WEBVTT 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.920 Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:20.820 Profitable Connections, the show where we break 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:23.579 down the art and science of building relationships 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:27.440 that drive real results. I'm your host, Michael 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.539 Foreman, and today we're diving deep into what 00:00:30.539 --> 00:00:33.500 really takes to build something from the ground 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:37.700 up, not just the strategy, but the mindset, the 00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:41.200 grit, and the bold choices that make it possible. 00:00:41.770 --> 00:00:45.070 My guest today is someone who didn't inherit 00:00:45.070 --> 00:00:48.810 a roadmap. He created one. His journey about 00:00:48.810 --> 00:00:52.549 creating, about starting with nothing but a vision, 00:00:52.689 --> 00:00:56.369 using resilience, emotional intelligence, and 00:00:56.369 --> 00:00:59.310 purpose to turn connections into a lifeline. 00:00:59.549 --> 00:01:02.530 If you've ever wondered how to network when you 00:01:02.530 --> 00:01:06.069 feel like an underdog or how to lead with value 00:01:06.069 --> 00:01:09.530 when you have nothing but ambition, this episode 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:12.680 is for you. I'd like to welcome Dennis. Dennis, 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.400 welcome to the podcast. And listen, why don't 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:18.280 you give us a little bit about your background 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:22.459 as well? Sure. I am a lifelong entrepreneur. 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:26.379 Started into this whole foray at about 14 years 00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:30.099 old. Discovered very quickly that you can have 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:32.959 a lot more success by enabling others to have 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:36.640 success than necessarily seeking success solely 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:39.670 for yourself. Did that through my early teen 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:43.409 years, 14, 15, 16. Then in my late teens, early 00:01:43.409 --> 00:01:45.549 20s, started another company that actually took 00:01:45.549 --> 00:01:48.609 off very well. And I was able to retire into 00:01:48.609 --> 00:01:50.870 Romania for about four or five years. I'd run 00:01:50.870 --> 00:01:53.209 the company a little bit. I had a partner. He 00:01:53.209 --> 00:01:55.810 ran it the day -to -day, and I did the 50 ,000 00:01:55.810 --> 00:01:58.170 -foot overview. But I ran it from phone cards 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:01.469 and dial -up internet in the early 2000s. So 00:02:01.469 --> 00:02:03.590 I'm one of the first remote workers, I like to 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:06.069 jokingly say, because I did that for a series 00:02:06.069 --> 00:02:08.569 of a few years. That's been my whole career. 00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:11.430 I discovered shortly after actually that project, 00:02:11.509 --> 00:02:13.789 I liked working with attorneys, although I have 00:02:13.789 --> 00:02:15.650 worked with a number of different types of businesses 00:02:15.650 --> 00:02:17.710 throughout my career in marketing and branding 00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:19.870 and that sort of thing. And that brings us to 00:02:19.870 --> 00:02:22.009 our current project. About a year and a half 00:02:22.009 --> 00:02:25.330 ago, my former partner exercised the option to 00:02:25.330 --> 00:02:28.439 buy me out. Fine. That's something I've never 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:30.680 been scared of is being out on my own, starting 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:34.360 over. That's status quo. And started this company, 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:37.120 The Legal Podcast Network. The launch date was 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:40.479 May of 24. Started with myself and my VA, no 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:43.539 clients. We now have roughly 150 clients, about 00:02:43.539 --> 00:02:46.199 40 people on the team. And we're actually holding 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:48.960 back our growth while we're working on some internal 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:51.860 SOPs and things like that. Once those get done. 00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:54.659 It's really off to the races for us. Then we're 00:02:54.659 --> 00:02:56.900 going to really hit the gas on this thing. So 00:02:56.900 --> 00:02:58.819 that brings me to today. I live on an island 00:02:58.819 --> 00:03:01.060 in Belize with my wife. We got married a little 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:04.099 over a year ago. We travel a lot. I run the business 00:03:04.099 --> 00:03:06.719 from my laptop, have my relationships all over 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:09.620 the world via my laptop, via my phone, all of 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:13.379 that. So that's what brought me to today. It 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:16.800 sounds wonderful. It sounds great. And it really 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:20.900 sounds like you have the eyes and ears of a true 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:24.759 networking individual because you're doing it 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:28.259 remotely, first of all. But you started out with 00:03:28.259 --> 00:03:31.379 what's called a giver's gain. You look to help 00:03:31.379 --> 00:03:35.080 before you receive. And that, I think, is the 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:39.139 most important part emotionally regarding networking 00:03:39.139 --> 00:03:44.150 itself. Be internally with what we do. We have 00:03:44.150 --> 00:03:47.009 a kind of a rule internally for every, so we 00:03:47.009 --> 00:03:49.490 use it, we break it up in five. For every five 00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:52.150 things that you do, three of them should be 100 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:55.530 % value with who you're doing them for. One of 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:58.530 them can be 50 -50 and one of them can be more 00:03:58.530 --> 00:04:01.590 self -serving than the other two categories. 00:04:01.870 --> 00:04:05.629 And so we always say 3 -1 -1 is what we say internally. 00:04:06.139 --> 00:04:11.620 Give 60, really 75 % value and 20, 25 % just 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:13.520 remind them, hey, this is what I do. This is 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:15.939 how I could help you. But always seeking value 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:21.079 first. That seems like a great equation for anybody 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:24.019 to have for them to be successful in business. 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:27.300 So if you just keep as a general rule, you can 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:31.199 never go wrong. Okay, let's start out. When you 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:33.810 were just starting out. How did you build your 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:37.470 first meaningful connection and what did it lead 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:41.089 to? When I first, are you talking about back 00:04:41.089 --> 00:04:44.509 when I was a teenager or when you first started 00:04:44.509 --> 00:04:49.370 out, you were 14, 15, 16. Let's bring it to that. 00:04:50.159 --> 00:04:53.339 Yeah, I would say the first meaningful relationship 00:04:53.339 --> 00:04:56.160 that I built was actually the older lady whose 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:58.639 door I knocked on that kind of helped me come 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:01.220 to that realization that I didn't want to shovel. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:03.100 I wanted to get the jobs and my brother and his 00:05:03.100 --> 00:05:04.420 friends wanted to shovel because they didn't 00:05:04.420 --> 00:05:06.600 want to get the jobs. And I remember going up 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.029 to her. She was just a sweet lady. And I remember 00:05:09.029 --> 00:05:11.930 she handed me a 10 and two fives and said for 00:05:11.930 --> 00:05:15.670 $20 shoveled this and this. And I went back every 00:05:15.670 --> 00:05:18.269 time we, every time it snowed, every time it, 00:05:18.290 --> 00:05:20.790 there was leaves for the summer for her lawn. 00:05:21.129 --> 00:05:23.509 And I be, I just knew, and she was, she was up 00:05:23.509 --> 00:05:25.569 a block down a couple of blocks and up about 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:29.019 half a block. And I remember it. She, as soon 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:30.439 as I was coming up the walk, she'd be like, oh, 00:05:30.500 --> 00:05:32.899 I'm so glad you're here. And then she recommended 00:05:32.899 --> 00:05:35.100 me to a few other ladies that she knew in the 00:05:35.100 --> 00:05:37.540 neighborhood that needed help with somebody mowing 00:05:37.540 --> 00:05:39.620 their lawn, that sort of thing. So that was probably 00:05:39.620 --> 00:05:41.759 one of my first, if you would call it networking 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.100 connections. I didn't see it as that at the time. