In this episode of The Fully Expressed Podcast, we dive deep into the power of community and how it can transform your business, leadership, and personal growth. Whether you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur or looking to expand your network, this conversation will shift how you think about building relationships and receiving support.
0:02: Welcome to the Fully expressed podcast.
0:03: We are your hosts, Samantha and Karenna.
0:06: This is a show where we invite you into your fullest expressed self and life, relationships, and business.
0:11: We believe that if you crave more, you are meant for more.
0:14: There is room for all of us to be fully expressed.
0:17: Along with the show, we’ve created a virtual community to connect you with fellow listeners.
0:22: Make sure to check out the fully expressed community membership.
0:25: You’ll find the link to join in the show notes and on our website.
0:28: So excited to see you there.
0:30: Enjoy this new episode.
0:34: Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Fully expressed podcast.
0:39: Today we are here with Inbal Claudio, who we adore.
0:43: She is a 3 times founder and mom of 3.
0:47: She’s passionate about creating and fostering communities that empower female founders at every stage of business, from virtual platforms.
0:54: In-person gatherings, she has built spaces inspiring connection and support, transforming her life and business.
1:02: As a community strategist and business consultant, she also helps women cultivate their own thriving communities, using the power of connection to drive referrals, loyalty, and growth.
1:13: Hi.
1:14: Welcome.
1:15: Thank you.
1:15: Thank you.
1:16: How are you?
1:17: I just love being around you too.
1:21: Thank you.
1:22: Like the energy, the smiles.
1:26: I just, I’m so happy to be here.
1:28: Thank you.
1:29: Thank you so much.
1:30: We couldn’t have anyone else to talk about community.
1:32: Yeah.
1:33: You’re literally like the queen of community.
1:35: And, you know, for anyone that doesn’t know, I just met in ball at Lake Med OC because I just recently moved to Orange County and I was looking for a community.
1:44: And I got connected to Kelsey, who was like, you really got to go to like Mdo see, and what I’ve been literally craving you’ve created.
1:52: And so thank you, you for your energy and your dedication and like your commitment to really believing in community because now that I’m in those rooms, I’m like, every time I go, I’m like, I just love, like, you feel really good at us, like, I feel so good being in the room with you with the room that you’ve created.
2:09: Thank you.
2:10: That means so much to me.
2:11: Cause it’s funny, like, people laugh, they’re like, just take the compliment.
2:17: Yeah.
2:17: And I’m like, it’s hard for me to do that because I always say, and I talk about this a lot, right?
2:22: You’ve heard me even say this at the last event where I created this selfishly for myself.
2:26: And I’m so grateful, like, for the women that show up and pour into the community and the other women that I’m like, oh my God, this is the coolest thing ever.
2:36: And I don’t look at it as like, I created it.
2:38: I’m like, these Women want to be here.
2:40: Like, how freaking cool is that?
2:42: You know?
2:43: , so I appreciate you saying that.
2:46: And you’re talking about something that’s so important, I think in community.
2:48: Like, sometimes I think we like let the facilitator or whoever putting on, take a lot of the lead.
2:53: But as a community member or a community attendee, I also think it’s important that you make it what you want, right?
3:00: It’s the energy that you give in.
3:02: So, for this episode, we’re going to be talking all about community, if you haven’t picked up on it.
3:07: But like, not just like how to create a community and like how to find your own community, but the kinds of gifts that come from community.
3:15: And I would love to hear from you wherever you want to start.
3:18: What was it like for you trying to find community?
3:20: And we’ll take it from there and then like really finding out like, what are the gifts and what are the answers and the solutions that we can be gifted through community and you have this beautiful statement with your business where it’s like friendship before business.
3:35: There’s so much there to unpack.
3:36: I’ll let you lead and then we’ll ask questions.
3:38: OK, yeah, sounds good.
3:39: , so I guess it kind of starts where, you know, everybody says the best businesses are ones that you create out of a necessity that you have, and that truly is kind of what made this come to life.
3:52: So, I had or still have a candle company, and about a year in, I got pregnant.
4:00: And I’m like, OK, great, I’m doing all these in-person shows and markets, and moved cross country and started to do the same thing in North Carolina, and I realized that I had to pivot and had to lean more into the online space.
4:13: And I just didn’t know how to do that.
4:14: I didn’t have entrepreneur friends.
4:16: I didn’t really have a business background necessarily, and I couldn’t find a space that I fit in.
4:22: Everybody was just charging an arm and a leg.
4:25: People were just not letting me post about my business on Facebook, which you guys know in groups.
4:30: And I had to create a space that I felt welcomed.
4:34: So I knew that there were millions of women out there who kind of also in my shoes.
4:39: And I decided to create like-minded Collective.
4:41: So like-minded Collective is my virtual community.
4:45: It’s totally free to join community.
4:47: We do networking calls.
4:49: And about a year after that, I’m like, all these virtual women, like some of them live near me, and I would love to just meet them and hug them.
4:57: And I created like-minded OC.
4:59: And that, when you talk about the gifts of community, I mean, my best friends have come.
5:05: From that, you know, in such a short time frame, you become so connected with women that, that has truly, you know, in my bio, you said it’s a, you know, bettered my life and my business, and truly, like, friends come from it, you know?
5:19: And so that is kind of the background of, you know, community and like minded Oi.
5:25: And now we have a second chapter in Charleston for the last 6 months, which is really freaking cool.
5:30: I also started another community for Jewish women entrepreneurs, so niching down.
5:33: a little bit more, and it’s just been so special all around.
5:38: I want you to share to the quote you said the first time I came to the event, when you were saying that everything you need is like a person away.
5:47: Is that how you say it?
5:49: Yeah, so it’s like one connection away, right?
5:51: You have to talk about what you need, because somebody can be like, oh yeah, I know somebody who I can connect you.
5:57: I know that they have connections in this field, right?
5:59: And so it’s so important.
6:00: And that’s also why a lot of people will say, I don’t want to talk about my business or I’m scared to share about my business on social or my personal Instagram, and you have to talk about your business.
6:10: Nobody else is going to do it for you, right?
6:13: So when you put yourself in rooms with 2030, 40, 50 women, you have to talk about your business.
6:18: You have to talk about what, what you need, whether in life or business.
6:22: And somebody in the room can point you in a direction that will lead you closer to what you need.
6:27: I love that so much.
6:28: That hit me really hard when you said that the first time.
6:31: Yeah, and I was just gonna say, so there’s something special about the communities that you build, because, you know, you hear like, let’s find community where I’m looking for community, but and people will go to like networking events.
6:41: I think that’s like the biggest thing that people go to like a business, as an entrepreneur, right?
6:45: I’m like, all right, there’s like this quote unquote networking event that I’m going to and like the energy in those rooms feel more like, hi, how are you?
6:52: Here’s my business card, what do you do?
6:54: Yeah, yeah, literally.
6:57: Yeah like, and then the conversation kind of dies unless there’s some kind of like relatability or connection and like you know the person that you guys can talk about life and talk about other things, or you end up hearing from people that are just pitching to you all the time.
7:11: So what’s different about the community you was built and like specifically what are women receiving from the community that you’ve built?
7:19: Yeah.
7:19: So the Miss, like you said, is friendship first and business second.
7:24: And so you can’t just throw a statement out there like that and expect people to just be like, OK, yeah, that resonates and I’m going to go in this direction, right?
7:33: As the community leader, you have to facilitate conversations and actions that support that mission, right?
7:40: So first and foremost, like I greeted You guys with a hug, right?
7:44: The first time I met you guys and you came in through the door, it was a hug.
7:47: And people received that and they’re like, OK, I kind of like, I like to say like, it feels like a warm hug, right?
7:52: The community and so like, I’ll hug you.
7:54: And then also there’s no name tags.
7:56: We don’t shake hands.
7:57: Like, I think of like networking events, it’s like name tag, right?
8:00: We have beautiful hair, like, we don’t want it to stick in the name tag, ruin our outfits, like, nobody wants that.
8:06: And then the conversations just naturally naturally go more towards friendship, right?
8:11: When we do small group discussions, like, one of the prompts was, if you had 3 different countries, where would you eat, pray and love, right?
8:18: That’s, that’s like more life conversations.
8:20: And I do the same thing virtually.
8:22: So when people share, I start to get to know more of the women in the community, and I like to share things about their life that they wouldn’t normally share.
8:30: So I’m like, oh yeah, like you just came back from vacation, or, oh, congratulations on getting engaged.
8:34: So it’s more life stuff, right?
8:36: Because business will always happen.
8:38: So I have to help with the life conversations.
8:41: We do small groups also in on the virtual networking calls, and same thing.
8:46: My prompted conversation starters, one is about life and one is about business.
8:51: And it just, that’s how you start to get people in that mindset, and that’s how you start to get people to become friends with one another and not just talk about business, right?
9:02: I think also just in Engaging and connecting people.
9:05: When somebody new comes in the room, and they’re like, oh yeah, I live, I live in Huntington, let’s just say.
9:10: And I’m like, oh, Candy lives in Huntington, I’ll connect them together.
9:14: And it’s just, yeah, you both live in Huntington.
9:16: Oh my God, do you know this coffee shop down the street?
9:17: Like, I love it.
9:18: I go there for, you know, breakfast or whatever.
9:20: So the conversation starts to move in that direction.
9:23: , a lot of people say like, oh yeah, I heard you’re on Instagram.
9:27: I heard like, I love your networking, you know, events.
9:31: Like, I’d love to check out.
9:32: networking events.
9:33: And I always correct them, and I’m like, you know, it’s a lot more than networking.
9:37: You really are just a bunch of incredible women who like to do life and business together, because I don’t want them to get in that mindset.
9:43: Networking has become so dull.
9:45: It’s so dull and cringy.
9:47: And also, I feel like when you build energy, when you’re able to present who you really are in the moment, especially like when you’re first meeting someone, that’s what you want to then help someone with.
9:56: Like when you feel their energy and you’re like, Oh, I, I, I know I can help you or Whatever it may be, and I think when you’re just like, hi, I’m Samantha, what do you do, you know, or whatever, you’re just like, you’re like, where do I even start?
10:08: Yeah, I’m like, I don’t know how to answer that and also like, I don’t care, you know, so it’s like you’re cultivating these and you’re already sold to.
10:15: It does, which I think we’re all kind of like, out of that in a way, you know, like I kind of feels like, here’s my business, let’s say I’m a plumber, I can take care of your plumbing.
10:25: And it’s like, but I don’t know, you know what I mean?
10:27: But it’s like that and it’s like, well, who are you?
10:29: Really, yeah.
10:30: Yeah, you are not your business entirely.
10:33: Like, you’re right, all of you.
10:34: Nobody wants to be looked at as a dollar sign, right?
