Networking Unleashed: Building Profitable Connections. An Interview with Tevan Millette and Michael A Forman

 Welcome to Networking Unleashed, building Profitable Connections. Today's conversation is one I've been looking forward to because it hits at the intersection of grit, growth, and relationships that truly matter. Our guest has lived through moments that would've sidelined many people. Instead, he took those experiences both from military service and personal setbacks, and built a leadership approach grounded in clarity, discipline, and measurable progress.

He helps others rise above uncertainty with intention, create businesses that last and surround themselves with people who lift them higher. He's not about hype, he's about real results. And here's, and he's here to share how resil resilience shapes the way we connect work and succeed. I. Welcome, Tevin.

You you're like a brother from another mother. We have a kinship and yes you have the behind you, which we all thank for. But you just just one of us, right? So I would like to introduce Tevin to the podcast, and why don't you give us a little bit about your background and how you got here today.

Absolutely. And I really appreciate it, Michael. 'cause it's an absolute pleasure to be here and being able to speak to everybody. And so to give you a basic about me let's start from the beginning. I actually came from a very poor beginning. I was adopted when I was a youngster, and from there what ended up happening was I got over to an adoptive family, which was absolutely wonderful.

I appreciate them for, taking me in and taking on the challenge of me. But from there it was definitely a little bit more difficult than. I think they originally anticipated. And so with that was, there, there were situations where we were, the living conditions were a kind of subpar, let's put it that way.

Not a lot of clothing. There was a lot of re-wearing a lot of different types of things. The we don't have to go too far into there. I think you can get the picture from that. But then eventually when I was 12 years old, I got my first job. And I started to learn some basic basic things.

During this time, somebody that was supposed to be very close to me had said something and it stuck with me, and they said that You are useless. You are going to be worth nothing, and you'll never do anything. So that right there, I was 12 years old. And so that was, let me tell you, I took those embers and those flames and I put 'em inside and they have fueled me since because from that very moment, oh, and I also to even just pour a little bit more salt in that.

They said that you'll never find yourself a spouse or anything. No woman would ever want to go ahead and marry you one day. You don't have any skills. You are worth nothing. So with that being said, I, from then on, I learned how to work on vehicles. I learned the construction space. I got myself into landscaping.

I started learning all types of blue collar work. I figured out. How to get into business. I started, heck, I was in middle school and I was selling little desserts and everything and upselling different kids and I was pretty much reallocating their lunch money and so right into my pocket. So I learned those basic skills when I was younger and it wasn't that anybody was there to teach me, it was more or less.

Survival instinct, and so I took a lot of those skills into my adulthood. When I was 17, I was kicked outta my home formally, and that was due to them no longer want me in their home. I had maybe five to $20 to my name. I had a small twin size mattress with me as far as my possessions go. That went along with a small box of just random knick-knacks and whatnot.

But that mattress had been with me for probably the better part of a decade. And before that, it, someone else probably had it for a decade because I remember getting that bed. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, but I actually picked it up from the public dump. And so with that. I found somebody gracious enough to take me in.

I had to pay rent. I didn't have rent money, and I was paying less than like $50 a month for Arum. I literally couldn't afford anything whatsoever. And so from there I ended up in a situation where I was trading labor for a place to live. I worked for their business. And then one day, they looked at me, they're like, T what are you gonna do with your life?

Because this situation, it ain't gonna last for very much longer. And so I ended up joining the National Guard. And so that was my introduction into the military. And I'll tell you what, Michael, I found myself in basic training, and I'm not gonna lie to you, right before I even shipped out, somebody said, Hey, where are you?

You're supposed to be at the airport. I'm like, what? For what? They're like, yeah, you're, you gotta go to basic training, huh? What's that? And they're like, son, report to the airport immediately. Roger that. Okay. And then, so I ended up going over to basic training and the a IT that followed it. And so after all that, I got back over to the state of New Hampshire.