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.319 It was just a nice lady who introduced me to 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.319 more nice people that needed yard work done. 00:05:48.620 --> 00:05:51.300 But I would say that very first person that. 00:05:51.819 --> 00:05:53.600 It wasn't our first job, but it was the first 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:55.540 one where I realized, wait a minute, if I get 00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:57.800 the jobs and have the relationships with people, 00:05:57.939 --> 00:06:01.259 then my team can do the work and they don't have 00:06:01.259 --> 00:06:03.399 to have what's uncomfortable for them, which 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:05.699 is interacting with people. So I'd say, honestly, 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:08.620 that was probably my first. One, the second one 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:11.920 I would say that would be more business was I 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.519 took a paper route. The guy loved me. And then 00:06:14.519 --> 00:06:16.079 I said, how many paper routes do we have around 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:18.480 here? And he said, you can only do so many paper 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:19.779 routes in a day. And I said, yeah, I know some 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:22.759 other kids are like me. And so he started every 00:06:22.759 --> 00:06:24.800 time a paper route, somebody would complain or 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:26.939 he'd want to. He wasn't afraid to fire anybody 00:06:26.939 --> 00:06:29.779 within walking distance because I knew I would 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:31.339 get a phone call or he would stop by and he'd 00:06:31.339 --> 00:06:33.379 say, hey, I got this route. Here's the map. And 00:06:33.379 --> 00:06:35.740 I go find somebody. They do that route. I'd collect 00:06:35.740 --> 00:06:38.610 it. We'd move on. So that was probably my first 00:06:38.610 --> 00:06:42.449 networking between those two. It conjured up 00:06:42.449 --> 00:06:46.490 so many memories for me with my paper routes 00:06:46.490 --> 00:06:49.810 to begin with. But it's funny because you figured 00:06:49.810 --> 00:06:54.509 out building the relationship before the client, 00:06:54.670 --> 00:06:58.310 before the customer base. And listen, most people 00:06:58.310 --> 00:07:00.910 didn't recognize that really until the pandemic, 00:07:01.089 --> 00:07:04.250 because it wasn't until after the pandemic when 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:07.810 people realized that, oh, let me. I have a deep 00:07:07.810 --> 00:07:10.990 dive. Let me gain this relationship over them 00:07:10.990 --> 00:07:15.029 just being a customer. So you did this 30 years 00:07:15.029 --> 00:07:19.889 ago when it wasn't popular. So you really had 00:07:19.889 --> 00:07:23.990 a step above it, really, because it shows your 00:07:23.990 --> 00:07:26.870 entrepreneurship, but it showed your mindset 00:07:26.870 --> 00:07:29.910 as well, that you're putting the person first 00:07:29.910 --> 00:07:35.000 above and beyond any work. And you have a great 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.399 work ethic as well. So it all came together very 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:43.199 well. Okay. What role has networking played in 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:46.560 moments when you felt the most uncertain or lost 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:50.699 in your journey? I have a lot of what I call 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:52.959 business friends. I'll give you an illustration 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:57.000 of a business friend. Back in early 2000s, now 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:01.199 it's been 20 plus years ago, after I was kind 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.000 of looking for the next thing to do, I got recruited 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.360 by a company that sold to attorneys. This is 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.740 how I got into it. Made friends with the guy 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:10.439 who was the VP of recruiting or whatever it was, 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:12.459 but he's the one who recruited me in. He and 00:08:12.459 --> 00:08:17.259 I became friends 22 years ago. We're still friends 00:08:17.259 --> 00:08:19.660 to this day. As a matter of fact, we've worked 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:21.800 together. We've worked for each other. We've 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:23.819 had businesses together. And now he's one of 00:08:23.819 --> 00:08:27.420 my salespeople. Although I've never met him except 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:29.939 for one time in real life. He came to my house 00:08:29.939 --> 00:08:33.360 again, almost 20, about 20 years ago. He came 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:36.049 to my house. We shot pool. We talked. But this 00:08:36.049 --> 00:08:38.230 is a guy that for almost 20 something years, 00:08:38.549 --> 00:08:41.149 especially in different fits and spurts, we talked 00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:44.669 every day. And so we'd bounce ideas, discouragements, 00:08:44.669 --> 00:08:48.269 mind frame and go off. So I think you have to 00:08:48.269 --> 00:08:51.450 have that network of people that understand what 00:08:51.450 --> 00:08:53.110 you're going through. Because when I go to my 00:08:53.110 --> 00:08:55.809 wife and I'm like, oh, this happened in the business, 00:08:55.889 --> 00:08:57.090 this happened in the business. And it's just 00:08:57.090 --> 00:08:59.350 like, when you're on the outside looking in. 00:08:59.769 --> 00:09:02.110 especially if this is how you know is a big way 00:09:02.110 --> 00:09:04.549 to take care of your family, sometimes I can 00:09:04.549 --> 00:09:06.570 put more on the people. I could put more on the 00:09:06.570 --> 00:09:09.870 people around me, like my wife, children, family, 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:13.370 or even my people that are working for me. But 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:16.779 if I have people that... are experiencing and 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:19.379 are in the same type of position that I am being 00:09:19.379 --> 00:09:22.559 able to have that person that understands and 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:24.679 can give some insight whether it's just hey dude 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:27.000 I know what it's like I've been through it or 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:28.500 it could be when I went through something like 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:30.940 that this is how I handled it and it really helped 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:33.779 me so that's been the biggest advantage during 00:09:33.779 --> 00:09:36.179 those tough times is having those what I call 00:09:36.179 --> 00:09:38.240 business friendships a number of them that I've 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:41.279 had for years and I keep connected with that 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:44.220 maybe we make money together maybe we don't but 00:09:44.590 --> 00:09:46.429 we still try to be an encouragement to one another. 00:09:47.210 --> 00:09:50.370 And that's great. You always want to surround 00:09:50.370 --> 00:09:53.649 yourself, whether it be virtually or not, with 00:09:53.649 --> 00:09:55.730 people like that. You don't want to surround 00:09:55.730 --> 00:09:58.250 yourself with yes men, right? Because that doesn't 00:09:58.250 --> 00:10:00.889 get you anywhere. That just pats you on the back 00:10:00.889 --> 00:10:03.629 whenever you want, and that's fine. But it doesn't 00:10:03.629 --> 00:10:06.909 get you where you want to go. When you have somebody 00:10:06.909 --> 00:10:10.350 say, I had that same problem, but I did it this 00:10:10.350 --> 00:10:12.809 way. And it makes you think. You may not take... 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:16.159 their criticism like a hundred percent, but you 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:17.919 take a good part of it and say, oh, okay, you 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:19.799 know what? I'm not going to make that mistake. 