10:38: When people go strictly for networking, it’s like, OK, this person could be a potential client, this person could be a potential client, this person can help me in my business this way.
10:46: It’s like, it’s icky, right?
10:49: That’s why I also focus on founders only.
10:52: I’m expanding a little bit, but, you know, kind of staying away from multi-level marketing.
10:58: real estate agents, insurance brokers, because for the most part, they’re taught to go in for the sale, right?
11:06: So, I actually had this conversation because I’m trying to expand into entrepreneurs, not just founders.
11:13: And I think the biggest thing is having people understand the vibe of like-minded OC, right?
11:20: You can be a real estate agent and you can be amazing and come and like fully give yourself and receive.
11:26: And you can be a real estate agent who does the complete opposite.
11:30: So opening up that spectrum, however, knowing like, this is our culture, take it or leave it.
11:36: In your experience, have you felt when people, I’m so curious, like, have you felt people naturally not be a part of the group because they’re not as open for like the lifeness, you know, and because they can’t pitch themselves, or and do you let that like just naturally go?
11:52: Yeah, do you like, give them the boot?
11:53: Yeah.
11:53: Do you give them the boot?
11:54: Like, how do you navigate that and protect the community.
11:56: So I’m also thinking about that, like, you know, as someone who has freedom in the community of graded cruit containers, the safety that you create in the room is also very important.
12:04: So how do you, how do you manage that?
12:06: Yeah, it’s a really good question.
12:08: I’ve had to have the awkward conversations and I hate doing that.
12:12: However, the way that I kind of push myself to do it is knowing that I am now responsible for the women in my community, right?
12:21: So they’re like my babies and I’m the mom.
12:24: Like I do with my own children, right?
12:26: So there was a, I’ll give you a couple,, situations that happened and how I navigated just for anybody who wants to start a community because these things will come up.
12:35: Absolutely.
12:35: So I, I say founders, right?
12:38: So founders are totally welcome.
12:39: So this lady who had been to a few of my events in the very beginning, signed up, but it was her assistant or an employee that signed up.
12:47: I’m like, Oh, maybe she just bought the ticket.
12:48: And so her employee ended up coming to the event without her.
12:53: And I’m like, OK, maybe she has her own business that she wants to, you know, talk about totally fine and amazing.
12:59: She ended up talking about this woman’s business, so coming as a representative, essentially.
13:04: And I had the conversation with her after, like, I didn’t call her out in the middle.
13:08: I didn’t kick her out in the middle, but after I just said, hey, you know, this is truly a community for founders, and I would love to have X, Y, and Z show up next time if she’d like to pitch her business, but it really is for Women to promote their own companies.
13:22: And she goes, Well, I also have a pottery company.
13:25: I’m like, I would have loved about that.
13:29: Right?
13:30: I would have loved to hear about that.
13:31: The women in the community would have loved to hear about that.
13:34: You would have probably gotten some sales, some friends, inquiries, collaborations.
13:38: And she basically said, So I’m not welcome here.
13:42: And I said, that’s where I got kind of defensive.
13:45: I’m like, This is not about you.
13:47: This is really a space for founders.
13:50: And if you want to talk about your own company, I’d love to have you come back.
13:54: And I emailed the lady, her employer, also explained, and her employer was like, Oh my gosh, I totally understand.
13:59: No problem.
14:00: Thank you so much.
14:01: And I realized like, that type of energy, just her reaction in general, was not the vibe that I was looking for anyways, right?
14:10: So that was one scenario.
14:12: Another one is a real estate agent who I have known in the past.
14:15: I was Real estate, I had my own brokerage.
14:18: And she’s like, Oh, I saw your networking group.
14:20: I’d love to join and connect.
14:22: And I told her, you know, thank you so much.
14:25: It’s, it’s amazing.
14:25: It really is for founders.
14:27: Do you have your own brokerage?
14:29: And she said, No, but I’m an entrepreneur growing my own business.
14:34: And I said, you know, as somebody who did have their own brokerage, was in real estate for 10 years, I know that the challenges are vastly different.
14:44: And the space is really protected for founders only.
14:47: And she unfollowed me on all the accounts, and truly it just made me realize like, this, again, right?
14:57: The reaction is not the type of person that you’re trying to draw into to bring in.
15:03: If the conversation would have been different, she said, handball, I totally understand.
15:07: Like, now I am opening it up to people, right?
15:09: So I could have been like, hey, just so you know, like, I’m opening it up to entrepreneurs.
15:13: And would love to have you join.
15:15: This is kind of the expectations going in, and she would have been able to come to our community, right?
15:21: She blocked herself.
15:22: She blocked herself, right?
15:24: So those are the conversations that I’ve had.
15:27: I’ve never really had to kick somebody out for being too pitchy because it was application based at first and I kind of do my research.
15:35: So those are a couple of situations.
15:37: It’s not easy, but you guys are my number one priority, right?
15:41: You’re being mama bear.
15:42: How are you being mama bear.
15:43: Yeah, yep, I’d love to pivot a little bit.
15:46: If you don’t mind sharing the other experience you had about having someone come to your community and then try to take your ideas and how you, if you don’t mind talking about that, or and how you dealt with that, because I think that’s also a thing I see happening a lot is like people, it’s almost like you feel like you have to trademark everything because people will come with a certain energy, they feel great, and then all of a sudden there you turn around and they’re doing what you do.
16:10: Mhm.
16:11: Like, oh, I can make this, yeah, but then not actually make it their own, just copy you exactly.
16:16: So speak a little about that scenario, cause I think that’s also a common thing that happens in any business, but specifically in this type of thing.
16:23: Yeah, so I am the first thing I do when I come up with a business name is trademark.
16:29: So everything is trademarked, like my a collective, like mine, it is in the works of being trademarked.
16:34: Founder C Shabbat is trademarked, right?
16:36: Everything is trademarked.
16:37: And I never once thought.
16:38: had to trademark my tagline, Friendship first and business second.
16:41: Like, I have it on my website, I have it on my socials.
16:44: I have it on my apparel, like my totes and things like that.
16:46: Like, that’s my tagline.
16:48: And that is what I stand behind, right?
16:49: That’s how I build my business.
16:51: And this girl had come to my in-person events, and the first time she came, she was talking about her own community, and she said, Do you mind that I talk about my community?
17:03: And I said, Absolutely not.
17:04: Like, I think the more communities for women, the better, truly.
17:09: And I want you to promote your community because if someone can’t come to mine all the time, like they could come to yours.
17:15: And so she came to probably, you know, 345 events.
17:19: And then my friend messaged me on Instagram and she’s like, Did you see this?
17:26: And she sent her Instagram handle to me, and it said her community name, Friendship first business second.
17:32: And Cringy, it’s like why?
17:36: I saw red, yeah, I mean, yeah, red.
17:40: This is 7 in the morning.
17:41: It was a Friday.
17:42: You’re like this is too early for this.
17:44: My kids, I’m like feeding them breakfast, and my husband and I have this thing where like, we like, if we need to handle business like we go upstairs cause I don’t want to be on my phone with like my kids and things like that.
17:55: And so I told Brian, I was like, I need to go upstairs.
17:59: He’s like, are you OK?
18:00: I’m like, I’ll explain later.
18:01: I gotta go.
18:02: First thing I did was email my lawyer.
18:03: I’m like, hey, I need a trademark friendship first, business second.
18:06: , like I said, I never thought to do that, and I messaged her immediately, and I said, Hey, first of all, I took a screenshot, and I said, Hey, I saw that you’re using my tagline on your Instagram pages.
18:19: This is actually currently in the process of being trademarked.
18:22: Please remove it immediately and refrain from using it in the future.
18:26: And I had an event that morning at 9 o’clock for my founders who Shabbat an in-person event, and I’m like, OK, I need to just chill, like, shake it out.
18:37: It’s like literally like.
18:39: How do I get this energy?
18:40: Oh my gosh.
18:41: It was wild fuming.
18:43: I know.
18:43: Well, my poor parents were caught in the crossfire cause I had to pick up something from them, and they said something that would have not usually triggered me, and I was like, not today.
18:53: Yeah, I mean, I apologize later, and I told them like, what kind of triggered that response, and they fully understood they’re very used to me, like kind of emotional.
19:01: But yeah, so that happened over the, that was Friday, over the course of like 4 days, it was a back and forth.
19:09: She changed it to friendship focus and business minded, which is basically the same thing.
19:14: Oh my goodness.
19:16: And I told her, I’m like, I see.
19:17: You changed it.
19:18: However, this still reflects the same sentiment.
19:22: Exactly.
19:22: Like, please change it.
19:23: And she would not change it.
19:25: And she kept coming back to me, back and forth, and I’m trying to keep my cool and all I’m saying is, it’s exactly the same, please change your tagline.
19:33: And she was chat GPing everything.
19:36: So these responses were like 4 paragraphs long.
19:40: Yeah.
19:53: chat, but not in that scenario, yeah, the humanness.
19:53: Where’s your compassion and, yeah.
19:54: I know, and she kind of is like everything was out the door.
19:55: She basically like spun it around on me and said, you know, I really thought that you were community focused.
20:02: Oh no.
20:03: And that is when I lost my mind.
20:05: And I just told her I’m like, I, I supported her.
20:09: I gave her free community help, like building advice.
20:13: I genuinely wanted to see her community succeed, and I let her promote her community at my community events.
20:20: Like, quite literally, I could not have done more to help her.
20:24: And so I, that’s what I said, you know, and I just told her I’m like, you have until Monday.
20:30: To get this taken care of.
20:32: And she didn’t do it, and Monday morning came around and I’m like, listen, it’s talking to myself.
20:36: I have 3 girlfriends who do the same thing.
20:38: They do in-person events all over and we’re like the quad pod.
20:42: And I message to them, I’m like, I have this Instagram story ready to call her out like by name because this is insanity.
20:48: And they’re like, I all, take a deep breath, take a step back, and just realize like she is not worth it, right?
20:53: So figure out a different way to handle it.
20:55: That makes you feel better.
20:57: So, also keep in mind that she had bought a ticket for another event that I was facilitating for a different community.
21:05: Well, the balls, this woman, holy cow.
21:07: And so I voice noted her and I said, Listen, I’m not going to spend a dollar on you to give you a cease and desist, but just so you know, as a community builder, stealing intellectual property makes you a dangerous person for people to be around.
21:19: And I suggest you change.
21:20: It.
21:21: And also the ticket that you bought is for a community event that I’m facilitating.
21:25: And so she responded back, basically saying, I’m going to still go to this event that you’re facilitating.
21:32: And I didn’t respond back, but I messaged the person who was hosting the event and I said, Hey, this person bought a ticket.
21:38: I don’t think it’s safe for them to be around other entrepreneurs because she was stealing intellectual property and they refunded her tickets that she wasn’t welcome.
