Finding community as you get older, especially as an entrepreneur, can feel almost impossible. Today’s episode comes straight from the heart. We’re diving into what community looks like as an entrepreneur and how to find that community.
Clocking In with Haylee Gaffin is produced and brought to you by Gaffin Creative, a podcast production company for creative entrepreneurs. Learn more about our services at Gaffincreative.com, plus you’ll also find resources, show notes, and more for the Clocking In Podcast.
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Today, I’m being a little more candid with you guys. I think that as you get older it can get harder and harder to find friends or a community we connect with. I have found that so many people my age feel this way. So, if you relate, let’s dive in.
Finding Community
This comes straight from the heart, I want to talk about finding community. Whether that’s finding community in your personal life, work life, or whatever kind of community you are searching for. It becomes so hard, especially for entrepreneurs. Working from home can make it a challenge, for sure. There are some weeks when I can go a full seven days without seeing a single person besides my husband. You’re not going to the office, you don’t have coworkers to go out with. Entrepreneurship ends up looking like this for a lot of people.
Not only that, but after COVID so many people lost connections and community. Now, I know you probably know all of this. You’ve probably experienced this. The obstacles you have to face, mainly emotionally, make finding community so important.
Community can go so far beyond work environments, also. When you spend time even with work friends outside of work, you aren’t talking just about your job. You are connecting and sharing beyond work.
So what does this look like for you?
Look at your life right now. Evaluate the community that you have.
- You probably have your online community of friends. I know that I do, there are so many of my friends that I wish I could visit more or move closer. I have created some really great online friends.
- Then, you have your work friends. If you work in an office or have industry peers in your city. This could come from networking groups.
- Then you probably have your personal friends, the ones you choose. These are the people you want to hang out with in your free time.
- Then you have your family, the core of how you grew up and what you are now. And maybe, this is chosen as well.
Now, think about this community. Is it full of people you love, you want to be around, you want to spend time with?
Someone once said you are like the five people you spend the most time with. I think this can be true to an extent. But I also want to highlight that I don’t think you have to be exactly like those people. You don’t have to have the same career, interests, or friend groups.
In addition to that, I have friends who are entrepreneurs and own their own businesses and they get things that my friends who work in an office don’t understand. That doesn’t mean that we don’t connect in other ways.
Community is so important because it gives you a diverse group of people to connect with, lean on, run or even ideas by. When you have a great community you can learn and grow with the people you surround yourself with. Who you’re connecting with is influencing you. They give their thoughts and opinions into your life. Make sure you choose your community wisely.
Why has community meant so much to me lately?
Back in June, I turned 30. I realized that I had lost touch with a lot of my community within the last two years of the global pandemic. Because of this I have spent this entire year, so far, reaching back out to old friends. I’m trying to be more intentional in getting back into the groove of community. Now I have been pulled out of a work-only mindset.
Without community, I don’t have anyone to spend time with away from work. I don’t go out on the weekends, I don’t go out to dinner, and I was never pulled outside of work. I found myself buried in my laptop on the weekends, time I should have stepped away to rest. I don’t like that version of me.
There are times when hustling, for lack of a better term, is totally necessary. But these times were different. I had nothing else to do, so I just worked to work. I was not being challenged, I had no community, and I was not becoming my best self.
How do you find this community?
This can be kind of hard. I feel like I have built a really great community. A core group of personal friends, great industry peers, amazing internet friends, and awesome family. But sometimes, finding friends in your 30s, especially as an entrepreneur working from home can be super hard. But there are a few things I think you can do.
- Reconnect with the friends you lost touch with
- Find networking events, and connect with people in your field online
- Find community at local events, and church, get out of your comfort zone
If you’re looking for community, reach out. There are people out there. If you need someone to reach out to, talk to me. Email me or message me on Instagram. Community is out there.
One of the reasons I even landed on this topic is that I’ve been working on a dream project of mine for two years. This project is Mic Check Society. I wanted to provide a place where podcasters could connect with a community. Whether you’re totally new to the podcasting world or a podcasting vet, this is a space where you can meet peers and build deep connections. This was my entire concept for Mic Check Society.
Mic Check Society
Now, if you’re using a podcast for your business and are looking for a resource to help you continue to grow your podcast in a way that serves your business, make sure you check out Mic Check Society. We have a community of podcasters sharing their questions, concerns, successes, and more in one Facebook group.
Members of Mic Check Society also have access to monthly training from industry experts, hot-seat calls with those experts, silent coworking sessions, and resources to help your podcast succeed.
