Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections. An Interview with Dr Kelly King and Michael A Forman

 Welcome to another episode of Networking Unleashed, building Profitable Connections, where we explore the people principles and conversations that move relationships and businesses forward. Today's guest brings a perspective that's not just about profit, but about protection, preparation, and purpose.

She's an expert in estate planning, but don't let the legal title fool you. Her work isn't about stuffy documents. It's about empowering families, guiding small business owners, and making sure our young adults enter the world equipped to thrive, both per, both personally and legally. We're diving into some of the most overlooked conversations in both life and networking.

Why estate planning matters, even if you're not rich. How to build trust driven relationships in a profession where connection is everything, and how a servant hearted approach to networking doesn't just grow a business, it builds a legacy. Whether you're a parent, a business owner, or someone just trying to build smarter, stronger relationships.

This episode is packed with real talk and real takeaways, and I would like to introduce I call her Dr. Kelly, but Dr. Kelly King. I like to welcome you to the podcast and give us a little bit about your background. Thank you so much, Michael, for firstly having this having this venture doing your podcast and giving people an opportunity to chat about what's on their hearts and what's important to them.

But just to share with you a little bit of my background, I am a native New Yorker. Born and raised in New York. Yes. Two thumbs up for that. And then I went to school in New Hampshire, so I went to Dartmouth College and then crossed the street and went to the medical school. And I am, in terms of all of the different titles, I am an obstetrician gynecologist, so I love bringing life into the world.

I am a wife, I've been married for 20 years, celebrated our 20th year anniversary this year. I am the mom of a 17 and 18-year-old, and I will go into a little bit of that in terms of why it's important to be thinking about them right from the beginning, which was the estate planning part of for me, and now thinking about them as they are young adults.

And so I'm doing some well work to help parents like myself who are having kids who are. Young adulting mom of two, two dogs a Golden Retriever and a Labradoodle. So those are just my backgrounds, but I'm also a business owner. I've been in business. Working in the legal services arena, helping small business owners, families, employee groups have affordable legal protection.

That's something that's also very dear to me, and I've been doing this now for over 15 years. Hard to believe. You'd never know by looking at you. Okay, thank you. I just wanna say, 'cause I am too a native New Yorker and I love talking to other Native New Yorkers who moved out of New York and into where we are in Georgia.

And I've been married almost 37 years. Oh my goodness. Congratulations you talked to me. But it's a good way to be It's a good way. It's a good way. Okay, let's delve right into the questions that I have prepared for you. Most people think estate planning is just for the wealthy. That, that, I'm sorry.

Let's bust that myth. Why is estate planning actually critical for every family regardless of net worth? I love that question, Michael, and I'll just share with you a little bit of my journey. My husband and I, we got started use doing estate planning. Actually when I was pregnant. We had heard about estate planning.

I was really blessed to have. Parents who had done estate planning. My, both of my parents did a will and they did a trust. And I will tell you when they passed away, and they were not rich by any, standard that we would think of as rich. My mom was a registered nurse. My dad worked for the New York Department of Transportation for.

Many decades. And so they would be, I would say, comfortably middle class, right? So there was no huge estate. But when they passed away for my family, for my sister and I, and then for my stepbrothers, everything was clear. We didn't have to argue, we didn't have to fight. We knew where everything was.

There was a sense of peace and transparency. At their passing, and it was a beautiful thing that they left that legacy for us, which wasn't millions of dollars, but a legacy of having a family that was still cohesive after the passing of my parents because they had that plan in place. But for me, again, I knew about it.

It was always peripherally in my head, this is something that I should do, but both my husband and I are obstetrician and gynecologists, and we knew that while life is beautiful, we also know that it's not guaranteed. And so I wanted to have a plan in place that had nothing to do initially with money.

It had everything to do with the fact that when my son was born, I wanted a very clear plan about who would raise him if for some reason. My husband and I were not gonna be able to raise him, right? We knew that a part of the will is also appointing a guardian for your children if you pass away and you cannot raise them.

That was the number one reason why we did estate planning, had nothing to do with money. Now that being said, everything that we worked hard for, we wanted to clearly pass down. Two, first my son and then my daughter about a year and a half later. We didn't want there to be confusion about it. We knew it, particularly when they were young.