21:45: And I ended up telling a few people in my community cause they asked, they were like, oh, is it this person because we saw, but we thought you knew, and I’m like, I didn’t know, it’s this person, it’s fine, like, don’t feel bad for not telling me, but this is the situation at hand, you know.
22:00: And it’s, it was something that I had to go through, right?
22:03: There’s so many women in the room, and I don’t mind that people do walks and business meetups and structure it the same.
22:10: Like every person can have the same events, but because everyone is different that’s running it, the event is going to be different, right?
22:19: So people can have their own communities, do whatever they want.
22:22: It’s, that’s great, right?
22:23: Like I said, the More communities, the better.
22:25: However, when you’re starting to take people’s word for word tagline, and she didn’t even emulate friendship first and business second, she literally, yes.
22:41: So, and the thing that really hurt the most is that so many women who come to like-minded, they’re like, I saw French.
22:48: First and business, second, and just resonated with that.
22:51: So for me, it’s important to protect that.
22:53: But yeah, you’ve also created such a safe space for people to come and feel like they can share their ideas.
22:59: And so when you have someone come in and violate you so intensely, like that also, then you never want that to affect like how other people might feel in the spaces that you’re creating.
23:09: So, exactly.
23:10: I can’t allow somebody like that to come in.
23:13: Did she eventually remove it?
23:15: She eventually changed it.
23:16: Yeah.
23:17: Well, first I blocked her, then she blocked my personal one, and I have another account that nobody knows about, that I used for my children, like, years ago, but I don’t use it.
23:26: So I checked on that account.
23:28: And that’s the one that I kind of keep tabs on, like, what is she doing?
23:32: Because I need to still protect myself, right?
23:35: And make sure that she’s not, that she changed it, that she’s not doing anything, she’s not talking about me.
23:41: So that’s kind of how I tabs.
23:44: So how, as I’m so curious, I mean, this is something I’ve thought about before.
23:49: Do you put like a law in place, like before someone joins your community?
23:53: Is there like a requirement?
23:54: Is it like this is not allowed, this is not allowed?
23:56: Have you ever thought about like some kind of agreement or contract that people sign to come to your communities?
24:05: I mean, I didn’t.
24:06: I don’t, and that’s hard too because like the energy of being that intense doesn’t sound funny either because you’re like, I don’t want to.
24:12: Up into like controlling every single thing, but have you ever considered something like that?
24:17: I just want to hear like your basically your thought.
24:19: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
24:21: So that was brought to my attention because I brought it to the community, the first business and collab event after.
24:26: I don’t know if you were at that one.
24:27: Maybe it was when you were, were you at that one?
24:29: Yeah, oh yeah, that was that.
24:32: Yeah, that was the first one you guys were both sitting there, I remember.
24:34: And so somebody brought that up, right?
24:37: Maybe it’s something that you have people sign.
24:40: And for me, like this happened.
24:42: Once.
24:43: And truly, I realized with this person, like, unless I want to enforce something, I have to pay money to do that, right?
24:51: It’ll have to be like a cease and desist letter, and then if they, that doesn’t do anything, right?
24:56: That’s like $600 just to say, stop doing that.
25:00: And then if they don’t do that, then I have to spend more money to actually sue them, right?
25:05: And it’s easier for me to just be like, this is clearly not cool, like you, you know, are not welcome to come back.
25:12: And I guess I’m just hoping that because the women in the room are just so awesome, that people kind of get that vibe, right?
25:22: A lot of people who met her prior were a little standoffish already because they didn’t go to her events, they didn’t go to the things that she offered.
25:33: There was one girl who did, but it was because she didn’t have that genuine.
25:38: Exactly.
25:39: So people kind of pick up on that.
25:40: So to answer your question, I don’t know, because I’m pivoting to more entrepreneurs and less, I mean, not just solely founders, there will be something where people sign like I agree to this, so maybe it’s something that I can just put in there.
25:56: It’s hard too because, you know, your whole tagline is friendship first, this is second.
25:59: So then you’re like, hey, by the way, sign this waiver.
26:02: You know, I can understand how it’s like that thin line between you’re still trying to create this comfort for people to come and feel safe.
26:09: But yeah, I mean, I still say protect yourself, I think, but yeah, it’s wild wild west out there.
26:14: It is wild.
26:15: So for my virtual, when people say like, sign up, before they can actually sign up, a pop up comes up and says like, this is for women only, give more than you receive, no MLMs, and so people say, I accept.
26:29: Yeah, so maybe it’s basically like that.
26:31: It’s yeah something kind of simple.
26:32: Yeah, like I know that you, I know that you know.
26:36: The culture, yeah, really, no, no.
26:40: And I also think like I would just never think to be like, I’m gonna steal this thing that’s branded.
26:45: She said she didn’t know.
26:47: It’s like she didn’t know it was the announce it at every I announced it at every event.
26:54: It’s on the bags.
26:55: She’s a part of both my in-person and my virtual, and she wanted to be in our mastermind that I have with my friend for community building.
27:03: She wanted to work with me.
27:04: I mean, she was like in my stuff, you know.
27:09: I didn’t know.
27:10: I had no idea.
27:11: I like though, like, even though you didn’t go the legal route, like doing like a cease and desist or whatever, but like, your energetic leadership in that, I think it’s something to admire because so many, like, you communicated your needs, your wants, and where she crossed the boundary.
27:26: And I think that is what you’re talking to about, like, really talking about having hard Conversations to not only protect your business, but to protect your community.
27:34: Yeah.
27:35: And that is something so special about the kinds of spaces, because again, you’re protecting them and you’re like, I’m going to keep this space safe.
27:43: And I’ll have the hard conversations to have them if I need to.
27:46: I just want to admire you in that.
27:47: Thank you so much.
27:48: I mean, I am like, I was thinking about this yesterday.
27:52: I give 100% of myself to my community and to people who Our friends and are giving back.
27:59: The second it crosses into something else, I am the complete opposite.
28:05: And I have to like learn, right?
28:08: To like, regulate because, and this all goes back to like, you know, growing up and being made fun of and blah blah blah blah blah, like, whatever.
28:15: So, it’s like, I have to really focus on like, OK, I want to like, yell at you and scream at you and punch you in the face.
28:25: However, I will just be very stern and get my point across, and you will know, like you are not welcome again.
28:32: You know, and it’s hard for me to do that.
28:35: But now that I’m, I want to kind of give that example, right?
28:40: Because this happened to another girl in my community, where she asked me, she’s like, hey, I know that you talked about this is after what I announced.
28:47: She’s like, I know that you talked about this trademark thing, can you connect me to your lawyer?
28:51: And I was like, absolutely.
28:53: And I, what she wanted to trademark, I heard another girl use it.
28:56: And so I asked her, I’m like, oh my gosh, is it this person?
28:59: She’s like, yes.
29:00: And this, both of them were in my community.
29:03: Oh no.
29:04: And I’m like, was the one that asked you for the lawyer, though, the original, OK, OK, yeah.
29:08: And so I, I’m happy that I spoke about it too, because exactly, other people will now, and I think I mentioned that too, right?
29:18: Make sure that you trademark everything.
29:20: And although trademarks, you know, are on the pricier side, you can also do it on your own, but just talking to a lawyer in general, because the headache and the emotional headache that’s gonna happen when you have to deal with it, is so much worse.
29:35: Yeah, if you have to rebrand everything because you didn’t and someone else takes exactly.
29:40: Yeah, it’s a mess.
29:41: So, like, verbalizing that and just letting people know like, hey, This happens, you’re not alone, like, I’m here to talk through whatever you need.
29:49: And so now she has me as a resource, right?
29:51: Like, I’m like, text me, whatever you need, like, and she asked, she’s like, what should I do?
29:55: I’m like, Have you talked to her about it?
29:57: And she’s like, No, got to.
29:59: And I’m like, and she’s not the type of person to have that conversation.
30:04: And I’m like, Listen, you can write something up, like run it past me if you want, happy to look at it.
30:09: But it needs, you need to have that hard conversation cause this is your baby.
30:13: Yeah, right?
30:14: And I think the hardest thing with hard conversations, if you’re thinking about having one, which we talked about a lot, is like, you gotta get your emotions aside and find where the clarity is, yes, right?
30:24: Like being really clear with like what you’re, what’s OK, what’s not OK, where do you cross the boundary, and what that looks like.
30:30: It’s difficult when you don’t have a hard conversations, you’re like, I’m feeling all these feelings internally, and I just want to Tell you how you’re making me feel, but it’s really like, they don’t need to know all that.
30:39: They just need to know that it’s not OK.
30:41: Exactly.
30:41: Like, this is what I’ve been using for 2 years.
30:45: You have?
30:46: That’s wild.
30:47: I saw it nowhere, nowhere.
30:50: That’s crazy, crazy.
30:52: And so yeah, right?
30:53: Just exactly, exactly what you said.
30:55: It’s the facts.
30:57: I am using it actual, it is trademarked, ease and desist, cease and desist now, bitch.
31:04: Get it done.
31:05: So, we want to, I want to talk a little bit too about how can someone find a really good community?
31:11: Because I think there’s so much talk out there and like, there are things that are popping up a lot.
31:15: So what are some of your advices to someone that’s really looking for a community?
31:19: Maybe they found a community that they’re like, I feel really good about it, but then they don’t show up consistently.
31:24: So, like, what are the things or the factors that someone needs To think about if they really do want to find and be a part of a genuine community.
31:32: Yeah.
31:33: So the first thing I say, and I’m an introvert at heart, which also helps that I created my own cause I don’t have to walk into a space that I’m unfamiliar with.
31:41: They’re to me.
31:41: They’re all to me.
31:42: It’s a lot easier, right?
31:44: They come to me and then I put them to somebody else.
31:46: So the first thing I would say is, find a friend who You see going to stuff.
31:51: And this also helps.
31:53: I’m going to talk about the reverse side as well.
31:54: As a community builder, you want to tag everybody, right?
31:58: Some people don’t tag anybody in their reels.
32:00: I’m like, you have 20 people in this photo that can reshare and get more people into your community, right?
32:06: So if you see a friend of yours reposting an event that they went to and you’re like, wow, that looks really fun, go with them.
32:13: And say, hey, I see that you’re a part of this community.
32:15: It looks awesome.
32:16: Even if they’re not your friend friend, maybe they’re just a, you know, acquaintance on Instagram.
32:20: You can even message them, right?
32:22: And say, hey, this event looks really cool.
32:23: The one that you guys posted, the vibe just looks great, right?
32:26: Walk and coffee, but everyone’s smiling.
32:29: It just looks fun.
32:30: So, that’s the first thing, is if you have somebody on Instagram that you see goes to something, message them and ask them to go with them the next time.
