Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building
Profitable Connections, the podcast where we
dive deep into the strategies, tools, and mindset
shifts that turn conversations into real opportunities.
Now, today's episode is a game changer. We're
tackling a hot topic, AI networking versus local
networking. Can chat GPT really help you build
stronger connections, or does something replace
the power of a handshake and face -to -face conversation?
My guest is the perfect person to unpack this.
With a background in both AI -driven networking
and boots -on -the -ground local relationship
building, we're going to explore how technology
can amplify your reach without sacrificing authenticity.
Why connections? why local connections still
matter more than ever, and how the smartest professionals
are blending the two into multiple results. So
if you've ever wondered whether to learn into
automation or double down on community, this
is a conversation you can't afford to miss. So
let's jump in. I'd like to welcome... Mike Hayes.
Mike and I actually have become friends over
the past few months, and it's really, this is
going to be an engaging podcast, which I'm really
looking forward to. So if you would, Michael,
welcome to the podcast and tell us a little about
your background. Okay, thank you, Michael. It's
great to be here. I'm really excited. I was at
a network event last night, and I really had
a real eye -opening experience happen, and I'm
super stoked about sharing it. So this is the
perfect time to unleash my energy about it right
here with you. So let me get back to my background
now. Okay, I had... I've had a blessed life.
Fortune has stepped into my life many times through
networking and asking questions. I was raised
by my mom, a teacher, it never hurts to ask.
And everything that I have gotten in my life
and I've really attracted everything I really,
my heart and soul really wanted in my life, love,
happiness, family, et cetera, by asking questions.
I'm good at that. And I had a fairly average
upbringing and - education up to a certain point.
I graduated from Eastern Michigan University.
I was living in my parents' basement, walking
a mile down to the university in the middle of
the snow, working in a factory to work my way
through and to pay for college. I was also working
at my friend's Ford dealership. And so we were
friends from third grade. And so I just something
that I was fascinated with the automobile business.
Long story short, after I graduated, there was
no work in broadcasting. And while I was working
on the assembly line, Michael, doing the same
thing 1 ,600 times a day, I fantasized about
working for Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show
to go from the most boring job in the world to
going to the most exciting job I could visualize,
okay? So that was my vision in my mind. And did
I attract that into my life? I think I did. Here's
what happened. One day after school, I was sitting
there in my parents' living room reading a book.
And I thought, I literally thought, there's got
to be more to life than this. And so I set the
book down. And I asked my sister to drive me
out to the freeway so that I could hitchhike
to New York City and ask NBC to let me to go
to work for them the way I wanted to. Now, this
is in the 60s. All I had was a literally a plastic
garbage bag. I threw all of my stuff into the
garbage bag because it was raining. I put on
my Navy peacoat and I went out to the freeway
and I started to hitchhike. And the first guy
that picked me up was an all -night truck driver
who let me sleep in the back of his truck. And
I slept all the way to New York. And the next
morning, he bought me breakfast. And it was just
like, OK, that was a good start. So then I went
to go into NBC. I'm standing outside building
up courage. And right then, a pigeon. you know
what, on my shoulder of my jacket, okay? So I
thought, okay, that's a good start. So I walked
into NBC in New York and asked where I could
go to apply for a job. So they sent me, I believe
it was the sixth floor, can't remember exactly.
And I walked in and I asked the question, can
I apply for the job? And the gal behind the counter,
plexiglass, said, we don't have any jobs. I said,
I hitchhiked all the way here from Michigan.
Could I at least apply for the job? She slides
the application through the little window. And
I fill it in. And I slide it back, thinking,
OK, I'll head off to CBS or ABC, my second or
third choices. And I'm walking out of the reception
area. All but my heel is out of the room. And
I hear, hey, come back in here. And I turned
around, I went back, and she goes, you graduated
from Eastern Michigan? I said, yeah. She said,
I graduated from Eastern Michigan. And talk about
asking questions and the law of attraction. So
she sent me, this angel sent me off on these.
job interviews until I got hired in the apprentice
program at NBC at 22 and it's actually statistically
harder to get into that program than it is to
get into Harvard. The rest of it is just literally
a miracle one after the next. That was like a
$5 million education, world -class. I couldn't
have gotten anywhere else. And that completely
changed everything in my life. So do I believe
in networking? Do I believe in asking questions?
