Community Builders Speak Series: Building Trust is a Process of Patience

This Community Builders Speak Series was inspired by the first article I wrote a couple of weeks back on The What, Why and How of Community Building. I have had the privilege to meet amazing people in the fitness and wellness space in the last two years and I wanted to highlight what these self-employed individuals understood as Community Building and how they were building Community in their respective businesses.

I am hoping that by speaking to these entrepreneurs/business owners and sharing their story, it can bring greater relevance to others, and will inspire and motivate others to understand the true meaning of Community Building, from a non-social services and non-sales angled approach.

Many are already building Community with their client and follower base, but they do not even know it! This series is for you to learn from different individuals in different stages of their entrepreneurial and Community building journey, and apply it to our own situations, and hopefully reap the benefits from it.

Claire Bostock – Cellular Health Specialist

Today I speak to Claire Bostock, Entrepreneur and Cellular Health Specialist.

Below is our conversation that has been transcribed and edited for you. 

Tell me more about yourself and your business

My first job was in banking, but I have been in health and wellness for the last 15 years of my career. I started out as a yoga teacher before moving into a management role. This role required me to manage a business which had yoga, pilates, and rhythm cycling studios, a healthy food delivery business plus a wellness resort. My last role as an employee was with a wellness travel company. 

I am now a freelance wellness consultant with focus on cellular health, helping people heal on a cellular level using a cell signaling supplement. This is a process that not only helps protect damaged cells, but also to help regenerate and repair cells.

Has your personal branding changed moving from employee to self-employed?

I think that when I was working for the individual companies, I was promoting the respective company’s brand, and in fact my name/face was always synonymous with that company. Now that I am building own business, that has changed quite a bit.

The purpose or intent of being in the health, fitness and wellness space stems very much from my passion to help other people, so that has not changed at all through the years. This has been my core and my constant. What is now new to me is how my personality drives the personal branding because this determines how others can relate to me.

My branding now revolves around promoting healing to others, and this even means promoting financial health.  

How do you define your existing Community?

By and large it is the same Community of people I am interacting with, whether it be on my social media platforms or social and business networks. Previously, I was representing companies/brands to promote and improve health and wellbeing through exercise, diet, and wellness destinations. Now I am still promoting health and wellness, but now it is through a cell signaling supplement. Adding the bonus of financial health is quite a perk in troubled times like now.

Everybody wants to stop the degeneration of health, and there is so much research and evidence that shows that the source of all problems is the degeneration or health of (or lack of) our cells.

My Community is anyone looking to improve their health and wellness, including giving them the added opportunity to improve their financial health through residual income. 

Can you share with us some challenges being your own boss and building Community? 

There was definitely a need to switch mindsets and since I started on this entrepreneurial journey of my own. There have been so many skills that I have already learnt and picked up in this short 6 months. Because this business is something I am doing on my own, I have had to move out of my comfort zone to educated not just my Community, but the general public on this relatively new product in the market. 

My biggest challenge has been going to market with something that people might not have heard of before, and therefore take on a more guarded approach when I introduce the product and what it can do. I think as humans, we were all brought up to question and be skeptical of things, so it is a natural reflex action for many.

I have learnt how to break boundaries to approach different individuals. And to be brave, to not take things personally when faced with rejection.

A mentor once told me that “You have to let your old self die before you can embrace the new self”. I regularly visualise myself in a new light and see where I want to be. This has allowed me to let go of my insecurities, and to embrace new qualities and skillsets to be able to move forward. 

Building Community is through trust, and this is a process of patience.

How do you identify and then build that Community?

I see myself as an educator. It is pertinent that I believe in the product and that I am a user myself. And because I have the mindset that I want to share the benefits, I do not see myself as selling but more as connecting with people and connecting them to something that could potentially make a difference not just to their life but to those close to them.

My business is a very people-centric business that requires authentic relationship building, so I do not do cold calls. My large network acquired from 15 years working in health and wellness has given me access to many who already know and understand wellness, and what they might be able to do for themselves to optimise and perform better.

