Transformative Networking: The Art of Building Authentic Relationships with Michael Yoder

Brad: 00:00:00

Welcome to Student of the Game podcast, where we help you master the fundamentals, fall in love with practice, and win at the game of life. I'm your host, Brad Knoll. Welcome to the classroom. Welcome back to another episode of Student of the Game.

We're knocking the rust off a little bit, and if I can be vulnerable and just say I've had a lot going on and kind of got off the saddle a little bit. And my buddy Michael Yoder, my podcast coach, my guru, Truth Work Media, his, he said, hey, let's just have a conversation and record it.

We've been talking a lot about relationships winning. We've been talking a lot about making connections and networking. So, Michael, welcome to the show.

Michael: 00:00:40

You know, it's great to be back again. Brad, I should know this. Am I your first returning guest?

Brad: 00:00:46

Probably second or third, I think. I think third. I'm gonna say third.

Michael: 00:00:49

Well, I'm in elite company, if you will.

Brad: 00:00:51

It's unbelievable.

Michael: 00:00:53

I love it. Thanks for having me back, man. This is great.

Brad: 00:00:56

Thanks for being here. There's a conversation you and I have had quite a bit, and it's why networking doesn't work.

You know, my mentor told me there's really two types of networking. You know, there's networking and there's net waiting.

And a lot of times people go to these networking events and they don't get anything from it, and they're just sitting there waiting. And so I think, let's start the conversation. Our phone call the other day, you said something about a networking event. I really want to hear that.

So let's start the conversation off with an experience you've had or how you feel about going to these kind of sleazy, drop your business card off speed dating networking events.

Michael: 00:01:37

So I go, I've stopped going to more and more of these, and I don't love that because I do find value in. And I think obviously what this show centers around is relationship. So I do find value in relationship.

But the reason I stopped going is exactly what happened to me at the last one I went to. I walked in and I'm having a conversation with a friend who I haven't seen in a while, you know, building up my relationship equity with them.

And someone interrupts us with a flyer to another networking event.

While we're at this networking event, they're handing me, pushing me a flyer to their own networking event, no value add, and just sat there for probably 10 to 15 minutes trying to convince us to go to their next networking event and then proceeded to just kind of awkwardly stand there. And there's just something in me that I was like, this is why I don't want to come to these. I. It's such a catch 22, right?

Because there's nothing wrong with that person hustling. And I love that for them. And I think you need to be out there hustling. But there's got to be. There's that dichotomy, right, of we're hustling.

But also, like, this is authentic. And like, it's such a fine, like, line to thread to me is like, how can you be authentic in your approach?

And also at the same time, go about getting what you're trying to get.

Brad: 00:03:04

First of all, I don't know anybody who would let that fly in terms of thinking that that's normal, right? I mean, everybody would let. If you're just a nice person, you fly. Cause you're like, hey, this person's hustling. I get it.

But our last pod, we talked about the relationships win framework, and we believe that if somebody connects with you in order to get something that is transactional. And in our world, I mean, we do transactions like, that's our world. We don't get paid until there's a transaction.

But I think where most people miss is they think that they need to go set out in order to get the transaction. Whereas if you. If I can convince you right now, change your mindset. It's about connecting with people.

You know, it's about building relationships with people. You. You never know where this is going to go. I talk. I talk on this podcast all the time.

Like, you know, I've gotten tickets to sporting events because I thought there was a relationship I was trying to make to go sell a home. And it ended up into a friendship. And I never ended up working with these people. And I. I got some sports tickets from it.

Like, you just never know how these relationships are going to win. So let's. Let's back up just a little bit. So I went and I kind of nerded out a little bit, and I said, okay, let's define. What does connect mean?

Well, it's Latin, but it means to bind together or join to bind together or join. Homeboy wasn't connecting with you. He wasn't trying to join or bind together. He was like, hey, come to my event. Right?

He was being transactional, and that's okay. I think what I want to do with you is talk to you in a way that. That the listener would needs to hear this also.

Yeah, I don't I don't think you need to stop going to these events. Like, the. The event didn't do that to you.