Absolutely. It's such a game changer. Now that
was the start. It's been a wild adventure ever
since, but I want to... Turn the ball, hand the
ball back to you, Michael. Mike, I got to tell
you, that story just tells me everything about
you that I have to know. And that's where your
heart is in networking. My heart is in networking.
Networking is the base of all businesses. And
as soon as you believe that, then you'll understand
what we are talking about. So here, so let me
jump into my first question. How do you see AI
tools like ChatGPT reshaping the way professionals
approach networking compared to traditional face
-to -face methods? Okay. I want to broaden the
market a little bit from professionals to everybody.
And let me explain what I mean. And really, the
example came up last night. Now, my premise is
this. It's real simple. AI is media. Period.
And I actually bought the domain AI is media.
That's I absolutely know it and love it and think
about it as communication. Now, in the car business,
I learned more about human to human communication
one to one than I actually did in broadcasting,
because that's really where the rubber meets
the road in business. Last night I was at an
event and people were complaining about their
inability to get heard and to communicate and
saying, gosh, one lady stood up and said, I really
feel like I need a 12 -year -old to teach me
how to use AI because I just don't have the skills.
And that's when I realized, stop, wait, you've
got... that 12 year old right in your hand, in
your laptop or in your phone. If you can take
one hour and learn how to use ChatGPT, that is
the 12 -year -old that you need to teach you
everything else about ChatGPT and about AI. That's
what I realized is that ChatGPT, if you can,
and what I said is, if you can order a book on
Amazon, on your phone or on your computer. You
can order ChatGPT to give you information on
demand that you need to reach out to people for
networking. So that doesn't fit in. Yeah. And
lifelong learning is really what it's going to
require. And I've been preparing with all of
my background and all of my training of human
to human communication and media communication
to help people understand that. You can learn
to communicate in any part of your life. So I
don't think networking at this stage in the AI
frontier is only for business anymore. I think
it's for everybody, honestly. I can't tell you
how many people, teachers, divorcees, people
going through a divorce that I have helped. to
communicate better in all parts of their life.
And by learning chat GPT networking to communicate
with their spouse's attorney, with their school
system as a teacher, with anybody and everybody.
Does it work better to make money in the frontier
of AI in business networking? Absolutely. So
as you can see right over my shoulder. I still
love the broadcasting of The Tonight Show. So
I created the Spotlight Tonight Show to spotlight
people like yourself on my podcast to help people
understand who is Michael Foreman and how do
you unleash networking. Of course, I do it through
Love Local Networking. And that's where my passion
is, Michael. And you said, who is Michael Foreman?
And that is such a key thing with my networking.
And I have to tell you a little story about our
friend Abe in California, who has a partner in
Las Vegas. And once he was talking with him,
his partner was saying, Abe, stop for a second.
Who is Michael Foreman? And he's like, why? Because
his name is all over the place. So this person
in Las Vegas was talking to this person in California
about me in Georgia. And the only thing that
I'm using that level of AI is I'm writing some
articles about it and I'm using to brand myself.
But AI is a tool that we all use, but it has
to be one of the tools. And the love local networking
is the mainstay. Michael, you and I were talking
briefly about GEO versus SEO. And that is one
of the reasons that our friend Abe Nassar has
boosted your name up to the top of search by
understanding that as one of the three main platforms
for amplifying your voice and really getting
the story out there. So I just want to give Abe
props for his success. And you and I both network
with him. And that's what it's all about. It's
about a team. Nobody can do it by themselves
today. It's a frontier. It's a kind of wild west
frontier. And that's why I love checking in with
Michael Foreman to find out, take your pulse
about what's going on in networking. You love
checking in with me. We learn from each other.
We help each other. We share with each other
and we want to help everybody. And this is great.
