Mike Hogan: How to Connect with Your Ideal Collaboration Partner

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacy Lauren.

Oh, my gosh, you guys. We have the amazing Mike Hogan that is with us today. And let me where.

There we go.

Okay, that is so funny. Everyone, we are live. Okay. And then I'm going to.

We're going to do a 15 minute warm up next time.

I know, I keep saying that too. And then I.

Well, you got to let the guests know. I mean, yeah, you didn't want to see me running up and down the stairs, you know, three minutes before the call. So.

Hold on, I'm going to send this here. I think. I think I am live.

I got the notification on one of the groups.

Oh, good. Okay, cool. All right, let's find us again. Okay, I'm here. All right. Oh, yay. Hi, Wendy. Okay, exciting. Okay, so that must be from YouTube. Okay, cool. I feel like YouTube. I think I'm just gonna land the plane on YouTube with these lives. It feels easier to me, but. Okay, you guys. Well, here. Oh, let me tell the collaboration group, just so they know what's happening. Let me just post in there. It's the problem with all these groups, right? Live. Here we go.

You're the one that has to keep it straight.

I know, right? Yeah. The live is. Wait till you guys see what's in store for you today. So hang on through this temporary father.

It's only Tuesday, Stacy. I mean, come on.

Okay, I'm gonna find us on YouTube and then I'll post it in the comments so you guys can watch the live. One second here, let me grab it. And then I will introduce you, my very special guest that I am so excited about. There I am. Okay, I'm here. Oh, my gosh. I'm doing it. Okay, copy that. Going on there. This. The Live is on YouTube. All right, we did it. Mike, you're here.

You did it. I'm just sitting here.

All right, guys, here's the thing. What I love about what I do is that I get to meet the coolest people along the way. And Mike and I met for those of you that don't know, through the do the Things singles group. Oh, yay. Vicki's here. Do the Things singles group. And he participated in the number two dating dare challenge and even won it. Right. You won that.

I did, but I'm still single, so whatever that got me anyway.

Yeah. Still single. However.

You are, it was a great experience.

You are loving being single. Yes, absolutely. Which is different than a lot of times when people come into the dating challenge.

That's right.

Yeah.

The end result, like you said, you get to help people.

Yeah. And so that's the whole idea. Right. So Mike's been part of the do the Thing community for a while. He is. Been just an amazing. He's the supporter, the encourager, the. What else? How else would I. Just the champion, the everything. I feel like you're. You're so many things in the community to so many people, and you've helped so many people too. And what's been happening recently and the reason why I brought him on, because for those of you that end up falling in love with Mike, and you will, there's plenty of episodes. We have two episodes.

Gracious. I gotta go. I gotta meet this guy.

We have two episodes on the do the Thing podcast. We have an episode on the Dating Experiment podcast. And then we also have you part of the 200th anniversary podcast, episode zero thing. And so recently, Mike has been introducing me to some different people that have been amazing collaboration partners. I mean, from some. An incredible author. He brought on somebody that runs these unbelievable events all over. Well, eventually it'll be all over the country. Right now it's in the Tri State.

Yeah. Mid Atlantic area.

Yeah. Hundreds of people that go to those events. Somebody that's really successful on Instagram with a huge following and just been just doing all that stuff. But not because of any of that stuff. He's doing it because he sees something. Right. And the stuff that I'm doing, and then he sees stuff. Something in the stuff they're doing, and then he's naturally making that connection. And so that's why I thought it was really important for us to talk, because there's so many people out there that are doing the. I like to call it the spammy marketing and forgetting about their relationships. And that's the thing that I think you're so just good at is just the relationship. And it's not coming from anything other than the purest part of who you are, which is really what I want more people to do. So I am welcoming you to Happy to be here.

