Tea with the Queen

Have you outgrown your business community?

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Are you currently involved in a business community that you love being involved in?

I’d invite you to reflect on this for a minute, and establish what it is about your community that you feel makes it so special.

To me, the ability of a group of like-minded individuals to come together, share experiences, offer support, and ignite inspiration is truly remarkable. The impact of community goes beyond mere proximity; it allows you to share struggles, benefit from collective wisdom and unwavering encouragement.

Recently, I had the privilege of hosting the first Thriving Women Retreat for 2024 and in the words of one of our attendees, it was “amazeballs.” When I reflected on the experience after the retreat was over, it wasn’t just the content or the location; it was the undeniable power of community that we were all surrounded by.

The Hot Seat Session: A Catalyst for Transformation

One of the standout moments at the retreat was a hot seat session attended by a client who owns an Allied Health Practice. She walked in feeling dejected and defeated, burdened by the news of staff departures. However, after just 20 minutes of collective brainstorming and support from the community, she emerged with a completely new outlook and knew her next steps.

The power of community lies in its ability to offer fresh perspectives, provide solutions, and uplift individuals during challenging times. The shared experiences and collective brainstorming sessions can turn obstacles into opportunities and setbacks into stepping stones towards the business you want to lead.

Business Can Be A Loney Road as an Entrepreneur

When you are running your own business, the journey can often feel lonely and overwhelming, especially for solopreneurs or those working remotely. The epidemic of loneliness is a stark reminder of our innate need for connection. Having a community that understands, supports, and challenges you can make all the difference in navigating the complexities of entrepreneurship.

While there are countless communities available, finding the right one is imperative to your overall success. Investing in a paid community demonstrates commitment and fosters a sense of accountability. The value of having “skin in the game” cannot be understated, as it often leads to deeper engagement, meaningful connections, and tangible results.

Being part of a community requires a wholehearted commitment and active participation. It’s not enough to passively engage; true transformation occurs when you fully immerse yourself in the collective experience and leverage the power of the community to propel your growth.

Have You Outgrown Your Community?

As we evolve in our personal and professional journeys, it’s natural to outgrow certain communities and seek new environments that align with our current aspirations. Reflecting on the community we surround ourselves with and being open to the possibility of a “community upgrade” is a pivotal step towards personal growth and fulfilment.

The stories shared from the Thriving Women Retreat fill me with a deep appreciation for the transformative power of community. From empowering individuals to make bold decisions to propelling businesses towards success, the impact of a supportive and nurturing community is undeniable.

Whether seeking inspiration, guidance, or companionship, the power of coming together with like-minded individuals can lead to unprecedented growth and resilience. You can do hard things, and the people you surround yourself with, will help you realise that.

So, take a moment to assess the community you currently belong to. Are they the right people to support your journey? If not, don’t hesitate to seek out a community that aligns with your goals and values.