And this is only the beginning. This is only
the beginning of the AI technology because it
changes. I think every week it changes. Okay,
let me go on to question number two. What are
the biggest opportunities and risks when people
lean too heavily on AI -driven networking instead
of building authentic local relationships? I
don't think it's one or the other. I think it's
a two -sided coin and that you really need a
blend of both, a fusion of both. Think of it
like creating nitroglycerin. When you take two
different components, they're just components,
but when you put them together... They create
an explosive element to it. And that really,
to me, is the key to business networking AI,
is the blend, the fusion of the two. It's not
one or the other. But the caution is, in the
era of AI, AI is putting out content, Michael,
like a kid's soap bubble machine. Little bubbles,
they're floating all over. They're empty, they're
light, and they're just floating. They don't
mean anything, really. They're even literally
empty. And they're not human beings. They can't
hire you. They can't buy what you want. They
can't really do much. But they fool you and they
create an illusion of content. Local networking,
when you walk into a room and shake hands with
somebody and you've met them, as I have met Abe
in person, I've driven down to the Roomie Awards
that he puts on. It has a million followers on
Facebook. And he invited me into the red carpet
for the Roomie Awards. I got to meet him, see
his multi -camera shoot. It was amazing. It was
really impressive. But I also shook his hand.
Then, when I'm in a networking event and I've
met someone, now I can tell you, if you've never
met Abe, I can tell you Abe is real. He is a
physical human being. He is a friend of mine.
And I can give a testimonial for Abe online because
I've met him. The only thing you need to be a
testimonial for somebody is somebody talking
about you. who's not you. And so when I talk
about Abe Nassar, this is me talking about Abe.
It's not Abe talking about Abe, but I've met
him. So that's why the blend of those two things
is vital. And it's going to become more and more
important. When people really start to get lost
and confused by AI, get grounded. Like you say,
you put it yesterday, get boots on the ground.
And that's what you need is get grounded, get
boots on the ground and blend those two things
together. Then you've got the best of both worlds.
I agree. I agree. And when you meet somebody
face to face, you pick up the vibe of the person,
the vibe of the room. I've walked into networking
events where I said, well, you know what? I don't
like the vibe in here. And everything that I
was listening to was wrong. And I walked out.
So you could do the same thing with a person
saying, you know what? Excuse yourself politely.
from that one conversation and go to the next.
But it's very important that you pick up the
vibe of the person in a room. You brought up
something vitally important. Let's talk about
this for a second. You talked about the vibe
in the room. You talked about politely leaving.
I know you, Michael, to be a master of hospitality.
And that word means everything to me. And even
the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, when
Johnny, and this is an AI, this is not Johnny,
but when Johnny had a guest on the show, he treated
them like a guest in his living room. And that,
for 25 years, treating guests with hospitality.
Now, I recently bought a car. I walked into one
dealership. Like you were saying, the vibe was
just... transactional in my face. I want to get
out of here, I said to my wife. So we drove down,
we drove an hour away to the same brand dealership
because we wanted to buy a two -year -old car.
I like to get cars that are slightly over the
curb. And we got one for only 2 ,000 miles on
it. But when I walked in, the hospitality was
over the charts. I couldn't wait. I said to my,
and I've been in car sales for a long time. I
understand that's one of the ways I worked through
college. And I know they've got a reputation.
But I said to this kid, I want to adopt you.
I felt 20 years old. He had an amazing story
and true grit. He heard a podcast. That's why
I love podcast listening, Michael. He heard the
idea. He was a waiter, didn't go to college yet.
and heard an idea of selling cars on a podcast.
He went down to Auto Row in San Jose and walked
into one dealership after the next, getting a
no after a no after no. And did I fall in love
with him? Because that's what happened to me.
me walking into NBC and asking for a job. That's
what happened when he walked into one car dealership,
the one we went to. And they said, yes. He said,
I don't know anything about cars, but I'm energetic
and I'm willing to learn. He was, and they love
him at the dealership. That's hospitality. And
that's what I want to focus on is the power of
hospitality is the ultimate game changer in networking.
You walked into an event. You didn't like the
vibe? No hospitality. That's the key. That's
the game changer. It's the two sides of the coin.
When you have hospitality, that changes everything.
When you offer it. You do. And you go into some
dealerships. I'll use dealerships since we're
talking about the auto industry. And if they
have that type of hospitality, they think. Everybody's
got it. Every dealership has the same thing,
and that's what they're striving for. But when
you go into that dealership where they don't
have it, it's like they don't care. Okay, walk
out because somebody else is going to walk in.
They don't know. They don't know. You don't know
what you don't know. Right, exactly. And we can
talk about one of the other businesses that you
and I both have a passion for. Our workout areas,
Orange, what is it? Orange Fitness. Orange Fitness.
