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2d • General discussion
Set the Intention: Build Relationships, Not Just a Client List
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about relationships in business. Not networking for the sake of collecting contacts. Not entering every conversation wondering, “Could this person become a client?” Not treating people like leads moving through a funnel. I mean intentionally building real relationships. Because I believe one of the greatest mistakes we can make in entrepreneurship is trying to build alone.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.” — Ecclesiastes 4:9.
In business, that can look like collaboration. It can look like accountability. It can look like wise counsel. It can look like a referral. It can look like someone mentioning your name in a room you didn’t even know existed. And sometimes…it can look like a blessing you never saw coming.
Two Are Better Than One
Collaboration can create opportunities that neither person could create alone. Your strengths may complement someone else’s gaps. Their audience may need your expertise. Your community may benefit from their wisdom. The question is not always: “What can I get from this person?” Sometimes the better question is: “What might we create, solve, or serve together?”
Entrepreneurship Can Be Lonely
You can be surrounded by people and still feel alone when no one around you truly understands what it means to build something from nothing. That is why accountability relationships matter. Find someone who will ask: “Did you do what you said you were going to do?” Someone who will celebrate the small wins. Someone who understands the fear, the uncertainty, the pivots, the courage—and the calling. You do not have to carry every part of entrepreneurship alone.
Operating in a Vacuum Can Be Dangerous
Sometimes we are too close to our own ideas to see clearly. We can convince ourselves that an offer is brilliant. That a message is clear. That a strategy is working. That we should keep pushing. Or that we should quit.
“Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” — Proverbs 15:22.
Seek wise counsel. Not from everyone. But from people with wisdom, experience, discernment, and the courage to tell you what you may not want to hear.
Give Back What You’ve Been Given
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.” — Luke 12:48.
Someone helped you, answered your question, opened a door, taught you something, encouraged you when you were unsure or saw something in you before you fully saw it in yourself. So, who are you helping? Who are you encouraging? Who are you making a little room for? We are not blessed simply to accumulate. We are blessed to become a blessing.
The Person You Meet May Never Become Your Client
And that does not make the relationship less valuable. They have a network. They know people you do not know. They sit in rooms you are not in. They hear conversations you never hear. They may never buy from you—but six months from now, someone may describe a problem and they may say: “You know who you should talk to?”
“A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” — Proverbs 18:16.
Your gift can travel into rooms before you do. Your name can be spoken in places you have never entered. Your expertise can be recommended in conversations you never hear. But that kind of advocacy is rarely created by aggressively trying to convert every conversation into a sale. It is created through trust. Steward your relationships well. Serve with excellence. Allow people to genuinely experience your gifts. You never know where God may make room for you.
Showcase Excellence Even When You Are Not Being Paid
I believe in letting people experience your excellence. Not giving away everything. Not overextending yourself. Not working for free indefinitely. But when you show up—show up well. Be thoughtful and prepared. Share the insight. Ask the good question. Make the introduction. Send the resource. Offer the perspective.
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” — Luke 6:38
I do not believe this means we give in order to get. I believe it means we can live and lead from a posture of generosity rather than scarcity. Give wisdom, encouragement, excellence, and support. Give what God has placed in your hands to give. People remember excellence, generosity, and how you showed up when there was no invoice attached. And when people consistently experience your wisdom, generosity, integrity, and follow-through, trust begins to grow. Sometimes what comes back will be business. Sometimes it will be a referral. Sometimes it will be an introduction. Sometimes it will be an opportunity. Sometimes it will simply be the knowledge that you helped someone move forward. But we do not always get to determine the form of the harvest. We simply choose what kind of seeds we are willing to sow.
Offer Something of Value Without Trying to Convert the Conversation
Every conversation does not need a CTA. Yeah. I said it. Sometimes the next step is simply: “I thought of you when I saw this.” “Here’s the resource I mentioned.” “I’d love to introduce you to someone.” “This may help with the problem you described.” “I’m cheering for you.”
A relationship can be worth far more than one sale. Years ago, while I was working on my doctorate, I gave of myself to a classmate. I was not trying to network. I was not trying to position myself for an opportunity. I was not thinking about ROI. I simply helped. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I got a phone call. A phone call that made me put down my dissertation and prepare for an opportunity that would become the best job I ever had. A job where I would eventually become a partner and eventually sit on the Board. I could not have strategically engineered that path. I could not have predicted the return. I did not give because I knew what would come back to me. I gave because, in that moment, I had something to give. And even now, people will sometimes tell me about something I said or did that impact their lives. And the funny thing is…Sometimes I don’t even remember doing it.
That humbles me. Because it reminds me that we do not always know which seed will grow. We do not always know which conversation matters. We do not always know who is watching. We do not always know who will remember. We do not always know how God will use a small act of generosity, encouragement, excellence, wisdom, or service.
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” — Galatians 6:7
So perhaps the intention is not: “How many clients can I get from my relationships?”
Perhaps the intention is: “How can I steward relationships well?” Show up open, curious, willing to give, with excellence, and without trying to force every interaction into a transaction. Plant good seeds. Build genuine relationships. Serve people well. And trust God with the harvest. Because sometimes the seed you plant today becomes the door you never could have opened for yourself.
Which relationship do you want to practice more intentionally?
1️⃣ Collaborate
2️⃣ Find accountability
3️⃣ Seek wise counsel
4️⃣ Give back
5️⃣ Build beyond the sale
6️⃣ Showcase excellence
7️⃣ Offer value freely
Drop the number below—and tell us why. Then, here’s the real challenge: Reach out to one person today with no agenda other than to strengthen the relationship. No pitch, funnel, conversation, or strategy; just connection. Because with PurposeFlow™ here, we cultivate connections, not transactions.
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Set the Intention: Build Relationships, Not Just a Client List
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