In today’s world, shared workspaces have become more than just a place to work—they’re hubs for connection and collaboration. They bring people together, creating opportunities to build relationships, share ideas, and grow alongside others who share similar goals. These spaces remind us how important it is to surround ourselves with supportive communities that inspire us to reach our full potential. How can being part of a shared workspace community help us achieve our goals?
In this episode, I chat with Ann Marlin, the Owner of Broadway Collective, a co-working space in Englewood, Colorado. Ann shares her insights on creating spaces where entrepreneurs and small businesses can truly connect and thrive. We also explore the impact of a well-designed workspace on productivity and how finding balance between work and life can lead to long-term success.
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Community through Shared Workspaces with Ann Marlin
Welcome to Action’s Antidotes, your antidote to the mindset that keeps you settling for less. One of the things that I find most important in today’s society is connecting people, rebuilding community. You’re probably aware that compared to, say, 50, 100 years ago, we’ve seen a lot of our traditional sources of community decimated and people don’t really kind of run into each other and people will often talk about this idea of a third place, a third place being somewhere other than the home and other than the work where you still go and regularly interact with people and regularly just bump into people, and that the way a lot of people build connections is just by these chance circumstances in which you run into anyone. And in modern society, in my own life in particular, I often notice that someone has to start taking the initiative to plan meetings. Otherwise, people can easily go weeks, months without seeing their friends, without seeing the people they’re connected with. Today, I would like to bring on my guest, Ann Marlin, who is the owner, founder, and operator of a building where we’re actually sitting in right now, called the Broadway Collective.
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Ann, welcome to the program.
Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Well, excited to have you. We’re sitting here so we’re on the premise of the very initiative so this is a first for Action’s Antidotes here at the Broadway Collective. Tell us what the Broadway Collective is all about.
Thank you. So the Broadway Collective really was born for the necessity of our sister company as we needed office space. We outgrew our previous office space and found an amazing mid mod building right here on Broadway in Oxford in Englewood, Colorado, and we fell in love with the building because of the floor-to-ceiling windows and just the overall vibe. It had not been touched since the 80s so I’m talking wood paneling, purple carpet, baby blue walls, but we really could see the potential in the building in that our sister company, we do real estate investments and fix and flip. The minute we stepped into this building, we’re like, “Gosh, this is amazing.” We knew, however, that this building was going to be too big for our sister company, Elevation, so we thought, well, what can we do with this building? And our passion is to support other small and local businesses and so I thought, oh my gosh, let’s make a co-workspace out of it and invite other businesses into our sphere and see if we can pass back business back and forth.
Now, one thing I love about your story is how you were able to come in and play a little bit bigger than a lot of people were thinking because I think a lot of people would look at something like this and be like, “Oh my god, I love this building so much but it’s too big for us. What are we gonna do with all this space? Let’s just keep shopping for somewhere smaller or find a way to get by with what we currently have.” What would you say is it about your experience, your mindset, the way you approach life in general, that allowed you to look at this and think, “Okay, I love this but I’m gonna do more”?
That is a great question. I think, personally, I have been an entrepreneur since 2002 with a previous business in a previous industry. Also, my father has been an entrepreneur, his grandfather, and so I don’t know if I’ve ever really been stuck into that paradigm or that mindset of like, “Okay, this is what I need, I need to find that exact fit.” So I think I have always had that brain where I can come into a situation or maybe even a property and be like, okay, what can we absolutely do with this? How can we not only maximize it, make it super efficient, but how can we build something super cool in a way that maybe didn’t fit the box that it was supposed to go into? So that’s personally for me but I do think that just in general, when we walked in, being in the business that we are in with our sister company, we’re really good at envisioning what a property could be and I just think that because of being in Denver and being surrounded with other entrepreneurs and small businesses in my past career, and then, of course, this career as well, I mean, I feel like when you surround yourself with amazing people in businesses, you can’t help but to grow and be positive and have a great impact on the community.
So if anyone out there listening is feeling that they’re, say, stuck in that fixed mindset, you were saying it has to be that exact thing, and let’s say that person listening right now recognizes that this might be an issue in their lives and there might be something that is preventing them from getting to the life that they really want, what do you think someone can do to find a way to improve that mindset, to find a way to get a little bit more to where you are because you were fortunate enough to have people in your life kind of encourage you in that direction?