Michael: 00:04:39

Sure.

Brad: 00:04:40

Right. It was the person that did that. And if you go to more events that there are more people like that that want to be transactional. Come to my event.

Well, no, let's just. Let's have a conversation right here.

Michael: 00:04:51

Yeah. You know, this is how I know it wasn't effective. I don't remember their name. I don't know what they did for a living.

I don't know if they have a family. I don't know anything about them. All I know is they tried to push a flyer on me.

Brad: 00:05:01

Yeah.

Michael: 00:05:03

So my question then to you, Brad, is like, how do you go into these places seeking out those authentic relationships, knowing that's not what's going to be happening? Because you host these events like you personally.

Brad: 00:05:15

Right.

Michael: 00:05:16

You host these. I see all the time you're having networking events. You don't brand them as such per se, but how do you go about handling those?

Brad: 00:05:25

Yeah, no, it's. I like being asked questions on. On my own podcast.

Michael: 00:05:29

Sorry, I. So this is a problem with me. I'll immediately go into interview mode. This is.

Brad: 00:05:34

This. This is. This is great. We're gonna go off. Off script a little bit today, but we just got done hosting a business mixer.

Michael: 00:05:39

Yep.

Brad: 00:05:40

Okay. So we call it a business mixer. And. And we like to mix it up. Right. Like, nobody's coming to this event to hear me speak. I'm not giving a presentation.

We really want to kind of turn the networking on its head a little bit. And the very first question we ask people, even before they show up, is, who are you looking to meet?

I think it's one of the best questions that you can have at an event, like, who are you looking to meet? So I'll go first. I'm looking to meet people who are going through lifestyle changes or transitions in their life who need to make a housing change.

Right. You think about some of those transitions. Like, you know, I'm out of college, I'm renting an apartment, and maybe I'm getting married.

And so we need a home, or we're having babies and we need a bigger home, or the kids are leaving the house, we're empty, nesting. We need a smaller home. Going through a divorce. You know, we need to sell the home and maybe buy one or two others.

You know, somebody passes away in the family so needs to sell the family home. You know, all of these lifestyle transitions that people are going through is the reason why people move.

And so if I ask you, Michael, who are you looking to meet? You're not going to say, I'm not looking. I'm not. You're not looking to meet somebody who wants to buy a home. Right.

You're looking for people who want to create content, who want to. Who want to build podcasts, who want to get their voice out, tell stories.

Like, you want to meet a different person, and there's a good chance I may know somebody who you want to meet. But if I just come up to you and I just say, hey, do you want to buy a home? Like, no. Like, no, nobody wants to buy. Like, nobody wants to move.

Like, moving is not that fun. The reason in which people need to do it.

If I can get to the root of the reason why people do the thing that allows me to step in and solve a problem for them. Now, now there's an introduction that can happen, but we.

We can't even get to that level if we don't have a conversation, and we can't even get to a conversation if we don't connect. And so that's why we built a relationships when framework, so not to keep going down. Down this rabbit hole. But the question was, we had. We just had.

We just had an event, and we invited people to come and mix it up and. And we challenged them to show up with identifying who they want to meet. And I'll tell you this. This is crazy. So we had 140 RSVPs. Okay, this is.

I'm gonna give you some perspective. The year before was the best attended year we've ever had, and there was 85.

Michael: 00:07:57

Wow.

Brad: 00:07:57

Okay. We had 140 RSVPs. The night of, the morning of, we had the worst ice storm we've had in any year that I can remember.

Michael: 00:08:08

I remember it. I remember.

Brad: 00:08:11

So worst ice storm. School wasn't even delayed. It was closed. All of these excuses. I mean, people fell in the parking lot, whatever.

I mean, I don't think we have insurance for that. But the reality is it was the worst weather possible. 110 people showed up.

Michael: 00:08:28

That's incredible, man.

Brad: 00:08:29

And I told my team, we kind of got to this point where it's like, should we cancel the event? Should we keep it going? And I just said, listen.

