His Former Boss Later Became His Employee

Sometimes you just have to pay to be in the right places and never burn bridges, because the business world is small. The person who was your boss years ago may end up working for you. I have seen it happen. I have lived versions of it. Reputation compounds slower than revenue and faster than you think.

Networking is effort, and it is worth it

I love networking even when it drains me. I have flown to Miami, Texas, and other cities for events where I knew powerful people, prospects, or mentors might be in the room. It is after hours. It is out of my comfort zone. It is always effort. It is also worthwhile, because without the network you cannot build a business. That is what I found.

There is rarely one person who makes everything possible. There are dozens of small introductions that stack. A spearfishing acquaintance put my name in at an MSP where I learned the business model that shaped my later work. Relationships from that job became clients when I started on my own. Each layer was unglamorous. Together they were structural.

Do not optimize for the transaction

The founders who win long term are not always hunting the next deal. They are building so that when someone from their past resurfaces, the interaction starts from trust, not from zero. I write about this distinction in what I learned from founders who sold for $100M+: relationship-focused operators compound differently from transaction-focused hunters.

That means treating people well when you have nothing to gain. It means following up when there is no invoice attached. It means the LinkedIn comment you leave today may matter more than the pitch deck you send next quarter. See why your comments matter as much as your posts.

Consistent posting makes you legible to people from your past

Your LinkedIn feed is a long memory. People scroll back. They check whether your story is consistent. They notice if you only show up when you need something. Publishing specific stories from your work, consistently, makes you legible to people who knew you years ago and to people who never met you but feel like they have.

SparkVox helps because the barrier to showing up is lower. You capture a recording after a meeting or milestone, review drafts, publish. The relationship work still happens in person. The visibility work does not have to wait for a free weekend to write.

Build relationships for a timeline longer than this quarter

Act like everyone you meet will matter later, because many of them will. The world is small enough that your former boss can become your employee, your intern can become your investor, and the person you helped for free can open a door you did not know existed. Build for that timeline, not just this quarter's pipeline.