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:24.240 So I can see how that all comes in. Okay. So 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:27.940 let's talk resilience. How do you stay connected 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:33.539 to people when things aren't going well? How 00:10:33.539 --> 00:10:35.620 do I stay connected to people when things aren't 00:10:35.620 --> 00:10:38.470 going well? I think that when things aren't going 00:10:38.470 --> 00:10:40.870 well, and it depends on really obviously this 00:10:40.870 --> 00:10:44.009 specific definition, but I think that for me, 00:10:44.029 --> 00:10:48.289 it's text, it's FaceTime. I live digitally. I've 00:10:48.289 --> 00:10:51.710 been all in on the internet since 2003, so 22 00:10:51.710 --> 00:10:55.029 years. Almost every business I've built since 00:10:55.029 --> 00:10:57.990 that time has revolved around the internet in 00:10:57.990 --> 00:11:01.669 some way. And so I communicate digitally. So 00:11:01.669 --> 00:11:05.110 it could be Facebook. It could be FaceTime. It's 00:11:05.110 --> 00:11:08.549 any number of these tools. But that's what I 00:11:08.549 --> 00:11:10.769 do during those times is stay connected with 00:11:10.769 --> 00:11:13.070 different people. And learning their digital 00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:15.769 language and the people that you interact with 00:11:15.769 --> 00:11:18.570 is extremely important as well, especially when 00:11:18.570 --> 00:11:20.470 you have a lot of business or what I also call 00:11:20.470 --> 00:11:24.549 virtual friends. Because everybody has a preferred 00:11:24.549 --> 00:11:27.539 form of communication. And I always like to use 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:30.720 this illustration. Most of us know somebody who 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.500 we might text them, we get no answer. Then one 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:36.100 day we go on Facebook and we inbox them on Facebook 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:38.639 and they instantly respond. And you're like, 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:40.559 you couldn't have answered. I've texted you eight 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:43.240 times in the last two months. But that's because 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:45.740 you now went into their realm and spoke their 00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:49.039 digital language. And so. Being able to know 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:50.759 like different people, I'll be like, oh, that's 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:52.639 one of my Instagram friends. That's one of my 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:54.639 LinkedIn friends. That's one of, because I have 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.740 to remind myself, like you might say, that's 00:11:56.740 --> 00:11:58.679 my friend from Texas. That's my friend from Ohio. 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:02.559 I identify them by their digital language that 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:06.059 they are most comfortable in. And then I can 00:12:06.059 --> 00:12:09.240 reach out to those people and gather them together 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:11.820 from really across the world now that I've been 00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:13.720 doing this for so long. And I've had people that 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:16.340 have worked with me, for me, alongside of me. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.399 all over the globe my entire career. What do 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:23.419 you prefer as a way to digitally stay connected? 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:29.440 Right now? Business -wise, I would say it's probably 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:32.259 going to be LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become a place 00:12:32.259 --> 00:12:35.059 where professionals live and talk and network. 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:38.320 It's really become a huge networking event. And 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:40.720 there's pluses and minuses to that, just like 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:43.980 any sort of event. But it's like a virtual, ongoing 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:47.360 networking event that constantly happens. That's 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.000 a place that I live. Personally, friends and 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.480 family, I prefer text. And then I can text back 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:54.919 when I'm not busy. And I try to explain to people. 00:12:55.370 --> 00:12:58.289 Listen, just because my text doesn't bounce back 00:12:58.289 --> 00:13:00.230 as non -deliverable doesn't mean I'm available 00:13:00.230 --> 00:13:03.049 immediately that moment. I'll set down my phone 00:13:03.049 --> 00:13:06.070 for sometimes a day, sometimes six hours, things 00:13:06.070 --> 00:13:09.269 like that. And I like the non -friction ability 00:13:09.269 --> 00:13:11.990 to be able to text back and forth with people. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.279 Take a few hours here and you can still hold 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:18.340 a conversation and say, I don't like voice notes. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.899 Because once it's said, it's gone and you can't 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:23.100 continue the conversation. And I always tell 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:24.639 people, they'll send me voice notes. I'm like, 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.220 stop sending me voice notes. I only want you 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:30.240 to text me. Why? Voice notes are easier. In the 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.100 moment, they're easier for you. In the long term, 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.059 they're harder for both of us because we have 00:13:35.059 --> 00:13:37.100 no way to reference back our conversation about 00:13:37.100 --> 00:13:41.960 this. So those are my preferred forms. Exactly 00:13:41.960 --> 00:13:45.460 my feelings as well. Okay. Did you ever make 00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:48.799 a bold move in networking, like reaching out 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:52.200 to someone way outside your league? And what 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:55.379 happened? Just recently, actually, and I don't 00:13:55.379 --> 00:13:58.580 know if it's outside my league, but TEDx is doing 00:13:58.580 --> 00:14:01.179 a series in Roatan, which I'm in, like I said 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:03.100 earlier, Belize. So it's just the next country 00:14:03.100 --> 00:14:06.960 down in Honduras or Roatan. And so I was like, 00:14:07.019 --> 00:14:08.960 you know what, let's let's try to get on the 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.340 stage for this. I wanted to I'd set a goal to 00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:13.879 be on stage three times next year, 26. And so 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:16.320 I thought this could be a huge jump towards that, 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.679 especially if I could say as seen on TEDx. Now, 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.779 what happened was they actually ended up rescheduling 00:14:21.779 --> 00:14:24.639 the event to the spring. But in the meantime, 00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:27.240 they invited me. They're launching a podcast 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:30.039 and they've invited me to come on the podcast 00:14:30.039 --> 00:14:32.940 and teach about podcasting and remote work and 00:14:32.940 --> 00:14:35.340 remote work culture and all of those things. 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:38.500 So I fell short of my goal. I'm one of those 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:41.779 people. I firmly believe this. I put goals beyond 00:14:41.779 --> 00:14:45.220 what I know are possible because if I'm always 00:14:45.220 --> 00:14:47.740 looking at something that's impossible, I will 00:14:47.740 --> 00:14:53.679 fail and reach the improbable. If I set my goal 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.240 as something that's highly possible, I'll reach 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:59.019 my goal and stop there. So I would rather go 00:14:59.019 --> 00:15:02.000 beyond possible to improbable and fall short 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.720 of impossible. And that's the way that I set 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:07.779 my goals. And that's why I do that. So I didn't 00:15:07.779 --> 00:15:10.519 get on the stage at TEDx, but I got on the podcast. 00:15:11.059 --> 00:15:14.440 And so that's improbable. It's not as likely, 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:17.460 but. Not being on the stage, but I think it puts 00:15:17.460 --> 00:15:19.019 me in that universe and hopefully eventually 00:15:19.019 --> 00:15:21.000 gives me that opportunity to either do a talk 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:25.059 or at least be on an X stage. No, you're definitely 00:15:25.059 --> 00:15:30.440 on your way there. I'm scheduled to do two TEDx 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:33.000 talks in two different states. Being on that 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:36.879 podcast is like a middle way and you're actually 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:40.799 on their radar. So that puts you in a very good 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:45.610 position. Okay, how did you build trust? When 00:15:45.610 --> 00:15:51.289 you had no track record or brand. And I've started 00:15:51.289 --> 00:15:53.409 several companies, so I think that's a very good 00:15:53.409 --> 00:15:56.490 question. I think what I try to do in the way 00:15:56.490 --> 00:16:00.210 that I build trust is when I approach because 00:16:00.210 --> 00:16:03.009 sales process development and digital marketing 00:16:03.009 --> 00:16:04.990 or marketing product development, that's my like 00:16:04.990 --> 00:16:08.330 core specialty. I could do other things as an 00:16:08.330 --> 00:16:10.909 entrepreneur. Most people can. But the thing 00:16:10.909 --> 00:16:13.789 that like I'm best at, I know, hey, I feel like 00:16:13.789 --> 00:16:16.450 I'm in a in whatever percentage you want to say 00:16:16.450 --> 00:16:19.370 top five, top one percent in that sort of arena. 