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:02,760 I'm not shy. 198 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:07,800 I've actually read, I mean, there's like people who are like extroverted of the life of the 199 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,800 party, the class clown, and there's people who are a little bit more quiet. 200 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:17,960 I'm introverted in the sense where I recharge, I don't just talk for the sake of talking, 201 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,200 but I'm like extroverted, meaning I can sit in a coffee shop, not talk to anyone. 202 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:22,920 I feel energized. 203 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,080 So typically I like to start off by finding the person no one's talking to. 204 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,800 I was like, let me just go talk to this person and be like, hey, no one's talking to you. 205 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,440 Is there any, any reason why? 206 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:36,840 No, just haven't been, haven't started talking to anyone yet. 207 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:37,840 You're the first person. 208 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,280 And then boom, break the ice and see where it goes. 209 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:45,720 And that way you can get your lips and your tongue and all the mouth muscles moving and 210 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:47,720 working a little bit. 211 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:54,000 You know, there's a way I always suggest people join their Chamber of Commerce and go to that 212 00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:01,120 meeting every week because it will help you tailor your message. 213 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:08,280 And they have their after hours meetings and usually the same people plus maybe five go 214 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,320 to those meetings. 215 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:16,480 And if you're going to those meetings and you see a wolf flower as you put it and you 216 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,360 walk up to them, don't just start talking to them. 217 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,440 But when you walk up to them and say, you know, what do you do? 218 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:24,440 How are you whenever? 219 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:29,000 Say, well, you know, I do graphic design or I do marketing. 220 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:35,440 Say you know something that table over there is filled with marketing people or graphic 221 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,200 designers or people that use graphic design. 222 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,240 Let me introduce you to them. 223 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:47,520 So you walk over, you walk them over, you introduce them and you back away. 224 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:49,760 You let them talk. 225 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:51,920 So you've done your part. 226 00:14:51,920 --> 00:15:01,080 You've now elevated your process because our follow much more in that person's world. 227 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,840 Every event that they go to, they're going to remember you for doing that. 228 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,280 And it's very important. 229 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,240 Okay. 230 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:16,160 So what would you say is an essential skill? 231 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:22,560 What's an essential tip you would give for somebody looking to improve their networking 232 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:24,560 or sales skills? 233 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:36,120 What I'm working on now is figuring out how to remain present as possible with every activity 234 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:37,280 that I'm doing. 235 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:40,880 So like right now we're on this podcast, we're on Michael's podcast. 236 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:42,080 Nothing else matters. 237 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,920 There are no problems. 238 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:45,920 We're just here. 239 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:51,200 So whenever you're with someone, you have to work on and it's hard like focusing and 240 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:57,600 really engaging with each person because you never know when that person may come back 241 00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:58,600 up. 242 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,960 You never know what it may or may not lead to. 243 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:08,760 However, if you are a jerk or if you rub someone the wrong way, you're guaranteed it to be 244 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:14,560 a shut door, a shut opportunity within the first, what is it, a couple seconds, you could 245 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:15,560 just basically boom. 246 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,520 The person's like, yeah, I don't, I'm never going to talk to that person ever again. 247 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,400 So that's what I'm working on is remaining present. 248 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:31,880 And what's really helped me is to make sure you're asking very thoughtful, open-ended 249 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:41,640 questions that help lead the conversation to where someone like walks away as well. 250 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:46,560 That was the best conversation I had at this event. 251 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,280 So that's what I'm working on. 252 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:51,760 It's a consistent journey. 253 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:52,760 You could always be working on it. 254 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:54,960 You could always refine your skills in it. 255 00:16:54,960 --> 00:17:00,080 It's something that you don't just get good at. 256 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:01,080 That's it. 257 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,520 You've established what you have to work on. 258 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,520 So but let's change it around a little bit. 259 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:12,120 What's your favorite marketing tactic? 260 00:17:12,120 --> 00:17:18,560 My favorite marketing tactic is actually, I've recently started just spending more money 261 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:20,440 on marketing. 262 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:25,720 So getting more paid leads, doing more, I'll do like a post on social media. 263 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,000 And if it hits a certain amount of reach, I'll then put some money behind it to see if it 264 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,120 can gain some traction. 265 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,280 And then from there, if anyone follows, send them a message like, hey, Michael, thanks 266 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:38,920 for the follow. 267 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:39,920 I do XYZ. 268 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,840 If there's any sort of content you want to see, just let me know and I'll make a video 269 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:45,760 for you. 270 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:46,800 And then I just see what they say. 271 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:48,000 Some people just hard it. 272 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,520 Some people you see, they read it. 273 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:50,520 They didn't respond. 274 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,520 Some people are like, hey, like I found your page. 275 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:54,560 Like it really resonated with me. 276 00:17:54,560 --> 00:18:00,440 And then you see where the conversation goes and you put them in a little folder and say, 277 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,440 hey, like lead or opportunity. 278 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:07,800 And then you just start filling out the pipeline. 279 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,280 But that sounds fair. 280 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:11,280 Okay. 281 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,320 So let's round this whole thing out. 282 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:20,240 And I want you to give me one takeaway that my audience can use today to further their 283 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,800 networking skills. 284 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:33,960 I would say the one of the highest value skills anyone can have is public speaking. 285 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:43,400 So being able to speak and not stutter, not get so nervous that you pause and then you 286 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:46,720 freak out and then you forget everything you're going to say. 287 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:52,760 And by just talking to a camera by yourself, watching the recordings, you don't even have 288 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:57,400 to post the video if you're too scared and just watching yourself back and taking notes, 289 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:58,600 like actually writing it down. 290 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:03,600 Like I have a notepad that I like actually write down because if you write it down and 291 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:08,200 you're taking notes, now you're like instilling it into your mind. 292 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:14,480 So reach out to someone, get on a podcast or just five minutes a day, talk to a camera 293 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,040 and you could literally read a book or read anything. 