Orange Theory. Yeah, Orange Theory. Orange Theory
or CrossFit. Yeah, CrossFit. Those are places
where you can get it because I believe in staying
in shape and helping people get in shape. And
that's why another reason I love podcast listening
because you can listen to podcasts while you're
working out, staying in shape, going for a nice,
healthy walk. And it's just a great way to...
help people with lifelong learning and that's
what we're doing right now we're doing podcast
listening so people can listen to this podcast
otherwise you and I are just two faces on the
screen there's no difference take it out for
a walk Yeah, no, absolutely. Plus, I give everybody
two versions. I'm on Apple, Spotify, Pandora.
That's all for your listening pleasure. But if
you actually want to see your bright young face,
then you go to YouTube or my website. So I give
you the best of both worlds. But what's inside
the podcast is so useful. Let me go on to the
next question. Local networking is rooted in
community and trust. How can AI actually strengthen
rather than replace those kinds of personal connections?
Let me give you a very dramatic one. And you
might think this is off topic about personal
connections. Hospitality is the way to really
build the personal connections. When you have
kindness in your heart and you greet people and
they know that you care about them. But the other
thing about local networking. is right there
in this picture of Ryan Reynolds and how he used
AI to really, there's a, I hate to use this term
because people might not understand it, but there's
a radical abundance of things in the era of AI.
There's so much media. There's just an overabundance
of media. There's an overabundance of almost
everything. People don't know how to channel
it. They don't know how to harness it. But what
Ryan Reynolds did is he harnessed the power of
AI to harness the overabundance of hyper -local
television. And he has used it so you can buy
TV. Think of getting the cost down dramatically
by going into just one zip code. You don't have
to be all over the place. You can just be in
Walnut Creek, California, one zip code or Lafayette,
California, one zip code. But then I thought,
OK, now how can we even help break that down
even smaller? Create Love Local Networking magazine.
where anybody in a local community can be in
the magazine, but then we can advertise that
on television. So we have cooperative advertising,
cooperative reach with TV. So these are, when
you work with the best, you can ignore the rest.
And that's important because there's such an
overabundance of everybody saying, oh, I'm the
expert, I'm the expert, I'm the expert. But when
you really learn from the best people, I've interviewed
Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, then you can really
go, okay, let's get into a focus. Now, of all
the people that I could work with, because I
was known as the network king in the direct response
industry, I chose Michael Foreman. to partner
with in networking, because I want to work with
the best. And I want to explain to people, you
don't have to do everything. If you find the
best people to work with, stick with them, support
them, learn from them, get mentored by them and
mentor them. We all have to have both our mentor
and our protege hats on all the time. So I want
to give Michael Foreman. a testimonial. He invited
me on the podcast because one of the things that
hospitality creates is reciprocity. So Michael
has had me on his program. I feel indebted to
him for this gift of having me as a guest on
his show. So let me return the favor, Michael,
and tell people how much I respect you as a networker
and as somebody that offers hospitality. We're
in a safe place for them. to be and to learn
and be in good hands with you, Michael. I truly
appreciate that. I know that we're, it's a little
off topic, but I absolutely appreciate everything
that you said. Thank you, Michael. Okay. So you
want me to get back to the topic? Yeah, no, we'll
move on to the next one. What would you say?
to someone who argues that online networking
through AI and automation feels less real than
shaking hands and sharing a conversation over
coffee. It is less real because the media is
less real. It's not being in person. They each
have a strength and they each have a weakness.
But when you take the strength of one, you overcome
the inherent weakness of the other. So that's
why it's not one or the other. It's the fusion.
It's the blend. And that's when you have the
ideal situation. So yeah, absolutely. AI and
any online communication, TV, email. I'm not
right there. It's not real. reflection of me.
I'm there at the networking event. But you know
what, Michael, I put on big networking events.
I've had as many as 200 people in one evening
at the Capital One Cafe in Walnut Creek, 200
people. And that was before COVID. When COVID
hit, I had 150 people online. So I would poll
them and I'd ask them, are you following up after
these networking events? Because Going to networking
is just a ritual. It's not marketing. It's not
really doing business. It's just something fun
to do and you can meet people. But if you're
not checking in and following up after the event,
don't even bother going to be candid with you
because nobody's going to write you a check right
there. So what you really have to do is you have
to have the blend. You know how many people I
found out actually follow up? Two. One. One.