32:39: Eventbrite also has lots of events, so you can kind of see the vibe too.
32:44: And I always try to go to the community’s website or Instagram to see, because the event name may sound great, the description may sound great, and the women there are like, I don’t know, knitting, and you’re like, I don’t want to knit, right?
32:59: Or they’re plumbing, and you don’t want to you don’t want to plumb,.
33:05: But, you know what I mean?
33:06: So like, I always try to go a little bit deeper, and then see what types of women are in there.
33:12: And then the opposite could occur, right?
33:13: Where you’re like, oh, it’s like OC women in business, and you’re like, that kind of sounds boring, but like, I’ll do some, you know, deeper dive into the women, and I’m like, oh wow, like, these women are awesome, right?
33:23: They’re moms or whatever.
33:24: They’re, they fit my vibe.
33:26: And so, always try to do a little bit deeper of a search.
33:30: There’s Also places that you can go.
33:32: Like, if there are like coffee shops that you go to regularly and you see some women, right, you can even go up and be like, Hey, like, you know, do you guys have, I know that you guys are a group of like 5 women, like, what are you guys a community of some sort?
33:44: So kind of stepping out of your comfort zone.
33:46: But when you find that community, make sure to show up as much as you can.
33:52: Because it benefits you in so many ways, right?
33:56: Let’s just talk.
33:56: Business, for starters.
33:57: If I see somebody coming to my events, I’m going to know more of what they do.
34:02: I’m invested in what they’re doing, and I can refer them people, right?
34:07: Not only business, but collaborations, partnerships that they can do, and that’s super beneficial, right?
34:13: As far as friendship goes, the more you show up, the more people get to know you as a person, and you’re just going to feel like a warm hug, right?
34:19: From everybody that comes in.
34:21: So, I know a lot of People because they go to networking events, right?
34:25: They’re part of like 6 different networking communities, and it’s hard.
34:30: That’s not sustainable.
34:31: So I always say, pick 2 or 3 virtual and or in person and really dive into those communities and just see if they’re your vibe.
34:40: And if not, move on to the next.
34:43: It sounds like less is more.
34:44: That’s the other thing, because it’s especially when you first start your business, or entrepreneurship.
34:47: I mean, even me and Corporate.
34:48: I was like, I’m going to all these conferences and I’m going to do a ball and it’s like, you get to a place where you realize too much is like not even worth it because you’re just too spread thin.
34:58: You can’t even keep up with the connections, like, it’s a whole another thing that I’ve had to deal with is like, I made too many friends, I don’t have enough time to talk to them, but not even like good friends, like, OK, connections is probably a better word.
35:09: And so when you really do dive in and focus in on one and be like, oh, I can really get to know this person.
35:14: I can actually feel this person get to know.
35:16: There’s more in the depth of consistency versus like, let me attend 10 this week.
35:21: Yeah.
35:22: And he’s yeah I know I see a lot that do that, you know, it’s crazy and like, damn, do you ever relax?
35:27: I say to to that point is like, and you can really spend quality time like in that group, and then you can go about your life.
35:35: You don’t necessarily have to take them all with you outside of the group, but you’re committing to that one space, and it feels like even on our walks, it feels So good to be with the women in that moment.
35:44: It doesn’t mean I’m going to go then and call them and hang out every day next week, but you have that space to come back to where people can feel welcomed and connect.
35:52: And if you want, you can, but also I think life is full, you know, like we talk about, like, thank you so much for being here because you have kids, you know what I mean?
36:01: Like, this is great though.
36:02: Yeah, yeah, you’re like, I’m here for this.
36:04: You’re like, I love being here, but, you know, life is full, like especially like when you do have kids.
36:09: So all of a sudden you have doctors.
36:10: I mean, you’re just working and things like that.
36:12: So like, even being able to, I know as a busy person who does a lot of things, I love containers that I commit to because I’m like, this is my space to drop in.
36:20: This is my space to like not be on my phone, not thinking about a million things about work, but like just connecting with the people in the room.
36:27: Yeah.
36:27: And think about how freeing it is to go and not have to always be on, right?
36:33: A place where you can just go and just hang.
36:36: Hang out, you know, cause a lot of people, I invited this girl somewhere.
36:41: I was going to another event actually in Carlsbad, like a year and some change ago.
36:45: And I’m like, hey, like, you should come with me, you live in the area.
36:47: And she’s like, oh my God, I’ve been to so many networking calls, like, I can’t even keep up with the people that I’m, and it was, she was very overwhelmed.
36:54: And I’m like, OK, great, no problem, right?
36:57: However, you never want to be in that space.
36:59: We’re like, oh my God, there’s too many people, too many connections.
37:02: There’s another girl in my Virtual, she’s like 4 months behind on updating her CRM and it brought her into this space of like anxiety.
37:11: And you don’t want that, right?
37:13: Community should be easy.
37:16: It should just be a place where we do this thing when something hits.
37:20: Yeah.
37:21: It’s like a relationship.
37:22: It’s like a boyfriend.
37:23: It shouldn’t be hard.
37:25: You should come and maybe you have the butterflies the first time walking in, but after that, it should just be like, Oh my God, like, I’m just so excited to be here.
37:33: Yeah, I can’t wait.
37:34: So you’re really good at creating that.
37:35: Your space is so inviting.
37:37: I felt so welcome.
37:38: Yeah, and it helped, right?
37:39: You came with a friend.
37:41: Yeah, yeah, and it helps, right?
37:43: So, but you guys also made connections separately.
37:46: So that’s, that’s the vibe, right?
37:48: When you think of networking in communities and finding ones that you want to be a part of, try to find ones where where you leave and you’re not like, oh God, that was so draining.
37:57: Find we’re like, oh my gosh, I’m so excited for the next one.
38:00: Agreed.
38:01: So one question that we ask all of our guys is, where in your life do you feel called to be more fully expressed?
38:08: It can be life, relationship, business, whatever you want.
38:11: Yeah, I think I’m moving into a new space, physical space reminds me to be literally, wink wink.
38:19: , I’ll tell you later.
38:21: I missed that.
38:22: Congratulations.
38:23: Thank you.
38:24: It’s all.
38:24: Happen really fast.
38:25: But I feel for me, it’s just in this new chapter, right?
38:31: Saying yes to things, and there’s so many questions and blocks that are coming in, like logical blocks, right?
38:39: And I’m like, oh my gosh, more overhead, how am I going to fill the space, community members, blah, blah, blah.
38:45: And for me, I’m just like, I want to be fully expressed in this new chapter to just what does that look like for you?
38:52: Saying yes to things that my heart wants to say yes to and like turning my brain off a little bit, right?
38:59: That’s so hard for us, especially because our businesses are all virtual, right?
39:04: There’s not much overhead that needs to happen.
39:07: And I think like that’s the biggest thing is I’m committing to, let’s say a 3 to 5 year lease.
39:12: But taking a step back and being like, OK, this is so freaking exciting.
39:17: How am I gonna decorate it potentially?
39:19: Who’s gonna come in?
39:20: What’s the vibe?
39:21: Maybe we go for a walk midday, and I’m just like so excited about it and letting the excitement kind of take more.
39:31: Also journaling, journaling more in this new chapter, because I feel like that’s been a way for me to kind of get things out.
39:39: And so, yeah, this next chapter is like Fully expressed everything, just like turning my brain off, letting my heart lead, and just being so freaking excited.
39:50: That quote.
39:50: That’s going in a real.
39:52: Yeah.
39:53: Yeah, I love it.
39:53: Well, thank you so much for being here with us, for having this talk.
39:59: Thank you, ladies.
40:00: You’ve created such a really if anyone that’s listening that lives in the OC or Irvine or near, like, check out like Minded OC.
40:06: It’s so Amazing.
40:07: It’s so welcoming.
40:08: It’s a great space.
40:09: If you’re a founder or entrepreneur now, yes, we are officially opening it up to entrepreneurs because of this space.
40:17: So anybody who really just truly leads from friendship first, business second, founder, entrepreneur, aspiring, if you want to eventually open up your own business or something like that, definitely welcome to join us.
40:29: Friendship first, business second, TM.
40:33: Oh.
40:35: So, amen.
40:37: Yeah, I love it.
40:38: Thank you, ladies so much.
40:39: It has been such a pleasure to be here.
40:42: Tell everyone to where they can find you, like, where’s the best place to find if they’re interested now that we’ve shared what you do and everything, where can they come.
40:50: So, I mean, I’m pretty much like A walking link in bio.
40:53: So, everything is on my website invollaudio.com.
40:57: Instagram is on there, different links to my different communities, everything.
41:01: So good, and they’ll all be in the show notes for you as well.
41:03: Thank you.
41:04: I’ll tag all the things.
41:06: All your accounts are getting tagged.
41:07: , but thank you so much.
41:11: Thank you.
41:12: This is like amazing and I’m just so inspired by you in a lot of ways, just like what you’re creating, the communities that you’re building, like, the kinds of spaces, like, you really hit the nail on the head on on community.
41:22: That’s why you’re like the queen of community.
41:24: Thank you.
41:25: Is so special to have you.
41:26: I will tell you, just watching you guys with your events, like, some people have it in them, and you guys definitely do.
41:35: Sometimes, you know, I work with people to help build communities, and you work with some people and they’re like, they eventually realize they’re like, community is not for me.
41:44: Right?
41:45: Because it’s difficult when you don’t innately have that trait, but you guys do, the women that you attract are amazing.
41:52: Your podcast is incredible.
41:54: I’m just, I love seeing it, all of it.
41:56: So you guys should also be very proud of yourselves.
41:59: Thank you.
41:59: I appreciate that.
42:00: Yeah.
42:01: Thank you so much for tuning in.
42:03: We really appreciate you being here.
42:05: If you enjoyed this episode, we’d be grateful if you could leave us a review and share it with a friend.
42:10: Also, we would love to hear from you.
42:13: Reach out to us on Instagram and let us know where you feel inspired to express yourself as you embrace this next era.
42:20: We are here to support you and encourage you.
42:22: See you on the next one.
0:03: We are your hosts, Samantha and Karenna.
0:06: This is a show where we invite you into your fullest expressed self and life, relationships, and business.
0:11: We believe that if you crave more, you are meant for more.
0:14: There is room for all of us to be fully expressed.
0:17: Along with the show, we’ve created a virtual community to connect you with fellow listeners.
0:22: Make sure to check out the fully expressed community membership.
0:25: You’ll find the link to join in the show notes and on our website.
0:28: So excited to see you there.
0:30: Enjoy this new episode.
0:34: Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Fully expressed podcast.
0:39: Today we are here with Inbal Claudio, who we adore.
0:43: She is a 3 times founder and mom of 3.
0:47: She’s passionate about creating and fostering communities that empower female founders at every stage of business, from virtual platforms.