I was now. Officially in the military. I was a private first class at the time, and so it really just went from there to me going to college. And then also simultaneously, I went to the police academy, became a corrections officer for the State of New Hampshire over at the state prison. And then one day, I remember I was at the training for the summertime.

All the national Guardsmen have to attend. About two weeks out the summer and this platoon sergeant, he comes up to me, he says, Hey, Kevin. Yeah. You don't belong here. Huh? I'm like, what do you mean? And he's just basically proceeded to tell me, look, you've got some unique sets of skills that I haven't seen before.

And at the time I, I thought he was, kind. Yelling at me in a way, or there was disapproval and I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. Eventually he said, go try out for something more challenging where you'll be able to be satisfied with what you're doing. He is you're special man.

And that was it. We left the conversation at that. Now I ended up peeling back layers on that later on, and one thing led to the next. I tried out for special forces. I ended up getting picked up. I was selected. And then after that, two years later, I dawned the Green Beret after having gone through a series of very difficult things.

And throughout that course it was very challenging mentally and physically and at times, spiritually, just due to the fact that, I was so far displaced from everything that I knew. And I was just thinking in my mind, wow, this is so different. But I liked it. I liked it a lot, Michael, I'll tell you.

And so after going through all that, I ended up opening several businesses and along the way I figured out that I had a very special gift for helping people. And I was talking to somebody one day and they were like, I don't understand. Don't you need to like, go ahead and wait for things to just come to you?

And that's, I told them we had a very. Good and colorful conversation. I was like, no, because nobody owes me anything. And that in a way is, it's freedom. Because now that's, I didn't really expect fairness anymore. I unlocked ownership in myself and my own actions. And, it's, responsibility.

It isn't heavy. It's empowering. So when you accept full ownership excuses, they truly do disappear and clarity shows up. And so now here we are in a nutshell how I got here. Was pretty, I'd say a pretty good story. It's I think back to the way I started the military and I, the way I went in and everything else, I thought mine was a very good and colorful story until I heard yours.

Okay. So mine doesn't even compare to yours, so I'm not even gonna go into what mine was. Okay, so I am just going to hit you with a few questions, right? So let me start out by saying many people see networking as surface level. How did adversity change the way you connect with others on a deeper level?

I love that question. Here's the thing, when I connect with people, I really. Trying to develop something that is super authentic real. It's not that I'm trying to get something out of them. I really do believe, I'm a stern believer. I think this would be the better way to say it, that everybody has something to offer everybody every.

I agree, and every single story matters and everything that somebody does. I was actually at a very interesting event with John Maxwell, and he had spoken about something that was, very religious in nature, but to give you the short and sweet of it, everybody has the ability to convey a message.

What's really cool is that every single person has a different level of ability to go ahead and convey, said message. They have a different stage for it. And so some people, they have a massive stage think Hollywood or think like a massive following or gathering that they have cultivated over time.

And I think that's great. The networking overall, I really do try and never forget that everybody has something that is important and is likely a key puzzle piece inside the overall puzzle that we're all trying to put together over time. And it's 2025, 2025 years and we're still going.

Absolutely. And you have to put yourself in their position. It may not be that important to you or something that you're working on, but if you turn it around and if you're them, it's important to them. And it's important what we call active listening. If you listen to them properly, if you listen to what they have to say, don't think about the next thing that you have to say.

Think about what they are telling you and then you repeat back some of what they said and say, if I understand you correctly, X, Y, Z, X, Y, Z. And they'll say yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. And that's the reaction that you want to get because when you say authentic authenticity, that's really like a buzzword that keeps getting thrown around all over the place.

But if you truly believe it, if you truly believe it, if you're being your authentic self, you're being authentic to the person that you're speaking with, and they will feel it. Yes. They'll feel it. They will feel it that they are being listened to and that's such a big difference. And I can go into that a whole lot more, but I'm not, okay alright.

Alright. You faced situations where perseverance was non-negotiable. What habits do you now use when building new business relationships that come directly from those experiences? Ooh, tying those two together. Okay, Michael, these are good things to think on. One thing in particular that I like to say is doing things with intention.

