#141 The Value of Community as an Entrepreneur, with Michelle Broadbent
Today, I'm joined by my dear friend and incredible business strategist, Michelle Broadbent to share a conversation about the value of community for entrepreneurs. The life of a business owner can be lonely, but you certainly don’t have to do it alone. I see a lot of women craving face-to-face connection these days, but others like me are happy working from home with mostly virtual interactions. Regardless of your preference for connection, I hope this episode inspires you to embrace community so that you feel supported as a whole person.
I can't stress enough the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people in business. Whether it's advisors, team members, or mentors, identifying and connecting with the right individuals is critical for your growth and success. This is true both professionally and on the personal front because you’re not just a business owner. You are a whole person and we all need to have a safe space to connect, share, and grow with others.
Throughout this conversation, both Michelle and I emphasise the significance of community for entrepreneurs. While running a business can sometimes be isolating, having a community of peers who understand your challenges and successes can be immensely beneficial. A supportive community offers a space for learning, growth, and mutual support.
Michelle shares how many women in business try to do all the things on their own. Yes, they are capable and able to achieve incredible things, but trying to do everything by yourself is not sustainable. It’s also vital that we surround ourselves with people who have different perspectives so that we can be challenged to look outside our paradigm.
This need for community is why I’m such a big fan of Michelle’s exciting new venture, The Accountability Circle, which offers a unique space for peer-to-peer mentoring and a supportive community for women in business. Michelle shares a little more about this venture and how to get involved.
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[00:00:00] Tracey: Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Rise Up in Business podcast. Thank you for joining me yet again. today. I'm joined by Michelle Broadbent for a really great chat about the power of community as an entrepreneur. And Michelle is a business strategist and I've been working with Michelle in my own business for many years now.
[00:00:40] And the value that Michelle brings to me and my business and my peace of mind is immeasurable. Really, and because I know Michelle and work so closely with her over a long period of time, and I know lots of Michelle's clients. In fact, I support lots of Michelle's clients.
[00:00:58] I wanted to share this episode, this really honest and transparent episode with listeners, because I'm hearing a lot at the moment around the confusion and almost the pressure. That some women are sharing with me around whether they want to re engage in face to face. Some are craving face to face community.
[00:01:15] Some are not. I wanted to dive into this topic with Michelle and have a really honest conversation. So I'm sure you were going to get something out of this, even if you didn't know That you needed to give some thought to your community and who it is that's surrounding you in your business. We also dive in and share something very exciting.
[00:01:34] And that's a new venture that Michelle has. I won't share anything about that now, because we talk about it in the episode. I hope you enjoy, I'll jump back in here at the end.
[00:01:43] Let's dive in. He's Michelle.
[00:01:45] Hello, Michelle. Welcome. Welcome back to the podcast.
[00:01:52] Michelle: thanks for having me back, Tracy. It's good to be here.
[00:01:55] Tracey: I'm so happy to have you back on. I haven't had many guests that have been on twice, to be honest. So you're a very special one of the few.
[00:02:01] Michelle: feel very special. Thank you.
[00:02:04] Tracey: I'm so happy to be having this conversation with you today. I was just saying to you a moment ago before we hit record that I'm feeling this overwhelming sense of uncertainty with the women in my community and the women that I work with, and that is very much around.
[00:02:20] Should I be saying I want face to face community or should I not? Because, well, COVID and everyone pivoted and everyone worked from home. And some of us, like myself, completely introverted, love working from home and very happy not to see a real life person for extended periods. Doesn't bother me, but there are some people that aren't like that and that they're really craving it.
[00:02:43] What are you seeing at the moment?
[00:02:44] Michelle: look, I'm seeing a bit of a blend of both. And I, I think it's really funny that you say, Oh, like I'm an introvert and you know, I'm happy at home. But when I was thinking about who I have enjoyed being at events with, you are some, like you and I have gone and done some wonderful things together, I guess that would fall under that category of networking and I think networking.
[00:03:11] is a little bit of a polarizing word. Like I think a lot of people when they think about networking, they think, everyone's pumping out their business cards and, you know, I've got something to sell and I want to tell you all about it.
[00:03:24] That sort of an environment. I'm not saying that those environments don't exist in the world, but I don't think they are super prevalent in the circles that we're all mixing in. I really see that people are craving connection that works for them. And I think the wonderful thing about the world that we live in now is that there are all sorts of different ways to connect.
[00:03:51] Like if you are someone that's happy to be at home in your pajamas and, you know, have your video off, say on a, on a zoom call, but be, you know, learning from other people or what have you, you can do that. If you are a raging extrovert and want to go to a different event every night of the week and connect with like minded people, you can do that too.
