Building A High Level Community with Shannon Gronich

Our guest today is one of the members of the Clear Business Directory, Shannon Gronich, of the Business Acceleration Summit.

She runs a business conference that really helps small businesses grow through building a high level community. She’s implemented the Clear Directory as part of this process. You can attend the Business Acceleration Summit and know with full confidence that the people that are on her stage have been vetted for frauds and scams.

Today, we are interviewing one of the members of the Clear Business Directory, Shannon Gronich of the Business Acceleration Summit. I’m super excited to have Shannon on the show. She’s by far one of my favorite people on the planet. I’m even more excited because not only is she a member of the Clear Business Directory, but she’s also an advocate because she does run a business conference that really helps small businesses grow. She’s implemented the Clear Directory as part of this process. What’s super exciting about that is you can attend the Business Acceleration Summit and know with full confidence that the people that are on her stage have been vetted for frauds and scams. With that, Shannon, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity.

Shannon, can you share with our listeners a little bit more about what the Business Acceleration Summit is?

The Business Acceleration Summit came out of a dream of bringing people together to collaborate, have an experience with high level mentors and supporters to give them access to instant feedback and resources to grow their business. It’s a two and a half day event where we come in and people will mastermind, we do a high performance networking experience. We break bread with other high level industry experts and we work towards a shared vision of creating social entrepreneurs.

It’s such a unique experience. We’ve been to a lot of different conferences and interacted with members and service faculty. What you’ve created is such a unique experience because it’s bringing people together from the business community. Connecting them with some really powerful people, giving them an opportunity to co-create and bring their businesses to a place that they may not have thought of or they didn’t think that they have the support to do. You’ve really created that place that brings people together to allow them to work on their business and grow their business in such a way that they are fully supported.

High Level Community: LOHAS – Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability

As you know from coming, I tend to be a magnet for people that are into holistic health or personal development or green building. It’s like this LOHAS community, Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. A lot of them are really good at what they’re doing, but when it comes to marketing or growing their business, they really need this type of information. It is a unique community that comes together.

For those of you who haven’t met Shannon, she is an absolute powerhouse. Her Rolodex, for those of you who don’t know what a Rolodex is, her contacts, the people that she attracts, the people she knows are just top-notch and amazing content and just amazing people all around. We’re super excited to be a part of the Business Acceleration Summit as well. I’m just super excited that you’re here with us on the show today.

I’m looking forward to sharing this because I really want them to get to know you a little bit more. You’ve built something so unique. People strive for that kind of success that you’ve created. Can you share a little bit about your journey? If you could go back in time and do one thing over again, what would that be?

I think it really involves transparency. I built a company for a really long time, ten years. When the economy shifted and a lot of things caused me to actually close the business, I wasn’t being transparent. I was still the duck underwater where I’m smiling and swimming, but paddling like crazy underneath. What I’ve really learned on this journey shortly after that was had I been really vulnerable and transparent and actually reached out to my community, my rock bottom would’ve been a lot gentler.

It really showed me the importance of being transparent and letting people know that, “Hey, I need help. I need support. Help dust me off.” I kept showing up, smiling and everything’s great. Later, when I did finally share with people, I had some friends that were upset at me because I didn’t let them know what was going on. They said, “I would have loved to have helped. That’s what friends are for and that’s what business partners are for.” I would say being more transparent to the ups and downs in my business.

I love the fact that you shared that because we get that so often with people who go through the Clear Business Directory process of operating in transparency. I know you and I have talked about this, where people think because of the name, it’s a pass or fail type process. It’s really not. It’s really focused on the businesses operating transparency. I love the fact that you shared that with our listeners because that’s typically the same response that we get from people that go through the process, who think it might be pass or fail. But when they get on the other side and they now have the freedom for many stories they had because of the fear of not wanting to operate in transparency, it’s immediately relieved.

Now, they can operate in transparency with full confidence. It really helps them skyrocket with their business because they’ve got nothing to hold them back at that point. Given your extensive businesses experience, I know you’ve been at the business game for quite some time, what’s one of the things that you’ve learned along the way that had really gotten you to where you’re at today?