Before I begin doing something, it could be as basic as just developing a relationship kind of thing. I'm thinking about them as holistically, not just now. Keep in mind, when perseverance, I'm trying to go ahead and follow through with something and be continuous at it and ensure that there is a an outcome and I'm.

Hoping that it's gonna be a good outcome, of course. But with that being said, one thing that I'm doing during that time is that holistic approach. What I mean by that is I'm making sure that I am really there. Part of the conversation, there's different types of listening and so I love thinking about, level one listening, level two, level three, anywhere from hearing the background noise that's going on, but then being able to still, just take in the environment all the way down to like exactly how you were saying it.

Being able to almost regurgitate some is far, like a little bit of mirroring and then ensuring that everything is being understood. Then really just completely zeroing in. I don't know what's going on around me. I only see you. And so to go back to finishing answering that question, I'm thinking about their family.

I'm thinking about the conversation that we're having and how it's gonna impact you, how it's going to impact me. I'm thinking of things, second and third order of effects with a lot of these. And so this is something that's really helped me integrate really building up these relationships in business and taking the same principles as from perseverance and then bringing them over into this arena.

And, I'm also practicing self-discipline. I'm practicing self-control and ultimately respect. Because that's just, and I like how you nodded there because I feel as though there's a lot of people who don't implement some of these things, and I'm not saying that this is the only method in which that one could go about using and then be successful.

I think there's many different ways of doing it, but I think that this one has worked for me. Absolutely. Bob Berg wrote about this in his, one of his books go Givers, and it is truly, he's a remarkable man. As a matter of fact, I had him on a podcast a few episodes ago and he just, he practices everything that I truly believe in and what I practice.

So if you practice. If you practice just giving, right? Don't think about receiving. When you go to a networking event or miss sitting down with somebody, you figure out how you can help that person. And really what I came up with was, I like you. I like what you do for a living. I like how you do it. How can I make you more successful?

Yes. How can I make, how can I be a good referral source for you? And if I did my job correctly, they'll say, Mike, I don't even know what the hell you do yet, and you're already trying to make me more successful. And yes, that's exactly it. So give, try not to receive. So what goes around comes around. You will get, you will receive, but it's, you have such a much better feeling if you're giving.

Absolutely. It's all about providing that value. How can I be of value to you? Yes. Absolutely. And that goes on with LinkedIn, with social media and everything else. But we'll get into that till later on. Okay. When someone is rebuilding professionally or personally, what approach should they use to restart their network with intention instead of desperation?

Wow. I really like that question. Rather than desperation. Yes, intention versus desperation. There's something here. So if you are rebuilding something, say we take me for example, Kevin. Let's go ahead and just knock down everything and let's just rebuild. Let's rebuild your entire identity. What I would say is I would have that strong foundation of what we were just talking about being a value to others.

Because there's something interesting about humans and it's that we're very naturally, and not saying 100% of humans of course, but instinctually we are very community based. And so with that being said, think of it as it takes a village. And so if, and we've all experienced this. Especially in grade school, for example, where that one child who's inside of that little play area, who's bullying all of the other ones in boasting about everything, they don't often have a lot of people around them.

It could be because they were cultivating fear amongst their peers. It could be that they were being disrespectful. Which, that one's huge. And there could also be a slight inclination that they're becoming a loner. That they don't want people that, they're pushing everybody away.

And, for some people that's, it's a coping mechanism of sorts and, 'cause everybody has different life situations going on. And that may provoke something like that. But the way that I would do it. Is, I would start with being a value to others and showing people that, Hey, I really am here to help you and by me helping you, you know this amazing friendship that we're forging will actually slowly refine myself because if I can serve others right now, I'm teaching myself.

Okay, there is. Etiquette, which that's an interesting word that I haven't actually heard anybody use in a while. But there's also those different types of communication skills that are being developed. There's, it furthers into my personal three rules, which I've already went into a little bit.