How would they know what we had and what to do and where to go? So we wanted to be, we wanted it to be clear whether you have a lot of money or a little bit of money, if you have someone you love. Care about you should get estate planning done. Leave the need for whether you need to have super estate planning done for that later time.

But everybody 18 and above should have a plan in place for leaving, for making sure that the people that they love know what they have and how they foresee. That those assets going, and particularly if you have children under the age of 18, you need to think of estate planning in terms of the guardianship part of it.

So twofold. I agree. A thousand percent. I used to think that just having a will was all I needed. And it wasn't until later on that I had, I got a trust, my wife and I did a trust and for my two children. I understand the importance and it's like having a left and a right shoe.

You have one shoe on. But what about the other shoe? And I think a will and a trust work together just like that. Okay, so what are some of the biggest mistakes families make by waiting too long to plan. And how can a simple conversation now prevent major heartbreak later? Absolutely. Another great question, Michael.

I am a big believer the best time to have these conversations is when everyone is healthy, everyone is well. It feels very confrontational and uncomfortable when the conversations happen, when either two things are happening, someone is. Ill, they're not doing well. Or quite frankly, the conversation never happened and it's too late.

So the best time to have these conversations is when everybody is okay. It's less threatening. We are really just talking about finances in our future. I like to have people have conversations. Some people are very direct. When they're having a conversation about estate planning and they'll say, Hey, this is what I envision at the time of my passing, and let's have a conversation about it.

Other times it's easier to start the conversation when something has happened, maybe to someone else, maybe a neighbor. Maybe a friend. Maybe you hear something on TV and you say, you know what? That incident reminds me that you and I need to have this conversation about what we envision at our passing.

Again, it's a very non-threatening way to bring these things up before it's too late now, I don't believe it's. Ever too late. Even if someone is ill or you're ill, it's still okay to bring up the conversation, right? But at the same time, it's actually better to bring it up before those critical moments when it becomes a little bit more uncomfortable.

I got my first estate planning done again when actually I said when I was pregnant we could not leave. Something to my son until he was born. So we had all of the paperwork ready to go, and then as soon as he was born, we were able to put his name in as the, beneficiary. And then when my daughter was born, then of course it became 50 50.

So we're pretty simple. It was 50 50 split. But we had those conversations. Obviously my kids are now 17 and 18, well before it needed to happen, but that's the best time to do it. It is. I agree that you should have that conversation when everybody's healthy. Yeah. When everybody is sound mind, and that you can discuss it rationally.

Yeah. It gets a little sticky when somebody gets sick and that's where problems begin. But you're right, it's never too late. Never too late. Absolutely. Okay, let's shift to networking. How has building genuine relationships helped you grow your estate planning business in a field where trust is absolutely everything?

Absolutely. I'll just say in general, networking is at the core of building my business in general. I have found that like many people, we all live in a pool where people do something similar to what you do. It is pretty rare to have a business where what you do is. The, you're the only one.

You're the only one who created this thing, right? As soon as you're the only one who creates it, someone else is gonna come along with it anyway. So we all live in a world where there are people who do something similar, and the ability to network and to have relationships with people is, in my opinion, the thing that helps people to dis.

Distinguish themselves within a certain community. It's the way that people can truly get to understand who you are, understand what your passion is, and even understand your business above that superficial understanding of what it is that you do. So I feel like it's one of the most efficient and effective ways to create a unique voice around what you're doing, because then people get to know who you are uniquely and not just what your business does.

So I, I think that sums it up for any part of someone who's a business owner. Networking should be on their list of things to do, to be able to grow their business. I've said it a thousand times and I'll probably say it a thousand more. I feel that networking is the base of all businesses. Yeah.

And if you don't do it correctly. You're leaving money on the table, but you're leaving more, there's so you can do so much more for somebody else and we'll get into networking with the servant's heart later on, but there is so much more. That you can do for somebody else than somebody can do for you.

And you have no pressure. You have no pressure. It's doing good. And like I said, we'll get to it later on in the podcast, but that's a beautiful way of looking at networking. Estate planning isn't just paperwork. It's deeply personal as you just shared. How do you network in a way that builds the kind of trust required to talk about life?