00:16:20.409 --> 00:16:22.929 So typically what I do in order to build trust 00:16:22.929 --> 00:16:26.690 for a new brand or a new company is very quickly 00:16:26.690 --> 00:16:30.429 I try to show what it is that we're doing. For 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:33.029 example, when I launched this company, I have 00:16:33.029 --> 00:16:35.350 a buddy here on the island who is also a divorce 00:16:35.350 --> 00:16:37.870 attorney out of Miami, and he'll fly back and 00:16:37.870 --> 00:16:40.649 forth when he needs to. He's got a partner who's 00:16:40.649 --> 00:16:42.529 a very well -known criminal defense attorney. 00:16:42.789 --> 00:16:45.389 Matter of fact, I think he has like his own show 00:16:45.389 --> 00:16:47.909 on one of the major news networks or something 00:16:47.909 --> 00:16:50.620 like that, right? So what I did is I went to 00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:52.059 him and said, hey, I'm launching this company. 00:16:52.220 --> 00:16:54.580 It's a podcast company for lawyers. You know, 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:56.379 you're going to have a host. You just sit down. 00:16:56.440 --> 00:16:58.039 It takes about a half hour. You answer questions. 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:00.820 Very simple. But what I want to do is have some 00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:04.000 examples of what we're doing, a finished product, 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:07.819 so that I'm not selling a concept. I'm selling 00:17:07.819 --> 00:17:09.819 them something they can see. Now, you can sell 00:17:09.819 --> 00:17:12.019 concepts. I've sold concepts off and on my whole 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:14.960 career. But if you can actually have something 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:18.380 to show them, now they're like, and a lot of 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:20.319 them, Would be like in the beginning. Oh, I've 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:21.900 seen that guy. I know who that guy is. The guy 00:17:21.900 --> 00:17:24.420 who has his own television show. And so there 00:17:24.420 --> 00:17:27.210 was just that. built -in opportunity. So what 00:17:27.210 --> 00:17:29.809 I try to do is very quickly build out the product 00:17:29.809 --> 00:17:32.250 as what I envision it to be to show clients. 00:17:32.549 --> 00:17:35.329 And then I actually go myself and I try to sell 00:17:35.329 --> 00:17:38.089 for the first year, six months, 100 clients, 00:17:38.349 --> 00:17:41.190 whatever it is. And I develop the process and 00:17:41.190 --> 00:17:43.869 listen to clients. And what is it that they doubt? 00:17:43.990 --> 00:17:46.490 If I hear a couple of times, yeah, I saw your 00:17:46.490 --> 00:17:48.049 website. I'm not interested. I go, I look at 00:17:48.049 --> 00:17:49.730 my website. I have people look at my website. 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:52.150 What is on my website that is causing people 00:17:52.150 --> 00:17:55.269 to have doubts and have Oh, I think it's this 00:17:55.269 --> 00:17:56.950 phrase right here. And then we'll tweak it and 00:17:56.950 --> 00:17:59.309 try it. And then I stop hearing that and I fix 00:17:59.309 --> 00:18:03.150 it. So that's what I do is I. build slowly. I 00:18:03.150 --> 00:18:06.769 lead by doing. And then that allows me to very 00:18:06.769 --> 00:18:09.309 quickly take a product. For example, the legal 00:18:09.309 --> 00:18:11.430 podcast network, we launched it a year ago, no 00:18:11.430 --> 00:18:15.009 clients from what I can see. And now again, don't 00:18:15.009 --> 00:18:16.670 quote me on this, but I only know of three or 00:18:16.670 --> 00:18:19.609 four quote unquote competitors. And only in that 00:18:19.609 --> 00:18:22.710 they do podcasts for lawyers as well. Their total 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:24.670 marketing offering is different. Their pricing 00:18:24.670 --> 00:18:27.960 structure is well above mine. But in one year, 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.359 we went from not existing to being the largest 00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:36.019 attorney podcast network that exists. And again, 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:38.680 that was just so now I don't have to build credibility 00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:42.240 just a year into it. They know who we are. They 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.480 probably know somebody who's our client. And 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.660 we can show them a ton of work and testimonials 00:18:46.660 --> 00:18:49.579 and everything else. But in the beginning, that's 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:52.359 what I did is I was the one there. I could answer 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:54.980 the questions. I could overcome the issues. That 00:18:54.980 --> 00:18:57.799 also let me know what. I needed to build in order 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:00.579 to be able to hand off the sales process? What 00:19:00.579 --> 00:19:02.619 is it that people aren't seeing that I'm talking 00:19:02.619 --> 00:19:05.980 them over, but I can put in place to enable and 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:08.259 empower a new person to come in and sell my product? 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:12.269 So that's great. So really you're... You went 00:19:12.269 --> 00:19:15.569 out and you saw what people didn't like. You 00:19:15.569 --> 00:19:17.970 fixed it. You went a little bit further and you 00:19:17.970 --> 00:19:20.390 saw what those people didn't like. You fixed 00:19:20.390 --> 00:19:22.910 it. And this is all so you can hand it off to 00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:27.390 another salesperson to go out and sell. But they're 00:19:27.390 --> 00:19:31.390 getting the final, the finished product. So you 00:19:31.390 --> 00:19:35.480 did all the grunt work the first year. So they've 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:37.400 got the finished product. They've got the script 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:39.640 of what to say. They've got the whole sales process. 00:19:39.900 --> 00:19:42.220 They've got the outline. They've got the follow 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:45.279 -up cadences. They've got everything they need. 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:47.779 They literally just plug and play. If you're 00:19:47.779 --> 00:19:50.480 a good salesperson, I can plug you into my system 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:53.740 and you can go. Sounds fantastic. Really does. 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:58.420 Okay. Have you ever built a relationship that 00:19:58.420 --> 00:20:02.140 didn't seem useful at first, but later turned 00:20:02.140 --> 00:20:06.140 out to be a game changer? I think we all have 00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:08.299 tons of relationships like that. I'm the guy 00:20:08.299 --> 00:20:10.500 that's sitting at the coffee shop and I'm on 00:20:10.500 --> 00:20:12.319 an island with a lot of tourists. Every person 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:14.400 that sits down next to me, are you visiting or 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:16.920 are you on the island? Now, I've been here long 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:18.339 enough. I usually know if they're on the island, 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:20.279 but I'm the guy that strikes up a conversation 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:24.039 with anybody. So that enables me to be able to 00:20:24.039 --> 00:20:27.019 take and... Can you give me the way the question 00:20:27.019 --> 00:20:28.500 was worded again? I just want to make sure that 00:20:28.500 --> 00:20:32.970 I'm... Have you ever built a relationship that 00:20:32.970 --> 00:20:35.849 didn't seem useful at first, but later turned 00:20:35.849 --> 00:20:40.089 into a game changer? So I have so many relationships. 