Diane Moca: Have you ever started talking to your friends about your business and they look at you like you're from Mars? Well, you are not alone. And today we're talking about that in our Creator Economy Entrepreneur Learning series. I'm Diane Moca, a reporter at TalkLab in Aurora, Illinois, and I'm with our CEO, Jimmy Allen. And he is building a community of entrepreneurs who understand and support each other. So what do you think about running a business? Can it be kind of isolating even though you're surrounded by employees and clients and all of that? Jimi Allen: Yeah. Super alone. That's how you feel as an entrepreneur. Very, very much I think the issue of the day. And certainly after coming through the pandemic, I just talked to somebody this morning about it. And it is. It's almost like a post-traumatic feeling, like you held and kept the business together. And I think about our employee base and just going through everything we did over the last couple years, super isolating. So it really made you reflect, made us all think about things. And when you're with networks, with people that you're like-minded with, you can work on the business. Diane Moca: So what value do you really get from being in a community of entrepreneurs? Can you actually grow your business because of that? Jimi Allen: Yeah. I mean, that's the whole point, right? So it's not just networking and relationships. There's a lot of people that are in great networking groups and they have strong relationships there and there's a lot of trust. For me, it's a huge faith question. I want to be around people that believe like I do, that put their trust, for me I put my trust in God and I say, "Okay, Lord, help me with my business." The purpose of my business is to help others. Our mission is to help communities through entrepreneurship. And that's the mission statement. That's what we're trying to do. And I can't do that on my own. And a network around me can't make me do that. But I tend to lean towards my peer group where it's faith-based, but they are real true entrepreneurs that are dealing with funding questions, they're dealing with growth questions, marketing questions, sales questions. And not, again, getting lost in it, but trying to find those peers. And you can find that through literature too. There's all kinds of ways. But you really need to find it at that high level or you're going to be alone. You're going to feel totally alone. Diane Moca: And a community can also provide resources. Do you find that a lot of people tap into that entrepreneur community because they want learning and workshops or because they really want friends and comradery? Jimi Allen: Yeah. I think we're desperate for relationships. I think we're desperate for God, period. I think that's what people are desperate for. And so work fulfills a lot of that. And we can find a lot of replacements. We want achievement and all those things. But to truly be around people that you have community with is a lot like being in church if you're focused at that level, but you need people you can lean on. And it's very, very hard to run a business, to work at a business, just business in general, but it's a labor of love. You're doing it because you love to do it. There's a purpose behind it. So I'm really blessed right now to be, I know there's a G7 networking group that's meeting here at our facility on a monthly basis. And I've met some great people through that group. Got invited to the leadership conference at Willow Creek this year. And that really fed me. But I think that it takes time. You can't just snap your fingers and have that community. And I've known it for a while personally that I needed it, but it does take time to just trust and be led towards that. And I would encourage every entrepreneur, like you know in your gut you need that community. So you go looking for it, you start making it happen. And I know a lot of people talk about kind of superficial networking. It's really looking for those meaningful relationships and networking that I think matter most. Diane Moca: Not just trading business cards. Jimi Allen: No. No. Diane Moca: And you just did something recently. You were interacting with a new group, a high powered group of entrepreneurs. So I wonder if you felt relief in a sense that they experience some of the same stresses that you do even at that level, or if you were a little intimidated looking at them and thinking they're so much more successful? Jimi Allen: It's not a matter, I mean, there's a jealousy thing that people can have. But I tend not to lean into that thinking. I think sometimes that we can all be susceptible to it, but when somebody's doing something really successful in business, you can go right to what it is. Is it how they're handling their staff and their overhead? Is it their cash flow? Is it their sales and marketing? How have they looked at the market? What is their value proposition? And if somebody's really successful, man, you're right there. Now you're seeing it firsthand. You're not just thinking about it or wondering how to do that yourself, but you can match up and basically grow your business that way. That's how to grow the business is to be around successful businesses and see how their character shines through and how they're doing it and just follow suit. Diane Moca: Role model, just like you try to do as a parent, right. Don't do as I say, do as I do. And then do what you want them to do. Jimi Allen: A hundred percent. Diane Moca: All right. Well, thanks, Jimi. And thank you for joining us in this edition of the Creator Economy Entrepreneur Learning series. For Talking Cities, I'm Diane Moca.