0:54: In-person gatherings, she has built spaces inspiring connection and support, transforming her life and business.
1:02: As a community strategist and business consultant, she also helps women cultivate their own thriving communities, using the power of connection to drive referrals, loyalty, and growth.
1:13: Hi.
1:14: Welcome.
1:15: Thank you.
1:15: Thank you.
1:16: How are you?
1:17: I just love being around you too.
1:21: Thank you.
1:22: Like the energy, the smiles.
1:26: I just, I’m so happy to be here.
1:28: Thank you.
1:29: Thank you so much.
1:30: We couldn’t have anyone else to talk about community.
1:32: Yeah.
1:33: You’re literally like the queen of community.
1:35: And, you know, for anyone that doesn’t know, I just met in ball at Lake Med OC because I just recently moved to Orange County and I was looking for a community.
1:44: And I got connected to Kelsey, who was like, you really got to go to like Mdo see, and what I’ve been literally craving you’ve created.
1:52: And so thank you, you for your energy and your dedication and like your commitment to really believing in community because now that I’m in those rooms, I’m like, every time I go, I’m like, I just love, like, you feel really good at us, like, I feel so good being in the room with you with the room that you’ve created.
2:09: Thank you.
2:10: That means so much to me.
2:11: Cause it’s funny, like, people laugh, they’re like, just take the compliment.
2:17: Yeah.
2:17: And I’m like, it’s hard for me to do that because I always say, and I talk about this a lot, right?
2:22: You’ve heard me even say this at the last event where I created this selfishly for myself.
2:26: And I’m so grateful, like, for the women that show up and pour into the community and the other women that I’m like, oh my God, this is the coolest thing ever.
2:36: And I don’t look at it as like, I created it.
2:38: I’m like, these Women want to be here.
2:40: Like, how freaking cool is that?
2:42: You know?
2:43: , so I appreciate you saying that.
2:46: And you’re talking about something that’s so important, I think in community.
2:48: Like, sometimes I think we like let the facilitator or whoever putting on, take a lot of the lead.
2:53: But as a community member or a community attendee, I also think it’s important that you make it what you want, right?
3:00: It’s the energy that you give in.
3:02: So, for this episode, we’re going to be talking all about community, if you haven’t picked up on it.
3:07: But like, not just like how to create a community and like how to find your own community, but the kinds of gifts that come from community.
3:15: And I would love to hear from you wherever you want to start.
3:18: What was it like for you trying to find community?
3:20: And we’ll take it from there and then like really finding out like, what are the gifts and what are the answers and the solutions that we can be gifted through community and you have this beautiful statement with your business where it’s like friendship before business.
3:35: There’s so much there to unpack.
3:36: I’ll let you lead and then we’ll ask questions.
3:38: OK, yeah, sounds good.
3:39: , so I guess it kind of starts where, you know, everybody says the best businesses are ones that you create out of a necessity that you have, and that truly is kind of what made this come to life.
3:52: So, I had or still have a candle company, and about a year in, I got pregnant.
4:00: And I’m like, OK, great, I’m doing all these in-person shows and markets, and moved cross country and started to do the same thing in North Carolina, and I realized that I had to pivot and had to lean more into the online space.
4:13: And I just didn’t know how to do that.
4:14: I didn’t have entrepreneur friends.
4:16: I didn’t really have a business background necessarily, and I couldn’t find a space that I fit in.
4:22: Everybody was just charging an arm and a leg.
4:25: People were just not letting me post about my business on Facebook, which you guys know in groups.
4:30: And I had to create a space that I felt welcomed.
4:34: So I knew that there were millions of women out there who kind of also in my shoes.
4:39: And I decided to create like-minded Collective.
4:41: So like-minded Collective is my virtual community.
4:45: It’s totally free to join community.
4:47: We do networking calls.
4:49: And about a year after that, I’m like, all these virtual women, like some of them live near me, and I would love to just meet them and hug them.
4:57: And I created like-minded OC.
4:59: And that, when you talk about the gifts of community, I mean, my best friends have come.
5:05: From that, you know, in such a short time frame, you become so connected with women that, that has truly, you know, in my bio, you said it’s a, you know, bettered my life and my business, and truly, like, friends come from it, you know?
5:19: And so that is kind of the background of, you know, community and like minded Oi.
5:25: And now we have a second chapter in Charleston for the last 6 months, which is really freaking cool.
5:30: I also started another community for Jewish women entrepreneurs, so niching down.
5:33: a little bit more, and it’s just been so special all around.
5:38: I want you to share to the quote you said the first time I came to the event, when you were saying that everything you need is like a person away.
5:47: Is that how you say it?
5:49: Yeah, so it’s like one connection away, right?
5:51: You have to talk about what you need, because somebody can be like, oh yeah, I know somebody who I can connect you.
5:57: I know that they have connections in this field, right?
5:59: And so it’s so important.
6:00: And that’s also why a lot of people will say, I don’t want to talk about my business or I’m scared to share about my business on social or my personal Instagram, and you have to talk about your business.
6:10: Nobody else is going to do it for you, right?
6:13: So when you put yourself in rooms with 2030, 40, 50 women, you have to talk about your business.
6:18: You have to talk about what, what you need, whether in life or business.
6:22: And somebody in the room can point you in a direction that will lead you closer to what you need.
6:27: I love that so much.
6:28: That hit me really hard when you said that the first time.
6:31: Yeah, and I was just gonna say, so there’s something special about the communities that you build, because, you know, you hear like, let’s find community where I’m looking for community, but and people will go to like networking events.
6:41: I think that’s like the biggest thing that people go to like a business, as an entrepreneur, right?
6:45: I’m like, all right, there’s like this quote unquote networking event that I’m going to and like the energy in those rooms feel more like, hi, how are you?
6:52: Here’s my business card, what do you do?
6:54: Yeah, yeah, literally.
6:57: Yeah like, and then the conversation kind of dies unless there’s some kind of like relatability or connection and like you know the person that you guys can talk about life and talk about other things, or you end up hearing from people that are just pitching to you all the time.
7:11: So what’s different about the community you was built and like specifically what are women receiving from the community that you’ve built?
7:19: Yeah.
7:19: So the Miss, like you said, is friendship first and business second.
7:24: And so you can’t just throw a statement out there like that and expect people to just be like, OK, yeah, that resonates and I’m going to go in this direction, right?
7:33: As the community leader, you have to facilitate conversations and actions that support that mission, right?
7:40: So first and foremost, like I greeted You guys with a hug, right?
7:44: The first time I met you guys and you came in through the door, it was a hug.
7:47: And people received that and they’re like, OK, I kind of like, I like to say like, it feels like a warm hug, right?
7:52: The community and so like, I’ll hug you.
7:54: And then also there’s no name tags.
7:56: We don’t shake hands.
7:57: Like, I think of like networking events, it’s like name tag, right?
8:00: We have beautiful hair, like, we don’t want it to stick in the name tag, ruin our outfits, like, nobody wants that.
8:06: And then the conversations just naturally naturally go more towards friendship, right?
8:11: When we do small group discussions, like, one of the prompts was, if you had 3 different countries, where would you eat, pray and love, right?
8:18: That’s, that’s like more life conversations.
8:20: And I do the same thing virtually.
8:22: So when people share, I start to get to know more of the women in the community, and I like to share things about their life that they wouldn’t normally share.
8:30: So I’m like, oh yeah, like you just came back from vacation, or, oh, congratulations on getting engaged.
8:34: So it’s more life stuff, right?
8:36: Because business will always happen.
8:38: So I have to help with the life conversations.
8:41: We do small groups also in on the virtual networking calls, and same thing.
8:46: My prompted conversation starters, one is about life and one is about business.
8:51: And it just, that’s how you start to get people in that mindset, and that’s how you start to get people to become friends with one another and not just talk about business, right?
9:02: I think also just in Engaging and connecting people.
9:05: When somebody new comes in the room, and they’re like, oh yeah, I live, I live in Huntington, let’s just say.
9:10: And I’m like, oh, Candy lives in Huntington, I’ll connect them together.
9:14: And it’s just, yeah, you both live in Huntington.
9:16: Oh my God, do you know this coffee shop down the street?
9:17: Like, I love it.
9:18: I go there for, you know, breakfast or whatever.
9:20: So the conversation starts to move in that direction.
9:23: , a lot of people say like, oh yeah, I heard you’re on Instagram.
9:27: I heard like, I love your networking, you know, events.
9:31: Like, I’d love to check out.
9:32: networking events.
9:33: And I always correct them, and I’m like, you know, it’s a lot more than networking.
9:37: You really are just a bunch of incredible women who like to do life and business together, because I don’t want them to get in that mindset.
9:43: Networking has become so dull.
9:45: It’s so dull and cringy.
9:47: And also, I feel like when you build energy, when you’re able to present who you really are in the moment, especially like when you’re first meeting someone, that’s what you want to then help someone with.
9:56: Like when you feel their energy and you’re like, Oh, I, I, I know I can help you or Whatever it may be, and I think when you’re just like, hi, I’m Samantha, what do you do, you know, or whatever, you’re just like, you’re like, where do I even start?
10:08: Yeah, I’m like, I don’t know how to answer that and also like, I don’t care, you know, so it’s like you’re cultivating these and you’re already sold to.
10:15: It does, which I think we’re all kind of like, out of that in a way, you know, like I kind of feels like, here’s my business, let’s say I’m a plumber, I can take care of your plumbing.
10:25: And it’s like, but I don’t know, you know what I mean?
10:27: But it’s like that and it’s like, well, who are you?
10:29: Really, yeah.
10:30: Yeah, you are not your business entirely.
10:33: Like, you’re right, all of you.
10:34: Nobody wants to be looked at as a dollar sign, right?
10:38: When people go strictly for networking, it’s like, OK, this person could be a potential client, this person could be a potential client, this person can help me in my business this way.
10:46: It’s like, it’s icky, right?
10:49: That’s why I also focus on founders only.
10:52: I’m expanding a little bit, but, you know, kind of staying away from multi-level marketing.
10:58: real estate agents, insurance brokers, because for the most part, they’re taught to go in for the sale, right?
11:06: So, I actually had this conversation because I’m trying to expand into entrepreneurs, not just founders.
11:13: And I think the biggest thing is having people understand the vibe of like-minded OC, right?
11:20: You can be a real estate agent and you can be amazing and come and like fully give yourself and receive.
11:26: And you can be a real estate agent who does the complete opposite.
11:30: So opening up that spectrum, however, knowing like, this is our culture, take it or leave it.
11:36: In your experience, have you felt when people, I’m so curious, like, have you felt people naturally not be a part of the group because they’re not as open for like the lifeness, you know, and because they can’t pitch themselves, or and do you let that like just naturally go?
11:52: Yeah, do you like, give them the boot?