And it was Lindsay that kind of gave me this advice last minute, and she's like, listen, there's a lot of people that have to go to work tomorrow, no matter what the weather is. You know, there's people like the nurses and doctors have to go to work. You know, the. There are businesses, there are people that have to go to work.

No matter what the weather is, this is work for a lot of people. They want to connect. And what we found was people want to build relationships in the worst way possible. Right now. They're. They're tired.

They're tired of being told that they can post on social media and they get business. They're tired of saying that they can buy this ad or sponsor or boost this post or send this postcard. All conversion happens through conversation.

All conversation happens because of connections. What we did is we just provided an outlet for people to connect and to have conversations.

And then we taught them how to think about the sales process. So I don't.

Michael: 00:09:32

I was just having it. I was just having a conversation today. Someone came in, in person, and we were talking about building business and what that looks like.

And he said his conversion rate, he travels all across the country. And when he sends messages, hey, I'm going to be in New York visiting my brother. Do you want to get together and get a cup of coffee?

It's off the charts. He said when he's able to sit down with people because they are craving that connectiveness. And that personal relationship is just.

It's through the roof. And it also circle around too. And this is kind of what relationship to some extent is.

How do we generally help people without expecting any help in return? And I think that will come. I think helping people in turn helps you, but you can't do it out of that. Like, hey, give and take.

It's more like give freely. And what's going to happen as a result is that's going to open up avenues for you to receive. At least I believe that.

Brad: 00:10:32

Well, it's. It's. I'll plug. One of my favorite books is the Go Giver. You know, at the end of the day, like, when I.

When I learned that the biggest competition that I have is out serving others, out giving others like that to me, blew my mind. And now it's a competition daily. Like, how can I help other people win? I say that a lot of times on here. How do I help other people win?

And it takes a long time. I mean, it took me, Honestly, if I'm 23 years into this now, probably took me 16, 17 years to really. To really, like, be okay with that.

Like, to go to bed at night saying I made a difference and not worried about the sales, not worried about the money, not worried about, you know, do I have to transfer money into My account to make payroll. Like, all of the things that small business owners do.

But why do you think, Michael, why do you think people struggle in building relationships without. Without anything promised to them? You know, it's just so much easier to focus on. I need to go make a sale. I need to get another client today.

Like, what do you think drives people when they do make that switch, man?

Michael: 00:11:33

It's a good question. I. I think fear, maybe. Fear of.

Because at the end of the day, right, a lot of small business owners or big business owners, like, you have dollar margins you gotta hit and you have to put food on the table for your family. And so I don't know, I think a lot of people just bypass that because they don't think people care or want to take the time.

And it's like, hey, I've even seen this train, like, skip the fluff and get right to it. Like, what's the sale pitch here? And I just, I don't know.

I think it's a combination of fear, people not being trained well, or just people unfortunately maybe don't care is. Could be the reality there.

Brad: 00:12:18

So it's funny you said fear. I totally agree. And I think that fear shows itself when we're being transactional. Like, what's it called? Sales breath.

Like, everybody can feel it when they're being sold to.

Michael: 00:12:30

Sales breath.

Brad: 00:12:31

When they're being sold to. You can feel it. And I believe sales is like, we're all in sales, right?

Like, if you have kids, you're selling your kids on why they need to eat their vegetables.

Michael: 00:12:42

If you could teach mine, Brad.

Brad: 00:12:44

No, no, we're in the boat over here. But, but we, you know, everybody, Everybody has their own challenges. But when it comes to it, like sales.

Sales in my mind is helping people make decisions.

When you can help facilitate, when you can help provide information, and when you can help somebody through the decision fatigue that there is, whether you want to buy a car, whether you want to invest in something, whether you want to. That doesn't matter, right? If you want to buy a home, if you want to start a podcast, like, at some point people have options and they need to be.

Be guided in that direction. And so I, I just think sales is a noble profession because it's helping people get what they want and providing clarity.

Michael: 00:13:24

I think at the end of the day. And I, I think you would agree with this, you're selling yourself as much as you're selling your product. And so, like, if you're not a good.

