Let's talk about community

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

If there is one thing that you, the reader, takes from my little blog, it should be the importance of building a supportive community.  Scratch that, I have two; integrate yourself fully within your community.  These are the yin and yang of community.  Surround yourself with supportive people who have different strengths and weaknesses than yourself, and make sure that you reach out to people in your local region to help and build a better place.

I moved here, to the Great Lakes Bay Region of Mid-Michigan, a little over four years ago.  I knew my boyfriend at that time - no one else.  I didn't have clients or business partners in the area.  I didn't know what resources were available or where to even look.  I felt alone and friendless, and quickly because fairly reclusive.  It was easy to hide from people here.  I could be anonymous.  I could become anyone that I wanted to be.  I could make any impact that I wanted to without coming in with preconceived notions.

http://cloudcatamaran.com/2014/01/customer-community-customization-part-2-visualforce-pages/

 
So what did I decide to be?

What impact did I decide to make? 

 How did I build my community? 

How am I working to make my community a better place?

After moving here, I decided to regionalize my once worldwide company.  Instead of traveling around, meeting with clients, I decided to find the local market that could use my strengths.  And then I decided that the best way to decide what I wanted to be was to become someone's employee.  And 11 short months later, I realized that I knew all along what I was: an entrepreneur who had an opportunity to once again re-brand myself.

My impact came through a series of events.  Last year, I started networking.  You've heard of "fake it till you make it?"  I lived that.  I introduced myself to everyone as a consultant who was looking for local opportunities.  I listened to the needs of the community.  I looked for opportunity.  I faked it until I started getting enough viable leads to actually be a regional-based consultant.

Building a community came later.  After realizing that I lived here for nearly 3 years and didn't have someone I considered a close friend, I decided that had to change.  So once again, I looked for opportunities.  I joined a local Rotary club.  I joined a women's leadership organization.  I volunteered in the community.  I took leadership roles that existed.  I kept reconnecting with potential friends.  And after a year of feeling out my regional area, I found my community.  I found people I was comfortable with, who understood me, and who I could lean on when needed.  People I could help.  People I could be there for.

This translated huge for my involvement with my city and how I work daily to make it a better place.  Within the past year, I've developed a relationship with a group of locals who are working on a community project to curb violence and clean up the city.  I worked to bring resources to small businesses and start-ups in the form of a coworking office space, a business incubator, a manufacturing proto-shop, and a private think tank on community violence and rebuilding our forgotten cities.  All of these projects are in a different level of research and development, but these plans and programs are huge.

The main point of building community is actually getting out there and talking face to face with others.  It's not hiding behind a computer, waiting for something interesting to happen.  It's getting out there, in your world, following your passions and finding like-minded individuals to help you make them happen.  Good things are happening here in Saginaw because of it.

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur