Building Community with Melissa Blackburn, Co-Owner of Haven Collective

In the first-ever episode of the Digital Hustle Tribe, I sat down with Melissa Blackburn, co-owner of Haven Collective, a co-working space in Columbus, Ohio. Melissa is also a business coach to, as she says, “some of the fiercest entrepreneurs around.” Take a listen or read below.

HOW HAVEN COLLECTIVE GOT STARTED

Melissa explains that Haven Collective came about after her business partner and she were having dinner one night. As the conversation turned to how frustrating it was to try and manage work and family, her friend mentioned that there were co-working spaces opening up mostly in California that had childcare in them. 

“And I just thought that was the most brilliant thing I'd ever heard. And I'm an activator, so immediately went to work on it just kind of informed her that that's what we were going to be doing,” says Melissa. A few days later, they were touring their first building and drawing up plans for a co-working space with childcare.

When they first started, Melissa mentioned that they worked extremely hard at creating PR and interest. She says, “When you can approach a problem with excitement and positivity, people will naturally rally behind you.” When they physically opened their doors, they already had about 25 people ready working or ready to start.

Melissa believes the pre-work they did prior to launching was one of the biggest factors to their success. But it also taught them that when they weren’t sure how to grow strategically with challenges like COVID, that the community was a great source for feedback. “Our motto internally has always been, you're building this with us. We're building it for you, but we're doing it with you as well,” says Melissa.

When asked about how Haven Collective has changed since opening, Melissa says, "We've changed a lot over all these years with a very strong focus on what people tell us they need and what we observed that they need” They’ve made choices that turn Haven Collective into a community that’s tight-knit while providing resources people need.

PIVOTING TO VIRTUAL MEMBERSHIPS

Years ago, when I first contacted Haven Collective, it was because I saw a giant H on a building I had once interviewed for a job at. I was amazed at the personal response after filling out the contact form for more information. But that's exactly what Melissa and Danielle, her business partner, are like. They want to get to know you, connect and see where they can support. All hands-on. Now, with COVID changing how we meet and people being nervous about going in, that personal approach is not a possibility and it's a struggle to recreate that magical connection.

"So we've had to get very creative about putting out virtual content. It's not something that we have necessarily been comfortable with being front and center and recording webinars and going live on Facebook and putting our faces out there as much as we've had to. But the virtual community is something we're very committed to have and have with the same connection community." says Melissa.

When the virtual community first started, it was in a Facebook group and just wasn't working for anyone. The members were showing signs of burn out from social media. The more people that Melissa and Danielle spoke to, the more they learned that social media was now something they HAD to do instead of want to do. That wasn't something they wanted to burden people with.

Instead, they found an app they could white label and turn into a space for not only private groups but also public for the overall Haven Community. Everything from training classes to workshops and seminars. 

Within this new virtual membership, the Collectives came alive. Anyone who is a virtual member gets access to what is traditionally called a mastermind. Essentially, you get all the great content, a small community, a collective (aka mastermind) and coaching from Melissa and Danielle on Business Operations and Marketing, respectively.

"So we're really excited about virtual. I think it's providing a lot of space to vent space to grow space to chat space to challenge yourself and I think a lot of people are ready to stop stressing about what is happening and start getting into solution mode," says Melissa.

BECOMING A BUSINESS COACH

Melissa comes from corporate and has an MBA but the thing that held her back from leaving that life was the love for her team. “Everybody that I got to work with everybody that I got to problem solve with, you know, they were just so inspiring to me to watch people grow and to be able to be part of that growth was just always something that was a driving force for me,” she says.

Being a manager was Melissa’s love. Although she missed that when she left, she found herself in deep conversations with the business owners coming to work at Haven Collective. She realized that she was put on earth to prove to people what is possible.

"And I always joke that I'm everybody's big sister because I'm going to tell you like it is but I'm also going to help you stop that false narrative in your brain if it's not true." says Melissa.

Although Melissa is amazing at giving pep talks, she has also run and sold large tech companies while understanding what needs to be in place to make things run smoothly. She applies her experience in teaching the these principles to entrepreneurs so they can set up their micro-businesses the right way. 

The biggest struggle she hears about is that there’s too much on an entrepreneur’s to-do list and they can’t get back to working on the business instead of in it. Melissa tackles this with strategy. “Let's take a step back. Let's figure out what is bogging you down. Where could you really get help or set up processes that can make things run smoother so that you could do what you're really best at which is being innovative or, you know, growing into a new product line?” She says. 

Melissa supports her clients by helping them set up their process, procedures, products and pricing the right way, so that they can be creative. Finally, she leans into her big sister role in “…cutting the crap with you and saying, show up for yourself, do the work. You got this.”

With the strategy, pep talks and sometimes tough love, her clients have stream-lined and grown their businesses.

FINDING HER VOICE

Often the only woman, and the youngest person in the room when running operations for a tech startup, Melissa felt like she couldn’t speak up. It’s the same fear many of us still get to overcome, imposter syndrome. “It really calmed down about four or five years ago when the most obvious thing clicked for me. And that is just that everybody has a fear, that everybody is human.” She goes on, “But once I realized, like, we're all just kind of faking it till we make it. My voice got really loud. And I got really clear about what I thought…”

Melissa realized that as long as she was being respectful and honest about what she thought, change could happen. “…my voice needs to be at the table because you can't solve problems, be innovative, if everyone in the room looks the same, or has the same experience.” She views it as almost a disservice to the company because, as a young female in tech, she had a unique perspective to help the company innovate faster. “So, you know, looking back, I wish I had used my voice more, I wish I had let that imposter syndrome go and realize way sooner that we all have fear inside of us. And we're all just human.”

Truth bomb time from Melissa: “…the world needs that exact magic that only you have. And holding it back is, is just a disservice to the gift within you. And you just need to let it shine and as long as it comes from a place of humility and a true desire to help, speak up. That's it.”

ORGANIZING TIPS FOR LIFE AND BUSINESS

Although she sometimes writes things down to remember what she gets to do, Melissa actually hates paper. Her go-to apps are Trello and Gmail with integrations. She uses Trello for every aspect of her life and has her Gmail game on another level with color coding and even has her husband, also a business owner, in on it.

Everything else to do with the business gets automated with one exception. “I just feel so strongly that anybody who wants to be a physical member of one of our spaces needs to meet one of us personally,” she says. Getting an inquiry is one of the most exciting emails she gets and Melissa can’t wait to meet the new person who wants to join the community.

From there, there are automated processes and nurture sequences. She believes Haven Collective would at least get an A-minus with all of their marketing efforts and although she admits there might be some work to do in the automation of the sales process, “that's me being stubborn because I just want it to be a personal experience.”

MELISSA ON SALES

“The number one sales tip I can give you is ask enough questions,” she says. It’s about understanding what people’s pain points are and being committed to supporting them helps businesses grow. For Haven Collective, “it’s about how understanding how people function throughout their day, what resources are going to make them most successful, and being so committed to helping people be successful whether it's me or someone else that can help them. My only desire is to point them in the right direction.”

Haven Collective has what’s known as Friends of Haven, people who might not be paying members but stop by for a coffee or to ask a question and they’re not turned away. “Because maybe today is not the right day, but who knows three years from now and their business takes off. Maybe they need an office, maybe, who knows?” The ultimate goal of Haven Collective is to get to know the local business community, learn what the trends are and what people need. Really, Haven Collective’s mission is to be a resource.

If you’re local to Columbus, Ohio, make sure to visit Haven Collective. Give them a shout on Instagram and Facebook.

Stay tuned for the next episode and, in the meantime, follow the Digital Hustle Tribe on Instagram and Facebook.