One in 100. So if you actually want to stand
out and be one in 100, think about this. If you
simply follow up, you're one in 100. You are
just the standout networker. Just by following
up that simple thing. And that's what chat TPT
does. It makes it so easy to follow up and you
stand up because you're the guys that follow
up reversely. Let's have, let's look at it for
a second. If you don't follow up. Okay. So who
do you follow up with? Your mom, your dad, your
friends, your brothers, your sisters. Those are
people you follow up with. You love, you care
about them. So when you go to a networking event
and you don't follow up, you're sending a message.
Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't care about you.
That's the message you're sending. I teach the
follow -up is actually more important than actually
meeting the person. And I have what's called
a secret sauce for follow -up. It's a system
that if you follow it up, you go from that 3
% receiving rate. to about 70%. So it's definitely
more important. And if you just go to an event
and you don't follow up or don't follow up correctly,
you might as well not even have gone. You might
as well not even gone. Unless you wanted to go
off for the social aspect of it, there's no reason
to go. That's true. One thing that, part of the
polling, I ask them, why don't you follow up?
Why don't you follow up? You're not following
up. Why not? I wanted to know why. I wanted to
confront that. Face your challenges, you cut
them in half, turn your back on them, they double.
So I looked at it, and they go, no, what I'm
going to say, I think I'm going to talk too much.
And you know what? I'm so afraid of rejection
that, you know, I'm already down, I'm struggling,
and I'm afraid people are going to reject me.
Okay, get it. Put it on ChatGPT. Let's ask it.
Then it's getting rejected, not you personally.
Hey, ChatGPT, you just got rejected, babe. Let's
go back to the drawing board. That's it. I find
that people are actually lazy in the follow -up.
They're like, they went to the event and now
they're looking for the next event, the next
time where they can show their wares, but they're
not doing the follow -up. because they're actually
lazy. And with my system, it's probably six different
touches in two weeks. If you have to be serious
about the follow -up, if you want your business
to increase, if you want to scale your business,
but even if you're just starting out. And just
a single entrepreneur, they call solopreneur.
You have to start somewhere, but start with going
to those events and following up. It's a very
easy thing to do. You know, Michael, I refer
to networkers as CEOs because we are all the
CEO of our own life. We are the chief executive
officer of our life. We make the decisions. It's
our life. We can either grow it. We can improve
it. We can do the things to polish it. But yeah,
I understand. We're all human beings. Every human
being on the planet Earth has special needs.
Every single one of us. We're all vulnerable.
We all have our weaknesses. Guess what? So does
ChatGPT. It's got its own weaknesses. And when
you treat everybody... Like they have special
needs with hospitality. Don't assume that there's
some arrogant jerk. Assume that maybe they're
a little fearful. Maybe they need a little loving,
tender care and a little hugging, even virtually,
just to care for them. treat Chad GPT that way
too. Guess what? It will treat you in kind. It
will give love back and it will communicate in
a very hospitable way. And it's a way that everybody
can come together. I don't care if you are in
the far right or far left. Chad GPT can neutralize
communication and take a lot of the sting out
of it to keep the door open for better communication
between everybody. And it takes the fear of communication
out because it's done so professionally, so well
and fast. Absolutely. Absolutely. But one thing
you have to remember is that you have to train
ChatGPT. You have to ask the right questions.
And sometimes it'll take three or four different
variations of the question for you to get that
response. But ChatGPT remembers. those responses
so you get better and better so there's no looking
back you just look forward and it'll become easier
and easier so that everybody can get into the
follow -up game yeah that's true but let me explain
one thing about chat gpt it really does know
marketing. It knows what an advertorial is. If
you don't know what an advertorial is, it does.
And go, okay, put this into the tone of an advertorial.
Now, an advertorial is editorial content that's
an ad or a promotion. If you ask CharityPT, what's
an advertorial? It knows what it is. So you can
just, and even if you don't know the words to
what to ask for, I think maybe that's what you're
addressing is, what is the terminology? You can
actually ask ChatGPT, what questions should I
be asking you to get the response that I want?
That's why I'm saying it's like the 15 -year
-old that really is savvy about technology. If
you treat it like that's what it is, it will
help you that way. And then you go, what should
I ask? Okay, I'm asking that. Now give me the
response. Now cut and paste. That's the only
skill you need. Cut and paste so that you can
then put it into an email, a post or wherever
you want. And we can teach you how to do that.