The biggest token of advice that I could give in this specific subject would be to surround yourself with people that – either mentors, get a mentor, or surround yourself with people who might be one, two, five, ten steps ahead of you in life, business, career, whatever it may be, because I feel like those are the people that you can really tap into and glean amazing advice and also hear stories, their starting stories and how they came to fruition, how they are where they’re at in their career or in their personal life. And so I think with us specifically walking into this building, there was a small team of us, meaning there was myself and my husband but we also had our project manager and so I feel like the more eyes on something, the more opinions you might get, and then from that, you can build on what you either want this specific project to be like or if you’re looking for a goal in life or in career, I think that outside help is always amazing.
So when you talk about getting more eyes on something and getting more opinions, is there a magic number? Because I know there are probably some people who have been in the situation where you go out and you try to get opinions but then you start getting more and more opinions and you end up with that decision fatigue, analysis paralysis, where you’re just so confused because you’re like, “Oh, I brought this idea to this one person, they told me to go that way, and I brought the idea to another person, they told me to go that way, and I brought my idea to someone else, and they were like telling me this,” you could end up getting a little bit frazzled.
Oh, gosh, you’re so right. It happens to all of us. I feel like at the end of the day, whether you obtained three opinions or thirty opinions, I think at the end of the day,
you need to go into any situation not only knowing your authentic self but also really having a handle on what your goals are or at least where you think you want to be with wherever this path may take you. Share on XAnd so I feel like it’s really easy to get taken into different maybe pathways or different other people’s opinions, where you’re like, “That doesn’t really feel right but they’re smart. I mean, I should listen to them.” I think there’s always something you can glean from everybody but, at the end of the day, you have to be happy with yourself and happy with what you’re possibly either putting together or the goal that you’re trying to obtain, making sure that it is reflective of what you want.
So it’s about kind of just understanding that this is still your initiative, this is still your business, your event, whatever it is, right?
Absolutely.
It’s still yours. And so if someone might have given you an opinion, and sometimes maybe you’ll like it, maybe like, “Oh, you made me think of it in a different way,” but if someone gives you an opinion and it just doesn’t really resonate with you, you can kind of just take a deep breath maybe and say, “Okay, I’m glad you shared this opinion with me but this isn’t where I want to go because it’s taking it in a direction that’s different than what my vision is.”
Right, and I also think too, if it doesn’t come to you right then and there, that’s okay. There’s so many examples that I could give where I might have brought something to someone and say, “Hey, can you help me with this particular situation or this problem,” or whatever, and what they’ve said, I’m like, wow, it doesn’t really quite resonate. However, after sleeping on it for a little bit, why did I feel really great about this piece of advice or why didn’t I, and then really try to get to the bottom of that. Well, why didn’t I? Is it because it made me feel uncomfortable? Well, why didn’t it make me feel comfortable? What is the reason behind that? Or why did that make me feel so happy and motivated and excited? And maybe then that’s kind of where I feel like a lot of answers can come.
Yeah, so kind of digging a little bit deeper, because I feel like almost everything has a surface level and a deeper level. And when I was a kid, the biggest show out there was a show called Seinfeld and I look back at the show later on and I was like 90 percent of the people who watch the show only see kind of probably the surface level of, okay, here’s a silly situation, funny, but then I realized that the whole show as a whole has a really deep message around if you spend your whole life fixating on these minor little details of everything, you’re going to ruin it. That light bulb went off and I said, yeah, every single thing you look at in life, there’s a way to look at it from both angles.
Absolutely. Different colored glasses.
Yeah. So with the Broadway Collective and with kind of this shared coworking space, what’s your vision for the impact of this particular building and this particular initiative of yours?