Death and legacy. So that's a difficult question. And so I think my role in networking and introducing the concept of legal services is more on that level. What. How are legal services valuable to you? Now, I can only know that by networking and getting to know that person. I can't, I can assume it is valuable to everybody, right?

And that's where I think people go wrong. Let's say what I have is good for everyone and they leave it at that. But you don't really know what's truly good for people until you actually get to know them at some level. And I think that's where networking comes in. Now that I've had an opportunity to know you, now that I have an opportunity to know that you have underage children, now that I have an opportunity to know that you have adult children, you've got grandchildren, that helps me to really act as a consultant to see how I can best serve them with the legal services, whether it be.

The estate planning part of what my legal services offer, or whether they be a business owner and they're looking to trademark. I can't know that until I have a relationship with someone to know what their needs would be. Otherwise, it's like what you feel like sometimes when you go into a store, people are just trying to sell you anything and everything, but they don't really know what your needs are.

So I think that would be the way that I would put it. As you've gotta understand people's needs. To be able to serve them, whether it be estate planning or it be. Creating a website, right? That's not what I do, but I'm just saying you have to know what the person's needs are. And I think networking gives you the opportunity to know what their needs are.

And it also builds, in some ways, Michael that trust relationship, right? Because when you know someone. You're gonna trust that they're gonna be looking out for your best interest. And I think that's a critical part of both the conversation about estate planning and legal services, because that's one part of the legal services is estate planning.

But also that relationship with the o other person brings bridges. Those two things together. I always say, before the pandemic, which was only five years ago, networking was very transactional. It's like what you do for me, what I can do for you, so on and so forth. Ever since the pandemic, everybody was shut in.

And everybody has to get out and you now, it's no longer building your customer base, but a relationship base. And you have to build that relationship with customers because once you build a relationship, you have that person for life. Yeah. If you're, if your networking is just transactional, your customer is your customer for as long as you have that piece Yeah.

And you no longer have that relationship. So I feel what you're saying. It's, networking is all relationships. And again, that's what I lived my life by, okay. You've also made it a mission to prepare young adults legally for the real world. What are a few most, what a few things most parents don't know, but absolutely should.

Oh, I love that question because I'm living that world right now. So my son turned 18 in January and very shortly after he turned 18, I remember receiving something from the pediatrician's office about, Hey, you no longer have access to his information. And there were a few other things, little reminders that my baby.

Was now an adult, and I will tell you, I totally respect that. Our kids grow up and they do become adults, and they should and can make their own decisions. The question for parents of young adults is. If something catastrophic happens and they're not in a position to make medical decisions or to maintain their finances, do you have the automatic right to step in?

And the answer is, after 18, you don't. So what you have to do, and we don't think about this we just assume I'm the mom, I'm the dad. Of course I can step in, but legally you cannot. So you wanna have things set up ahead of time in collaboration with your young adults that if this should happen or if that should happen, we want it to be clear to the courts, to the doctors, to the medical authority that you are giving permission from Mom.

Sister, brother, whomever it is that you trust to step in and help you to make decisions that perhaps you can't make at that time. There's unfortunately situations that kids get into, whether it be a car accident or some other type of medical situation where they're not able to speak for themselves, who then steps in their place.

And so we think it's important, not we think, I know it's important. For parents and for young adults to have these conversations because mom and dad are not gonna be automatic anymore. To talk about that medical power of Attor attorney to talk about adorable power of attorney. When my son went away to college I was expecting.

The tuition to come to me and I was like, okay everything else has come, but the tuition didn't come. And I was like, okay, let me call the school. Turns out they said something that I thought was profound. They said, the tuition is his responsibility, but as a parent, if you'd like to have access, he has to sign a waiver.

At first I was like, yes, the tuition is his responsibility. And then I was like, no, he can't pay the tuition. So he had to sign that waiver. To say that I can step in and help assist him. Those sound like small, but they're critical things. What they are telling us as parents is he or she is responsible.

But we also need to remind, be reminded that 18, 19, 20 year olds. May not have the financial ability to be fully responsible. So you do need to have some of these waivers put in place so that you can come alongside your young adult helping to set them up for success and helping to be by their side if you're needed.