Always enjoy winging it. So you help people come out of their shells a little bit, but you know, happy to try and help. Thank you for all the kind words. It's just something. And a lot of what you just mentioned is social media related and I don't know, you reach a point in your life where you only have so much bandwidth and if you're not using it to make yourself better or enjoy life a little bit more or happy and getting back to the group, you surround yourself with your people. Well, I mean your people can be out in the digital world too. So those people that you mentioned all have some type of tie in to previous work that you have done and it just. I appreciate them for their own expertise, but I could tell that there was a connection and to take it out of the digital world. My, I mean I'm, I'm big into yoga and that's probably what kind of. I won't say reinvented me, but just helped me realize how important people are because I could take yoga classes online, anybody can. But I go to a studio, I go to a community and it is that community and I even recommend it that my yogi come and talk with you and I'll get her someday. But it's a mutual benefit type of thing that they have something to give, I need something and then I have another person that is trying to get to the same message from a different angle and just kind of making those connections. Whatever your. When I have a vague sense of what you're doing. But whatever anybody is trying to promote out there, their service, their product, their offering, what have you, I don't want to burst any bubbles, but the reality is the wheel hasn't been reinvented. It's a different. You're adding your personal self to whatever you're offering and you have to have passion for that. Well, how do you bring more eyeballs? How do you get more attention? Guess what, you're going to have to steal that attention from other people. Again, going back to the bandwidth aspect. So why not find other people that are doing similar things that have a different way of saying the message. And stealing is the wrong word. Borrowing, shifting, exposing. And not to oversimplify things, but then you just have to be willing to ask. Just reach out and ask. I mean the author, I asked him in person. The person online, Instagram, I just sent her a private message and I mean, what's it going to hurt to just ask if you see a value proposition? I'm very interested in this. I Like what you're saying here, I'm trying to do this. I think you might be able to help me get that accomplished and try and make that connection of that value proposition. That's the way I go about things. And I do the same thing in my personal life in that if I'm thinking of somebody, I reach out to.

Them.

Instead of saying, hey, it's been a long time since we talked. It's hey, I was just thinking about you. I hope you're doing okay. And the universe has a funny way of just presenting those opportunities, at least for me. So when you see it, just act on it.

So much here. Mike, I love this. It's just that idea of being willing to ask and get not coming from. I feel like the spammy word keeps coming up because I just see so much of that right now. And I really want people to bring back relationships not only into business, but into life. Right. And I was just on a call with. And they're probably here with some of the audience accelerator people. We were just talking about how when you're able to almost just open yourself up. Right. And be more vulnerable and people end up getting attracted to that, they're coming towards you. And so that's what you're doing is you're seeing the people. Because everyone you've connected me to is really similar to me in the way that they're. They are who they are. They're not putting up a show. There's no shell of them.

Right. Authenticity.

Yeah.

And the whole idea that. Well, now go on, I interrupted.

Yeah, it's great. It's true. And so the fact that you're seeing that from me and then you're seeing that from them and then connecting us and being willing to ask and doing that, there's just. It's beautiful to me, regardless of who it was for. It's just the idea of it just coming from this really beautiful heart centered place. And that's what I'm really working towards as I'm continuing on with all this stuff and is just making people understand this concept more and how much cooler it is when you're able to be aligned in this way.

I mean, you're trying to get the word out, you're trying to get the message out. Let's be a hundred thousand foot view. You want to contribute to making the world a better place. That's great. Stacy cannot reach every single individual person. It's impossible. So you need other flames, you need other sparks to help carry that message a little bit and get the Exposure. And that's what it's about when I'm listening. Whether it be you or another podcast, I just sent you another one today, or to an expert talking about their book or what have you. I try and put myself in their shoes. So anybody out there that's trying to expand their business, I try. And even in my own business, I'm in account management, I'm in sales. So I constantly try and put myself in my customer's shoes. How are they looking at things? How are they seeing at things? What are their pain points? Because I could have the best widget in the world, but if they can't connect to me as a person, I'm never going to have the opportunity to get that message over to them and be able to help them see the translation into value. So you do you have to be a little vulnerable and you have to give again. Each one of you that's watching you are the unique part of your offering. I mean it's got to be that way. So you have to be willing to share that.

You are the unique part of your offering. I hope you guys heard that. That is so freaking good. So what would you suggest to someone that really wants. There's a lot of people watching that want to collaboration partner, want someone to JV their whatever it is thing. It's like JV is a joint venture where they're sharing audiences and things like that. What would you suggest when they're reaching out to someone and who should they reach out to? Because it's not just like a I'm gonna call everybody in the world, right? It's like you want to make sure your, your messages are aligned so that the people that you get are gonna really get what you're doing. Right.