I don't want to say Good person. But if you're not helping, if you're not truly helping as a person, no one gives it. There's a. There's thousand realtors in Fort Wayne.

I'm probably exaggerating, but there's probably close.

Brad: 00:13:46

1500. Wow.

Michael: 00:13:48

tly. That's my point. There's: 1500

The old adage, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

I think it's sales 101, and it's again, it's that fine line of, you don't want to manipulate, you don't want to care just so you can get something, but you have to figure out, how can I see the person as a human?

Brad: 00:14:14

All right, so in about 45 seconds, when I'm done here, based on what you just said and what I'm about to say, nobody needs to listen any more of the podcast because this is the mic drop. At the end of the day, it's all about building trust. You know, people do business with people that they trust.

And I think a lot of times in business right now, small businesses especially, are out there trying to create this brand, right? We always hear these brands like, I want to create this brand, an influential brand.

And I just happen to believe that your brand is not what you want your brand to be. Your brand is not what you meet with a marketing team and come up with this great tagline or saying, that's not. That's branding. That's an action.

Your brand is the emotional connection you have with your clients and the people inside your database. What people think of you is your brand.

And the only way you can develop your brand is and then expound on that is through connecting and building more relationships. Think about that. Your brand is the emotional connection you have with the people that you work with.

Michael: 00:15:19

And so you would go a step further to say, I am doing myself a disservice by not going to these in person networking events because I cannot emotionally connect with other people as a result of that.

Brad: 00:15:32

I will say, so you have. You have clients and customers you work with today. You have past clients and customers that no longer use your service for whatever reason.

Maybe they don't have a podcast anymore. Maybe they've grown past it and they've built their own team, right? Before you go to these networking events, this is my advice.

Before you even think about going to this networking advice, to make more connections, to build your brand with people who don't know you yet. Go back and invest in the people who do know you.

You know, that podcaster that now has its own team, they don't have a big enough team where they're taking on their buddy who wants to start podcasting. There's introductions that can still happen with people that aren't working with you anymore. And so, you know, I think. Let me.

Let me go back and help. Help the listeners here.

So on my team, one of the things that we say is, like, if you want to join our team, you have to have 250 people in your database. You have to know 250 people.

If you don't know 250 people, then I really can't help you with this relationships win framework because we just don't know enough people. Right. So, like, so to your point is, if you're just starting off in business. Yeah.

You're going to need to go to a lot of these things, and you're going to need to start, like, compiling names and put them in a database and then follow up with them and see how they're doing and see how you can help, and that's that connection and then having conversations. So at the entry level, you got to. You got to grow your sphere. You got to grow your network.

And at your level or my level, Michael, I think the conversation is dependent depending on how big or how broad your database is. You gotta focus on that. You know, that's the people who already know, like, and trust you.

And so the more you connect with them, the more you're building trust, the more you're staying on top of their mind, the more introductions that are gonna come.

Michael: 00:17:13

Absolutely. Yeah. That makes sense.

Brad: 00:17:15

So we did this napkin. I gotta show you this napkin real quick. So here's a napkin. All right.

Michael: 00:17:19

You draw that yourself?

Brad: 00:17:20

I did, actually. Yeah. Thanks.

Michael: 00:17:21

That's nice, man.

Brad: 00:17:22

Well, I said thanks before you even said it.

Michael: 00:17:24

Yeah, you draw that. You say, oh, thanks, man.

Brad: 00:17:26

Yeah, thanks. Yeah, you could have. You could have said, look like your kids or something. Ye. It is a. You know. No.

Mosquito dipped his butt in ink and crawled across a napkin. No. Okay, here's what we did. This is actually a really good story. So I go to lunch with a buddy of mine, and I'm.

I'm processing this relationships win framework. He's a sales guy. You know, we're having some sushi, having a good time, and. And so I'm just like, hey, can I try something on you?

And he's like, yeah, sure. So I took the napkin out and I drew a baseball diamond, and I. And I drew the Relationships One framework. And I, we.

I won't talk about the whole thing, but we just did on the podcast before, and. And I drew it. And at the end of it, he goes, we were getting up to leave, you know, we paid and everything.

