Networking Is a Strategy, If Done Right

To be honest, I have never been good at working a room.

Not because I'm shy or disinterested in people. The opposite is true. I am deeply interested in people. What they are building, why they started, what keeps them up at night, what they are most proud of. I want to know the real version of a person, not the polished 30-second pitch they have been practicing in the mirror.

That is exactly why traditional networking has always felt like the wrong room for me.

I will remember a great conversation long after any elevator pitch.

If you can walk into a room of 80 strangers, hand out cards, and leave with three hot leads, I genuinely respect that skill! It is just not mine. And more importantly, it is not how I build business relationships that last.

What I have learned after years of entrepreneurship, community building, and creating my own version of a networking event, is this: networking done right is not a social activity. It's a strategy. And like any good strategy, it requires intention, structure, and follow-through.

The Problem With "Mingle and Meet"

Most networking events are built around socializing first and business second.

The format encourages surface-level interaction: a name tag, a handshake, a 60-second exchange, and then someone spots someone else across the room and you are suddenly mid-sentence and alone. Awkward is an understatement!

I understand the appeal of that format for some people. There is energy in it.

The feeling of being connected and visible. But visibility without depth doesn't feel like anything strategic.

When I leave a traditional networking event, most often I won't be able to recall what a single person actually does, what they need, or whether there is any genuine alignment between us. I will barely remember the face that connects to the business card I may have been handed. It's simply not enough to build anything on.

And yet we keep showing up, because we know networking matters. Ugggh!!

Networking Is a Strategy

Networking, when done with intention, is one of the highest-return activities in business. The data is clear:

• 85% of small businesses say word-of-mouth is the #1 way new prospects find them (Small Business Trends)

• 78% of startups say networking is vital to entrepreneurial success (Economist Intelligence Unit via Forbes)

• Warm introductions generate 5–10x higher meeting rates than cold outreach (multiple sales research sources)

The power is not in the room. It is in the follow-up. It is in the relationship that gets built after the event ends. And that relationship only gets built if the initial conversation was real enough to be worth continuing.

You can't collaborate with someone you don't actually know. You also can't refer someone you don't trust.

This Is Exactly Why I Built Small Talks

When I designed the Small Talks format for Made To Grow, I was solving for myself first. I wanted a room that felt safe enough to be real. Structured enough to go deep. Intentional enough to actually produce something worth building on.

The format is simple: structured 1:1 conversations, ten minutes each, with prompts

that move past surface level fast. No pitching. No performing. Just two people actually talking. We initially may like a person, but we need to move it through the know and trust sequence for it to matter.

The feedback has been amazing and many have made authentic connections that led to collaborations.

The essential component to networking as a strategy, is the followup!

Receive my free download here for my personal tips!

Our next Co-Ed SMALL TALKS is in Kelowna on April 29th, seats are limited. Register here and let's utilize networking as a strategy.