Well, we talked about this a little bit. I mean I, I don't have a strict formula, but I am. Relationships are important for me. I'd rather have face to face meetings and some people might think it's kind of, I don't know, old school or what have you, but meetup events, business centric meetup events type of things, the, what's the word I'm looking for community business networking events and things along those lines. Maybe take it down the path of if you're doing. And this is not, I'm not trying to diminish anybody's offering or what have you, but if you're, if you're in the self help realm, there's a myriad. Who is your hero? Who inspired you to, to come up with your offering, to come up with your product and pay attention to who they talk to and who they follow and try and. I mean, this is the market research part. You can look at statistics all you want, but it's got to resonate with you. So listen to a podcast. You don't have to listen to the whole thing. I mean, there's no score for how much. But if you like the way the message is coming out, it's who. Who do they associate themselves with? If you have. I'll go back to that word hero again, and there's no reason why you can't have access to that if. Give me somebody off of the. What's the TV show? The. Where they pitch the products. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, you're. You're not going to get right to Shark Tank directly to the people in Shark Tank. But you know what? I bet you there's a business that might be in your town that got some of their success from Shark Tank. The. The woman, I forget her name. I haven't watched it in years. Yeah, she. She actually does a lot of business on qvc.

Oh, right. Yeah.

And QVC is right here in my backyard. And I know people that have just gone out and frequented the establishments around here, knowing when she's going to be in town and things along those lines. So, I mean, you could really be creative about it. But it's. Where did your spark of inspiration come from and who are you trying to model and trying to get to? Those people, A, the. Their customers, their consumers, but B, who they associate themselves with and. And yeah.

Yeah. It's so good. Mike. I was just talking about part of this, and I love you. Just kind of connected the circle together. I just. Right before we got on, I was meeting with my audience accelerator group and I was talking about there's this timeline with the person that we want to help. Right. Or impact in the world. And either we have this defining moment. I'm not going to show the image right now, but a lot of you know what I'm talking about. But it's basically you have your defining moment where you have this thing that happened to you or this problem that you realized you wanted to solve. Right? So. And then all of a sudden you get into the awareness that you want to actually solve the problem or get over the hurt or whatever it is that happened. And then you go on this quest, which is when you start listening to all the things and you're learning stuff. You're going to the conferences, the workshops you're signing up for, do the thing you Know, singles, whatever, all this stuff, right? And then there's a point when you then decide, okay, I'm ready to teach this. Which is when people started the startup podcast challenge in my group right now. So my other group, cuz they're ready to teach the thing that they just went through. So if you look at even do the thing and you've been through all of it, so you kind of know it was a singles group was the beginning of my timeline, which was like my divorce to like dating again. And then all of a sudden, okay, I'm feeling good now, I'm ready to do something. And then I'd help people with the start of podcasts and then of kept going on that way. And it's really important to. I was just saying this too, which is so good. This is so perfect. It's because this is so key and it's where everything ties together. It's like whose stuff were you binge watching when you were going through that thing that you want to help people with? And whether it's a product that you have that you're selling, a program that you're doing, it's like whoever that person was, then that's a good space to be around, right? And then you could either collaborate directly with that person or if you're not competing with them, you could just give value to their communities. And it's just such a beautiful more relational way, which is pretty much what we're talking about, right? It's getting out of that. I want something because you have it. We're giving each other both value, which is so cool.

Everything you say is, is spot on. I mean, I don't think through that whole process, but yeah, I mean making that connection, and this isn't business speak, but put out what you hope to receive and don't forget that you're a consumer as well. I mean, so just because you decide to be an entrepreneur doesn't mean you stop being a consumer. Right? So you can't lose touch with that. You really have to put yourself in your customer's shoes and other customers shoes. I have no idea what I was trying to say there, but. So it's all about getting in front of the right people in a myriad of different ways. And we have so many different vehicles. I'm not as active on LinkedIn as I used to be, but I mean companies really leverage that as a tool. I think maybe LinkedIn's never going to be. Well, LinkedIn has its purposes, but I think there's spaces, maybe Facebook discussion groups, Other than your discussion group, you might have to get out and about a little bit. But if you can start to kind of share your tidbits, let's call them and start to build a reputation and have an interaction with people and discussions, then seize that opportunity, send a direct message, go ahead and reach out and try and make that connection. And I always start a conversation from the standpoint of what I can do for you. Actually, no. Because that comes across like I'm trying to sell something. It's what I really like about what you do. And this is what it meant to me. This is how it resonated with me. Here's the connection I see. Personally, I think this connection would work too. And then if you have a few again spreading that spark, spreading that flame, if you have a few other people in the space with similar messages and doing the collaboration thing, I mean, here we are on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, you've done Instagram. I think those are all the tools. Right. Basically for being socially active. Right on cue.