11:53: Yeah.
11:53: Do you give them the boot?
11:54: Like, how do you navigate that and protect the community.
11:56: So I’m also thinking about that, like, you know, as someone who has freedom in the community of graded cruit containers, the safety that you create in the room is also very important.
12:04: So how do you, how do you manage that?
12:06: Yeah, it’s a really good question.
12:08: I’ve had to have the awkward conversations and I hate doing that.
12:12: However, the way that I kind of push myself to do it is knowing that I am now responsible for the women in my community, right?
12:21: So they’re like my babies and I’m the mom.
12:24: Like I do with my own children, right?
12:26: So there was a, I’ll give you a couple,, situations that happened and how I navigated just for anybody who wants to start a community because these things will come up.
12:35: Absolutely.
12:35: So I, I say founders, right?
12:38: So founders are totally welcome.
12:39: So this lady who had been to a few of my events in the very beginning, signed up, but it was her assistant or an employee that signed up.
12:47: I’m like, Oh, maybe she just bought the ticket.
12:48: And so her employee ended up coming to the event without her.
12:53: And I’m like, OK, maybe she has her own business that she wants to, you know, talk about totally fine and amazing.
12:59: She ended up talking about this woman’s business, so coming as a representative, essentially.
13:04: And I had the conversation with her after, like, I didn’t call her out in the middle.
13:08: I didn’t kick her out in the middle, but after I just said, hey, you know, this is truly a community for founders, and I would love to have X, Y, and Z show up next time if she’d like to pitch her business, but it really is for Women to promote their own companies.
13:22: And she goes, Well, I also have a pottery company.
13:25: I’m like, I would have loved about that.
13:29: Right?
13:30: I would have loved to hear about that.
13:31: The women in the community would have loved to hear about that.
13:34: You would have probably gotten some sales, some friends, inquiries, collaborations.
13:38: And she basically said, So I’m not welcome here.
13:42: And I said, that’s where I got kind of defensive.
13:45: I’m like, This is not about you.
13:47: This is really a space for founders.
13:50: And if you want to talk about your own company, I’d love to have you come back.
13:54: And I emailed the lady, her employer, also explained, and her employer was like, Oh my gosh, I totally understand.
13:59: No problem.
14:00: Thank you so much.
14:01: And I realized like, that type of energy, just her reaction in general, was not the vibe that I was looking for anyways, right?
14:10: So that was one scenario.
14:12: Another one is a real estate agent who I have known in the past.
14:15: I was Real estate, I had my own brokerage.
14:18: And she’s like, Oh, I saw your networking group.
14:20: I’d love to join and connect.
14:22: And I told her, you know, thank you so much.
14:25: It’s, it’s amazing.
14:25: It really is for founders.
14:27: Do you have your own brokerage?
14:29: And she said, No, but I’m an entrepreneur growing my own business.
14:34: And I said, you know, as somebody who did have their own brokerage, was in real estate for 10 years, I know that the challenges are vastly different.
14:44: And the space is really protected for founders only.
14:47: And she unfollowed me on all the accounts, and truly it just made me realize like, this, again, right?
14:57: The reaction is not the type of person that you’re trying to draw into to bring in.
15:03: If the conversation would have been different, she said, handball, I totally understand.
15:07: Like, now I am opening it up to people, right?
15:09: So I could have been like, hey, just so you know, like, I’m opening it up to entrepreneurs.
15:13: And would love to have you join.
15:15: This is kind of the expectations going in, and she would have been able to come to our community, right?
15:21: She blocked herself.
15:22: She blocked herself, right?
15:24: So those are the conversations that I’ve had.
15:27: I’ve never really had to kick somebody out for being too pitchy because it was application based at first and I kind of do my research.
15:35: So those are a couple of situations.
15:37: It’s not easy, but you guys are my number one priority, right?
15:41: You’re being mama bear.
15:42: How are you being mama bear.
15:43: Yeah, yep, I’d love to pivot a little bit.
15:46: If you don’t mind sharing the other experience you had about having someone come to your community and then try to take your ideas and how you, if you don’t mind talking about that, or and how you dealt with that, because I think that’s also a thing I see happening a lot is like people, it’s almost like you feel like you have to trademark everything because people will come with a certain energy, they feel great, and then all of a sudden there you turn around and they’re doing what you do.
16:10: Mhm.
16:11: Like, oh, I can make this, yeah, but then not actually make it their own, just copy you exactly.
16:16: So speak a little about that scenario, cause I think that’s also a common thing that happens in any business, but specifically in this type of thing.
16:23: Yeah, so I am the first thing I do when I come up with a business name is trademark.
16:29: So everything is trademarked, like my a collective, like mine, it is in the works of being trademarked.
16:34: Founder C Shabbat is trademarked, right?
16:36: Everything is trademarked.
16:37: And I never once thought.
16:38: had to trademark my tagline, Friendship first and business second.
16:41: Like, I have it on my website, I have it on my socials.
16:44: I have it on my apparel, like my totes and things like that.
16:46: Like, that’s my tagline.
16:48: And that is what I stand behind, right?
16:49: That’s how I build my business.
16:51: And this girl had come to my in-person events, and the first time she came, she was talking about her own community, and she said, Do you mind that I talk about my community?
17:03: And I said, Absolutely not.
17:04: Like, I think the more communities for women, the better, truly.
17:09: And I want you to promote your community because if someone can’t come to mine all the time, like they could come to yours.
17:15: And so she came to probably, you know, 345 events.
17:19: And then my friend messaged me on Instagram and she’s like, Did you see this?
17:26: And she sent her Instagram handle to me, and it said her community name, Friendship first business second.
17:32: And Cringy, it’s like why?
17:36: I saw red, yeah, I mean, yeah, red.
17:40: This is 7 in the morning.
17:41: It was a Friday.
17:42: You’re like this is too early for this.
17:44: My kids, I’m like feeding them breakfast, and my husband and I have this thing where like, we like, if we need to handle business like we go upstairs cause I don’t want to be on my phone with like my kids and things like that.
17:55: And so I told Brian, I was like, I need to go upstairs.
17:59: He’s like, are you OK?
18:00: I’m like, I’ll explain later.
18:01: I gotta go.
18:02: First thing I did was email my lawyer.
18:03: I’m like, hey, I need a trademark friendship first, business second.
18:06: , like I said, I never thought to do that, and I messaged her immediately, and I said, Hey, first of all, I took a screenshot, and I said, Hey, I saw that you’re using my tagline on your Instagram pages.
18:19: This is actually currently in the process of being trademarked.
18:22: Please remove it immediately and refrain from using it in the future.
18:26: And I had an event that morning at 9 o’clock for my founders who Shabbat an in-person event, and I’m like, OK, I need to just chill, like, shake it out.
18:37: It’s like literally like.
18:39: How do I get this energy?
18:40: Oh my gosh.
18:41: It was wild fuming.
18:43: I know.
18:43: Well, my poor parents were caught in the crossfire cause I had to pick up something from them, and they said something that would have not usually triggered me, and I was like, not today.
18:53: Yeah, I mean, I apologize later, and I told them like, what kind of triggered that response, and they fully understood they’re very used to me, like kind of emotional.
19:01: But yeah, so that happened over the, that was Friday, over the course of like 4 days, it was a back and forth.
19:09: She changed it to friendship focus and business minded, which is basically the same thing.
19:14: Oh my goodness.
19:16: And I told her, I’m like, I see.
19:17: You changed it.
19:18: However, this still reflects the same sentiment.
19:22: Exactly.
19:22: Like, please change it.
19:23: And she would not change it.
19:25: And she kept coming back to me, back and forth, and I’m trying to keep my cool and all I’m saying is, it’s exactly the same, please change your tagline.
19:33: And she was chat GPing everything.
19:36: So these responses were like 4 paragraphs long.
19:40: Yeah.
19:53: chat, but not in that scenario, yeah, the humanness.
19:53: Where’s your compassion and, yeah.
19:54: I know, and she kind of is like everything was out the door.
19:55: She basically like spun it around on me and said, you know, I really thought that you were community focused.
20:02: Oh no.
20:03: And that is when I lost my mind.
20:05: And I just told her I’m like, I, I supported her.
20:09: I gave her free community help, like building advice.
20:13: I genuinely wanted to see her community succeed, and I let her promote her community at my community events.
20:20: Like, quite literally, I could not have done more to help her.
20:24: And so I, that’s what I said, you know, and I just told her I’m like, you have until Monday.
20:30: To get this taken care of.
20:32: And she didn’t do it, and Monday morning came around and I’m like, listen, it’s talking to myself.
20:36: I have 3 girlfriends who do the same thing.
20:38: They do in-person events all over and we’re like the quad pod.
20:42: And I message to them, I’m like, I have this Instagram story ready to call her out like by name because this is insanity.
20:48: And they’re like, I all, take a deep breath, take a step back, and just realize like she is not worth it, right?
20:53: So figure out a different way to handle it.
20:55: That makes you feel better.
20:57: So, also keep in mind that she had bought a ticket for another event that I was facilitating for a different community.
21:05: Well, the balls, this woman, holy cow.
21:07: And so I voice noted her and I said, Listen, I’m not going to spend a dollar on you to give you a cease and desist, but just so you know, as a community builder, stealing intellectual property makes you a dangerous person for people to be around.
21:19: And I suggest you change.
21:20: It.
21:21: And also the ticket that you bought is for a community event that I’m facilitating.
21:25: And so she responded back, basically saying, I’m going to still go to this event that you’re facilitating.
21:32: And I didn’t respond back, but I messaged the person who was hosting the event and I said, Hey, this person bought a ticket.
21:38: I don’t think it’s safe for them to be around other entrepreneurs because she was stealing intellectual property and they refunded her tickets that she wasn’t welcome.
21:45: And I ended up telling a few people in my community cause they asked, they were like, oh, is it this person because we saw, but we thought you knew, and I’m like, I didn’t know, it’s this person, it’s fine, like, don’t feel bad for not telling me, but this is the situation at hand, you know.
22:00: And it’s, it was something that I had to go through, right?
22:03: There’s so many women in the room, and I don’t mind that people do walks and business meetups and structure it the same.
22:10: Like every person can have the same events, but because everyone is different that’s running it, the event is going to be different, right?
22:19: So people can have their own communities, do whatever they want.
22:22: It’s, that’s great, right?
22:23: Like I said, the More communities, the better.
22:25: However, when you’re starting to take people’s word for word tagline, and she didn’t even emulate friendship first and business second, she literally, yes.
22:41: So, and the thing that really hurt the most is that so many women who come to like-minded, they’re like, I saw French.
22:48: First and business, second, and just resonated with that.
22:51: So for me, it’s important to protect that.
22:53: But yeah, you’ve also created such a safe space for people to come and feel like they can share their ideas.
