Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections. An Interview with Leesa Blankert and Michael A Forman
- mforman521
- May 11
- 17 min read
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, building Profitable Connections, the show where simple conversations create real business growth. I'm your host, Michael Forman. People think networks networking success comes from meeting the biggest person in the room, landing the perfect introduction or finding that one major deal, but in reality.
Many careers and businesses change direction through smaller, quieter connections, conversations that don't look important at the time, but end up shaping everything. My guest today has been. Seeing firsthand, my guest today has seen firsthand how meeting the right business owners, learning from unexpected mentors, and even supporting people in the same space can move a business forward in meaningful ways.
We're talking about how small relationships create big opportunities, how mentors. Appear when you're paying attention and why collaboration, even with competitors, can strengthen your path instead of threaten it. If you want more opportunities without forcing conversations or chasing every room, you're in the right place.
So let's get into it. I'd like to welcome to the podcast Lisa Blanker. She knows she's an expert in all of this. She's a former educator. But let me introduce Lisa and have her give you the cliff notes of why she is where she is today. Lisa, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for the friendly introduction.
That's okay. Give us a little bit of your background. How did you get here today? Yeah, I'd love to share about my background. So as you mentioned, I used to work in the public school system, so I did that for nearly 10 years. So I work with a lot of students with special needs education and from there I know a lot of people just call it their line in the sand moment.
What was the breaking point that led, me to make the pivot to entrepreneurship. So for me, that was my car breaking down at the top of a hill. The transmission blew out. I thought, what is that noise? And the panic set in. And I cranked the e-brake, put my foot on the pedal. And waited for BCA to show up and they took I'm Canadian, so here we call it BCA, where they come get you the toe and rescue you.
And they said we'll be two hours. And they said, I'm obstructing traffic at the top of a hill. And for me that was a huge moment and pivoting time. As I like to call it, line in the sand moment where I was just like, this isn't working for me anymore. So I finished off the school year with some rental cars and when September came around I called HR and I asked for other opportunities that might be online and they didn't at that time have opportunities for me online.
They. You can go back on call and I worked many years to get a permanent placement, so that felt like going backwards to me. So I didn't necessarily wanna do that. And I didn't wanna buy a vehicle just to go back to my job. So I thought I have a perfectly fine computer. So I started doing contract work.
That's how I got started online. And I worked for a few startups that were rough in the beginning to be very blunt and honest. A lot of them had reductions in force where I would be hired. And then they said, this is nothing to do with your performance, but we need to do some layoffs. So it was a rough go in the beginning.
I'm gonna be very transparent about that. But over time I started I love that your show is about networking. Over time I started to do more networking and I'm grateful that in my community and where I live, there's some amazing mentors that run great networking communities. So you're absolutely right that you can meet people that can change the trajectory.
Of your career and your journey in entrepreneurship at any time, and it's really exciting that, sometimes you're just one opportunity away from changing that trajectory for yourself. Wonderful. I can't wait to hear your answers for some of these questions 'cause I'm very intrigued.
You talk about meeting business owners who change their trajectory in small ways, the small connections, often more of why are the small connections often more valuable than the big obvious ones. I think the small ones are really important because sometimes you have to think outside the box too.
Like you said, sometimes your competition, if you think, how can I collaborate with this person? Even for me being in the marketing agency space, I collaborated with another person that has a very similar company to me. But they also do photography and videography, for example. I collaborate with them and that way I can serve my clients better too.
If I have a client that comes to me and is I want to do a marketing campaign and they need the content to serve some of that, then I can be like, great, I trust this photographer to show up. And I have that partnership connection with him so he can show up and do the content and then I can do the marketing side.
So it's about being resourceful and creative. I'm a huge fan of Marie Forlio if you know her. No. I'm sorry. I don't. Were you ever afraid that they may steal your clients? No, I was never afraid of that. I've even had competitors that have brought me clients and it took a long time to get there, but some people were growing quicker than I was and they had the decency to ref make a referral to me.
And I was grateful to that person for that because at that time I was slowly growing and I said to the girls like, I needed this more than ever right now. Thank you so much. And so it's about being open, I think. And you don't necessarily have to show up to some of these networking events with a strict agenda.
I think it's about the little things that build over time and meeting people. And like I viewed some of your content, you talked about, talking to people with unrelated topics, connecting on other things. And that way when something comes up and they have something that overlaps and that could be beneficial to you, then you can go, oh wait.
Yeah I'd love to do that. I what I go all over the country and I speak on, I'm a networking strategist and I always teach how to go into an event with what's called a servant's heart. You go in looking to give and not receive, and if you look to give, that takes all the pressure off your shoulders.