Self-control, self-discipline, as well as respect, but then. One of the biggest ones is character. Building up these things may seem a little silly, but from the outside in, what I've noticed is that people do pick up on it. Simple acts such as smiling. Those ones, like little things like that they really do go ahead and stack up on one another.

And so over time I noticed that if I were to go ahead and redevelop myself by doing this over time. It would probably get recognized as being positive and people may gravitate naturally towards that. And it's not because of coercion, it's not because of any malicious intent or anything like that.

It's just simply being a good human. People like that. I know it's some, for some people it's kinda like a news flash, but, it's something that took me a long time to really figure out, because I went through all those stages. I went through times when I thought that being a loner was better.

I thought that building by myself was gonna get me farther. In life than anything. But what I slowly realized is that all those people who were fully content with what they were doing and competent, and they were showing all of these amazing traits, I realized, wow, they're very community oriented.

They are not selfish. They are always looking to give back and people see it and they want to be a part of it. And I hope that was a good explanation. Absolutely, and it all comes down to it. Something as simple as body language, right? It your bo, you're smi, you said smiling, and that's the first and foremost.

Whatever anybody meets anybody or is in a networking event, would you rather talk to somebody who's smiling or. They're always are upset like this, it's a whole different concept, or if they're open as opposed to being closed, if they're standing shoulders straight to you or a.

They're talking to you like this and looking at everybody else in the room. It's paying attention to your per. So all of that stems from exactly what you were saying. If you put all of this together and it's no easy thing, somebody can't just say, oh, you know what, those guys were right, and that's what I'm gonna do tomorrow.

This is something that's gotta be practiced that you've gotta do. And listen, I always say. Talk into a mirror. See when you're speaking with somebody, right? Practice smiling. I do a lot of workshops and I always have the customer service people come in with the sales people and I say, put a little mirror next to this, next to the the telephone and smile as you're speaking with them, because you can almost see the smile come through the phone.

It's all about that. And I've had some very good results, but all this comes down to you how you're personified. It's all that body language. And when I coach the CEOs, CMOs, CIOs, all the C-suite executives, I tell them, you've gotta do all this. Because if I teach the people on the bottom.

The salespeople and everything else, but I don't show you what is that gonna do for the company. That means that you're gonna go back to doing the same old thing that you always did, and you're gonna undo everything I taught them. So it's a whole give and take, but I digress. Okay. Yeah. I love those points though.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it is so important and listen. By me being a speaker and going out onto the road and everything. I've got a thousand of these points, but this is a podcast. I'm trying to put everything around you. Okay. What's one principle from your military background that you believe every entrepreneur should apply when developing professional connections?

A principle. One principle? Yeah. Now I, I wanna tell you now, I've gone up through the ranks. I was the super the law enforcement flight chief of my group, and I, there are many skills that I have but I'm asking you to give me one principle from your military background that you believe every entrepreneur should apply when developing a professional connection.

Ooh. So thinking about, I guess we could say, I have so many different ones, so many different ones, but I think that one thing I will go with, and it's one of probably the most basic and foundational, is slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.

But if we were to go ahead and peel that back a little bit for those who are thinking, oh, I'm not entirely sure what that means, but another way to think of it would be don't rush under pressure. If you can focus on precision and discipline and fundamentals. Then you're good because rushing ultimately gets people hurt.

Calm execution, saves lives, can save relationships, can save all types of friendships and opportunities. There's a preservation around it. And just think as a takeaway for this one small principle of slow is smooth. Smooth is fast speed. It comes after competence, not before it.

Very good. And I will second that whole thing that you just said because I had three other things in my head and you just picked out something completely different, but so in tune to what the question was, that was perfect. Okay. When someone feels stuck or defeated. How can the right connection become a turning point, and what steps helps that happen?

So when they're stuck? Yeah. I felt stuck. I've hit that wall. Yeah. Many times. Yeah. And I would say, there are certain friendships and people that you can just. Somehow see them as in almost think, wow, where were you the entire time? Because that one person can go ahead and just say that one thing that you just hadn't thought of.