It is all about checking in to see what my contacts have been up to and if I see it appropriate, I will ask if they’d like to be introduced to something that I have found useful for myself. Fundamentally everyone takes an interest in their own health, so even if they are in perfect health, I would ask if they knew of anybody facing health challenges at the moment. I believe in closing the loop and maintaining friendships so letting the relationship turn sour from the way I carry myself is out of the question.

I have also been speaking at some wellness themed webinars, to share what I do and to pique interest about cell signalling. This gives me a chance to not just create awareness about what I do, but also to educate more on the physiology of how the body functions and educate others on a deeper level for greater understanding. With education and understanding, it builds credibility and trust, so people are not “guarded” anymore. 

I feel that anybody that I have spoken to is a part of my Community. As long as I have planted the seed, they are my Community. I firmly believe that everybody at some point in their life is interested to learn more and hear more about health. They might feel like they need it or know of somebody who might need it.

Can you share any success stories in building Community?

I am happy with what I have achieved with building the Community these six months. There is always a need to stabilize and move forward with the milestone checks and I am in a good space. There are moving targets on where I want to be, from revenue to number of people joining the business, and Community reached out to. For example, I am planning to relocate to Switzerland at the end of August and a couple of weeks before that I am getting married, so many things to work around my personal life.

One success story I can share is that of a friend. He started out using the cell signaling supplement as a user and did not feel the need to run it as a business. But 2 months down when it was helping his eczema and he was sharing with a friend who wanted to give it a try as well, he contacted me again to ask about the business aspect of the supplement. It is naturally for an individual to want to share positive results of being a user or consumer, which is why personal testimonials and reviews are so powerful. In that same light, if somebody were to notice a positive shift in benefit for the user, he/she would want to know more about how the user achieved the positive shift. From looking more radiant to having less forehead lines, the product has had countless results to show.

What are your plans to grow the Community?

My goal is to grow the Community of users. This really is a great product and has helped and is continuing to help people with their health. For those with no prevailing issues, the cell signalling supplement helps our cells detect what needs to be repaired and what does not. 

I want to go global. This move to Switzerland is already somewhat helping with that, but I am 20% on target and have lots more to do for my 12 months goal.

My metric of growth for the Community is simple. By coaching others to run their respective business like the way I have, I am already growing. The challenge lies in identifying the self-starters and entrepreneurs who not only see this as a business opportunity, but that they believe in the product.

Because there is no breakeven cost, the barrier to entry is low. That is a plus point. The pandemic has to a certain extent given me the opportunity to talk to a lot of people who had the time to listen to me. It is also during this time that many want to know more about their health, especially for something that could be the source of their problems. Having a good database and customer relations management (CRM) system definitely helps!

Tips for self-starter on Community

Be passionate in whatever you are doing. Because this is the fuel that will continue to motivate you during the down time.

Rome was not built in a day so observing patience will have you witness the fruits of your labour.

Being an entrepreneur will require you to do things that you are not so good at or have not done before, so be comfortable being uncomfortable. This includes being unafraid of rejection and to not take things personally.

Invest in your own personal growth and skillsets. Audibles are good and I listen to them when I am cooking or when I am driving. 

Parting Words 

Visualisation works very well for me. Picture in your mind enough of where you want to be and how to get there, and the brain trains itself to work accordingly. Imagine not just the sights, but the birds chirping or thunder roar, the smell of wet rain on freshly cut grass, and the comforting heat from the morning sun’s rays. Recreate those moments of success in your head and play it out over and over again.

About Alex Loh

I am a business and life coach, business owner, loving husband and doting father.

My compass is guided by the desire to help people. I coach individuals and business owners to find purpose. Together we unlock fruitful solutions, experience growth and achieve targeted success. Having successfully built and maintained communities over the years, my focus is to help businesses and organisations harness community as the vehicle to connect, and build credibility, trust and authentic relationships.

Come speak to me about Finding Purpose, Building Communities and/or in Optimising your Life!

Photos from www.pexels.com.