Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections. An Interview with Shadeed Eleazer and Michael A Forman
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable Connections, the podcast where relationships fuel opportunity and conversations become revenue. I'm your host, Michael Forman. Everyone has knowledge, but few people know how to turn that knowledge into influence, authority, and lasting impact. Today's guest has mastered the art of packaging expertise into intellectual property that builds brands, grows businesses, and creates professional networks.
We'll explore why your greatest competitive advantage isn't who you know, it's what you know. You how you share it and value, and how you create it for others. This is a conversation every entrepreneur, leader, coach, and professional needs to hear. So I'd like to welcome to the, my podcast today, Shadir, Shadid.
I'm really confusing both of your first and last names. So Shadid welcome to my podcast, and just, give us a little the cliff notes of how you got where you are today Thank you, Michael. What led to my journey, first of all, I was raised in a family of entrepreneur-minded people. So what this means, briefly, is that no matter where a family member may have worked, the concept has always been to do for self, plant seeds in your own backyard, gain and acquire knowledge, no matter where you may work or what business you may start.
So I learned very early on that building for self and entrepreneurship was the key to success in some of my earliest examples. Flashing forward to the United States Navy, I was involved in Operation Enduring Freedom, which was the response to the attacks on 9/11. This was my first licensing example, in that I developed a training package to help boost operational readiness for nine combat systems divisions, which earned me a Navy Achievement Medal.
At the time, many years ago, I did not realize that this was licensing, but this was my first licensing example. Flashing forward to landing my dream opportunity as a professional, I developed a model on my own where I was hosting live events, essentially a community business model that my parent company invested in to the tune of a $12 million government contract.
Now, this was a pivotal moment for me in that I did not receive a salary raise incentives, compensation outside of my normal salary. So this led to me going on my own and developing a licensing model that was licensed to 17 US states and used in a government or a governor's re-election campaign.
And so this led to me helping entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, coaches, and experts with packaging their expertise and building their brands, their businesses through the art and science and passion of content licensing. So here we are today, Michael. All right. Very good. First of all, thank you for your service.
I am a veteran of Desert Storm. I was with the United States Air Force. There we go. So we're... I can see how we're gonna get along. Okay. Many people spend hours building a network but never build intellectual property. Which creates more of a lasting influence, relationships or original ideas?
And how do the two strengthen each other? When we talk about the correlation or which may be more important, the relationship or intellectual property, we have to think about what intellectual property brings to a relationship. If I'm able to walk into the room and my credibility is literally broadcast on a T-shirt, that helps me to stand out.
So when you are at a general networking event, for example, and everyone's just looking for jobs, and there's no specificity behind the event or why people are gathering, that isn't considered high-value networking and relationships. However, if you are a successful podcast host and I am a published author, now we have a synergy that brings credibility and alignment to that relationship.
So if everyone has a gift, and we all believe that everyone has a gift or a talent, and they develop and package that gift or talent into intellectual property, what this does is it creates a, more or less a lighthouse for other ships that are sailing by to be attracted to. Essentially, it's a magnet for building relationships.
So intellectual property, to answer your question, would be the magnet that leads to profitable and long-lasting relationships, especially in a business context Absolutely. I can't agree with you more, and there are so many points that I wanted to bring up while you were talking because I'm a networker.
I do podcasting, but I go across the country and I speak about networking, and the intellectual property that you bring to the table, that is a main focus. And you're right, and that's like the magnet that attracts everybody, but it takes what you know after that to keep them around you. Okay?
So it, it's... That will get you there, but then you have to keep them here, but that's a whole nother conversation. You've helped professionals package their expertise into intellectual property. Why do so many talented people underestimate the value of what they already know? Great question. When a task, a service, or a deliverable is native to the expert, they believe that the value of it itself is, it's easy.
I can create a deliverable, I can create a project plan in five minutes. I can just stand on stage without any rehearsal and host a networking event. I can put together a podcast episode with no rehearsal. There's no stage fright. There's no awkwardness involved with the delivery of a podcast episode.
So if I'm an expert, I have an innate gift, skill, or talent in a given area, I underestimate what the value is for the listener, subscriber, or the recipient of said talent. And so what we have to realize as experts, as speakers, as networkers, as coaches, as entrepreneurs, is that you are not your target audience, and you have to think about what the value is of the deliverable that you're giving, the service that you're providing.