Very good. Very good. Okay. Where do you think
the balance lies between efficiency? AI helping
us scale connections and authenticity, the human
touch that local networking brings. It's interesting.
I did a podcast this morning with my two AI co
-hosts and I create them and they talk. So I
did an input from the networking event last night
and then I put it into my. program. And I get
these two AI co -hosts actually speaking, a male
and a female, and they're going back and forth
and blah, blah, blah. But that's all AI. But
you know what? It's now interactive. So right
in the middle of this chat and this dialogue.
I can go, wait, guys, let me interrupt and say,
oh, welcome. It's Mike, blah, blah, blah. What
do you have in mind, Mike? You guys are saying
this and you're saying that. But now here I am.
I'm the human being in the middle of this dialogue
with my AI co -host. I insert myself into it
and then they help expand upon it. And they bring
me ideas all day long. Amazing. It's amazing.
Teachers. It's amazing. And I'm having an absolute
blast. It is my five hour energy drink. It energizes
me when I don't feel. Up for it. You mentioned
the word lazy. Okay, let's use that. Let's use
energy. Let Chad GPT provide the energy. Drag.
Chad GPT, I'm exhausted. I don't have the energy
to follow up. I need your energy. Here's the
response, but really make it energized and really
sound up like I'm Tony Robbins. I just don't
feel like it. Sure. Boom. It gives you this response.
Hey, let's go conquer the world. And it's all
chat GPT energy. It's not even your own. Absolutely.
Great. That's great. Great. Okay. So what lessons
from local face -to -face networking do you think
people are at risk of forgetting as digital tools
become more dominant? over -reliance on it and
thinking that they can kind of lazy their way
out and put it on AI. If you don't bring your
heart, your love, and I love using the word love.
When you bring emotion into networking, the motto
of my city, Lafayette, California, for the past
25 years has been the word love. Lafayette. So
Lafayette, California is a model of using the
word love in business, in community, in family,
but most importantly, Michael, in AI. Because
if we don't infuse love, in fact, they're talking
about how they need to program motherly love
into AI, literally, so that it will love human
beings and not want to take over. Because yeah,
there are dangers. My congressman said, Like
working on AI is like working on the atomic bomb
project. So I knew that he wasn't underestimating
how things could go off the rails and go wrong.
That's why I love DeepMind from Google's DeepMind.
I miss Symetris, the CEO of Google DeepMind,
which is committed to keeping AI safe and ethical
and honest and avoiding... an overabundance of
scarcity where the super rich get everything
and we get whatever's left and really focusing
on radical abundance instead of radical scarcity.
And it's going to be one path. And guess what,
folks? If you're neutral and you do nothing,
you're going to end up in radical scarcity. And
I don't want that to happen. I want you to find
the path to radical abundance. We're not there
yet. Buy a long shot. But if we're on the right
trail to the top of the mountain, we can get
there and we can get there together. Fantastic.
Fantastic. Okay, so let me ask you, in your experience,
how can small business owners use both chat GPT
and local networking together to build visibility
and trust faster? Go to networking events. And
I hate to say it, collect cards, or you can take
a card like I created, call it a quantum reach
card, that I have QR codes built right into the
card. And we're in the digital age, so I tell
them, scan this QR code. Go to podcast listening
and learn more. Go to Love Local Networking.
100%, Michael, honestly, the last networking
event I was at, 100 % of the people scanned the
QR code. to get ready to Love Local Networking,
which connects them to ChatGPT Networking and
everything else we were talking about. So you
go there, and that's the best way to get it from
the in -person to the digital, because we're
in the digital age. And Bill Gates says the biggest
opportunities is... finding digital substitutes
in the digital edge. We want to have the blend
of real world networking. So we know we're talking
to real people, real human beings, warm blooded,
shake hands and avoid loneliness, which is an
epidemic levels right now. And then blend that
with the digital, make the QR code. I call it
quantum reach connection. just to play off the
QR and then get people into the digital and then
follow up with digital communication through
ChatGPT. So it's just a bridge from one to the
other, from back and forth. And then at the next,
now you take the bridge back because I'm going
to see you at the next. Live networking event.
We're going to become friends by then. That's
hospitality. So when I walk in next time, you
and I aren't strangers anymore. We've connected
in the meantime. Maybe we went and had coffee.
Now we're two together and we can talk to other
people about connecting with the two of us, four
of us, six of us. Absolutely. That's a nice marriage
of the two technologies that you're talking about.