Right on cue. Yeah. Until I do my TikTok challenge.

Oh, boy. But. But you can't just rely on that. You have to get out, get in front of people. And it doesn't even necessarily have to be. This is going back blocking and tackling to some of the earlier challenges, in my opinion. It doesn't even have to directly be related. You don't have to go out specifically for. I'm going out for business networking. Because if you already have your mind made up, then you're going to be disappointed if you don't make any connections. But maybe if you just go out with curiosity to an outing or a group or what have you and try and really learn about people are doing and what people are dealing with, then you may have an opportunity. It takes work because you have to make the connections. But it can even happen in the same room. I was just talking to Sam over there and he does a lot of what you were just talking about. Go ahead and make that handshake right there. And that sets you up again, taking it out of business. But I believe you're paying it forward. You're doing for others what you're hoping people are going to do for you.

Yeah. And it's almost like we're talking about dating too. Right. It's like having no attachment to an outcome and just.

That's it. I'm happy.

It's like, it's like now having no attachment to an outcome. Right. And you're just able to. To see a person be with the person, I don't know, it just feels like it's really similar. In fact, maybe we should do a bumble networking. That was gonna.

Well, those are some social feeds that we have not embarked on yet. Yeah, so is the non attachment to the outcome and people might say, well gosh, then I'm just wasting my time. But you're not because you're developing skills, you're developing confidence, you're developing curiosity. All the things that you want people to come to you for, for whatever offering that you have. So I think it's time well invested and it, it does take time, but it is a lot like. Okay, so you've had, you just said you got off a meeting. I think you probably have 15 meetings a day. But I, I do not go into a meeting without an objective. You have to have an objective of what you hope to get. It keeps you on path. But if you know your subject matter well enough and you have to be a subject matter expert, you need to be able to bounce in and out, backwards and forwards, go to the end, come back to the beginning and not get distracted if somebody takes you down a tangent, you can explore a tangent. A genuine curiosity. But having an objective for a meeting is different from having a structured roadmap or an expectation that you're going to meet that objective. You can have questions prepared and stay away from the yes and no questions. Open ended questions are great, but a genuine curiosity. And then listening, communicating, listening goes with the response. May not be what you expect, but go with it, take it in that direction and then hopefully you can bring it back if there's an opportunity, your actual selling opportunity to try and make an impact on somebody's life. All right.

We're going to say hi to people. So I'm realizing, because this is a different, everything's different with Facebook right now. So it's like got to say hi, Amber. Oh good, I'm good. Glad to see you. Hey, Fern. Hey, Sue. Hi, Benjamin. Oh good. I'm glad you're hearing it clear from Facebook. Hey, Dr. Minnie and Julie and Sarah and Tammy and Jamie and Marsha. And Benjamin said he felt spiritually connected to ancient Chinese yogis when he struck his first warrior pose. That's cool.

Wow. Wow. All right, Benjamin, I think we had to talk here.

That's awesome. And Jamie said, oh, I think this is at the authenticity. She said, I am the best at this. Thank you. Yeah, she said. And then Leah said, Stacy always has such great insights. Authenticity is so valuable and scarce these days. Hey, Lala, Good to see you. Hi, Carmen. Oh, Carmen's been binging on my channel. And then. Oh, she. She's saying, I can't compete with Amazon. I'd love to go there in a minute too, with him. That's good. And then sue said, so funny how once we've solved our challenges, it could be hard to remember what they were. That's so true, Sue. That is so right.

You get so far removed from it that. That you forget how hard it was. Or. Or, you know.