Read The Full Transcript

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[00:00:00] Emma: Is there power in a community? What do you think? I feel like it depends on the community. I say it depends a lot, right? But the reality is it does depend on the community. We have just come back from the first Thriving Women Retreat for 2024 and In their own words, It was amazeballs. What made it a maze balls?
[00:00:39] It wasn't necessarily the content. It wasn't necessarily the location, but it was the power of community. It's sitting back and realizing that others have similar struggles to you. It's sitting back and going, Oh, they might have some ideas that might help me. We had a client who was in Thriving Women and she owns Allied Health Practice, and she came into one of our hot seat sessions.
[00:01:02] Now, for those who don't know what a hot seat session is, a hot seat session, well, try say that really fast, a hot seat session. Is a session where we come together, it's a small group of people and each person brings an opportunity or a threat or a challenge or something that they want to kick around in the group.
[00:01:18] And she came in and she just had the news that a couple of staff members needed to leave. One to go on maternity leave. the other one was leaving because their performance wasn't great. she came in feeling a bit dejected and a bit deflated. 20 minutes with us and she was like a different person. And I'll tell you why in a minute. Why is the power of community so important? I ask myself this question constantly. And I think there's a few reasons. Firstly, business is tough doing.
[00:01:49] Business with other people makes it feel more doable. We can do hard things. I also think business can be lonely. If you don't have people around you, you can get in your head a lot. A [00:02:00] lot of us work from home these days. A lot of us are solopreneurs and you can get in your head. And so having a community helps combat that loneliness.
[00:02:09] There is an epidemic. That is around loneliness and that's not great. We as human beings, we need connection. As business owners, oh my goodness, we need connection. And the final thing is when we have a community of people who know us, know us relatively well, they can be sounding boards. They can be cheerleaders.
[00:02:28] They can hold us accountable to the things that we say that we're going to do. And isn't that what having a community is about? Have you had a community for a while and you feel like, oof, maybe I've outgrown it? Do you need to refresh your community? Who is it that you are hanging out with? I think having a community is so, so important. So important, in fact, that when I left my corporate roleI joined a community immediately
[00:02:52] and it has been the best thing that I have done. Did it feel uncomfortable? Yes. Did it feel hard? Yes. Did I not know anyone? Yes. But then I got in there, I threw everything I had at it and you start to create beautiful relationships and friendships with people. And this helps in life. It helps in business.
[00:03:13] It helps everywhere really. And so I'm all about community. I'm all about connection. And I think that those two things can go hand in hand in business. I think the other thing that I have realized is that you need to find the right community. There are a lot of communities out there and there are a lot of free communities out there.
[00:03:31] Now I have nothing against free communities, but I have seen people who have joined free communities and expect things that you only really get from a paid community. And so this may be an unpopular opinion and I'm okay with that. But sometimes you need to pay some cash. And have some skin in the game.
[00:03:50] It's almost similar to, we run a lot of pro bono, tickets for our events or our programs. And do you know what I find when we hand out the [00:04:00] pro bono tickets?
[00:04:00] There's just not the same skin in the game. So if you're not paying for a community and you're not getting much out of your community, those two things add up. If you're paying for a community, you're getting the very best you can get out of a community. Awesome. I also think being part of a community means, you know, you have to be all in.
[00:04:18] You can't just half turn up, half show up, like you have to throw yourself in.. I would love to know from you, have you sat back and thought about the community that you're currently in? Have you sat back and thought about whether this is still the right community for you? Have you? looked at your community and looked at the people that you are hanging out with, liaising with, co working with and thought to yourself, Oh, I might need a little upgrade.
[00:04:50] That's okay. We grew up in business. We evolve in business there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
[00:04:57] Back to our client who came along for the hot seat. She came along for the hot seat and she walked in a little bit deflated and wondering how she was going to get what she needed to get. She thought she would have to go out to a recruitment agency, she'd have to go into a market that was just not turning up the best candidates and take the best of a worst bunch.
[00:05:16] She didn't have to do any of those things. As we kicked it around, as we looked at her org structure, as we looked at her culture, what we realised is that she had people sitting there. waiting to be promoted. And so we carved out a couple of things for her to do, including promoting one of her existing staff.
[00:05:33] And what that actually meant a few months later is that that person stepped up to the plate. They did all the things they needed to do. They have shown themselves to be a great people manager and it's a win win all round. Now, yes, she still needs to fill that person's role because you can't bring someone up and then not backfill.
[00:05:52] So she needs to do that, but it's an easier fill than replacing one of her senior people. That's the [00:06:00] power of a community. That you can come up with these things. You can enact them in a way that works and you can go from there. I want to tell you one other quick story on our thriving women retreat. We were talking about the offers that we would put out into the world.
[00:06:14] And through 16 of us having different conversations, one of the ladies came up with an offer that was absolutely in her sweet spot that she could enact straight away. And two days later, she had filled that offer. She could not have done that on her own. The power of the community pushed her, propelled her to get those things locked into the diary, to get the landing page up, to make sure that she had people that she could send the offer to, to That is the power of the community. So next time you're out and about, have a look at your community. And if they are not the people you need to be with right now, where do you need to go to get your community? And have fun.
[00:06:56] As I say, life's too short. Have fun. Bye for now.