Episode 51: Find calm envisioning your zone of genius with Kelly Pratt

In this episode of the Find Calm Here Podcast, I speak with Kelly Pratt. She’s the founder of Athena Village, an online community bringing together heart and soul-centered women through authentic stories, thoughtful questions, and soulful conversations. Kelly mentors and coaches creative entrepreneurs to find their best flow – their “creative rhythm.” 

She works with them as they turn their ideas and passions into products, artistic creations, books, or fabulous new business ventures. Her mission is to amplify women’s voices for impact in the world. Kelly dives deep with her clients & members as they turn their passions and ideas into action, tangible products, artistic creations, books, or fabulous new business ventures. Learn more about Athena Village HERE. 

Show Notes:

5:40: Kelly’s online community started in 2016 when she had an idea for group coaching but didn’t want the distractions of social media. She explains finding Mighty Networks and building the first iteration of her community.

18:21: Kelly talks about being a visionary with big ideas when it comes to starting projects, and how powerful that can be when paired with a person that is good at the execution aspect. She also discusses how valuable early adopters and beta testers are during a launch to jump in and give feedback.

28:50: Mentioning that she finds personal twists appealing, Kelly mentions how powerful it is telling stories and having authentic conversations in your community. She wants to make sure to create safe and private spaces where honest conversations can happen.

33:42: Deb and Kelly discuss the value of community, especially in her salon and village shop offerings, where members can help each other through their various zones of genius. Asking for help and feedback is noted as especially valuable in running a community.

Learn more about Find Calm Here 

Deb Schell is the founder of Find Calm Here LLC, an online consulting agency supporting entrepreneurs, founders, creators, and speakers as they build, launch, and grow a paid online membership.

Schedule a FREE Discovery Call with Deb HERE

As a community strategist, Deb helps clients find calm in the community-building process through the CALM Method of Clarity, Awareness, Learning, and Motion so that they can lead with energy, confidence, and purpose.

She brings together entrepreneurs who feel overwhelmed with building, launching, and growing their paid online membership and offers strategies that can be used on any online platform by offering a great member experience by helping others transform. Join Us!

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Transcript

Welcome to the Find Calm Here Podcast, I'm your host, Deb Schell.

On this podcast I share conversations I have with community builders who offer tips on what's worked for them and resources that have helped them find calm in the community building process.

If you're a new community builder or just considering a community to bring your clients customers or audience together, but don't know how or what to do, I'd be happy to help you gain clarity during a discovery call.

You can also sign up for the calm community newsletter to learn more about the upcoming resources and events happening in the fine calm here community. 

Those links will be in the show notes for you as well.

If you need support and accountability of a group of community builders, I'd love to invite you to join us inside the Finn come here community, you'll receive support and tools to help you have a successful launch, grow your membership and tackle any challenges with the support of peers in a safe space, that's enjoyable and affordable.

We got tons of awesome things happening inside recently. I just launched the calm guides and the calm guide to onboarding is now up this sections one and two are up, sections three is coming up within the next week.

I'm excited as we're recording this in the beginning of September and so I'm really excited to share all these different calm guides that were doing inside the community and so if you have questions, let me know, make sure you subscribe to listen to all the awesome podcasts that are coming up today. I am happy to introduce kelly pratt, she's the founder of Athena Village and online community, bringing together heart and soul centered women through authentic stories, thoughtful questions and soulful conversations. She mentors and coaches creative entrepreneurs to find their best flow, their creative rhythm. She works with them as they turn their ideas and passions into products, artistic creations, books and fabulous new business adventures. Her mission is to amplify women's voices for impact in the world.

She dives deeper with her clients and members as they turn their passions and ideas into actionable, tangible products. Welcome kelly to the Fine, come here podcast, thank you. It's great to be here. Yeah, so, um I'm excited to chat with you today. I know you've done a lot with community, but let me just first ask, maybe let's go back to the origin when you started building community or getting involved in community if it was an in person community or an online community, whatever that means for you. Um yes, it goes way back. Honestly, it goes back honestly, before internet, I worked in the film industry and this part of my career in the film industry, I was working as a part of a team that was part of the Film commission, meaning we were the part in Minnesota, we brought films. We talked people into coming with their movies to the state of Minnesota and we were the only non profit film commission in the country, which meant we didn't have much of a budget.