And we're walking up, and he goes, hey, can I keep that napkin? I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. So I go back to our team, and I'm like, you'll never guess what happened.

And they say, well, that's where all great ideas start, is on a napkin. And all of a sudden, I'm like, yes.

So I went on my iPad and I drew this, and then we sent it to the print shop, and they actually put them on napkins, like these little cocktail napkins, and we handed those out at the mixer. And for. For those that hadn't listened to the previous podcast, and for those that weren't at the mixer, I will share a little bit.

It's the Relationships Win framework. It's how to build relationships. It's how to sell something through building relationships. And the first half is just being a great human.

You got to go make connections with people. That's first base. Second base is you got to go excuse. You got to connect with people. And then the second base is you got to have conversations.

And by doing that, that's just being a good human. And then by the time you get to the conversation level, what happens is if you're starting to display your character, they're going to trust you.

You're building your brand right through work. And then eventually there's going to be an introduction.

There's going to be a problem that you can solve through these conversations that people pick up on if you're good at what you do. Right. Our mission is we like to help people save time, reduce their stress, and help them keep as much money in their pocket as we. We can.

And so if somebody.

If somebody needs to move and that's exciting to them, you know, they want to reduce some stress and save some money, then great, we probably can solve that problem for them.

And so then once we have these conversations and the introductions are made, then you got to be great at your craft, you got to serve people really well, and then the sale happens. But when you go from connections to home plate to make a sale, that's transactional. And so I think, you know, there's a faith component to this.

Right. And I'm not necessarily talking about, you know, religious component, but for. For me, it is my faith.

Tradition is, you know, I have faith and hope that there's somebody bigger than me and I'm not him. And at the end of the day, I have to have the faith that the work that I'm doing, the service that I provide other people, you know, will come back.

You know, I'm thinking like the farmer. I'm planting seeds. Every time I connect with him, I'm planting seeds. And you know what I'm not doing?

I'm not clenching my fist with control of that seed is the one that's going to harvest. The wind and the rain are going to get some of those seeds. The birds are going to get some of those seeds.

Not every single seed I plant is going to work out.

Michael: 00:20:29

I think the ironic thing is, and this is a little tangent, but the more I find that I try to clench and control, just the more stress and anxiety I get, because I just. The, the reality is, Brad, we're out of control of some of that landing on a home plate. Right?

What we can control, I think, is first, second, maybe even third. Like, hey, we can control how we're interacting and how we are helping people. We can't control that home plate.

Brad: 00:20:57

Never. Just like a farmer, I can't control if there's a tornado that goes through my, you know, my, my field. I can't control the weather.

You know, what can you control? Well, it goes back to, like, why. Why we did this podcast in the first place.

You know, the, the whole theory behind Student of the Game is you got to master the fundamentals. And then we say.

We don't say fall in love with outcomes, we say fall in love with practice, you know, and, and, and the reason you have to fall in love with practice is because you're going to spend most of the time on that plateau. You're going to spend most of your time practicing. You're going to spend most of your time connecting and having conversations.

If you don't love that, I mean, go to the factory.

Michael: 00:21:34

Yeah, right.

Brad: 00:21:35

Like, go, go do something that's mindless work. Nothing wrong with that. I mean, we all, we all need manufacturing.

But the reality is if, if, if people listening to this are small business owners or sales people, they're people that have big goals.

Like, that's the most important thing is, is fall in love with the practice, because that's where you stay and, and then that's where you get to win in the game of life.

Michael: 00:21:53

I love it, man.

Brad: 00:21:56

Student of the Game is brought to you by Knoll Team Real Estate. Our mission is to eradicate mediocre real estate transactions on your largest financial purchase. You shouldn't have to deal with average.

We do this by helping you save time, reduce your stress, and helping you keep as much money in your pocket as we can.

You can help us out by introducing us to your friends or family who want to make competent real estate decisions, whether buying, selling, building, or investing. At Noel Team Real Estate, we are connected to a group of realtors who sell one in every eight homes in North America.

If you know someone moving out of your area, there's a great chance we can connect them to somebody we know like and trust. Remember, relationships win. Now back to the show.