That also ties back into every person matters and everybody has a very key piece of input and things if you were to panic in a situation like this, it's likely gonna create a mistake. And when you're stuck, that's usually when, that's what I'm talking about, that panic right there.

That's what creates a mistake. But if you can stay calm, it's gonna create that clarity. Now that one person right there that may have that one piece of input for you, it, that could change everything. And so as far as. Where you can go from there. Now you have the opportunity to master those basics until they're absolutely automatic for you.

And no matter what it is that you're doing it's all gonna show up naturally. Once those reps are all getting completed, one after the next, and that one person, that one connection could have been that one thing that solves it. Heck, there are people out there. I'm not quoting anybody in specific.

I will paraphrase an article that I had read not too long ago, and there was this individual who had, I believe, a net worth of, I, I wanna say $1,000. And that was everything that they had to their name, okay? And that net worth was all liquid asset. There were no physical assets, and they spent, I believe, 900 something dollars and it was wasted.

Now, I'm not saying that it was wasted. They quoted it as being wasted. Now again, this is just paraphrasing the story. What ended up happening was they went to a party or a gathering, a celebration perhaps. And during this entire situation, what happened was they were standing in the corner, but they were still smiling.

And you know how sometimes when people stand in a corner, they're usually moy. Their facial expressions. It really says all. And so what ended up happening was somebody went up and they commented on the fact that, wow, you're in a corner, but you're happy. What's going on? And they're like, oh, you like those nervous people?

They like, they make joke on joke and joke, and they're like, they don't know what else to do. That was that person's survival instinct. Somebody else had picked up on it. And wanted to go ahead and lend a hand, so they had a very warm conversation. Now that person who was standing in the corner nervously smiling is now, I believe, worth over $15 million.

That one conversation was all that person needed, and that conversation was, I would love to go ahead and get a cup of coffee with you. And from there, everything changed. I don't know the details of the story or the the rest of what happened during that conversation over coffee. I'm assuming something very good though.

Absolutely. I want to take your mindset of what that story said. Okay. And I wanna put it into a LinkedIn conversation. You can ask for if you're struggling and you want to get hold of someone, contact them on LinkedIn. Say, look, I'm really interested in your company or your corporation.

I would just like to pick your brain. Would you have 15 minutes for me or grab a cup of coffee? And 99 times out of a hundred, they're gonna say yes. Because a, people love when they talk about themselves, but they love to help somebody else. Now, I've been fortunate where I've had two or three of those phone calls.

They said, look, I'd just like to pick your brain. Would you mind if I bought you a cup of coffee? Not at all. I went out and had a cup of coffee. So it, but I told 'em, what do you wanna know? Because I'll tell you anything, and, but that's the way it all starts. So if you don't have that, that one person that you can always turn to that to always give you that.

Kind of a straight way of looking at it. If you need that alternate way, just pick a brain, pick somebody's brain, because a, you never know where the information's gonna come from, but you're gonna make somebody else feel so better, and they may know somebody who will help you.

Everything happens in a circle, and everything happens for a reason. I, my mother said that for my whole life, everything, whenever anything really bad happened, she goes, listen, don't worry about it. Everything happens for a reason and you'll be better. And I'm like, oh yeah sure. But it was proved to be correct almost every time.

But the point of the story is if you have that person to contact, to call, to email to something, anything, just to get that little bit of advice. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to do it. Just go out and do it. That's all. Okay. What do people misunderstand most about discipline in networking and how do you teach them to approach it differently?

The first thing that just came to mind is they feel as though yeah. For some people, I don't wanna be attacking or anything like that. But they see it as tasking. They see it as a job and. For some of us we're like, oh, I already have a really busy schedule. I gotta go ahead and now find time to go network.

