Today I'm talking with Melissa Blackburn, co-creator of Haven Collective, a co-working space in Upper Arlington. Welcome, Melissa, and thank you for joining us.
Melissa Blackburn
Thank you so much for having me. Very excited.
Stephanie Evans
I have to say, it's been so fun for me to follow you and Danielle, as you've built your business. An amazing work environment over there next door, as a matter of fact. But I remember meeting you the first time and walking through your building wearing a hard hat.
Melissa Blackburn
And we still have those pictures. We love them.
Stephanie Evans
Yeah, wearing a hard hat and listening to your vision. And I was just so excited for you. And it's been such a gift to me to be able to kind of watch you guys grow with it. So I appreciate that you reached out to us so early in your business so we could be kind of part of that. I feel like a proud aunt!
Melissa Blackburn
Well, you guys have been so supportive. And I just remember being really impressed with how involved the chamber was and how committed you are to our success. So you know, we owe a large Thank you, to you for that support too.
Stephanie Evans
It's been fun. It's been really fun for us. So I'm thinking though, how long ago was that?
Melissa Blackburn
Oh, my goodness. So we came up with the idea in April of 2017, and then started taking on co workers in October of 2017. Just in our upstairs.
Stephanie Evans
That happened pretty quickly.
Melissa Blackburn
Yeah, I don't I don't tend to move slowly. And then we opened our full building and welcomed everyone we could starting in February of 2018.
Stephanie Evans
Yeah, it did happen quickly. So it wasn't that long after I started here, right. I met you.
Melissa Blackburn
You were pretty new when we started.
Stephanie Evans
So we'll circle back to some of that. But I want to start our talk today with same question that we ask everyone, which is, what did you want to be when you grew up when you were a kid? And then how does that play into what you're doing today?
Melissa Blackburn
What a great question. When I grew up, I actually wanted to be an actress. I begged my parents to send me to acting classes and was lucky enough to get a lot of roles and theater through high school. I even went to theater school one day a week for high school.
Melissa Blackburn
And come time for college, my parents had very different ideas about what I should do. And we're not really supportive of me going to theater school for college. So I went the more traditional route. So it does play into what I do today. Because though I haven't thought about it till you just ask this question. Having that comfort and being able to talk to people and get on stage and not be afraid to be silly, or make a fool of myself, I think you need that when you're starting your own business, because it can be very nerve wracking to put yourself out there.
Stephanie Evans
I would think so. And the confidence that you built by being on on stage in front of people.
Melissa Blackburn
I think I just was from a young age, not afraid to fail. So I think the theater really helped me to build that confidence.
Stephanie Evans
Good for you and for your parents. We actually had a conversation in another podcast about failure. And, and that sometimes, you know, as parent we don't want our kids to fail, nobody wants to fail, but how to pick up those bootstraps and keep going when you do and being kind of fearless of failure.
Melissa Blackburn
Resilience is very important. My husband and I talk about that a lot as we're raising two young children. We have a two year old and a four year old and we try to really focus on allowing them to fail and not fixing everything for them and helping them build that confidence in that resilience.
Stephanie Evans
Because, you know, no matter what you do, somewhere along the way, you're going to have a failure might be in varying degrees. It might be that you've earned the birthday cake, but you gotta figure what you're going to do, and be willing to make a birthday cake. Or run down to the store.
Stephanie Evans
So tell us then about your business, Haven Collective.
Melissa Blackburn
So Haven Collective is a co-working space at its core, we have everything from general memberships, where people can come in and work in our open spaces, all the way up to dedicated desks and offices. We've designed it so that entrepreneurs can come in at any stage of their journey and really have a plan that fits their budget and fits their needs.
Melissa Blackburn
Of course, everyone's there working and trying to get their best work done throughout the day. But we also like to provide other amenities that help them have some balance as well. So we do things like once a week, we have an hour of yoga. We also have a meditation once a week, 10 minutes. I think people think will meditation, but it's just, it's really quick. And it's nice to ground yourself for 10 minutes a week. And then, of course, the fun stuff like wine Wednesdays, you know, three o'clock we put out the wine and invite everyone to come and mingle.
Melissa Blackburn
We are also constantly doing events for our members. We're committed to helping them grow personally and professionally and get out of their shell with some networking, but fun networking so that they can learn how to pitch what they do, and meet other entrepreneurs.
Melissa Blackburn
There's a lot going on at Haven. But really, we try and stress the collaboration in the community aspect and making sure everyone understands they have other entrepreneurs around them that are on the same journey that can help them. Not just because they can understand what they're going through, but could possibly help their business grow through collaboration.
