There is a version of entrepreneurship that tells you the goal is always bigger.
More followers. More reach. More impressions. More people knowing your name.
Ann Chisholm offers a useful counterpoint.
She’d rather be five-mile famous.
Ann runs Fettle + Food and co-owns Tropos Fitness Club in Victoria, British Columbia. More than anything, though, she’s a community builder.
Her businesses have grown largely through the people directly around her — clients, coaches, local businesses, running communities, friends, collaborators and the people willing to show up for one another.
That’s what interested me about having her on Chasing Common Ground.
We talked about practicing rejection and becoming comfortable asking for opportunities.
We talked about hiring people based not only on credentials, but on how they behave when nobody is telling them what to do.
We talked about the uncomfortable transition from doing everything yourself to realizing that holding onto every task is eventually the thing preventing your business from growing.
We talked about failure.
Ann shared the story of a protein-ball company that eventually had her spending Sundays producing hundreds of products and driving around Victoria delivering them while already working every other day of the week.
She shut it down.
Later, she learned another expensive lesson after making a hiring decision from a place of urgency rather than confidence.
Both experiences changed how she operates.
Today, much of her leadership philosophy comes back to relationships, systems, patience and creating enough space to make good decisions.
But perhaps my favourite part of the conversation was how Ann connects fitness with experience.
Instead of training simply to shrink a waistline or add weight to a deadlift, members of her community train for backpacking trips, trail races and international adventures.
One client who had lost around 80 pounds found himself hiking with equipment he’d once put into storage because he thought he’d never be able to use it again.
That’s a very different way of measuring progress.
Fitness gave him access to his life again.
Toward the end of our conversation, we moved away from business altogether and talked about the people who change our trajectory.
Mentors.
Coaches.
Friends.
People willing to tell us something uncomfortable because they care enough to sit beside us while we process it.
Ann calls some of those people her personal board of directors.
And when I asked her the question I’ve been asking guests since the early days of this podcast — how someone can live their life as fully and authentically as possible — her answer came back to knowing yourself.
Figure out what fills your cup.
Understand how you operate.
Find people who are living parts of the life you want and spend time around them.
Ask questions.
Listen.
Shoot your shot.
Maybe the goal isn’t for everybody to know who you are.
Maybe it’s to build something meaningful enough that the people who do know you are genuinely glad they do.Chasing Common Ground
Chasing Common Ground is a podcast about curiosity, long-term thinking and conversations that leave room for people to learn, grow and change their minds.
This isn’t about being right.
It’s about seeing clearly and being willing to change your mind when it matters.
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