And so we had to sort of grassroots it. And what we did was we started, well, we didn't have email or anything at that time, because it literally was before email was there. So we started phone calling people, we asked folks who do you know, in the industry, and we started calling people and sending postcards and saying, you know, do you know anyone in Hollywood? And we started literally reaching out to people who had some kind of a job in the industry, from a P A to a secretary to a producer. Um Donna smith was a woman who was from Minneapolis, who ended up being one of the first women heads of production in Hollywood. So we literally started reaching out and we created what we called the ice pack. We're from Minnesota, it's very cold here in the winter, right? And we started that kind of grassroots community. I didn't know at the time that that's what I was doing was we were creating community, We were building and connecting people who had a common interest and you know, as and so that would have been in the late 80s.

And moving forward. I was, I did that job for little more than 10 years and we created a community that had more than a couple of 1000 people and that's how it started, and it's still going strong today, and that's how it began. And I think the first place we found those folks was in a bar in Hollywood telly Savalas bar where people would gather to watch the Vikings play football or something. But it was very grassroots and I didn't know how much I would love bringing people together around a common interest. And it has stuck with me. Didn't identify it as building community until relatively recently, but that's where it all began. Mm hmm. That's awesome. I think about, you know, community and we talked about how we participate in community in person. And yeah, I've just been, I love bringing people together and been doing it for so long in person. And, but I just started like doing this online thing. So I know you're not, you're, I think you've been doing a little bit longer than me, but I don't even know how, um, when did you start doing online community?

Building the online community started? Um, The summer of 2016 I had an idea. I'm a certified Martha Beck way finder coach. And in the summer of 2016 I had an idea for a group coaching process that I called the so do it salons for making should happen. And I wanted a way to bring, they were in person salons, but I wanted a way to bring them together in between. We met every other week and I wanted to bring them together in between. but I didn't want to use traditional social media because of the distraction factor. Um I wanted something that was calm that wouldn't kind of do what I found what social media was doing to me personally at the time. So I started kind of doing my research and finding that there were community platforms, that's when I started building my online community was in, I found um the platform I use which is mighty networks, I found that into 2016 and built my first Iteration of my community in late 2016 and it was called the so do its society and it served just my clients at that time.

So that's how far back I go with this and I've stuck with that platform since then. Yeah, so I met you through mighty Mighty Networks and uh we connected a couple of times before and I'm in your community, which is a really cool place and have connected with a couple of people in there over time and tell us a little bit about Athena Village and and how that kind of became, so so do its society, which is the same community that Athena villages now started, like I said, just to support my clients that were part of the so do it salons, but in a couple of years ago I realized that my passion was more about supporting women and their ventures, not just my own clients, I love what other women like you Deb and all the other women that I'm around are doing. And so In early, I guess fall of 2019, I came to the realization that I wanted to, you know, takes a village right.

And so I realized I wanted to morph my current online community into more of a village where instead of one particular topic that we would address inside my community, it was more along the lines of a village where we would address the many um facets that women that women have. I mean we wear women. I'm, I'm in my sixties now and I have a lot of hats, I've had many careers, I have step kids, I have, I'm the guardian to someone, I have aging parents, I have all sorts of different things that I am responsible for in my life, not just one thing and I wanted a community that would say to these women, we see you and we see all of the various hats you wear. So come on in, let's share our audiences with one another because they all share values and set up shop in my community and then your folks are gonna see what I'm doing.

My folks are going to see what you're doing and then tell them what you're doing outside my community. So as one of my collective members said, it's sort of like a chamber of commerce for uh women and their ventures. So my timing kind of stunk. It was right before Covid was my big launch. But honestly, um, you know, timing is perfect. No matter when you do it because it just, it is right. You don't get to plan some of those things. And um, so I launched my new Athena Village from, so do its society right before Covid and we've doubled in size and it's Growing. We have more than 400 members now and we have collective members who are setting up shop in the village and they talk about their zone of genius. And then they also take classes and and talk about and learn from the other collective members. So it's really fun. I'm having a blast.

