I Know a 67-Year-Old Who Owns 13 Businesses and He Made Me Feel Bad About My Entire LinkedIn Strategy

Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love Airport Santa

Hiya! I know what you're thinking. Another podcast host writing another blog post about another episode with another "thought leader" who's going to tell you to "add value" and "build authentic relationships."

But hear me out, because Mark E Sackett just verbally slapped the shaet out of everything you think you know about business relationships.

The Part Where I Admit We're All Garbage at Networking

Mark runs 13 creative businesses. THIRTEEN. He's 67 years old and lives in seat 3E on United Airlines (his words, not mine). And when he started talking about networking, I felt personally attacked.

Because here's the truth bomb he dropped on me: That first question you ask at every networking event? "What do you do?" That's you being an asshole.

I know. I KNOW. You're not trying to be an asshole. But you're basically walking up to someone and asking "Are you useful to me or should I move on to the next person?" It's a sorting question. It's transactional AF. And it's why networking feels like speed dating in hell.

The "MyGive4" Framework (Or: How to Not Be Terrible)

Mark's been running these networking events for 18 years across 17 cities and 5 countries. And he developed this thing called "MyGive4" that's so stupidly simple it makes you want to punch yourself for not thinking of it first.

Here's the deal: Give four hours a week. That's it. But make it count:

1. Give Your Ideas & Talent Freely Not "consultatively." Not "here's my hourly rate." Just... help people. Revolutionary, right? Mark doesn't expect to get hired as a graphic designer by pitching himself at networking events. He shows up, shares ideas, and becomes the person people remember when they need help.

2. Give Your Time (Volunteer) Pick up trash. Help a nonprofit. Show up somewhere. This isn't about padding your LinkedIn profile with "volunteer work." It's about getting off your ass and being useful to your community.

3. Give Your Money (Yes, Really) And this is where Mark got me. He buys coffee for strangers. He bought drinks for an ENTIRE AIRPLANE once. Cost him $200. Made him the "Airplane Santa." Got a drawing from a kid that now lives in his bedroom.

But here's the kicker: He once offered to buy a homeless guy's coffee in NYC, and the guy cried. Asked him, "Why would you do that for me?"

Because we've made kindness so rare that it makes people cry.

Let that sit with you for a second.

4. Give Your Network (Referrals) Know. Like. Trust. That's it. That's the whole game. If someone doesn't know you, you're not working together. If they know you but don't like you? Definitely not working together. If they know you and like you but don't trust you? Still not happening.

You can have 30,000 LinkedIn connections (Mark does), but if you haven't built actual relationships, you've just collected numbers.

The Part That Actually Matters for Your Business

Listen, if you're in health tech or medtech or SaaS and you're trying to scale right now, you're probably obsessed with CAC, LTV, churn rates, and all that sexy SaaS metric stuff.

But here's what Mark's really talking about: Human-to-human relationship building in an increasingly transactional business world.

Your customer success strategy? Your client retention game? Your stakeholder engagement? It all comes down to whether you're showing up like a human or like a LinkedIn bot.

Because here's the thing about reducing client churn and building high-retention relationships: People don't leave companies. They leave relationships. They leave because somewhere along the line, you stopped being the person who helps and started being the person who sells.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Mark's events attract people who still show up trying to shove business cards in people's hands. Still trying to pitch. Still asking "what do you do?" first.

And you know what? They don't get it. They never will.

But if you shift your mindset from "what can I get?" to "how can I help?" — even in small, silly ways like buying a stranger coffee — something magical happens. You stop being forgettable. You become the person people want to work with.

Not because you pitched them perfectly. But because you gave a shaet when you didn't have to.

Watch the Damn Episode

Mark tells better stories than I do. He's funny. He's real. And he's been doing this H2H (human-to-human) thing longer than most of us have been in business.

If you're tired of networking events that feel like being trapped in a sales pitch factory, if you're struggling with client relationships that feel more transactional than transformational, or if you just want to hear about a guy who makes airplane passengers cry with joy — watch this episode.

Because building unshakeable business relationships isn't about perfecting your pitch deck. It's about being the kind of human other humans actually want to be around.

P.S. — Mark also told me about the time a woman at Starbucks walked out when he offered to buy her coffee because she was "perfectly capable of buying her own." And honestly? That's the most depressing thing I've heard all week. We've broken something fundamental when people can't even accept a $5 act of kindness without getting defensive.

So here's your homework: Go buy someone a coffee this week. Don't make it weird. Don't expect anything. Just do it and watch what happens. Then tell me I'm wrong about this whole "giving" thing.

I'll wait.

Karl Pontau hosts The Human Connection Podcast, where we talk about the stuff that actually matters in business: the humans running it. Because whether you're B2B or B2C, it's really H2H, human to human. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode where we probably say something that'll make your HR department uncomfortable.