High Level Community: My biggest success is when I’ve connected with other people.

For me, it’s community and surrounding yourself with others. This concept of we’re alone is definitely an illusion. It can be real if we choose to operate on that place. For me, my biggest success is when I’ve connected with other people, created a place in my business structure to allow people to come in and grow and contribute and really building that community.

When it comes to events, the most successful ones I’ve done, one I had a hundred volunteers. That’s a pretty massive undertaking, but it’s that community of people coming together with a shared vision. Anytime we can surround ourselves with a vision team or supporters that can be there when we go through our ups and downs is key because we really are never alone, Justin. There’s lot of resources. We just have to ask and we just have to create that environment.

That’s what I really love about Business Acceleration Summit. What you’ve built there is the collaboration. The after event that we had with the mentors and the very intimate setting in reviewing things, just connecting with one another. How can we grow this? How do we get it out there to the rest of the world and show them, “Hey, you don’t have to do this by yourself. You could come together with a group of like-minded individuals, business owners, who’re going to help you grow your business.” What’s so exciting about the summit is that you’ve built that for people.

It is definitely the group of mentors. That was a very beautiful experience. When everybody comes together with different skills and sometimes speakers have ego and things like that. I know everybody who shows up at the Summit really has a huge heart, a people-first mindset and a place of giving. That’s a beautiful example of where we can come together with a shared vision. We had a lot of things and ideas that are taking the whole event to another level.

Our listeners want to know more information about the Summit. What are a couple of good questions that somebody could ask you directly about who you are and what you’ve done or what the Summit’s about? What kind of information would you want them to know?

I have personally produced hundreds of events, all the way from webinars to the convention center in Fort Lauderdale, renting the top floor out with thousands of participants. From that experience, I bring it home to everybody that attends this event. When somebody signs up, they immediately get an email with a training video that helps them prepare. If they’re a VIP, they get an assessment and an actual coach that gets them on track for when they show up. We do a lot to really help people when they get there and get the most out of it and start matchmaking in the process.

From doing all of the events I have over the years, I’ve learned that you can just show up, wing it and miracles happen. But if you can show up with intention and a little bit of planning and a little bit of guidance, you can actually get so much more out of it. That’s one of the things that we bring to the table. We have stuff afterwards to really keep that community going and helping people connect. This isn’t just a show up one time event. This is really much greater than that with what we bring to before, during and after experience.

That’s what I love about what you’ve created. It’s not just a, “I want it done.” It’s an ongoing community that you can come back to over and over again. It’s amazing, the relationships and connections that you’ll make at your event are things that are going to last a lifetime. Like you said, it’s what people need moving forward. Shannon, can you share with our listeners a good place where they can learn more about your business?

They can go to BusinessAccelerationSummit.com. If they actually put in the code, ‘Clear Directory’, I can offer them a savings if they decide to come and join us.

If you’re listening to this, come join us. Shannon does the Summit multiple times throughout the year. You can go to her website and get the dates, learn what’s coming up, see who’s coming, see who’s in the Clear Business Directory because those that have already been vetted are listed on the site as being in the clear. Very, very soon here, all of the mentors will be on the Clear Business Directory. We’re super excited to bring that level of transparency to the business conference arena.

If you want to learn more about Shannon, you can visit her website or you can visit her profile inside the Clear Business Directory as well. Shannon, thank you so much for being on the show today.

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Justin, for all that you do. This is really important for anybody that’s looking to partner, collaborate. The service that you’re offering is beyond background checks. I’m so glad that we have a resource like you, for not only our mentors to be in the clear but also the businesses that attend, so that they could move forward with the partnership or collaboration with certainty, trust and comfort.

We’re happy to be part of it. We look forward to the future with the Business Acceleration Summit. Until next time, before you get involved with anybody, make sure their business is operating in the Clear Business Directory and that they’re operating in transparency. Take care.

Learn more about Shannon Gronich.