22:59: And so when you have someone come in and violate you so intensely, like that also, then you never want that to affect like how other people might feel in the spaces that you’re creating.
23:09: So, exactly.
23:10: I can’t allow somebody like that to come in.
23:13: Did she eventually remove it?
23:15: She eventually changed it.
23:16: Yeah.
23:17: Well, first I blocked her, then she blocked my personal one, and I have another account that nobody knows about, that I used for my children, like, years ago, but I don’t use it.
23:26: So I checked on that account.
23:28: And that’s the one that I kind of keep tabs on, like, what is she doing?
23:32: Because I need to still protect myself, right?
23:35: And make sure that she’s not, that she changed it, that she’s not doing anything, she’s not talking about me.
23:41: So that’s kind of how I tabs.
23:44: So how, as I’m so curious, I mean, this is something I’ve thought about before.
23:49: Do you put like a law in place, like before someone joins your community?
23:53: Is there like a requirement?
23:54: Is it like this is not allowed, this is not allowed?
23:56: Have you ever thought about like some kind of agreement or contract that people sign to come to your communities?
24:05: I mean, I didn’t.
24:06: I don’t, and that’s hard too because like the energy of being that intense doesn’t sound funny either because you’re like, I don’t want to.
24:12: Up into like controlling every single thing, but have you ever considered something like that?
24:17: I just want to hear like your basically your thought.
24:19: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
24:21: So that was brought to my attention because I brought it to the community, the first business and collab event after.
24:26: I don’t know if you were at that one.
24:27: Maybe it was when you were, were you at that one?
24:29: Yeah, oh yeah, that was that.
24:32: Yeah, that was the first one you guys were both sitting there, I remember.
24:34: And so somebody brought that up, right?
24:37: Maybe it’s something that you have people sign.
24:40: And for me, like this happened.
24:42: Once.
24:43: And truly, I realized with this person, like, unless I want to enforce something, I have to pay money to do that, right?
24:51: It’ll have to be like a cease and desist letter, and then if they, that doesn’t do anything, right?
24:56: That’s like $600 just to say, stop doing that.
25:00: And then if they don’t do that, then I have to spend more money to actually sue them, right?
25:05: And it’s easier for me to just be like, this is clearly not cool, like you, you know, are not welcome to come back.
25:12: And I guess I’m just hoping that because the women in the room are just so awesome, that people kind of get that vibe, right?
25:22: A lot of people who met her prior were a little standoffish already because they didn’t go to her events, they didn’t go to the things that she offered.
25:33: There was one girl who did, but it was because she didn’t have that genuine.
25:38: Exactly.
25:39: So people kind of pick up on that.
25:40: So to answer your question, I don’t know, because I’m pivoting to more entrepreneurs and less, I mean, not just solely founders, there will be something where people sign like I agree to this, so maybe it’s something that I can just put in there.
25:56: It’s hard too because, you know, your whole tagline is friendship first, this is second.
25:59: So then you’re like, hey, by the way, sign this waiver.
26:02: You know, I can understand how it’s like that thin line between you’re still trying to create this comfort for people to come and feel safe.
26:09: But yeah, I mean, I still say protect yourself, I think, but yeah, it’s wild wild west out there.
26:14: It is wild.
26:15: So for my virtual, when people say like, sign up, before they can actually sign up, a pop up comes up and says like, this is for women only, give more than you receive, no MLMs, and so people say, I accept.
26:29: Yeah, so maybe it’s basically like that.
26:31: It’s yeah something kind of simple.
26:32: Yeah, like I know that you, I know that you know.
26:36: The culture, yeah, really, no, no.
26:40: And I also think like I would just never think to be like, I’m gonna steal this thing that’s branded.
26:45: She said she didn’t know.
26:47: It’s like she didn’t know it was the announce it at every I announced it at every event.
26:54: It’s on the bags.
26:55: She’s a part of both my in-person and my virtual, and she wanted to be in our mastermind that I have with my friend for community building.
27:03: She wanted to work with me.
27:04: I mean, she was like in my stuff, you know.
27:09: I didn’t know.
27:10: I had no idea.
27:11: I like though, like, even though you didn’t go the legal route, like doing like a cease and desist or whatever, but like, your energetic leadership in that, I think it’s something to admire because so many, like, you communicated your needs, your wants, and where she crossed the boundary.
27:26: And I think that is what you’re talking to about, like, really talking about having hard Conversations to not only protect your business, but to protect your community.
27:34: Yeah.
27:35: And that is something so special about the kinds of spaces, because again, you’re protecting them and you’re like, I’m going to keep this space safe.
27:43: And I’ll have the hard conversations to have them if I need to.
27:46: I just want to admire you in that.
27:47: Thank you so much.
27:48: I mean, I am like, I was thinking about this yesterday.
27:52: I give 100% of myself to my community and to people who Our friends and are giving back.
27:59: The second it crosses into something else, I am the complete opposite.
28:05: And I have to like learn, right?
28:08: To like, regulate because, and this all goes back to like, you know, growing up and being made fun of and blah blah blah blah blah, like, whatever.
28:15: So, it’s like, I have to really focus on like, OK, I want to like, yell at you and scream at you and punch you in the face.
28:25: However, I will just be very stern and get my point across, and you will know, like you are not welcome again.
28:32: You know, and it’s hard for me to do that.
28:35: But now that I’m, I want to kind of give that example, right?
28:40: Because this happened to another girl in my community, where she asked me, she’s like, hey, I know that you talked about this is after what I announced.
28:47: She’s like, I know that you talked about this trademark thing, can you connect me to your lawyer?
28:51: And I was like, absolutely.
28:53: And I, what she wanted to trademark, I heard another girl use it.
28:56: And so I asked her, I’m like, oh my gosh, is it this person?
28:59: She’s like, yes.
29:00: And this, both of them were in my community.
29:03: Oh no.
29:04: And I’m like, was the one that asked you for the lawyer, though, the original, OK, OK, yeah.
29:08: And so I, I’m happy that I spoke about it too, because exactly, other people will now, and I think I mentioned that too, right?
29:18: Make sure that you trademark everything.
29:20: And although trademarks, you know, are on the pricier side, you can also do it on your own, but just talking to a lawyer in general, because the headache and the emotional headache that’s gonna happen when you have to deal with it, is so much worse.
29:35: Yeah, if you have to rebrand everything because you didn’t and someone else takes exactly.
29:40: Yeah, it’s a mess.
29:41: So, like, verbalizing that and just letting people know like, hey, This happens, you’re not alone, like, I’m here to talk through whatever you need.
29:49: And so now she has me as a resource, right?
29:51: Like, I’m like, text me, whatever you need, like, and she asked, she’s like, what should I do?
29:55: I’m like, Have you talked to her about it?
29:57: And she’s like, No, got to.
29:59: And I’m like, and she’s not the type of person to have that conversation.
30:04: And I’m like, Listen, you can write something up, like run it past me if you want, happy to look at it.
30:09: But it needs, you need to have that hard conversation cause this is your baby.
30:13: Yeah, right?
30:14: And I think the hardest thing with hard conversations, if you’re thinking about having one, which we talked about a lot, is like, you gotta get your emotions aside and find where the clarity is, yes, right?
30:24: Like being really clear with like what you’re, what’s OK, what’s not OK, where do you cross the boundary, and what that looks like.
30:30: It’s difficult when you don’t have a hard conversations, you’re like, I’m feeling all these feelings internally, and I just want to Tell you how you’re making me feel, but it’s really like, they don’t need to know all that.
30:39: They just need to know that it’s not OK.
30:41: Exactly.
30:41: Like, this is what I’ve been using for 2 years.
30:45: You have?
30:46: That’s wild.
30:47: I saw it nowhere, nowhere.
30:50: That’s crazy, crazy.
30:52: And so yeah, right?
30:53: Just exactly, exactly what you said.
30:55: It’s the facts.
30:57: I am using it actual, it is trademarked, ease and desist, cease and desist now, bitch.
31:04: Get it done.
31:05: So, we want to, I want to talk a little bit too about how can someone find a really good community?
31:11: Because I think there’s so much talk out there and like, there are things that are popping up a lot.
31:15: So what are some of your advices to someone that’s really looking for a community?
31:19: Maybe they found a community that they’re like, I feel really good about it, but then they don’t show up consistently.
31:24: So, like, what are the things or the factors that someone needs To think about if they really do want to find and be a part of a genuine community.
31:32: Yeah.
31:33: So the first thing I say, and I’m an introvert at heart, which also helps that I created my own cause I don’t have to walk into a space that I’m unfamiliar with.
31:41: They’re to me.
31:41: They’re all to me.
31:42: It’s a lot easier, right?
31:44: They come to me and then I put them to somebody else.
31:46: So the first thing I would say is, find a friend who You see going to stuff.
31:51: And this also helps.
31:53: I’m going to talk about the reverse side as well.
31:54: As a community builder, you want to tag everybody, right?
31:58: Some people don’t tag anybody in their reels.
32:00: I’m like, you have 20 people in this photo that can reshare and get more people into your community, right?
32:06: So if you see a friend of yours reposting an event that they went to and you’re like, wow, that looks really fun, go with them.
32:13: And say, hey, I see that you’re a part of this community.
32:15: It looks awesome.
32:16: Even if they’re not your friend friend, maybe they’re just a, you know, acquaintance on Instagram.
32:20: You can even message them, right?
32:22: And say, hey, this event looks really cool.
32:23: The one that you guys posted, the vibe just looks great, right?
32:26: Walk and coffee, but everyone’s smiling.
32:29: It just looks fun.
32:30: So, that’s the first thing, is if you have somebody on Instagram that you see goes to something, message them and ask them to go with them the next time.
32:39: Eventbrite also has lots of events, so you can kind of see the vibe too.
32:44: And I always try to go to the community’s website or Instagram to see, because the event name may sound great, the description may sound great, and the women there are like, I don’t know, knitting, and you’re like, I don’t want to knit, right?
32:59: Or they’re plumbing, and you don’t want to you don’t want to plumb,.
33:05: But, you know what I mean?
33:06: So like, I always try to go a little bit deeper, and then see what types of women are in there.
33:12: And then the opposite could occur, right?
33:13: Where you’re like, oh, it’s like OC women in business, and you’re like, that kind of sounds boring, but like, I’ll do some, you know, deeper dive into the women, and I’m like, oh wow, like, these women are awesome, right?
33:23: They’re moms or whatever.
33:24: They’re, they fit my vibe.
33:26: And so, always try to do a little bit deeper of a search.
33:30: There’s Also places that you can go.
33:32: Like, if there are like coffee shops that you go to regularly and you see some women, right, you can even go up and be like, Hey, like, you know, do you guys have, I know that you guys are a group of like 5 women, like, what are you guys a community of some sort?
