For entrepreneur Rene Johnson, founder of the celebrated Bay Area catering company Blackberry Soul Fine Catering, a business card is not just a networking pleasantry, it’s a potential check waiting to be cashed.

“When you hand out a business card, you are handing out money,” Johnson told the Indianapolis Recorder, distilling a philosophy forged over 35 years in business. This mindset is the cornerstone of her latest venture, Link & Thrive, a coaching platform moving entrepreneurs beyond superficial networking into the realm of powerful, profit-generating referrals.

Johnson’s authority isn’t derived from an MBA, but from a gritty, real-world journey. A teenage mother without a college degree, she first built a successful mortgage processing company by cold-calling from the Yellow Pages. S

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