The Business of Being Human: How Relationships Actually Drive Growth

What came through in our recent Backroom wasn’t some magic trick reserved for extroverts or industry darlings. It was actually a little more annoying than that, because the answer is both simpler and harder: the people who are best at building business through relationships tend to do a handful of very human things, over and over again, with real consistency.

This session brought together Charlotte Mustard of IMW Group, alongside [Kali Sudbrook of Beachside Custom Gyms], [Mark Wille of The Build Show], and [Dan Edelman of PowerWool Insulation], which meant we had a room full of people known for knowing everybody. The kind of people you see at an event and somehow, impossibly, they’ve already hugged six people, made two introductions, solved a problem, and gotten invited into something interesting before you’ve even found the coffee.

What made the conversation worth having is that none of them talked about networking like it was a strategy deck. No one was preaching funnels or follow-up sequences or “leveraging visibility” in the soulless LinkedIn way. They were talking about relationships the way most people actually experience them: as trust, curiosity, generosity, memory, timing, and showing up again after the first conversation.

A big theme was that what looks natural is often repeatable. So much of this can feel like instinct when you’re watching someone who’s good at it, but underneath that instinct are habits other people can absolutely borrow.

A few things came up again and again:

• They listen for understanding, not for their turn to talk. Real listening came up more than once, and it may be one of the most underrated business skills in the room. It tells people they matter. It gives you better information. It builds trust fast.

• They make thoughtful introductions. Not random networking-for-networking’s-sake, but real, considered connections between people, products, opportunities, and projects that actually make sense together.

• They stay in touch in small, human ways. A quick note after someone’s podcast. A compliment on a post that was especially good. A message when a product, article, trip, or event makes you think of them. Nothing flashy. Just consistent.

• They care about fit. Not every person belongs in your circle. Not every collaboration is a good one. Not every opportunity deserves a yes. A relationship-first business is not built by saying yes to everyone. It’s built by knowing what belongs together and what doesn’t.

Charlotte grounded the conversation in her own experience of building IMW almost entirely on relationships, realizing over time that what felt instinctive could actually be broken down into repeatable habits. Kali talked about entering the industry later and knowing she had to accelerate trust quickly if she wanted to be in the right rooms. For her, relationships weren’t optional. They were the path in. Dan shared how he’s moved roles and companies but kept the same core relationships because those people were never just “accounts.” They became real friendships built on education, collaboration, and being useful. Mark, as expected, put language to something a lot of people feel but don’t articulate well: the power of introductions, attention, and making people feel seen in a way that goes deeper than surface-level industry chatter.

What also came through loud and clear is that relationships create ROI all the time, even when you can’t always spreadsheet it neatly.

Sometimes a relationship gets you in the room faster. Sometimes it turns into a collaboration with a bigger budget. Sometimes it brings more eyes to your content, more credibility to your message, or better information about who to trust and who to avoid. Sometimes it saves time, which matters more than people think. When people understand how you work and what you stand for, you do not have to start from zero every time.

That was true in the room too. Everyone had examples of relationships leading directly to business growth, referrals, new opportunities, stronger visibility, or long-tail wins they never could have predicted when the connection first started. The point wasn’t that every conversation needs a business goal attached to it. The point was almost the opposite. The strongest returns often come from the relationships you built before you needed anything.

There was also a lot of honesty around generosity and boundaries. Everyone in this conversation is naturally inclined to help, which is part of why they’ve built the relationships they have. But generosity without boundaries is just burnout with better branding. The panel didn’t pretend that balance is always clean. What they did offer was a pretty useful filter: protect your energy, pay attention to reciprocity, and remember that not every ask deserves access.

If someone wanted to build a relationship-first business from scratch, this conversation gave a pretty solid starting point. Ask good questions. Pay attention to what excites people. Follow up when something reminds you of them. Make introductions. Compliment good work. Share useful information without always attaching a pitch. Be willing to stay for the conversation after the conversation. A lot of the real stuff happens there.

Nothing in this Backroom was flashy, which is probably why it felt true. Although, to be fair, with four people whose entire personalities revolve around relationships, this might have been the most animated Backroom we’ve hosted. The people who are best at this are not performing connection. They are practicing it. Repeatedly. Intentionally. In ways that feel human first and strategic second, even though the business results are very real.

That’s probably the biggest takeaway. Relationship-building is not fluff. It’s not a soft skill for people who just happen to be social. Done well, it is one of the sharpest business tools in the room. It just happens to look a lot like being a decent, curious, trustworthy person who follows through.