Did I ever tell you about the time I was on national TV for being part of a gang?

Yes this is true.

Aged 16, and with the fearless spirit that only teenagers seem to have I appeared on the Esther Rantzen show with the group of girls I knocked around in East London with growing up...it was all very exciting.

But also quite misleading to be fair, because we wasn't in a gang at all...we were in a street dance crew and the two things are very different I can tell you.

There was no illegal activity, no drug taking, no violence...we didn't even drink alcohol back then I don't think.

The programme was in around 1994 and was about "why teenagers joined gangs" I think we had been programmed to show a more positive representation of young people from the inner city.

We were part of a street dance group called 8 Pac, we rehearsed at our local youth club and put on performances at festivals and events across London...it was one of the happiest times of my life, getting to hang out with my mates all the time making up routines and getting to experience new things.

I think it went a bit deeper than that though.

Being part of 8 Pac gave me an identity. I became someone. I also think it gave us some level of protection, as we were a unit. Stronger that the sum of its parts. We didn't have to navigate those difficult teenage years alone, we had each other...and that kept us safe in more ways than one.

Being part of such a powerful tribe so early in life made me appreciate what being part of a community can do for you, and those memories and bonds are never lost.

I don't see my friends from 8Pac all the time these days, but whenever I do we just slip back into friendships. In fact I saw my pal Rochelle at the school gates yesterday picking up her nieces as I picked up my daughter.

Those bonds last forever.

Now I know Seth Godin got there first with his book "Tribes, we need you to lead us" but I know a thing or too about tribes too. I've worked in community engagement professionally for more than 20 years..in fact I was interested in the dynamics of groups, and how we behave from much earlier than that.

I formed my first community project when I was 8, turning my brothers bedroom into a library for all the kids down my street to use back in the 80s...because the public library treated us kids horribly.

By 16 I was volunteering on a huge community arts programme called "we all came from somewhere else" helping kids younger than me to understand about local history.

And by 18 I was heading off to university to study community art where I picked up a first class degree for my research on hybrid dance forms and the expression of cultural identity (thanks 8 Pac for all those years of action research)

I might never have been in a criminal gang, but I 100% understand their power and allure and it saddens me that gang culture is so prevelant in the area I live in for young people (but thats a whole new post for another day)

We need to feel like we belong as humans, all of us. We need to feel safe, we need to have purpose.

In business this is true also.

So many of us work on our own, squirrelling away at our desks or in coffee shops on our laptops. If my work as a proffesional keynote speaker has taught me anything is that even as a solo adventurer we still need community, which is why I am a member of The Proffesional Speakers Association so I don't feel so alone in this weird and wonderful world.

So who is in your business tribe?

Do you have a mastermind? A team? A group of business buddies?

Are you part of an online community perhaps?

And what about your customers and clients?

Do your products or services give them a sense of being part of something bigger than just buying from you? Do you encourage them to engage with one another, do you empower them to get involved and take the lead on helping you grow your business?

Is there even a mechanism in place for that to happen?

If not, why not?

You see tribe is not just another word for customer base. Your tribe actually gives a shit about you and your business in a way that some customers just don't, especially when you are clear on the wider benefits of you and your business...like the world problem that you are attempting to solve (trust me we all have one, even if we don't think it initially)

I have been managing a number of tribes over the last few years.

The Too Fat to Run tribe is probably my most prominent, with hundreds of thousands of plus size runners across the globe on a mission to make sport more accessible and inclusive because of my blog and the online programmes and challenges I run...it took a while to get the momentum going but now I have just you watch this space.

But you might not know about some of the smaller tribes I manage.

The ladies in my Living a Bigger Life mastermind, 74 women who work with me on setting and achieving big fat stupid goals across all areas of their life.

OR

The 78 ladies in my Stop Dieting, Start Living programme...where we work together on improving our health and happiness with the support of my wonderful in house nutritionist Nikki Haggett.

And I am about to start another tribe next week which I am pretty excited about.

A tribe for tribe leaders (oooohhh how meta)

Tribe Builder is an 8 week programme for coaches, experts, speakers, influencers and small business owners who want to build community into what they do. Business owners who want to mobalise their customer base and find new ways to engage them.

I have 18 fabulous entrepreneurs joining me on Monday...and room for a few more if you are fast enough.

This online programme and supporting mastermind is part why to, part how to, and part now go do...with heaps of accountability and arse kicking thrown in so that you get shit done. It is not just a talking shop.

I can't wait to see where these businesses are in a few months time.

But more than that I am looking forward to seeing the relationships blooming, and the support and encouragement that being in a business mastermind inevitably encourages.

So you wanna be in my gang?

You wanna hang out and experience new things. Want to find a place where you can flourish. Where you can be vulnerable about your challenges, but triumphant in your wins?

Let's chat?

Or if you know this is the thing you have been waiting for.

Check out www.tribebuildernetwork.com and sign up before 5pm today