[00:04:12] So I think there is that beautiful mix where you can kind of pick what works for you and try different things as well.
[00:04:20] Tracey: And I love that you say that in such a supportive way and what I'm hearing here and what I think listeners are going to get such value from might sound obvious to some, but trust me, it's not obvious to all. It's okay to pick what works for you. It's not one size fits all. And I feel like though back pre COVID, it really was all face to face. It was all in person It was all the things, and we get into hustle culture with that. And I've did a recent episode recently with Emma McQueen on hustle and whether it's a dirty word. And I don't think it is, but I think it's all about balance and we don't have to be grinding and hustling if we don't want to and we need to be kind to ourselves.
[00:05:02] But I feel like there was a lot of obligation and a lot of feeling forced pre COVID. And so one of the good things to come out of the last couple of years is the flexibility in the choice. But I feel like people are feeling corralled almost into you either have to be this or you should be that and it's okay to pick and choose and you don't have to stick to just one.
[00:05:24] Michelle: Yeah, and I think that goes, that goes with everything in our businesses, but you know, I sort of think, it's like another lifetime, but, you know, casting our minds back to pre COVID is that, that, you know, that sort of women's business connection space was dominated by some pretty heavy hitters that were, you know, you know, really great at the promotion and offered a lot of value in terms of like amazing speakers and amazing conferences and, and at a price point that was accessible to all. And, you know, some of those groups have fallen by the wayside don't exist in the format that they did anymore.
[00:06:05] Which is opened up space for people who have probably was, you know, maybe sitting on the sidelines and have gone, oh, well, you know, I feel comfortable stepping into doing this the way that I want to do it, whether it be online or in person or, or, you know, whether it's running masterminds or, or doing, you know, one off event, you know, you mentioned Emma, like, you know, her dinners with the queen and things like that.
[00:06:28] Like there's so many different things that we can sort of tap into and people can try, you know, I think that the great thing is that, you know, it's not rigid anymore. You know, I think that is one thing that has come from, from COVID is we used to do everything in real life. You know, if you wanted to have a meeting with someone in, in another state or country, you had to fly there to spend time with them.
[00:06:54] Now you can jump on a zoom call or what have you and, have that meeting and get to whatever outcome it is that you want from that.
[00:07:01] Tracey: I say a lot on the podcast and long time listeners will have heard me say it and you hear me say it. We talk about it. The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people in business. And I cannot say it enough, which is why I hark on about it all the time. And it's the advisors.
[00:07:17] It's the team, whether it's employees or contractors or strategists or coaches or lawyers or accountants, it's the right people. And there has to be a synergy and it needs to work for you. So if that is virtual and online, like in my business, you do not necessarily need to go into the city and fight the traffic and pay the parking and all the things and take half a day out and go and see someone and get stressed and you don't have to do that unless you want to. So then there's businesses like mine, then there's businesses like yours. You help women all over the country. And you and I have been working together for several years. You're instrumental in my business and all of my planning and strategy, my sounding board, talk me down, talk sense in to me when I need it and all of the things, and we're not in the same location always. And that works beautifully, but we do see each other face to face because that's important and we want to.
[00:08:11] The choice. This is the key factor is the choice. So when we're talking surrounding yourself with the right people, what does it mean? It means identifying what you need and then identifying who can help, but it's important to know that the people are there. How to connect with them, how to reach out to them, how to find them. It's important to know that they're there so tapping into community, I think is pivotal in our growth and our journey in our ability to surround ourselves with the right people.
[00:08:39] Michelle: absolutely. And I think that looks different, like, who's right for you might not be right for the next person. And I think of someone, for example, if you were running a business like in a small country town and I have a number of clients who are regional and, they are doing big, amazing things like, and this sounds terrible, but like, they're bigger than their town. What their gifts and their talents are, you know, extends past their geographical reach. But once upon a time, they were very restricted to who they were connected with. It was literally the people on the high street, whereas now they can be connected to people all over the world or the country and that's a wonderful thing. That's a, that's an amazing thing.
[00:09:24] Tracey: It really is. it captures that choice. It captures the value of flexibility and choice and identifying what works. And that's a really lovely segue into capturing what works because you've recently captured something new that works and I was delighted as you know, when I received the email from you saying, Hey, this is the business I'm about to acquire. This is what I'm going to do. I do think my first email back to you was, Oh, I want in on this because it's so good. Share about that, if you could, because I think that this is something that more people need to be aware of. So I'm just so happy to be sharing this with more people hand on heart, fully believe in this. I'm involved, I'm in, I was in from, from the very beginning. So tell us, tell us about
[00:10:10] Michelle: Tracy. So this is, this is a business, it's called Accountability Circle. And I have had the privilege of being a member of what I sort of termed quite an underground group for about 18 months. And the woman that was facilitating was selling the business and approached me and asked if I would take it on, which I did do a number of months ago now. And essentially what it is, it is like peer to peer mentoring. It is like your business board of advisors. These are women who are in the trenches with one another. And I mean that figuratively because the beauty of accountability circle is that you are exposed to women from different types of business.