Again, I am very careful that I want, we raise our children to become independent, but we also understand it doesn't happen right at that one date and time. It's a transition. It's adulting. So that's part of some of my things. I am actually doing. Some webinars, we'll be talking about hipaa durable power of attorney, medical power of attorney, ferpa, all of these terms that maybe parents of young adults don't know or young adults don't know themselves.

Yeah, no that's good. And really at the end of the podcast, I want you to give me all of that. But let me continue in your experience. What are the best kinds of networking environments for building long-term meaningful business referrals, especially in a service-based profession like yours?

That is a hard one, and I'm going to answer it in part. I'm gonna say I participate in both what's called open networking, things like your Chamber of commerce's. There's so many different open networking and open networking just simply means that there may be more there. There may be multiple people in your industry that are coming to the event.

There's not as many strict criteria for it. It's open. You just come. And read from it. Whatever you can get now from, I like open networking in the sense that you see a lot of new faces. You have the ability to connect with a lot of new people, but sometimes if you've been to open networking, it can get a little bit.

Transactional people come and maybe they don't understand how networking really works, and they're just passing out business cards and they're just sharing all of the information about themselves, not understanding that it needs to be a two-way street. Again, the benefit is that it tends to be vibrant.

It tends to be different people coming in, so you can get to know new people. Now, I also participate in close networking, and close just simply means that there's one seat per industry. Some of the beauty of that is that you're not competing within that space with someone who does something very similar, exactly the same as you.

Closed networking tends to be very intentional because. Not that you are forced, but you are monitored. I like to use that word based on how many times you get together with someone, how many referrals you pass out attendance, and those have that benefit, but sometimes that can get a little stagnant for people to, there's not as many people coming and going.

And both of those have pluses and minuses and I think that people who intend. To add networking to their marketing strategy or even their growth strategy as a business owner, because I say networking is not even always about. The business you will get. It should be about that as the primary reason.

But sometimes we all need to grow as business owners and in networking events. When I'm growing as a business owner, I'm learning something. Someone is teaching me something, I'm still benefiting, even if it wasn't directly a client that I got. But going back to that, the question I think people, including myself, have to choose which environment just feels right at its core.

And I've been in networking events where I just felt at its core, it just did not fit for me. Maybe it was very cliquey, or maybe it was people who had been there a bazillion years and they really weren't allowing new faces to come in and to contribute. And then I've been in others where again, it was just.

People are just buzzing around, but they're not making true connections. I feel that you should have your own criteria for it. You should give it some time. You need to come back several times to really find out if it's the right event for you. But you need to feel like at its core you can both give and receive.

If you are in an event and you're not willing to give. And you might not be the right person in that event. It might not be the event. It just may not be that. Maybe that you're not the right person in that event, but I think you need to feel out which environment is good for you. I agree.

About the open and closed networking, and I also feel that everybody should actually take part in both of them. Because both of them brings something else. I belong to a few networking groups, one of which comes to mind, it's called the Local Link, and that. Happens to be founded by yourself.

Yeah. And you've created a networking group that really, I've seen it from 15 people to about, I think 60 people was our largest one. It has really grown because people feel the need that they need to go out and show what they have and. Quite honestly, about three quarters of them don't know how to network.

Yeah, they don't know what to say, what to do. I hope last week was a little opening for them so that they can understand what true networking is, but. It's a skill that they have to get better at. And the only way they can get better at, or people can get better is practice.

Yes. You go out to different networking events. Listen, the first time you go out, you're gonna suck. It's gonna be horrible. It's gonna be so bad, but you just take the good from it. Yeah, the next time they get a little bit better, a little bit better, a little better. And after a while you're gonna say, Hey, this is easy.

Yeah, this is a piece of cake, and everybody's gonna do it. Okay so what does a great networking connection look like for you, and how do you nurture those relationships? Be beyond the handshake or business card? Yeah I'll start with the nurturing part of it. So the nurturing part of it for me means sitting down with people outside of the networking event.