That sounds amazing what a transformation of just really recognizing the direction. And yeah, as women, we all have different roles. No matter what, you know, where you are in any stage, there's all kinds of things where we're kind of, you know trying to keep juggling right spinning plates. As I, you know, I think about running between all the plates that were spinning and and Covid really did. Um that was a time that really showed how women are, you know, there's a big burden that many of us are carrying. And that was one of the things I talk about wanting to, the women that come in to our village to feel seen to feel that they're being supported and then celebrated for what what it is they're doing. And I hope that that's what we're my partner Joey candy and I are doing there. Mm hmm. How do you uh yeah. What, what things do you do in your community? What's uh, maybe maybe some events or things that you decided when you created the structure of the new of the new, which is now at the end of village.

What were your thoughts as far as what you wanted to do with these women? I believe that we all have kind of a zone of genius and you know, you hear that phrase, Jack of all trades master of none. I don't believe in that. And maybe I don't know. I granted I am a feminist and so I believe in, you know the fact that women kind of rock. But I'm a master of a lot of different things. So we are, but I don't believe in being an expert in one thing and I don't believe in my way or the highway. So what we're offering in the village is a bunch of different people who are on a journey and who have really interesting stories to tell about their journeys. You know, like the story I told a little bit ago about how I started in the community. That's from my time in the film industry. But I also have, I can't even count the number of careers I've been in and so the women that we are attracting are women who have been on fabulous journeys and have great stories to tell and great lessons to teach and that's what what I am passionate about is that we are all sharing our journeys with one another and learning from each other.

Um so we're doing one of the, I guess I what would I call it? A program is we have Athena Village Salons and a salon is defined as a gathering under the roof of an inspiring host and it's basically just to talk about something interesting and so our collective members get to choose a topic and choose a you know third thursday or something time of the month. And we do these open salons for anyone in the membership and if they feel like it they can open it up to the world. And we talk about interesting things. We have one that talks about travel, we have one that talks about business, just whatever comes up. We have one that talks about self care, she is a self care um genius. We have one that talks about creativity. She is a person who dives deep, deep, deep into the world of creativity and what makes people creative. So you can pretty much find something that's going to tickle your fancy from one month to the next.

And it's not something that you have to sign up for and I feel compelled to attend, you can if if you want to attend one month to the next, you can, so that's one of our big programs and our shops are starting to open now with our various uh, collective members from business coaching too. Um, Creative Creative center to uh self help center to all sorts of different collective members. Mm hmm. That's really cool. I like how you're describing these as like salon and shops and like you're talking about the village like your really visualize it kind of being like a little online town. It is. That's what I picture myself kind of like jane Jetson in my little, you know, on a road trip in the, in the internet coming upon this town where I'm like, oh look at that. I want to go to that coffee shop and I want to visit that bookstore and I want to go here. And in my dream, this place is a place that people will join and come back and visit often because there's always something new happening.

And where again, I believe so strongly in sharing audiences because I don't need to keep all my people to myself. If I know something, I'm sure my people will love what you're doing. Deb and will love what Marcia is doing and will love what joy is doing. So there's enough for everyone. And that's basically the kind of the nuts and bolts of my, of the village and what we're doing there. Yeah. I love collaborative instead of competitive. And I really, uh, you know, you and I talked about that a while ago that one of the first times we talked and I think it just really uh it's a different perspective because as business people were just like, you know, have a different hat or a mindset, so I think it's a different, this is a passion project for you to, it sounds, it certainly is, it's um and it's something that I've heard a lot about when I first became a coach, I heard the word coop a titian and it was something I had never heard before, but it, you can actually look it up and the definition is collaborative competition where people like you and I, we both are community builders, where we recognize that there is something that we're both doing something very similar, but there are differences in what we're doing and if I can't provide to someone exactly what they need in the community, but I can say to them, you know, I know this woman Devauchelle, she's doing something very similar, but it's a little bit more what you're looking for.

Here's how you get ahold of her and that builds goodwill, It builds community, you know, that's basically what we're all about and it does the reason I'm my, our community is Athena Village, there's a book called the Athena doctrine Which was written, I think in 2019, I believe that's the year, a couple of Harvard researchers did a bunch of research on what leadership values people want and when they kind of boiled it all down basically. It says it in the tagline of the book. It says the Athena doctrine why women and the men who think like them will rule the future because the leadership Kind of qualities that 64,000 people and 13 countries want are the values that are viewed as quote feminine values. But really they're just about sharing, listening and collaborating.

Like we were just talking about. So, and Athena is the goddess of wisdom and mediation and all of those things. So that's where Athena village comes from, like the background, their background story. Um Did you, so did you always plan to have um a network? Like, is your, is it part of your business model? Because I know you do what you said earlier, you do some coaching. Is it part of like a pillar of your business or did you decide you were going to charge for the network or is it free? Tell us a little bit about that? Well it is. Now I am a there's when I went through coach training, one of the tools that we learned about is called the Colby assessment, which measures your work style basically your modus operandi and on the Colby assessment, I'm a very high quick start, which means I'm a visionary and I get big ideas, a lot of big ideas and I let some of them percolate and don't act on them for a while or I just dive right in and do it now.

So I'm kind of all over the board. So you asked me is it a pillar? I don't kind of build like that. I just sort of do it when I launch and learn, which frankly drives my business partner joy a little bit nuts. She told me today to put the brakes on. She's the brakes to my lead foot. So, which is good. We need brakes in a car, don't we? Um, it is now, so the other parts of my business are the salons that I told you about the, so do it. Salons which are 13 weeks, um, program that I run. They're going virtual now. They used to be in person. Um, and I also do some consulting, you know, once in a while I will help people put their communities together. But I'm a big picture person. I'm not the, you know, nuts and bolts. I'm not somebody who's going to sit there and, and you know, be there community manager. I wouldn't be a very good community manager because I need to hire that for myself, frankly. Um, so it is a pillar of my business now, but what is that?

Isn't there some kind of a saying about building the plane while you're flying it. That's kind of how I do my business. I don't think you're, I don't advise that. Find someone else who is really good at the, at the building part and then work with the visionary like me, I don't know if that makes sense to you. But yeah, and I think that's kind of, you know, I, for myself, my personal journey of community building has just changed so much over the last year. And as I learned even in the last two months I relaunched fine calm here community in june did a soft launch in May and then launched publicly in june and it's been such a learning experience because the members are teaching me like what's really helpful and how can I? And I'm not really just creating content necessarily. I'm creating content based on their feedback and based on what their interests are and if it's going to be purposeful and useful or not. And so that I was talking to a client earlier today because she had a similar like, well do I have to build all of these things and then expect them to kind of build it and then they'll come or should I, you know, I feel like I have to have a plan and I said I get you because I felt like I had to have a plan to have it all figured out and have all the answers and it was kind of like in june, I'm like, I don't really know exactly what I'm doing, but I am gonna invite these people in and I'm going to chat with them and see and I recommended that to her because sometimes it's just really all about like you don't know necessarily what the people want to participate and do in there until you kind of explore with them in this kind of a co co creation phase is what I co creation there you go.

And there's also, I don't know about you Deb but I love being in on the early phase of things. I like that early adopter, I like that. You know, whenever somebody says, would you like to be in on the beta of this, I'm like yeah, count me in but there are a lot of people who don't want to be there. So for me as a community builder, getting those people into my community who really love that beta phase and who want to be a part of that and who love it when I say to them, hey you guys, I'm a launch and learn kind of person. So come on in, help me by being part of the legacy members of a community or a program or something and I love messengers, I will hug a messenger. We don't kill messengers here. We hug them and let me know what's working for you and what's not working for you. And so that's basically Joy. My partner will say we're a community built by community and that's kind of a, that's definitely how we're doing it and so that's, you know, that's to me is a real cornerstone actually of I think how community is built, you get those people who love that phase and then once it's kind of rolling and as a coach there's sort of a there's a cycle, there's that kind of rebirth part of the cycle and then you kind of get into that where you're trying things and you're testing and you're doing things and then as Martha Beck calls it, she calls it the land of milk and honey when everything is just kind of going along fine.

That to me is the boring part, I want to like break something and then get back into the start over part so that's why I would be a terrible community manager because I well not that I would break anything but I like the startup, I like the creating new things and making things work. So you know let we love early adopters, we love people who like to help us create stuff right? Yeah, currently I just so I just signed with a client that I am going to be a transition manager for him Um as somebody who was helping him restructure his mighty network because he had launched a number of years ago, he has over 7000 people in his mighty network but now he wants to move, he had opted to to offer some free resources in the free space and then have some areas for courses that were paid but now he's moving in that transition and so we're working on that because he wants to go to a donation model and so we're kind of getting clear on the structure of okay, so how is this all going to work?

How are we communicating with the members to let them know, you know, here's what's changing and we're gonna give you time to like see all the new features so that you can understand like is this a place your tribe, is this where you want to be? And so I love doing that kind of work of like the discovery is one of my favorite parts of the building because I like talking to people and kind of learning like what really lights them up or what really stresses them out because then I can know like okay well this is, you know, if this is stressing you out, we're not going to do so much of that and we're going to do more of the thing that lights you up and so let's identify those really great things well in learning little things like I just read something yesterday, I was like, oh that's so dang simple but perfect. They said don't ask questions. Like is there anything that's not working for you? Don't ask that, say, Tell us one thing that we can do better. Change the word any to one that you'll get better responses from people if you just change the word any to one because people can usually think of one thing that we could do better, but if you leave it so wide open by saying any that they, it just sort of, you know, deer in the headlights and as a community builder, those simple, simple tweaks like that.

It's like, wow, that's kind of brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? But you know, and that's why I love talking to other community builders because we can learn so much from each other ah and questions are, you know, being able to like perceive and understand what somebody is saying and then asking the right question. One of the things that I learned to recently, somebody I think a coach or somebody I was talking to kind of share this wisdom with me and I really like it of what's really working instead of what's not working or name one thing that isn't because what you can replicate what's really working well or identify, oh, this is why that's working and then based on a positive instead of going to the negative of like why isn't this working? You know, that's another kind of flip that I also recommend to people when they're looking to do a restructure plan or, or maybe they launched and then they're looking, you know, for support as a community manager because I've done that and just kind of addressing like, you know, here's the things that you want to keep doing to create this to grow, right?

We're talking about growth. Uh you know, if you've already launched in your, you're looking to grow your membership and how do you do that? It's like, what's, what are the members showing up for now? If they, if you've got a lot of really great interaction on certain posts or poles, or if there's a really great event that like a whole bunch of people show up to, you know, things like that are gonna work versus like things that, you know, people aren't attending. So I think that's looking at a perspective, what's the positive here and what's really lighting us up and not only is like a host identifying like, what do we enjoy participating in one of the podcast interviews I did was she had mentioned about what communities she's in. And so when people are talking to me about community building, I said, well, what communities do you like to participate in? Where are you hanging out? Because then you can really address and see like, okay, this is how I show up in these spaces. And then it's really, um, it's really helpful to have insight as far as like what I like to do and then being able to look at it from a member perspective. So I think those are all fun um, ways to, to view community building when you're like either either when you're starting out as a, you know, somebody who's just starting community or somebody who's like, okay, something's aren't working.

So, and you'll inevitably have all of those things, right? You inevitably have something that you start and then you, you tweak, you know, try something and then you tweak it and you say, okay, well this didn't really quite work the way I thought it was gonna go and now we're gonna go somewhere different. So I think that's, that's the, to me is the fun part of just kind of testing, beta testing and trial and error kind of stuff for sure. Exactly, exactly, Yeah. So what else can we talk about in community building? But I haven't asked you yet, I love the idea of um launching and learning of trying things and being totally transparent about what you are doing in your community and you know, maybe some, maybe that wouldn't work in a community that needs to be um, I can't even think maybe like a medical, if it's a community around medical knowledge or something that has to be an expert and you know, they can't afford to say, yeah, we really don't know what we're doing here, but in um, in social type communities like ours, I'm really a huge proponent of being very transparent about the fact that we're not perfect.