For example, if I've had a gift for giving advice and that developed into being a marriage counselor. Now, that gift has been with me all my life. However, the price or the value of saving a marriage that is on the rocks, maybe a couple has been together for 20 years and rekindled that relationship, and now m- they're madly in love or more in love than ever, the value of said delivery is priceless.
So think in terms of what is the value to the marketplace, what is the value of what I'm delivering, and not applying your own ease of delivery into that service or product Very well said. Very well said. How, let me, just how many years did you put into the Navy? I was in the Navy for six years. For six years?
Okay. I'm just, because you seem like you, you're very well-adjusted, you have a mind for what you're talking about, and you're very confident in what you're talking about. And I can just see that with you being on a ship, with you being somewhere else, but it's that confidence where you can lead others.
And it just, it's a, a trait that I so rarely find in my guests that I just had to tell you about it. That's all. Thank you. Thank you for that. Okay. In an aver- in an age where AI can generate con- content in seconds, what makes original thinking and lived experience more valuable than ever? AI is-
a wonderful tool. AI can s- AI can write a book, AI can build a website, build applications. However, what AI tends to lack is the human element. And so what you will see today, and you'll start to find more and more as we become more mature as a society with the adoption of AI, is that thought leaders, speakers, experts, coaches, people who have a viewpoint and either are paid or retained for that viewpoint or that expertise, when they use a tool that gives a generic response, audiences and recipients and subscribers are becoming more savvy to what looks and appears to be AI.
And so if you want to disqualify yourself from being in the elite class within your industry, just continue to use AI without any thought or any context. Now, when we talk about original thought and experience and expertise, this is the foundation of what makes us unique. So one of my biggest fears prior to AI was to get on a stage and let's say talk about a product, let's say Microsoft Word.
And so I give a presentation on Microsoft Word, everything's going great, and there happens to be an expert from Microsoft themselves who says, "Actually, that is not how it works, and this is all wrong." My laptop melts, the crowd walks out in the worst case scenario. And so what I learned is in order to overcome that scenario is to simply say, "Based on my experience, this is how Microsoft worked, Word worked for me," or, "Based on this particular scenario and these parameters, this is how I was able to put together this solution."
And so when we talk about AI and prompts, your experience and your samples and your case studies are what you should infuse or sprinkle into the recipe of the perfect prompt in order to ensure that your AI output matches your voice, your authenticity, your stories. So what you feed AI will result in not only a faster deliverable, but something that matches what you would say or what you would share coming out of your own mouth Absolutely.
A- and AI is a tool. It... If you put it more than that, you're gonna get hurt, right? But AI, one thing that, that AI cannot instill is emotion, right? So once you put that emotion into it you can start out, but with AI and everything else, you can do the six or seven prompts to get it basically where you want it to be, but you have to put in your emotional, you have to put in your feeling.
Because if they don't realize it's you, if they think it's a machine, then they turn you off. Wh- when I go around the country and I give talks about networking, communication, leadership, I have about one minute to get their attention. If I got their attention, I keep their attention throughout my talk, but if I lose them, then I've lost them forever, and it'll take me 20 minutes to try to get it back.
So it, it all goes in. But I use AI as a tool and nothing more, and I invoke a little emotion from it. Okay. I didn't mean to take so much time. How does creating books, courses, frameworks, or other intellectual property change the nature of your networking conversations?
If two experts come together to discuss the news, the sports, and the weather, the question becomes how does that lead to a business relationship? My answer to that question is if you lead with what you've created, what you've packaged, and what you've published, then that gives you e- essentially a central point of focus that can turn into an affiliate relationship, a joint venture partnership.
It can turn into a podcast episode. It can turn into a live speaking engagement. It can turn into a lead magnet that is shared with recipient B's network. And so when you start to package your expertise into books, courses, and frameworks, it gives a context to any relationship that you may encounter.
So you may attend a joint venture conference, and your topic or your lead magnet or your book or your workshop or your methodology may not be a fit for the person you're speaking to directly. But if you're clear about the promise of said deliverable, then what that person will begin to do is ask themself, "Who is the ideal resource that I can connect this individual with because I see that it has value?"
And so from a networking context especially, if you want greater depth in your relationships, you want to build business around intellectual property because it gives leverage. So if you and I, Michael, have a conversation at an event, that conversation is only limited to that face-to-face encounter.
