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Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable Connections.

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Welcome to the show, folks.

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I'm your host, Michael Forman, and you're listening to the podcast where networking

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is more than just an awkward handshake and bad coffee.

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It's an art and a talent.

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But here's the twist.

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It's an art and a talent you can actually learn.

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You even, yes, even if you're the person hiding in the corner at every event pretending

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to check emails.

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Networking isn't just a nice skill to have, it's a game changer.

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When you get good at it, you'll wonder why you didn't start sooner.

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More connections, more opportunities, more profits.

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It's like unlocking a cheat code for life.

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So whether you're the life of the party or the let me just stay in home and text type,

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we've got something for you.

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Stick around and let's turn those awkward small talk moments into big wins.

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Now I have a guest.

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Her name is Milly Goldberg, and she has quite a great background in network and influencing

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and everything.

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I wouldn't do it justice.

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Let me just start out by saying Milly Goldberg is a values expert, an entrepreneur, and now

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a published nonfiction business author.

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She launched her first startup in 2009.

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So before I go into the rest of the bio, I will say hello to Milly.

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Hello, Milly.

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How are you?

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Hi, Michael.

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Thank you for having me.

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Good morning.

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You're on your end, of course.

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Yeah, well, it is morning.

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It is morning.

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But, but I know there's just so much more to your background.

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And could you fill us in a little bit, please?

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Sure thing.

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I began my entrepreneurial career, as you mentioned, while sitting at the office listening

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to other startup pitch about their video solutions to me.

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And suddenly I had the entrepreneurial itch.

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And so ever since I've been connecting my passion for marketing and entrepreneurship,

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first was, as you mentioned, to launch one of the first influencer platforms on earth

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before even Instagram was on.

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So that was a bit of a challenge.

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I've been privatizing the social influencer, the micro social influencer markets and ever

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since, so for the past decade or so, I've been also investing in working with startups

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that sound have now IPOed on NASDAQ by now.

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So so so I'm very proud in order to help them fine tune their product market fit.

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Market fit.

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It was with the pitch.

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That's how it got all combined.

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And especially to help them overcome what I saw is that these to call me the messaging

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doctor.

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But as we dove into the messaging process says, it ended up being really a kind of alignment

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that got me to sit on the beach for a year and write and write this book for which I'm

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so proud of and excited about.

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It should be congratulations on the book.

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That is just a very good thing.

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Okay, so you you network, you have an increase incredible network of people that you stay

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in contact with.

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So now how do you how do you remain in contact or network with these people in a digital age?

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Well, that's a great question.

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And I will also add something to my bio that wouldn't have been relevant until this point,

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but that is the fact that I only found out that I have ADHD about three years ago.

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That's a year before I decided to write a book and which helped me understand why while

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I have many friends and acquaintance whom I love when I get when I connect with them.

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It's always extremely authentic.

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We dive deep either on the personal or business level.

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We always find various connections to what we do and how we do it.

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You know, we find our why's we find our why why we're connected, but then given the widespread

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of communities that I'm involved in, given the various startup verticals that I've been

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engaging with and the academic world and and and it became very hard for me to maintain

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that level of connection on social media because to get back to messages and to create connections

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that are there to last, I found I needed something different.

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I needed to have that kind of connection that if you and I are not going to speak to get,

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you know, we're going to go off this call and then follow up a few times, but then we'll

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all you know, we'll disappear into thin digital air.

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So what I keep looking for in my engagements on social media is to have the type of connection

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that when I meet these people again, because it's hard for me to maintain the personal

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contact in the deep way it was formed before, but it will feel for us as if we've just said

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good our previous goodbyes and that the mutual connection, it'll just like, you know, like

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you have these friends that you pick up your connection with them, even if you haven't seen

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them for a decade, and it's like as if you just said, you're goodbyes, and that's the

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kind of engagements I seek on social media.

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Okay, that's great.

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That's great.

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You know, I profess, you know, the in person, the networking so you can feel the vibe of

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the person and feel the vibe of the room.

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What type of networking in person networking events do you attend?

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Well, it's interesting for me, you know, these kind of questions on one hand, they're like,

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okay, so I go to meetups like I go to, and when I get invited as a speaker, so I get

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so excited to see the event itself and everything else.

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So you know, you get to spend time with people.

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On the other hand, it's, you know, for me, it's like what Brunet Brown refers to the introvert

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extrovert and vice versa.

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So I'm as much as I'm very passionate about what I do and about helping people and I dive

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in and it's like I morph myself into being part of the room in order to better understand

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the challenges I'm dealing with.