[00:10:58] So it's not like everyone from the legal industry is all in together, or everyone from the finance industry is all in together. It's this beautiful blend of women who like they've got each other's back. They are there to be their sounding board, to be their advisors, to hold space for one another.
[00:11:20] And it is all done in a very structured, systematic way, which is, you know, the way that I like to roll. Because we've all been part of groups where, you know, God love them, there's usually like a bit of a squeaky wheel or as I like to call them the microphone hog. So we've got an hour together and one person dominates for 45 minutes and then everyone else has to squeeze into the remaining 15 minutes.
[00:11:46] So this is very it's a very structured format. But the thing that appealed to me the most when I became a member and then, which was one of the the big reasons why I was keen to take it on is because it is in person. It is in, it is in a room. We are literally sitting around a boardroom table together.
[00:12:06] And I just feel the power of that and the energy and what is conjured up in that room is really, really powerful. And as I said, there's women from all walks of life, different stages of business. They're all established business owners They're past that startup phase. There's so, I feel like there's a lot available for startups, but there's not a lot available for the keep goings, you know, and, and as, as we grow, it doesn't matter if your revenue is You know, 150K a year or 40 million a year, everyone is dealing with similar problems.
[00:12:47] They're just, you know, the 40 million business just has, you know, bigger team and I guess, you know, bigger revenue and all of that sort of stuff. But, and, and I think because we also focus not just on the business stuff. It is the whole, your whole life because as we're not just business owners, there is so much more to us than that so we are supporting one another through all sorts of things. So, I'm sort of through the transition stage now, which is really lovely cause that was something that was really important for me to get right. You know, when it's different when you're starting something from scratch, but when you are inheriting something, that has been a huge learning curve and probably, you know, another, uh, podcast episode worth of content because you worked very close with me on the, just the, the purchasing of the business and going through that transition. And I learned a lot, but then it was that flipping from being a member. Now I'm, even though it's a circle. So this was the other thing that I loved about it is that even though like I'm the facilitator, it's not the Michelle show.
[00:13:56] It's not like Michelle has all the answers and Michelle is leading the way. It's not that at all, because I've had that before. I have run Masterminds and that was the thing that I always was like, because I see the power in community and the power in Lots of voices in the room, not hundreds of voices in the room, because I think that can get very confusing.
[00:14:22] But when you have a group of women who know each other and know one another's businesses so well It's just, it's incredible. Like I love that the woman that's just sort of cracked into that sort of, you know, six figure mark and she's still might have a toddler at home and she's not working full time can give absolute gold to the woman who is running a 40 million business with multiple business partners and all the, like, it's just. It's wonderful. And those women in real life or ordinary life would probably have never met one another.
[00:15:00] Tracey: Oh, absolutely. And I know you and so I know how committed you are to whatever it is that you do. And I know what you're like at bringing women together. So when I saw that email come in, that this was something you were, you were preparing to purchase, Oh, this is just gold. And you've just nailed it. So we're talking about community and we're talking about the face to face and you've just nailed it in that we're the whole person.
[00:15:23] We're not just business owners. And that is so valuable to someone like me. And I know to many people who listen to the podcast, it's very valuable to them too, because it can get lonely sometimes, even though we're client facing virtually a lot of the time, and we've got the family and we're at kids sports and we've got a husband and yes, we have friends and you know, we're in touch with our bookkeeper and our strategist and all the things that can still be lonely.
[00:15:47] And I'm very intentional with my time these days, thanks to you, I've gotten very good at my boundaries, my personal boundaries, my business boundaries, and I make no apology for it. So when I'm choosing to spend time with people, I want to know that these are the right people, I want to be intentional, and I want to add value and give value and receive value.
[00:16:07] And from last time you and I caught up in person last month, yes, I took away all our usual value and got clarity over all the things which really has catapulted my planning forward. But I also came away with some real nuggets of motivation in relation to my fitness planning and when I was going to get on my bike and how I was going to juggle that and how I was going to justify that in my head and flip it around that it was necessary. There's so much value when you've got those women in that room face to face that you can pick up on and that's what I love about it. And that's what I wanted to talk about. And this is what I wanted to share. When we're deciding where to spend our time, it's okay to choose what works for us. It's okay to be feeling lonely. It's okay to be craving connection, real life in person connection. If that's what you want, there are avenues and it is available. just need to know where to look.
