Bonus #12

Ellen Yin10min

Ellen Yin

00:06

Hey, welcome back to Cubicle to CEO, another bonus episode on the podcast where we ask successful entrepreneurs, the business questions you can't google. I'm your host, Ellen Yin. And I want to keep this conversation today, short and sweet. But I wanted to share something that's been on my mind, which is the value in investing in local business networking, even if you're an online business. So this is my hot take today that I just want to riff on with you. I have been actively investing in local business groups and communities since 2019, which was my second year in business. And the relationships formed in these in person communities have paid dividends in my life in ways that I can't even begin to quantify. And when I say dividends, I don't just mean monetary gains for my business. I mean, some of these friends that I've met through these groups are people who are going to be at my wedding this summer, or, you know, the real estate agent who helped me buy my first house in 2020. That was from a business networking group, people who have become amazing clients and collaborators, and referral partners, the print shop that we work with, for all of our printing needs that supported our first ever Cubicle to CEO live event last August as an inclined sponsor, you know, shout out to Corvallis Custom. And those are people that I met through an in person business networking group. So I just want to share this idea because I think that oftentimes in online business, in a weird, counterintuitive way, because the reach of our businesses are so broad, so global, so big, we almost silo ourselves in a way and think that we are limited to creating connection and fostering community through just online means online groups, online masterminds, online events. But there's so much value to I think, in forming relationships in person, even if your business is not tied to a geographical area.

Ellen Yin

02:05

So I actually want to give you one specific example of how this has paid off in my business recently, just as some extra inspiration and encouragement for you to explore this channel for yourself. So when I moved to Salem a couple years ago, you know, I knew no one in this city, it was pandemic time. So I was basically a hermit for like the first year, and didn't really get out into the community. But I've really, especially in the last few years, have really felt called to invest in the community that I live in. Because if you think about your life, right, even though we spend so much of our focus and our time and energy on building our businesses, we're not one dimensional beings, we have a life beyond the walls of our business. And if you think about the community that you live, and work and play in, it's so important that you play an active role as a business owner, as a leader, through whatever means makes sense for you. But if you think about how communities are changed, I really believe that we as entrepreneurs are in such a unique position to have the skills, the connections, and the means the monetary means through the success that we create in our businesses, to actually give back in such a huge way that the everyday individual who's working a traditional job may not have the means to. And so I just really feel called to pour back into the community that I actually live and operate and breathe in on a day to day basis.

Ellen Yin

03:44

So again, like I said, one of the groups that I have gotten really involved in is through my local Chamber of Commerce, which is funny because growing up in the same town that I did for basically, the first two decades of my life, I really never got involved in that local Chamber of Commerce. For no particular reason. I just it wasn't really on my radar. But moving here to this new city, it was actually one of the quickest ways that I made new friends in the city with like minded individuals. And so I joined the local Chamber of Commerce, and they have this programming that's specific to emerging leaders. So they define emerging leaders as young professionals in the city ages 20 to 40. Not necessarily all entrepreneurs, but people who are all invested in wanting to grow and improve the city they live in. And so I have been part of different aspects of their programming over the last year and a half. And one of these programming things is their monthly coffee social that I've attended quite a few of and it's a free community event. And from that group chat was actually formed at the beginning of this year, I believe, and we were asked at the beginning of 2023 to share within that group, one business goal that we had.

Ellen Yin

05:03

And one of the things that I shared is that we were really focused on creating intentional brand partnerships and that were really interested in forming a collaboration or a long term partnership with our first financial institution. And when I shared that I really had no intention of anybody in the group playing a hand in making that goal come to life, but I was more sharing for community support and accountability. But, to my surprise, there was an individual in that group, Leslie, who has since become a friend, who I had actually never met at any of the in person, coffee socials, our schedules just never seemed to align in a way that our paths would cross in person. But he was part of the group. And he saw my message and actually reached out to me and said, Hey, I've been seeing your podcast come across LinkedIn. But it wasn't until I saw your message in the group that I made the connection that you're actually local, like, I didn't realize that you lived here. And he said, I think your podcast and the content you're creating and the community you're creating, serving women specifically is so powerful, and is exactly the type of community that we want to invest in as a credit union. So he actually works in the business development role for a local credit union. And he brought my show to his boss to the Chief Marketing Officer at this credit union.

Ellen Yin

06:29

And from that, we have been able to meet in person several times now, and form our very first partnership with a financial institution, which was the dream that I had stated in that chat many months ago. And this not only speaks to the power of actually saying your goals out loud, because you truly never know who is listening, that may not even be on your radar that you may not even think has a connection or has a way to open a door for you. So there's always power in stating your goals out loud. But also, again, just the power in forming in person relationships and showing up for people, even when it doesn't have a direct ROI immediately, right. Like I had been part of this group for a year and a half at this point, and had never really asked for any business from this group. Because again, my business is not tied to a local geographic area. So for me joining these groups wasn't about you know, what clients can I get from this? Or how many customers can I you know, send my way. So it wasn't really about that. But just the fact that I had poured into showing up in this way. And then this resulted from that I think it's just such a beautiful testament of how you never know where a relationship could lead. If you trust that giving your time and your energy into forming connections is always going to be worth it and your business because people are your greatest assets. And if you've been around me for any amount of time, you've heard me say that 1,000,001 times. But I cannot emphasize enough how true that is for your business. And that is true for both relationships you make online as well as offline.

Ellen Yin

08:11

But this particular episode, I just wanted to encourage you to think about how you can get more involved offline locally, because it's just something we don't think about very often as online business owners. So anyways, I want to give a huge shout out to my friend Leslie for advocating for me for bringing me to his team, his boss and really being the person that helped make this goal of mine of of having Cubicle to CEO form a partnership with a financial institution come to life. So thank you, Leslie, for your support for advocating for a stranger that you had never even met at that point. And if you want to check out Leslie and all of his amazing entrepreneurial ventures, you can go to Instagram at @l.thompson_realestate and connect with him there. And again, I just hope that this episode inspires you all to look for ways that you can invest locally. Honestly one of my favorite ways to do this is to visit a local co working space and I may be biased as an actual owner of a co working space but by a day pass and just sit and be in the energy of people who are working towards similar goals as you and surprise yourself with the connections that you may make them. Alright, that's all I have for you today chat again next week.

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