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I shy away in other events.

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So what kind of networking events I go to the ones that there's a bart enough.

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The ones that now it's not my thing, but the ones that I can blend in and not feel uncomfortable

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with, you know, not approaching people and saying, hi, my name is Nealey, how are you?

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I noticed, you know, what you do that.

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And I like the small and more intimate events and meetups that eventually either have breakdown

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sessions or round tables.

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And then I think that's a true way to get to know people.

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So those are the events I would vote for.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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How about if you give me a few key elements in a key element of effective communication

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in your professional network?

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Some key elements.

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What I would, I would, I think that my element for engaging on the professional level is

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not very different from the one on the personal level because what I, what I usually aim for

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is to have, you know, I've been working for so many years that I prefer, you know, only

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about good conversations over just conversations.

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So a good one would be, or an engagement would be on the basis of a core or core values,

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which means that if you and I connect and engage and we had a few minutes to talk beforehand,

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I was able to connect with you on a level of the empathy of the fact that both of us,

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it wasn't just the small talk of making it our business to feel comfortable with each

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other.

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It's the fact that we found the way to show each other, we know each other, that we get

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it.

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We get a specific experience or feeling or, you know, it was even a tiny bit of, you

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know, not anxiety, but anxiousness and looking forward and being very curious about every

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one of us on two sides of the world about what's going to happen.

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We are, we do take note of the global effects that are currently taking place on various

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levels.

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So that is why I feel that in addition to the world of communication, of course, I felt

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that I was very much at ease to talk to you and to dive into a podcast being the introvert.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Well, here we go.

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Since you said that you were an introvert, all right, how would you recommend people

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overcoming a fear or discomfort about networking?

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Take a friend.

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Okay.

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But that, the truth is because the conversation, it's like, to me, the way to overcome the

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anxiety is to make it less about me.

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And in that field, everything is, any tool that I have is relevant.

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So it's either I will introduce someone else into the crowd or I will create a discussion

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about like blend into a discussion about something else.

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So if I fear the situation of introducing myself and putting myself out there, I will

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find ways to create an engagement that puts myself out there next.

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I was like, oh, right.

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So you ski, you do this, you're used to windsurf.

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Oh, you wrote a blog.

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Right.

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Well, you know, it's funny you say that because listen, I was in the Air Force, so I call this

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a wingman.

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But when I'm up on a stage or doing a workshop or something like that, I am always asked

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the difference between extroverts and introverts.

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And everything we talk about is about an extrovert, nothing about an introvert.

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So you know, my main thing with an introvert is listen, I mean, let me back up with an

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extrovert.

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I always say go alone.

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This way you don't have to share your attention span with anybody else.

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When you're an introvert, however, it's you bring a wingman, somebody that knows you,

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that you trust, and that can introduce you to every table and everything else.

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And of course, that just makes things easier.

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So you're right in line with what I have been talking about.

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So that's very, very good.

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You know that we could also add, given your experience at the Air Force.

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My experience is in the intelligence force.

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So the more we do our homework, and again, to me, it's to get more of the experience,

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the vibe of who are the people that I'm meeting and what kind of event I'm going to.

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It helps me better set myself in advance to the vibe that I would like to be in, to put

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myself in the setting that is best for me for that kind of an event and for the people

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I meet.

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So even if it's a networking event and you've been to a gazillion of them, the better, the

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more you're prepared, the more you're going to ace it.

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And if there's a specific target, then by all means, there's that movie on Apple TV

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with WeWork, WeCrashed, of how the entrepreneur got the funding round from the Asian parties.

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Like the second.

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Exactly like that.

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Knowledge is power.

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Knowledge is power.

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So if you're going to go to a networking event, you're going to investigate all about that

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event, not only the event itself, but the people that go to that event, because you

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have to see whether or not it's for you.

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Are you one of those people that are going to go to that event?

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And you're right.

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When you walk into the room and you pick up the vibe of the room, that's so important.

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Now when I do anything, my wife absolutely goes crazy about this, but I do that everywhere

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we go.

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I always have my back to the wall.

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I, you know, everything because I was a police officer with the Air Force.

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I'm always armed.

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So, you know, it's always, that's where my brain works.

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But you have to pick up the vibe of the person you're speaking to and the vibe of the room

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for it to work out.

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Okay.

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So what would you say is a mistake that you made in networking and how did you overcome

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it?

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Oh, I make so many.

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That's usually the answer, but you know, let's try to narrow it down.

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Oh, it's like sometimes I'm like, did you just say that?

