e160 What Does It REALLY Mean To Be 'In Community' And How Does It Affect Your Business Growth (1)
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[00:00:00] Welcome. Welcome to the Heads Together podcast. I'm your host, Gill Moakes, and thank you for joining me again this week. If you're a regular listener or if this is the first time you've stumbled upon Heads Together, then welcome. I'm so happy you found me. This is a podcast for coaches. It's where I give you the. inside track on what it really takes to build a flourishing coaching practice. As a coach who has done that, who has built a very flourishing, successful coaching practice from the ground up, I now take everything that I've learned and pass it on to you, my listeners. So welcome. Let's dive into today's episode, which is all about what it really means to be in community and how community can [00:01:00] affect business growth.
For the better. Shall we just add? Okay, so this episode is not gonna be the kind of fluffy joy, my community stuff that doesn't really mean much. This is the real kind of soul nourishing. Community that literally changes the game for you, particularly as a coach. I think that coaches hone their coaching skills and build their businesses best when they are in community with other coaches to support them.
We know what it's like. We get it. So surrounding ourselves with peers can be a really, really good move for building your business. Now, I wanna caveat that by saying. You should not only be surrounding yourself with other coaches, and this can be a little bit [00:02:00] of a trap that some coaches will fall into, and they will almost put down the marketing of themselves as a coach in favor of this comfortable space of surrounding themselves with other coaches.
Now, that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about being very strategically clear about what you need to do business.
And the incredible impact that having a community of other coaches around you can bring to building your business. Okay, two really different things. Alright, let's dive into the episode.
Welcome. Welcome to The Heads Together podcast. I'm Gill Moakes, and I am obsessed with cutting through the noise when it comes to growing your business. Each week via intimate coaching conversations and inspirational stories. I share what it really [00:03:00] takes to get the results you want in a way that feels right to you.
I am all about attracting higher ticket opportunities, building authentic relationships, and creating the abundant, full fat version of your dream business. I mean, how many of us have beavered away creating a light version of what we really want? The thing is, I honestly believe when you are outstanding at what you do, there is no limit to what you can achieve.
So. Are you ready to put our heads together and make it happen? Let's go.
You know, being in community, it's not just about having people around you, it's also about being supported. It's being challenged, being cheered on. Here's the biggie. It's about not [00:04:00] building your business in a. And that's what I want us to break down in this episode because if you are feeling a bit isolated or maybe you've tried joining some groups or communities for business owners, but you've kind of found them a little bit shallow or a bit performative, you know, I think Facebook groups at one time were really good, but recently I think it's all got a little bit surface level.
I just want you hear this. It doesn't. The right kind of community can absolutely be rocket fuel for your coaching practice. So what does it mean when I talk about being in community? And I really wanna define what this means because I think somewhere along the way community has become a huge buzzword and it's lost a bit of meaning.
Being in community doesn't mean you've joined a [00:05:00] Facebook group, for example, with 3000 members that you never talk to, you dunno, any of them, and it's just very performative in terms of going through and liking what other people are doing without really taking an interest or consuming what they're right.
Doesn't mean that, it definitely doesn't mean collecting followers or email subscribers. Thinking that just the act of collecting those numbers somehow counts as relationship building. 'cause it doesn't. Okay. Being in community means participating. It means choosing to build relationships that are two way.
And that's when we open ourselves up to the possibility of that support, that collaboration, which is huge for coaches. Collaborations for coaches is really big. It's really important. There are so many coaches who compliment each other's [00:06:00] work really well, who should be leveraging the power of collaboration but aren't.
I get that this doesn't always come naturally to coaches because we're often the holders of space. We are the ones who do the supporting the givers. But you know what? When we allow ourselves to be supported by others, by our peers, by people that we're in community with, when we step into a space where people get it, where they really understand what it means to be building a business like you are something really powerful shifts because community isn't passive.
It's really intentional. So it's about intentionally making a decision to allow yourself to be supported within a community, and it's making an intentional decision to be an active [00:07:00] participator in that community. Right? And you know, being in community can absolutely help you grow your business. When you surround yourself with people who potentially serve a similar audience to you or simply people who believe in you, right?
You're gonna get referrals that are gonna be collaborative opportunities. You are going to be, have shared audiences to speak to and gain momentum, right? We talk putting collaboration. But are we really walking that walk? And this isn't about two coaches who are quite clearly in direct competition. I'm using the usual Pointless podcast air quotes here.
This isn't about two coaches who are obviously do exactly the same thing for exactly the [00:08:00] same audience. That's not a great collaboration, right? Because then you're almost asking people to make a choice. Either pick me. That's not what collaboration is about. Collaboration is coming together with someone who is complimentary to what you do, and together you build something that is bigger and better, or maybe just better than either of you could create alone.
It's something that's unique. It's the coming together of the two of you to produce something that neither of you could have produced without the other. That's a real true collaboration and being in community with other coaches who are on the same path as you, but potentially doing something slightly different, something complimentary to what you do gives rise to those kind of collaborations, right?