Um, one of the things that I am that I don't love ar the and I think I see a lot of community is going away from this is the kind of the my way or the highway sort of thing, you know, um I have the 10 ways to change your life. I really am much more apt to join a community or to be attracted to an event that says has a personal um bent to it that says I've personally tried this, this is what works for me and I'd love to share that with you. So that there's like a personal twist to the story that's being told. That's why Joy and I talk about, you know, telling stories and having authentic conversations around those stories and the journeys that we have all been on. Um, and I I think that the conversations that we can facilitate around those journeys can have huge, huge benefits to people and creating, I don't know, I heard someone say no, it's not a safe space, it's a brave space, but I'm not exactly sure what the difference between those two are but a private a place where people can have these sometimes difficult conversations and as a community builder, I want to make sure that I create those safe and private spaces where those conversations can happen and they're not being spied on or you know, no one's going to send them.

You don't say the word engaged and all of a sudden the next day you're getting engagement ring. You know, that happened to a friend of mine, she's like what I haven't been on a date in two years and I'm getting engagement ring ads and you know, so privacy is a really big deal for me too, is that these spaces, we're creating our very protected spaces. It's really important. Yeah, so we talked a little bit about that earlier, but like um finding calm to me is eliminating the distractions that other social media platforms have. That's why I selected the money network and you did too. It sounds like and creating a safe space. There's a lot about what your onboarding process is to me. I think it's really important to when you're bringing people in to let them know that it is okay to say what they need to hear, express what they need to and then how we convey a safe space as a host is to be able to just say, you know what, I'm not perfect either.

I made a lot of mistakes and guess what? Here's one of them I'll share with you and just being really super vulnerable and I've found that there's just so much power in vulnerability. It's hard, it's it takes a brave person when you talk about brave. I think, you know, being vulnerable is is something that it takes a lot of bravery to do, encouraged to do and saying, I think it's online, like marketing people would say, you know, everything is supposed to be perfect. We're supposed to have these beautiful websites and lovely logos and email lists full of people and all of this stuff and the reality is that's just not how things are and it takes a lot of time and energy and effort to build an online business or to do these different adventures online. And so and we all we all make mistakes and so that vulnerability aspect will then allow people to say, oh Dubs being really vulnerable and sharing this thing. So I why why can't I do that too? I can share what I'm working on and ask people for help because that's and the number one thing I learned this year is to ask others for help because I was that like, I got this, I'll do it.

I got it. I was like the person that I don't need any help, I can do this on my own, you know, And this year was a major major like Deb asked for help and I just have really accepted that this year. For sure. Well, and that that's one of the things that I'm excited about in. We just launched the collective the official collective member in our um kind of the shop owner member in the village. And what's kind of shaping up is that the various zones of genius of the various collective members in this group of women, we'll be able to support one another and, you know, one woman is really great with websites, another woman is she knows how to do dub sato and all that. Another woman is great with self care and another woman, you know, so it's going to be this really fabulous group of not only will we be able to do business together, but we'll, we'll be able to support one another and that learning how to ask for help.

You're learning it earlier in life than I ever did. And you're very lucky that you did that. Um I posted in our community, we have uh, we do a share post once a week because we try and keep all the sales posts out of our, what we call the village square, that kind of lobby area or whatever some people call it in the network and once a week we do a share post where people can post there. Their events are the things that they're selling and so on. And I posted that I, My personal Kelly Pratt website got hacked in 2020, totally stolen and went away completely and I wasn't going to pay the $500 to get it back. So I just left it and I started building it myself again. And I posted the other day and said, hey, it's in parentheses, not quite done. Take a look at it guys and someone posts and said, boy you're brave telling us to go look at it before it's done.