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Are you like?

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I think that one of the mistakes I made a few times was the understanding of the follow-up

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process.

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Because on the networking front, you know, you hit and miss and then you come back for

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round two, three, four, if that's what's needed.

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You pick yourself up and try again, but when you leave the room, or by the way, a Zoom

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call or a live call.

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It's crucial to follow up in a certain way.

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And in a way that, as I said previously, creates a continuum.

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It continues the vibe of the previous engagement, which requires a lot of time and attention,

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by the way.

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So, and you know, there's that kind of cycle after a networking event, there's like the

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hype.

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And then it maintains for a day to five days.

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And then you start, you know, spreading the follow-ups and mutual connections that you've

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promised to create.

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But then there's, there is that continuous follow-up of living up to your promise.

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And then some, because otherwise it's transactional.

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And then that is, I make my business to give value.

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It's important to me.

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So, I'm on the lookout for that.

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It should be.

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And over-delivering is the key.

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The follow-up, I feel, is almost more important than actually meeting the person.

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So I have a secret sauce for follow-up and for two weeks after.

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And I find out, A, whether or not you're really interested or B, you just, it's fluff.

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Okay.

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And it's all right if you weren't really interested in what I had to say or have to

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offer, because I'll put you on a drip campaign within my CRM and everything else.

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But with that follow-up, it's very, very important that you follow through with your follow-up

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and what you said is very important.

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You have to make good on what you promise.

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Because listen, know you, like you, trust you, then they'll do business with you.

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And know you and like you, that's really the easy part.

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Because everybody knows you, but like you, well, that narrows down the field a little

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bit and trusts you, you have five seconds, 30 seconds, a minute, 10 minutes, a half hour.

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You don't know what you have for them to trust you.

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So when you walk up to somebody and you're letting them talk, their level of trust is

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increasing and that barrier between you is decreasing.

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Okay.

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So I just mentioned that trust is crucial.

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How do you establish and maintain authentic relationships with fellow professionals?

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I say, I say what many of the relationships I have are either with founders or investors

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in either private equity or VCs.

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So the level of trust I have to maintain is extremely, extremely, it's very high up there

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because they tell me about challenges that they're facing with their portfolio or a specific

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company and I help them or the reason they're either chatting with me at an event or following

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up is because they would like to get a second opinion on either, get a second opinion on

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what may really be taking place there and then we, because based on the core four, there

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may be misalignment inside the company between the vision and the core values or the core

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values and the mission or the promise and therefore I've gained their trust by being

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pretty accurate.

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But they would also ask me about companies, about, you know, whether when they're contemplating

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investment rounds or changes in the board or the leadership teams, that's one hand

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or they call me and ask the doctor to help and then I need to gain trust from the CEO

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and the leadership team because they bring me into their temple.

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They take me on an offsite that is a leadership offsite and there has to be a very, very,

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very strong element of trust because first of all, no one is allowed to prep for the

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offsite as opposed to any other offsite in the world and no one's, you know, you don't

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prepare your decks in advance and then because then it gets everybody biased and defensive

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and you go nowhere there if you really want to solve a business strategic issue, not just

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a cultural, you know, kumbaya kind of thing.

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So I need to live up to my promises, they trust me to say what I think and to know that

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it's in their favor.

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So if it's not a win-win, they know I'll say it.

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That's great.

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That's a great answer, by the way.

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Okay.

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So what are, give me some common challenges that you would face and how would you overcome

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them or how did you overcome them?

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Are we talking networking or are we talking business challenges?

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Let's stick with networking.

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Okay.

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So I'm sorry, I'm trying to think of something but eventually I, the challenge I always have

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is approaching people and my challenge is always as much as, again, it's very personal

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but it is putting myself out there.

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So it's like I'm the entrepreneur who always creates a product and then as many in Silicon

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Valley say, if you've launched a product you're proud of, it means you've launched too late.

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So I have a gazillion products just like I wrote the book and I have tons of war-trops

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that I've created and launched and worked with them but I never put myself out there

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and say, hey, this is my whole portfolio and this is my umbrella because then I would feel

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with, given my Russian background that I'm chasing some, you know, you don't chase in

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that as opposed to the American culture that it's like, I'll put myself out there.

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No worries.

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So that is a continuous challenge for me and as I shared before then I either have my

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wingman or my surfer dude in my case.

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I love engagements with students so I teach a lot and again, I stopped making promises

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that would exhaust me to live up to.

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Okay, that's all right.

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All right, so let's bring this full circle and give me your favorite marketing tactic.

