Beyond Business Cards

Beyond Business Cards: The True Heart of Networking

Deborah Meaden once said, “Networking is about building relationships until you need them.”

It’s a good definition. But I’d like to take us even further.

Because I believe networking, done well, is not just about relationships you bank for later.

Networking, true networking, is about being remembered with warmth and certainty in rooms you may never enter. It’s about other women saying your name when you’re not there, because they’ve felt your integrity, your energy, and your humanity.

It’s about being part of something that moves lives, not just sales.

And I want to be very clear: that is not how most people were taught to network.

The Old Model: Transaction First

For years, “networking” meant this:

• You put on your best ‘business’ version of yourself.

• You walk into a room full of strangers.

• You hand out business cards.

• You deliver a 60-second pitch.

• You politely ask what everyone does.

• You hope that someone, somewhere, will send you a client.

That model trains you to treat a room like a marketplace.
You’re essentially thinking, even if you don’t say it out loud:
Who here can buy from me, or introduce me to someone who might?

It’s surface. It’s rushed. It’s extractive.
And honestly? It’s exhausting.

That style of networking can leave women feeling like they’re constantly “on,” constantly selling, constantly trying to prove they’re worth referring.

No wonder so many women say “I hate networking.”

Because in that old model, connection is a tactic.

The New Model: Connection First

What we’re doing now, what we’ve inside Athena, is different.

In this model:

• You are allowed to show up as a whole human, not just a job title.

• You’re not under pressure to “perform.”

• You can talk about what you care about, what you’re building, what you’re calling in, not just what you sell.

• You listen to other women with the intention to support, not the intention to convert.

And something beautiful happens when women gather like that:

We don’t just exchange information.
We create movement.

During our recent LEGACY event, I asked everyone in the room a question:

What would you truly LOVE to create in your life”?

Not, “What’s your next offer?”
Not, “Who’s your ideal client?”
Not, “What’s your Q4 target?”

What would you LOVE, if there were no barriers?

Two women, sitting side by side, without discussing it, both wrote down a version of the same desire:

They wanted to be more involved in rescuing dogs.

One of them, Sophie Watson, was in a tender place. She and her husband, Stu, had lost their two beloved dogs within the last eighteen months. Their home felt too quiet. Their hearts were ready, but they hadn’t yet found the right way to welcome another dog.

Another woman in the room, Julie Eltham, stood up and shared that her daughter was working closely with a charity that had just rescued over 25 puppies. These dogs were now safe, but they desperately needed foster homes, ideally ones that might become forever homes.

In that instant, something clicked.

Because Sophie had said her truth out loud …
Because Julie was in the room to hear it …
Because both felt safe enough to speak …

Sophie and Stu are now fostering a rescued puppy named Morpheus (Morph), a gorgeous little soul who has brought warmth, softness, and new joy back into their home. 🐾

That is networking.

Read that again.
That is networking.

“But That’s Not Business …”

Now here’s where the old model and the new model part ways completely.

In the old world of networking, someone might say:

“Well that’s lovely, but it’s not exactly a business lead, is it?”

In our world, we say:

“That is the point.”

Because here is the truth most people miss:

When women feel deeply seen, supported, championed and safe in a space, they do more business, not less.

They refer each other more naturally.
They recommend, without being asked.
They talk about you behind your back (in the best possible way).
They say, “You need to meet her,” and they mean it.

Trust is the engine of referral.
Belonging is the container that creates trust.

So yes, the outcome in this story was not “I got a new client.”
It was “We opened our home and our hearts again.”

And that matters.

Because what we’re building is not a room where you pitch.
It’s an ecosystem where you are held.

Why Are You Really There?

As you walk into your next networking space, whether it’s Athena, or somewhere else, I’d love you to ask yourself a different kind of question.

Not:

“How many leads can I get today?”

But:

• Who am I brave enough to be in this room?

• What do I actually want, not just professionally but in my life?

• Where do I need support that I haven’t dared to voice?

• Who could I quietly champion today, just because I can?

Because sometimes the most powerful thing that happens at a networking event is not a pitch … it’s a promise.

Sometimes it’s not,

“Here’s my card,”

but,

“I know someone who can help.”

Sometimes it’s not,

“Let me tell you what I do,”

but,

“Let me hold that desire with you until it becomes real.”

That is modern networking.
That is women in their power.
That is legacy.

Your Invitation This Week

Here’s what I’d love you to do this week, just one action:

Reach out to one woman in your network and ask her,

“What are you calling in right now?”

Not “How’s business?”
Not “Got anything for me?”
But “What would you love, if you couldn’t fail?”

And then listen.

Really listen.

Because when we move from transaction to devotion, we stop “working the room”…

…and we start changing lives in it.