00:20:40.289 --> 00:20:42.690 I have Instagram relationships, hundreds of them, 00:20:42.730 --> 00:20:45.549 hundreds of Instagram relationships. I have Facebook 00:20:45.549 --> 00:20:47.150 relationships. And what I mean by that, these 00:20:47.150 --> 00:20:49.589 are people that I stay in contact with on a regular 00:20:49.589 --> 00:20:52.809 basis. And so when you have that much out there, 00:20:52.950 --> 00:20:57.740 anytime I say, hey. The fruition of having such 00:20:57.740 --> 00:21:00.700 a large network over LinkedIn, over my phone, 00:21:00.940 --> 00:21:04.539 over Instagram, over Facebook, where I literally 00:21:04.539 --> 00:21:07.319 probably have, if you counted them all up, probably 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.740 conservatively a thousand people that I stay 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:12.720 in contact with at least quarterly, some weekly, 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:16.079 some monthly, some daily, more of my own family 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.680 and a few friends. But being able to have those 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:22.400 relationships, anytime I put something out there, 00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:26.140 there's help. There's an answer. There's a person. 00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:28.279 And it's usually, like you said, somebody I didn't 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:31.599 expect. I build no relationships with hopes of 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:35.099 what will happen with it and zero expectation. 00:21:36.019 --> 00:21:38.339 And that way, when any of my relationships come 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:40.640 to fruition, it's a bonus in my life instead 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:44.000 of an expected outcome. And the only reason I 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.509 do it that way is because that way. I don't monetize 00:21:48.509 --> 00:21:50.990 internally my own relationships. I don't wanna 00:21:50.990 --> 00:21:52.690 meet somebody and be like, how can they help 00:21:52.690 --> 00:21:55.130 me? And listen, that's the one thing. I meet 00:21:55.130 --> 00:21:58.750 people who network and you can feel it when they 00:21:58.750 --> 00:22:01.029 have that sort of mind frame of, I'm meeting 00:22:01.029 --> 00:22:02.789 you because I'm hoping you can help me somehow 00:22:02.789 --> 00:22:05.349 versus the mind frame of somebody that's like, 00:22:05.369 --> 00:22:06.869 I'm meeting you because you're a person and I 00:22:06.869 --> 00:22:09.190 want to get to know about you and that's it. 00:22:09.269 --> 00:22:11.009 And if something comes out of it, great, but 00:22:11.009 --> 00:22:15.529 if not, I'm okay as well. I am a firm believer. 00:22:15.809 --> 00:22:18.450 I said at the beginning, a giver's gain. But 00:22:18.450 --> 00:22:22.450 after I have a whole system of a networking event 00:22:22.450 --> 00:22:25.269 at a table and active listening and all that, 00:22:25.369 --> 00:22:29.710 but when the person that I'm speaking to is finished 00:22:29.710 --> 00:22:32.390 or almost finished, I say, I like you and I like 00:22:32.390 --> 00:22:35.750 what you do and how you do it. How can I make 00:22:35.750 --> 00:22:38.990 you more successful? How can I be a good referral 00:22:38.990 --> 00:22:43.480 source for you? And this releases. Any pressure 00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:46.400 that's on my back to perform or anything else, 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.640 I'm just there for you. And how can I make you 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:54.799 more successful? So by doing so, that releases 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:58.380 all the pressure. And as you said, it's what 00:22:58.380 --> 00:23:01.079 you can do for the other person, not have to 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:03.619 worry about it. The sooner you can do that, the 00:23:03.619 --> 00:23:06.279 higher caliber of individual that you can interact 00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:10.000 with. So about a few weeks ago, we had Simone 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.700 Biles. here on the island she's half belizean 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:15.980 and she happened to be at this little bar right 00:23:15.980 --> 00:23:17.880 across the street from where i live with her 00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:20.599 football player i don't know if he's her husband 00:23:20.599 --> 00:23:23.759 or i can't remember but anyway i i go in i sit 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:25.359 down and everyone's like simone biles is here 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.119 and i was like why isn't anybody like saying 00:23:28.119 --> 00:23:29.940 hi to her or anything and they're all like we 00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:32.619 want to be respectful and i'm like yeah but if 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:34.900 you don't interact with somebody socially that's 00:23:35.590 --> 00:23:37.369 you're just making him feel even more awkward. 00:23:37.730 --> 00:23:39.210 Can you imagine you're sitting in the middle 00:23:39.210 --> 00:23:41.069 of the bar and no one's sitting here, no one's 00:23:41.069 --> 00:23:42.809 sitting on the other side of him and everyone 00:23:42.809 --> 00:23:44.670 around you. And so I just went up to her and 00:23:44.670 --> 00:23:47.990 I said, I said, hello. I said, I hope you don't 00:23:47.990 --> 00:23:50.769 mind. I said, I'd like to just introduce myself. 00:23:50.910 --> 00:23:52.930 I said, I live here on the island. And I asked 00:23:52.930 --> 00:23:54.910 her first, I said, and if you'd be open to it, 00:23:54.930 --> 00:23:56.630 if not, I wouldn't be offended, but I'd love 00:23:56.630 --> 00:23:57.869 to take a picture with you. And she said, we 00:23:57.869 --> 00:23:59.910 don't really take pictures on vacation. What? 00:24:00.569 --> 00:24:02.289 Just sit and chat for a minute and let's have 00:24:02.289 --> 00:24:05.109 a shot. And we got shots. She bought shots. And 00:24:05.109 --> 00:24:07.650 then when we go to do shots, she goes, put your 00:24:07.650 --> 00:24:09.390 camera right there and turn on the video. And 00:24:09.390 --> 00:24:10.990 me and you will be in the camera and the video 00:24:10.990 --> 00:24:13.450 taking shots together and high -fiving or whatever. 00:24:13.609 --> 00:24:17.160 And I was like, okay. Although I did make them 00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:19.759 like had I not said anything about asking for 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:21.880 a picture, I did make that mistake. But you don't 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:23.259 know how long you have and you don't know how 00:24:23.259 --> 00:24:24.940 long they're going to give you. But when she 00:24:24.940 --> 00:24:27.099 said instead of saying, sure, take a picture 00:24:27.099 --> 00:24:29.759 and use me as a prop of your life and move on, 00:24:29.859 --> 00:24:33.299 she said no. Whether she cognizantly acknowledged 00:24:33.299 --> 00:24:35.559 this, she said, no, sit down, talk to me like 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:37.950 I'm a human and let's see what happens. And I 00:24:37.950 --> 00:24:40.309 think we do that. We walk up to somebody, we're 00:24:40.309 --> 00:24:42.069 like, can I take a selfie? And they're like, 00:24:42.170 --> 00:24:45.349 why don't you get to know me first? And I think 00:24:45.349 --> 00:24:49.890 when we lead with them and what they need, it 00:24:49.890 --> 00:24:52.509 allows us to connect to people because I've connected. 00:24:52.690 --> 00:24:54.930 And listen, I'm not saying me and Simone Biles 00:24:54.930 --> 00:24:57.230 are friends on Facebook and she's coming over 00:24:57.230 --> 00:25:00.009 for Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong. But it 00:25:00.009 --> 00:25:02.250 does allow you to make connections with people 00:25:02.250 --> 00:25:05.569 who normally. have an aversion to that when you 00:25:05.569 --> 00:25:07.809 approach them with, hi, I want this from you. 00:25:08.029 --> 00:25:10.130 They're much more likely when you come in as 00:25:10.130 --> 00:25:14.730 just normal or even a way to help them. Absolutely. 00:25:15.369 --> 00:25:19.710 Absolutely. Okay. So what do you think most people 00:25:19.710 --> 00:25:22.750 get wrong about networking and what's helped 00:25:22.750 --> 00:25:27.210 you do it differently? I think the thing that. 00:25:27.549 --> 00:25:30.769 people get wrong about networking is saying i'm 00:25:30.769 --> 00:25:33.089 networking and i'm a networker and i use networking 00:25:33.089 --> 00:25:35.289 and then they go around and network and so everyone 00:25:35.289 --> 00:25:37.529 feels they're part of their little network harem 00:25:37.529 --> 00:25:39.109 that they're trying to build up in their mind 00:25:39.109 --> 00:25:42.349 instead of just walking around being natural 00:25:42.349 --> 00:25:44.930 and being people being people and connecting 00:25:44.930 --> 00:25:47.089 instead of doing something they saw in a book 00:25:47.089 --> 00:25:49.589 that says ask this question and then send them 00:25:49.589 --> 00:25:53.369 two emails it says this and like i think networking 00:25:53.369 --> 00:25:58.019 is the last forum of marketing that belongs 100 00:25:58.019 --> 00:26:02.920 % to humanity in that those who are the most 00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:07.240 human are the most successful at it. I agree 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:10.119 a thousand percent. I just got into a discussion 00:26:10.119 --> 00:26:14.559 with somebody beforehand about AI and how it 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:19.160 works with networking. And I said, AI is great. 