Networking events are great ways to make introductions for people to know on a. High scale what you do, but the way to really get to know about a person and for them to get to know about you is after the networking event. So if you've heard the term before, one-to-ones, it just means after the event, let's sit down for coffee, let's sit down for a Zoom and have a conversation where we can both go into more details.

And I feel like everybody who does networking. Needs to have a plan in place to do that. Again, it's, it shouldn't be everybody at the networking event. It should truly be you choosing people that you feel like you can give to them and potentially receive for them. And that falls into the second part of your question, which is, what do those people look like for you or for me?

And for me, it would be the best. The best connections are people who cannot just connect me directly to themselves, which is, that one, one-to-one interaction. But people who have. A client base, a family base, or a PTA base where they can then connect me to others who need my services. And I think that's a really key takeaway too for people who network.

Please remember, when you are networking with someone, they're also networking with you. And so if you approach people all the time, you need my services, it can be something that kind of really puts people back. On their feet. Whoa, wait a second. I'm really just connecting to get to know you or to see how I can pass referrals your way.

Now, sometimes that person really does need your services, and as you're talking, they're like, you know what? I needed that yesterday. By all means, nothing wrong with that, but I feel like what we should mostly be looking for are people who can connect us to other people. So for me, with estate planning.

Financial advisors are great connectors. Usually financial advisors are advising people about the here and the now, but they're also advising about the future and the future that involve involves them not being there. So often they are referring people to estate planning attorneys or other people who can do those services.

People who are in real estate. Real estate is also good because they're dealing with families. And what do families have? Kids, and those are things that might be on the minds of families is, hey, I know you just bought this amazing home, but I wanna make sure you speak to someone about making sure that your legacy doesn't end with just purchasing the home.

Insurance agents, because people who are thinking about insurance are thinking about protection. People who are thinking about protection are also good potential referral clients. So for me. Yes, that mom who has a kid in college is a great connection. But more importantly, if that mom who has a kid in college is a great connection for my adulting, if they are connected to other parents, if they're part of the PTA, if they're part of the community where they can say, Hey what Dr.

Kelly's offering is a valuable service. I wanna spread the word or spread referrals her way. That is honestly. The best way to to build your business and for me to build my business. The very easy way to to think about everything you just said, right? Because you said not only you have to, you can't think of it as you're expanding your network.

You have to change places with the other person. You have to say, how can I become part of their network? Because their network involves. X, y, Z people. So you have to, you'll be part of their network for them to refer you. So just a little mindset change, but it's an important one. Very important. I love that because we all have a Rolodex of maybe 200 people that dates me when I say a Rolodex.

But you know what I, I'm just gonna, I was just gonna say that, but imagine those. 200 people have 200 of their own. We've now expanded our network and I think, maybe as you were mentioning Michael, prior to the pandemic, we only thought about the 200 people. What can you do for me? And I'm gonna expand my network one by one.

But if we change and flip that concept around to, I'm expanding by my network, by being a part of their network. Now we've multiplied, right? We haven't just, we haven't just added. True. It's very true. But it's a mindset. Yes. And if you can change that mindset, not only the person who you're talking to, but your mindset.

Yes. And once everybody's mindset turns to that relationship building, it goes on the referrals can be endless. Okay. You work with both families and small business owners, what do you wish more entrepreneurs understood about protecting their business legally as part of their overall planning?

I will tell you, I started this business mostly focusing on families, and then when I was exposed to what our legal services can do for small businesses. It became another passion. It didn't replace, but it was an add-on to that passion because at our core, m most businesses employ people. And you don't have to be a target.

You, you can be just a regular small business owner. And so if we can keep small business owners. Keep their doors open, then we're helping everyone, whether we're talking about the small business owner or their employees. But I will say this, a lot of small business owners think of their business as their baby, and they think of their product or their service solely.

But think of it this way, your business at its core is a legal entity that does A, B, or C. It is a legal entity that does A, B, or C. Everyone is focused on the A, B, and C, but we have to also remember it's a legal entity. And with that in mind, you have to be aware that there are legal pros and legal cons and you need to be aware of those things.

And so unfortunately, so Ma, I've heard so many stories of small business owners going into business with the. Best of intentions and they're not left and right by things that they never expected to happen or they just didn't think would happen, wouldn't happen to them. Whether it be, oh my gosh, I did this amazing construction pro project, and then the person didn't pay me.