But if you say I have a 60-minute video of my latest keynote presentation or my signature keynote presentation, would you share it with your audi- audience of professionals who are looking to become entrepreneurs?" Then I have something that I have leverage that I can take home with me and begin to share this one video that you may have recorded one time at a given event, and I can share it with my audience, I can share it with my podcast, I can share it with each live audience that I speak in front of.
So what we start to look at is the one-to-many relationship that will benefit each person that you network with. So package what you know, and it gives multiple opportunities for various groups of people to support your networking endeavors. Absolutely. And when I speak with somebody who either doesn't know me or what I did, I usually take one of my books that I've written and I give it to them almost as a business card I said, "You wanna know more about me or look?
Read, read this, and then I'll talk to you." I- a little bit like that. But so yeah I spent a lot of time building up my intellectual property. If you go to my website you'll see everything and blah, blah, blah. But it's so true, and I've d- really, I've done so much work on the golf course where, because I'm not a good golfer.
I'll, let me start out right now, right? But the other person who I know, who I t- I'm trying to gain as a client, knows that. He tries to help me a little bit, and then I kinda work business into it, and then I'll see if he bites. If he doesn't bite, then I let it go, right? But if he does, then we'll have a stronger conversation, but that's just one of my ways of doing it.
All right. You've spoken about building a seven-figure professional network. What personal qualities attract the kind of relationships that lead to long-term opportunity rather than short-term transactions? We talk about deconstructing the Skeleton of the seven-figure professional network, there are a few clues that lead to that level of success.
And so I would say the first attribute would be clarity of message. Message. So the seven-figure networker or the owner of the seven-figure network is very clear about who they help, why they help them, and how they are able to help them, and they're able to communicate this in a way that qualifies and disqualifies, and so people know exactly where that individual stands from the moment that they discuss what they're able to deliver.
Secondly, when it comes to the seven-figure networker or the seven-figure network owner, they also and I'm going to go in a, a different direction to, to cover some areas that people may not consider. When it comes to that message, they have leverage behind what their mission and message is. Meaning, their mission and message is packaged in a way that allows for others to consume it outside of their physical presence.
So think of, for those of you tuning in, think about how many amazing people that you meet in person who are able to give you exactly what they bring to the table, but the moment they leave, you have nothing else to work with. And so they're able to send someone that they give their mission and message to a call to action to learn more about what they bring to the table.
So that may be a lead magnet. In many cases it is, but it's always a signature program, a signature course, or a higher form of authority, which would be a published book. And so the s- owner of the seven-figure network also has some form of community, so they have like-minded people who are, who share in the same growth trajectory, similar message, mission or message that they bring to the table or the way that they wish to change the world.
And so they have a group of people that bring referrals to the table, that are affiliate partners and are able to grow alongside of said offer. So when it comes to some soft skills that the seven-figure network owner possesses, they are Quick to say yes and no. Meaning if there's an opportunity on the table that they believe will further enhance or strengthen their current position, then they move forward on that opportunity without question or delay.
And secondly, in terms of no, if it's an opportunity that does not benefit them or will be a time-waster in some way, they do not worry about ruffling feathers or offending others if an opportunity is not a good fit for them. So I would say those would be some core attributes and traits of the individuals that, not only with myself or with people I come across in the great work that I do, that operate at a seven-figure level in terms of networking opportunities, partnerships, and the revenue that can come from it.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Again, there are so many points you brought up that I, I don't, we don't have time to go into it, but you were spot on with sp- everything that you were saying. When someone is focused solely on monetiz- moneti- monetizi- monetizing their expertise, what important purpose of intellectual property are they likely to overlook?
When the professional is on the path of monetization, meaning they've come to the point in their journey where this has to make financial sense. I'm investing time, energy, and effort, and it has to equate to some form of monetary compensation. What they often overlook is the value of said offer to the marketplace.
When I ask professionals, and for those of you who are tuning in to this episode, when I ask you, where did you learn about pricing your products and services? You will get a wide range of answers because there's no industry standard. And so what people often do is when they think of pricing their services, they price to not offend or disqualify themselves from the sale.
And so if someone-- There are many professionals who would rather charge $97, for example, instead of the $49.97 that would help them to make ends meet, would help them to focus on service delivery and provide the level of service that the offer dictates in order to be let's say a, a top-notch offer.
And so pricing tends to be one of the, the key areas that they overlook and disqualify themselves from making a solid living. And that's why many coaches struggle, that's why many speakers struggle, and that's why many networkers especially go to many networking events, and there's no payoff for this activity because they're afraid to ask for the sale.