[00:17:01] Michelle: That's right. we are self employed, but we don't need to do this all by our self. I think I see this so often is women are like sitting there running rings around themselves, like just absolutely driving themselves crazy, whether it's, you know, about a particular thing that they're stuck on or a decision that they're making or what have you.
[00:17:23] And, you know, our families love us to bits. Our partners love us to bits. Our friends do. But, you know, I could probably count on one hand the number of my outside of work girlfriends who, who understand what I do for a living. My family sure don't understand. Like it's that sort of, it's, they want the best for us.
[00:17:43] Whereas these women are like they're in the trenches. They want the best for us, but they also, they get it. They get what it is like to be making those decisions, making those calls, dealing with those challenges, celebrating those wins. You know, a lot of people aren't comfortable tooting their own horn into their friendship group or their families.
[00:18:06] But these are, these are women that get it. They get the slog that you have been going through to get to achieve that goal or whatever it is, whether it's business, personal or whatever. And yeah, it is, it's really, really special and everyone. Everyone needs it in whatever shape or form it comes to for you, but you are not meant to walk this journey.
[00:18:30] Well, the journey through life, but particularly through business alone, there is power in connection and you don't know what you don't know. And being exposed to different ways of thinking and different ways of doing things Is only going to elevate you and your business. there's no one holding a gun to your head and making you take that information and apply it to your business. But just having exposure, I think is, is a surefire way to, to really boost your business and boost yourself as well well as Yeah.
[00:19:03] Tracey: Yeah, it it absolutely does. Just having that time out for yourself to connect with other adult women without little people hanging off or the school ringing and, and all those things, time for self time for self and it's enriching on so many levels. So I say that it's out there. These options are there. Work out what's going to work for you and you can find it. But tell us, how can we find you if this is resonating, and which I'm sure it will for many, how can we find you?
[00:19:26] Michelle: Yep. So if people want to find out more about Accountability Circle, just go to accountabilitycircle.com.au or yeah, I mean, I have a separate business website which is michellebroadbent.com.au and I'm on Instagram @michbroadbent as well, M I C H Broadbent. Yeah, so get in touch.
[00:19:47] Tracey: Just on that, I highly encourage everybody to jump over to Michelle's website to download the Winning Week. Have you still got the Winning week on there? That's been one of my favorite all time things, the Winning Week. I revisit that often to set myself up for the Winning Week, so I will put the link in the show notes for that too, because that's just a little nugget of gold in itself.
[00:20:04] Thank you, Michelle, for joining me. This was such a great chat, and I know this is going to help so many women that are listening to this and nodding their head, thinking, yes, this is for me, and you're absolutely right, and this is the nudge I needed to start exploring options that are going to meet my needs for where I'm at, because we've all got them.
[00:20:20] Michelle: Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Tracy. I'm looking forward to chatting to your listeners.
[00:20:25] Tracey: Oh, that was fun. That was fun recording that and so honest. And you've had a chance to listen for yourself now about the value that Michelle brings and the insights that she has. And so the accountability circle really is something that's so aligned for Michelle and it was no surprise to me when she reached out to seek my assistance to assist her with the purchase of that business.
[00:20:47] So aligned and I knew right from the beginning that this was going to be something that would thrive with Michelle as it is the details for the accountability circle are in the show notes. The details to locate Michelle are also in the show notes and no lie, the winning week, whilst it might seem basic to some really has been.
[00:21:05] And I think that's been a game changer for me. The tip here, if you do go and download that and start thinking about implementing that is you are allowed to change it. So I was very rigid initially with my winning week after I set that up and Michelle had said to me, I think it was at the beginning of school holidays about a year or so ago.
[00:21:20] Tracy, you need to change it. It adapts with you. It'll definitely look different in the school holidays and gosh, she was right. She's such a gem and I loved that conversation so much. I hope that you have enjoyed this. If you. think that there are other people that might enjoy it, please do feel free to share.
[00:21:37] I would mean the world to me. I am on a mission to get this podcast into the ears of as many business owners as possible so please do share widely. I would be very grateful. As always, thank you for your time. Thank you for joining me and I'll catch you next week.
LINKS:
Previous episode mentioned:
Is HUSTLE a dirty word? with Emma McQueen
Connect with Michelle:
Download Your Winning Week here
Websites: https://www.accountabilitycircle.com.au/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/michbroadbent/
Connect with Tracey:
Book a Strategy Session with me here
Get your copy of my Annual Legal Checklist here
Check out my Getting Paid Made Easy course here
Join Me on Social:
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