At the end of April, Shelley and I went to  You Are The Media’s Creator Day in Poole, and returned in equal parts – exhilarated and exhausted. An event made all the better with our amazingly, glorious Shelley as one of the speakers 😄. She did us so blooming proud!

We came back fizzing with ideas and ready for a long nap! Which is why it’s taken me a little moment to get my thoughts in order and typed up for you!

Here is a little round up of my key takeaways… If you were there, you’ll have felt the vibe, and if you weren’t, this will give you a flavour and maybe to convince you to come a play around the YATM campfire next year?

Build spaces where you belong

YATM Creator Day is the brainchild of the high energy, super enthusiastic and inclusive Mark Masters. It’s my second time attending, and this year centred around creating spaces.

What I love about this event is the people.

Mark has drawn a throng of likeminded business creators into his circle. The speakers are top-notch, the ‘village vignettes’ (as Liam Tom’s has loving called them) shine a light on the individuals from the YATM community, there is plenty of time to meet and mingle, AND it was all tied up with everyone singing a magnificent rendition of Living on a prayer 🎤🎶

A belief echoed by Mark when he opened – in a whisper 🤣 *jokes* 😅 the microphones were having a moment – talking about the “Wood Wide Web”. How people belonging and contributing to the network that is all around us, builds a more joyful, happier future. The more mature and experienced “trees” sharing, nurturing, and supporting the “saplings” that go on to share their learnings through the expanding web.

A visualisation that resonated deeply with me, just 2 years ago it was “the village” lending their experience and knowledge that gave me the leg up that I needed to find my feet in a freelance world. 🌱

Engage your community with curiosity

In the continued vein, that it takes a village, the speakers shared their own perspectives and insights. One of the recurring topics was to be curious and get feedback. Here are some of the nuggets of wisdom…

During his various business ventures, Dodge Woodall cited curiosity as his superpower, being open and receptive to new conversations, ideas and opportunities will take you down paths you could never have imagined, and you’ll never know where they lead.

In Rosie Sherry’s talk about the Continuous Community Framework, she reminded us to work with what we’ve got. We don’t need to have the fanciest software’s or technology, start with what we have and implement a continuous feedback loop to learn something with everything we try.

Fab Giovanetti’s Alt Marketing School took on the “big wigs” in education, with her own take on how to teach and learn. What she learnt from getting feedback was that her students wanted to feel seen, and implementing systems and processes to support that has built a strong community with her scholars.

It’s a simple idea, learn one small thing and implement it, doing this over and over again will incrementally build bonds and relationships with our communities.

Build trust and closeness with your stories

It interests me how we feel closer to people when we learn something more personal about themselves that resonates deeply with us… All the speakers shared stories and in each story, I could draw similarities and parallels to me and my own life.

Dodge Woodall shared an image of himself in Del-boy inspired fancy dress outfit when he was a whipper snapper. He talked about how he grew up in a pub in London that his parents managed, with a whole menagerie of animals, and what he learnt from it.

Rebecca Leppard shared her anti-Cinderella story of “riches to rags” when she had to leave her home in Indonesia in the start of the pandemic when her English husband found himself without a job. She shared the uncertainty of traveling, the anxiety of landing in a new country and having to start her career all over again.

Our own glorious H32 human, Shelley Röstlund, shared parts of her own origin story of why she is who she is now, and how she weaves her own flavour of herself into what she shares and how she shows up to her community.

We all have stories that shape us into who we are, these stories let people get to know us better and give us deeper connections. Here at Harbour 32, we call them your micro branding moments, they allow people, be it clients or friends, a peak behind the curtain of what it’s really like being you and how to connect with you on a more personal level.

Is it building spaces? Or maybe, the power of personal brand?

The theme of the event was around creating spaces and how to attract communities, followers, our tribe, and I agree! The wisdoms and advice were brilliant, and I took more than a few learnings from the day.

But…

Is it the ideas, systems and processes that built these special spaces, or was it them, their uniqueness that attracted their right kind of people to them?

Fab brought fun and energy into the classroom with her own Italian flair.

The comedy duo Ben McKinney & Dave Harland shared their witty banter and disarmingly, loveable characters.

Rebecca Leppard’s tenacious and bold personality has drawn people to her – along with her self-described b*g d*ick energy.

Dodge admitted that things really started to kick off for him when he stepped out into the world as himself rather than hiding behind the company “Eventful Lives”.

For me, it’s the little threads of stories that they shared that hooked me in and wanting to learn more!

Are you ready to be more you, more of the time?

If you’d like help shaping your own personal brand, to comfortably be more you more of the time, I invite you to arrange a discovery call with me to discuss how we can work together.