A few weeks ago, I sat in my favorite local coffee shop (banana matcha, anyone?) and watched two people share a table. They didn’t talk. Just silently co-worked and occasionally, they shared the charger.
It gave me a little hope.
More often, when I’m in that same coffee shop with my son, I see something different:
A head nod.
A Gen Z handshake
A quick "What’s up, bro?"
Lots of days, he bumps into someone he knows from boxing, school, or a local meet-up. For him and his network, third spaces still work.
They might not be as plentiful as they once were, but when you show up somewhere regularly — a library, a co-working studio, a club, or a cozy cafe — you give yourself the chance to bump into people again and again.
Those bumps are the building blocks we need to build real connection.
But are we as founders doing that enough?
Are we encouraged to?
Does it feel safe?
Worth the effort?
Accessible?
Easy?
We all know most business opportunities are never posted. They happen in the in-between spaces, on the golf courses and in the cigar bars of the world. Or they happen in the DMs after someone saw you speak, at the retreat breakfast table, or at a dinner you almost said no to.
And while yes, some of those doors were never built with everyone in mind, that doesn’t mean we can’t build our own or be the first.
It’s easy to hesitate at the start, the ROI is much clearer in hindsight since we don’t yet know who our buyers and believers are.
But here's what we do know:
Loneliness is rising (especially among women entrepreneurs).
According to the Wordmetrics.org Entrepreneur Burnout Report of 2024:
46% of entrepreneurs struggle with feelings of isolation and loneliness.
31% experience burnout due to a lack of support from friends and family.
39% feel like they have no one to talk to about their stress.
We also know:
Relationship-rich businesses weather market downturns better than transactional ones.
When the high-end market tightens? It’s not ads that save you. It’s actual people.
And according to LinkedIn, 70% of professionals were hired at a company where they had a connection.
Here’s a take we don’t hear often enough: a digital business doesn’t have to be built entirely online. IRL relationships are protection, not procrastimarketing. Nurturing relationships is the closest thing we’ve got to a recession-proof strategy.
So yes, keep showing up with content.
But don’t forget to show up in rooms, to walk into the library, go to the conference, and use the co-working space. Try to see people’s full bodies, not just their faces.
The relationships you tend to now?
They’re the ones that will carry you through the next shift.
~tara
P.S. If you’d like to hear how I use conversations as the most important metric in my own business. Don’t forget to sign up for My Favorite Metric. You can do better than tracking likes. It’s time to start talking to leads.
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