Yeah, yeah. It's so true. Because. Yeah, you just totally. And that's why I'm just having this moment of this is why this. I have this in my program, have this wheel exercise that people do, and it's got the timeline and all that stuff, and we're finding out who's been on our quest. And that's why it's so hard because you. You forget that you were even that person. Right. Because now you're helping. This is. You're helping the person that you were. Right. And for some people, it could be they were last year. It could be someone they were three years ago. It could be someone there with five years ago. But that's who you're being called to help. But then you got to remember where you were in that space, so then you could serve those communities. So that's actually really. That was really interesting. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, to me, the antithesis of that. And this is a wide ranging generalization, but how many of us grew up playing sports thinking we were pretty good? And maybe there's another level, and then maybe there's another level. And the truth of the matter is Only less than 1% of the human race is pro athlete material. But the biggest complaint that I see, there are some genuinely good people, professional athletes, but the overreaching, I think kind of vibe you get is they got this big paycheck and they forgot where they came from. And again, that's a big generalization. But I really appreciate the athletes that do really get it in that they need to give back. And even in our own little ways, just because you remind yourself of where you came from doesn't mean you have to dwell on it and. And obsess about it. How challenging was or how difficult. Spin that. That was my innovation. That was my motivation. There's a positive aspect to it.

So good. So good. And then, oh, Neil said. He totally agrees. And Amari said, I don't know if I have a product. I have a skill set getting people to talk, and I like to use it how do I leverage this if I don't have something to sell yet? So what's great about that, Anne Marie, is you have a podcast. I'm almost positive it's about this life. About this life. And so when you have a podcast that is something you're able to use, that's a starting point. So I'd love to hear what you think, Mike. But when you have something that you're able to have people share, that's such a good starting point to be able to grow. Right. And you do that through what we're talking about with these collaboration partners. It's now going for maybe someone that inspired you, that has a higher reach, because when you're able to interview them on your podcast, that naturally grows your podcast. Because now they're going to share their episode with somebody else.

Right. With their followers.

Their followers, which immediately. I know when you got me with Dating with Katie, I mean, I at least had, I think 15, 15 to 20 new people that joined my group after that. Right. So it's like once you're kind of connected with someone who has.

I told two friends. They told two friends the old hair commercial. I mean, it does work. I don't know Emery's podcast. I mean, is it her objective to actually come up with a product? I mean, her skill set is the product. So, I mean, I don't know all the math on podcasts and what have you, but before you can make that something that you're selling, it's got to reach a certain following, I think.

Yeah.

And there's opportunities for advertisements and sponsorships and things along those lines. But surround yourself with what are the other podcasts that you listen to? Are they advertising? What are they talking about? Not that you're copying, but if there's something that needs to be explored, then go find that guest, that next guest that's going to help you explore it. And without knowing the details, I can't.

And just without going too. Yeah. And she's a teacher, so she has so many things she could end up doing. Right. With connecting the dots. So what I'll probably do for you, Amari, I have a really good live that we did with Greg Johnson through the audience Accelerator program, where he helped them see how to create an offer through an audience. And so I think that could apply to you, because it's the matter of once you've tapped into who your person is that you want to help, where on the timeline they're at, then the product kind of comes naturally. That's pretty much what You've seen me do Mike in the last couple years. Right. Or Pamela. Funny. She's like, every time I wake up from a nap, I have a new challenge I'm starting. I think you had a similar feeling. Not me. Yeah. Which now it's a new group Now, I like that it's a new group, but. Yeah, but it came from. None of it came from me. It all came from you guys. Right. You joined. You told me why.

Yeah, but you see it. I mean, you. You. Yeah, you see that thread, and then you tug on it.

Yeah, well, like, it's kind of like even the dating challenge, when I first did that, I thought people were going to want help with flirting and this and that, and it turned out everyone just wanted to make friends and they wanted to be happy again and not be so depleted and exhausted with the dating app. Right. And so then that was the direction. Now, this next dating challenge that I'm doing, I'm. That's why I was excited to talk to Dating with Katie, because I'm thinking of actually having dating be a part of it, because I feel like everyone's graduated to the point where we're ready. We're ready to actually do the thing with dating.

Are we talking about matchmaking here?

Mean.

Because it's hard to snap your fingers and have a date. But anyway, so all right, back to business.

Stay tuned for that. Emory said, cool beans. Okay, good. And then let's see. Oh, Julie. Yeah, Julie's also. She's got the podcast Hidden Gifts. Man, we have such amazing people in this group. It's so good. So tell me, what would be a way. So let's say they remember the person that they binge watch their stuff, or they inspired them and this is the thing that they're wanting to either talk about. For some of you that don't know what you're wanting to sell yet, but for others of you that have something clear that you're wanting to sell. So someone that you've watched at the time and that your offer or the person you want to help is directly aligned with that, how would we help them with that person? Like you mentioned, even Lori at Shark Tank, maybe sometimes you wouldn't approach Lori directly. You might go this other way. But what would be just kind of a general. Just idea. Not general idea, but intuitively even for them to do at this point?