Oh, so many. I feel like the initial impact that we want to make is to be able to offer a design forward space where solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, small businesses can have a home to either start building their business or to continue to build their business. There’s a lot of people that we speak with that are like, “This is my thought. I would really love to start this business,” or, “I’ve been doing this business for a certain amount of time but I have not been able to move the needle. Why is that?” So we wanted to provide a space that had the appropriate amenities so that people could come to a really warm, inviting but, like I said, design forward space, and then also feel really great about bringing their clients here, because there is something to be said about having your own environment and your own space to bring potential clients or existing clients instead of bringing them to maybe a loud coffee shop. That might not be super conducive to certain businesses or industries. So, our initial thought was to bring together and offer space to those businesses. And I think to kind of round that out, what we have found is the most rewarding – well, several things. If we can pass business back and forth within our collective members, well, what a great opportunity. It makes us feel amazing just to be able to, like I said, provide either leads or possible businesses to other small businesses, but I think, at the end of the day, we’ve had several clients, we had a startup, actually, that was here, and they started, I think, with two people. It has grown nationally and they are killing it. And so to be able to be a part of that business’s journey is such an honor. And that’s happened now with several businesses where they start out really small, they think they might need a small office space, but then they grow exponentially, they want to move to a bigger office space, they start bringing in their clients to meet. They’ve started a podcast. And so to be able to provide all of that is such a cool experience so we’re really excited to be a part of their history in some small way.
And we’re sitting right now in the podcast room that you put – is this part of what you refer to as the design forward building design?
Yeah, definitely is a piece of it, because we know that more and more businesses are wanting to start podcasts but they don’t have the space or even just entrepreneurs or solopreneurs. So that is part of it. However, I think the other part of it is my background. I was a wedding planner for almost 20 years and so no detail is too small in wedding planning, and the design piece of that is one of the biggest pieces for a wedding and so, in my mind, to be able to kind of touch all the senses, visually, aesthetically, the texture that we brought in, the juxtaposition of colors, the really cool wallpaper, we just really wanted to create a space where people would walk in and be like, “Oh my gosh, this is so cool,” but then also, again, kind of with that wedding planning background, another funny piece of this is which I haven’t told that many people, in wedding planning, you do a lot of photo shoots, styled shoots. I wanted to create and design different aspects of the building that would be great for photo shoots. So we’ve actually had a lot of businesses that have come in and do their product shots here or head shots here. So I’ve really tried to design this space in a way that each room can be utilized in a lot of different ways.
And so in anyone’s setup for success, how important is the way you set up your space? Because there’s different work environments and a lot of people have companies and some people are trying to get people to return to office but I can definitely see scenarios where something about however they set up their space, whether it be a home office, whether it be the business they go to, or even a coffee shop can have aspects of the design that doesn’t really set you up for success and I know there’s so many intricacies about the psychology behind it, like what colors you see and what that means with certain people or the design of the bricks over there or anything like that. So what should anyone who’s thinking about their space right now be thinking about? Is this really complicated psychological stuff or is there certain key tenets that someone can think about now and be like, “If I want my mornings to start out every day well, I can do this with my bedroom,” or, “I work in this home office over there. I can rearrange, I can put books here, it’ll make me feel smarter”? I don’t know, just a silly idea.
I love it. No, I love it. I actually will love to speak on this. For me, personally, color. Color makes me happy. I also love the very peaceful, serene designs whereas all neutral tones. However, for me, color gets me inspired, it gets me motivated, and it makes me creative and so that’s what we have brought in specifically to our design process here, and what we tell our tenants is make this office space your own. I want you to walk in and be excited that you’re here. So if that means painting a wall, if that means putting up wallpaper, if that means putting up really cool artwork, so be it. I want you to walk in and be like, “I’m so excited to be here. I’m excited to knock out my to-do list. I’m excited to grow this business,” however that looks. I mean, if you were to go in my office, I have dark teal walls, I have artwork from my travels, and I have a disco ball, because when I walk in, the disco ball makes me happy. It’s like, “This should be fun.” Work should – I mean, granted, it’s hard and it can be tough and there’s good days and there’s bad days, a lot of success, but there’s also some failures, but that’s what life is about, that’s what business is about. But when I walk in and I see my disco ball, it just reminds me to take everything with a grain of salt and have a good time at it because we’re only here for a short time so you should enjoy it.
When I think of a disco ball, I think of like a reminder of some fun night and I can honestly tell you, it was June 30th of this year and people who know me know me for remembering random dates. June 30th of this year I went to the Meadowlark, which is in the RiNo neighborhood, close to where I live in Denver, and I think I remember telling people that I had seen more twerking happen that night than I had in like the previous five years of like combined of anywhere I went in Denver. I mean, twerking is from New Orleans and New Orleans and Denver are very culturally different, I’d say. If I were to see a disco ball, it would like kind of just remind me of nights like that, and maybe even think, okay, today was a rough day but I still go out and have some fun sometimes and the weekend’s going to come eventually, it’ll be Friday, it’ll be time to do something way more enjoyable than whatever this frustrating week happens to be, because no matter how much you succeed in a business, you’re going to have that frustrating week where Monday through Friday are pulling teeth.