Another way that being in community could really help you grow your business is [00:09:00] because brings accountability. So if you say. A room full of other coaches who wanna see you win, who will really care about your business and how you are going to bring to life the business that you really want. If you say to that group of coaches, I'm gonna launch this offer up in three weeks, then you community is gonna keep you moving towards that.
They're gonna support you and encourage you to launch that thing. When you are working in isolation, there is no accountability for doing it. We can all change the due date on our Asana task board or on our Trello board, right? I do it. I do it all the time, but then if I talk to my coach or if I talk to my community and say.
This is something I really want to do and I would really appreciate [00:10:00] being held accountable for this, then I know it's gonna get done. Another thing is that kind of crowd building of perspectives and ideas. You know, if you are someone who sometimes just gets stuck trying to create your own content or looking at it and wondering if it's gonna make sense to someone else, or maybe you are questioning your niche for the millionth time, having other people to bounce off is just such a.
Game changer, but they have to be people who understand your business. So this is where being in community is very different to networking. Okay? Networking. Yes. You wanna go somewhere where your ideal clients are because you're using it as a marketing strategy. Being in community is not a marketing strategy.
Okay. It's being comfortable being with other people, [00:11:00] doing something similar to you so you can bounce ideas off of them. You know, sometimes one single sentence from someone who really gets it is all it's gonna take to unlock a huge idea for you. That can be very powerful, and I also think that being in community really helps build confidence as a coach.
Because you realize you're not alone when you get the wobbles right. You're gonna see people who are ahead of you, absolutely sure, but you're also gonna see people who are beside you at the same point you are at. Or you're gonna see people who are just starting out and are behind you. And it normalizes the whole journey.
And that kind of solidarity, that kind of coming together of all stages of that coaching business journey really builds this steady confidence in what you are doing. It shows you what's possible. It [00:12:00] allows you to be a source of information for those coming up behind you. And it allows you to look at the person next to you and say, yeah, I'm okay.
I'm doing okay. We're all different. We're all walking our own path, but we're all moving forward. Right? Finally, I just wanna remind you of something and that is that building any business, building a coaching business.
And it's not always easy. Marketing yourself as a coach, enrolling clients, being visible, knowing which strategies to use that are gonna work, building that marketing ecosystem. It's not easy to do it alone. And a real community where it brings a lot of laughter for a start. When you make mistakes and you're kind of like, oh God, [00:13:00] here's what happened this week.
Right? But it brings the real talk. It brings shared wins. It brings the kind of energy that you're gonna need that's gonna help you keep going. When if you were doing this in isolation on your own, easily burn out. Being in community is one of the best ways to stop yourself from falling into that burnout path.
Number one, if you found a really good community, the people in the community with you won't let you. They will reach out to you. If they haven't heard from you for a while. They're going to reach out to you. They're going to support you. You're gonna feel on your own doing this, and it's gonna normalize the angst that goes with building any business, right?
Because building a business, honestly, it is so doable. You have everything that you need to do it inside you. But sometimes we forget that and that [00:14:00] grit, that determination, that it definitely does take, it's so much easier to sustain that if you are in community with other people on the same path. So how do you know if a particular community is the right one for you?
Well, I'll tell you what. There are a few green flags. We talk a lot about red flags, don't we? But I've come up with some green flags, which if you see these things, then you can safely explore further and think, Hmm, this might be a community that I wanna be part of. The first one is that it's curated. So what I mean by that, it's not just a free for all, you know that the people inside are intent.
About the thing they're working on. If you wanna be in community with other coaches who are really intentional about building their businesses, that is the kind of curated, specific community you need to [00:15:00] find. Right? That's a green flag. It's been curated. It's very clear who the community is for. Green Flag number two, second green flag.
The leader of the community is present. This is so important. They're not just selling access to something, they're also facilitating connection inside the community. That's really, really important. Third green flag. It values depth over noise, right? So this one is important for me as record. A couple of weeks when you listen to this, when this episode goes live, we'll literally be three days away from the membership opening, which is the collective.
My membership, and this has been so important to me while I've been building this out. It's not about how many people join [00:16:00] the membership for me. It's the quality, quality of the relationships of the people who join the membership. It's so important. The collective offers you everything you need to build and grow your coaching practice so it offers you.
Incredible amount of educational information, you know, so it's giving you the strategy, it's giving you all of the resources, the master classes. It's giving you a roadmap that you can follow and do the lessons. One after the other, after the other. And at the end of it, you are going to be set up for success.
But you know what, the most important part for me is the community space. Because you can have all of that other DIY stuff, all of those resources and downloads, and yes, they're brilliant, they're fantastic, but they don't replace the relationship building that can [00:17:00] happen by being in community. And that isn't a numbers thing.
It's not about how many people are, don't get me wrong. I would love this to be a thriving, growing membership. Full to the raft of with incredible coaches, but I would rather have two members that are membership full of the wrong people, and I really mean that. I'm in a really fortunate position, right? I don't need thousands of people to join this membership.