You don't have to sell anything. All you're looking to do is to help somebody else and obviously what goes around comes around, so you should be getting business like that anyway. But if you go in with a servant's heart, then that just starts you on a wonderful journey. Yeah, that's so true. I have a mentor that says that just go out and serve people.
And if you have that mentality, you'll get further along than, oh, what's the transaction here? How am I going to increase my level of transactions? Because a lot of people that are famous in the marketing space, they always say. People buy from people. It's not necessarily the company, it's the person from the company.
So if they like you or your company it's more about you than it is about the company. Yeah, I, I have a saying that I do in all my classes and all my presentations. People love to buy, but they hate to be sold to. So as long as you keep that in mind that people love to buy, they'll buy from you, but from you, but they don't want you to sell to them because they hate salespeople.
Yeah. So tough line to hoe, but it'll still work. Those people have a terrible reputation. And I'm fortunate enough too, that I met some high ticket sales coaches that are really impressive. And the one thing one of the high ticket sales coaches said at a networking event, I was at, shout out to cmu he said, I took a bet on myself.
And that really stuck with me because he was like. I'm doing this for myself and he's working outside the box. Peop a lot of people are happy in that nine to five position and he's just modeling that. He is always betting on himself and investing in himself. And I really like that about him.
Very good. Very good. And I'm sure he is a great mentor. How can someone recognize a potential mentor in a natural conversation instead of formally asking for mentorship? Absolutely. I think you never know who you could be introduced to. One of my mentors runs a networking community and he also supported me recently with rebuilding my website.
So I was fortunate that way, and I didn't know that joining his membership would mean I could get support with rebuilding my website, for example. So I think it's about being open to the ways that people could help you too. Okay sure. What makes people willing to give advice that actually moves someone forward rather than just general encouragement?
Ooh. I love that one. One, another, one of my mentors runs a very successful marketing agency and he, the advice he gave me that always stuck with me that is not generic advice is that if you have a company, you need to be visible. And there's a lot of. Talk these days about being visible and doing all the things.
And he said, you could be the greatest in the world at what you do, but if you're not visible, no one's gonna know you exist and no one's gonna know your offer exists. So you're gonna be sitting there in the corner, in other words, and just struggling riding the struggle bus and going, why is this not working?
Why is my business not growing? So I think that is non-generic advice that business owners can take away. For sure. Yeah, it's like having the most beautiful website in the world does everything you want it, but if you don't advertise and market that website, nobody's gonna come to it and nobody's gonna see you.
Absolutely. So you're absolutely right. You hit the point right on the head. Yeah. I like, I have an analogy for that one that I like. Sure. Creating a website without doing any SEO to it is like listing your house and just throwing up a for sale sign. You're not gonna get the right buyer for your house.
No one's going on. In Canada here, we call it MLS or realtor.ca. So if you're not putting it on that website, no one's gonna be driving by your house and finding it outta nowhere. That's right. Absolutely. Many professionals see competitors as threats. What changes when you choose to support someone in your same space instead of avoiding them?
I like that. I think what changes is that you realize more and more that these small business owners need each other more than ever, especially in today's day and age. So that's what changes. I think for me, that's been a huge realization is when you make those connections and collaborations with people that are actually your competition you have unrealized growth from that, and that's a huge transition as well.
Yeah you said it before when you worked with your co competitor, which you found some things that he does that you don't do and that you do, that he doesn't do, and all of a sudden you found yourself working together, yet you feel that your competitors, but it opens up a whole new world because the people that, that they can't.
Do that they can, the work they can't do, accomplish, they're giving to you and so on and so forth and in reverse. So you're both making out. But you both seem to be competitors, but yes, it's more sustainable that way too, right? And you're connecting with people in your community. So it's about keeping it sustainable over time.
If he did that, if he just thought of himself and only his services, maybe he's not gonna be as successful. Whereas over time, that slowly builds to Absolutely. How do you build trust with someone who technically serves the same audiences that you do? I love that one. Building trust is about showing that you're reliable and credible, I think too.
So that was another huge reason why I also made the transition to redo my website. So it's about showing that you're reliable, showing that you're credible showing up. Yeah. Good consistency. That's the name of the game. In networking, in the networking world, there's a mantra. Know you, like you, trust you.
They'll do business with you and know you well. Everybody knows you because you're out and about likes you. Now is the field down just a little bit because everybody's not going to like you. But trust, that's a major factor because nobody's gonna do business with you unless they trust you. So the more you speak with that other person, the more that trust level's going up and the barrier between the two of you is going down and once it makes the switch, then you have 'em, and you can start doing that voodoo that you do so well.