Stephanie Evans
Right. I remember very early on that was one of the things when I still had the hard hat on talked about in terms of the kinds of businesses that you would like to attract would be some that that could potentially help each other. So yeah, we've got this kind of business, but you need a CPA to help you get your taxes Well, that's someone just down the hall or employee who can write up your LLC is just down at the other end of the hall and, and kind of create a team within the walls of your building.
Melissa Blackburn
Well said, That's exactly right. It's all about relationships. And so I think a lot of entrepreneurs come in having worked from home and being isolated, and just trying to figure it out on their own. And then they quickly learn not, you know, these co workers who they build trust with can actually be people that help them move forward and just give them more confidence in their business. So it's been a really beautiful thing to watch.
Stephanie Evans
I love the the language that you guys use to describe Haven on your website. One of the things that you have is that your "An ecosystem for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and side hustlers." And hustlers a word that I see a lot in there. And so, so tell me about that sort of the, the brand that you guys are achieving with some of the language that you're using.
Melissa Blackburn
Ours is interesting, because Danielle and I are so different. And rather than fight that, we decided to use it as part of our brand. You know, we joke that were the yin and the yang, but really where the hustle and the flow. We try and capitalize on our differences. You know, we say, the hustle and the flow, because our approaches are just very different. And we want to make sure that people can walk in and feel supported and have that warm family feel. But we also have a very strong business background, as both of us have MBAs where it's not just warm and fuzzy.
Melissa Blackburn
We do want you to understand the nuts and bolts of your marketing, your finances, your accounting, you need to know those things, but you also need to feel comfortable. So using that hustle and flow to kind of show people that yes, you can be comfortable, but you need to take your business seriously. We really just took that and ran with it. Even our conference rooms are named "Hustle" and "Flow." And if you met Danielle and I together, you would very quickly see how different we are.
Stephanie Evans
It's a little extrovert introvert somewhere on on the scale. That balance.
Melissa Blackburn
Yeah,
Stephanie Evans
It serves the needs for lots of people then when they come in and see the different personalities. That you do have and a place for them.
Melissa Blackburn
Yeah, I think of course, the factor that we have in common is that we're both very supportive. I think we're just supportive in different ways. And so it has worked really well because it takes every kind of person to build a collective and knowing that somebody might like Danielle's approach, or my approach, it really benefits us because we have both to offer.
Stephanie Evans
So do you guys serve as business consultants, yourselves? Since you both have business backgrounds and MBAs? Do you consult with the members
Melissa Blackburn
We do. We hadn't set out to do that when we started.
Stephanie Evans
I remember that being part of it necessarily, and it seems like you're qualified to.
Melissa Blackburn
Well, thank you. We feel we are. We spent so much time working with members on very tactical things like marketing plans, and and helping with things like how do you structure a p&l? You know, we got to the point where we said, well, of course, we want to make this a member benefit. But beyond a few hours, here and there, what can we turn this into?
Melissa Blackburn
So we both do take on what we call like coaching clients here and there for people who need more in depth help. So Danielle focuses mainly on marketing and helping people understand who is their customer, what is the brand story that they want to tell. And then what does their content calendar look like with those factors.
Melissa Blackburn
Whereas I work more with entrepreneurs on Okay, now you know who your target audience is and who you're trying to go for. Let's talk about your pricing and your sales tactics, your sales funnel and CRM and let's let's really talk about how to get the revenue coming through the door.
Stephanie Evans
Right. Okay. Yes. You both lend different specialties.
Melissa Blackburn
Yes.
Stephanie Evans
Well, yeah, that's kind of awesome, then that's just sort of stemmed out of the business. Not necessarily part that you planned for it but evolving.
Melissa Blackburn
Yeah, it was definitely a complete organic thing. And it's a lot of fun.
Stephanie Evans
Yeah, good. Good. Let's switch gears a little bit and talk about advice. What would you say the best advice that you got from someone when you said, I'm going to start a business,
Melissa Blackburn
it might be sad to say, I think a lot of people just were pretty cautious.
Stephanie Evans
Did they think you were crazy?
Melissa Blackburn
It was such a change from what I had been doing. I'd worked in corporate America my entire career. Anyone who really knew me at my core, could have told you that I was going to own my own business at some point, I just have a very entrepreneurial spirit.