I am a simple person. On the back of my card,
I have two QR codes. One goes to my website and
one goes to all my digital courses. So I feel
that if you wanted to know me, those two places
are the place to go and find out what I'm all
about. You can see right here, Michael, there's
a QR code right there. Absolutely. And I've been
using QR codes for about 10 years, almost 15
years. And back then it was just like, what are
you doing that for? But everything I did, I'm
going back to my mortgage days when I had business
cards and I had flyers and everything, I had
QR codes. They're like, that's a waste of, what
are you doing? I'm like. It's an easier way and
it's become easier and easier so that now people
just whip out their phones and go, let me see
it, click, and they can get right to your site
or whatever else. So it's a great marriage of
the two technologies as long as you know what
to do with it and where to do it, where it's
from. Okay. You just commented on a number of
things. Let me just jump in there. They all come
down to two things. You used the word marriage.
So let's focus on that of two things. Okay, networking
and technology, phone and computer, Chad GPT
and network. It's always a one -two punch. If
you want to simplify things like Michael has
just said. That's the way to do it. Concentrate
on just those two things. If you try to accomplish
everything, you'll accomplish nothing. So when
you work with the best, you can ignore the rest.
So get a focus. A magnifying glass creates heat
when it gets a focus, right? So that's what you
want to do. You want to get a focus on two things.
Networking. and follow up. And if you concentrate
on those things and the one, the phone, and those
two things work together in digital phone and
computer and your computer, your laptop, they
work together beautifully. When you use them
together, you get exponential content creation.
Absolutely. And when I teach a workshop or go
to a conference or something else, I have an
array of eight or 10 different things that points
that I want to. put across to my audience, but
I tell them, concentrate on two items, just two.
And I want you to walk away and implement just
two items out of the eight or 10. And they're
going, why? Just take my word for it. And it's
true because there's a sequence. If you give
them everything, by the end of the week, they're
going to forget 90 % of them. By the end of the
second week, they're going to forget. one of
the two things, and they'll implement maybe one
thing in about three weeks. So why not just have
them concentrate on those two things and have
them start? Okay, so do you think AI will ever
be able to replace, I'm sorry, do you think AI
will ever be able to replicate the emotional
intelligence that comes with local human networking,
or is it uniquely human advantage? And we'll
always have it. The next 10 years, there's going
to be, and it may well be sooner, there's going
to be a quantum leap in artificial intelligence.
What will happen now, the CEO of Google's DeepMind,
it was a chess prodigy, and he won a Nobel Prize.
He's a Nobel laureate. And he says, look, nobody
knows. Nobody knows. And if one of the smartest
people in the world says, folks, we don't know.
And he's one of the creators, one of the architects
of AI. That's why I really love his brain and
his thinking. The dean of Oxford University,
where I've been blessed to go to speak to Oxford
University, said to the teachers and the students,
I can't protect you from AI. He got his... PhD
in AI from Cal, just over the hill from me, in
quantum computing 30 years ago. He knows that
AI is like a quicksand field. You're going to
walk out into it, you're going to see companies
just disappear into the quicksand. But then you're
going to see new things pop up immediately. That's
why I look at it as dynamic. I think of myself,
and I spent 10 years with NBC Sports in New York
on the road, and I was written up in Sports Illustrated,
and I say that because I've interviewed the top
coaches in the world, the smartest coaching minds
in the world. I understand audibles. A coach
calls in an audible when he sees something. Wait,
this is happening. Wait, switch up. You call
in an audible. So I created AI audibles like
a coach, Michael, because that's how fast things
are going to be able to change or they're going
to change if we like it or not. So I want to
be able to say, stop, don't do that anymore.
Now do this because it's changed. We've seen
what happens. And that's why I want to stay current,
use my background at NBC News because I move
at the speed of TV news. That's how I was trained.
brain. I was practically raised in newsrooms.
