Do you want to know how to build a network that sends you premium clients, press and opportunities you never applied for? I'm an introvert who was painfully shy at school, and I still built a strong network that turned into collaborations across the US and Europe.

In today's episode, I'm sharing why building business relationships begins with being generous and expecting nothing back (despite the online space teaching us otherwise) and how to build trust in business, especially when the value of what you're selling is high.

I'm also naming what most people get wrong about networking for entrepreneurs, because networking doesn't always have to be transactional. This episode is the reframe that will change it for you.

Topics covered on How To Build A Network:

1. Why generosity needs to come first when building business relationships.
2. How is trust built in luxury sales like diamonds?
3. How to position yourself to be remembered every time you walk into a room?
4. An event in Dubai where one woman closed multi six figures in just 2 days.

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The Debrief Telegram group: https://rachelpearson.kartra.com/page/debrief

Resources mentioned: She Sets The Standard: London, Friday 13th November 2026

Related episodes: 21. I Sold 25% of My Event Before Announcing a Single Speaker | Designing Brand Experience Events

Mentioned in this episode:

She Sets The Standard

The room where women who are already extraordinary stop pretending you're available for anything less. Friday 13th November 2026 | Central London

She Sets The Standard

[00:00:42] Welcome to Rich Work, the podcast for established female entrepreneurs ready to turn their expertise into premium clients and consistent high ticket revenue. I'm Rachel Pearson, global brand and business strategist, skincare obsessed, and always distracted by booking the next mini break. Here, you will learn how to position like a luxury brand, attract clients who love to invest, and build wealth that lasts, so you can create the business and life you want, not someone else's version of success.

How to Build a Network That Grows Your Business

You know that phrase, your network is your net worth? I really believe it, and I am getting asked a lot recently about how to build a network that helps you through your career, furthers your business, and opens up opportunities in your personal life that you did not have access to before.

Why Being an Introvert Doesn't Stop You Building Business Relationships

I have always built relationships really well, and I know it is a natural strength of mine. I spend a lot of time on them. But I also think it is important to say that I am an introvert. I would class myself as that now, even though I love socialising and I love hosting.

[00:03:00] And at school I was really shy and got very anxious about speaking publicly, whether that was answering a question in class, speaking in front of the class, or reading something out loud. I would get really worked up about it. I think it is important to say that, because you can be really great at building business relationships and still not feel like the most confident person in the room. You can also be the most confident person in the room and be really great at building relationships. My point is that we just do not need assumptions around what we can and cannot do.

Why Selling Is Always About the Relationship

And I look at how different industries do this. I have spent a lot of time in the hospitality industry, looking at hotels and the way they create loyalty with their clients, their customers and their guests, and it is ultimately through relationships. Loyalty schemes at hotels are relationship building. Pretty much any loyalty scheme is about relationships as well.

But I even think about my husband. We just had our 10 year wedding anniversary, and he bought me a diamond tennis bracelet. It is beautiful, and it is from the same diamonds my engagement ring is from. My wedding ring has the same diamonds. I have a ring for when my first son was born, and I have some diamond studs for when my second son was born. So I give the impression that I am just dripping in diamonds all the time, but I do not wear them all at once. They are a collection. They are special pieces for me of what they represent.

The jeweller my husband gets all these pieces from is the same guy. He is the same guy we have known for years now, and he builds relationships. You look at an industry that is not online at all really and has high net worth clients. It is through relationship building, through taking them to the O2, through knowing about their families.

So when my husband contacted him about getting this tennis bracelet for me, he said, "Oh, I remember," and he had a file about everything we had bought before and how old the children are. He knows all the details, and that is ultimately sales. When people feel that, they feel trust.

Be Generous First and Build Trust Before You Ask for Anything

And so with relationships, I have always focused firstly on being really generous without expecting anything back. I know that can go against what a lot of people will tell you, that you should not do things for free, and there are certain times where I agree with that.

[00:06:01] And I am going to sound out of date when I say this, but we have created this culture in the online space where you ask for something first and you expect to get something. Because everything is so fast, we want fast transactions, we want daily sales, and there is an aspect of how you position and market that means things can happen very quickly.

But when there are bigger relationships, particularly if you are working with corporate clients or you want to work with corporate clients, or you want to position your business differently, then building those relationships is again about building trust in business.

Having that trust in what you do, and knowing what your boundaries are around what you are willing to do and what just makes you feel devalued, is important.

Why Going In Wanting Something Shuts the Relationship Down

[00:07:23] But I did not say, "Oh, I have got an event coming up, would you also be able to share it within your network?" There are times to do that, where you have got an affiliate set up or it is a different type of event. But this lady runs inviting only spaces and dinners. She has got a very similar network to me, so I just look at it as supporting somebody in a similar space, who probably has connections I have as well, who has a good reputation, and who knows where it will lead in the future.

How a Relationship From 5 Years Earlier Landed Me a Head of Marketing Role

[00:08:34] When she was looking for marketing support, he said, "You need to speak to Rachel. She taught me everything about marketing that I know. You need to get in touch with her." Now, I had not spoken to this guy for years, maybe 5, maybe longer, but over the time we had worked together we had a good relationship, and then we went into different companies.

[00:09:23] And I have had multiple opportunities from there where it has been people recommending and referring, and I do not mean referring as in they have just become my client, but saying, "Rachel would be really great to film this with you, or to be on this radio show, or to do this piece of press." It is usually because I have built a really good relationship with that person, and it has not felt like I am just in it to sell to them. That is what I learned from being in the luxury premium space.

How to Introduce Yourself So People Remember You

The thing that is important when you are doing this is that I am not just giving my time out all over the place for free. So whilst I am not making it into a transaction, I also know how to position myself. When I am introduced to somebody, when I am doing something to help somebody out, I know how to introduce myself in a way that gets people intrigued.