Well, I mean, I'm not sure I have a really good answer to that. I mean, there's only so many ways to get in touch with people. I think you have to have your name show up in front of people as often as possible. So that doesn't mean sending a spam email to their info at Dating with Katie or whatever. But if they do have a discussion group commenting on podcasts, I mean, I haven't done it a whole lot, but I mean, do the podcast authors even read the comments and the feedback on the podcast? Because you can comment on podcasts. I mean, I've done that. Actually, I did that on Katie's podcast.

So when you first reached out to her, was it an Instagram message or was it. How did you.

It wasn't Instagram. I mean, I've listened to her podcast and follow her on Instagram. So there's so many different vehicles. And look, I mean, that was a sweet spot because the podcast that I actually listened to, she said, At 100 podcasts, I'm going to do something different, so be on the lookout. We're going to change the format. And I said, bang. Why not? This other person I know does a bunch of podcasts. Why not put them in touch with each other? So there aren't only so many vehicles. I mean, again, you can't pick up the phone. But it's okay to be a fan. You don't have to start selling something right away. Right. You can just comment, give positive feedback, and then if they see a couple of messages from you, then maybe that one message that you do send will get the appropriate attention. It is like dating. Not every message is returned, so you can't have an expectation. Again, not getting attached to the outcomes. Right. I mean, this. Nothing in life is foolproof. You just. You pick your spots and you take your chances. And I've been. I've been pretty. I've been pretty lucky so far.

Yeah. When you reached out to Katie, do you remember what you said, what your message was?

I. I don't remember exactly. It was along the lines of I had sent her previous messages. I appreciate this feedback. I like the way you talk about this. I align with this. And then I sent her a message that said, hey, I have a friend. She runs a podcast and she does these dating challenges. And I think it'd be really cool if the two of you had a conversation to see if there might be some kind of collaboration. So the common thread there was obviously the dating and also knowing that she wanted to expand what she was doing to go. And you were also looking forward to expanding what you wanted to do. So again, that was a confluence that just really came together all at once. But the only Way to set yourself up for that is to immerse yourself in somebody else's business. I mean, that's kind of what you have to do.

What's so cool about that? I'm actually thinking of this is for actually all the three recent people that you've referred me to. It's so interesting when I think about it, because it just came up is. So when you connected me with Katie, originally I went on Instagram, right. And you've helped me. Mike was great because I was really uncomfortable going live on Instagram like I am now with an interview. So he helped me. He was my safety net. And he came on with me that morning and we did a pre interview. And then by the time I did her interview at all, I figured it out good, which was great. And it was such a cool interview. I think there were hundreds of people there too. And I'm not even. I have an Instagram following, but it's not where I live. I live more on Facebook. And so it was a lot of her people, so it was really cool.

And then I'm not a social media expert, but the Instagram lives will automatically show up at the top on people's Instagram feeds, and you can see when they're acting. So it's right there. Now, of course, Facebook sends the notifications, but there's a couple of extra steps that you have to go. So. And we know they're owned by the same company. It's very similar.

And so what was so cool, though, is then because I was out of my comfort zone going on live with her, then she was like, okay, I'll come in Facebook with you. And she was then going out of her comfort zone coming in Facebook. And then on that live, we talked about maybe even doing a challenge together when I do the next dating challenge or when her book comes out in the fall. And so it was really exciting just to kind of see how we're able to now collaborate. Right. This isn't like, Mike just didn't set this up. This up sounds weird, but I'm not quarterbacking. Yeah, right.

I, I, I set the table, you know, the platter. And you guys, you guys run with it. I don't need to be involved.

And then I've got another. Hold on. Another one. We got Kevin, who Mike read this book, which I highly recommend. This book, Dating, Dating with Full Deck. And where I met Kevin through Mike. I don't know how. Do you want to share how you connected this one, how you got.

So, so here's the indirect Connection. I go to yoga. I love the community as much for the. For the exercise and the practice, but it's the people that are there. And my yogi is friends with the author, so she brought him in to do a book review at the yoga studio. And I'm just like, yeah. And he talked about the book for an hour, and I had half a dozen questions I didn't get to ask. So I'm like, well, would you like to talk to a bigger audience and look, you know a little bit about Kevin by now?