00:26:19.299 --> 00:26:22.039 It's a wonderful tool, but that's all it is, 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:26.579 a tool. You can't remove the human aspect of 00:26:26.579 --> 00:26:29.359 meeting somebody, even through Zoom, because 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:33.359 you're a person, I'm a person, you still have 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:38.890 to interact. So AI can't take away that. We got 00:26:38.890 --> 00:26:41.490 a whole big discussion about it, but it's true 00:26:41.490 --> 00:26:45.289 because I don't ever want to remove the humanality 00:26:45.289 --> 00:26:49.690 of the situation and give it to something foreign, 00:26:49.769 --> 00:26:52.670 whether it's AI or something else. AI is a tool 00:26:52.670 --> 00:26:57.210 and we can use it, but much rather this. Exactly. 00:26:58.490 --> 00:27:01.190 Exactly. And we're a very AI forward company. 00:27:01.369 --> 00:27:04.170 I spend several hours a week looking at AI. I 00:27:04.170 --> 00:27:06.970 have a full -time young man who learns and integrates 00:27:06.970 --> 00:27:09.930 and tests out different AI stuff. And so while 00:27:09.930 --> 00:27:15.880 I 100 % believe that AI is a tool. The people 00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:18.920 that harness the tools are the one the most effectively 00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:20.660 are the ones that are going to be most successful 00:27:20.660 --> 00:27:22.740 in the future. Just like when it used to be. 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:25.119 Think about when like the mechanic industry, 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:27.900 they had their their wrenches and they had a 00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:29.500 certain way they had to do things. And then all 00:27:29.500 --> 00:27:31.400 of a sudden someone walked in and was like, and 00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:34.839 they've got this like power tool. It's like some 00:27:34.839 --> 00:27:36.920 of them at first are probably like, nah, man, 00:27:37.099 --> 00:27:39.519 I didn't build up this muscle over the years 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:42.019 in order to use some sort of machine for it. 00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:45.650 But yet the ones who are like. If it takes me 00:27:45.650 --> 00:27:47.910 three minutes to do a whole car instead of 15, 00:27:48.069 --> 00:27:52.529 one by one, then let's do it. And just going 00:27:52.529 --> 00:27:54.509 through the whole car like that. And it's the 00:27:54.509 --> 00:27:57.269 same, like we don't see AI as what, like what 00:27:57.269 --> 00:28:00.109 you said is it's a tool to make us better. It's 00:28:00.109 --> 00:28:02.329 not a tool to replace us. And it never will. 00:28:02.630 --> 00:28:06.569 If we spot soulless humans, there's no way we 00:28:06.569 --> 00:28:09.190 won't be able to continue to spot soulless machines. 00:28:10.769 --> 00:28:15.099 Right? Absolutely. Absolutely. There are so many 00:28:15.099 --> 00:28:17.299 different areas which I can go off on that, but 00:28:17.299 --> 00:28:21.460 I'm going to try to keep it general. So am I. 00:28:21.559 --> 00:28:25.819 So am I. Okay. How do you stay intentional with 00:28:25.819 --> 00:28:29.660 your connections as your world grows bigger and 00:28:29.660 --> 00:28:35.559 bigger? I think that is really probably one of 00:28:35.559 --> 00:28:39.339 the biggest challenges for people. And so I think 00:28:39.339 --> 00:28:42.880 with every connection, it has to eventually become 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:48.349 a two -sided connection. Because if I have a 00:28:48.349 --> 00:28:52.589 connection, whereas if I fall off and they just 00:28:52.589 --> 00:28:55.710 never make any effort, it's like any sort of 00:28:55.710 --> 00:28:58.950 relationship. If one person is the only one that's 00:28:58.950 --> 00:29:01.670 giving always ever, and I'm not saying initially 00:29:01.670 --> 00:29:03.730 beginning to bring the walls down so you can 00:29:03.730 --> 00:29:06.930 connect, but just all they ever want is taking 00:29:06.930 --> 00:29:10.150 or they'll never take their own time, then maybe 00:29:10.150 --> 00:29:12.920 it's okay to let some. of those sort of fade 00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:15.900 away. The people that keep my eye and keep my 00:29:15.900 --> 00:29:18.900 heart and keep my attention are the people that 00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:20.799 are just like, oh, haven't heard from you in 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:22.759 a while. Everything good over there? You didn't 00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:25.960 get eaten by a shark, did you? I think networking's 00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:28.799 a two -way street. And when people, and I think 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:30.500 that's why I talked about a networker versus 00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:33.160 a real person, that person that just keeps sending 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:35.660 me stuff and sending me stuff and I'm trying 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:39.430 to politely by my non -action say, Maybe this 00:29:39.430 --> 00:29:41.069 isn't the connection you're hoping because I 00:29:41.069 --> 00:29:44.609 don't see real advantage in my end. And so sure, 00:29:44.670 --> 00:29:48.190 I'll be friendly to you, but we didn't connect 00:29:48.190 --> 00:29:49.849 in a way where I feel like we need to be best 00:29:49.849 --> 00:29:54.430 friends. I think for me, I think the biggest 00:29:54.430 --> 00:29:57.950 example of this is real estate agents. And again, 00:29:58.130 --> 00:30:00.529 I'm using a generality. I'm not saying every 00:30:00.529 --> 00:30:02.910 single one of them. But do you know how many 00:30:02.910 --> 00:30:04.970 times me and my wife have been on this island 00:30:04.970 --> 00:30:06.569 and we meet somebody and they're just like, oh, 00:30:06.589 --> 00:30:10.109 I live here too. And we can usually tell within 00:30:10.109 --> 00:30:12.569 about 10 minutes of interacting with that person 00:30:12.569 --> 00:30:15.190 if they're a real, not even if they tell us, 00:30:15.230 --> 00:30:18.069 they don't tell us, but we can just tell the 00:30:18.069 --> 00:30:19.890 way they're just, oh, there's just like, it's 00:30:19.890 --> 00:30:22.150 like just above who they are. There's like a 00:30:22.150 --> 00:30:26.849 surface level. And so I think that that's the 00:30:26.849 --> 00:30:30.549 kind of thing that allows you to show your genuineness 00:30:30.549 --> 00:30:35.210 over time. I agree. I'm bringing it to real estate 00:30:35.210 --> 00:30:37.490 agents because that's the direction you went. 00:30:37.690 --> 00:30:41.769 But real estate agents always are in sell mode. 00:30:42.130 --> 00:30:45.349 They always do a house or are you looking for 00:30:45.349 --> 00:30:48.069 a house or can I help you get a house or can 00:30:48.069 --> 00:30:50.150 I help you refinance? They're always in sell 00:30:50.150 --> 00:30:54.910 mode. I have a few acquaintances here in Georgia 00:30:54.910 --> 00:30:58.430 where they're real estate agents and they've 00:30:58.430 --> 00:31:02.799 learned how to. not use that at all. They're 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:05.400 really going to the other person and are seeing 00:31:05.400 --> 00:31:07.480 what the other person is about. They're not trying 00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:11.019 to, I have a house, you have a house, that type 00:31:11.019 --> 00:31:13.839 of thing. So it's a very small percentage of 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:17.779 real estate agents or companies like real estate 00:31:17.779 --> 00:31:22.720 agents where the person can't. can't break through 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:25.720 that barrier. You have to break through that 00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:28.079 barrier and kind of leave that and just see where 00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:30.980 the conversation goes. And if it never enters 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:34.119 into the realm of selling or buying or anything 00:31:34.119 --> 00:31:37.140 else like that, you leave it. You leave it. When 00:31:37.140 --> 00:31:39.940 you stay in contact with them, whether through 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:43.339 LinkedIn or something else, you're always adding 00:31:43.339 --> 00:31:46.880 an attachment of something in the housing market 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:49.809 or something. You're bringing value to that relationship 00:31:49.809 --> 00:31:53.910 without asking for anything. Exactly. That's 00:31:53.910 --> 00:31:57.289 what I do. Looking back, how did your network 00:31:57.289 --> 00:32:01.450 support not just your goals, but also your purpose 00:32:01.450 --> 00:32:06.690 or personal evolution? So I'll talk about a different 00:32:06.690 --> 00:32:09.829 network that I had. I was in the church scene 00:32:09.829 --> 00:32:14.000 for about 20 years, about 16 to 36. Taught in 00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:17.160 church, youth pastor, evangelist, missionary, 00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:21.019 while having my own businesses. And that network 00:32:21.019 --> 00:32:24.380 obviously was very supportive. They supported 00:32:24.380 --> 00:32:27.019 me. They helped me. That's a mind frame of the 00:32:27.019 --> 00:32:30.079 whole sort of everything with church stuff, right? 