From the podcast Rediscovering Connection with Shelley Doyle, Social Wealth Strategist, a practitioner who designs connection at work.
Opening
There is a particular kind of freedom that comes with building your work around a laptop and a good wifi connection, and there is a particular kind of quiet that sometimes comes with it. My guest has lived both, and built something for the days the quiet wins.
The idea
Michelle Maree is the founder and CEO of The Nomad Escape, which for six years has hosted more than 1,000 professionals across retreats and events around the world, and has just launched the Inner Circle, a digital community for location independent entrepreneurs. The community was born from her own pain point.
She built the dream, location independence, a life in Bali, and discovered it could be deeply lonely even while travelling, especially for entrepreneurs whose brains never switch off. So she started interviewing people about their real challenges, and the community grew from those answers.
She walked me through the deliberate design behind it. Membership is capped at fifty, a number chosen so the first group receives so much value that they become natural ambassadors, and the price point is set so that the right people say yes without hesitating.
Not everyone participates all the time, and she is at peace with that. A community, she told me, can work like
“It's kind of like having a best friend. You know your friend is there, but you don't have to call every day”.
You know the friend is there, and the idea in the back of your mind that a group of people has you is itself a form of support. She also shared the harder side of hosting.
A two week retreat became a five month co living adventure when the world closed during the pandemic, and after fifteen almost back to back retreats she found herself at the opposite of lonely, overwhelmed by constant social contact, everyone leaning on her, no boundaries, no private life.
Rebuilding meant her own house, her own friends, and the discipline to end events at midnight. Her compass for who belongs in your circle is refreshingly direct.
Study the five people you spend most time with, she says, and you will understand the stage you are at, then choose with intention and without judgement.
What I took from it
I joined Michelle's Inner Circle before we recorded, and I loved hearing the thinking behind it. Her story of going from lonely to overwhelmed by social contact hit close to home.
I have spent seasons of my life being the generous one, the host, the one everyone leans on, and I know the strange guilt of needing space from people you genuinely love.
Raising children far from extended family, I have also felt the quiet truth in her best friend line, that knowing support exists is itself a form of support. Her five people compass is one I have started checking honestly.
Three things to try this week
- List your five people. Write down the five you spend most time with and ask honestly what stage of life they reflect, then decide if that is the direction you want.
- Name one community you can fall back on. If you do not have one, take one small action this week, join a group, message an organiser, or accept the invitation you have been putting off.
- Practise one boundary this week. End one gathering on time, decline one request kindly, or block one evening for yourself, exactly as Michelle had to learn to do.
Watch and go deeper
The player below carries our full conversation, and watching it gives you her story in her own words. You can watch the conversation in the player below. To learn more about the guest, visit The Nomad Escape.
You can also find the guest on Michelle Maree on LinkedIn.
New conversations land on the Rediscovering Connection channel most weeks.
Go deeper with the research
Designing a social ecosystem you can sustain is the work I do with leaders and teams, and you can explore it at the Social Health in Professional Leadership Certification . Who are your five, and are they by design or by accident?