Right, and if you can set aside that time to have fun, to make those fun memories, I mean, that’s what life is about.
When someone’s setting up an office space, what do you think is more important, setting it up in a manner that makes you feel good about yourself or setting up in a manner that makes the clients that come in feel welcomed?
Well, I feel like, at least in my previous career, I feel like attracts like. Honestly, I would say to build it out to suit yourself, to make you happy, because I feel, in general, you’re probably putting out that vibe to those potential clients anyway and they’re attracted to you for a reason. It could be your work, it could be what you’re putting out, your product, whatever your industry is, but I would imagine those are going to be the most kind of longer lasting, sustaining relationships with the client.
So if you have a disco ball and you’re going to attract the kind of clients that’ll be like really into having fun, whereas if you want to show people how much you hustle, you can buy Rick Ross’s book about hustle culture and then put it up there and people will be like, okay, this person, this business, they get me. It’s all about hustling and really expensive cars.
And that’s funny, because I don’t remember the last time I went to a club, but maybe that means I need to get it on my schedule soon.
Yeah, disco balls can be like anywhere, but it kind of shows that, okay, I have this business, I really care about it, but I also like to have a good time and I understand that there’s more to life than business and you want to live it.
Right. We’re people.
Yeah. And if someone has video game consoles and Rubik’s cubes or something from like another personality, they would attract the type of people that really would resonate with that style.
Absolutely. I say bring it all.
On that topic, what would you say to anyone listening out there who maybe feeling a little bit afraid to be themselves. I know sometimes people, especially if you end up in corporate culture for a long time, there’s a pretty conformist aspect of it. Say someone’s just like, “Okay, I’ve been putting on a mask trying to be who everyone wants me to be just to get by,” to get from there to where they actually feel comfortable being all aspects of themselves.
I have not been in the corporate world so that would be a tricky one for me to answer, but I would say if anybody’s struggling, I think especially in small business and as an entrepreneur, which I was, it can get really lonely. It can get very lonely. And I had a really successful career prior to doing the co-work space and the real estate and fix and flip world. I loved what I did. I was a wedding planner for almost 20 years. While I loved it, it can be very isolating, and so what I would suggest is, and even, now, just talking about the subject, back when I was doing this other career, there was not a thing called meetup. Sure, there were networking events, but it was very industry specific. Now, there’s so many cool opportunities to meet either people in your industry or people with your same hobbies, or if you’re an all male or all female or all certain group, whatever it is, I just feel like there are so many more resources now and opportunities to meet people. And when you meet those people, you might resonate who will help you with what other challenges that you’re having, if it’s in business or your personal life, but I think that would be one of my biggest things because of the networking groups I’ve been a part of, I benefit so much for them, so much so that we’ve started up several of our own here, just to target those specific different groups. And so it’s been so rewarding because I feel like we’ve really bridged a lot of connections for people who otherwise might not have been able to find those.
On Wednesdays, we have 1 Million Cups close to where I live, and every single week when they do their opening thing is, this is the reason we exist, and reason number one is entrepreneurship can be lonely, so there are resources out there. And I think Denver is one of the cities that has a really good community around some of that. What are some of the community groups that you’ve started up?
Thank you for asking that. Well, we’ve started up more kind of, I would say, career specific, one being Tools and Workshops for Business Success. And this is where we bring in a professional in kind of any niche industry. So, most recently, we had someone come in and talk about AI and how you can leverage that for your business and your personal life, which was absolutely amazing. Over my head, but it was done in a way where it was very accessible, which I think more and more people want to learn about. We’ve also had marketing experts come in, whether that could be more like digital advertising or more traditional marketing. We’ve had social media people coming in, and so it’s been really great because it’s wonderful for people starting up in business, but, man, the stuff that we have learned being very experienced business owners has been great. Another one we’ve started up is phenomenal, it’s called Ladies Who Network, and this was really born of the need for women to connect not only professionally, but also personally. It’s been a really great group where we meet each month, and each month we partner up with a nonprofit just to shed light on that nonprofit. There’s so many people that are wanting to give back, but they don’t know how so this provides that opportunity to not only donate or just learn more about that nonprofit so that they can sign up and possibly even help them at that time.
