It was bittersweet to get the email from Summit Series recently, announcing that they were wrapping up their last event. I attended my first event a decade ago, and have since had many good times there. Between running into Kendrick Lamar and Quentin Tarantino to being around the founding teams when innovative companies like Dropbox and Uber were being built, this event has undoubtedly been a memorable one.
Over the last 5 years, I’ve seen countless entrepreneur communities wrap up their long stream of success, whether due to pandemic challenges or simply because the leaders are moving on to other sectors. Many of these leaders have put their blood, sweat and tears into building exciting communities that simply brought good people together. With the current political and social media climate, it has never been more important to have a trusted community to turn to. As a young entrepreneur, meeting the above big names while being around innovation was exciting.
However, most recently my goals have shifted to focusing on just two things: Being efficient with my time in order to prioritize health and family, and consistently surrounding myself with good people. With those goals in mind, below are a few reasons entrepreneurs need a community they can trust.
Builds Long-Term Rapport
At last year’s Summit, I ran into an old friend, Hollis Carter, who had a spark in his soul when talking about building a community of purposeful leaders and entrepreneurs who are focused on creating meaningful connections and fostering trust. Hollis described how the community landscape needs are shifting from exciting events with big-name speakers to smaller closely-knit communities. He shared with me that his goal of focusing on relationship trust is for connections to become more authentic and less transactional. I could sense that he was on to something, so I dedicated much of my time over the last year to understanding what it is that he’s building.
Hollis is the leader of Baby Bathwater Institute. That’s right; I said the name is Baby Bathwater. I, too, initially did a double take after first hearing the name, but it quickly grew on me after speaking to different entrepreneurs and learning what they valued about the organization. The fact of the matter is, many organizations’ former in-person events have steadily transitioned to becoming virtual.
After the pandemic we became somewhat reclusive, so it’s never been more important to have in-person interactions. Hollis mentioned that you have to put on the events that are special or people simply won’t come. Although costs are high to put on an amazing event, in-person time is vital for individuals to establish impactful connections. In the past, I believed that large in-person events practically printed money. However, post-pandemic costs have significantly increased for these high-end entrepreneurial events, so try to keep that in mind as you look at event options.
Hollis emphasized that–whether or not the events are a financial breakeven or a loss–it’s crucial to have a community you can meet with in person at least a couple of times a year. Miranda Lievers, after attending a recent Baby Bathwater event, shared her takeaways regarding its unique community in an Instagram post. Acknowledging first how lonely entrepreneurship can be, at least until you find the people who truly share your perspective, she describes this newfound community as “quite the gift.” Her thoughts resonated with me, because I know how rare it can be to find this type of community.
Creates A Knowledge-Sharing Community
The next factor was to form a community that prioritized competitive giving and community-based problem solving. In the past, I was used to communities bringing in the biggest names they could find in order to attract larger audiences. Hollis learned that this defies the goal of community knowledge sharing. Instead, when choosing speakers, he mainly recruits people from within the group so members expertise is highlighted and shared.
I never thought about it like this, but keynote speakers typically speak and leave. However, a big part of having a trusted community is its knowledge sharing element, so encouraging this with every speaker is a differentiating factor that promotes that behavior. Reverse engineering the best situations is a great way to identify what needs to happen next.
Community is so vital to an entrepreneur’s happiness, but it’s crucial to know which type of community is going to benefit you in the most impactful way. Consider the type of community that helps you be more efficient with your time, create meaningful connections you can trust and network to grow your business. These are the qualities that constantly came up when I asked entrepreneurs from BBI’s community what they were looking for.
Teaches Adaptability Skills
Years ago, I remember going to South by Southwest. I had no idea where to go, what to do and who to speak to. Now, don’t get me wrong; I had a good time. However, I can see now that it didn’t accomplish the types of goals that I currently prioritize. It’s important to consider what someone wants to get out of their travels and communities.
The pandemic taught me that time with family and friends is precious, so being efficient with travel is important to me. I spoke at more than 40 events the year before the pandemic. This year I will speak at seven to 10. In talking with other entrepreneurs, I learned that they are all traveling less and being more efficient with their networking.
When I asked Hollis about the trend above, he strongly agreed that it’s something he’s also noticed. Today’s community leaders have to curate networking for their members. He shared how he had to remove multiple people from the group because–similar to tenants inside a great community development–all it takes is a couple of people to bring everyone down.
Hollis mentioned that one of his key goals is to build an outsourced way for busy leaders to network with the right people so that they can create the meaningful relationships necessary for maximum growth; both professionally and personally. I recently spoke at his event. As a speaker, I’m typically put on somewhat of a pedestal by being on a big stage. However, at this event Hollis encouraged a two-sided conversation that promoted collaboration from the group.
Afterward, I felt compelled to stick around for the whole event. This is also part of how the events are structured: No VIPs. I normally just make the most of this time by helping folks who attended my talk. While doing this, I spent three days immersed in conversations with peers that were helpful for me as well. Though sitting on the beach, dining with others, doing fun activities and interacting more aren’t things I typically get to experience at events, these activities all offered a fresh experience in comparison to the many events I’ve attended over the years. Based on my experience with attending group activities like yoga, sound baths and mental exercises, I can confidently say that these types of gatherings can really help to break the ice with people.
Finding A Trusted Community
With the landscape changing for communities, it’s never been more important to have the Hollis-minded people out there who are actively making an effort toward building purposeful communities.
As I mentioned above, Miranda shared how entrepreneurship can be lonely. But, with the right community around you, the dynamics of entrepreneurship can be transformational, and proves that you aren’t an island. Overall, this is why it’s important to make an effort to find your entrepreneurial communities and the types of people who bring the best out in you.
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Disclaimer: The Baby Bathwater Institute speaking opportunity was unpaid.
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