Yeah.

I mean, you just never know. I mean, Kevin's got a movie coming out. He's written five books, three screenplays. Katie has over 30,000 followers. I mean, how did she stop in her day to say, well, I'm going to answer this idiot's question and then. And then agree to make a connection, so don't be. I don't want to say, don't look at the numbers, but don't let the statistics, like, they're just people I love. They're just. And. And it's really. It's really on them. If they're authentic about their business and what they're trying to do and you can relate to it, then they're going to respond, hopefully.

Totally. And then the other thing, too. So now with Kevin, he came in the community. He was amazing. We even talked about doing a book club around his book, potentially during the dating challenge. And then I went on his podcast. And then. Oh, I connected him to someone. I won't share. Who, just in case, I don't know, but someone really great. That's amazing. And he even called me to thank me for the connection. And so this is what it comes. Right? It's so cool. And then Rosanna, you call her Ro.

But I. Yeah, Rosanna.

Rosanna was somebody with the whole. She does all these amazing single events, right? Singles events. And then Mike connected her to me. She came in live in the group. I ended up connecting her with someone else. So it's like this. It's a thing I'm just remembering now. I connected her to it. Founder of Shut up and Write. I think it's fine. Where they have locations all over. And I'm like, oh, it'd be cool if you could see what his model is, talk to him and see if that's something you could do. And I don't know what's going to happen, but it's fine because we're just giving. It's like a give give. It's not give take. It's Give, give. Right. It's.

It's reciprocal energy.

That's it. Reciprocal energy, Mike. I love that.

Yeah. Again, give what you want, not what you expect, but give it freely. And I do believe that it'll be paid back.

Yeah. And so when you asked Kevin, was it similar, or do you remember what was like just to kind of help them kind of?

Well, yeah. I mean, even though his book isn't. I mean, despite the title, it's more about relationships than it is just about dating specifically. And there's a lot of psychology in it, but he gives it a human aspect, not a scientific aspect. And, of course, his own personal. So after the conversation, after his book review, I just immediately just said, hey, look, I have a friend who does a couple of podcasts. We've done some work together on Facebook around relationships and dating. I really think that the community would really appreciate hearing what you have to say. So you're almost pumping their ego a little bit. I'd like to get you some more exposure. So this is going to be good. This could be good for you.

Okay, let's check in. Okay.

So.

Oh, Benjamin, this is referring to the dating challenge. I figure that when the right girl finds me, she will let me know. And then let's see Sue. Oh, sue with the killer idea. She said, ooh, when they email the podcast person. When they email you about the new episodes. Right back. That's how sue just got a really great, awesome. Her group.

Yeah, I like that.

Mild. Yeah. And she just got an amazing expert on today that she got to.

Especially when you get the emails that you can respond to that. Don't say, please don't respond to this email. It's an automatic block.

That's another good point, Mike. It's almost figuring out where their platform is. Right? Because if someone's reaching out to me on Instagram or LinkedIn, I'm not as likely to respond. Whereas they're in my group and they're messaging me. Although my messages have been a little bit crazier lately. But messaging me, that would be my platform, right? Or email is probably my best way. Just FYI, for anyone that is going to message me now. But anyway, yeah, so that's really good. And then Anne Marie said, I would like to connect to Kevin because of his podcast, he works with quotes and English teachers dreams. Oh, I'm gonna connect you, Anne Marie. That would be great. That would be so good. And then. Oh, win, win. Yes. I love that.

Yes.

Yeah, that's it. Right?

I love that. Yep. That's good. Stuff.

So how was it, Mike?

Wait, it's over. Okay.

I'm telling you, it was.

It was. It was. It was good. It was good. I'm. I'm curious now. I. You and I communicated. You've got a lot of things going on. We all have a lot of things going on. So you just got to kind of lean in and. And leap in and see what happens. Have a few laughs and a few smiles and. And spend a little time with some people. So it's all good stuff you had. There was one comment about competing with Amazon.

Oh, thank you. Yes, yes, yes. That was. Yes. Let me just find it, because you're right. I wanted to go back there. Okay. Kimmy, good to see you. Oh, Carmen. She said she can't compete with Amazon. I think she's selling on Amazon right now. And. Yeah, yeah.