Now, a couple years ago, I read a leadership book, and this leadership book said that every successful person has three networks, a personal network, an operational network, and a strategic network. Your personal network, of course, is family, friends, all that stuff, and the operational being the people that you do your day-to-day work with, and then strategic are people that you just kind of connect with on a somewhat regular basis to talk about the general direction of your business, your life, etc., and stuff like that. Now, one of the things that I’ve noticed in some of my networking here in Colorado is that some of the most rewarding connections I’ve made have been ones that kind of blend those lines a little bit and I’m specifically thinking about people who I’ve been able to party with but also connect with about some of my ideas around business, around where to take this podcast, where to take some of my other career stuff. Do you think that these networks need to be compartmentalized or do you find more and more people nowadays building these connections that span both personal and business?
Personally, I love the ones that blend all the areas because I feel like we’ve all been to – probably a lot of us have been to a lot of networking events, right? And there’s ones that you really enjoy and ones that you don’t. For me, the ones that I really enjoy are the ones where I make those personal connections first because those are the people I’m going to refer because I trust those people, because I’m getting to know them on a personal level. It’s the networking events where you have people throwing their business cards and hands it to you and say, “Well, what do you do?” and I love meeting people there. I find that I do more personal and business relationships and actual business back and forth with the people that I get to meet on a personal level.
And then to connect with someone on a personal level, does it take something a little more than just showing up at an event? Because there’s events, and I think a lot of people have had the experience where you go to a networking event, you meet like eight different people, you collect those business cards, and then you maybe meet up with a couple for coffee or something like that, versus some of these groups where you show up regularly and you start to see the same people again and again. Does it take a little bit more than just showing up for a networking happy hour to actually build connection with people?
Yeah, I do, and I think that’s kind of whatever the intention is you’re putting behind it. So, for me, meeting somebody at a networking event then scheduling that coffee I think is wonderful. But how we structured this last group that we’ve put together, the Ladies Who Network, we actually specifically ask personal questions of the group so we split women up into several types of groups, and we ask a professional question and we ask a personal question. And so it really is wonderful, because I think it does let you bleed in over to other areas where instead of just answering kind of more in a monotone, like, “Well, this is my goal for next year, and this is what I’m doing,” but when you pull in that personal aspect and that personal reference, well, why are you bringing that goal, what is your goal and why, it’s all about the why anymore. And I think that’s really what you can really then uncover that kind of genuine intention that you’re getting to know that person for.
And when you introduce a personal aspect to a connection you make, what boundaries would you suggest, as far as some limitations around what could potentially make someone uncomfortable?
Oh, gosh, right. Thankfully, I have not run into yet something that has, a situation or conversation that has run uncomfortable, and I really attribute that to this particular group that we host right now. It’s amazing what people, when they feel connected with you personally, what they’ll tell you, and I feel very honored that someone would open up in some of the certain ways that they have thinking that, “Well, I really don’t know this person that well and they’re willing to tell me this?” that just, to me, is such a profound connection and I want to get to know them more and then also offer my experiences in turn.
Yeah, there’s a tactic I’ve been kind of starting to use lately around making someone feel comfortable by revealing something really shitty about my own personal past that I think in previous iterations of our culture would have been something that people would have feared judgment on.
Oh, I agree with you.
But if you reveal that, reveal, “Okay, I’ve done this, I’ve done that,” people then feel, first of all, a level of trust, like you’re trusting me, like you got a good vibe from me, and believe me, I only do this to people I got a good vibe with. There’s some people, if someone instantly says, “What do you do?” and when I answer, “Well, I live in Colorado, so I ski, I bike,” and they say, “No, what do you do for work?” maybe that’s not the person who I’m going to reveal that to, but in some of the groups I’m involved with, I have revealed some things and I feel like it helps make someone feel comfortable in saying, “Okay, this person is leading with their vulnerability, like that Brene Brown book, and now I’m more likely to reveal what I feel comfortable revealing.”
Right, and you never know what people have experienced or gone through and so I think also connecting on that level is amazing because who’s to say that person didn’t experience someone similar and then you have such an amazing platform to connect on, I think is really, really great. I think that personal level is just – it’s so much more impactful.
And do you notice people connecting on that personal level here at the Broadway Collective?
Yes, we do, because we host collective events for our members and it’s not business at all. It’s really just to come together and, “Hey, let’s meet other people in this building.” Of course, they’re going to find out what businesses they’re running. I personally try to steer the conversation to more personal or social aspects and I feel to your point earlier about revealing things and how it might not have been – or it was so taboo, I feel like as we get older, more and more things are on the table to discuss and I love that. At least from my experience, I did hold things very close to my vest because not only did it, for me, was it vulnerable, but it kind of made me feel like my experience level was not where it needed to be to be in certain rooms.
Now, I feel like, as more life that we gain underneath the belt, the more willing, we’re now able to talk about it but we’re also wanting to help other people that could be in that same situation. Share on XI think right now, for pretty much anyone, but especially anyone that’s older than 30 right now, there’s definitely a memory of having been judged in childhood for certain things and certain things that didn’t even really matter. I have openly stated on this podcast, I feel like during my childhood, I was lied to about certain things like how dangerous marijuana and mushrooms are when it turns out you just need to know how to not become dependent on them and how to have the right dose so you don’t really become paranoid, like with marijuana, like edibles, for example, just to know, okay, maybe 5 milligrams, maybe 10 milligrams is enough. Don’t do 50 right away. Just don’t do it. And just understand that and just be like okay and then also maybe the first time, be in the right environment. The first time, do it at home with three close friends, and don’t do it somewhere crazy like that. And so I think for a lot of people who are old enough to have grown up with some of this other judgment around the stuff before we started thinking more along the lines of everyone’s had their experience, everyone’s going through something, let’s try to meet them where they are there, it takes a little bit of unlearning some of those patterns of I’m avoiding this judgment coming my way.
Oh, yeah. I mean, I’m in my later 40s, and so my parents are late 70s, early 80s, and I come from the whole like, “Rub some dirt in it, walk it off, you’re fine.” We didn’t really talk about emotions that much or our feelings or – I mean, I had loving, amazing parents, but the emotional side of challenges wasn’t exactly something that we talked about, and we certainly were not, and I’m so sorry, family, apologies in my family really didn’t happen and so I’ve had to really unlearn and relearn these things. And so I completely agree to your point being able to walk into a room and talking about those things because I don’t feel judged or vulnerable. I’m not thinking that I had to put on some face for this group that I’m in. I love where we’re at right now as a group, I think it’s great.
Yeah. And for some people still trying to get over some of that, what’s the path? Is it about meeting people that don’t judge you and then slowly you start to assume it less?
Yes, but for me, I have had some really great friends come in. I have some really longstanding friends. Gosh, I have my best friend here in Denver from fourth grade, but I also have friends that have come in later in my life who are trying to unlearn these things as well and so the conversations that we have had are so amazing because I’m not the only one, and I feel like a lot of times, we always feel like we’re the only ones either going through this experience or feeling the way we do and when you hear about other peoples that are experiencing the exact same thing or struggling with the same things, man, how freeing is that? And so I’ve been able to really work on that, especially probably the last more five to seven years, which has just been wonderful.
I think a lot of us are on that, and part of it is like a critical mass, right? So, obviously, if I think about it 40 years ago, we were all, if you have a struggle with something, you got to hide it, right? And then one person comes front, and I don’t even know the history behind this, but at some point, someone came in front, even like my struggles with standard work culture. I came – my first job, one of the things I thought I was alone on was this fact that sitting down at a desk in the same spot, eight to five every day didn’t feel like it worked for me, and that I worked a lot better if I had a 90-minute uninterrupted spurt of work and then I would walk around or do something else, and I would get more done in two 90-minute power sessions than a whole day of just sitting there and then I would later read some other books, blogs, articles that said that a lot of people actually feel that way. But for some reason, it was like something that I felt I was alone on and I feel like there’s a lot of people out there that still feel I’m alone on this because if someone’s struggling with something, if something doesn’t resonate, or someone doesn’t want to show that weakness to their boss, to their family members, even, or something like that,
They might not be as valued, yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s what – even though you say COVID, I’m like half the time I don’t even remember, like how long ago was that? I think it’s just this big missing piece of my memory. But I think that’s also one positive thing that we were able to learn is how to work in different capacities, because there are so many people that are, this is your desk, eight to five, you do your thing, and I think we were able to pivot and really learn about our work styles and how we’re most productive and how we’re most happy.