Or I've had story after story of people starting with a web design company and then the, their information was hijacked and the website never got put up or the story of a business owner who started her business and she had, she. She took over another business. There were employees that didn't like her style.

They left the, they quit, but then they wanted to collect unemployment. She's a brand new small business owner. This was not on her list of I do A, B, or C. It was on the com side that was, I'm a legal entity and I need to be aware of. What do my contracts say? What do my documents say? What if someone does something?

Who do I go to as a resource, as a small business owner when quite frankly the big legal dollars are not there yet? To defend themselves or to get questions answered, and so our legal service package with Legal Shields, small business solution, gives them an affordable package to be able to ask questions, get documents taken care, get documents reviewed, to trademark, to copyright.

The list goes on, but in, in short. It is a resource for small business owners to have so that they can protect their business, which in and of itself keeps them in business. Unfortunately, today's day, it's a very litigious society. Yeah. And everybody will sue anybody at the drop of a hat. And the only thing that you're offering is protection.

Yeah. Because I don't care who sues me, whatever. If I'm protected, then I know that, okay, I'm gonna live the fight another day. If I'm, if I don't have that protection, I'm going to give all my resources and all my energy to protecting myself. Yeah. And I'm gonna forget about the business.

So it's very important to become protected. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, can I just share too, the best way to be protected, just like in healthcare is ahead of time. Too many small business owners think, oh I don't need to think about that until it becomes a problem. That's the same concept of I won't think about the heart attack until I have it.

No, you want to be proactive in your legal services, just like you wanna be proactive in your healthcare. So that means before it becomes a problem, before you sign the contract, before you sign the document, when it's at the beginnings of a problem. Get the attorney involved so that it's not catastrophic and it's not fatal because the cost then becomes too high for a small business owner because you can go anywhere to get legal services.

But the fact is, depending on how many dollars you have to protect yourself, it may be. Something that causes you to be a little ill or causes it to be fatal for your business. And we don't want that situation. We wanna make sure we take care of it and keep you well. And if you're getting just a little ill, we're right there to try to nip it in the bud before it becomes something catastrophic.

I'd have to tell you, I, I've been a LegalShield for 15 years. Whoa. I know both sides of the equation and it's just. I call the legal representative the attorney's firm probably once a month. So it's just a little question because questions and answers that all day long they're gonna give you.

But if. If I, I went, I'm not gonna tell you now, but the story that I had about when I stayed in a hotel, out in Savannah, Georgia, they took care of my problem, like within a day. Wow. It was just all handled. So I have the greatest admiration for Legal Shield. I think they're the best.

Can you share a time when a single networking connection created unexpected momentum, either in your business or in a client's life? I'll share with you how networking can go around in a circle. So you had mentioned that in. During the pandemic networking really changed, right?

And so I went from networking in person. And honestly my networking in person prior to the pandemic wasn't overly effective. Michael. So when you talk about it we all need to understand how to be effective networkers and when the pandemic happens we all, many of us went to online networking and I thought, oh my gosh, this is the greatest thing ever.

How convenient I could just put on a shirt. I can be bummy until the moment that I get there. But what I found Michael was, is that. I was. It was convenient, but it wasn't as effective. It wasn't as effective because there is just sometimes you need to shake a hand and give a hug, and there's just something about personal relationships you need to feel.

The vibe of the person. Yeah. You need to feel the vibe of the room. And, when I shake hands with somebody that I'm friendly with in business, we do that small man hug, and we talk about anything else but business. Because that's how you begin. But you're absolutely right.

Listen, even through Zoom, right? I'm talking to you, but I have to realize that you're a person. Yes. So 90% of the networking that has to be the same, but I don't have that feeling that vibe. Yes. And that's what's missing. So it's very important. Networking is a very, I say it again, I'll say it again.

Networking is the base of all business. Yeah. And you have to go out there and do it. Before I ask you the last question, I know what you have done in the past, and I'm sure that all of it was not rosy. So what mistakes have you made? Just gimme a general mistake. And how did you come out of it?