Melissa Blackburn
The best advice I got was, someone told me that I should understand that everyone's going through the same thing as I am. So in the days when I felt really alone, or really anxious, or really nervous about this, to really understand that everyone else feels that too, and I'm human, and to give myself some leeway to sit in that. Take a minute, figure it out. You're not alone. You know, find your people find your people you can talk to and find them fast, because it's a roller coaster. So and I really took that advice to heart.
Stephanie Evans
And it sounds like with the members that you have at Haven, you've kind of created a space for them to do that, too, when they're struggling, or when they need advice. Or need to know somebody with a different specialty. You've created an environment so that they can find that.
Melissa Blackburn
Absolutely, Danielle, and I have our own team that we look to that we consider our go to. But then we of course, try to be that for the members in our organization, and then encourage them to be that for each other.
Stephanie Evans
So what do you feel like has been your biggest challenge
Melissa Blackburn
The change from corporate has been interesting because going from a structure and a routine where I was accountable to a CEO to now being a co CEO. I am a very self-directed and driven person. But it's a whole other level of accountability when I mean, who's paying attention if you don't do it? Nobody.
Melissa Blackburn
I always led a large team and I always felt like I was somewhat running my own like company in my own mind. But having a board that I reported. And a CEO that I reported to put a different level of pressure. And I don't say that word in a negative sense. Like, it just challenged me to get better all the time. Because I literally had a board I had to get in front of and impress every month, and now it's like, how do I continue to drive myself to do better and to grow professionally without someone else laying those challenges out for me.
Stephanie Evans
So it has to come from within a little bit.
Melissa Blackburn
Exactly. And just, you know, stepping back from the day to day and really seeing my weaknesses or blind spots on little areas where I'd want to just grow and get better.
Stephanie Evans
How do you do with time management?
Melissa Blackburn
Oh, time management. Yes, I'm big believer in time blocking. You know, Danielle and I work very closely on our calendars, making sure that we each have time for what we need to accomplish personally and professionally. So I'm lucky that my partner is understanding of my responsibilities as a mother as a wife, my own personal goals.
Stephanie Evans
You've got a lot going on.
Melissa Blackburn
Yeah, so time blocking is crucial. I know, my best hours are 8am to 1pm, that's when my brain works the best. So I really put blocks in place in those hours to do the harder tasks in my day, you know, making sure that I'm doing my marketing and sales follow ups and all my financial work in those hours, and blocking that off and giving myself permission to step away from running the space during those times to doing the deeper work. Working on the business instead of in it.
Stephanie Evans
Right, so not at the front desk.
Melissa Blackburn
Right, right. We both love being there. We love seeing when people walk in and greeting them and understanding how their days going. But sometimes you have to tuck yourself away and get some other stuff done.
Stephanie Evans
I find that to you. Like, sometimes I have to close out my email so that I'm not seeing a new email pop up every time I'm trying to get something else done. You can we really have to kind of compartmentalize and be able to focus.
Melissa Blackburn
And I find that the time blocking helps too, because all those little tasks add up. And if you give yourself permission to say, well, that's a financial matter. And I deal with those Mondays from you know, 11am to 1pm, you just put it for that time.
Stephanie Evans
You're structuring it that way. So you have your, your time blocks are specific topics. Finances on this day, at this time, and, you know, marketing at this day on this time.
Melissa Blackburn
Yeah, I just find that like, if you're tackling them all at once, it helps you to see like, bigger picture. What our processes and procedures that you can be putting in place to be more efficient. And that just goes back to my operations background, I think I'm always trying to look for efficiencies in process. So that's just worked well for me.
Stephanie Evans
That's great advice. I have to try that.
Stephanie Evans
So when you do have a challenge come up. What helps you persevere? What keeps you going?
Melissa Blackburn
So I'm a person of extreme faith. I pray lot. I am usually quick to make a decision. And if I can't be decisive in the moment, I give myself the space to sit back and think and pray on it and figure it out. And so far, so good. That that works for me.
Melissa Blackburn
You know, I think that most of my decisions or challenges can be solved like very quickly. But I find that if I don't really know what to do in the moment, giving myself just a little bit of space to say, you know what, I'm not going to decide on this until tomorrow, even so far as like, tomorrow night, not even to like, worry about it.
Melissa Blackburn
And oftentimes, subconsciously, the answer will come to me. I'll be driving or at the gym or something. And it's like, oh, there's the answer right in front of me. But rather, you know, I think my younger self would have tried to like out think it and just solve it right away, and it would eat at me. Whereas now it's like, well, if the answer isn't clear up front, I probably just need to like, step back for a minute. And typically, it just clears itself up.