I gotta, I've got drive time, I've got kids, I've got martial arts classes, I've got yoga, I've got this, I've got that. We've all got things. We really do. Yeah. Yeah. But the thing about it is that. Ultimately, a closed mouth is not fed. So one way that I would say to go ahead and shift the mindset is not I have to go do this event over here.

I have to go ahead and go participate in this networking event and meet people and pass out business cards that I had to pay for, I get to go meet these people. I get to go meet some incredible individuals in my own community who are making ripples through all of the town folk here. That is pretty special now to even bring it to another level.

Imagine you thought to yourself, gosh, I get to be a part of this. And when I go ahead and think of things like that because we all do it, we even us as coaches and speakers, we sometimes are, as the parents would say. Okay, kid preach. As we're, as we're saying these things to other people, sometimes even us, we go ahead and forget about the lessons ourselves are teaching others.

And so I found myself of course, 100%. I am so far from perfect. I am will never be a perfect person, but absolutely strive to make everyone smile and deliver. Absolute pure value to others at all times. And so with that being said, I have found myself slipping before in the past and really all the time in different ways.

And I have to realign the way that I'm thinking. And just remember, this is an opportunity. To do something good or an op, who knows? Even for some folks, depending on where it is that you are with whatever you've got going on, it could be an opportunity of greatness. And now that's pretty dang cool.

And then who knows? What if it's something so amazing? Oh my gosh, Michael, could you imagine? What if Fred over here is about to go do something and this is actually going to solidify. His family in their success for generations to come. My goodness, my head blown

all you need. All you need is that one thing, that, one thing that will just twist just in your favor and you'll never know unless you go out there and intentionally network. Yes, intentionally go out and meet those people. You make the conversations, you make the conversation about them, not about you. You try to give, not receive.

You just have a good time. Once you have the good, just imagine the weight that gets off your shoulders by you being able to go there, do this. It's a wonderful feeling and it's just, and that's what I tried to promote. So it, yes, everything you just said. Yes and yes. It just intentional networking and it will all go away.

Okay. So now you talk about clarity. How does someone decide. Who they truly need in their circle instead of just gathering a large list of context. Wow. The decision point. Yeah. When you wake up in the morning, when you wake up in the morning,

does there feel like there's a weight lifted off your shoulders, or does it feel like the weight fell on your shoulders? Very good. That right there is how I tend to look at it, and the reason for that is because generally speaking, before one goes to bed. Now generally speaking, a lot of people I have spoken to do something similar in nature or at least have the intent of doing something to ultimately reprogram their mind while they sleep.

Most folks want to go to bed. Happy, satisfied, something of the sorts. Now, how do I get there? It could be that somebody performed a prayer. It could be that somebody wrote down. I know that some people have thought journals right beside their bed. So that way they can write down maybe affirmations or they can write down simple things that they must do the next day, or just things that they are thankful for.

So when you wake up, are you dissatisfied? Okay, let's follow that. Why, what's going on there? There let's go ahead and really lift up the hood and see, is it. You are not achieving what it is that you want to achieve. Okay? Why is that? Alright, now we started off with the problem. Now we're moving down the chain.

So it's okay, the people I was hanging out with, they always wanna party. Ah, interesting. There we go. Now we're fine. Something here. And breaking down. Why are they always partying? Oh, I don't know. 'cause that's all they ever do. Okay. I understand some people they like doing certain things.

What other friends do you have? What other relationships have you been working? And by working, I'm not say, not to say that oh, I gotta go ahead and do this. It's just more of the less way of asking, okay, what is going on? And then if they happen to maybe think I don't have any other friends.

Interesting. Okay, what are we doing in order to get friends? Are you going out and just like little socials or are you going out to these networking events? What do you have going on? So that is how I begin figuring out my own circle. I not necessarily making it, like on the disc.

Where we have all those different types of behavioral analysis quotient and I'm not necessarily putting friendship in all those little circles. I'm taking some of the knowledge of that and I'm thinking to myself, okay, some people are gonna think about this very over analytically. Others are gonna go ahead and just take a brief look at it and be like, okay.