Check out the Show Notes:
Finding Community as an Entrepreneur (0:55)
Your Community (2:10)
Why Community is so Important to Me Lately (5:29)
How to Find Community (7:15)
Reconnect with Friends (8:00)
Networking Events (8:30)
Mic Check Society (10:25)
Links Mentioned In Today’s Episode:
Review the Transcript:
In today’s episode, I’m getting a little candid because I think that as we get older, it becomes harder and harder to find friends or find community that we connect with. So if that’s you then listen in.
Hey, y’all, welcome to the clocking in Podcast, the podcast for entrepreneurs and professionals making their way in the working world. I’m your host Haylee Gaffin. This podcast is produced and brought to you by Gaffin. Creative, a podcast production company for creative entrepreneurs. Learn more about our services at Gaffin creative.com. Plus, you’ll also find resources, show notes and more for the clocking in podcast. So let’s clock in and get to work. Okay, y’all, I am very nervous about today’s episode, because it is coming straight from the heart, I have no script, I have just a little outline of points I want to cover but I want to talk about finding community, whether that’s finding community in your personal life, or your work life or whatever community you’re searching for. I do think it’s really hard. And now, especially for entrepreneurs out there, because working from home does make it a little harder.
I feel like I can go all week and have not seen a single person outside of my husband. Like there is no office to go to no co workers to hang out with that is what entrepreneurship can look like for some people. Not only that, but a lot of people during COVID went through the same thing when they started working at home. And I don’t think I’m telling you anything that you don’t already know. But the obstacles that you have to face mainly just with emotions, and like feeling alone or feeling like you don’t have anyone to confide in. I think those make finding communities so much more important. And I’m not only referencing community here for work community, because a lot of my friends when I worked in a corporate office, when we talked outside of work, it wasn’t about work, it was just about connection and having a conversation about common interests, or whatever. So let’s talk through exactly what this looks like for you. So I want you to look at your life right now. And look at the community that you have, you likely have an online community of friends, I know I do. Every day I There are so many friends, I wish that could just be in my city.
You know, I wish that I could move them here or visit them more often because I have created some really great online friends. Additionally, there are your work friends. So like if you work in an office, or if you’re an entrepreneur, and you have colleagues or industry peers that are in the same city as you, those could be work friends, I guess. And this could even be like through networking groups that you’re a part of. And then you probably have your personal friends who are the friends you choose. Because you get to choose like who you’d like to hang out with in your free time. Who do you want to spend your time with? And what are those people look like? And then you have your family and your family is the core of how you grew up what you know now, and maybe your family has chosen as well. So think about this community is it full of people you love is a full of people you want to be around and you want to spend time with, there’s a quote out there that’s like you are like the five people you spend the most time with. And I do think that’s true to an extent. But I also want to highlight that I don’t think you have to be exactly like every single person you hang out with. You don’t have to have the same career or have the same interests or have the same friend group. I mean, I have friends that don’t know each other.
But would it be awesome if they came together and got to know each other, of course. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be friends with everyone else. And in addition to that, like I have friends who are entrepreneurs and who own their own businesses and get things that my friends who work in an office or what work full time for someone else, I don’t understand. But that doesn’t mean I can’t connect with them on other levels. So personal interests, or even just enjoying hanging out with those friends. So community is important because it gives you people to connect with people to lean on people to run ideas by whether that’s like, do you want to paint your bathroom eggshell white? Or do you want to paint it blue? Things like that. That feels so silly sometimes, but sometimes you just want someone to talk to these things with or should I be investing in a Roth IRA or should I be looking for a job that will give me access to a 401k Whatever those things are as well. There are so many topics out there. We want to have commerce patience with. And I think it’s important that we are connecting with people who can pour into us and make us better people.
So that’s another thing to consider too is like, who you’re connecting with, they are influencing you. They are giving their thoughts and their opinions and everything in their own life. Those are things that are going to impact you. So make sure that you’re choosing that community wisely so that you are becoming the best version of yourself. Now, why has community meant so much to me lately? Well, back in June, I turned 30. And I realized that with the last two years of going through a global pandemic, I have lost a lot of friends, a lot of in person friends, I should say. And it’s not that I lost them, we just lost touch. And this happened over two years. So it wasn’t like back in June that I figured this out. So basically, this entire year, I have spent reaching back out to old friends trying to make better plans, trying to get back into the groove of connecting with community. And what that has done for me, has pulled me out of this mindset of work all the time. Because if I don’t have friends that will go hang out with me on the weekends, or will ask me to go to dinner or you know, just connect outside of work, then I find myself buried in my laptop on the weekends. And I don’t like that version of me. Like I think there are times of I hate this word, but I’m going to use it, I think there’s times of hustle where like, if I’m leading up to a launch, of course working over the weekend is going to happen.