And when they're asking for the sale, they don't do the necessary due diligence that it takes to understand what their offer encompasses, the, the full scale of value or scope of value that their offer provides, and what numbers would help them to make a solid living at delivering said service Yeah. Th- they tend to take the easy way out.
They're, th- they're lazy. They don't want to... They do the beginning and they do the end, but everything that encompasses in the middle, they don't wanna do, and that, that's the tough work. That's the tough stuff. So if you wanna truly go out there and network, and I always say, "If you're gonna network, go out there with a servant's heart.
Go out there and see what you can do for others before what they can do for you." And, that generally leads into you listening more about their problem, how you can solve their problem. Without you thinking of the next thing that you wanna say, you're thinking about that person and their problem.
But that goes along with the feelings and the information that most people don't wanna do. They just wanna jump to the end "You wanna buy this from me?" Or, "You wanna buy the service? Okay, great. If not, I'll move on." But you're missing everything about networking. All right. What's the difference between building a personal brand that gets attention and building a reputation that earns trust for decades?
Wow.
The core difference, and let's just talk on the topic of reputation that builds trust for decades. I did this by accident with my first business, which has been around for 22 years, 23 years actually. And so First of all, you mentioned servant's heart. And so outside of the sale itself, the transaction of goods and services, you need to have a greater mission for what you are doing.
One way that has worked really well for me, I did not see it at the beginning, but was to approach with a strategic philanthropy perspective. Meaning, whenever I earn a dollar, I look to reinvest that dollar into a cause that I believe in and support, or a portion of said dollar. And so I started with reinvesting into underperforming classrooms.
There are many teachers that provide their own school supplies out of their own pocket for students that are struggling. And so I partner with nonprofit organizations to invest in those classrooms, and have done so since, oh my goodness, 2012. And so the first thing is a servant's heart, finding the mission outside of the money in order to continue to build that engine.
That allows for people to invest and feel good investing in your services in order to do secondly is to treat your word and your follow-through as a contract, meaning if you have an intention to deliver a service or deliver a partnership, make it your best effort in order to follow through.
And this does not mean to take a oath of perfection. Things will happen. Things will run late. Things will need to be rescheduled. But what I've found is if you know you're going to be late with said delivery, if you communicate this as early as possible, then it actually makes you look as if you care for people's time and that you can almost see the future.
If if you let someone know three minutes before that you're going to be late versus two days, "Okay, I'm going, based on my schedule, I'm going to be an hour late," two days before it happens, then it allows for people to reschedule on their own time. An opportunity cost that is lost by trying to meet with you, they can refill that with another opportunity.
Next, you have to have systems that allow for you to build relationships. So CRM systems are great. Email lists are excellent. And having some form of communication that is based around a person's life cycle, meaning I love to collect marriage anniversaries, birthdays, and those are great ways that I'm able to follow up with people in my network and give gifts and more or less build a relationship outside of service delivery that helps to strengthen the human element and connection that we all need in order to build that reputation.
And finally, you need to publish your ideas and expertise, meaning you can be a great person, you can be a nice person, you can be a charitable person, but if you're not known for something that you're passionate about, then you will be lumped in the group of other nice and charitable people. So you have to step to the forefront and say, "I am the expert.
I am the founder. I am the owner of," said intellectual property or book or course or community so that you give people something to attribute your skills and your mission and mastery towards Absolutely. And of the three things that you had said, really the one that, that stuck out in my mind, because I talk about this, is, really is do what you promise.
And if you just follow through with what you promised in a timely fashion, then you've already built the trust three-quarters of the way. Because w- so many people don't do what they say in the time that they said that they would do it, and then you follow up. If you follow up strategically and you follow up consistently, then you're showing that person that they earned your respect, right?
And you just... And it was... So that goes such a long way. Okay, so let's bring this full circle, and if a listener wanted to create a body of work that increased both their income and their impact over the next 10 years, where would you encourage them to begin, and why? If I have a 10-year plan to build a legacy through my intellectual property, creations of the mind, I would start with my signature.
Meaning, what impact do I wish to change the world with, and what method am I most comfortable with delivering said message? And so if you are a great speaker and you enjoy conversations, then podcasting may be the method to deliver that signature to the world. If you are a great writer, then yes, publishing a book.
It is more important to focus on the delivery method in what you want to do over that next 10 years than it is to just follow a trend. Publishing books may be like pulling teeth for some people. And so although it gives you the authority that being a published author would deliver You may also run into a roadblock where you fizzle out and don't continue on the path of marketing said book because you didn't enjoy the experience of writing it.