They could see like, all right, yep. This friend runs the party all the time, never wants to do anything constructive, never really wants to hang out anywhere other than bar. And so that is how I start to really look at the circle, engage whether or not are these productive friends or are they non-productive friends?

Are these people that I should go ahead and continually add to my circle? Or should I maybe go ahead and take them out of the circle and plug in other people that actually make me want to go ahead and stand up on my two feet, like a bipedal creature that we are, and then make sure we're marching forward to whatever it is that we're trying to achieve.

And so that's how I go ahead and look at that. That's a very good way of looking at it.

The people you surround yourself with, it's so very important to the person who you want to be. 'Cause if you wanna be I wanna be this great person, but you're hanging out with the people who always want to drink and go to bars and everything else they're holding you down, right?

So you have to. Befriend those people that will help you get to where you want to go. Not saying you're gonna kick out those old friends, you've been, have friends for 30 years. You're not gonna kick 'em outta your circle. You just won't pay that much attention to them, right? And you pay attention to the people that will help you.

Unless you're that happy. If you're that happy with going out and going drinking. Canoodling and whatever else you're gonna do. That's fine. Yeah. That's awesome. Then if you want to get ahead, you want to, then you surround yourself with people like that. Yes. It's very good. Very good. Okay.

What's one story where perseverance led to a meaningful relationship, and how did that relationship change the course of a mission or a business result? I've got quite a few of those ones.

Let's see. Just gimme an easy one. Yeah, we could definitely go with an easy one. We, I can go ahead and do that. College. Let's talk about college. Okay. College was an interesting time. For some people it's a really tough adjustment. It's something that makes you feel a little uncomfortable, but other people, they're just like, I was born to be in college, so we got a little bit of all mix going on.

Me though I was fairly neutral, I understood at the time that college is what was needed for my career trajectory at the time. It wasn't. Something I was in attendance for on a daily basis, just because I wanted to go ahead and just be with the with the cool kids, or just doing it just to be there or anything like that.

But one thing that I really aspired to do was, because this is when I was learning foundational skills for business. And yes, I had those experiences growing up, don't get me wrong, but this was more or less when I was actually introduced to textbook examples and techniques. So I was really beginning to implement other strategies that I was no longer self-developing, but I was developing by way of listening to the instruction of others.

And so there were a couple people who I had met and there was a business. Opportunity that I was introduced to during my time in college. And so what I ended up doing was I kept talking to the lead person and I kept asking, and prompting Hey, I know I'm good enough to go ahead and help you out.

Let me help you. Let's be friends. I kept pushing and pushing and I was doing all of these things because I was trying to really at the time I just was like, let me get rich. I get what you got, and so I didn't have many other thoughts aside from that. But what I started to realize is that when I was pushing forward in a way of just oh hey, I want to just get like Stacks on stacks, so to speak.

It was, even though looking back, the business structure itself wasn't really sound. The person was very confident. With what they were doing, and they saw me as not really caring about anything but money, and they picked up very quickly on that. It was very instinctual, which I've noticed even during regular casual conversation, people will notice.

People will notice that's all that you care about or if you're disingenuine or if you are. Having something that we all call a secondary agenda and it's very easy to see through. Now with that being said, I started to shift my mindset there. It was like, wow, okay, if I really want to go ahead and put myself in this position, I need to be a value to this person.

I need to bring them value. And then if they see that I'm bringing them value, they're gonna perhaps see value in me. And so that's when the tide started turning. So we started that and I, I kept persevering. I kept pushing and, I changed, and they commented on it actually a few months in.

They said, wow, I'm seeing something different than you. You're developing. And I said, gosh, that's so cool that you noticed. Thank you. And so that right there really helped me. Self-propel into the next echelon of things. But it was quite the experience because I thought that I had it all together.

I thought that I was leaning forward with the right foot the entire time, but I actually had two left feet, and so that was. Probably one of the biggest turning points for me was that little it was a silly little business concept too, looking back, but it taught me so much. Yeah. The, the one thing that I'm getting from the whole, your whole story is that you learned one thing and that one thing was patience.