Yeah, and one of the things, the theories I have is that a lot of people would be most happy if they in some way follow their passions, as opposed to, okay, doing what I call living by the script here on this podcast, and maybe it’s a small tweak for some people, maybe it’s just finding a different job with a slightly different setup, or maybe for some people, it does involve starting a business, and so getting people to that point where they’re happy does involve a lot of support. You kind of brought up someone’s about to start a business, there’s so many things I don’t know what to do. And so you bring programs, you talked about like AI and you talked about marketing and stuff like that. What do you think anyone who doesn’t have a background starting a business but really feels that they’re going to be happier if they have their own business based on being able to kind of set up your life in that way should start out by doing?
I think they should start out by reaching out to people in that industry who have done what they want to do, to learn from their journey and their experiences, possibly their challenges and if they had made mistakes along the way, but I feel like, man, that could really set a great path for that person, because I think half the time is we think we want something but, sometimes, it’s learning what we don’t want, and I’ve gone through that where I thought I wanted something and then I’m like either talking with someone more experienced and I said, oh, wow, that’s not what I thought that was going to be at all. But I feel like that further hones in what you may set out to do. Networking, of course, we talked about, but just really doing one on ones with people who have done it and have experienced it. That way, you can kind of set the bar as to what you’re trying to achieve.
The first thing is obviously just thinking, okay, I have this idea that I want to start a business and maybe I have no idea I want to start this business, but really like vet the idea, talk with people and imagine when I’m in that chair, will I be happy.
Yeah. And another thing that we did prior to opening the Collective was I joined the Chamber because I wanted to know what other businesses were here that surrounded me, and either how they could help me or how I could help them and then also getting to know more of the developmental side of city that we’re in and if there were any grants, because that was actually really helpful.
And is the Chamber a place where you found some of these valuable connections as well?
Oh, my gosh, absolutely. In fact, some of the Chamber members are now our Collective members, our Broadway Collective members, which is really nice. And so to see them here, to see them at events. Earlier today, we just went to a sustainability event and how to make the Collective, the Broadway Collective, more sustainable, which was really cool, but I do feel that they are true champions of small business and they are rooting for you just as we root for them so it’s a really cool relationship.
So all these small business owners are kind of like you’re all rooting for each other.
We are, and how can we support you? How can I help you? What kind of client are you looking for? What kind of business are you looking for? How can I refer you? What makes the most sense? So that’s been really amazing.
And does that also transfer to support through struggles, and I think of a common small business struggle, such as someone didn’t pay their invoice, those things that other small business owners would understand.
Oh my gosh, yes. In fact, there’s two other co-workspace in the Chamber and they were so welcoming and so open with any questions that I had, like, “Come to us if you need anything. We’ve been through it, let us know how we can help you,” and I thought that usually in a way where industries can be so competitive, I’ve been so pleasantly surprised with how open armed everybody is and how willing they are to help.
Do you think that’s a unique to Colorado phenomenon or do you think that small business in general is starting to move from a competitive to a collaborative state of mind?
I feel like that’s the way. I really, truly hope it is. I think, again, kind of going back over the past five years with COVID and everything, especially small businesses during COVID, wow. My previous small business took a huge blow during that era so I do think that businesses are more apt and prone to help where they can.
And you speak a bit about COVID and the experience, collectively, culturally, do you think we’ve learned the right lessons from the experience?
Oh, gosh. I would hope that when I say I or we, meaning my family and my friends and kind of my sphere, I would hope yes, just because we’ve talked about all the things so much, and we have talked about what we’ve learned. I think it’s just to be a little bit more kind, much less judgmental. So I would hope that that is the trend for the greater population.
Yeah, for the population at large, as opposed to like – because I think there are some people out there who just is like, “Alright, we had that. It sucked. Now, let’s just go back to normal,” type of thing, like without that reflection, I guess.
I don’t think it’s ever going to go back. We’re in a new normal now, and so I hope that people can embrace that and adapt to it and see how best it can suit them to succeed.