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These weren't really hard questions, I want to tell you.

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So I am a very, very, very strong believer in cherry picking and it doesn't matter whether

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you have, you know, you have a hundred service slots to sell in a quarter or 10 partners

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or customers that you would like to serve given service businesses or product businesses

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that is very scalable as opposed to the service businesses.

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So that's a lot of customers.

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I believe that the best way to get your customers is just like in, as we talked about before,

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an electric, like a campaign.

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Like if you're running for president, you're running for office, you got to shake a lot

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of hands.

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No more hugging a lot of babies, but you know, you got to shake.

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Now the, the, any marketing tactic I use is like, even if I need to approach a hundred

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thousand people, I will always start with my hit list with it, which is my 30 preferred

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customers or the people I would like to serve as now with the accelerator, the core for

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accelerator that we're launching.

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So I create that hit list of 30 of 100 and then I test those, that audience or sometimes

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I have a few of them in order to, to crystallize the promise I give them being able to deliver.

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By the way, product and service alike.

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So testing the audiences, but in a way that you really know those people that, that, that

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if I asked my team who is John Salman, they're going to tell me exactly who he is, not just

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because they're going to the CRM and see their details, but rather they've been on his Facebook

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profile on Instagram, TikTok, whatever, LinkedIn, depending on the, on the target audience.

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But that to me is if I had to choose one, it would bring me back to the intelligence

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force.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Kind of close to your heart.

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Okay.

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You make those clusters and then you can really reach a wide audience because you've already

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lived up to your promise.

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You know, you can keep it, then you grow.

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Yes.

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Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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And that goes back to keeping your promise and keeping your word and, and that's all

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very important with the trust factor and everything else.

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So you brought everything together, which was very, very nice.

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Let me have, give me one takeaway that my listeners could use today.

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Give me just a takeaway.

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Many people talk about, like, I think there's this manifestation trend manifest and it shall,

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you know, and, and it'll happen.

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You have to vision it.

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Now I'm a very strong believer in visioning because it's the, it's, it's a very substantial

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part of the core for.

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And that goes the same for, for the prep work I do, you know, while going up the elevator

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into, into events and, and when I work either being the presenter and the keynote or the,

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the offsite facilitator or as part of the networking crowd and there is that is, I do

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create a vision and setting within myself of the kind of engagements I'd like to have.

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So I bring my best self into the room based on person I'd like to the value I would like

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to provide.

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And I guess it's, I guess it's working.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Well, that's a good thing, by the way.

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Okay.

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So, Nilly, if somebody wanted to get in touch with you, either use your services or learn

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about you or just give me everything.

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How can somebody get in touch with you?

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And if there's anything else you want to add as kind of like a conclusion, please tell

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me.

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My conclusion is that is not a conclusion.

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I think it's a blessing.

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I mean, we, we, we were kicking off the year together and I truly hope that with dedication

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and work, of course, we will find ourselves more at ease and in some kind of a flow state

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mentally and with our business.

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That's my vision for 2025.

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And I, again, as I said, I would really, if, if, you know, if people get curious, I think

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I respond personally to my LinkedIn profile.

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So I can give you all those, the phone numbers and, and emails and, and you know, they're

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all, I shared them with you, but I like getting in touch personally on LinkedIn.

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Okay.

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That's great.

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That's great, Nilly.

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And I just, I can't begin to tell you how I enjoyed this podcast listening to you and,

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and everything that you're, you're doing and especially about your, your military background

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because I really enjoyed that.

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But I hear what.

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So I'm just going to sign off and tell everybody if they want to get in touch with you, please

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do so.

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She's a wealth of knowledge and she has a wealth of experience.

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And I just thank you again for coming on, on the podcast.

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Thank you, Michael, for having me and for spending, as you can see, the evening with me.

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And I look forward to sharing all of your insights and words and comments on LinkedIn

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with all of my followers really soon.

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I had a wonderful time.

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Thank you.

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My pleasure.

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My pleasure.

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Well, that's a wrap, folks.

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A huge thank you to our special guests for sharing such incredible insights today.

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And of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing listeners for tuning in and spending

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your time with us.

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Remember, networking isn't about being perfect.

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It's about being present.

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So take what you've learned today, get out there and make some meaningful connections.

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If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review and share

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it with someone who could use a little networking inspiration.

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Let's keep the conversation going.

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You can find me on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or my website, MichaelAForman.com.

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Remember, until next time, keep practicing, keep connecting and keep building those relationships.

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This is Michael A. Foreman, signing off, take care and happy networking.