The Best Networking Advice I Ever Got Came From My Dog | The Tribal Pattern Every Entrepreneur Needs for Success

The Best Networking Advice I Ever Got Came From My Dog:

The Tribal Pattern Every Entrepreneur Needs for Success

The two sharpest strategists in my house have a combined weight of 133 pounds, eat out of bowls on the floor, and have never once attended a networking event. Adelaide is 110 pounds of pattern-reading genius. Mr. Pickles is 23 pounds of ruthless efficiency. My husband and I just live here.

Whenever I grab the car keys, Adelaide’s red water cooler, and I walk towards the door, she gets all excited, because she knows we're going to the dog park.

Whenever I grab the SAME car keys but with her pink leash in hand, she doesn't get excited, she sits on the couch staring at me like I just betrayed her, because she knows we're going to the vet or the groomer.

Now, if I put on her collar (no car keys in hand) and walk towards the very same door she perks up, knowing she's going out for a potty break. Similar scenarios, three completely different responses.

My Adelaide-girl is reading patterns, running a multi-variable algorithm in her head that I couldn't write in Excel if you paid me.

Then there's Mr. Pickles, my cat. The very minute he hears the coffee machine click on, he magically materializes at the kitchen counter, no matter what room he was in, no matter how dead asleep he was. He's there, waiting for his dollop of whipped cream. His logic is more astute than most middle managers I've worked with.

Here's the thing not a lot of people will tell you. The animals aren't the only ones in my house running on patterns. I am too, and… so are you.

This past Thursday, I attended three back-to-back (business networking) BNI meetings, which is the networking equivalent of running a triathlon in heels. The first one kicked off at 7:30 AM, and by the time I wrapped the third, it was pushing 6 PM, with each meeting running a solid 90 to 120 minutes. Hardcore stamina is definitely a prerequisite for networking triathalong days like these. Brett was out of town for work, so my friend Suzanne stepped in and watched Adelaide for the day. I dropped her off before sunrise and hit the ground running.

By the time my last meeting wrapped, I had an hour-long drive ahead of me and zero desire to cook. I texted Suzanne, shifted the plan, and we agreed she'd bring Adelaide over to our friend Jina's house so I could pick her up there.

I got to Jina's just past 7 PM and made myself comfortable on her back patio. About 20 minutes later, Suzanne showed up with five dogs in tow (mine included), while Adelaide immediately turned it into a full-contact sport, body-slamming her friends like she was training for the Olympics. Meanwhile, we were over here trying to hold a semi-functional adult conversation.

Two and a half hours later, I was still there. We’d migrated to the living room, and I was laughing so hard my sides hurt.

I drove home thinking about how lucky I am.

Suzanne and Jina are part of a group of seven women I met at the dog park. We call ourselves Kiss My Mutts, which tells you everything you need to know about us. The youngest is Alyssa, 32, a pediatric behavioral psychologist, and the oldest is Beverly, 73, retired U.S. military soldier. On paper, our friendship doesn't make much sense. We're all different ages, with totally different career paths, currently navigating different chapters of our lives, and somehow we click like we've known each other forever.

Here's what hit me on the drive home. I've never, not once in my life, felt like friendship was missing. From childhood through college, through every job I've ever had, at my kids' schools and their afterschool activities, and even at the dog park, my people have always been right there. You can call it luck if you want, and I've come to see it as a pattern I've been running my whole life.

I've spent decades building tribes everywhere I go, and for most of those decades I didn't even realize I was doing it. The same thing plays out every time I land somewhere new. I show up, I pay attention to the room, I find the people who feel like home, and I keep showing up for them long after the original reason for crossing paths fades. The environment changes, the faces change, and that skill works the same way every single time.

Which brings me to you. If you're an entrepreneur reading this, take a second to think about your own patterns, the ones you're running on autopilot, the ones building your business and your life right now, whether you've named them or not.

Here's what I know after coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs through their growth phases. The business owners who scale past seven figures all share one trait. They've figured out how to build a tribe everywhere they land. Clients turn into referral partners, vendors turn into collaborators, networking groups turn into friend groups, and the boardroom turns into the patio.

That's the pattern worth running, the one that pays for decades, and if you want to start building it on purpose, here's where I'd begin.Take a long look at the communities you’re already a part of:Your church, your client meetings, your kids' soccer practice, the coffee shop where the barista knows your name, the group chats that light up your phone every morning. Somewhere in those rooms are the people who feel like home, and most entrepreneurs walk right past them because they're too busy chasing the wrong introductions. Slow down and pay attention to who you light up around, and who lights up around you, because that's where the whole pattern starts.

Then keep showing up after the original reason fades. The contract ends, the school year wraps, the chapter closes, and the people who become your tribe are the ones you still text six months later for no reason at all. The magic lives in the unforced follow-up, and the entrepreneurs who skip that step end up with a contact list a mile long and a phone that never rings.

And when you meet two people who should know each other, introduce them on the spot. Tribes grow when you make connections you're not personally cashing in on, when you put two good humans in the same room and let it work itself out. The connector always becomes the center, and the center is exactly where you want to be when you're building a business that scales.

Adelaide knows the keys, Mr. Pickles knows the coffee machine, and me, I'm still finding my people in every room I walk into.

Your dog already knows the secret, and it's time you caught up.