294 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:24,400 And one of the things of becoming a new parent is every time at bedtime, I'm reading the 295 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:25,920 same books over and over. 296 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:30,320 And if you ask someone, hey, Michael, how do you feel about reading Jack and the Beanstalk 297 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,160 again for the 12th night in a row? 298 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,440 It could be like, oh, I'm tired of this book. 299 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,480 Well, I look at it as I'm practicing, talking out loud. 300 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:45,000 I'm practicing having the same positive energy every time I read the book. 301 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:50,000 And I think to myself, now I know why some famous musicians freak out on people when they've 302 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:54,840 sang the same song a bit Julian Times because they're just like sick of it. 303 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:59,080 However, when you're a performer or you're in business for yourself, you always have 304 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,040 to be on your game. 305 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,440 There's no minutes off. 306 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:05,360 You never know where that opportunity may be. 307 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:09,320 You could be in a line in the grocery store, you got your shirt on with your logo and 308 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:10,800 someone's, oh, what is that? 309 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:11,800 Boom. 310 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,880 You're in a sales call and you didn't even say anything. 311 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:20,920 And it's true because no matter where you are, you can always, you're marketing yourself, 312 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:27,600 but it's very interesting because when my boys were younger and my wife and I would tag team 313 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:28,840 reading to them. 314 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,880 And of course, I read the same books 150 times. 315 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,560 It didn't make a difference, but they loved it. 316 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:42,520 But what I would do is I would change the way that I spoke of each of the characters 317 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,200 and I would create a different voice for those characters. 318 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,160 And I would get better and better. 319 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,040 My first started, I was hard. 320 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:51,880 I, you know, but they didn't know it. 321 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:52,880 They thought it was great. 322 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:53,880 The kids don't care. 323 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:54,880 They don't know. 324 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:55,880 They don't care. 325 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:56,880 They don't. 326 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:58,040 What I knew and I got better. 327 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,920 So I know exactly what you're talking about. 328 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:08,240 That's the greatest way to practice is just to, I always say, start doing it regardless. 329 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:13,120 Listen, the first time you go out to a networking event or network or market, you're going to 330 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:14,120 suck. 331 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:16,400 There's no two ways about it. 332 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:20,840 But the next time you go out, then the next time you get better and better. 333 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:26,960 Like I said in the beginning, networking is a skill and you have to practice, practice, 334 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:30,320 practice in order to get better. 335 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:31,400 And I'm sure you'll do it. 336 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:32,400 You'll get better. 337 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:33,400 You're getting better already. 338 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:35,280 I can see that I read. 339 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:41,240 I'll tell you, Josh, if somebody wanted to get hold of you, wanted your services or learn 340 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,200 more about you, how would they do it? 341 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:50,200 Just Google Joshua Kraftjic and find my website, find LinkedIn, Instagram, whichever is your 342 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,800 preferred way of learning your website. 343 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:54,800 What's your website? 344 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:55,800 369financial.com. 345 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:56,800 Okay. 346 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:57,800 That's better. 347 00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:58,800 Okay. 348 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:05,160 So that's the way once you articulate exactly where you want them to go, they will go. 349 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:06,160 So that's great. 350 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:10,040 Do you want to add anything else? 351 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:11,960 The key to anything is just showing up. 352 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,000 So if you're scared of networking, just show up to the event. 353 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,000 Don't even talk to anyone. 354 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Be like, all right, I went. 355 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,560 Now the next time you go be like, all right, I'm going to talk to one person. 356 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:21,560 Okay. 357 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:22,560 That wasn't so bad. 358 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:23,520 And then just build it up from there. 359 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:29,200 You don't have to pay thousands of dollars, go to a huge conference and then become overwhelmed 360 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,440 like the first time you walk into Costco. 361 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,080 You're like, this place is huge. 362 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:35,280 Where do I start? 363 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,040 That's what I said. 364 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:42,440 Join a Chamber of Commerce or go as a guest because they are very small meetings and you 365 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,160 don't have to say much. 366 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:49,920 But each week you practice it and you get better and you go to after hours of it, you 367 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:51,160 get better. 368 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,720 And before you know it, you're a networker. 369 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:55,720 You're networking. 370 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,000 Josh, this has been great. 371 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:02,440 I thank you so much for coming on the podcast and we'll talk soon. 372 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:03,440 Awesome. 373 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:04,440 Thanks everyone. 374 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:05,440 We'll see you next time. 375 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:06,440 Thanks, Michael. 376 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:10,560 Well, that's a wrap, folks. 377 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:16,120 A huge thank you to our special guests for sharing such incredible insights today. 378 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:22,080 And of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners for tuning in and spending 379 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:24,120 your time with us. 380 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:27,520 Remember, networking isn't about being perfect. 381 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:29,240 It's about being present. 382 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:34,520 So take what you've learned today, get out there and make some meaningful connections. 383 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:39,560 If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review and share 384 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,920 it with someone who could use a little networking inspiration. 385 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,200 Let's keep the conversation going. 386 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:53,000 You can find me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or my website, MichaelAformand.com. 387 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:59,200 Remember, until next time, keep practicing, keep connecting and keep building those relationships. 388 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,840 This is Michael A. Formand signing off. 389 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:31,720 Take care and happy networking.