Okay. Where is the line between healthy collaboration and protecting your own business interests? Ooh, I like that one. I think healthy collaboration involves seeing where you can benefit E each other, but still staying in your own lane. So how do you stay in your own lane? You show up, you do your own work, but yet you still have these relationships going on the back burner, for example.
So another person that runs a similar company to mine is even better at that admittedly than me. It's very good at. Just having this balance and having those things running in the background while still prioritizing their business. You pick up little tidbits from that person. Little ideas that you haven't done and you're incorporating them into your business.
Yeah, absolutely. As soon as you said that, it made me think of one very difficult client that we both work with together and he excelled at assisting this client that was very high need and holding up boundaries. With the client. So I think it's about seeing how other people use their strengths too, and realizing what are my strengths.
So I think you can learn a lot from other people and how they work in business, especially when you do collaborations with 'em. Some people call 'em also joint ventures, but same thing, collaborations, joint ventures. So it's about seeing like how other people are navigating these things because in business.
You're being thrown in so many different directions all the time. There's always the latest and greatest thing, and there's the all the AI developments that are coming. So there's also the people on the other side of that are like, networking is the best because you're in input. Person. You're building these relationships and you're actually getting to know these people for real, not just like the screen side.
The screen side is great and there's a time and place for that, but I'm always grateful when the networking event rolls around and I'm like, okay, today I get to get away from my computer and have dinner with some pretty awesome people. Yeah, absolutely. You never know who you're gonna bump into when you go to a networking event.
I always suggest you go to one to two networking events per week. Now, some people go to a one a week every other week, but you have to remain consistent in your message, consistent in your ability to show up. Because that's half the battle. If you're showing up and you're consistent and the person is seeing you over and over again saying, you know something, they're gonna be reliable because I can trust them to be here.
So that's one thing to, to look at what habits help maintain relationships over time. So they continue helping both people grow. Ooh, habits. I like that. I think sharing a similar schedule is a good habit too. Obviously if you're working with freelancers from other places are great sometimes, but if there's time zone issues, sometimes you're, you don't wanna necessarily be up at 11 o'clock at night messaging that person.
And then the middle of the day and you're like waiting for the time zone to change, to speak with them again. So I think it's about having like a shared schedule that can be really beneficial to you, where the person is actually available. And that's a huge piece to it too. If the person's making themself available for you, that's a green flag.
They're there, they can make the effort to assist you. And that's what I love about running a a small but humble agency is we have this really cool advantage where we can drop everything and the web developer and I work alongside each other, and if there's an issue with someone's website, we can drop everything and correct it because those issues do happen.
So that's another factor too. Yeah, to answer your question, I think it's really about having a similar schedule too. Okay. Okay. Very good. For someone who feels invisible at events, what's one simple way to start building meaningful connections without forcing conversation? Ooh, I like that too. Because I am a little more on the introverted side, I think just finding people you feel comfortable around that are running the event itself, and then that translates into meeting new people at the actual event because it boosts your confidence and you feel more comfortable.
Befriend the organizer say oh, I'm excited to go to your event and anything I can do will help, whatever. And if you have a good relationship with the person that's organizing the events, I feel like it can trickle, have a trickle down effect. And then you are more open to the people that attend, that are complete strangers and they're sometimes nervous too.
I was at. An event for just female business owners a few months back. And there was a girl that recently started her own whole community and she admitted she was so nervous to go there by herself. But I think going by yourself is actually a really good idea because if you're with someone and you have this person, you're always reliant on, you're not gonna be open to everyone else there.
So if you're pushing yourself to just show up by yourself, that can go further because then you can. Build those relationships with complete strangers because they're experiencing the exact same thing you are. Absolutely. I always, when I talk to corporations or people, even just my coaching clients, I say, go to the networking events by yourself, right?
Because you don't want to crutch, you don't wanna have somebody next to you, and they're not like the safe space. Go alone and, but if you're introverted, if you see that person grab their drink and go to a wall, and just sit there and look at everything.
Be the person. Be the person to walk up to them and say, Hey, how you doing? Hey, that's a nice blazer, or a nice pair of shoes, or just something off the wall. And you'll see the confusion on their face like what whatcha are talking about. And you just get into a conversation, get them talking, and then slowly but surely.
That wall will come down from between you, that trust value goes up and you can have a more a conversation that you both can enjoy and you both will go out and enjoy the event. I'm hosting my own event actually tomorrow. Awesome. There's 20 businesses and it's gonna be a lot of fun, but about 250 people are scheduled to come through the event.
