As a business owner, having a good business community around you is crucial for your business success. Simple as that. It goes way beyond the social aspects, and as you’ll see in a moment, a powerful business community isn’t about money or income. At all. I say it as a business owner myself, as a business strategist who has been working for over 20 years with business owners and startup founders, and as someone who took an active part in establishing very successful business communities in the past.
At the end of this page, you’ll find an episode of The Community podcast, hosted by Mike Arboit from TFN, a business co-working space in Port Moody, BC, which is also an excellent business community that I am proud to be a member of.
What turns a business community into a powerful business ecosystem
A powerful business ecosystem is all about a bilateral relationship, in three different aspects: Brainstorming and Mentoring, Impactful connections, and Access to useful resources.
Brainstorming and Mentoring
All entrepreneurs know how it feels to be at the top of the pyramid. Whether they have a one-man-show type of business or a business with employees, every business owner needs to make many decisions that affect everything - from the smallest details to the biggest things in their business and consequently, in their lives. That’s why they need someone to talk to, and not necessarily a coach or a consultant, but also people like them, who know what it means to run a business and know the importance of hands-on, true feedback. This brainstorming helps you get other opinions on certain aspects of your business, learn from the other’s experience and eventually, form these insights and ideas into business decisions that you couldn’t reach on your own. Mentorship, however, is a different story. One of the best things you can do as a business owner is to find a mentor who already walked the path that you’re currently walking and can help you to walk it smarter and faster. There is a famous saying that the best person to learn from is that person who achieved what you want or got to where you want to be, and a mentor is just that, whether they do it pro bono, for some kind of equity, or even offer their knowledge for a fee.
The bottom line is that next time you think of becoming a member of a co-working space or a business community, think who there can be your brainstorming buddies, if there is someone who can be your mentor down the road, and whether you can contribute to other members by becoming their brainstorming buddy or mentor.
"When you choose a business community you need to make sure you have something to give back, whether it is business connections, knowledge or services"
Impactful connections
The second aspect of a powerful ecosystem is the connections it makes, and most importantly, the level of those connections. There are three levels of business connections: the basic one is your paying clients, whether these are the people in your business community or their friends and colleagues. This is a basic level because the only thing it brings is money, and this is something that can be generated by paid advertising easily. It’s not that it is bad, on the contrary, but it does not represent a powerful ecosystem. The second level is also paying clients, but this time I’m referring to those clients who help position you in a way that you couldn’t do yourself. This positioning, in turn helps you reach more clients in this level by yourself at later stages, and that’s a significant indicator of a powerful community. Another significant indicator, and maybe the most relevant to this topic, is connections that you couldn’t form by yourself. These are people that you are introduced to that you couldn’t reach on your own without a mutual connection or the timely information about something they are involved with. However, and this is super-important: it goes both ways. When you choose a business community you need to make sure you have something to give back, whether it is business connections, knowledge or services. I specifically mention knowledge or services because sometimes you don’t have someone to introduce to the community or clients you can pair with other professionals in it. In that case, you may want to make the relationship bilateral by offering something else until you are able to contribute impactful connections back to your community.
"The time aspect is crucial in every business, and you need to act quickly if you want to get ahead of your competition and to test your business ideas and concepts in the real world"
Access to useful resources
The third main aspect of a powerful community is the ability to share resources. But how do you know if a resource is impactful? I always ask myself and others whether this resource saves time or effort, as 100% of business owners, startup founders and CEOs need to “pay” with one or more of these. A useful resource helps you save time and money by using some sort of technology, talking with someone, or pitching your idea to an investor. The time aspect is crucial in every business, and you need to act quickly if you want to get ahead of your competition and to test your business ideas and concepts in the real world. Let me give you a few examples of useful resources: A technology that saves you time and effort, an important and positioning business connection, an investor to pitch to, the ability to get others’ opinion whether as a part of an organized focus group or even an impromptu one, the ability to use someone else’s mailing list, marketing channels, social media profiles, and even websites, and many more. Again, remember that it needs to be bilateral. You need to give back, not only to someone who gives you access to a resource. You should give what you can to as many members as possible in order to be an active part of the community and to benefit from it.
And now, as promised, here is the podcast episode of The Community Podcast, hosted by Mike Arboit from TFN, an incredible business community in Port Moody, that Mike and Erin Scarlett founded back in 2019.
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