Another entrepreneur who knows the value of community is Ellen Hooper, who started her executive coaching business when she was overlooked for a promotion at work.

“I’ve always been entrepreneurial, but with a background in legal and HR, there weren’t many opportunities to explore this skill set,” she explains. “It got to a point where I thought, ‘If other people can’t see what I’m capable of, then maybe it’s time to back myself.’”

She started with a website and a list of contacts. Then, work started coming in through industry connections. “Initially, I had a lot of employment lawyers asking me to do the HR consulting work they didn’t find interesting,” she says.

This created a strong foundation for growth. So much so that Hooper started a second venture, The Growth Collective, with her business partner Michelle Maugueret. Through running public programs, the pair connected with CEOs and HR professionals, generating leads through word-of-mouth referrals. Hooper also turned to LinkedIn to source and share knowledge.

“Writing on LinkedIn has helped me cast a wide net in reaching people who like what we’re doing. Some will be operating in the same field, others might want to work with us, and there will also be people who just enjoy the content.”

By sharing resources, asking questions and contributing to online discussions, Hooper says she’s been able to find her people and show up in ways she enjoys. This even led to creating a career and life advice podcast with her sister, aptly named I’ll Ask My Sister. She’s also applied this ethos to other parts of her work, using Xero to help scale her business in the right direction.

“Because I code my revenue in Xero, I know consulting work used to comprise 75 per cent of my revenue. But over time, I’ve lowered this to 25 per cent to level-up what I really enjoy doing, which is coaching. Having visibility of the numbers gave me the confidence to make this switch, as I knew it would be sustainable.”

For both Hooper and McIntyre, having a clear sense of purpose and values has helped them attract the types of people with whom they want to work, collaborate and share experiences.

As Hooper puts it: “When you’re self-employed, it’s easy to think of other small business owners as competitors. But when you’re at a barbecue speaking to people about how much they love their job, you realise there’s plenty of space for all of us to do meaningful work.”

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