Can you share a bit about who you are and what you speak about?
I’m Michael Forman. I am married to April, a beautiful woman. I have two children, Matt and Josh. I’m a veteran of Desert Storm from the Air Force. I’ve since been my own boss, I’ve owned pizzerias, restaurants, graphic design studios and I was in the mortgage industry as a Sales Manager. I was in the law field as a Sales Director, so I got the ability to see what it’s like to network in various ways. Everything that I’ve done to date helped me do what I do now which is help professionals network and communicate more effectively and efficiently, thus creating more profit.
What was happening or not happening in your speaking business that made you say yes to The Speaker Lab?
I’ve been speaking for about 10 years, on and off stages, but not professionally. My speaking business was at a standstill. I had no clear direction. No clear way of doing things. About a year and a half ago, I really wanted to go out onto stages and speak about networking and communication.
I looked at a hundred different places, a hundred different opportunities, and everybody says they have the best thing, “Oh, you gotta come with me. I’ll get you $10,000 every time you speak,” but I looked at how they were going to back up those claims.
Enter TSL and Grant Baldwin. It was easy and simple with guidance. I saw Grant speak and I started reading about him. I read reviews and everything, and it was all really good. I decided: I’m gonna make the next step, I’m gonna place the call. And that’s where Dr. Reggie Wright came in as my Enrollment Adviser. He was a professional basketball player. He was a police officer. I was a cop in the military, so we immediately found common ground. And he told me like it was, “Look, they’re gonna give you everything that you need to get started and, and go on from that point on, but you have to do the work. Nothing is easy.”
I made the step and started in late March, and I took 2 weeks to go through the course…I put in about eight or nine hour days and that’s just for the speaking business part.
Now about the support that I have received. Once I got involved, I loved all of your emails, and all the support because that told me I’m not alone – I’m not doing this by myself every step of the way. Plus the coaching calls and everything else, I felt so supported. I have a coaching call with Nanette next week. She always says, “Forget about everything. What are you working on? Let me help you with that.” That is so refreshing to hear.
Now, I am about to launch my own podcast and I’m already starting on a digital course for networking and communication.
So you’re already on the scaling part, it sounds like. It sounds like you were coming to us uplevel the speaking you were already doing ’cause you had been doing it for a while, but you were maybe needing some organization?
I’m not starting at the bottom, but I’m not at the top for sure. I needed help refining how I was doing my speaking, and of course getting the speaking engagements. Prospecting is the number one name of the game. I make sure I do prospecting at least one and a half to two hours per day.
What were some of your aha moments and key takeaways from the SPEAK framework itself?
The aha moment was really once I landed my first speaking gig – things changed 180 degrees. I was like,”Whoa, whoa, whoa, I should have done this. I should have done this. I can do better.” It was a three-hour workshop in Ohio, and I told them how to network and communicate more effectively…It enlightened me to say, “Let me readjust this.”
Then I did a beauty school graduation. They knew how to style hair, but they didn’t know how to talk to customers. They didn’t know how to close the deal. They didn’t know how to communicate. I spoke there and they all had pencil and paper out and were really listening to me…I went in about two weeks later to see if they were implementing everything that I said, and they were all doing what I taught them, so I was very happy with that.
Long story short, I refined who I was speaking to because I originally felt, “Oh, network communication – that’s for everybody.” Wrong. I had to delve into middle management sales directors to sales managers to salespeople. And that’s really where I carved it out.
What have been some of the results you’ve seen? What’s your new normal looking like?
I’m working on the speaking part of it every morning. I have my day carved out to do different things. I’m constantly trying to get to Event Planners, Event Coordinators, and I devote the first two or three hours of the day just for that. And I actually have another Zoom call with an Event Planner because she saw me on LinkedIn and she reached out. So that to me means I’m doing something right!
I realized that I had to have some credibility, because outside of my little area, they don’t know Michael Forman. I had to build my credibility, so I went to podcasts and I was a guest on many podcasts – I’ve been a guest on about 40 podcasts so far…I gained a lot of notoriety through them, so then I said, “You know what? All of this is really good. I’m gonna start my own podcast.” And this was about a month ago, so I’ve been researching about how I’m gonna host it and do it.
I was familiar now with Grant’s podcast, I recently joined my local Chamber of Commerce, and on my way to the Chamber of Commerce, I listen to the new podcast that morning, so each week I hear Grant’s new episode, and it’s always one of his friends or somebody he’s familiar with. He’s very laid back, and he always brings out the important parts. So I’m taking all this in and I’m saying, “I’m gonna do this.” I’ve listened to the last 10 episodes, and they’re really good. Next week I’m gonna start; I have about 20 people I have listed that I want to interview.
Once I get that going, I’m going to do a Digital Course. First it’s gonna be a workshop, and then it’s gonna be like my speaking gig. All of this will help my credentials in being the expert in the field of networking and communications. Also, I’ve been written up in four different magazines. I received an award for being “The Best Networking Communications Expert 2024.” So I use that in my emails and everything else, and all of that has helped me build up my credibility.
An Event Planner that I had a meeting with, she said, “What formal training do you have?” And I said, “The Speaker Lab,” and she goes, “I’ve heard of that.” I told her more about it and she said “It sounds like a really good course.” As far as informal training, I’ve got a hundred of ’em, but the formal training that I had to pay for is The Speaker Lab and I can’t speak highly enough about them.
Who would you recommend to The Speaker Lab and why?
I’ve researched all these groups, talents, whatever, and I made the decision to go with The Speaker Lab. If you want to jump in or just walk your way in, you have so much support and so many different facets where you can ask other students about certain things, you have the concierge, you have the coaches, you have all of this available to you just about any time that you want it.
If you’re gonna go into this, go into it with The Speaker Lab because they give you the most support, and they’ll tell you, right or wrong, “Look, this is a good talk, but you have to refine it or change it just a little bit because you may think you have the best talk in the world, but it may not resonate with other people,” That’s the sort of thing The Speaker Lab will help you define.
As we wrap up, is there anything else you want to share?
I want to thank Grant for creating this. I want him to know that as a professional, I really thank him for getting me started because without The Speaker Lab, I wouldn’t have dipped my toe into the water, so to speak. That’s first and foremost. I want to thank you for your follow up, for your emails, for your posting and everything else. It’s all been important for me to go to the next level.