And given the experience that we all kind of went through with COVID, which my view is that COVID amplified a lot of the things that we were already doing. We’re already starting to move everything online and use the internet for everything. We’re already decimating our community. I actually remember when it first happened, tweeting, and I don’t tweet really at all, I send maybe two tweets a year, and I said something like, “Well, it’s fitting for our culture in this day and age that we’d have an event we have to stay six feet apart from everyone because that’s what we’re trying to do anyway.” Do you think that there’s a different future now that we’re getting to this place where we’ve absorbed those lessons and we’re all ready to kind of move on and form something new, that there’s going to be something new for the communities, for how we set up our communities, how we connect with one another, how we relate to one another?
I think that after what we’ve all been through, people crave that interaction, and I do feel that’s where we saw that huge influx and blossoming of all these networking groups, whether it be professionally or personally. I think people are looking for those connections and trying to find those groups that really resonate with them where they can share experiences or do fun hobbies or whatever it may be. I can’t imagine that ever changing because that’s just such a basic human need.
It’s kind of weird because I feel like we tried to replace it with technology. And I almost feel like we spent from – 2008 I think is a cutoff point in humanity. The market crashed right after Steve Jobs held up the first iPhone, we kind of entered a new phase and I feel like we spent 16 years since then essentially trying to replace the communities that were already starting to go away before that with technology-driven communities, like forums online as opposed to seeing person face to face. And we might be reaching a point where people are saying, “Okay, we tried doing that but what I really need is this.”
Find that healthy balance, that middle point where people, we were in person and we weren’t in person and then now we’re trying to find that happy medium,
Yeah, where you can still connect with someone without having to drive six hours or whatever. You can still have a video call with your family in another state.
Exactly. Much more efficient, especially in the business world.
Yeah.
Man, Zoom blew up.
And now I’m starting to see other communities formed. I have a friend who’s doing this Wednesday night dinner with stranger thing, where every Wednesday night you go and you meet five random people and all do dinner together.
Fun. Definitely outside of my comfort zone but I’d like to try it.
Yeah. Well, but what’s interesting is the community you’re forming here is around a shared experience of being an entrepreneur, and like I mentioned, some of these things that other entrepreneurs understand, like, “Oh, this client invoice, or my business is not coming in in the steady stream. I get a lot in January and I get a lull in May,” or something like that.
It’s wonderful to be in a spot where people want to be a sounding board and want to help.
And for anyone out there listening, if anyone’s in Colorado and is interested in hearing more about the Broadway Collective membership or events, what will be the best way for someone to contact you?
Oh, my gosh. Well, please Google us because you can find our website and you can see everything that we have to offer and my contact information is on there, you can find me on LinkedIn, you can find me on all the socials, and I get back to people really quickly, and I’d love to connect.
And that is the Broadway Collective in Englewood, Colorado?
It is, yes. On Broadway and Oxford, right next to downtown Englewood.
Well, that is wonderful. And do you have any last words of advice or last words of wisdom for my audience?
Life is short, and I said it earlier, just try to find simple joy in everyday, small details. That’s how I really look at things. And have fun. Just have fun.
So a small detail, like one of my favorites, is howling with my Siberian Husky.
There we go.
When everyone came over for Friendsgiving yesterday, we had a howling session. We all howled.
I love it, absolutely.
Well, that is wonderful. Well, Ann, thank you so much for joining us today on Action’s Antidotes, and for telling us all about another great initiative where we’re kind of bringing people together and giving people the support that they need to develop the lives that they really want.
Oh, thank you for having me. This has been great.
And I would also like to thank everybody out there listening today for tuning in and, hopefully, you got some inspiration about how you can connect with people and make your passions become a reality.
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About Ann Marlin
Ann Marlin’s cumulative background in hospitality, event planning, and real estate served as the genesis of the design mentality behind Broadway Collective. Hailing from a family of entrepreneurs and working with small Denver businesses for the past 20 years, she is a champion of the solopreneur and small business community. Broadway Collective’s aesthetic itself is derived from needing and wanting to feel invigorated by her inventive surroundings. The Collective was designed in a way of forward-thinking and inspiring spaces that cultivate creativity and productivity where business can converge, collaborate, and succeed. In turn, people working within the space feel that passion, fuel that drive and forge ahead with productive results.