Michael: 00:22:42

Did we solve the world's problems today, Brad?

Brad: 00:22:45

We might have. I actually had some bullet points, but I think we solved the world's problem.

So I came up with like, seven points of, like, why connecting is important. Let's hear them lead with value, not sales. You got to give before you ask. So it's a giver's mindset.

So I believe the givers are the ones that win in life, not the takers. My buddy in college said, life gives to the givers and takes from the takers. I always just remembered that. I thought that was clever.

When you're connecting with people, listen more than you talk. I think that should be fundamental. Stephen Covey says. I'm gonna read this quote.

Stephen Covey said, most people do not listen with the intent to understand. They listen with the intent to reply.

Michael: 00:23:25

It's so good. And it's hard not to. It's hard not to. And you can, like, it's ironic on, on a podcast, right?

But you can even see that in your personal conversations, right? And that's a hard one, man. That is hard. But it's very good.

Brad: 00:23:40

Yeah, I, I, I'll never forget this. When somebody told me one time they, they went to a party and they're like, you know, they were talking about somebody, right?

And this person kind of steps up and says, oh, you know, that's enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you think about me?

Michael: 00:23:57

That's amazing.

Brad: 00:24:00

Let that one sink in.

Michael: 00:24:01

The easiest way I've found to do this, and the easiest thing in the world is you just ask people questions. And typically, people in general like to talk about themselves for the most part. And it's the easiest party trick in the world.

Just ask good questions and listen to their response.

Brad: 00:24:17

Ask another question, you just hit the nail on the head. I actually think people ask you questions because they Want to keep talking?

Michael: 00:24:24

Yeah.

Brad: 00:24:26

Today, before we jumped on this podcast, I had somebody, they text me a question and then I asked them another question and they like the long paragraph message. It's like people just want to, people just want to share. You know, they want to connect. They want to connect and that's great.

So I believe, number three, create community and shared experiences. I think by building, building these connections and having conversations, it creates community and then you can share experiences together.

We're not even talking about transactions here, we're not even talking about sales. You know, we're talking about at the basic level. Number four, be consistent with follow ups. When you go to these networking events.

When you go to events, if you get somebody's business card, write them a note, ask if they can go to coffee. Like, hey, we're in a social setting where there's a lot of people here.

We're probably not going to get a lot of time to talk about your family and your kids and you know, what team you're cheering for, you know, for March Madness. But let's, let's, let's hang out sometime. You follow up, be consistent with that.

Number five, I think storytelling, storytelling always builds emotional connections, you know, and if you want to create this emotional connection which is your brand, I think you have to use stories. You have to use stories of like, here, here's people that I helped.

Michael, you can share the story of like, hey, there's this bum of a realtor and you know, he's got some experience and people ask him all the time how he does it. And so he just started a podcast and we've helped him with that.

And you know, he's not the most convinced, consistent person, but he gets on here and people listen and people really like it. So let's just do more of that. So I think the storytelling and the consistency is really important.

Michael: 00:25:44

I mean, you're a man of faith and you look at the best storyteller, one of the best storytellers in the world was Jesus. And look at what happened as a result of his stories.

In fact, when he teaches, it's always in parable because there's something that transcends our understanding when we speak in story. And it's by far the best way to connect with people.

Brad: 00:26:05

It's so good. Find shared interest beyond business. I think that's it. That's a given. I don't think people do business.

When I started in real estate, there were, there were realtors. This was 23, 24 years ago.

People, people bragged about being number one and people wanted to work with the best and, and I still think people want to work with those that are competent. But we talk about character and competence. People only work with people they trust right now. I was listening to the podcast the other day.

It's like, you know, the five star review is like the worst thing in the world. Like, give me a four and a half star review. Like, if I could be. If my Average could be 4.2 to 4.6 on my reviews, like, it actually looks real.

If I had all five star reviews, five star reviews, it doesn't look real. So I think there's a lot of authenticity that's out there right now. It's a lot of, you know, hey, I've got challenges.

How can you help me with my challenges?