And so if you find the delivery method that resonates highest with you, then the higher likelihood that you're going to not only start, but also continue and begin to flourish and master that particular delivery method. Next, I will focus on consistency. And so my number one law of online authority and success is to what you build, you must maintain.
And so we all s- get the inspiration to start, but those who stay the course and publish based on a schedule that works for them, you may have young children, for those of you tuning in, you may have other priorities, you may have a long commute. But there is no contract or there's no standard on how often you need to publish.
But you need to show up and win the visibility battle with your audience. Your audience right now, your biggest competition is not another speaker, not another coach, not another entrepreneur, professional, or networker. Your biggest dis- your biggest competition is the distraction of your ideal audience.
They are on every single app. There's 20 different apps on your phone, and they're scrolling away, and so you're in a battle against that. And so when you're able to stay visible using a method that you prefer, then that will give you an edge. So think about the marketplaces next that will give you the greatest search engine credibility and authority.
For example, if you are going to go down the path of podcasting, then you have marketplaces such as Apple Podcasts, you have Spotify, and these marketplaces are experts at gaining attention and keeping it. And so you want to build a great audience or visibility within those marketplaces. If you're an author, then yes Kindle Direct Publishing and Amazon is a great place to build, set reputation.
So you wanna think of your signature, you want to think of the delivery method, and you also want to think of the marketplaces that you want to show up. And finally, I would recommend to create a line of communication that you own. Meaning, social media, as great as it way, may be, and as easy and inexpensive as it can be to deliver your message, it is not a platform that you own.
Meaning, algorithms change, you can be, let's say copyright striked and, or your account can be deleted, and you may not even know why. But if you build on channels that you have ownership of and you direct people to those platforms to, as a subscriber, as a client, so on and so forth, so that you can continue the conversation, this gives you the ownership of your list, and also it gives you a long form co- a long form platform to continue with conversations over the duration of that 10 years Outstanding.
Out- outstanding. Everything you spoke about was so true, and I was thinking in my head of the journey that I took to get where I am, and, the podcasting is one section being a keynote speaker is another section. Doing the books and everything else, those are o- other ways of getting to where I got.
But you said consistency, and that was what stuck out in my head. But you also, you forgot to mention the other side of that coin is persistence. And consistency and persistence, and if you remain true to yourself, if you remain consistent and persistent to your m- following, then you can't fail.
You can't fail. Unless of course something happens, but that's beside the point. Okay. Shadi you were a fantastic guest. You gave me, you gave us, you gave my listeners a world of knowledge. But if they want to find out something more, how could they get hold of you? First of all, your audience deserves the best, Michael, and so I hope it was my intent that the topics that we raised and discussed and dissected not only provide value for the audience today, but they can come back and press play once again and gain additional value.
If you are just a listener, you need to become a subscriber of this great podcast. And for those of you who want to take the next step of utilizing your expertise and converting it into authority, influence, and oh, yes, income, then the digitalassetsexecutionplan.com is your next step.
Now, in addition to the guided checklist that will take you from expert, professional person with credibility into packaging into a format that will benefit you, you also receive rock-solid support. So if you get stuck along the way and your persistence in- turns into lack of consistent activity, you can send an email to support and a team member or I'll read all support questions that come in.
We'll guide you along the path to demystify or help you from being stuck in the place you are, so you get rock-solid support in addition to a checklist that will help you package your expertise into authority. Digitalassetsexecutionplan.com Fantastic conversation. Okay, here's the biggest takeaway.
Your expertise is the only potential until you share it. The ideas you create, the wisdom you teach, and the value you deliver are what transform a network into a legacy. This week, don't just make a new connection. Create something worth sharing. Write the article. Record the video. Start the podcast. Teach what you've learned.
The next opportunity may come from the value you put into the world today. If you enjoyed this episode, like, follow, and subscribe to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable Connections, and share with someone who's ready to grow their authority and expand their impact. To learn more about keynote speaking, executive coaching, or communication training, visit MichaelAForman.com.
So until next time, remember, the strongest networks aren't built by collecting contacts. They're built by consistently creating value that people never forget. We'll see you on the next episode. Sadeed, thank you very much. Thank you for coming on my podcast. You were wonderful. Thank you for your time.
This was time well spent
That's a wrap, 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 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.
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.
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