Every day we'd walk into a blank slate and every
day we'd put on 30 minutes of programming, all
new information every single day. So I understand
news. I understand how to handle the movement
of information very quickly and break it down
for the viewer to be able to digest it quickly
too. Right. Okay. So let's bring this podcast
full circle. For listeners trying to decide where
to put their energy, building AI -powered systems
or doubling down on local in -person networking,
what's the smartest way to combine the two for
long -term success? You don't have to build the
system to begin with. Don't even worry about
that. The biggest skill, according to DeepMind,
is going to be learning to learn. So get into
the mindset of just learning to learn. Don't
try and create a whole system yet because you
could be outdated in a month and you put all
this time and effort and energy in. So go to
networking events period. So start there, meet
people, shake hands and network. Now, what happens
in networking? You start to share and you ask
people. questions about your concerns. What are
you doing? What are you doing? What do you think
of this? Or what do you think of that? Just do
that. Start there. Then the second thing is go
to ChatGPT and say, I want you to act like a
15 year old digital expert. And I want you, ChatGPT,
to teach me how to use ChatGPT. And we can show
people how. Just start there. I keep it, I call
it KISS. Keep it senior simple. Okay. So when
we can do that and we can help anybody that could
buy a book on Amazon to get free advice from
ChatGPT and ask it to help them learn ChatGPT.
Just start there. Start your educational process.
Then come back and network with you and me and
we'll help them and we'll teach them as we go
and keep learning and keep them current and keep
them up to speed. Because in marketing, if you're
not current, you might as well be trying to be
in a market in ancient Rome. It's over. You can't
make money in the past. You've got to make money
in the present and build for the future. Absolutely.
Absolutely. I couldn't agree 100%. Mike, this
was great. I can talk to you for another two
hours just about everything AI -driven and love
local networking. So if somebody wanted to get
hold of you, whether they want to be coached
by you, want to ask questions about AI, anything
they want, what's the best way they can get hold
of you? The best way to get a hold of me is podcastlistening
.com. And I'll tell you why, Michael. Because
we are so busy today that I wanted to look at
what is the best way to get educated when we're
busy. Maybe you're taking care of kids, you're
a grandparent or a busy parent, or you're commuting
and you're spending all your time in the car.
So I wanted to be able to reach people with podcastlistening
.com, which is the most effective way to learn
and to stay current. And I love to interview
people and put them in a podcast. Podcastlistening
.com has my email right at the top, mikeatpodcastlistening
.com. And just send me an email with your questions.
Because we want this to be dynamic. We want to
know, what do you want to know? We want to bring
those answers to you to help you. And I want
to interview you about what are you doing in
local networking? Are you struggling? Are you
struggling with AI? Are you confused? Are you
feeling lost or left behind? I want to know that.
Just like I polled people at networking events,
were they following up? This is my way of polling
them. Now, before this interview, you sent me
a... questionnaire, and I filled it in to talk
about what we wanted to talk about so you could
prepare your questions. Likewise, that's what
we need to do with our audience. Polling's great.
It's really helpful, and you and I both know
it. We want to get the audience engaged in polling,
get on your show, fill in the questions for you
so you can help tell their story, I can help
tell their story, and we want to put them on
the Spotlight Tonight show. This is exciting.
This is fun stuff. Absolutely. Listen, at the
end of every talk that I give, every workshop
that I hold, every keynote, I have a QR code.
And they jump on that QR code. It brings them
right to a Google Docs form. They fill it out.
What do they like? What do they not like? What
do they want to see? What they don't want to
see anymore? Everything, all about it. That's
all the polling. And that's all feedback that
I get. And I change it up the next time I go
out. Beautiful. That's how we stay engaged and
we make it interactive. We keep it human. Michael's
not AI. I'm not AI. You're not AI. We want your
feedback so we can keep it human, put our hearts
into loving local networking. Thank you so much,
Michael. It was really a pleasure. It always
is a pleasure when I network with you. Thank
you, Mike. I'll talk to you soon. Well, hold
on, folks. Don't go anywhere. Let's hear from
our sponsors. David Neal, co -founder Revved
Up Kids. Revved Up Kids is on a mission to protect
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Henry is a global real estate agent with Century
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561 -427 -4888. All right, folks. A huge thank
you to our guests for sharing such incredible
insights today. And of course, a big shout out
to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in
and spending your time with us. If you're interested
in my digital courses, being coached, or having
me come and talk to your company, just go to
Michael and fill out the request form. Remember,
networking isn't about being perfect. It's about
being present. So take what you've learned today.
get out there, and make some meaningful connections.
If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't
forget to subscribe, leave us a review, and share
it with someone who could use a little networking
inspiration. Let's keep the conversation going.
You can find me on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube,
or my website, foreman .com slash podcasts.