Or if I’m preparing to go on vacation, that’s going to happen too. But I’m talking like, I have nothing and I’m just working to work. Because I’m not spending time with anyone. I’m not being a better person, I’m not being my best self, because I’m not prioritizing community or putting friends above work. Or, you know, you just become a bad friend sometimes when you are so ingrained in your work, and you’re not putting that community above it. Now. I think too. One question I’m going to get if I don’t address is how to find this community. And I do think this is hard to. So I feel like I have a really great community of friends in all aspects that I’ve talked about. So I have a core group of personal friends that like I loved hanging out with, I have great industry peers that I can call on, I have amazing internet friends, I’m going to continue to say I wish they lived near me, but they know who they are. And I think sometimes finding a friend in your 30s especially, and then finding a community in your 30s as an entrepreneur who who spends, you know, 75% of your time at home is really hard. So there are a few things I want to highlight.
One is reconnect with the friends you may have lost touch with in the last year, the last two years. Because I did this in January, I think I sent out five different text messages to different friends who I lost touch with, I took a fault for it. Because I didn’t reach out the phone goes both ways. I can’t just like put that on those people. And it was so freeing because they were feeling the same way. So reach out to old friends rekindle those relationships and see how they’re doing what they’re doing. Ask them to hang out. But then also, if you’re looking for community in your industry, go to networking events connect with people online, there are tons of communities online that you can look for. I personally I’m a part of rising tide society, and I co lead our current chapter. And I found dozens of friends through rising tide society, online, but also in person as well. So those are really great places to to explore, meeting new people.
And then I know there’s other places like you could go to church or you could go out to there are tons of community events that happen around most cities. So they’re like going to communities and meeting new people, like events that’s a little outside of my comfort zone. But if you’re willing to challenge yourself, go for it. Like I really just I am exploring a new place where finding community is so valuable. Now I would love to know from you. Have you found a community? Are you looking for a community like what does this look like for you? Because I know this episode does not really anything I’ve put out in the past. It does not match my topics normally and it doesn’t really match my I guess format and structure of shows normally, but I just feel like this is a conversation that someone needs to hear that whether you’re looking For community, or you’re trying to reach out to a past friend, or whatever that looks like, there are people out there, I’m here, if you need somebody to talk to reach out to me on Instagram, if I don’t answer is probably because it’s in my other messages, send me an email, fill out my contact form, whatever way you need to talk to me, I would love to chat with you.
Now, one of the reasons that this entire podcast episode came about was because I’ve been working on something for a while I’ve dreamt of it for two years, and I’ve talked about it a little bit on the show. And it’s MIC CHECK society. And now I don’t want this to turn into just a complete ad for my check society. But I had to give all of that background information on like finding community and why this was so important to me to create my check society, because I wanted to create some sort of community that was built for podcasters, who, whether you were just starting out, or you had been around for a long time, but you were looking to build connections, find those guests to interview, you know, try out new strategies, learn, grow, and just make your podcasts a better fit for you and for your audience with the help of others. That was my like, entire concept for my check society. And I finally built it. It is here, it’s available, it is live to the public. I’m so excited for it. And I’m excited for podcasters to get to connect with other podcasters. My own clients are already active inside of my Czech society. We have quite a number of members, I can’t believe how many are a part of it already, mainly because I just I got so in my head.
And luckily I’ve had community to talk me through it, to talk me into believing in myself and believing in the thing that I have. I believe in MIC CHECK society, I think I’ve just struggled with understanding like how am I leading this, you know, but that’s beside the point. What I want you to know about MIC CHECK society is it is an annual membership community that was built for you for podcasters. You as a member, when you join will get access to our self paced podcasts audit and workbook, you’ll get to be a part of a community of like minded podcasters we’ll be dropping educational trainings and guest expert trainings, we’ll be hosting Hot Seat calls, silent co working sessions, and you’ll even get some discounts on some exclusive podcast products. So I want to make sure that you are part of it this week might check society has already launched to the public and I want to make sure that you get access to the best rates available. So if you’re looking for a community for podcasters This is specifically for my podcast listeners who are podcast hosts, they help with a show or they want to be a podcaster I do think that it’s more beneficial if you already have a podcast to be in this. But if you’re just starting out and you’re ready to get connected and find a group of people who can support you, mic check society is for you. So head over to Mic check society.com or the link in today’s show notes and we’ll get you set up inside of Mike check society. And I can’t wait to see you there.
This has been another episode of The clocking in podcast. You can find the show notes for this episode and more at Gaffin creative.com. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. If you love this episode, I’d be so honored if you leave me a review in the Apple podcast app. Until next time, I’m your host Haylee Gaffin clocking out.