Stephanie Evans
Yeah, I think my nature is that I'm a deliberater or so I naturally take that time to think about things. But then once I've reached that point, where it's like, okay, I thought about this, and then, and then it comes to me, it's like, Okay, and then I make my decision really quickly. Because I feel like I've taken so much time to process.
Melissa Blackburn
I used to do like, the whole pro and con list thing. And, like, be so practical about it. But I just find like, if I can just breathe and just ask for clarity, just tends to work for me.
Stephanie Evans
So if you had to do things over again, is there anything you do differently?
Melissa Blackburn
I would have bought a bigger space.
Melissa Blackburn
I knew it was going to be awesome. But it is just so far exceeded where we ever thought it could be. And I just wish I could take in more people. I wish I could serve a larger audience. And I just am so grateful that we're at a point where we're talking about how we make an even bigger impact. Because now this little thing that we thought would be cool has taken off, and we know we can do more.
Stephanie Evans
So I was just there last week. And hopped in, and it was it was hustling. there were a lot of people around. I didn't go over to the library, the quiet side. But upstairs are all your offices, are they all leased up?
Melissa Blackburn
Yep, every office is full. We have one dedicated desk coming up, that'll be available. We're still of course accepting members. So we have room I don't want people to be turned away. Like we definitely have room in the shared space and and room in our community to welcome different thought leaders and, you know, different people from different backgrounds. So we're just excited to see how we can diversify our community.
Stephanie Evans
So when you like you just said, a desk is going to be opening up or let's say an office opens up. I know that your business is still young, but when those desks or those spaces open up, what's that person's next move? Are they going to a storefront? Are they going to a bigger office? I mean, are you sort of an incubator in a way?
Melissa Blackburn
I think kind of similar to our story. A lot of people come to us when they're just getting started. And thinking, like, I have a really cool idea. And then things go way better than they thought. And typically, they're moving into an office, which is why our offices like filled up so fast, or just just stories are totally different.
Melissa Blackburn
We had one woman who was working from home, feeling very isolated, decided to get a desk so that she could have a community around her. And I think when she had more structure in her day, was able to think like, what's going to make me happy in life and decided she wanted to be in Colorado, she wanted to be around the mountains. And so she was able to take her job and moved Colorado. And we still keep in touch with her, and she's still part of our community via our private Facebook. But, you know, that's just one story.
Melissa Blackburn
I think being part of the community, people are so encouraged, whether that means Yeah, I'm going to take a trip across the country, or I'm going to move up to an office or, you know, I'm ready to take this gig even bigger and get a storefront.
Stephanie Evans
So it's a confidence builder, for whatever that next step is. Ok. So my last question is about success. And how would you define success? And, and how do you know when you're there?
Melissa Blackburn
Hmm. I've been thinking about that one a lot lately. Because I think you really do have to decide what success looks like to you. You know, if you'd asked me this question 10 years ago, I probably would have associated it with having a big paycheck, that sort of thing.
Melissa Blackburn
But it just looks so different now.
Melissa Blackburn
To me, being able to call the shots in my own life is success in a nutshell. Not being beholden to anyone else, being able to take time off and be present with my children, take time and be with my husband, live life, basically, on my terms.
Melissa Blackburn
It's just so freeing. It just feels really good. And I don't think that I would trade that for the big fat paycheck.
Melissa Blackburn
As life is a little easier in some levels and that way, but there's a lot more pressure that comes with that too. And I think so many people that I talked to, who make the leap from corporate have that "aha moment" as well. Like, wait a minute, I was so scared about losing the money, you know, so scared. Well, what would life would look like, and losing that financial freedom.
Melissa Blackburn
But you find you need a lot less, you spend a lot less and different things become important to you. And I just sleep a lot better at night now. And so I think just continuing to remind myself on the hard days that like, I just don't answer to any anyone. And if I needed to leave right now and go pick up my kids from school, I can do that. And it's just to me, that's huge.
Stephanie Evans
Good for you. Congratulations. Great way to wrap up. How do we find you on your social media or website?
Melissa Blackburn
You can find us on our website at www.HavenColumbus. com. We do communicate with our audience very frequently through Facebook @havencollective, and through Instagram,@havencollective as well. So always excited to see a new follower and get you engaged in the conversation. So we'd love to see more people from the TriVillage Chamber, people from Upper Arlington, following along and getting to the conversation with us.
Stephanie Evans
Great. Thank you so much.
Melissa Blackburn
Thank you.