You learned that if you gave, going back to what we were saying before and your patient, you didn't just come right out saying, look, I have this to sell this to sell. You said you gave them value and you waited for them to see it. You waited for them to reciprocate. So it taught you patience, and that patience is what got you ahead.

So that's what I got out of your whole story. Absolutely. Okay. So you do, you stay focused on the bigger goal of growth while still being genuine and supportive in the moment when talking with new people. It is about be a heavy one. Yeah. Not necessarily emotionally, but I'll tell you what.

Yeah. Remember Big Poppy in baseball? Yep. Of course now you've got great divisions here on, baseball fans or nothing. But he does come from the area that I was at, so it's definitely natural that I bring him up. So keeping the big picture in my mind at all times is super important.

Matter of fact, I wish you could see it, but. Up on a wall over here. I've got something that says, stick to the plan. Stick to the plan. Great. Great advice. Yes, because there are going to be so many distractions, but if you can go ahead and just stick to the plan that you personally created. You'd be surprised at what type of success you can go ahead and experience.

And even when I'm developing those new relationships, I'm always thinking of like that overarching thing. Stick to the plan, meet these individuals here, see who thinks very similarly, whose values and goals align with myself and think about. The level at which you could all elevate one another in order to achieve you're all individual goals.

Because we all do ultimately have individual goals, whether it's emotionally or spiritually, relationally, or monetarily, it's all really gonna come to a culmination of we want success. Yes, success looks different for everybody, how I just described. And so if you can go ahead and one, stick to your plan and then two, be able to just steal Charlie, Mike through all of this.

And Charlie, Mike is a military term for continue mission for anybody that who doesn't necessarily know. But if you can go ahead and find a way to make those two dovetail one another. I think that you're gonna go ahead and really be able to smile before you find yourself sleeping at night.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's funny you said that I've had a little symbol on the side of my computer for about 15 years and what is it? It is a Nike symbol. Just do it. Yes. Just do it. And that's it. Every time I get stuck or whatever else, I just look at that and say, look just do it.

Yeah. And so everybody has that little bit of something. You have that up on your wall. I have it on my computer. Something where you can see it all the time and it reminds you to just stick to the plan or just do it or just it's something, but as long as it motivates you, I don't care if it says X, Y, Z.

If it motivates you, then you're gonna do it. Alright, so let's bring this podcast full circle. If someone listening today wants to elevate their standards, strengthen their mindset, and build relationships with more intention, what is the first concrete step they can, that they can take within 48 hours?

I'm gonna say this, stabilize yourself before you try to scale good one. Refine before you try to sell. Sell a product, sell ideas that you have, sell whatever it is. And I always will say, control first, speed second. Absolutely. Absolutely. Listen, what? This was a great conversation, practical, real, honest.

Packed with ideas people can apply immediately. If this episode struck a nerve, good, that means you're ready to elevate your standards, rethink the way you build your circle and show up with more purpose to our guest. Thank you for bringing your experience and your heart to this space. To everyone listening.

Take one insight you heard today and use it in your next conversation. That's how progress starts. Until next time, keep showing up. Keep building strong relationships and keep turning conversations into opportunities. Tevin, before we go, how can anybody or somebody get hold of you because they liked you so much, they wanna be coached by you or whatever the reason how, what's the best way to get hold of you?

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Michael. I appreciate you asking that, and very easy to get ahold of myself or my team, which inadvertently is getting ahold of me, and that is going onto Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram and you can find my brand Momentum Mastery. That right there, if you go ahead and interact with the page or the group.

Or you send a direct message, it's all gonna go ahead to the same space, which is over to my domain. And then you can also go over to kevin millette.com. Fantastic. Kevin, thank you so much. You are a great guest. Thank you again. Thank you so much, Michael. I appreciate your time and your efforts here.

 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 a right, has the right connections for you.

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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. 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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