Just to finish off on what I had started with networking prior to the pandemic, I literally was one of those people that you mentioned was transactional. Like I went into networking events with. May, if, even if I wasn't saying it, I was really acting it out, which was, what can you do for me and how much have you done for me lately?

And that's that song. But and so we may not like to admit it, but sometimes we come off like that and I had to take a step back and say. I think you used this word about being a servant networker. Okay, if I'm going to a close networking event and I'm not willing to give, then there's a problem because it has to come from me giving first, and when I created the local link, I spend more time thinking, and that's that intentionality.

Thinking about how can I give to the people in my local link community? So I would say the mistake that I made in the beginning was thinking it was all about me. Even if I wasn't thinking, it wasn't like my brain was saying that, but I think my actions were saying that in some ways, right? And so transforming that thinking was a big deal for me.

But also one of the things that I'm also still currently working on, Michael, 'cause we're all in the process of growing is. Thinking it is a business we wanna give, but we also need to be able to receive and to be able to communicate in a way where people understand what we need to receive. And then also working on closing, right?

Because again it's a give and take. We don't want people to think. Oh, it's all about giving, and I'm just here to spread the love. There is, you want that to be a part of the core, but you also want it to be fruitful time. And I think that's one of the things that you're helping people to do when you're talking about the art of networking, is you want it to be the give and the receive, and to have that time be fruitful.

And it wasn't always fruitful in the beginning. That's very true and realistic. I use, I would say a line, but I don't wanna say make it seem as though it's just a line, but when I'm having a one-on-one with somebody, and before I even discuss what I do for a living I look at them and I say, look, I like you.

I like the way you do business. I like what you do, but how can I make you more successful? How can I be a good referral source for you? It usually blows 'em away. Michael, you haven't even said what you do yet, and you're already trying to help me. I said that's the whole idea. I am here to help you get business, to help you become more successful.

And listen, if you could do it for me also, that's fine. That's not my goal. Yes. And that's how it should all begin. Okay. You ready? Yes. If someone listening today wants to begin both protecting their family and building their network with intention, what's the first conversation they should start tomorrow?

I think the first say that again for me, Michael. 'cause it was a big question. If someone listening today wants to begin both protecting their family and building their network with intention, what's the first conversation they should start tomorrow? If they're local, I would love to invite them out to the local link where they can both one connect with me as well as build their own business community.

We are in the Johns Creek area for where we are networking at the local link. People can also reach out to me directly, and I don't know if you'll be able to post my contact information. In the podcast mostly. Yeah. So the best way to reach me is via email. It's Kelly, It's kelly@askdrkelly.com.

I had to think about that. I also have a website, but the website is not the best way to reach out to me. The best way to reach out to me is either by phone. My, my direct number is 6 7 8 5 6 3. 1, 5, 0, 0. We'll put everything in the in the, some way that you can link up to me or email me.

The website is really meant for after we've had a conversation and we're making a decision about what would be the best choices for you. So really the reach me directly because that's how I work, is having conversations with people, understanding what their best needs are, whether it be for the legal services or what their needs are as a small business owner.

To see if I can connect them with a networking event that might work for them. The best way to check out for a networking event, go to meetup.com. Meetup.com. eventbrite.com. You can check out all the local links, but if you are in the Johns Creek, CU Alpharetta, even Gwinnett County.

If you're around the area, check out. The local link with Dr. Kelly because I've been a member for, I think I've two months now. Yes. And I've enjoyed it so I want to tell you that this was a fun and fantastic podcast. And do you have any last words of wisdom? My last words of wisdom is be true to yourself as a business owner.

Know what makes you passionate and be able to share that passion to others. People will gravitate towards you because they feel from you that you care about them because you care about what you do. Very good. I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast, and I look forward to talking to you soon.

Awesome. Thank you so much Michael. So glad to be here and also glad to be able to hopefully serve your community.

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 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 MichaelAForman.com 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.

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Michael is a business networking expert specializing in enhancing professionals' networking and communication skills to drive profitability. As a leading authority in this field, he is highly sought after for his dynamic presentations and workshops. His extensive experience has consistently led to significant improvements in corporate profitability by empowering individuals and organizations to connect more effectively and efficiently.

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