From a financial perspective, that's not what this is about. This is just the right next step for me. I feel so called to create this community and this membership. I know it's the right next step for me. Intuitively, I know that, but it is about the depth. It's not about the noise. It's not about the number of people.
So that's a green flag in my book. If I'm [00:18:00] looking for a community, that's what I want the ethos to be. The quality of the relationships. The fourth green flag, it is not a performance space. So the collective is definitely not gonna be one of those memberships that is cliquey, where you've gotta pretend everything is perfect.
You've got the perfect this, the perfect that. Your branding is amazing. Everything is just so good, not. That's not what this space is about. You get to be real. You get to be radically honest and transparent about what you're struggling with. This is not a space full of your ideal clients where you want to almost give this amazing first impression in the hope that they will hire you as their coach.
This is an honest space to support you to build your coaching practice. So you showing up as the real you vulnerable, asking for the support you [00:19:00] need, offering support to other coaches. That's the most important thing. This isn't a performance space. And the fifth green flag, this is the big one. It feels like you exhale a bit when you are.
That is the sign of a space that's really safe and actually empowering. It feels like you exhale, like you're not going into a noisy, overly curated. Performative space. You're going into something that's real. It feels like home. You've got the tab saved on your desktop, and every day you are hopping in there.
What's going on? Let's hop into the hq. Let's see what's going on. What do I need today to support me in whatever stage I'm at in building my business? What do I need? That's what a real community is. [00:20:00] And all of these things that I believe make a great community are what I've used to inform the collective, and it's why I created the collective.
This isn't just a group. This is a space that's been designed by me exclusively for coaches who are growing their businesses with integrity. Intention and a deep desire to make a difference, but also an equally deep desire to make great money too. This is an honest space where we are ambitious coaches.
We want to support people, we want to provide transformational coaching for our clients, but we wanna be rewarded for lifestyle.
That's the truth about why I created the collective, because it's not an either or. It's not about, you either serve on a [00:21:00] transformational level or you focus on making money. Inside the collective, you're gonna find a curated community of peers, plus you get support from me inside the community. You get regular sessions to stay focused.
You've got masterclasses, you get a q and a call every month, but you're gonna make real connections with other coaches, right? And it's just as important. Everything that I teach you in the roadmap that takes you from your mindset, your.
Your thought leadership, your marketing, the client experience, and your operations, all of that information, right? Everything you need to grow your coaching practice is inside the collective, but it's so much more than that. The support is just gonna be phenomenal. I already know that our founding members [00:22:00] are just.
To form this bedrock of community for the collective.
So the doors open very, very soon for our first call together. But you can head to Jill Oaks do com slash collective. If you wanna explore more about the collective and if you wanna see if this is the community that you've been looking for, if this is the membership. You feel is really gonna provide you with all of the knowledge, that first part, but also the community that you need to keep moving forward in building your business, then I really want you to come and explore.
Get a feel for it. Is this gonna be the place where you are going to be able to collaborate with other coaches [00:23:00] and create something incredible between you? Is this a space where you are going to get all of the strategy, all of the lessons, all of the templates, the downloadables, the workbooks, the spreadsheets, the email copy, swipe files, you know, it's all in here.
It's really my own business playbook, literally on a plate for you. I haven't left anything out. You know that one of my values is generosity, and I think the collective is just such a great example of that because every time I thought I had that inkling of, oh gosh, you know, should I be giving that away inside the membership?
The answer was always yes. I'm very unapologetic about saying this. The ultimate membership for coaches. I would love you to go and explore Jill oaks.com/collective. Take a look and if it looks like something that is [00:24:00] going to be just what you've been looking for, then I would love you to take that next step and sign up.
We have our first live call inside the membership on the 5th of June. Which is at 1:00 PM UK time, or 8:00 AM Eastern Time in the us and that is for our launch party. But you can absolutely get access to the collective, to all of the resources. You can have a good explorer around before then. Okay.
Joining us in this membership could change everything for you. Everything. And I wanna have in.
Alright. That's it for today, everyone. I hope this episode really resonated. I hope it's got you thinking about community and in whatever way that is, maybe your thinking. You know what, Jill? I don't wanna be in community, [00:25:00] in your community. I wanna build my own community. Wow. You know, if it inspires you to do something like that, brilliant.
You know, just think about all of those things that I believe make for green flags for a community. You know, use that, use that information to inform your own. But if you're listening and you feel like this could be the community for you, I'll put all of the links in the show notes for you. If it did resonate with you, I would love it if you would share this episode with another coach that would make my day.
If you were to share this episode with another coach, I would love it. Let's keep the ripple going. All right. Until next time, have a fantastic week and I'll see you back here again. Same time, same place next week. Bye for now.
I hope you enjoyed this episode and that getting our heads together this week has filled your mind with what's possible. [00:26:00] If you love the show, would you do me a massive favor? Please? Would you leave a five star rating on Apple Podcasts? It would really help you Put more heads together, reach more ears, and expand more minds.
Until next week, bye for now.