Michael: 00:26:57

It's rough because there's vulnerability in that, right? Like, you have to be willing to get dinged up a little bit. And I think that's hard.

Brad: 00:27:05

If you're afraid to fail, you'll never succeed. You know, that's, that's what I was told at a young age. And I still, I still teach my kids that today. You know, don't be afraid to fail. So.

And then I love this one. So we just talked about finding shared interest beyond business. Well, you got to like, go to the next level of conversations.

But number seven, be the connector for others. Be the connector for others. If you go to networking event, your mind is trained. Like, okay, did I get 50 business cards? Did I get this? Did I do this?

How do I look? How do I sound? Okay, everybody talks about your elevator pitch, right? Like, I gotta get my elevator pitch down.

And if you went to an event, okay, we'll leave you with this. If you go to your next networking event, don't bring any cards, but be a collector of other people's business cards.

Ask them what they do, Ask them who they're looking to meet, and then take those cards and follow up. You will get a chance to share who you're looking to meet at coffee, at lunch, go golfing, go do something. But go. Go with the heart to serve. Go.

Go with the posture to serve others. And I think you're going to be amazed at how well you connect with others.

They're going to leave saying, man, that Michael Yoder, that, what a nice guy. I want more time with him.

Michael: 00:28:20

Well, I'm not just buttering your biscuit, Brad, but I do think you're one of the best connectors of other people that I've come across in business. And I appreciate that a ton about you. And it is one of those things. Like, I will continue to refer people to you because of that.

And I know you care for people well and you practice what you preach in this area. And I see the benefits firsthand. And so I've wanted to become that person, too. Like, I want to be known as the connector.

Like, that is giving my resources of people away to other people. I think it's invaluable.

Brad: 00:28:55

Well, you've helped me a lot. I appreciate it. One of my goals with this podcast is to become a great communicator. And it's something that you coach me on, you help me with.

It's a constant struggle, right? I mean, I've got a day job, I'm managing a real estate practice, an interior design business, a podcast.

Oh, and by the way, I got some kids that need a ride every once in a while. But at the end of the day, I don't want to throw you off. You're a very good speaker and very well thought, your thought leader, in my opinion.

But let's turn it to you for a second. Who are you looking to meet?

So if the listeners out there right now, who's somebody that Michael Yoder and Truth Work Media, who are you looking to meet?

Michael: 00:29:31

Yeah, thanks for asking, man. We want to meet.

I personally want to meet business owners that want help making content via podcasting, audio and video, people that have good stories to share business insights that are. That are honestly owners of businesses.

That's who we work with the most and people that are willing to take a risk and get behind a microphone and share some insight and value the people. Because it's kind of a weird thing, but I believe in this. We want to help people share their story because that's going to help other people.

And Brad, you getting on here and sharing insights, hopefully is helping other people and we get to help you do that. And so it's just this whole cycle of like, like, how can we help people provide value to provide value, and hopefully that provides value.

So, man, I just want to meet people that have value to provide and then help them share that.

Brad: 00:30:22

That's awesome. Well, for those that don't remember or didn't hear Michael the first time around, we believe relationships win.

And I think we have pictures and diapers together or something like that. Our fathers were partners in a real estate business in Burn, Indiana. Shout out to Burn.

But you know, if you're looking to get into a podcast situation or you want to share some content or you've got a business. Hit me up. I'll get you connected because we believe relationships win at the end of the day in the game of life, relationships win.

I'm teaching my kids right now. Go build relationships. You know, don't worry about the outcomes. Just, just go serve people love on them. Build relationships.

And at the end of the day, you're going to win. So, Michael, thanks for being a guest. Volume 2. Can't wait to have you again. Thanks for all you do for my podcast.

If you like this podcast screenshot it send it to somebody, give them Michael's name and number or we can connect you. So thanks for listening. Michael, that's a wrap.

Michael: 00:31:17

Thanks, Brad. Appreciate you, man.

Brad: 00:31:20

Thanks for listening to Student of the Game podcast. Whatever game you are playing, I'm cheering for you. See you in the next class.