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:31.779 It's just like helping people and things like 00:32:31.779 --> 00:32:35.160 that. So I would say that having that relationship 00:32:35.160 --> 00:32:37.880 or those relationships for those years. Now, 00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:41.140 unfortunately. A lot of times when you have a 00:32:41.140 --> 00:32:45.380 network that is very insular, sometimes what 00:32:45.380 --> 00:32:47.720 can happen is when you make big moves in life 00:32:47.720 --> 00:32:51.259 and you switch things up, me transitioning out 00:32:51.259 --> 00:32:54.119 of being in church life the way that I was, what 00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:57.400 can happen is if those connections aren't beyond 00:32:57.400 --> 00:33:01.180 just the thing that you're connected about, then 00:33:01.180 --> 00:33:04.470 when you separate, then there's just no more 00:33:04.470 --> 00:33:07.230 connection anymore. So I think one of the biggest 00:33:07.230 --> 00:33:10.630 ways to have meaningful connections is to make 00:33:10.630 --> 00:33:13.230 sure that you're not just connected because of 00:33:13.230 --> 00:33:15.349 one thing. Oh, you like this. I like this. We're 00:33:15.349 --> 00:33:18.470 friends now, but you've got to find those. I 00:33:18.470 --> 00:33:20.589 think they call them invisible strings and things 00:33:20.589 --> 00:33:23.809 like that, that basically connect you in so many 00:33:23.809 --> 00:33:27.930 ways that. If something happens where that primary 00:33:27.930 --> 00:33:29.670 thing, you were in a networking group together, 00:33:29.809 --> 00:33:32.490 right? And then that networking group disbands. 00:33:32.650 --> 00:33:34.809 That person was just there to network and not 00:33:34.809 --> 00:33:36.730 make real connections. They fade off from you. 00:33:36.849 --> 00:33:41.109 So that's how I would answer that. You're 100 00:33:41.109 --> 00:33:43.769 % correct. Because when you're building those 00:33:43.769 --> 00:33:47.869 relationships, you're not building it on a church 00:33:47.869 --> 00:33:50.789 or networking group or something. You're finding 00:33:50.789 --> 00:33:54.529 something outside that realm. That you can connect 00:33:54.529 --> 00:33:57.750 with. I use something called F -O -R -M, family, 00:33:57.890 --> 00:34:01.829 occupation, recreation, and a message. And I 00:34:01.829 --> 00:34:04.569 always have that in the back of my mind because 00:34:04.569 --> 00:34:08.170 I don't want to talk business. So I'm either 00:34:08.170 --> 00:34:10.389 going to talk about your husband, wife, sister, 00:34:10.510 --> 00:34:13.829 brother, son, daughter, whatever. Not the occupation, 00:34:13.929 --> 00:34:17.050 but the recreation part of it. Oh, you like to 00:34:17.050 --> 00:34:20.250 ski or you like to boat or you like to play baseball 00:34:20.250 --> 00:34:22.469 or something else like that. And we'll talk on 00:34:22.469 --> 00:34:26.449 that level. way before we talk business. Where 00:34:26.449 --> 00:34:29.849 you have gotten to today, you're a successful 00:34:29.849 --> 00:34:33.829 person, but I'm sure you've made mistakes along 00:34:33.829 --> 00:34:38.150 the way. So you're laughing. So just give me 00:34:38.150 --> 00:34:41.150 one of your bigger mistakes and how did you get 00:34:41.150 --> 00:34:45.469 out of it? Give me a moment to narrow it down 00:34:45.469 --> 00:34:47.150 a little bit. You're like a true entrepreneur. 00:34:47.630 --> 00:34:52.099 Yeah, exactly. I think there's... I think honestly, 00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:55.519 and this is going to sound harsh, weird, whatever, 00:34:55.659 --> 00:34:59.360 because I'm a very trusting person. And I've 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:00.920 had a couple of business partners that have ripped 00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:03.179 me off. And I've had a couple of people that 00:35:03.179 --> 00:35:05.599 have worked for me that have ripped me off. And 00:35:05.599 --> 00:35:10.280 so my biggest mistake has been either not balancing 00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:14.099 or finding a person that balances out that kind 00:35:14.099 --> 00:35:17.360 of side of me that because I'm a. I tend to be 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:19.980 a little more forgiving and a little more tenderhearted 00:35:19.980 --> 00:35:21.760 towards people. And especially if they have things 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:26.059 going on, I have been in situations where I know 00:35:26.059 --> 00:35:29.360 I've been taken advantage of. So I wish I could 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:31.599 have that sort of just how much money are you 00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:34.139 going to make me? Like just a little bit, like 00:35:34.139 --> 00:35:38.559 3 % to where I didn't find myself in situations 00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:41.000 where I'm like, I'm looking here in the last 00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:43.260 two weeks, you've had me pay you for 80 hours 00:35:43.260 --> 00:35:46.170 of work, but I can find no more than... 80 seconds. 00:35:46.550 --> 00:35:50.130 So that's probably one of the things I wish that 00:35:50.130 --> 00:35:53.369 I could go back and just slap myself and be like, 00:35:53.449 --> 00:35:56.630 don't trust them. Trust but verify, whatever. 00:35:56.849 --> 00:35:59.130 What you don't expect, what you don't inspect, 00:35:59.230 --> 00:36:01.289 and all of those principles that I've learned 00:36:01.289 --> 00:36:04.610 through the years is just being trusting people, 00:36:04.969 --> 00:36:09.849 just offering things that had value. And I shouldn't 00:36:09.849 --> 00:36:11.670 have maybe given it to them that quickly because 00:36:11.670 --> 00:36:14.309 then they just took it and ran with it. So again, 00:36:14.389 --> 00:36:17.230 just Just being transparent here, my biggest 00:36:17.230 --> 00:36:20.210 mistake throughout my career has been trust. 00:36:20.619 --> 00:36:23.440 Trusting people that I shouldn't have to the 00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:25.960 point of not having accountability for them. 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:28.559 Now that I have this business, I have five directors. 00:36:28.739 --> 00:36:31.940 They each direct each group of people. They bring 00:36:31.940 --> 00:36:34.739 the reports to me and their reports. I see all 00:36:34.739 --> 00:36:36.780 the client reports. So it's a very different 00:36:36.780 --> 00:36:39.500 dynamic. And each of those five directors has 00:36:39.500 --> 00:36:41.559 ownership of those five areas of the business. 00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:44.539 And then I just manage my five directors. And 00:36:44.539 --> 00:36:48.320 that's become a much easier way for me to insulate 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:51.269 myself from. to do those things where I could 00:36:51.269 --> 00:36:56.010 be taken advantage of. Absolutely. I learned 00:36:56.010 --> 00:36:58.630 a long time ago, when you go into business, you 00:36:58.630 --> 00:37:01.329 go into a business with your friend, which I 00:37:01.329 --> 00:37:04.769 would advise never to do. But one thing you do 00:37:04.769 --> 00:37:07.710 is you write a contract. And even though you 00:37:07.710 --> 00:37:11.329 don't refer to it ever again, or nothing, you 00:37:11.329 --> 00:37:14.090 take that contract, you put it in a safe, and 00:37:14.090 --> 00:37:18.469 you put it away, just in case. In a year, two 00:37:18.469 --> 00:37:21.969 years, five years, 10 years, where things tend 00:37:21.969 --> 00:37:24.429 to go a little awry, you can always refer back 00:37:24.429 --> 00:37:26.610 to the contract. Exactly. That's what I've learned. 00:37:27.090 --> 00:37:30.210 Okay, so let's bring this podcast full circle. 00:37:30.889 --> 00:37:34.170 What advice would you give to someone who feels 00:37:34.170 --> 00:37:37.250 like they have nothing to offer when networking? 00:37:38.110 --> 00:37:40.789 I would say, first of all, that's just a perception. 00:37:41.949 --> 00:37:45.469 Because sometimes the greatest thing you can 00:37:45.469 --> 00:37:48.139 offer a person is just, a chance to smile and 00:37:48.139 --> 00:37:51.340 chuckle a little bit. And so I think so many 00:37:51.340 --> 00:37:54.960 people think I have to be like dropping golden 00:37:54.960 --> 00:37:57.539 nuggets of wisdom in order to be of any value 00:37:57.539 --> 00:38:00.480 to people, but sometimes just coming in contact 00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:03.480 with a pleasant person who genuinely listens 00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:06.599 to you and makes you laugh a little bit and has 00:38:06.599 --> 00:38:09.840 a little bit of a story that brings, that makes 00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:12.909 your day. That changes the dynamic of your mindset 00:38:12.909 --> 00:38:15.230 to where throughout the rest of the day. So what 00:38:15.230 --> 00:38:17.730 I would say is don't focus on what you can or 00:38:17.730 --> 00:38:22.789 can't bring. Just focus on being somebody who 00:38:22.789 --> 00:38:27.250 is present, who is there. And I think the moments 00:38:27.250 --> 00:38:31.750 will tell you what you can bring versus when 00:38:31.750 --> 00:38:33.889 we have something predetermined in our mind that's 00:38:33.889 --> 00:38:36.659 going to happen, typically it happens. But when 00:38:36.659 --> 00:38:39.099 you don't try to predetermine in your mind the 00:38:39.099 --> 00:38:41.300 way a conversation is going to go or the way 00:38:41.300 --> 00:38:44.579 whatever interaction is going to go, you can 00:38:44.579 --> 00:38:48.980 have much bigger, better results and come away 00:38:48.980 --> 00:38:51.639 with something much greater than your initial 00:38:51.639 --> 00:38:54.739 desire was to have. Could be a new best friend. 