I don't know how you do it. I mean, well, this is another discussion. Right? But I mean, the monopolies have maybe done a little bit more harm than good. So maybe reframe it. It's not competing with Amazon. It's how do you get along with. How do you.

On Shopify.

Yeah. Because you can't spend your energy and your bandwidth fighting what the status quo is. I hate the word. I don't like the word status quo, but you know what I mean. I mean, everybody is on Amazon and the algorithms are crazy. And it's the same thing with social media. We're only seeing what the social media companies want us to see based on your activity levels. So make your own activity level, make yourself known, get out there and make an impact on other people's podcasts or discussion groups or whatever, and you'll have a chance to share your light.

Yeah, that's a really good point. Yeah. Carmen, you could go in the do the Thing collaboration network group and just mention what you do and see if there's anyone that would like you to come on their podcast, because that's a good way to get it going too. Oh, Amber said she loved that, Mike. That's so good. And Vicki joined Facebook. She said, this has been great. I left YouTube and came into Facebook. So, yeah, it was so good. Because, Mike, I kind of share what you shared with me right before the thing with the. Sure, yeah, Mike. Like, you know, I have no formula for this. I don't know, like, what are we going to talk about? And I'm just like, this is exactly what I want. And put in the comments if you guys agree. This is literally the perfect thing, I think, for everyone to use here is that we don't need a script, we don't need a process, we don't need a system. We just need to be human beings and get back into what do we like, who do we like listening to and connecting to them on this really human level. Right. And that's what it is. And it's. It's just going back to the most fundamental thing that we could all do. And it's like what you said in the beginning. It's. And I didn't connect it together. That's why I care so much about this. There's only so much I can do. Right. We've got to all just, like, have this more be something. So we get back to this. These principles that are really matter in the world. Soapbox.

So there you go. Soapbox. All right. All right. That was nice. People took time out of their day, so I appreciate it.

Yeah. Do you want to share any final thoughts there?

Nothing's coming top of mind right now. I think I shared all my nuggets or at least I'll remember something five minutes from now. But that's okay.

How about this? How about. Well, number one, how does it feel just saying yes? Because you said yes, but not. You said yes to the challenge. You said yes to all the things. Right. Champion challenges all these things. And then recently I had you come in, live in the singles community, and we got to do this. Like, you helped me with the reopening of that kind of group where you came there, you said yes to this. And just how does that feel? Just to kind of step up.

I haven't seen the viewership statistics or the feedback yet, so I'm going to reserve judgment. It goes way back for when we first met. Talking is natural to me. So it sounds pretty obvious, but you're right. Just saying yes. I mean, I think when you ask me a question, my first response is always yes. And then maybe I try and back out of it, give you a chance to talk me off the ledge. But, yeah, it's a little uncomfortable sometimes, the unknown. But if you're out there trying to promote your business, you're offering your skills, you're dealing with a bunch of people that are uncomfortable for one reason or another. And if you want to help them, then you have to be willing to be a little kind of off balance every once in a while. So why not say yes? Why not?

And okay, one little piece of thing that they could do tomorrow that could help them with this whole topic and what we're talking about. What would Be one thing.

I should know better than that by now. I don't want more things. Wow, look at that. Look at the time. You can tell I'm buying time. One more thing.

Well, let's say they only people get overwhelmed if it's a lot of stuff. So sure. Then listed anything and this was the one thing. What would be like you would do this or it could be something new. It could be the same thing, but something tomorrow. What would be your today? What would be something good to do the thing today?

I. I would search out a new podcast, somebody else's voice either around your subject matter or something along those lines and give it a lesson. And give it more than one lesson. Or if you have a. I mean, you can also look for the business people or the health care people that you admire and maybe search their name on a podcast and see when they've had an opportunity to talk. Yeah.

Good. I love it. Thank you so much, Mike. You're awesome. I really appreciate you being here and.

Trying to get it in there, you know.

Yeah.

Okay. All right.

Thanks for joining. So good to see you all. And don't forget, tomorrow, 8 o' clock Pacific Standard Time. I've got the founder of Pod Match. I cannot pronounce the last name, I don't think. Let me try it. Alex San Filippo. All right, you guys, thank you so much for joining and do the Thing. Don't wait for opportunity credit. Bye.

See ya.

Thanks for listening to the do the Thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. But even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the Thing. Do you have a burning question on Doing the Thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message and at do the Thing callcast co or email us@helloothing podcast.com.