I was like, well heck, you know, tell me what you find that's not quite done because I maybe missed a link or something's misspelled and I'm terrible at proofing for myself, but she thought I was really brave just putting it out there before it was totally perfect. That's one thing. In my six decades I've learned perfection is not, that's totally the enemy of progress, perfection is the biggest enemy of progress. So yeah, have at it, Go look at it. I don't, it's not done yet, but take a look at it. I feel you on the website. I I read it my, I had a graphic desire to my website a year ago when I first launched, and then when I relaunched, I, I just, I wanted to learn wordpress myself and um, so I started to learn it and it was quite the adventure and I got, you know, to a place where I like the front page, but then I was trying to add other pages and I couldn't figure out and I said, you know what, I'm not gonna do this anymore, I'm done. I spent enough time on my front page and it's fine. So I just added like, links that link to somewhere else, like bonsai for my um, content management and things like that, you know, and that's okay, and that's perfectly fine because like, later, if I really want to do something, I'll eventually do those things that I want to do, you know that right well, and that's in, in our communities, know, regardless of what platform you're using, if your community members are having conversations, if they're connecting with one another, that's what's important.

And if, you know, if all the graphics aren't perfect and all of that, it's the connection of the members to one another. That's what's important. And sometimes I think we forget about that and we spend way too much time worrying about, oh no, it's not centered on the, you know, in the little window. Yeah, it's just that, what does that really matter? Yeah, it sounds like that's what helps you find calm. Is there any 11 specific thing that you could think of that you learned in the last, you know, year of doing this that has helped you? Absolutely. I in June of 2020, I brought on a partner in the village And her name is Joy, a conch and joy and I met in 2010 at ELISA Sonora creativity retreat in Mexico. And we've never met in person again since then. And so, but we've stayed in contact. She's a marketing person. And when we reconnected this, you know, we reconnected right after Covid hit and I just said, I want to have a partner, someone at another persons eye in this.

And like I said, she's the brakes to my lead foot and that really helped me to bring home someone I can talk to think through things with. And then just today, actually, Joy and I had a conversation with the third leg to our stool, she Joy and I are visionary kind of people and shanti Jennings is coming on to work with us and she's the doer, she's the person who does things like set up dub sato and do the posting and you know, all of the, the action kind of stuff. So that's what helps bring calm. I know how to do all those things and I can do them, but I'm much better at the visionary piece of it and talking to people and imagining what can be done telling someone else and then she loves to do it. So now we've got those, we've got the three legs to our sturdy little three legged stool. So that's what brings me calm.

Nice. Yeah, great. That's great bringing on people to help you in any part of your journey, whether it's a partner or just, you know, somebody that helps you. I just hired a podcast editor because while I know how to edit the podcast, I have a workflow now that works really well for this because I'm still new. I was so resistant a year ago to a podcast, but now that I'm like this is fifth episode 52 so we're 52 episode. Now we're 51 50 51 or 52 I can't remember which one this will be, but um this week, this coming up sunday will be the 50th and it's just been a long journey and it takes a lot of time to do something like this. And so what I realized is that I had somebody I she wanted to help me and I said what would you like to help me with? And that's what she said and I said perfect, this is how I do it. And now she puts in the entry, hello, she tags me, she goes, here's the podcast episode, it's in the google drive and I'm just like perfect.

So it's just, it's just the amount of enjoy the peace and calm that brings myself to then be able to like refocus my energy on the client work that I'm doing and the marketing and all of these other aspects, so, and she loves what she's doing and she's loving it. So, and she said she's learning from like listening to the conversations and stuff, so it's just really great, it's a great thing. So I think that's a great way to end our, our our our episode here today is just talking about being open to collaboration and I love that. So thanks for sharing and collaborating with me on this episode. I appreciate that. Please tell us where if anybody wants to learn more about Athena Village, they can do that. We have a website, it's Athena Village dot com and you can also learn more about my community and what I'm doing at kelly pratt dot com. Here you go, Very good, thank you so much for sharing all of your awesome wisdom and community building experience with us uh for everybody who's listening, make sure to check out Athena Village.

It's a great space. I really enjoyed being there and dropping in when I can and until the next time, I hope you're all finding calm in any moment wherever you are, whenever this episode finds you in your day, morning, evening, afternoon, find calm, take care, and we'll see you next time. Bye. Mhm.