But I, when you say go alone, that is so important because you need to be able to go out and speak to people and not rely on somebody else saving you like, oh my God, I don't wanna talk to this person. You know what? You move on. Okay. For someone who feels invisible but I just read that question.
Okay. Let's bring this podcast full circle. If a listener wanted to create more opportunities in the next 90 days, what one relationship building behavior would create the biggest ripple effect? Ooh, that's a good one too. And I have a great answer for that one. Find someone I love this term for it.
Find someone that has a really great Rolodex. So someone that's so say for example, I shared that I was introverted shares share and connect with someone that is extroverted and has this Rolodex of people that's like this. Connector of everyone. They can talk to anyone. So if you find a person like that, or even a few people like that, that could have a really good effect over the next 90 days.
Absolutely. And the fact of the matter is just go out and network. And if you're really afraid to go out and network, all the more reason, just go out. Listen, the first time you go out and network, you're gonna suck. It's horrible, it's gonna be so bad. But the next time it'll be a little bit better.
The next time it'll be a little bit better. And by the fourth, maybe fifth networking event, you say, you know what? I dunno what this, what was wrong with me? This is so much fun. This is so easy. I get out of the house and I talk to people. That's what the networking event is all about. And find something that you, I think it's really important too, find something you like about the networking event.
Like I personally love eating, so if a networking event has a really good dinner something like AAA steak tacos. Right at the one event the, that's hosted here in Vancouver, it has that food. So I'm like, I'm happy to be there. I'm getting a really great dinner and meeting really interesting people.
And that's really the cool part about having a small business is that you can meet some of the most interesting people ever. Yeah, and you can, there, there's a lot of comedic roles and jokes that while people are eating while you're doing that it kinda lightens the mood a little bit and you can be more yourself.
Yeah. So that's good. And people can open like I said, of like how introverted I can be and find people that open you up too. There's so many people too that there's, they're maybe more lighthearted and maybe they're hilarious. So find someone that opens you up too. I think that's really huge.
This conversation is a reminder that networking isn't always about dramatic moments. It's about consistent connection. The people you casually meet today may become the ones you who open doors tomorrow. Take one action this week. Reach out to someone you've already met. Send a message. Send a message.
Check in or simply continue the conversation. Opportunities often grow from relationships you've already started. If you found in today's value, in today's episode, make sure you like, follow and subscribe to Networking Unleashed, building profitable connections, so you keep getting practical insight.
Networking and communication and share this episode with someone who's trying to grow their business and could benefit from a different approach to building relationships. If you like help strengthening your communication, your relationships, or the way you show up in conversations, visit michaelaforman.com to work.
To learn how I work with professionals, teams, and organizations. So until next time, stay curious, stay consistent, and build connections that quietly create big results. Before we leave, I forgot to say, Lisa, if somebody wants to connect with you, they want to say hello to you or be coached or marketed by you, what's the best way they can get ahold of you?
Instagram the best way. I'm on Instagram quite often, so my Instagram account is Lab Agency online. Thank you so much.
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 children and teens from sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. They provide prevention, training programs for children, teens, and adults. To learn more, go to RevD up kids.org.
Henry Kaplan Century 21. When it comes to making the biggest financial decision of your life, leave it in the hands of a proven professional. Henry Kaplan Henry is a global real estate agent with Century 21, celebrating his 41st year in business. No matter where you're moving, Henry has the right connections for you.
You can contact Henry at 5 6 1- 4 2 7- 4 8 8 8.
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. 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 michaelaforman.com/podcast.
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.
Digital Courses
#BusinessNetworking #CorporateSuccess #Leadership #CommunicationSkills #ProfitGrowth #ExecutiveCoaching#Conference #EventSpeakers #ConferenceSpeaker #MarketingConference #NonprofitConference #BusinessEvent#Networking #Conferenses#Profit #Sales #Communication#Podcast #networkingevents #businessowners #businessideas #businessinnovation #growyourbusiness #professionaldevelopment #businessconnections #networkmarketing #EventProfs #PublicSpeaking #SpeakerTips #ConferenceSpeaker #EventMarketing #ProfessionalSpeaker #MemorableExperiences #EventStrategy #SpeakingEngagements #BeUnforgettable #SpeakerLife #EventSuccess#NetworkingUnleashed #BusinessCommunication #PublicSpeaker #ProfessionalDevelopment #StrategicNetworking #MichaelAForman #SpeakToConnect #AwardWinner #LeadershipThroughConnection
Comments