Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laura Best. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

As an entrepreneur of almost 10 years (and a marketer for over 25 years), the idea of “risk” has shifted dramatically for me.

When I initially started Passion Collective (as a Facebook group, I still remember tentatively hitting send on the invites to the women I knew), I thought the risk was that people would think I was silly. (Maybe they did, but others supported me.)

When I held my first workshop, I felt the risk was that no-one would show up and I’d “fail” (more than 20 people joined, to my delight.)

Then, when I quit my corporate gig to focus on building the business some years afterwards, I knew I was risking financial certainty. (It wasn’t easy, but it was manageable, thanks to my husband’s support.)

When Covid-19 hit, and I launched our digital home, Passion Collective On Demand, I knew I was risking my sanity by designing and building something I didn’t necessarily have a long term plan for (who had a long term plan in March 2020?!). It was a huge amount of extra work. But, that platform is now three years old and is open to women worldwide, so I’m so glad I invested that time, and took that leap.

This week, I launched our podcast, Passion Chats. Is it a risk? Well, it takes courage to put yourself out there, so I’ve needed a dose of that. But otherwise, no. I know if I reach just one woman with one episode, and we inspire her to follow her passion, then we have been successful,

What I’ve learned along the way is that “risk” for me is simply fear that I need to work through. It’s also about reframing what success means to you.

This doesn’t mean that I’m not ambitious – trust me, I want to “win”. But, I don’t believe that you have to crush yourself in the process. I was once given the (unsolicited) advice that I should never have a back up plan as an entrepreneur. The advice giver felt that it made you “weak” and unfocused. If you only give yourself one option, he thought, you’ll succeed.

I couldn’t disagree more. I find back-up plans essential when I’m considering a risk or a plan of action. They help me think through my actions and reassure me that I can always take a different path.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m the founder of Passion Collective, a global community that helps professional women rediscover their passion and purpose. Originally from England, I built a marketing career in the UK and the Twin Cities.

I started Passion Collective in 2014 to connect professional women with real conversations about passion, identity, and fulfillment at a time when many women didn’t feel they had the permission to support each other or talk openly about their paths.

At the time, I was a successful digital marketing leader, running two teams and pitching/winning business for a national technology company. I was quickly realizing that while I was excelling at my work, I was disconnected from my passion and the women that I wanted to spend time with. So, I began the conversation about what it means to “rediscover and follow our passions”, hoping I wasn’t the only one who was seeking an alternative. Luckily, I was not!

Passion Collective offers community, coaching and connection with events and workshops (in-person and virtually at Passion Collective On Demand.) We inspire women to act with our 100+ “Passion Stories” and our quarterly Atomic® Grants that give cash and coaching to women who are pursuing their passions. We also help businesses nurture their women leaders through custom events and workshop programs.

What sets us apart is the experience we create for our “Passionados” – it’s genuine, practical, and meaningful. We focus on thriving in work AND life, because it’s all connected.

We are an open, inclusive community – I’m no fan of “invitation only” women’s organizations that require taking out a mortgage to join. The last thing we need is for women to be excluding each other – we need to stand beside each other, regardless of where we are in life – lifting each other up. This energy is woven into all we do.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

We’re often told by media, peers, and the world at large to go faster, be bigger, do more, generate more. I’m constantly calibrating that for myself. I am building our community and business with great intention with business partners who truly “walk the walk” of supporting women – and if that takes longer, so be it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The impact of the pandemic was a huge shift for us. March 5, 2020 saw our most successful event take place, and less than 2 weeks later, everything shut down. As a primarily in-person event business, this was a huge problem.

I had my moment of feeling sorry for myself, then realized that I had a community that needed connection. And, as a digital marketer, I really should be able to figure this out!

So, I created a free weekly series of online events – digital formats of our signature “Buzz Sessions” . I hosted them on Zoom (when so many didn’t even know what that was!) and expected 2 or 3 women to sign up. Over the course of a month we saw more than 130 people participate.

That gave me the courage to commit to a digital platform, so in the space of about 6 weeks I designed, created and launched Passion Collective On Demand. This enabled us to grow our core community and open up to all English speaking people who identified as women across the globe.

I honestly thought we’d be running On Demand for a few months – remember when we thought the pandemic would end by the summer?! And – here we are, more than 3 years later, with almost 9,000 “Passionados” in a global community. I’m grateful for the challenges that have pushed me to grow in the last few years and proud of how I’ve navigated them. There is still so much work to do, but we’re here and we’re helping, and that’s what matters.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://passioncollective.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passioncollective/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/passioncollectivecommunity
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passion-collective
• Other: Passion Collective On Demand: www.passioncollectiveondemand.com