Most entrepreneurs are taught to network. Collect contacts. Stay visible. But somewhere in all that strategy, the actual human gets lost — and so does the connection that creates real opportunity.

Ellie Aaron has built her business, her partnerships, and her life through something simpler and yet harder than any tactic: genuine curiosity about people. No agenda. No performance. Just a real desire to connect — and the self-approval to show up that way consistently.

In this conversation, James and Ellie explore what it actually takes to build relationships that become clients, referrals, and collaborators — not because you worked the room, but because people felt you.

We get into the guilt that comes up when you want something from a connection, why most business relationships stay shallow, and what shifts when you stop trying to  ...