00:38:54.900 --> 00:38:57.900 Could be a new partnership. Could be a new connection 00:38:57.900 --> 00:39:01.440 that helps your business. You didn't come into 00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:03.340 it wanting. You came into it saying, I'm going 00:39:03.340 --> 00:39:05.599 to be here. I'm going to be present for this 00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:08.039 person. I'm going to listen to them. I'm going 00:39:08.039 --> 00:39:11.400 to offer what I can and see what happens. The 00:39:11.400 --> 00:39:14.719 people that have pierced through the clutter 00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:17.360 with me are not the people that said the smartest 00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:19.480 things. They're the people that said the most 00:39:19.480 --> 00:39:24.489 sincere things. And I like to take that it's 00:39:24.489 --> 00:39:28.449 the whole thought of networking, the word networking 00:39:28.449 --> 00:39:32.130 per se. I take them out of there because I say 00:39:32.130 --> 00:39:34.809 you network wherever you go, whether it's a department 00:39:34.809 --> 00:39:37.510 store, grocery store, anything else. I was like, 00:39:37.530 --> 00:39:40.269 how do you act when you're in a department store 00:39:40.269 --> 00:39:44.349 or grocery store as when you are in a networking 00:39:44.349 --> 00:39:47.230 event? It really shouldn't be any different. 00:39:47.349 --> 00:39:50.789 You have to be yourself. And once you are that 00:39:50.789 --> 00:39:53.670 way, once you listen to the other person, then 00:39:53.670 --> 00:39:56.309 the whole world opens up. It's an amazing thing. 00:39:56.409 --> 00:39:59.590 Once you understand that, that whole concept. 00:40:00.530 --> 00:40:03.849 So the most impactful people are the people that 00:40:03.849 --> 00:40:07.809 make us feel like they cared about us. Yes. And 00:40:07.809 --> 00:40:10.989 people don't like, that's such a hack. It's such 00:40:10.989 --> 00:40:13.170 a hack. People don't realize it because they 00:40:13.170 --> 00:40:15.150 want to share their thing. I do this and here's 00:40:15.150 --> 00:40:16.670 this and here's that. And here's a story and 00:40:16.670 --> 00:40:18.670 here's this. And listen, I'm as guilty of it 00:40:18.670 --> 00:40:22.289 as the next person. But when I purposely say, 00:40:22.329 --> 00:40:23.849 wait a minute, I'm just going to be quiet and 00:40:23.849 --> 00:40:26.329 listen and ask questions and learn about that 00:40:26.329 --> 00:40:28.849 person. I've noticed that the people that I. 00:40:29.179 --> 00:40:31.480 Because that's not my nature that I connect with 00:40:31.480 --> 00:40:34.400 in that way. That connection is much deeper initially 00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:37.420 than the ones who listen to my stories and laugh. 00:40:37.539 --> 00:40:39.219 And again, there was a little bit laughter and 00:40:39.219 --> 00:40:41.639 things like this. But when I sit and listen to 00:40:41.639 --> 00:40:44.440 them, then they recognize me as somebody who 00:40:44.440 --> 00:40:47.280 cares in the future. And somebody who cares versus 00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:48.900 I don't want to go talk. He's going to tell me 00:40:48.900 --> 00:40:52.039 a bunch of stories. You think you got a three 00:40:52.039 --> 00:40:54.199 minute combo and you're there 25 minutes later. 00:40:54.880 --> 00:40:57.460 That's the guy or girl that you don't want to 00:40:57.460 --> 00:41:01.530 be. Absolutely. Very good. Dennis, I feel that 00:41:01.530 --> 00:41:04.670 I can talk to you for the next two hours because 00:41:04.670 --> 00:41:08.909 we are so much on the same wavelength. But if 00:41:08.909 --> 00:41:11.809 somebody wanted to get hold of you, what's the 00:41:11.809 --> 00:41:15.039 best way that they can get hold of you? The easiest 00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:17.460 way is LinkedIn. Just go onto LinkedIn, type 00:41:17.460 --> 00:41:20.500 in my name, Dennis, D -E -N -N -I -S, and then 00:41:20.500 --> 00:41:22.139 last name Metter. I'm sure it'll be in the show 00:41:22.139 --> 00:41:24.440 notes. Maybe this link as well, because it's 00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:28.139 linkedin .com slash in slash Dennis Metter. So 00:41:28.139 --> 00:41:30.179 LinkedIn's the easiest way. If they want to see 00:41:30.179 --> 00:41:33.780 what I do and what my clients think about it 00:41:33.780 --> 00:41:38.170 and the business side of me. go to thelegalpodcastnetwork 00:41:38.170 --> 00:41:41.489 .com, which is my company. And so you can see 00:41:41.489 --> 00:41:45.230 the two sides of me more like with LinkedIn, 00:41:45.250 --> 00:41:48.050 it's more I do videos and content. And it's not 00:41:48.050 --> 00:41:49.869 just about podcasting, although there's quite 00:41:49.869 --> 00:41:52.070 a bit in there or branding. I talk about all 00:41:52.070 --> 00:41:53.710 kinds of different things and just try to share 00:41:53.710 --> 00:41:55.750 what I think could be valuable to the type of 00:41:55.750 --> 00:41:58.730 people that I know are, at least I'm in their 00:41:58.730 --> 00:42:00.429 feed. I don't know how much they listen to me, 00:42:00.469 --> 00:42:03.739 but I'm in their feed. You never know. You never 00:42:03.739 --> 00:42:06.239 know. What I found with LinkedIn, they may not 00:42:06.239 --> 00:42:09.940 like or comment on what you've posted, but they 00:42:09.940 --> 00:42:12.980 see it because in a month, two months, three 00:42:12.980 --> 00:42:16.179 months, they're going to respond to you about, 00:42:16.260 --> 00:42:19.860 say, I didn't even know you saw that post. Oh, 00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:22.880 no, I saw it. I didn't comment or like it, but 00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:27.980 I saw it. So you could be seeing from where everybody 00:42:27.980 --> 00:42:32.190 goes, but you can see that. you're actually being 00:42:32.190 --> 00:42:35.590 paid attention to. Because again, it's not your 00:42:35.590 --> 00:42:39.190 network of people that you're talking to. It's 00:42:39.190 --> 00:42:41.489 your network of people, the network of the network. 00:42:41.690 --> 00:42:45.670 So you're reaching out to many more people than 00:42:45.670 --> 00:42:49.250 what you're used to. But anyway, Dennis, I want 00:42:49.250 --> 00:42:51.730 to tell you, I want to thank you so much for 00:42:51.730 --> 00:42:54.170 coming on the podcast. And I hope to speak with 00:42:54.170 --> 00:42:56.630 you soon. Absolutely. Thank you for having me 00:42:56.630 --> 00:43:02.780 on, Michael. Hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere. 00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:06.460 Let's hear from our sponsors. David Neal, co 00:43:06.460 --> 00:43:10.079 -founder Revved Up Kids. Revved Up Kids is on 00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:13.059 a mission to protect children and teens from 00:43:13.059 --> 00:43:16.039 sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. 00:43:16.340 --> 00:43:19.519 They provide prevention training programs for 00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:23.059 children, teens, and adults. To learn more, go 00:43:23.059 --> 00:43:27.440 to revvedupkids .org. Henry Kaplan, Century 21. 00:43:27.929 --> 00:43:30.170 When it comes to making the biggest financial 00:43:30.170 --> 00:43:33.130 decision of your life, leave it in the hands 00:43:33.130 --> 00:43:36.449 of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan. Henry 00:43:36.449 --> 00:43:39.590 is a global real estate agent with Century 21, 00:43:39.809 --> 00:43:43.789 celebrating his 41st year in business. No matter 00:43:43.789 --> 00:43:46.489 where you're moving, Henry has the right connections 00:43:46.489 --> 00:43:53.469 for you. You can contact Henry at 561 -427 -4888. 00:43:54.750 --> 00:43:58.090 All right, folks. A huge thank you to our guests 00:43:58.090 --> 00:44:01.409 for sharing such incredible insights today. And 00:44:01.409 --> 00:44:04.250 of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing 00:44:04.250 --> 00:44:07.250 listeners, for tuning in and spending your time 00:44:07.250 --> 00:44:10.349 with us. If you're interested in my digital courses, 00:44:10.630 --> 00:44:13.650 being coached or having me come and talk to your 00:44:13.650 --> 00:44:17.110 company, just go to Michael and fill out the 00:44:17.110 --> 00:44:20.710 request form. Remember, networking isn't about 00:44:20.710 --> 00:44:24.409 being perfect. It's about being present. So take 00:44:24.409 --> 00:44:26.940 what you've learned today. get out there, and 00:44:26.940 --> 00:44:29.900 make some meaningful connections. If you've enjoyed 00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:32.599 this episode, please don't forget to subscribe, 00:44:32.820 --> 00:44:35.679 leave us a review, and share it with someone 00:44:35.679 --> 00:44:37.719 who could use a little networking inspiration. 00:44:38.539 --> 00:44:41.639 Let's keep the conversation going. You can find 00:44:41.639 --> 00:44:45.980 me on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or my 00:44:45.980 --> 00:44:49.860 website, foreman .com slash podcasts.