[00:10:59] Do you hear how that is a point of intrigue for people? They will not remember me as one of a gazillion business coaches out there. They will remember me as the business coach who is here to change how women think about wealth. Now, if somebody then speaks to them and says, "Oh, I have got this opportunity, we want to hear from women who are thinking about money differently," they will remember, and they get back in touch with me.

What Do You Want People to Remember You For?

What is that point? Because it is not going to come from you telling them what you do or who you work with or what offers you run. Nobody cares. They care about how you can be of value to them, why you are interesting, why you are interesting for them to know. Because people want to be in a network, and they want to establish relationships with people who are going to make them look good as well.

Why You Should Protect Your Network and Always Ask Before Introducing People

The other thing I have, on the flip side, been really careful about is that I am now really protective over my network. So whilst I will be generous with my time and champion other businesses, for clients or for anybody to have access to my network, I do not give that out.

I will not just drop in and say, "Oh, I know somebody who can help you with that, here are their contact details." Because I have worked really hard to build a network and to build trust in business with the people who trust me. If I start to name drop, give their details out, say that I can connect people up with them, it does not value their time and it does not value what they have built either.

So I am really cautious about who I invite into my closer network, and I am really mindful of how I build that relationship. For example, somebody approached me recently, somebody I used to work with who then became my client and now runs a luxury branding agency. They approached me to do consultancy for a really exciting opportunity they had got, and I could not do it because we were away in the summer. But I said, "One of my clients would be ideal for this."

[00:14:45] But I was really mindful that I needed to get their consent even to do that introduction. Sometimes we want to show that we are helpful and that we are connecting people, but every time you introduce somebody to another conversation, it is their time, and it is their time being taken out of their business. So I am really mindful of how I build my network, and I do it slowly, one person at a time, one connection, seeing the points where people can help each other out.

How Shared Values Build Relationships That Last for Decades

I also really think that building business relationships is something that happens organically when you are sharing your values, and this is something I advocate for, as you will know if you have listened to this podcast before.

[00:15:55] This week, the week I am recording this podcast, I am going in a couple of days' time to London to meet a client I worked with probably 17 years ago, and I had not really spoken to her since. We had had a few messages, I had supported something she did, then she supported something I did, and then I invited her to my podcast launch earlier in 2026. And from there we are going for coffee.

But it is because our values are really similar, and how we do business together. What she values is being very down to earth, transparent, and very good at what she does, and we just really connected on the values piece. And I think if you share that, then you really do attract people you are going to be able to build business relationships with over time.

Get Into Rooms Where Your Next Client Could Be Sitting

And getting yourself into rooms, which I feel is a bit like kissing frogs. You kiss the frogs to find your prince, because there are a lot of events, and I have been to tons of events. Some of them are great events, but they are just not my event.

But get yourself into rooms, and do not just go in thinking, "I am just going to rock up and see what today brings and be inspired." Go into that space knowing that your next client can be in that room, your next business opportunity can be in that room, your next media opportunity, your collaboration, can be in that room.

And one woman I was out in Dubai with, by the time we had finished the events, this was 2 days in, had secured multi 6 figures in business from the event, because she was so good at knowing how to lead the conversation and follow up. That is networking for entrepreneurs done properly.

Why the Follow Up Is Where Networking for Entrepreneurs Pays Off

[00:19:18] And then the follow up is so important. That is how I have also built relationships from events. I have had great conversations in the room, but it is also the follow up from those events, where I have just dropped a message to say, "It was really great meeting you. I really enjoyed our conversation on this." A really personal message, no hidden agenda.

And then following up and having a coffee, going for a meeting. From that event in Dubai, I am now talking with a lady in the US who I met and spent a lot of time with over there, who is absolutely incredible. When she came to London, we met up for dinner, and we started to discuss how our businesses could work together. We have got similar, complementary skill sets. And from there, we are now discussing how we bring our different expertise together across the US and in Europe.

That was from one event that I went to, a relationship that is just growing, values really aligned, and we have just kept the follow up going. You never know what is going to happen from getting yourself into the room, but you are also the one responsible for making things happen.

She Sets The Standard, the London Networking Event This November

So those are my thoughts on how I have personally built relationships. Like I said, there is no rule book for this. If there was, I would be all over it. But I continue to focus on building business relationships for my work, my consultancy and my highest proximity to 1:1 coaching.

[00:21:28] We have incredible speakers who I cannot announce on this episode but who will be coming very soon. It is designed for you to walk in and meet your next client, meet your next business opportunity. At the last She Sets The Standard last November, at the very beginning when I opened the day, I said, "Be present in this space, because there is an incredible network here."

So if you are looking for a business event that will give you strategy and depth, but is also what I call a business identity experience, because the way I design it is to have your standards raised from before you enter that door. Before you walk into the room, you know that you are not going to walk out the same person. If you want a taste of what that is, then go back and listen to the previous episode, because I share how I designed it last year, and we are going even bigger this year.

If you have got any questions, you can DM me on Instagram at rachelpearson.co. Connect with me, email me. It is always me who replies to emails. Get your ticket, because this event will sell out. This has been an episode on how to build your network, create relationships, and create commercial opportunities from the relationships you are building, and how to continue that at She Sets The Standard in November.

Thanks for tuning in to Rich Work. I would love it if you left a review. It helps other women to find us. In the meantime, follow me on Instagram, @rachelpearson.co, for a different take on premium positioning, one that is not about fitting a box. See you next week.

What is that point? Because it is not going to come from you telling them what you do or who you work with or what offers you run. Nobody cares. They care about how you can be of value to them, why you are interesting, why you are interesting for them to know. Because people want to be in a network. They want to establish relationships with people who are going to make them look good as well.