Member Highlight: Stacey Sheppard of The Tribe

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START YOUR BUSINESS?

I had been working towards taking my multi-award-winning interior design blog from side hustle to my full income. I managed this at the start of 2019 but within 6 months I realized just how lonely and isolated I was feeling working from home. I had no colleagues to talk to, celebrate with or turn to for support when self-employment got hard.

I started to feel a little low and this made me reassess everything. I felt like there was something missing for me, and I had skills and talents I wasn’t using to their maximum potential. I realised that getting the right people in the room is one of my superpowers and that connecting people is something that I really loved to do but rarely did. This came up in a conversation with my business coach and after a lot of thought one weekend, I realized that what I really wanted to do was open a coworking space for female entrepreneurs.

I’d watched the rise of design-led spaces like WeWork and then female only spaces like The Wing and Hera Hub and I wished that there was a space like that here in rural Devon where I live in the UK. I knew this would never happen…unless I was the person to open one. Shortly after I received a press release saying that South West England has the highest proportion of female entrepreneurs in the country. I took that as a sign and decided that if I felt lonely and isolated working by myself from home other women must too.

I then read a report commissioned by the UK Government and produced by Alison Rose, CEO of NatWest, one of the UKs leading high street banks into the state of female entrepreneurship in the UK. The Rose review highlighted 5 main barriers that women in the UK face to starting and growing businesses. One of those barriers was a lack of relatable sponsors, mentors, and role models and lack of access to professional support networks. That was all the information I needed. I knew I had the skills and experience to create a space where women could come together and find the community and the support that they needed along their entrepreneurial journey. Four months later, in January 2020, The Tribe opened its doors.

WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST STRUGGLE WHEN STARTING OUT?

Two months after opening the UK went into lockdown and I had to shut the doors. It was a huge blow. I had poured my heart and soul into this business, and it had taken an immense amount of mindset work to get the self-belief to do it in the first place. I thought it was all over before we’d even had a chance to get going.
Luckily though I had already met an amazing woman through the business who had become a customer, a friend and also a mentor. With her support I eventually pivoted The Tribe into an Online Coworking Membership. This helped to keep the business afloat while we couldn’t open the physical office space.

It was absolutely exhausting trying to keep a brand-new business from going under during a pandemic. But I really believed in the need for this business and the impact it could have so I refused to give up.

WHAT’S THE #1 THING YOU ATTRIBUTE TO GROWING YOUR BUSINESS?

Luckily, my previous experience in journalism, blogging, digital marketing, and content marketing, influencer marketing, PR, branding and community building gave me a really solid foundation for building this business. Without that, I wouldn’t have stood a chance of surviving the lockdowns. I was able to leverage every one of those skills to the max to build really strong brand awareness, ready for when we were able to reopen.

WHAT MINDSET SHIFTS HAVE YOU MADE TO SET YOUR BUSINESS UP FOR SUCCESS?

I have had to overcome perfectionism. Whilst it may seem like perfectionism is helpful, it can actually be debilitating, and it can prevent you from ever starting things or getting them out into the world. I’ve also had to overcome my fear of failure and accept that failure is all part of the learning process. Failure is not fatal, it is simply a way to collect data about what does not work. I have also had to reframe fear itself. I read somewhere that fear and excitement feel almost the same, so now when I start to feel fear in my business, I stop and ask myself whether it’s really fear or whether it is excitement. This helps to take some of the power of fear away.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST BUSINESS LESSON LEARNED?

In business you have to take risks. It’s actually more risky to avoid risks than it is to take them. We cannot stay still and we cannot stagnate. We have to move forward. That does take a lot of trust though. I have had to learn to trust myself a lot more since I opened The Tribe. I’ve realised that constantly looking outside of myself for the answers I need simply leads to confusion, overwhelm and procrastination.

WHAT PODCASTS OR BUSINESS BOOKS ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW?

I don’t tend to listen to many podcasts, but I do love to read. I recently finished Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed. In the book he talks about the power of cognitive diversity and collective intelligence and how we can harness this to strengthen our teams and organisations and ultimately tackle the greatest challenges of our time.
I have also just read Stolen Focus by Johann Hari which explains our inability to focus and how our attention is essentially being hacked. The most enlightening bit for me was around getting into a flow state. Hari explains that in order to achieve a flow state we need a clearly defined goal, we need to do something meaningful which is at the edge of our capabilities. I found this a fascinating read.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC TO LISTEN TO WHEN YOU’RE CREATING CONTENT?

I actually like to listen to foreign music when I create content. I studied French and German at University so I often listen to French or German music and my husband is Polish so I’m also partial for a bit of Polish hip-hop.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON WHAT IMAGES TO USE FOR YOUR BRAND?

I use images that are as close as possible to my brand colours. Obviously, they are mostly work or office-related. I also try to use images that show inclusivity and diversity as I want my audience to be able to see themselves in the imagery that I use so that they feel welcome here.

HOW HAS HAUTE STOCK HELPED YOU IN YOUR BUSINESS?

Haute Stock makes my life so much easier. Creating content is a full-time job in itself but, many of us don’t have the luxury of employing a dedicated person to do this for us. Being able to log in to Haute Stock to find the perfect images to illustrate my content saves me so much time. Imagery that matches your brand colours makes your business look so much more professional and cohesive so it’s really important. I don’t have the time or money to organize my own photoshoots so Haute Stock is the perfect solution.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE HAUTE STOCK COLLECTION? 

I have a few actually: Bookstagram, Content Creator, Creative Studio, and Design Studio, but Home Office is probably my all-time favourite.

Bookstagram | Content Creator | Home Office

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