33:44: So kind of stepping out of your comfort zone.
33:46: But when you find that community, make sure to show up as much as you can.
33:52: Because it benefits you in so many ways, right?
33:56: Let’s just talk.
33:56: Business, for starters.
33:57: If I see somebody coming to my events, I’m going to know more of what they do.
34:02: I’m invested in what they’re doing, and I can refer them people, right?
34:07: Not only business, but collaborations, partnerships that they can do, and that’s super beneficial, right?
34:13: As far as friendship goes, the more you show up, the more people get to know you as a person, and you’re just going to feel like a warm hug, right?
34:19: From everybody that comes in.
34:21: So, I know a lot of People because they go to networking events, right?
34:25: They’re part of like 6 different networking communities, and it’s hard.
34:30: That’s not sustainable.
34:31: So I always say, pick 2 or 3 virtual and or in person and really dive into those communities and just see if they’re your vibe.
34:40: And if not, move on to the next.
34:43: It sounds like less is more.
34:44: That’s the other thing, because it’s especially when you first start your business, or entrepreneurship.
34:47: I mean, even me and Corporate.
34:48: I was like, I’m going to all these conferences and I’m going to do a ball and it’s like, you get to a place where you realize too much is like not even worth it because you’re just too spread thin.
34:58: You can’t even keep up with the connections, like, it’s a whole another thing that I’ve had to deal with is like, I made too many friends, I don’t have enough time to talk to them, but not even like good friends, like, OK, connections is probably a better word.
35:09: And so when you really do dive in and focus in on one and be like, oh, I can really get to know this person.
35:14: I can actually feel this person get to know.
35:16: There’s more in the depth of consistency versus like, let me attend 10 this week.
35:21: Yeah.
35:22: And he’s yeah I know I see a lot that do that, you know, it’s crazy and like, damn, do you ever relax?
35:27: I say to to that point is like, and you can really spend quality time like in that group, and then you can go about your life.
35:35: You don’t necessarily have to take them all with you outside of the group, but you’re committing to that one space, and it feels like even on our walks, it feels So good to be with the women in that moment.
35:44: It doesn’t mean I’m going to go then and call them and hang out every day next week, but you have that space to come back to where people can feel welcomed and connect.
35:52: And if you want, you can, but also I think life is full, you know, like we talk about, like, thank you so much for being here because you have kids, you know what I mean?
36:01: Like, this is great though.
36:02: Yeah, yeah, you’re like, I’m here for this.
36:04: You’re like, I love being here, but, you know, life is full, like especially like when you do have kids.
36:09: So all of a sudden you have doctors.
36:10: I mean, you’re just working and things like that.
36:12: So like, even being able to, I know as a busy person who does a lot of things, I love containers that I commit to because I’m like, this is my space to drop in.
36:20: This is my space to like not be on my phone, not thinking about a million things about work, but like just connecting with the people in the room.
36:27: Yeah.
36:27: And think about how freeing it is to go and not have to always be on, right?
36:33: A place where you can just go and just hang.
36:36: Hang out, you know, cause a lot of people, I invited this girl somewhere.
36:41: I was going to another event actually in Carlsbad, like a year and some change ago.
36:45: And I’m like, hey, like, you should come with me, you live in the area.
36:47: And she’s like, oh my God, I’ve been to so many networking calls, like, I can’t even keep up with the people that I’m, and it was, she was very overwhelmed.
36:54: And I’m like, OK, great, no problem, right?
36:57: However, you never want to be in that space.
36:59: We’re like, oh my God, there’s too many people, too many connections.
37:02: There’s another girl in my Virtual, she’s like 4 months behind on updating her CRM and it brought her into this space of like anxiety.
37:11: And you don’t want that, right?
37:13: Community should be easy.
37:16: It should just be a place where we do this thing when something hits.
37:20: Yeah.
37:21: It’s like a relationship.
37:22: It’s like a boyfriend.
37:23: It shouldn’t be hard.
37:25: You should come and maybe you have the butterflies the first time walking in, but after that, it should just be like, Oh my God, like, I’m just so excited to be here.
37:33: Yeah, I can’t wait.
37:34: So you’re really good at creating that.
37:35: Your space is so inviting.
37:37: I felt so welcome.
37:38: Yeah, and it helped, right?
37:39: You came with a friend.
37:41: Yeah, yeah, and it helps, right?
37:43: So, but you guys also made connections separately.
37:46: So that’s, that’s the vibe, right?
37:48: When you think of networking in communities and finding ones that you want to be a part of, try to find ones where where you leave and you’re not like, oh God, that was so draining.
37:57: Find we’re like, oh my gosh, I’m so excited for the next one.
38:00: Agreed.
38:01: So one question that we ask all of our guys is, where in your life do you feel called to be more fully expressed?
38:08: It can be life, relationship, business, whatever you want.
38:11: Yeah, I think I’m moving into a new space, physical space reminds me to be literally, wink wink.
38:19: , I’ll tell you later.
38:21: I missed that.
38:22: Congratulations.
38:23: Thank you.
38:24: It’s all.
38:24: Happen really fast.
38:25: But I feel for me, it’s just in this new chapter, right?
38:31: Saying yes to things, and there’s so many questions and blocks that are coming in, like logical blocks, right?
38:39: And I’m like, oh my gosh, more overhead, how am I going to fill the space, community members, blah, blah, blah.
38:45: And for me, I’m just like, I want to be fully expressed in this new chapter to just what does that look like for you?
38:52: Saying yes to things that my heart wants to say yes to and like turning my brain off a little bit, right?
38:59: That’s so hard for us, especially because our businesses are all virtual, right?
39:04: There’s not much overhead that needs to happen.
39:07: And I think like that’s the biggest thing is I’m committing to, let’s say a 3 to 5 year lease.
39:12: But taking a step back and being like, OK, this is so freaking exciting.
39:17: How am I gonna decorate it potentially?
39:19: Who’s gonna come in?
39:20: What’s the vibe?
39:21: Maybe we go for a walk midday, and I’m just like so excited about it and letting the excitement kind of take more.
39:31: Also journaling, journaling more in this new chapter, because I feel like that’s been a way for me to kind of get things out.
39:39: And so, yeah, this next chapter is like Fully expressed everything, just like turning my brain off, letting my heart lead, and just being so freaking excited.
39:50: That quote.
39:50: That’s going in a real.
39:52: Yeah.
39:53: Yeah, I love it.
39:53: Well, thank you so much for being here with us, for having this talk.
39:59: Thank you, ladies.
40:00: You’ve created such a really if anyone that’s listening that lives in the OC or Irvine or near, like, check out like Minded OC.
40:06: It’s so Amazing.
40:07: It’s so welcoming.
40:08: It’s a great space.
40:09: If you’re a founder or entrepreneur now, yes, we are officially opening it up to entrepreneurs because of this space.
40:17: So anybody who really just truly leads from friendship first, business second, founder, entrepreneur, aspiring, if you want to eventually open up your own business or something like that, definitely welcome to join us.
40:29: Friendship first, business second, TM.
40:33: Oh.
40:35: So, amen.
40:37: Yeah, I love it.
40:38: Thank you, ladies so much.
40:39: It has been such a pleasure to be here.
40:42: Tell everyone to where they can find you, like, where’s the best place to find if they’re interested now that we’ve shared what you do and everything, where can they come.
40:50: So, I mean, I’m pretty much like A walking link in bio.
40:53: So, everything is on my website invollaudio.com.
40:57: Instagram is on there, different links to my different communities, everything.
41:01: So good, and they’ll all be in the show notes for you as well.
41:03: Thank you.
41:04: I’ll tag all the things.
41:06: All your accounts are getting tagged.
41:07: , but thank you so much.
41:11: Thank you.
41:12: This is like amazing and I’m just so inspired by you in a lot of ways, just like what you’re creating, the communities that you’re building, like, the kinds of spaces, like, you really hit the nail on the head on on community.
41:22: That’s why you’re like the queen of community.
41:24: Thank you.
41:25: Is so special to have you.
41:26: I will tell you, just watching you guys with your events, like, some people have it in them, and you guys definitely do.
41:35: Sometimes, you know, I work with people to help build communities, and you work with some people and they’re like, they eventually realize they’re like, community is not for me.
41:44: Right?
41:45: Because it’s difficult when you don’t innately have that trait, but you guys do, the women that you attract are amazing.
41:52: Your podcast is incredible.
41:54: I’m just, I love seeing it, all of it.
41:56: So you guys should also be very proud of yourselves.
41:59: Thank you.
41:59: I appreciate that.
42:00: Yeah.
42:01: Thank you so much for tuning in.
42:03: We really appreciate you being here.
42:05: If you enjoyed this episode, we’d be grateful if you could leave us a review and share it with a friend.
42:10: Also, we would love to hear from you.
42:13: Reach out to us on Instagram and let us know where you feel inspired to express yourself as you embrace this next era.
42:20: We are here to support you and encourage you.
42:22: See you on the next one.
We cover:
- What it looks like to start a business without entrepreneur friends—and how to find your people
- The keys to creating a thriving, sustainable business with community at its core
- The gifts of community and how to actually receive them
- Why asking for what you need is essential in business and life
- How you are one connection away from the answers you’re seeking
- The difference between traditional networking events vs. modern, community-driven business gatherings
- Why trademarking is crucial for protecting your business and brand
- What to do when someone copies your ideas or launches something similar
- How to create an environment that fuels growth, collaboration, and success
- The importance of stepping into your leadership to protect your business and community
- What makes a community sustainable long-term
- How to prioritize quality connections over quantity
- Why community gets to be easy—and how to make it feel that way
- How to pick the best community for you
Links & Resources:
www.likemindedoc.com – community for female founders in Southern California www.likemindedcollective.com – free community for female founders worldwide
Connect with Inbal:
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/inbalclaudio
www.instagram.com/like.minded.oc
www.instagram.com/like.minded.collective
Linkedin:
www.linkedin.com/in/inbalclaudio
About Inbal:
Inbal Claudio, a 3x founder and mom of three, is passionate about creating and fostering communities that empower female founders at every stage of business. From virtual platforms to in-person gatherings, she has built spaces inspiring connection and support, transforming her life and business. As a community strategist and business consultant, she also helps women cultivate their own thriving communities, using the power of connection to drive referrals, loyalty, and growth.
This conversation is for entrepreneurs, leaders, and visionaries who are ready to build something meaningful—without doing it alone.
Tune in now and learn how to expand your network, receive more support, and step fully into your leadership!
Join The Fully Expressed Community, where you can be surrounded by other women who are also on the same path of personal growth, healing, and uncovering their authentic expression. Being in a community surrounded by others can truly be one of the most supporting and healing containers to support your personal invitation.
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