The business card grind is a scam...

"Collect 40 business cards a day."

That's what my old boss told me before my first business trip.

The Fancy Food Expo, in San Francisco, we weren't even supposed to be there.

The event was for food brands and suppliers, not marketing agencies trying to pitch services to people who didn't ask.

But there I was…

Walking the floor, and pretending to care about jelly beans.

Forcing conversations with coffee roasters.

It felt wrong as f*ck.

Every conversation was transactional and totally fake.

People asking what I do before they even shake my hand.

I watched other people do it too.

The booth-hopper guy collecting cards like Pokémon, the pitch robot with his rehearsed script and dead eyes.

Even the damn janitor.

I was one of them.

By the end of the day, I had my 40 cards.

Know how many turned into actual business?

Zero… F*CKING ZERO.

Just a stack of paper I threw in a drawer and never looked at again.

These days, I don't go to events to sell…

I go to talk.

Sometimes it turns into work, sometimes it doesn't, but the conversations are always better.

Founders don't need another sales pitch.

They need space to talk, to vent, to connect with someone who actually gets it.

Business will happen when it's supposed to, it always does.

Here's what San Francisco taught me…

Stop treating every conversation like a transaction.

People aren't opportunities, they're not prospects, they're people.

And when you talk to them like that, everything changes.

So if you're out there collecting cards, scanning badges, hunting for leads, stop.

Talk to people like they're real.

The business will follow.

Jackson