Community and a sense of belonging are two essential elements in the self-employed life. In this episode, my guest Joshua Greene and I look at why and how community, especially in business, has changed in recent times. We first talk about the concept of a “wavy” career path – a descriptor which suits a lot of us self-employed folks – and why someone on a wavy career path might need community even more than someone with a more traditional (linear) career path. We explore the critical importance for a "businesses of one" (e.g. a self-employed solopreneur) to be inspired and lifted up by others – which is difficult to do without a community! Other topics we discuss include feeling connected vs. feeling lonely, the unexpected importance of "loose ties," the burden of making decisions alone, and how having a community can actually make your business itself better. And of course, we talk about the solutions that Joshua’s company Groove aims to provide to solopreneurs to give them access to supportive community.
As the co-founder and CEO of Groove, an online coworking community and mobile app for solopreneurs, Josh is building on his passion for community to help transform the way people on wavy career paths (solopreneurs, freelancers, creatives) can find support and human connection to help them accomplish great things.
Josh believes in work-life harmony — how we work shapes how we live, and vice versa. He experienced this firsthand as an exec at WeWork in the office of the CEO working across the business. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Josh and his co-founders saw that the world had changed, along with our traditional work systems. Groove was created as a response to that and is here to support the next generation of solopreneurs as they break open the ideas of how we can connect and work on energizing projects.
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Everything you need can all be found at jeffreyshaw.com.
Joshua Greene, thank you so much for being here!
Remember, you might be in business FOR yourself but you are not in business BY yourself.
Be your best self. Be proud and keep changing the world.
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Host Jeffrey Shaw is a Small Business Consultant, Brand Management Consultant, Business Coach for Entrepreneurs, Keynote Speaker, TEDx Speaker and author of LINGO and The Self Employed Life (May 2021). Supporting self-employed business owners with business and personal development strategies they need to create sustainable success.